Need some EBay selling advice?

[jbacunn]

I am in a little bit of a difficult situation and need some advice. I sold two comics for $25 plus $5 shipping. Mailed them off to the verified paypal address via USPS. No problems. The buyer opens a case on me for item not received. I check the tracking and it says the item was delivered. I send a message telling him it was delivered and he says he didn't get it. I tell him to call his local post office. He does and says the package could not be delivered because there was something wrong with the shipping label and it is being sent back to me and that it was scanned delivered by accident. I tell me him I'll keep an eye out for it but the tracking says delivered so that's all I know. There were no additional updates to the tracking. I do get the package back almost two weeks later and the label was partially torn off by USPS and the comics were a little damaged in their 4500 mile trek across the country and back. What do I do? If I tell him I got them back he is either going to expect me to pay to ship them again or if I tell him they were damaged he is not going to want them anymore and want a full refund leaving me with damaged product I can't resell. I'm better off just saying I never got them back because I am protected because the tracking says delivered. He would lose the case if it were escalated right? I feel bad for the guy because it wasn't his fault but it wasn't mine either.

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[Migration]

1) That's effed up.

2) You know what you should do.

[Guest brickcrazyhouse]

yea i'll agree with Migration. golden rule and karma 

[jbacunn]

I know. It just pisses me off. I did everything right and I'm going to have to eat this. At least it's only $30 and not $300.

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[Migration]

Yep, it sucks. Did you happen to ship first class? You may be able to file an insurance claim. It's amazing that the item scanned delivered and was still returned to you. I've never heard of that before.

[jbacunn]

I did not insure it. I've been selling 10 years and this is the first time something like this has happened. What's weird is that it made it all the way to the buyers local post office before the label was damaged. I think the delivery person must have done it.

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[njseale]

Let the guy know what happened. If he wants them reship and eat the cost. If not refund and relist in their new condition. Write off your loss on taxes.

[naf]

Think about it if you were on the other end of the deal.  I know as a seller you don't want to lose money, but it's not fair to lie to the buyer about it.  I would let the buyer know what happened and see where they want to take it from there.

[baldilocks]

I put a bunch of 1 day auctions to try to take advantage of the extra ebay points, but it appears as though you don't get any ebay bucks on 1 day auctions, and now it wont let me change them to 3 days. Is there a way around this?

[spener90]

I am considering going to an eBay store, the basic plan, anyone have any advice? If I sign up now, do I pay $20 for the rest of the month for it to only effect the last nine days? is it prorated?

 

I read the part about store options on the website, but it isn't perfectly clear on the pricing.  If anyone can help, it is greatly appreciated.

[spener90]

http://pages.ebay.com/stores/subscriptionterms.html

 

Need to read the fine print a little clearer next time.  It IS prorated.

[vincevaughn]

So I might have a situation developing. I sold an N64 game, buyer paid immediately and the address was confirmed. Shipped it out and today it came back to me. Tracking says 'moved, left no address'.

I have already messaged the buyer stating this and asking what they want to do. No response yet. Is there anything else you much more experienced sellers would do in this situation? Or do I simply let it ride at this point?

[jaylay]

So I might have a situation developing. I sold an N64 game, buyer paid immediately and the address was confirmed. Shipped it out and today it came back to me. Tracking says 'moved, left no address'.

I have already messaged the buyer stating this and asking what they want to do. No response yet. Is there anything else you much more experienced sellers would do in this situation? Or do I simply let it ride at this point?

well if he dont respond just refund the money ...

[jbacunn]

So I might have a situation developing. I sold an N64 game, buyer paid immediately and the address was confirmed. Shipped it out and today it came back to me. Tracking says 'moved, left no address'.

I have already messaged the buyer stating this and asking what they want to do. No response yet. Is there anything else you much more experienced sellers would do in this situation? Or do I simply let it ride at this point?

Just let it ride for now. You did your part and messaged them when it was returned. Give it a week or so. 

[waddamon]

Heck with karma, " do unto others what you would have them do unto you". Lying about not getting it back is no good. Insure going forward at buyers expense and at.least the cost is covered. Ups trashed two bid lego orders recently. The two combined were about 1600 in damages. Both orders were insured. I got paid seller wasn't hurt in the process.

[IMDeus]

Lego EBay returns

 

When selling on eBay can someone return a set opened that was bought sealed?

Also what about on Amazon?

[beartrapper]

They can, but the burden of proof is on you that the set you sent them was sealed upon their receipt. I've accepted a return only to find out that they took all of the minifigure's and sent me back their half built ship.

[ravenb99]

Yes they could. They could say it was not what they expected or some other response like that.  They could return a completely different set if they wanted to also.  I haven't had any issues with LEGO sets being switched out yet though.  If it does ever happen you can take pics and report it but the best case scenario is ebay will give you a 1 time courtesy refund and refund the buyer as well.  So choose it wisely.  If its a cheap set don't use your 1 time courtesy refund.  Save it for something big.

[biking_tiger]

For the most part, eBay buyers are honest people. I've never had a problem, but I don't do the volume some on here do.

[Kenxxx]

I am totally freaking out.  When I started brickvesting about 6 months ago, this seemed like so much fun... collecting toys, with hopes of selling for a little profit at Christmas, or maybe next year.  I've sold a few $25 items on ebay with no issues. I've now picked up some bigger sets like the HH and Tumbler (small quantities of everything... 1 or 2 at the most).  And I'm reading these stories about ebay returns, the paypal 180-day return policy, and I'm terrified.

 

Someone in another thread said that ebay is best for bigger sellers now, who can afford to eat a few returns here and there, and I tend to believe it.  It seems the short-term flip (Christmas or temp-out-of-stock) is dead for small players like me now.  If I sell my one-and-only mint sealed Tumbler for $400 in November, the buyer can pick another one up in January for $200, open a case with Paypal saying he opened the box at Xmas and the $100 mini-figs weren't there. He can ship the open box back to me (minus mini-figs) and I'll have to pay him back $400 plus shipping?  Seriously, I'm thinking about returning this Tumbler right now. I can't afford that. Should I return it?

 

Some have suggested not accepting paypal... but for the small player like me, what else is there? (please don't say bitcoin).

 

Some have suggested not using ebay... I once tried listing an item on Bonanza... you could hear a pin drop there. Anyone here in the US doing the majority of their sales non-ebay... where? And still, with Paypal, would it be any different?

 

If my worries are valid, I think I may have to stay away from the quick flip game.  I might still be able to do a longer term "sell-at-least-a-year-after EOL while prices are steadily rising" game... but I don't know. Maybe I'm not cut out for this.

[asharerin]

Some have suggested not using ebay... I once tried listing an item on Bonanza... you could hear a pin drop there. Anyone here in the US doing the majority of their sales non-ebay... where? And still, with Paypal, would it be any different?

 

The owners of this board will be launching Brick Classifieds before too long and from what I have read they will also be offering authorize.net in addition to Paypal. Hopefully they will expand that to Stripe and Amazon Payments in the future. IMO the days of just listing your item on ebay and letting them bring traffic are coming to an end. Selling successfully in the future is going to require more hustle. I am hoping Alibaba opens a P2P platform and offers no fees for a few years like they did in China. They would get insane numbers.

[justafrog]

I am totally freaking out.  

 

Selling isn't for everyone. Most transactions most of the time go fine. Some do not, and you do have to be prepared to take some losses.

 

It doesn't matter where you sell. If you sell most places online (and certainly Amazon, eBay, and anywhere you take PayPal), you're subject to their buyer protection policies which mean that you take returns and all those risks. If you sell in your own brick and mortar stores, you have shoplifters and kid damage and credit card chargebacks. If you sell on Craigslist you risk mugging and wasting a lot of time. If you sell only online through obscure venues accepting only postal money orders, you risk not selling much.

 

Like the news, the information you get here is skewed: generally, if it bleeds it leads so if someone has a bad situation, it gets posted here. The majority, the good or uneventful ones, don't.

[Spanky]

Selling isn't for everyone. Most transactions most of the time go fine. Some do not, and you do have to be prepared to take some losses.

 

+1 to this.

 

Most buyers are reasonable people. I bend over backwards to make buyers happy. In over ten years of low-volume eBay selling I've only come across one or two buyers who were unreasonable, and even then I was able to turn the situation into one where I received positive feedback.

 

You cannot make money on every transaction. It just isn't going to happen. You have to take the occasional loss in order to get the regular profit.

 

It sucks to be exposed to risk, but life is full of risk. You can't hedge everything.

[ravenb99]

No reason to freak out.  Like justafrog stated most transactions go fine.  Most people are just giving you some advice of how you can protect yourself more and possibly knock that percentage of problems down even more.  A lot of this was only brought up to begin with about the Tumbler and how high it could possibly go.  That set would be susceptible to a higher percentage of scams as it could go double, triple, quadruple, only to back down a month later.  That was what the point was about most of the suggestions made.  A set that just has normal holiday growth which is most all of the sets out there is not going to cause these issues to begin with.   You'll always have some customers with buyers remorse but that is just part of business.  The suggestions made the past few weeks by myself and others are just to help out some people that have not sold on ebay as much before and let you know what to look out for.  Just sell your items with good pics and detailed descriptions, ship fast, and take care of any problems you come across and you should have a successful holiday sales season.  Don't forget January sales are usually very strong as well as people get cash / gift cards for Christmas so don't think you have to sell everything before Christmas.  January has been one of my most successful months for years.  Less competition and people with money to spend, and you don't have the unhappy customers that buy a few days before Christmas and are unhappy it didn't get there in time.  T

[vincevaughn]

I am totally freaking out. When I started brickvesting about 6 months ago, this seemed like so much fun... collecting toys, with hopes of selling for a little profit at Christmas, or maybe next year. I've sold a few $25 items on ebay with no issues. I've now picked up some bigger sets like the HH and Tumbler (small quantities of everything... 1 or 2 at the most). And I'm reading these stories about ebay returns, the paypal 180-day return policy, and I'm terrified.

Someone in another thread said that ebay is best for bigger sellers now, who can afford to eat a few returns here and there, and I tend to believe it. It seems the short-term flip (Christmas or temp-out-of-stock) is dead for small players like me now. If I sell my one-and-only mint sealed Tumbler for $400 in November, the buyer can pick another one up in January for $200, open a case with Paypal saying he opened the box at Xmas and the $100 mini-figs weren't there. He can ship the open box back to me (minus mini-figs) and I'll have to pay him back $400 plus shipping? Seriously, I'm thinking about returning this Tumbler right now. I can't afford that. Should I return it?

Some have suggested not accepting paypal... but for the small player like me, what else is there? (please don't say bitcoin).

Some have suggested not using ebay... I once tried listing an item on Bonanza... you could hear a pin drop there. Anyone here in the US doing the majority of their sales non-ebay... where? And still, with Paypal, would it be any different?

If my worries are valid, I think I may have to stay away from the quick flip game. I might still be able to do a longer term "sell-at-least-a-year-after EOL while prices are steadily rising" game... but I don't know. Maybe I'm not cut out for this.

There is risk in every venture. Always has been and always will. You have to accept that to reap the rewards. Here it is bad because we all like to complain and ask for advice when trouble rears its head. So one can get a picture that ebay and the world are out to get you. You never hear daily stories on the thousands of items members here sell without issue. I have been at this a year and am approaching 300 sales and have recently made top rated plus. I have, so far, never had an issue besides somebody not updating there address. Messaged them and they apologized and thought that the billing address updated the shipping address. Sent it out to the new address and everyone was happy.

Bottom line you only hear the horror stories. And most people are good. Just have absolute attention to detail, put a little work into your listings and all will be good. And even if you do get the occasional issue this community is very helpful, full of experience and more than happy to provide advice.