eBay Selling Advice

[Kenxxx]

17 minutes ago, bricksnstocks said:

What do you do if a "buyer" doesn't pay, and doesn't respond after multiple tries? eBay said I need to wait 30 days before they can cancel, but this is holding up the item that I had an offer from another buyer. And if eBay cancelled, can you still leave negative feedback on the "buyer." Thanks for the advice.

Well, you should wait at least a few days... like 5 or 6? Sometimes people get busy and forget.  If eBay says 30 days, then it's 30 days.  I don't do auctions, and - after a couple slow... or "non" payers - I've set all my listings to "Immediate Pay" so I don't have this problem.  I'm even wary about taking "best offers" for this reason. I hate waiting to see if (and when) someone is going to pay.

After a reasonable wait, you might try and cancel the sale yourself... again I don't do this very often... but I believe you'll get a list of options as to why you are cancelling, and you can click, "no contact from buyer" or.. "buyer didn't pay..." or something.  Then you might get an auto response again saying you have to wait 30 days first.  You could choose "Item is no longer available" ... or..." description was incorrect" or something like that... but these options could hurt your eBay metrics, if you're concerned about that.

Finally, to answer your last question... you cannot leave negative feedback for a buyer under any circumstances... eBay changed that a couple years ago.  It's either positive feedback, or nothing.  If you follow their procedures, and wait it out, they will eventually get an "unpaid item" ding on their record, but that's about all you can do.

[jbacunn]

What do you do if a "buyer" doesn't pay, and doesn't respond after multiple tries? eBay said I need to wait 30 days before they can cancel, but this is holding up the item that I had an offer from another buyer. And if eBay cancelled, can you still leave negative feedback on the "buyer." Thanks for the advice.

Make all your BIN listings immediate payment required and you won't have to deal with knuckleheads.

[bricksnstocks]

Everyone, thanks for the advice.

[ad2001]

I want to sell the May 4th folded Star Wars poster, but I'm not sure if it makes sense because of the possible high shipping cost ... The method I'm planning to ship is basically sandwich the folded poster by 4 cardboards ... but the weight is like 2 pounds ...

The going rate for the poster is less than $10 ... so any advice on how to ship it?

Thanks.

[Stud-Flipper]

So, I have 3 of 75103 First Order Transporter. I bought them at $45 each. They're sealed in the boxes. But the boxes are pretty bent up. Like on one end of each box, it looks like someone's just stepped on it and beat it a couple of times. But the original seals are still intact. So, I'm not sure what a fair price would be or if I should wait until the set retires to sell. And should I put them in one lot, or separately, or go ahead and build them and sell them loose as like an army-builder type deal or what. Your thoughts?

[Migration]

45 minutes ago, Stud-Flipper said:

So, I have 3 of 75103 First Order Transporter. I bought them at $45 each. They're sealed in the boxes. But the boxes are pretty bent up. Like on one end of each box, it looks like someone's just stepped on it and beat it a couple of times. But the original seals are still intact. So, I'm not sure what a fair price would be or if I should wait until the set retires to sell. And should I put them in one lot, or separately, or go ahead and build them and sell them loose as like an army-builder type deal or what. Your thoughts?

Part them out, sell the figs individualy and the ship with the instructions. 

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

1 hour ago, ad2001 said:

I want to sell the May 4th folded Star Wars poster, but I'm not sure if it makes sense because of the possible high shipping cost ... The method I'm planning to ship is basically sandwich the folded poster by 4 cardboards ... but the weight is like 2 pounds ...

The going rate for the poster is less than $10 ... so any advice on how to ship it?

Thanks.

i shipped mine, and the hoth poster between just 2 pieces of cardboard and taped it up nicely around the edges.. i think it was just under 1 lb

[damnsanders]

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

[Migration]

4 minutes ago, damnsanders said:

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

Either offer free shipping or know your package weight and charge actual shipping. No third answer. 

[exciter1]

8 minutes ago, damnsanders said:

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

Just offer free shipping.  Calculate price by taking average high sale price + shipping price and take what you get.  I use USPS East to mid-west and FedEx for West Coast.  It averages out.

[sflv]

2 hours ago, damnsanders said:

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

If I have an item that is heavy and in high demand, I use calculated shipping. For example, I sold some AT-ATs recently, 4lbs to ship and I price it at around the lowest Buy it Now + shipping cost within my region. So I probably won't sell to any that are far away, but in this case it doesn't matter since these sell very quickly.

[ad2001]

In the US, can you guys ship a small mini figure polybag (less than 3 oz including the package) less than $2.45?

[Phil B]

6 hours ago, ad2001 said:

In the US, can you guys ship a small mini figure polybag (less than 3 oz including the package) less than $2.45?

CAN we? Sure, just stick it in an envelope and send it off for standard postage rates. SHOULD we? No, never, it will likely get mangled in the automated sorters.

[wolvergeek]

6 hours ago, ad2001 said:

In the US, can you guys ship a small mini figure polybag (less than 3 oz including the package) less than $2.45?

and no tracking number

[jbacunn]

14 hours ago, damnsanders said:

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

Depends on where you live. I live on east coast and have a lot of buyers in CA. Anything over 1 pound I use calculated shipping. FedEx for anything over 4 pounds. If you want to include the highest possible cost you would have on shipping in the price you could do free shipping. Depends on how hot the item is and where your desired sell price is relative to other sellers. 

[iahawks550]

I use free shipping on everything. But, I know the costs and build it into the price. Being in the midwest, anything less than 6 pounds can be shipped anywhere for less than $14. (Though it may be with Smartpost)

[ISO8T0]

90% calculated. Small light items I'll do free SH, but even then it depends on item and desired profit etc. (I'm also on East coast)

[ISO8T0]

How many of you seasoned sellers offer "free shipping" on your items? And if so, what's your preferred method? I've been underestimating my shipping fees and have been eating the difference. Myself as a buyer will balk on bidding on items if the shipping cost seems too high.

Also make sure you package up an item and weigh it before listing it. EBay's Shipping Calculator. http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator is also very handy. Keep it bookmarked in your browser

[Alpinemaps]

I'm on the west coast, and I do free shipping.  I build it into my price.  I'm sure I lose the occasional sale to someone that's using calculated shipping and is close to the buyer, but I don't feel that I'm losing many sales by doing that.

[AirborneAFOL]

So I had a buyer leave a negative feedback earlier this month. Totally bogus - brand new buyer, she said "wrong size", didn't give me a chance to resolve/address.

Sent her a polite message pointing out the listing cited "16x16 studs (not inches)" and inviting her to return it (at my shipping expense even). Crickets. Submitted the request for revised feedback - 10 days passed without any action on it by the gal.

Just called Ebay tonight. They answered within 2 minutes, and removed the negative feedback after 2 minutes of conversation/review (restoring my 100% feedback rating).

Very pleased with Ebay's overall customer ("seller") service, quick ability to diagnose the issue and divine the facts of the matter, and implement resolution.

[BrickLegacy]

Have you guys ever shipped an eBay order to an unconfirmed PayPal address? The address is a little unusual so I contacted the buyer. They responded fairly quickly to confirm it was correct.

I won't lose seller protection as long as I ship it to the address listed in PayPal and its delivered with tracking, correct?

The item is $400+ so I'm planning to use signature confirmation.

[glostik]

I do free shipping on everything pretty much.

anything over 1lb I ship FedEx because my company gets 80% off because of the amount of shipping we do. Sometimes it's cheaper for me to overnight than do ground.

[BrickLegacy]

Have you guys ever shipped an eBay order to an unconfirmed PayPal address? The address is a little unusual so I contacted the buyer. They responded fairly quickly to confirm it was correct.

I won't lose seller protection as long as I ship it to the address listed in PayPal and its delivered with tracking, correct?

The item is $400+ so I'm planning to use signature confirmation.

Shamelessly bumping my question.

[iahawks550]

If you contacted the buyer through Ebay, and confirmed the address they want it sent to, and it's the address listed on the shipping order with Ebay, I wouldn't be concerned. Make sure you have a "paper" trail to back up your claims.

But yes, I've shipped to unconfirmed addresses before and it's been fine.

 

I think a person who doesn't add a credit card to their Paypal account will be shown with an unconfirmed address. I can't blame someone for not adding a credit card.

Edited June 6, 2016 by iahawks550

[ISO8T0]

6 minutes ago, BrickLegacy said:

Shamelessly bumping my question.

Yes. Although it wasn't a $400 item more like $100-$150. Everything went fine.

Insurance + Signature confirmation will do the trick for you.