Questions for experienced sellers on eBay

Carnby · Feb 7, 2020

I've started selling on eBay and it's going well overall. But I could use some advice.

1) How much time do you give the buyer to pay? I believe they are supposed to pay within two days. But if I cancel an unpaid order I risk negative feedback and I have to wait 7 days for the sale to be cancelled.

2) What do you do when a buyer with very few ratings wins your auction? Do you risk shipping or do you cancel the order for your own protection (and again risk negative feedback).

If anyone else wants to use this thread to ask eBay related questions, I won't mind.

Curler · Feb 7, 2020

Carnby said:
I've started selling on eBay and it's going well overall. But I could use some advice.

1) How much time do you give the buyer to pay? I believe they are supposed to pay within two days. But if I cancel an unpaid order I risk negative feedback and I have to wait 7 days for the sale to be cancelled.

2) What do you do when a buyer with very few ratings wins your auction? Do you risk shipping or do you cancel the order for your own protection (and again risk negative feedback).

If anyone else wants to use this thread to ask eBay related questions, I won't mind.

1) One thing I noticed lately, is more and more people waiting till their Friday pay day to pay. They usually don't tell you though. My eBay has it automatically set to 48 hours to pay and if they don't, it will set an unpaid claim. You still need to wait a few more days. With my most recent sale, I sold last Fri, claim auto opened on Monday, tjen I got busy this week, but they ended up paying late last night. It happens:/

2) For ALL items I ship, I thoroughly photograph the packaging process. Fought with one guy claiming I cut the item with a razor, and another claiming I sent an empty envelope. So regardless of ratings, play it safe. I still have had success with 0 ratings before, but be cautious of their shipping locations...

Deleted member 31199 · Feb 7, 2020

So as a buyer, I pay IMMEDIATELY. Very few times if I see something, I will contact the seller and ask if I can pay the day after I get paid and then I do that.

Shipping... I ship USPS Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express (depending on the value of the item) and I would actually recommend signature confirmation also and pay for additional insurance. If you don't use the post office, then use UPS Ground or whatever.

CYA on ALL avenues.

Carnby · Feb 7, 2020

sir wallace walrus said:
So as a buyer, I pay IMMEDIATELY. Very few times if I see something, I will contact the seller and ask if I can pay the day after I get paid and then I do that.

Shipping... I ship USPS Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express (depending on the value of the item) and I would actually recommend signature confirmation also and pay for additional insurance. If you don't use the post office, then use UPS Ground or whatever.

CYA on ALL avenues.

I offered only UPS Ground for a while. I got nothing but complaints from potential buyers. Then sales drastically increased when I allowed buyers to select Media mail. Yeah I'm sure that will bite me eventually.

Curler said:
1) One thing I noticed lately, is more and more people waiting till their Friday pay day to pay. They usually don't tell you though. My eBay has it automatically set to 48 hours to pay and if they don't, it will set an unpaid claim. You still need to wait a few more days. With my most recent sale, I sold last Fri, claim auto opened on Monday, tjen I got busy this week, but they ended up paying late last night. It happens:/

2) For ALL items I ship, I thoroughly photograph the packaging process. Fought with one guy claiming I cut the item with a razor, and another claiming I sent an empty envelope. So regardless of ratings, play it safe. I still have had success with 0 ratings before, but be cautious of their shipping locations...

Great advice. Thank you. Where do I set my auctions to auto cancel after two days of non payment?

molnizzle · Feb 7, 2020

Carnby said:
I offered only UPS Ground for a while. I got nothing but complaints from potential buyers. Then sales drastically increased when I allowed buyers to select Media mail. Yeah I'm sure that will bite me eventually.
Great advice. Thank you. Where do I set my auctions to auto cancel after two days of non payment?

Media mail isn't supposed to be used for this purpose, fyi.

If the item is under 13 ounces just ship USPS first class in a bubble mailer. Fast as priority and costs like $2.50.

Deleted member 31199 · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
I offered only UPS Ground for a while. I got nothing but complaints from potential buyers. Then sales drastically increased when I allowed buyers to select Media mail. Yeah I'm sure that will bite me eventually.

Then stick with priority and maybe add the cost into the item but say that shipping is free. I would say priority say from coast to coast is maybe $20 tops. Signature confirmation is $3 extra.

molnizzle said:
Media mail isn't supposed to be used for this purpose, fyi.

If the item is under 13 ounces just ship USPS first class in a bubble mailer. Fast as priority and costs like $2.50.

Can you track with first class though?

Carnby · Feb 8, 2020

molnizzle said:
Media mail isn't supposed to be used for this purpose, fyi.

If the item is under 13 ounces just ship USPS first class in a bubble mailer. Fast as priority and costs like $2.50.

Hmm. eBay is letting me enter it as an option, even when I enter accurate weight and measurements. It includes a tracking number. Who knows. I could be mistaken.

GrimGrinningGuy · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
1) How much time do you give the buyer to pay? I believe they are supposed to pay within two days. But if I cancel an unpaid order I risk negative feedback and I have to wait 7 days for the sale to be cancelled.

I only do buy it now and require immediate payment. They actually have to pay before it's considered sold. I got tired of all the BS waiting

weemadarthur · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
Hmm. eBay is letting me enter it as an option, even when I enter accurate weight and measurements. It includes a tracking number. Who knows. I could be mistaken.

Media mail is for paper. If you're not selling books or newspapers, you're doing it wrong. EBay does NOT care if you screw up and choose services that don't match, but the Post Office DOES and will charge your customers the postage due before delivering a beat up package after a month or so.

No Depth · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
Hmm. eBay is letting me enter it as an option, even when I enter accurate weight and measurements. It includes a tracking number. Who knows. I could be mistaken.

Media mail is for books, cd's, DVD's, etc...(Not games tho)

It is a low cost alternative that is very popular and came about to fulfill a need. The post office will occasionally check to ensure packages abide by the shipment rules as it is a deep discount option.

Beware as you can risk pissing off your buyer if you try to ship something that doesn't fit the requirements and are caught.

molnizzle · Feb 8, 2020

sir wallace walrus said:
Can you track with first class though?

Yes. If you shipping anything under 13 ounces and not using first class you're doing it wrong.

No Depth said:
Media mail is for books, cd's, DVD's, etc...(Not games tho)

It is a low cost alternative that is very popular and came about to fulfill a need. The post office will occasionally check to ensure packages abide by the shipment rules as it is a deep discount option.

Beware as you can risk pissing off your buyer if you try to ship something that doesn't fit the requirements and are caught.

It's actually just for paper media. You run the risk of the postal service charging your buyer before delivery if it is obvious that you're not using the service correctly.

Curler · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
Great advice. Thank you. Where do I set my auctions to auto cancel after two days of non payment?

Been a while since I did it, but I believe there is something in the claim center you can check off that allows it. I had one buyer pissed at me when he got the claim.... turns out he didn't realize when you make a best offer and the seller approves, it means that you also agreed and bought it. He seemed to think that you can make offers but doesn't mean you are serious on the purchase (despite all the pop ups saying otherwise -_-....)

No Depth · Feb 8, 2020

molnizzle said:
It's actually just for paper media. You run the risk of the postal service charging your buyer before delivery if it is obvious that you're not using the service correctly.

https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121_tech.htm

Not just paper media.

Deleted member 44371 · Feb 8, 2020

I just sold an item to a buyer without any ratings

KomandaHeck · Feb 8, 2020

I sell on eBay fairly often and one thing you should learn is that most people need to be prodded to give you an update about anything. If somebody hasn't paid after 24 hours, I'll always shoot them a message asking if they're able to give a time estimate on payment. Obviously, if you don't get a response then just wait out the cancellation process.

Everyone has to start somewhere so you should not cancel orders from lower feedback buyers. If you're really concerned about being dicked over, use tracked delivery.

Defect · Feb 8, 2020

I wanna sell an Xbox on eBay. How do I prevent myself from getting scammed/fucked over?

shoyz · Feb 8, 2020

You might need to use the advanced editor, but for BIN listings you can tick a setting to require immediate payments.

Carnby · Feb 8, 2020

weemadarthur said:
Media mail is for paper. If you're not selling books or newspapers, you're doing it wrong. EBay does NOT care if you screw up and choose services that don't match, but the Post Office DOES and will charge your customers the postage due before delivering a beat up package after a month or so.

Wow. This is embarrassing. Thank you for pointing that out.

weemadarthur · Feb 8, 2020

No Depth said:
https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121_tech.htm

Not just paper media.

Yeah, technically DVDs and software, but since it's purely for educational purposes, chances are poor that media mail is intended for reselling hollywood movies....and OP said ebay, not amazon, where it COULD have been book sales.

pdog128 · Feb 8, 2020

As someone who used to sell quite a bit on eBay back in the early 2000's, I've always wondered, does photographing/videoing the packing process actually help in the event of a claim? Like has anyone had an experience that a buyer lodged a complaint, but once they showed the photographic evidence eBay sided with the seller?

It just seems it would be easy to claim that, sure they photographed the process but what would prevent the seller from opening the package after the photo was taken? Unless you video the package being packed and then handed off to the delivery service all in one take, but who does that?

Alucrid · Feb 8, 2020

molnizzle said:
Yes. If you shipping anything under 13 ounces and not using first class you're doing it wrong.

It's actually just for paper media. You run the risk of the postal service charging your buyer before delivery if it is obvious that you're not using the service correctly.

nah when i unloaded my entire record collection media mail was a godsend

weemadarthur · Feb 8, 2020

pdog128 said:
As someone who used to sell quite a bit on eBay back in the early 2000's, I've always wondered, does photographing/videoing the packing process actually help in the event of a claim? Like has anyone had an experience that a buyer lodged a complaint, but once they showed the photographic evidence eBay sided with the seller?

It just seems it would be easy to claim that, sure they photographed the process but what would prevent the seller from opening the package after the photo was taken? Unless you video the package being packed and then handed off to the delivery service all in one take, but who does that?

It's more to scare off a scammer than to get eBay to care about an individual seller's money. If managed well, it can work.

Curler · Feb 8, 2020

pdog128 said:
As someone who used to sell quite a bit on eBay back in the early 2000's, I've always wondered, does photographing/videoing the packing process actually help in the event of a claim? Like has anyone had an experience that a buyer lodged a complaint, but once they showed the photographic evidence eBay sided with the seller?

It just seems it would be easy to claim that, sure they photographed the process but what would prevent the seller from opening the package after the photo was taken? Unless you video the package being packed and then handed off to the delivery service all in one take, but who does that?

weemadarthur said:
It's more to scare off a scammer than to get eBay to care about an individual seller's money. If managed well, it can work.

Yup, this. When one seller tried to claim that a game I sold had a razor blade cut in the front cover, I had no photo proof at the time. They really tried to fight it (pretty sure they opened it with a razor and screwed up) and did my own due dilligence by talking to eBay on a call and they just said to make sure you respond to the buyer consistantly and do everything you can to work it out first. Finally worked out to just a partial "shut up" refund to close the claim :/ Still, eBay CAN sometimes work with the sellers.

Since that incident, I've been taking photos of the packaging process, showing the condition of the item and how well it's packed. This one guy that claimed that I "just sent an envelope" was already a butt to deal with because he kept emailing redundant questions on the quality of the item (it was like-new, excellent condition). He showed pics of an envelope that was "empty". Clearly had zero proof. I kept saying "I have photos of the item and me packing it, do you want to see? If the mailer was tampered with, you would need to call USPS with that". He stopped contacting me finally after me being adamant about it. Didn't even need to send the pics, but I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get a free game after the constant messaging me after the purchase, on the quality of it.

Seirith · Feb 8, 2020

I am a FT eBay seller.

1. I give buyers 4 days to pay and then I automatically open a non baying bidder case. I have very few buyers that don't pay.

2. They pay and I ship. Everyone has 0 feedback at one point. I sell to a lot of 0 feedback buyers with no issues. I would never cancel because someone has 0 feedback.

Seirith · Feb 8, 2020

molnizzle said:
Media mail isn't supposed to be used for this purpose, fyi.

If the item is under 13 ounces just ship USPS first class in a bubble mailer. Fast as priority and costs like $2.50.

EBay now allows first class up to 15.9 ounces when the label is printed on eBay.

Seirith · Feb 8, 2020

Carnby said:
Wow. This is embarrassing. Thank you for pointing that out.

Media mail is not just for paper. Here is what media mail is for,right from USPS.

https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121_tech.htm

xillyriax · Feb 8, 2020

Also, don't pay for retail USPS prices. I've used both Paypal's Multi-Order Shipping and PirateShip to print out postage.

Questions for experienced sellers on eBay

Carnby

Curler

Deleted member 31199

User requested account closure

Carnby

molnizzle

Deleted member 31199

User requested account closure

Carnby

GrimGrinningGuy

weemadarthur

Community Resettler

No Depth

molnizzle

Curler

No Depth

Deleted member 44371

KomandaHeck

Defect

shoyz

Carnby

weemadarthur

Community Resettler

pdog128

Alucrid

Chicken Photographer

weemadarthur

Community Resettler

Curler

Seirith

Seirith

Seirith

xillyriax

Game Test Analyst