The General eBay Rant Thread

[quote name='major morgan'][rant]

I'm so irritated with slow/non paying bidders.

I understand people aren't in front of a computer or have access 24/7, but holy shit. If you SNIPE bid an auction, doesn't it occur to you that you will have to pay for the item? If you've just won the auction, why would you want to wait any longer to pay if you're right there on the computer/phone bidding on something at the last second?

I'm so glad ebay changed the waiting period to 2 days to open NPB cases. I sent a message to one buyer saying I will open a case against them if they don't respond/pay and they paid fairly quickly. I now currently have yet another bidder who has not yet paid me or even contacted me.

[/rant]

I normally do BIN items, but prior to the change over in fee structure, I would do auctions for the less expensive items. It might be time to do BIN exclusively since there's no real incentive to do auctions anymore. At least then I don't have to deal with this NPB crap.[/QUOTE]

Do you print out your label and have it ready to go the minute they pay? It goes both ways, if somebody doesn't want to pay that same day you said it yourself that they have two days. I bet when somebody ask you if you shipped it yet you respond by saying that eBay gave you such and such time to get it delivered on time.
 
[quote name='TiKi2']Are you serious dude. You bitching about getting feedback. Better watch out you might not like what you get.[/QUOTE]

?

I specifically said that it's annoying when buyers don't leave feedback, as it makes it harder to build up a seller rating.

As for your veiled threat I'm not sure how to respond to that.
 
[quote name='pitfallharry219']Just to update this situation, I got a message from him today that read "My address was wrong. What do I need to do?" :headache:

I told him it was already shipped, and that the best he could hope for was for it to be forwarded to him. I have a feeling this is going to bite me in the ass somehow.[/QUOTE]


Have him call his old local post office. If he lives close by then they can hold it for him to come pick up. If not then they can make sure that it gets to the right address. I've had this happen a few times over the years and this seems to be the best way to correct the issue. Though I also follow up with the local post office the item is being mailed to. Sure it takes some extra time out of your day but it sure beats the headache of the item not getting to the buyer regardless of who's mistake it is.
 
[quote name='inm8num2']?

I specifically said that it's annoying when buyers don't leave feedback, as it makes it harder to build up a seller rating.

As for your veiled threat I'm not sure how to respond to that.[/QUOTE]

Veiled threat? Stop being such a forum pansy. Internet kids are so soft nowadays.

How about you message every buyer you have and ask for feedback. That works.
 
[quote name='TiKi2']
How about you message every buyer you have and ask for feedback. That works.[/QUOTE]

Even though that may work most of the time, I would highly advise against this.
 
Feedback is and should be optional. I don't leave neutral, I just be nice and leave none. If I had to peoples ratings would suffer.

As for timeline, I specify a three day handling time and though I usually ship in 1 or 2 days, I have taken 3 a few times though and never had a complaint.
 
[quote name='kodave']To be honest, I'm not taking the 10 seconds or however long it takes to send a message to a buyer to let them know when I'm going to pay if I'm going to pay in that first 48 hour window but for some reason I don't pay immediately. They are getting their money in a reasonable amount of time within the rules of eBay and within the personal guidelines most sellers set for their buyers. If for some reason I wasn't going to be able to pay in the first 48 hours, then a message is definitely necessary, not only as a courtesy, but also so the seller doesn't go off opening an unpaid item case.

As to your flip side argument - buyers need to read the fine print. I believe I specify a three day handling time to ship the item after I get a cleared payment from them. eBaying isn't my main job - sometimes I don't have the time to print labels, scrounge around the box/mailer collection, securely pack everything, then hustle it over to the post office. Sometimes if there are multiple items being sold to multiple buyers, I try to pack and ship them off all at the same time. So if one of my buyers is taking longer than another to pay, then that first buyer is going to be waiting just a little bit longer - but it's all within the specified time frame I gave them.

I've bought things from sellers who have had an extended shipping period of like 10 days or something - I assume they ship out once a week or so. I paid immediately then waited a week before they even got it in the mail. Would I have liked it in the mail the next day? Sure, because why not get it sooner? But they specified it would take them a long time and I agreed to that by bidding on the item. If I was in a rush to get anything, I certainly wouldn't bother getting it off eBay. Even with a couple days handling time and say, 2-3 day Priority Mail it could very well be a week before the item gets to me.

And if you're going out of town - eBay has a vacation mode (if you have a store). I would actually be somewhat annoyed if you specified X amount of handling time in your listings but then were out of town for three weeks on vacation and you didn't bother to set your account to vacation mode to specify a longer handling time prior to my purchase of the item, or if you didn't update your listings with a note saying you wouldn't be able to ship between X and Y dates. (Obviously some kind of emergency would be a different situation where some more human understanding would be necessary.) While I just said I wouldn't buy anything off eBay if I was in a rush, I still expect sellers to live up to what they advertise in terms of mailing methods (i.e. paying for one method but the seller actually uses a less expensive slower one), handling time, etc.[/QUOTE]

Agree to disagree. I normally wouldn't expect payment immediately on auctions - but not to have my point be lost in all of this, my whole rant was based on people who snipe bid on the auction with a minute or less left, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay and do not respond to invoices/messages. It's one thing to be proactive and message a seller to say you're waiting on something in order to pay, it's another thing to ignore messages coming from the seller. In any case, you feel sending a message is a waste of time, I feel it's a courtesy to the seller that you aren't a deadbeat bidder who is dicking them around and "forgot" or "don't have the money anymore". I've had to deal with a few NPB's with those kinds of excuses before so I don't like for things to drag on. I'm so glad ebay lowered the payment period to 48 hours!

It doesn't really matter what a seller's listed S&H time is. A buyer can have an unrealistic expectation on shipping time and can ding a seller's DSRs (or even negative feedback) for whatever reason. An asshat buyer can easily give a 1 on S&H time for no justifiable reason even if the seller met or exceeded their promise on S&H time in the listing. On the other hand, sellers have no way to rate a buyer who takes 47 hours and 59 minutes to pay for an item compared to someone who pays in a more timely fashion. Ebay's feedback/DSRs are a helpful in filtering out the bad sellers, but there is no way to know who the bad buyers are.

Selling on ebay for me is merely a venue to unload stuff I no longer wish to own and take up space. I don't view/treat is a job, but I do keep on top of the sales so I can get that stuff out my door. Getting back that space (and having some money to show for it) is motivation enough for me. I completely understand how people want/need to ship several things at the same time because of distance to the post office, but in my situation I'm fortunate enough to drive by a post office right by my home every day so it's not an issue for me.

I'm fully aware of vacation mode. However, since I don't have an ebay store (and don't intend to), I did not have that option. You feel it's a waste of time to take 10 seconds to message a seller, but imagine how much time it'd take to revise over 30 listings with a vacation note; and to then re-revise them once you've returned. Also, even ending the listings early would cost just as much time to re-list, plus make me lose out on all the listing fees. So while I was on vacation, I just messaged the buyer and offered them a full refund if they didn't want to wait until I returned. I think I sold about 10 items during that time and not a single buyer gave me issue. I get ebay notifications on my phone, so I was messaging the buyers within an hour or two explaining the situation and offering refunds if they didn't want to wait. I don't see anything wrong with how I handled it. It's not like I ignored my listings/buyers while I was gone.

[quote name='skiizim']Do you print out your label and have it ready to go the minute they pay? It goes both ways, if somebody doesn't want to pay that same day you said it yourself that they have two days. I bet when somebody ask you if you shipped it yet you respond by saying that eBay gave you such and such time to get it delivered on time.[/QUOTE]

No, it's not ready immediately because I don't sit at a computer 24/7, but I do find a way to print and ship it within 24 hours of payment (Mon-Sat). If they pay early enough in the day, it will even go out the same day. In the 100+ sales I've made in the last 6 months, I have not had a single buyer ask me about 'when I shipped it' because I manage for it to get out that quickly. With the exception of when I was on vacation, every item I've sold out to be shipped within 24 business hours.

Ebay changed the payment time to 48 hours for payment because many buyers drag their feet on paying, which really shouldn't take that long. 48 hours is a reasonable time to pay. Again, my gripe is with the buyers who actually watched the auction end, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay while ignoring invoices/messages.
 
[quote name='TiKi2']Veiled threat? Stop being such a forum pansy. Internet kids are so soft nowadays.[/QUOTE]

LOL what a hardass you must be in person.

How about you message every buyer you have and ask for feedback. That works.
Click to expand...
They don't respond...hence the issue. Try using your brains. ;)
 
[quote name='major morgan']Agree to disagree. I normally wouldn't expect payment immediately on auctions - but not to have my point be lost in all of this, my whole rant was based on people who snipe bid on the auction with a minute or less left, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay and do not respond to invoices/messages. It's one thing to be proactive and message a seller to say you're waiting on something in order to pay, it's another thing to ignore messages coming from the seller. In any case, you feel sending a message is a waste of time, I feel it's a courtesy to the seller that you aren't a deadbeat bidder who is dicking them around and "forgot" or "don't have the money anymore". I've had to deal with a few NPB's with those kinds of excuses before so I don't like for things to drag on. I'm so glad ebay lowered the payment period to 48 hours!

It doesn't really matter what a seller's listed S&H time is. A buyer can have an unrealistic expectation on shipping time and can ding a seller's DSRs (or even negative feedback) for whatever reason. An asshat buyer can easily give a 1 on S&H time for no justifiable reason even if the seller met or exceeded their promise on S&H time in the listing. On the other hand, sellers have no way to rate a buyer who takes 47 hours and 59 minutes to pay for an item compared to someone who pays in a more timely fashion. Ebay's feedback/DSRs are a helpful in filtering out the bad sellers, but there is no way to know who the bad buyers are.

Selling on ebay for me is merely a venue to unload stuff I no longer wish to own and take up space. I don't view/treat is a job, but I do keep on top of the sales so I can get that stuff out my door. Getting back that space (and having some money to show for it) is motivation enough for me. I completely understand how people want/need to ship several things at the same time because of distance to the post office, but in my situation I'm fortunate enough to drive by a post office right by my home every day so it's not an issue for me.

I'm fully aware of vacation mode. However, since I don't have an ebay store (and don't intend to), I did not have that option. You feel it's a waste of time to take 10 seconds to message a seller, but imagine how much time it'd take to revise over 30 listings with a vacation note; and to then re-revise them once you've returned. Also, even ending the listings early would cost just as much time to re-list, plus make me lose out on all the listing fees. So while I was on vacation, I just messaged the buyer and offered them a full refund if they didn't want to wait until I returned. I think I sold about 10 items during that time and not a single buyer gave me issue. I get ebay notifications on my phone, so I was messaging the buyers within an hour or two explaining the situation and offering refunds if they didn't want to wait. I don't see anything wrong with how I handled it. It's not like I ignored my listings/buyers while I was gone.



No, it's not ready immediately because I don't sit at a computer 24/7, but I do find a way to print and ship it within 24 hours of payment (Mon-Sat). If they pay early enough in the day, it will even go out the same day. In the 100+ sales I've made in the last 6 months, I have not had a single buyer ask me about 'when I shipped it' because I manage for it to get out that quickly. With the exception of when I was on vacation, every item I've sold out to be shipped within 24 business hours.

Ebay changed the payment time to 48 hours for payment because many buyers drag their feet on paying, which really shouldn't take that long. 48 hours is a reasonable time to pay. Again, my gripe is with the buyers who actually watched the auction end, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay while ignoring invoices/messages.[/QUOTE]

What is the difference between someone who "snipes" and watches the auction end and pays 48 hours later and someone who put in a max bid well ahead of time, won, and then pays 48 hours later? Either way you're still getting your money within the alotted time. It's like you're personally getting offended over the fact one person was sitting at their computer and the other wasn't when the end result is exactly the same and perfectly within the rules of eBay as well as the person rules of the majority of sellers.

I don't need to message a seller even as a courtesy to let them know I'm not a deadbeat buyer. That's what my feedback rating is for, where I have plenty of positive feedback both as a buyer and as a seller. That's what the exclusion rules are for when you set up your auction to prevent deadbeats from bidding in the first place. That's what the seller's own personal rules are for so they can try to cancel bids if someone looks like a deadbeat. If the seller is getting antsy about not getting an immediate payment on an auction when they will otherwise get their payment within the acceptable 48 hours, they shouldn't be running auctions. Do BINs and require immediate payment.

Apply the above paragraph to your rant about essentially complaining there are no buyer-DSRs to knock down a peg if someone pays WITHIN the first 48 hours. You're no better than the buyers who knock down a sellers DSRs even though everything was done as contracted. 47 hours and 59 minutes IS TIMELY FASHION. If you don't like that, STOP RUNNING AUCTIONS.

Your whole rant is almost contradictory - you say "48 hours is a reasonable time to pay." then immediately follow it up with "Again, my gripe is with the buyers who actually watched the auction end, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay while ignoring invoices/messages."

You're damn right I'm going to "ignore" your invoices and messages in the first 48 hours if I can't pay immediately but will pay within those 48 hours, regardless of if I bid ahead of time or sniped at the last second. Anything within those first 48 hours is essentially a courtesy reminder with no response necessary - you're going to get your money within the perfectly reasonable allotted time. If one hasn't paid after 48 hours and ignores invoices or messages, it becomes a different story.

Your whole complaint is honestly ridiculous. Everyone hates non-paying buyers, every seller deals with them at some point, but there is no enforceable distinction between "snipers" and people who bid ahead of time and win. As long as the payment comes within 48 hours, everyone is playing by the rules. If you really can't handle that, stop running auctions and stick to BINs with immediate payment required.
 
Seriously a punishment for not leaving feedback?

Sometimes I don't pay in the first 48hrs because I'm waiting to see how other items will go. But if the item is ending in a week then I will contact the seller and tell him that I'm waiting on another item so that I can combine shipping and I offer to pay what I have already won. Every seller has told me to just hold the payment.
 
I have currently about 3 payments I'm waiting on since 5/5/13. Not too bad, but I just ended a claim with another buyer, who had yet to pay since 4/25/13. It seems harder now, I have a few things listed now and have to guess maybe 1 or 2 out of my 6 items ending today, will be the same :/
 
I usually end up getting fucked when buyers don't pay. The item almost always ends up going for less the second time, and all my second chance offer options have always magically bought one straight after mine ended. This always seems to happen. It's really annoying. There's also times that I need the money right away, so waiting an additional week and a half (new listing time and waiting for original payment) can really not help matters. I wish eBay had stricter rules for payment time.
 
[quote name='kodave']What is the difference between someone who "snipes" and watches the auction end and pays 48 hours later and someone who put in a max bid well ahead of time, won, and then pays 48 hours later? Either way you're still getting your money within the alotted time. It's like you're personally getting offended over the fact one person was sitting at their computer and the other wasn't when the end result is exactly the same and perfectly within the rules of eBay as well as the person rules of the majority of sellers.[/QUOTE]

The difference is that someone who snipes the bid is right there at the computer and could pay upon completion - but they don't for whatever reason. You can say that I'm offended at it, but I'm truly not. It's just that I'd much rather get the stuff sent out to the people rather than wonder if they're going to pay me.

I don't need to message a seller even as a courtesy to let them know I'm not a deadbeat buyer. That's what my feedback rating is for, where I have plenty of positive feedback both as a buyer and as a seller. That's what the exclusion rules are for when you set up your auction to prevent deadbeats from bidding in the first place. That's what the seller's own personal rules are for so they can try to cancel bids if someone looks like a deadbeat. If the seller is getting antsy about not getting an immediate payment on an auction when they will otherwise get their payment within the acceptable 48 hours, they shouldn't be running auctions. Do BINs and require immediate payment.
Click to expand...

You know you're not a deadbeat buyer, the seller doesn't. Past feedback isn't always indicative of a particular transaction either. It's always possible for a buyer with countless feedback to not pay for an item. Heck, even some well established CAG traders have had issues here before. My point is that "past performance isn't a guarantee of future returns".

Yes, the exclusion rules exist, but that's only applicable to repeat offenders. What happens in the cases where someone with no prior strikes on their account doesn't pay this one time? I have done numerous BINs with immediate payment, but as I said previously I have been doing auctions on items that are inexpensive (~$10). With the new fee structure in place, doing BIN exclusively is probably more beneficial now.

Apply the above paragraph to your rant about essentially complaining there are no buyer-DSRs to knock down a peg if someone pays WITHIN the first 48 hours. You're no better than the buyers who knock down a sellers DSRs even though everything was done as contracted. 47 hours and 59 minutes IS TIMELY FASHION. If you don't like that, STOP RUNNING AUCTIONS.
Click to expand...

I don't care if they have buyer DSRs or not. I'm just stating the difference in the situations. Some buyers have expectations from sellers that are unrealistic and then hurt their DSRs or feedback as a result.

Your whole rant is almost contradictory - you say "48 hours is a reasonable time to pay." then immediately follow it up with "Again, my gripe is with the buyers who actually watched the auction end, yet still take 36-48 hours to pay while ignoring invoices/messages."
Click to expand...

Again, I was irritated with the fact that people bid on my stuff at the last moment and then waited almost 2 days to pay. If someone had bid on a Tuesday and the auction ends on Saturday, I'm not going to get all bent out of shape that they didn't pay me right then and there since it's possible they weren't watching the auction end. In that case, I'll just wait the (up to) 48 hours.

You're damn right I'm going to "ignore" your invoices and messages in the first 48 hours if I can't pay immediately but will pay within those 48 hours, regardless of if I bid ahead of time or sniped at the last second. Anything within those first 48 hours is essentially a courtesy reminder with no response necessary - you're going to get your money within the perfectly reasonable allotted time. If one hasn't paid after 48 hours and ignores invoices or messages, it becomes a different story.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to strike a nerve. Again, you are taking your experiences and applying it as a universal truth across ebay. The fact is that not EVERYONE pays within 48 hours - NPBs do exist. Just because you pay for your stuff doesn't mean that everyone does. I've dealt with several "I forgot"s and "I don't have enough money for it now"s, so forgive me for being skeptical when someone chooses to wait to pay.

Your whole complaint is honestly ridiculous. Everyone hates non-paying buyers, every seller deals with them at some point, but there is no enforceable distinction between "snipers" and people who bid ahead of time and win. As long as the payment comes within 48 hours, everyone is playing by the rules. If you really can't handle that, stop running auctions and stick to BINs with immediate payment required.
Click to expand...

That's fine. You don't have to agree with what I said. The world would be boring if everyone had the same opinion. I know and understand people are "playing by the rules" if they still pay in 48 hours, but that doesn't mean I can't still have some doubts on whether or not a buyer is going to give me any trouble. My main reason for using the auctions (prior to the fees change) was that it was for inexpensive items and being able to use the 50 free listings. Now that FVF costs are "equal" and first 50 BIN/Auction items are free to list, I can go to BIN exclusively.

I'm finished talking about this. I just wanted to let off some steam at the moment and I definitely wasn't looking for a lengthy discussion on the matter. We clearly don't agree and it wouldn't make any sense to go on any longer in discussing it. Good day, sir.
 
[quote name='major morgan']The difference is that someone who snipes the bid is right there at the computer and could pay upon completion - but they don't for whatever reason. You can say that I'm offended at it, but I'm truly not. It's just that I'd much rather get the stuff sent out to the people rather than wonder if they're going to pay me.
So then by your logic, the second anyone who didn't snipe but won sits down at their computer on the internet, they should pay right there and then that second. They're on the internet, they received emails they won - why aren't they paying you right there and then? Why aren't you paranoid about them? It's real bad logic.

You know you're not a deadbeat buyer, the seller doesn't. Past feedback isn't always indicative of a particular transaction either. It's always possible for a buyer with countless feedback to not pay for an item. Heck, even some well established CAG traders have had issues here before. My point is that "past performance isn't a guarantee of future returns".

Yes, the exclusion rules exist, but that's only applicable to repeat offenders. What happens in the cases where someone with no prior strikes on their account doesn't pay this one time? I have done numerous BINs with immediate payment, but as I said previously I have been doing auctions on items that are inexpensive (~$10). With the new fee structure in place, doing BIN exclusively is probably more beneficial now.
Click to expand...

So basically you're going to be paranoid and skeptic of everyone. If that's how you want to sell your stuff online, fine. There's no need to get uppity until after 48 hours have passed, but you're getting uppity the second your auction is over. Are you even sitting there watching your auctions end?

I don't care if they have buyer DSRs or not. I'm just stating the difference in the situations. Some buyers have expectations from sellers that are unrealistic and then hurt their DSRs or feedback as a result.
Click to expand...

And you have expectations from buyers that are completely unrealistic and by your logic and line of thinking, you would penalize buyers who snipe but pay within 48 hours just because you're upset they didn't pay you immediately. Your own personal standards aren't applicable to eBay's rules or to the vast majority of buyers who insert their own language.

Again, I was irritated with the fact that people bid on my stuff at the last moment and then waited almost 2 days to pay. If someone had bid on a Tuesday and the auction ends on Saturday, I'm not going to get all bent out of shape that they didn't pay me right then and there since it's possible they weren't watching the auction end. In that case, I'll just wait the (up to) 48 hours.


Sorry, I didn't mean to strike a nerve. Again, you are taking your experiences and applying it as a universal truth across ebay. The fact is that not EVERYONE pays within 48 hours - NPBs do exist. Just because you pay for your stuff doesn't mean that everyone does. I've dealt with several "I forgot"s and "I don't have enough money for it now"s, so forgive me for being skeptical when someone chooses to wait to pay.
Click to expand...

And now you're conflating two different scenarios.

On one hand, you're being pissed off about not getting payment WITHIN 48 hours just because someone sniped the auction, when the buyer is under no obligation to pay any sooner than within that 48 hour time frame.

People who don't pay within 48 hours are a problem, BUT THAT'S A TOTALLY DIFFERENT DISCUSSION. You're getting nervous ONE SECOND after an auction is over, instead of one second after 48 hours passes. NPBs are going to come from snipers and from people who bid well in advance. There's no sense in worrying or doubting people until after the 48 hour mark, because as it was explained posts ago, there are many legitimate reasons not to pay immediately after a snipe and the buyer doesn't have any obligation to notify you about their reasons for not paying immediately as long as they pay within 48 hours.

Your paranoia isn't and shouldn't be the norm across eBay sellers.
Click to expand...
 
Don't forget that there are bid sniping services. It is entirely possible that the person arranged a bid early and it wasn't put on ebay until the last second.
 
[quote name='Hemi']Wanna save yourself the trouble then? List it as buy it now and require immediate payment...[/QUOTE]

That requires the eBayer to have a eBay store account...
 
[quote name='CAG90210']That requires the eBayer to have a eBay store account...[/QUOTE]

No, it doesn't...

All this NPB talk would be a moot point if eBay would just IP Ban NPB's that have had their account banned. But, that is "bad for business"... :roll:
 
[quote name='sdragon']No, it doesn't...

All this NPB talk would be a moot point if eBay would just IP Ban NPB's that have had their account banned. But, that is "bad for business"... :roll:[/QUOTE]

Couldn't they just use a VPN to get around that?
 
In regards to the fixed price listing with BIN, whenever I try to require immediate payment (checkmark the box), I get this message. So as far as I can tell, not everyone can require immediate payment (and I think Im a bronze Power Seller, just for a reference). Click on it for the larger image if it's not clear.

 
[quote name='Hemi']Wanna save yourself the trouble then? List it as buy it now and require immediate payment...[/QUOTE]

Immediate payment requires an upgraded PayPal account. Regular members can't select that option.
 
[quote name='Billytwoshoes']In regards to the fixed price listing with BIN, whenever I try to require immediate payment (checkmark the box), I get this message. So as far as I can tell, not everyone can require immediate payment (and I think Im a bronze Power Seller, just for a reference). Click on it for the larger image if it's not clear.

[/QUOTE]

Click on the link and upgrade to Paypal Premier.
 
[quote name='209chromatic']Click on the link and upgrade to Paypal Premier.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I just did that, I always thought there was some extra fee associated with it, but the only restriction I see is that now all money transfers into your account take the standard 2.9% + $0.30 fee. With a personal account, you can have people transfer money non-sale related with no additional fees.

Which is fine by me, since I only use it for eBay anyways, good to know.
 
In defense of major morgan, I understand where he's coming from. There is an expectation created once an interested bidder becomes the winning buyer. If the bidder knows that he's the winning bid at the end of the listing, he should have the ability to pay at the time since it takes 10 seconds to log into Paypal and wire the payment or at least communicate an expected delay. 48 hours is a reasonable payment turnaround but snipers aren't always the winners.

The issue is really getting to understanding why payments aren't immediate. In some cases, my buyers simply don't have the funds in their Paypal accounts and are waiting for their funding source to come through. In the old days with NPB's, I would usually get a "I'm just waiting to get paid" response if I was even lucky to hear back. The majority of my ebay sales are video game related so that skews the target audience. There's three groups of buyers I commonly run into:

1. average folks buying games for themselves.

2. kids that don't have access to their parent's Paypal password

3. parents that know nothing about games and are just buying whatever their kid is asking for

Groups 2 and 3 usually result in a delay. Either the kids go back begging their parents to pay me to get their stuff shipped out or the parents have to check with their kids to make sure they got the right item on eBay before they submit payment. Sometimes people just forget their Paypal password when their accounts have been inactive for months. Group 1 is usually the ones that never need to send you an email and are prompt with payments.
 
[quote name='sdragon']No, it doesn't...

All this NPB talk would be a moot point if eBay would just IP Ban NPB's that have had their account banned. But, that is "bad for business"... :roll:[/QUOTE]

I don't think you understand how IP addresses work. They are not as fixed as you would like to think.
 
I just realized something. A buyer purchased something from me at 6:30 a.m. on 5/7. eBay gave him an estimated delivery date of 5/11. I ship first-class and say so in the listing. I choose 1 day of handling time. I live in PA. The package is going to Oregon. 4 days seems like the best case scenario. Why would it be a "no later than 5/11" scenario?
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']I just realized something. A buyer purchased something from me at 6:30 a.m. on 5/7. eBay gave him an estimated delivery date of 5/11. I ship first-class and say so in the listing. I choose 1 day of handling time. I live in PA. The package is going to Oregon. 4 days seems like the best case scenario. Why would it be a "no later than 5/11" scenario?[/QUOTE]
Seems like no matter where the destination address is (from Hawaii to New York), first class always gets there in about two days for my shipments. Sometimes three, but most of the time within two. It helps that the post office near my work is one of the central hubs for my area, so that usually saves a day dropping off there.
 
Can I revise a listing for additional international shipping options? I did the global shipping program but did not specify any additional int'l locations. I've got two potential bidders in Russia and Saudi Arabia that are being blocked from bidding.

I have no excluded locations in my preferences. However, when I try to edit the listing, I can't edit the shipping sections.
 
So I had one of those GameCube bongos and I was thinking of eBaying it... USPS Parcel shipping was like $11 for a cross-country scenario. These things seem to sell for like $10 shipped maybe. After shipping, eBay fees and PayPal fees, the seller is losing money on the venture. You'd have to sell at $14 just to break even. Not to mention the initial costs of buying the bongo (however unlikely to be recouped). Do people not do this math ahead of time? Throwing them in the trash makes more financial sense than selling them at a loss like that.
 
Yeah I don't understand that either. I also don't get how some sellers especially those from overseas are selling items for $0.99 with free shipping (like ear buds). I don't care if they got the item for free, the postage and Paypal fees alone has to cost more than $0.99. Same thing with people selling games for the cost of postage. Like this game: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NFL-GAMEDAY-2003-Good-PlayStation2-Playstation-2-Video-Games-/151039637272 $2.00 with free shipping. I had some worthless games like that like some games I used as fillers years ago to get free shipping from EB, I took them to Toys R Us for $0.20 each rather than try to sell them and lose money.
 
Yeah, I buy DS screen protectors for less than 50 cents with free shipping. No idea how they get here, but they do. They come from China, maybe postage there is just a fraction of a penny.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']Yeah I don't understand that either. I also don't get how some sellers especially those from overseas are selling items for $0.99 with free shipping (like ear buds). I don't care if they got the item for free, the postage and Paypal fees alone has to cost more than $0.99. Same thing with people selling games for the cost of postage. Like this game: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NFL-GAMEDAY-2003-Good-PlayStation2-Playstation-2-Video-Games-/151039637272 $2.00 with free shipping. I had some worthless games like that like some games I used as fillers years ago to get free shipping from EB, I took them to Toys R Us for $0.20 each rather than try to sell them and lose money.[/QUOTE]

Our government and USPS subsidizes shipping rates for Chinese sellers. They don't pay for postage like we do by the parcel; instead they pay per Kilo or pound (I can't remember which) of bulk mail so hypothetically they could send hundreds of screen protectors to the U.S. for just a few dollars.

Someone posted an article that had the rates awhile back on one of the eBay boards and it was something ridiculous like a couple dollars per Kilo of bulk mail and that includes tracking once the item arrives in the U.S. and is processed by USPS yet it costs at least $3x.xx to spend something anywhere outside the U.S. (except Canada) and get a delivery scan.
 
Thanks for the explanation, I have been wondering about it for a while since it never made sense how it was possible for those sellers to make money.
 
So I have an auction with 43 people watching it and 3 days left.

Would it be a total dick move to add a subtitle to say how many people are watching it? I definately don't want to turn off any buyers, but my worry is that most will try to snipe at the end and i'd be losing a decent amount of bidding.
 
[quote name='xtreme_Zr2']So I have an auction with 43 people watching it and 3 days left.

Would it be a total dick move to add a subtitle to say how many people are watching it? I definately don't want to turn off any buyers, but my worry is that most will try to snipe at the end and i'd be losing a decent amount of bidding.[/QUOTE]

I don't see much benefit to adding a subtitle. I don't think it will make a difference because some people watch different auctions to see which one they get. If they have a price that they're willing to pay, they aren't going to bid more that that. At the same time, I don't see it as a dick move.
 
[quote name='xtreme_Zr2']So I have an auction with 43 people watching it and 3 days left.

Would it be a total dick move to add a subtitle to say how many people are watching it? I definately don't want to turn off any buyers, but my worry is that most will try to snipe at the end and i'd be losing a decent amount of bidding.[/QUOTE]
In my experience from selling, most of my bids happen in the last several minutes. I've had stff go from a few dollars to a couple hundred in the last minute of an auction.

I do the same thing when bidding also, I bid and click submit with my max price with 3 or 4 seconds left.
 
[quote name='xtreme_Zr2']So I have an auction with 43 people watching it and 3 days left.

Would it be a total dick move to add a subtitle to say how many people are watching it? I definately don't want to turn off any buyers, but my worry is that most will try to snipe at the end and i'd be losing a decent amount of bidding.[/QUOTE]

It'd be an interesting experiment at least, but I don't think it will help much. I know I personally watch items out of curiosity for how much they sell for even though I'm not going to bid. Sometime I watch items that are the same as what I am selling to see if my "competition" sells their copy, and if so, for how much.

As long as your end time is something reasonable (i.e. not Saturday night at 10 PM), you'll likely get a fair value regardless of if people bid ahead of time or snipe. You said 3 days, so I assume it ends Sunday. Sunday afternoon/evening is a good time for selling, so you should be fine.
 
[quote name='xtreme_Zr2']So I have an auction with 43 people watching it and 3 days left.

Would it be a total dick move to add a subtitle to say how many people are watching it? I definately don't want to turn off any buyers, but my worry is that most will try to snipe at the end and i'd be losing a decent amount of bidding.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't put it and if I were one that was planning to bid the idea of so many watching it would probably turn me off from it and I wouldn't bid.(so I wouldn't even be contributing to the bid price rising) but that's just me. And there are sites where you could type in the item number and see how many people are watching it, so people that are really following the item might have already looked there.
 
Thanks for the replies. I also think it would be just a little shady, ie. I wouldn't bid on an auction that did that. But just wanted to see what CAGs thought. I've never had this many people watching before, getting excited.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']Yeah I don't understand that either. I also don't get how some sellers especially those from overseas are selling items for $0.99 with free shipping (like ear buds). I don't care if they got the item for free, the postage and Paypal fees alone has to cost more than $0.99. Same thing with people selling games for the cost of postage. Like this game: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NFL-GAMEDAY-2003-Good-PlayStation2-Playstation-2-Video-Games-/151039637272 $2.00 with free shipping. I had some worthless games like that like some games I used as fillers years ago to get free shipping from EB, I took them to Toys R Us for $0.20 each rather than try to sell them and lose money.[/QUOTE]

This has happened to me for 3 xbox games that I got for about $1 each. The postage was shown on the package and each one was close to $3. I felt sorry for the guys on loosing money but I am happy I got some good games like KOTOR 2 and hulk ultimate destruction.
 
Quick tip for anyone that is as slow as I am on Ebay. I did quite a bit of research this weekend into Ebay's analytics search tool and listed a couple of items.

I added:

14 day return policy (eh, we'll try it for a few and see if I get burned)
An overnight shipping option
Add'l international shipping (flat rate) outside of the GSP
And used the standard item description they give you when you type in the UPC (I only added "Complete") after their default description.

My auctions now show up as #2 or #3 when searching from the best match. I'm not a power seller or 'top-rated' yet because I haven't sold more than 100 items.

DO NOT USE ASTERISKS OR "L@@K" in your description! I always said *Complete* or *Mint* and I think it was single handedly destroying my best match search placement.
 
Ok, so I need some advice for a very weird problem I have. I had a buyer message me saying that a game they purchased from me did not work and that they needed to return it. I received it today and originally thought they were trying to pull a fast one as it was the Platinum Hits version that they returned when I sent the original label.

So then I went to message them and try to nicely explain that the version they returned to me was not the one that I had sent them, and link back to the original listing to show them. So then I notice on the listing that they weren't the one that purchased the game from me, and a quick bidder search shows they purchased it from another seller that offers no returns.

So now I have their (broken) game, that was not purchased from me but an entirely different seller so what is the right thing to do in this messed up situation I got pulled in to?
 
Make him Paypal you cost of shipping and handling and just mail it back.doesn't involve you beyond that point so just make him pay for the trouble to mail it back.
 
3 Low Detailed Seller Ratings about my shipping and handling charges after 10 months of selling and my Top Rated Seller status gets taken away. Seems like bullshit....that is all.
 
[quote name='Eagle3ye']3 Low Detailed Seller Ratings about my shipping and handling charges after 10 months of selling and my Top Rated Seller status gets taken away. Seems like bullshit....that is all.[/QUOTE]
I've been listing everything free shipping now, as that will automatically get 5 stars in that category if they leave feedback. It does suck that all it takes is three bad ratings to get that status revoked, though.
 
I also changed to free shipping for almost everything I list to avoid that. It was getting annoying to get 1 star rating once in a while even when I was charging under $4 on shipping on a game. I hate the whole DSR system, I have also gotten some low ratings on shipping time despite shipping 1 to 2 days after selling an item (I list a 3 day handling time). It's not my fault if the Post Office occasionaly takes a week deliver a game sent 1st class. Although Top Rated doesn't really mean much anymore to me since I lost the 20% discount because 1 day handling time is unrealistic for me.
 
[quote name='Billytwoshoes']I've been listing everything free shipping now, as that will automatically get 5 stars in that category if they leave feedback. It does suck that all it takes is three bad ratings to get that status revoked, though.[/QUOTE]

The only problem now a days is if they can't get you there they hit your Description star instead. I agree he should offer the free shipping options and just make that cost part of the buy price to cover your butt, but be warned if you get a guy who wants to hit your stars they will. What really sucks are the fixed stars ebay pulls for the Toys R US and Buy.com (or Rukoden or whatever the hell it's called now). When TRU first came on to ebay they had tons of bad ratings that were suddenly gone. Funny how that happens on a so called level playing field.
 
Sold a $60 item to a guy in Singapore. Shipped it out, and according to the tracking information it left the US on April 13th and is "in transit to it's destination".

The guy decides to open an "item not received" claim via PayPal. The only thing I can really ask him to do is to check with his local customs facility (which he said he did and 'nothing'). It's in PayPal's hands now. Am I fucked here or what?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top