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Check out a Home Depot either early in the morning or late at night. A lot of associates just throw the box in the baler and let that crush it, but not until they are done their freight, so you might be able to find sonething. Wednesday night is a good night, as a lot of display areas get built Wednesday evenings (as that is when the supervisors or managers close).

Worse comes to worse, HD sells giant cardboard boxes.

I live in a college town, so my favorite place to look for boxes is in apartment recycling bins. Boxes of every shape and size. Free packing material too.

Also, my case was escalated to eBay. Her final message was, "I don't like the phone and just want my money back". I specifically said no returns in my auction. If she wins just because she doesn't want the phone, I'm going to go apeshit on eBay.

I use newspaper and Boxes from Sam's club. Bubble mailers I have 3 bags full from all the packages I get in the mail. Boxes the same, if you order stuff online and save the boxes then just re-use those. Tape can be found anywhere for 1$ a roll. Never a compliant about bad packaging. I have even been hacking together bubble envelopes for shipping the game guides, but I got the padded envelopes from Priority mail to cover my needs in that area now. I have bubble envelopes that are slightly too small for guides so I cut them and use 2 per guide. The guides seem better protected then if I used 1 envelope per guide.

I was also checking my guides and it seems quite a few of them have advertisements for Nintendo Power in them which would disqualify them for media mail so the priority mail envelopes keep me safe in that regard.

If you go out and buy bubble mailers, I have foubd that the Scotch Bubble Mailers sold at Target are slightly larger than other mailers, even other Scotch ones. They're the only ones I can fit DVDs with slipcovers into.

Originally Posted by SaraAB I was also checking my guides and it seems quite a few of them have advertisements for Nintendo Power in them which would disqualify them for media mail so the priority mail envelopes keep me safe in that regard.

I don't believe that disqualifies you. There's something about incidental or in-house advertising that's okay under media mail. Like the ads usually found at the back of books for "Look what else you can buy from us!" or "Look at all these other sweet books we've printed by this author!" Printed material like that is okay. But the USPS doesn't like magazines and single issue comic books because there are many multiple pages of advertising. Plus traditionally, magazines and single issue comic books are supposed to be mailed via a different class of shipping, but that's usually when they are first directly mailed to someone and doesn't consider re-sale perspective. So you would probably save yourself more than a few bucks shipping via Media Mail, but Priority Mail probably provides greater peace of mind.

Originally Posted by SaraAB I was also checking my guides and it seems quite a few of them have advertisements for Nintendo Power in them which would disqualify them for media mail so the priority mail envelopes keep me safe in that regard.

Its more like the ads comics have for things like Kool Aid that they are worried about, or magazines where every other page is an ad. I've specifically asked my local post master about guides and she said they are allowed under Media Mail.

Ugh eBay really needs to ban partial refunds. Seems once a week someone tries to go fishing for a partial refund.

I have one buyer who just messaged me who supposedly had a receiver get damaged in shipping that was wrapped in about 4 layers of bubblewrap, and double boxed. I take a look at their feedback and they have over 20 people they left feedback for either saying "item was received damaged seller sent $50 to cover the damage" or "item arrived damaged seller refused to compensate me for trouble"

I asked them for pictures and told them once I receive the pictures I will open the USPS claim and that they will have to surrender the item to their local post office. Most of the time that helps shut them up, as they want the item they just want half the money refunded. It is still a hassle and most times leads to negative feedback as they're upset they didn't get to scam someone.

What do you guys think about this situation:

I had a book for sale. Someone with a few dozen feedback score bid on it 4 days early. It was the only bid. My auction terms ask for payment 2 days after the end of the auction (to try and discourage people who bid but don't have the money to pay until a long time later). I invoiced the guy twice in the four days after he won. 4.5 days after the end of the auction he hadn't paid, so I opened an unpaid item case against him so I could get my fee charge credited back and relist the item. The 4 day waiting period of the unpaid item case pass and I receive no payment (so 8 days total without payment). I relist the item and add the buyer to my blocked bidder list (since I don't like buyers who waste my time).

Tonight I received a message from the buyer saying his phone was water damaged and he had to wait a week to get a new one. (We're now basically 2 weeks past his initial bid, 1.5 weeks from the end of the auction.) The buyer says he hadn't downloaded the eBay app yet (until now apparently?) and doesn't have a computer. He wants me to reverse the unpaid item case (I don't think that's even possible) so he can pay for it now. I already relisted the item two days ago. No bidders yet but someone has had the item on their watch list in the days prior to getting this message.

On one hand, I know shit happens and not everyone has a home PC with an internet connection. On the other hand, I think buyers need to be responsible for their actions if they're going to bid on something and enter into a contract to buy something. Go to the library and use their free computers. Borrow a friend's phone or computer for the 5 minutes it would take to pay. Etc.

What would you guys do in this situation? Ignore the guy, move on, and keep him on my block list? Or take him off my block list and tell him to bid on the new listing?

Personally, I wouldn't use a public computer like at the library to pay for something.

But still, I would ignore him and keep him blocked. I would rather not waste more time or take a risk on a problematic buyer. There's also the possibility that he forgot that he bid on your book so he's using a BS excuse to try to get his account cleared.

Ignore.

I say ignore, like you said he could've easily gone to the library or borrow a friend's phone. It's pretty hard to stay offline nowadays. He could've at the very least messaged you and ask if he could've paid when he recieved a new phone if he didn't want to pay in a public place. Well I offered my buyer $10 bucks back without a return of my item and he decided to ship it back to get his full refund. He says he is still going to open a dispute claim still. I figure he's just saying that to scare me or something but I already agreed to the refund as soon as I recieve my toy back.

Just got my ebay fees for the month 220 bux. really considering to stop selling on there, i cant be giving up such large amounts to them for almost nothing not to mention they own paypal which takes enough as it is

Originally Posted by granturismo Just got my ebay fees for the month 220 bux. really considering to stop selling on there, i cant be giving up such large amounts to them for almost nothing not to mention they own paypal which takes enough as it is

If you're getting an invoice of $220 then you're selling at a Power Seller rate. So unless you're hosting a fire sale at a big loss, you're still making decent coin on your stuff.

Amazon is more expensive. Craigslist is another option but you have to be super patient if you want to sell on there. There's cag but I doubt you'll get much on here. Trade in's aren't going to be spectacular in general either so it seems like to me eBay is the best place still.

Their business model is really neat. When everything's said and done, they make tons of money off of you by basically just letting you list crap on their website. You're doing all of the procuring, inventory, shipping, and customer service. It's just renting out their brand name in the end of the day. Paypal is a monster in itself. Their Paypal operating section is super profitable. Just a glorified online bank. eBay profits have been dipping lately so it'll be interesting to see if the suits loosen up and rethink about whether they should change their strategy on being more buyer centric than seller centric.

Originally Posted by kodave What would you guys do in this situation? Ignore the guy, move on, and keep him on my block list? Or take him off my block list and tell him to bid on the new listing?

I'll join in with the others, just ignore the guy, you gave him a fair enough shake, and someone else will eventually buy the book. I'd say write him a nice message saying that you blocked his account from your auctions, but that seems too oxymoronic.

hope people start listing usernames so others can block these moron scum

Originally Posted by Gamer SDP hope people start listing usernames so others can block these moron scum

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=148600

If I opened a video game store in my town it would be unprofitable from day one and I would likely lose a ton of money on the venture, not to mention I would have to use my collection to start the store up. Therefore I don't mind selling on ebay since I would have to pay a couple hundred dollars a month rent in some building in town and I might see only a few customers a day, most of whom probably won't buy anything since I have plenty of gaming retail in my area where these people could go to buy games.

Craigslist is not an option here for me since I am uncomfortable with the idea of meeting people in public for sales and there are a ton of CL scammers in my area. Now if I hold a yard sale and put an ad on craigslist for specific items and that they can be viewed at the sale then that is different.

I am sure the guides will be fine, but I am thinking with the 90 cent delivery confirmation for first class mail and the weight of some of my guides are quite heavy, just shipping them in a padded flat rate priority envelope makes more sense, and would be very similar to the cost of shipping with media mail with delivery confirmation. Plus it would get to the buyer faster, and I don't have to worry about items arriving postage due because they aren't allowed. I would also have to purchase envelopes from Sam's Club which would cut into my profits. Anything that cuts into my profits right now is a no no since selling on ebay could be very expensive if I was buying shipping materials.

Speaking of which its clear that sellers are using media mail illegally which is bad for all of us. I want to bid on an auction for some mouse pads that is up right now but the seller is saying they will be shipping them media mail. Now I know that mouse pads are not allowed to be shipped media mail and its right there in the auction that they will be shipping them media mail.

Here's a situation...

A buyer bought two items from me. A couple weeks later, he messages me saying he received 1 item but I know for a fact I sent him 2. He didn't open a claim yet, but knowing him he is going to in the future.

His address is also a freight forwarder, googling it.
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/for...=33817萙


There was also another cag that made a thread with the same address.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=299057

I have no idea how to win a case like this, and I've been a ebay seller since '06. Haven't had any problems in the last year until this happens. :(

Originally Posted by style_unseen Here's a situation... A buyer bought two items from me. A couple weeks later, he messages me saying he received 1 item but I know for a fact I sent him 2. He didn't open a claim yet, but knowing him he is going to in the future. His address is also a freight forwarder, googling it. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/for...=33817萙 There was also another cag that made a thread with the same address. http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=299057 I have no idea how to win a case like this, and I've been a ebay seller since '06. Haven't had any problems in the last year until this happens. :(

Did you pay for postage online or do you have your receipt from the post office? A receipt should have the weight of the package. From there you can make your case that there were indeed two of the item in the package if you can prove the weight of the shipping material plus each item. Unless you have pictures of the packing process, that will be your best bet to prove you sent two items with little other evidence. Then when he opens the case, tell eBay the address is a freight forwarding service, so it was delivered there and your end of the deal was fulfilled and someone in his freight forwarding service must have tampered with the package and stole his item.