ebay rant

[Lateral-G]

Indulge me if you will but one of my peeves when selling stuff on ebay is the bidder NOT reading the description and terms of sale.

 

If I choose to NOT sell to international buyers it's not because I don't like you or am prejudiced or anything, it's because I don't like dealing with the hassles that go along with shipping internationally. Or having to deal with problems that may arise because your parcel wasn't delivered for whatever reason that is beyond my control.

 

That's my choice as I am a casual seller on ebay.

 

I state in my description and terms no international bidders please. I even tick off the box ebay offers for domestic US buyers only.

 

But what happens once the item is listed and bidding starts? I get bidders from all over the world. Even though I clearly stated NO INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS PLEASE (in bold no less).

 

Shipping internationally costs a small fortune these days from the USA. And I won't ship anywhere that I can't use delivery tracking. And for that service you have to use Priortiy Mail International or better.

 

And don't even get me started on auction winners that pay before I can calculate an exact shipping cost....especially when I say WAIT for an invoice after I get your address and can calculate the correct shipping. Sure I know ebay has a postage calculator but it's not very accurate and many times I don't box the item until after the auction and it has sold. remember I'm a casual seller. I don't have time to pre-pack and have boxes immediately ready for shipment. If you're a seller that does well then good for you but not all of us have the time to devote to doing that.

 

I guess it goes back to the fact ebay is now geared more to the professional retailer and seller than what it originally started out as.

 

and that's a shame....

 

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

They should disallow people to buy and bid on items where it doesn't ship to. Simple.

[emes]

You need to learn more about eBay. You can configure your listings such that international bidders are not allowed.

 

 

[exciter1]

That's my default template nowadays.  I know many sellers on here who encourage you to sell to international buyers, because it extends your selling opportunity to a much bigger audience.  Luckily, to date, I've been able to sell most of my items at the Buy It Now price I want to folks in US.  I do have to ship to California quite a bit to buyers with very foreign names, so I wonder how many of these folks are really overseas and just have addresses available to them to have their items shipped to?

[emes]

Everyone should prepare themselves for about 100 different posts complaining about eBay in November when people selling on eBay start hitting overall selling limits and selling limits for categories that most small-time sellers don't know exist. I suggested to Quacs that he write an article about this...I don't know if he will or not.

 

These posts complaining about eBay/PayPal are always the same...it's always eBay's/PayPal's fault...it's never that the seller didn't take time to learn the ropes before posting things.

[LowestFormOfWit]

Yeah I also only ship domestically for now, although eBay's Global Shipping program sounds nice, I haven't gotten the stones to try it out yet.

 

I have mine set up so that anyone buying who isn't shipping to a domestic address can't bid or buy, but I've had people get around that. Someone in China bought of my PoTC Queen Anne's revenge boats, but had it shipped to some US address that I guess he has access to. If they want to do it that way then whatever.

[emes]

Yeah I also only ship domestically for now, although eBay's Global Shipping program sounds nice, I haven't gotten the stones to try it out yet.

 

Don't do it...way too expensive for the buyer, and way too much fine print.

[Lateral-G]

You need to learn more about eBay. You can configure your listings such that international bidders are not allowed.

 

 

can you elaborate?

 

I have tried but no joy....

[LowestFormOfWit]

Don't do it...way too expensive for the buyer, and way too much fine print.

Yeah I should point out, that all the pictures you upload as attachments come back with "You don't have permission to view that".

[Veegs]

Everyone should prepare themselves for about 100 different posts complaining about eBay in November when people selling on eBay start hitting overall selling limits and selling limits for categories that most small-time sellers don't know exist. I suggested to Quacs that he write an article about this...I don't know if he will or not.

 

These posts complaining about eBay/PayPal are always the same...it's always eBay's/PayPal's fault...it's never that the seller didn't take time to learn the ropes before posting things.

 

It would be a mistake as a casual seller to wait until Nov. or early Dec. to try and get your ebay profile up and sell some goods.  I too predict some angry threads!  I did a little post on becoming a power seller, but it would also be useful to have a very, very basic ebay setup article for selling LEGO.  I think we assume people understand the basics, but many new investors may not...

[emes]

can you elaborate?

 

I have tried but no joy....

 

When you create an auction in the shipping portion there is an exclusion list. I added an image of it after I originally made the post.

[emes]

Yeah I should point out, that all the pictures you upload as attachments come back with "You don't have permission to view that".

 

Ah, guess I need to change permissions on the gallery or something. Thanks...

[emes]

I made it public...can you see it now?

[emes]

It would be a mistake as a casual seller to wait until Nov. or early Dec. to try and get your ebay profile up and sell some goods.  I too predict some angry threads!  I did a little post on becoming a power seller, but it would also be useful to have a very, very basic ebay setup article for selling LEGO.  I think we assume people understand the basics, but many new investors may not...

 

I agree that this information is useful, but I would be very careful about documenting how to sell on eBay outside of eBay...eBay could change things, then the article here will be inaccurate. There is plenty of information on eBay about these things and how to setup your auctions.

[emes]

It would be a mistake as a casual seller to wait until Nov. or early Dec. to try and get your ebay profile up and sell some goods.  I too predict some angry threads!  I did a little post on becoming a power seller, but it would also be useful to have a very, very basic ebay setup article for selling LEGO.  I think we assume people understand the basics, but many new investors may not...

 

Also, there will be angry threads anyway because many people will not have done enough volume between now and then to get their limits raised.

[Lateral-G]

I made it public...can you see it now?

I can see it now.

 

I have never seen that page before and I've been on ebay almost 10 years now. They must keep the link well hidden when you do your listing. The only check box I have ever seen is one that declares where you'll ship to but not where you EXCLUDE shipping to.

 

I will have to check the next time I list something.

 

It still doesn't diminish my rant that buyers DON'T READ THE LISTING THOROGHLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lateral-G]

These posts complaining about eBay/PayPal are always the same...it's always eBay's/PayPal's fault...it's never that the seller didn't take time to learn the ropes before posting things.

I never said it was ebay's fault.

 

I blame the bidder FOR NOT READING THE LISTING CAREFULLY.

 

I have no problem with ebay or paypal.

[LowestFormOfWit]

I've only been using eBay to sell for about two months, and I was able to find the exclusions page no problem. It's right at the bottom of the listing page. Maybe we can all agree that everyone involved in an ebay sale, buyers, sellers, etc, need to read more carefully?

 

Also, yes emes, I can see your images now! Nice quintuple post. =P

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I didn't know there were limits - although I doubt I will hit them. I'm gonna check into that though.

 

Good thread.

[Darth_Raichu]

I never said it was ebay's fault.

 

I blame the bidder FOR NOT READING THE LISTING CAREFULLY.

 

I have no problem with ebay or paypal.

 

Well, buyers may not speak or read English fluently.  Blocking buyers is sellers' responsibility because the tool is already provided by eBay.

 

If you are a casual sellers and do not want to mess with calculating exact shippipng before hand, just set a very high fixed price shipping cost and refund the difference once you calculate the exact cost. Make sure to mention this in your item description  Will this turn off some potential bidders ? Absolutely, but you cannot eat your cake and having it too.

[LowestFormOfWit]

Absolutely, but you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Unless that was intentional, fixed.

[Anakinisvader]

I don't ship internationally either.  I used to and had way too many problems come up.  I block all international bidders and STILL get emails like:  How much to ship to (put country here).  Then I email them back and say I only ship in the US.  I hate to say it but everyone is so broke they can't even afford to pay attention. 

[akohns]

I ship internationally all the time. Usually it's the really large and expensive items. I offer free shipping to continental 48 and have a flat fee on my listings for worldwide. Usually it's $60-70 and people around the world pay that all the time. I only ship when I'm able to track and insure. I've learned a few hard reasons but when I can sell a used Market St Modular for $800 to someone in Australia hours after listing I'm happy. 

 

It's definitely a learning process. Australia, UK & Canada are pretty safe to ship to.

 

If at all possible I try to use ebay's ship cover insurance and I've had to file more domestic claims for damaged items than I've had to file missing item claims for international shipments.

 

I've been selling on ebay for almost 10 years (since I was a teenager) and they continue to make things better. The new global shipping program is really really nice for US sellers. Emes says it much more expensive but it also means you don't have to worry about it arriving overseas if you can get it safely to their processing facility. If you're not offering any international shipping at all you should at least offer that even if it's more expensive for the buyer it doesn't make a difference for you as the seller. I offer my own flat rate shipping and the global program and I reserve the right to not ship items if they can't be tracked and insured. My listing says if they think the flat rate is too high for their country I'm happy to give them a custom shipping quote.

[sadowsk1]

On the bright side, at least you haven't lost any money.  Just inconvenienced.

[emes]

I never said it was ebay's fault.

 

I blame the bidder FOR NOT READING THE LISTING CAREFULLY.

 

I have no problem with ebay or paypal.

 

You might have taken my response as being directed exclusively at you, but it wasn't. There are threads all the time where people complain about eBay and PayPal. Those types of posts always seek to blame a 3rd party for what is really their own lack of competence.

 

However, when you title your thread "eBay Rant" and you end it with:

 

"I guess it goes back to the fact ebay is now geared more to the professional retailer and seller than what it originally started out as.

 

and that's a shame...."

 

Then yeah, it kind of does sound like you're blaming eBay.

 

Back to your point though about buyers reading auctions...this might be a bit controversial, but I'd prefer that buyers read as little as possible. It slows down the sale. No one should think that what I'm saying here is that we should inaccurately describe items or anything like that, I just have tendency to think that consumers want to consume, and if I'm going to be successful on eBay then I shouldn't do anything to stand in the way of that consumption...I have a hypothesis that the eBay buying public doesn't like to read, so I use the structure of the listing to define my requirements, rather than hope that they will or can read some elaborate CYA that I put in a listing.