With all the eBay threads lately, I think it is a good idea to have a catch-all thread like for Thrift Stores and Yard Sales.

I listed a DVD in eBay's catalog last week. It had a pre-filled listing that I didn't change at all. Only a few hours left in the auction (with a bid!) and the listing gets cancelled because it is in the wrong category. -_-

^ Good idea to create this thread.

I absolutely hate the listing catagories and I don't know who the creates the prefilled categories for games and media but some times it is absolutely awful (if it exists) and not to mention most of the information can be wrong.

I remember I was trying to sell NHL 13: Stanley Cup CE for Xbox 360 and they didn't have a category so I put it in the category for the vanilla 360 version only to find that a eBay bot had moved it to the NHL 11 category. This actually happens more then I'd realized and it is frustrating when you're trying to search for your own item to see its visibility and you can't find it only to realize it's been buried somewhere it doesn't belong.


Some good eBay news though is that starting next week USPS will be adding a tracking/delivery feature to first class international mail going to Canada so it should be safe shipping their again for basic mail.

To include free shipping or not to include free shipping? What is the norm?

Originally Posted by GBAstar Some good eBay news though is that starting next week USPS will be adding a tracking/delivery feature to first class international mail going to Canada so it should be safe shipping their again for basic mail.

I knock on wood every time I say this, but I've never had trouble shipping internationally, and I've sent stuff to some far out places. When I sold my old iPhone for example, I think I ended up selling it to someone in like Turkey or something. International bidders generally pay more than domestic ones, and it's enough of a difference that I'm willing to take the risk and hope that the majority of people are honest, and up to this point they have been.

Can I rant about amazon in here? I'm going to.
So I buy clock tower 3 listed in good condition, and the description specifically states it Has the case and manual. Well it comes in the mail today and not only is it beat to shit (no where near what could be considered "good" condition) its missing the ing manual. What an asshole. I requested a return.
why would you straight up lie in your description? I can't imagine that works out in the sellers favor too often.

Originally Posted by KtMack23 Can I rant about amazon in here? I'm going to. So I buy clock tower 3 listed in good condition, and the description specifically states it Has the case and manual. Well it comes in the mail today and not only is it beat to shit (no where near what could be considered "good" condition) its missing the ing manual. What an asshole. I requested a return. why would you straight up lie in your description? I can't imagine that works out in the sellers favor too often.

Not that I'm defending the buyer, but typically when you sell in such high volume, you tend to reuse the same descriptions over and over, even if they aren't accurate. I never do this, but I can sort of see how it would occur.

Originally Posted by spmahn Not that I'm defending the buyer, but typically when you sell in such high volume, you tend to reuse the same descriptions over and over, even if they aren't accurate. I never do this, but I can sort of see how it would occur.

He isn't a "big" seller though. Bigred1924 sold 24 things last month, he's obviously just doing this on the side. I always try to list stuff as accurately as possible so I don't end up with someone buying something they don't want, but some people just don't care. Not to mention the guy shipped my game in a manilla envelope with no padding at all.

Originally Posted by TooMuchCoolness To include free shipping or not to include free shipping? What is the norm?

If its a low dollar item with decent competition, I'll put a $2-3 shipping fee and a lower item price, usually gets more attention that way.

A higher dollar item I'll offer free shipping, since at that time a majority of my auctions are BIN anyways, and the free shipping makes buyers feel warm and cozy (or so I'd like to think).

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Originally Posted by Billytwoshoes If its a low dollar item with decent competition, I'll put a $2-3 shipping fee and a lower item price, usually gets more attention that way. A higher dollar item I'll offer free shipping, since at that time a majority of my auctions are BIN anyways, and the free shipping makes buyers feel warm and cozy (or so I'd like to think).

I've done both, and never see any discernable difference at all. I see items that sell with no problem at $25 for $5 that won't sell at all at $30 with free shipping. I honestly think it's just a mental thing with buyers who see shipping as an added cost beyond the price of what they're buying, when you lump it all together I think people begin to perceive that they're just paying more for the item, even if that's not the case.

Originally Posted by spmahn I've done both, and never see any discernable difference at all. I see items that sell with no problem at $25 for $5 that won't sell at all at $30 with free shipping. I honestly think it's just a mental thing with buyers who see shipping as an added cost beyond the price of what they're buying, when you lump it all together I think people begin to perceive that they're just paying more for the item, even if that's not the case.

In that situation, I would buy the $30/free shipping item, just because the eBay bucks are only calculated on the price of the item, not item plus shipping. I know this would only amount to a few cents, but that's how I look at similarly priced items. The actual mental aspect of seeing "free shipping" doesn't mean anything to me.

So I emailed a seller about an item that has three different editions, asking which one it is. He replies back and tells me. Great, it's the one I want. A few days pass and the auction ends - I win, and I pay within a day.

Shipping was supposed to be Priority Mail. I forgot about that and thought it was coming parcel post. So its been a week and no "Your item has shipped" email. Some sellers don't bother with that so I didn't think too much of it until the week had passed.

So then I email asking if the item shipped yet.

I get back a response of "Oh I didn't even realize the auction ended and it sold" and "My eBay alerts aren't working" followed by "I'm super busy working two jobs." And I'll add here that the item description said something about the seller just being a college kid who needs cash so the prices might not be the best on eBay, so he's already working sob stories into his auction descriptions.

Look, maybe I'm just being a dick - but I don't really care if you're working two jobs or if you're a poor starving college kid. Admit you ed up, apologize, and send the damn thing already. Don't make bullshit excuses. To me, when you sell on eBay, you're held to the same quality standards as anyone, whether its some person selling random crap or a major company. You're the one choosing to sell, so meet those minimum standards of customer service. And I don't think those standards are too hard to meet. Reply back to emails within a reasonable period of time. Live up to the handling time you choose for your auction listings. Things like that.

Additionally, when someone pays you via PayPal like I did, you get an email saying your buyer has paid, ship the item. So is he claiming he doesn't get those emails either? Where did he think the money in his PayPal account came from? A magical fairy? And if for whatever reason he's not getting emails from eBay and PayPal, that's his responsibility to find out what's going on and fix it - though I suspect this guy is just bullshitting me.

If someone was in the hospital or died or things are hectic - I can understand that and I'm rarely ever in a rush to get my items I buy/win on eBay. Just don't bullshit me when you fall behind and up sending out the item. I don't appreciate that.

Originally Posted by Billytwoshoes If its a low dollar item with decent competition, I'll put a $2-3 shipping fee and a lower item price, usually gets more attention that way. A higher dollar item I'll offer free shipping, since at that time a majority of my auctions are BIN anyways, and the free shipping makes buyers feel warm and cozy (or so I'd like to think).

I take a very different approach to selling. I sell a lot of games and blu rays on ebay when I have no desire to play/watch them again. Typically, I do a no reserve 5 day auction with free shipping starting at $0.99. You would be surprised at how many items I sell for quite a bit more than I would have listed them with BIN. It is a gamble, but on average I feel like it pays off.

Originally Posted by aheineken I take a very different approach to selling. I sell a lot of games and blu rays on ebay when I have no desire to play/watch them again. Typically, I do a no reserve 5 day auction with free shipping starting at $0.99. You would be surprised at how many items I sell for quite a bit more than I would have listed them with BIN. It is a gamble, but on average I feel like it pays off.

hah, this week for whatever reason Im not able to list items for free unless theyre listed as fixed price only. So I list a couple of unsold items for just the buyitnow they previously had and not the starting price, since Im not going to waste a dollar just for something not to sell. They all sell within a day. OK, no one even placed a bid when when they couldve started a lot cheaper before, and now that its only my max price, they all sell right away.

Like you said it all averages out.

I do often get games that are not as describered. "Very good" When it should be good. I don't have a buttplug about these things. I just let them go.

Originally Posted by Daniel09 I do often get games that are not as describered. "Very good" When it should be good. I don't have a buttplug about these things. I just let them go.

I hate when I get games that are not as describered.

Originally Posted by Daniel09 I do often get games that are not as describered. "Very good" When it should be good. I don't have a buttplug about these things. I just let them go.

To me if I'm buying used to play the difference between Very Good, Good and Acceptable in meaningless.

However if I'm paying extra for a new game I want the ing thing to be new.

Furthermore if I'm buying a used game to collect because it isn't cost effective to buy new then I want everything that the listing says is included to arrive in my package.

Originally Posted by aheineken I take a very different approach to selling. I sell a lot of games and blu rays on ebay when I have no desire to play/watch them again. Typically, I do a no reserve 5 day auction with free shipping starting at $0.99. You would be surprised at how many items I sell for quite a bit more than I would have listed them with BIN. It is a gamble, but on average I feel like it pays off.

I have yet to take the risk on the 0.99 starting free shipping deals, as I know when I'm buying, I usually end up getting the better price when I snipe an auction last minute that starts out this way. If the item is highly sought after I can understand this logic (build up interest / watches), but I find I get more from my items if I have a BIN price and a starting bid slightly lower than that BIN value.

There are people out there who don't like to bid and don't like to wait for auctions to end, and will go for the cheapest BIN price than look for the lowest bidding price, and I've found I've made more on common items that way. Plus you get the Paypal transfer immediately with BIN as opposed to regular auctions.

I have such a love/hate relationship with eBay itself.

When I first started selling a lot I had trouble keeping up with the shipping. My fault, I admit this. I sold about 30 games at the same time and was late shipping out 1/3 of them, so naturally my DSR for s/h time SUCKED. But like 4.6 sucked....

So, anyway...a year later I still have to wait for my items to get delivered before I get the paypal money. Despite the fact my lowest DSR is a 4.8 and despite having slow s/h at the beginning I have over 99% positive feedback, and my bad DSR ratings the past 6 months have 0% bad ratings...

It REALLY pissed me off when it happened because I sold a $300 phone, shipped it out and when I went to use my Paypal card it was declined. They didn't notify me they were withholding funds, just decided to do it.




And what REALLY REALLY pisses me off is USPS SUCKS!!!!....sometimes items just get stuck in random spots for days.....sometimes the mailman doesn't update the package as delivered!!!!!!. I sold a $150 phone earlier this month and it was never scanned when they delivered it so I had to wait 21 days for the money. SO ANNOYING.

And I do SO much to make sure my items are out on time now, and it doesn't matter. It takes forever to get the DSR back to normal, especially when you aren't selling in mass amounts and some buyers refuse to leave feedback.

Today I got a game mailed in printer paper and scotch tape.

Take some pride in what you do......

Originally Posted by GBAstar Today I got a game mailed in printer paper and scotch tape. Take some pride in what you do......

I got a DVD mailed in a wrapped plastic bag. Though that was Half.com...