The General eBay Rant Thread

[quote name='GBAstar']These are always a personal favorite (Keep in mind buyer paid Saturday evening):

I do not even have a shipping # and it has been two days since I bought it...I am wondering what is going on because I am hoping to have it for a birthday and it is not even shipped yet...

Let's remember that most sellers don't ship Saturday's (I do; but her purchase was made well after the post office closed), Sunday the post office is ALWAYS closed and today is a Federal Holiday (i.e. Post Office closed).[/QUOTE]

I sold Mario Galaxy pt. 1 to a kid a couple of years ago on eBay on the President's Day weekend too i think. Same exact message except he left it as a neg feedback instead of messaging me. I responded "how the hell do you expect me to ship an item out the day the post office is closed. Plus not everybody ships the first day possible anyways." Had to submit a revised feedback form and kid finally changed it. What's absurd is how eBay limits your feedback revision as if that's indicative of problems within your control :roll:
 
[quote name='ferant316']I have a Disc only copy of Dark Cloud 2 up, and on Friday I had someone message me asking if I would take $1.50 shipped for it as a disc only game is virtually trash.[/QUOTE]

I wonder if it's the same person mentioned on the previous page, that sent a message to a seller complaining about a disc only Xenoblade listing.
 
I had a guy offer me a Skyrim Download card for a new copy of BF3 Premium. The Skyrim gets about $25 and BF3 was getting me about $40. I told him I already had Skyrim so I did not need it. He writes me back and says I could just sell the Skyrim card. I was like I am already selling the BF3 so why would I trade it with you just to have to sell your stuff. I told him to sell it himself and buy BF3 if that is what he wanted.

Update. So far I have heard nothing back from my Prototype 2 scammer after I agreed to pay for the return but asked him to provide a tracking #. I am pretty sure he was just trying to get me to send him another game.
 
[quote name='cancerman1120']

Update. So far I have heard nothing back from my Prototype 2 scammer after I agreed to pay for the return but asked him to provide a tracking #. I am pretty sure he was just trying to get me to send him another game.[/QUOTE]

Since eBay as FINALLY started taking a serious look at bad buyer behavior a lot of buyers are on thin ice for opening too many claims.

What you'll start seeing now is buyers trying to get sellers to offer concessions or replacements.

Good for you for standing up for yourself. In almost every situation it should always be "...return for refund". That forces the buyers to decide if opening a claim or initiating a fraudulent return is worth being able to use eBay.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']Since eBay as FINALLY started taking a serious look at bad buyer behavior a lot of buyers are on thin ice for opening too many claims.

What you'll start seeing now is buyers trying to get sellers to offer concessions or replacements.

Good for you for standing up for yourself. In almost every situation it should always be "...return for refund". That forces the buyers to decide if opening a claim or initiating a fraudulent return is worth being able to use eBay.[/QUOTE]

Hey thanks. So I had a little surprise today when I checked my account. I am now a "power seller" according to Ebay. I am not sure exactly what I did to earn it but I am sure it won't last long. I am not planning to sell like I have been the last 2 months but it cannot hurt going forward to have that little symbol next to my name.
 
[quote name='cancerman1120']Hey thanks. So I had a little surprise today when I checked my account. I am now a "power seller" according to Ebay. I am not sure exactly what I did to earn it but I am sure it won't last long. I am not planning to sell like I have been the last 2 months but it cannot hurt going forward to have that little symbol next to my name.[/QUOTE]

You have to sell at least $1000 a month average for the last quarter for the minimum rank of bronze power seller.
 
[quote name='cancerman1120']Hey thanks. So I had a little surprise today when I checked my account. I am now a "power seller" according to Ebay. I am not sure exactly what I did to earn it but I am sure it won't last long. I am not planning to sell like I have been the last 2 months but it cannot hurt going forward to have that little symbol next to my name.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='addicted2games']You have to sell at least $1000 a month average for the last quarter for the minimum rank of bronze power seller.[/QUOTE]

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/sell-powersellers.html

What are the requirements?

To qualify for the PowerSeller program, sellers need to consistently sell a significant volume of items, provide a high level of service to their buyers, maintain a positive Feedback score, and meet the requirements for detailed seller ratings and eBay Buyer Protection and PayPal Buyer Protection case standards. Membership in the program is free.

You don't need to apply for the PowerSeller program. If you qualify, you'll automatically be included. Just check your Seller Dashboard to see if you've achieved PowerSeller status. PowerSeller levels include Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium depending on the number of items you've sold or the dollar amount of your sales.

If you're not a PowerSeller yet, you can always work your way up by meeting these requirements:
Be registered with eBay for at least 90 days.
Have an account in good standing.
Maintain a positive Feedback of 98% or higher over the past 12 months.
Follow all eBay policies.
Have a minimum of 100 transactions and $3,000 in sales with US buyers over the past 12 months.
Receive at least a 4.60 average from US buyers across all 4 detailed seller ratings (DSRs).
For all transactions with US buyers, have no more than 1.00% of transactions with low DSRs (1s or 2s) on item as described, and a maximum of 2.00% of low DSRs on communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling cost.
For all transactions with US buyers, have no more than 1.00% of transactions result in opened eBay Buyer Protection and PayPal Buyer Protection cases, and no more than 0.30% of transactions result in closed cases without seller resolution.
If your account falls below these requirements, you may lose your PowerSeller status.
 
Does anyone know what the cheapest way is to ship a single strategy guide? I have quite a few guides to sell and I need to start selling them since they are taking up space here and I am not using them. These guides are over 12 ounces so they don't qualify for first class mail. From discussion on here guides do not qualify for media mail for some reason. So what is the cheapest way to ship them? I do not mind providing my own packaging to ship them.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']Does anyone know what the cheapest way is to ship a single strategy guide? I have quite a few guides to sell and I need to start selling them since they are taking up space here and I am not using them. These guides are over 12 ounces so they don't qualify for first class mail. From discussion on here guides do not qualify for media mail for some reason. So what is the cheapest way to ship them? I do not mind providing my own packaging to ship them.[/QUOTE]

Media Mail is a gray area; certainly video games don't qualify for media mail. Out of curiosity what disqualifies game guides? I know if it has advertisements then its out....

Something you could look into is the Priority Mail Regional A Boxes (the ones that open from the side not the top). They are good size for guides and you should be able to ship something anywhere in the country in 2-3 days for between $5.xx and $9.xx (depending on which zone its going to you---the shorter the distance the cheaper the rate) regardless of the weight. Obviously it wouldn't be helpful for a $1 guide but you should be able to fit 2 or 3 depending on how you pack them.
 
Where did you hear that? Media Mail works fine for guide, unless you got someone mistake it for a magazine.
 
I guess I will have to ship all my guides media mail now, I will check them for advertisements before I send them but since they feel like books in the package I don't think they will be disqualified. I don't have $1 guides, I have a ton of Pokemon guides to sell which I am not using due to either finishing the games or because a better guide is available online. These are single guides, I am not shipping guides with games, if I was shipping the game with the guide I would put it under priority mail or standard parcel shipping.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']Does anyone know what the cheapest way is to ship a single strategy guide? I have quite a few guides to sell and I need to start selling them since they are taking up space here and I am not using them. These guides are over 12 ounces so they don't qualify for first class mail. From discussion on here guides do not qualify for media mail for some reason. So what is the cheapest way to ship them? I do not mind providing my own packaging to ship them.[/QUOTE]

IIRC, gohastings has sent me guides via media mail before. I'm looking to do the same myself because I have guides laying around for games I no longer wish to play or no longer have. I'm curious to see what the consensus on this is.

From USPS website
The material sent must be educational media. It can’t contain advertising, video games, computer drives, or digital drives of any kind.

As always, wording is open to interpretation. It could possibly be either:
1. The material cannot contain any playable video games, though it can be about/related to them - as long as there is no advertisements inside.
2. The material cannot contain anything video game related (games or written content)

Hopefully it's the first one.

[quote name='62t']Where did you hear that? Media Mail works fine for guide, unless you got someone mistake it for a magazine.[/QUOTE]

Are you speaking from experience? I'm curious about shipping guides via Media Mail as well.
 
Ok I am going to ship them media mail, I changed all my auctions to reflect the new pricing. There will be no physical games in the packages and there will be no advertisements.

As far as the no video game materials. I am sure that there are books about video games that are also educational, I have read several myself. Here are 2 quick examples from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Broke...F8&qid=1361305213&sr=1-4&keywords=video+games

http://www.amazon.com/Video-Games-Y...8&qid=1361305213&sr=1-12&keywords=video+games

I am sure they don't want you shipping comic books or magazines because they contain advertising.

I am pretty sure that the statement from the USPS means no physical games, as it doesn't specifically exclude books about video games. I think previously you were allowed to send video games and electronic media through media mail especially if it was computer software.
 
Not that it affects me much because I sell so few items on eBay and am not a power seller, but someone recently had the gall to give me less than 5 stars on shipping speed. Do they really expect items to get cross-country over night? I don't even take longer than 24 hours from payment to get it in the mail.

Once it's in USPS's hands, I don't see why they don't understand I have no control on how long it takes to get there. I offer Free Shipping on my items so I'm sure as hell not going to pay for more than First Class Mail for a game/blu ray.

On another note: is it only me, or do a majority of ebay buyers live in the Central/Eastern time zones? I feel like 85+% of my buyers come from there.
 
First class probably won't help you much on the speed of delivery with a game as the game could still take 2-5 days to get there even with priority mail. Apparently the seller is now responsible for getting the items to the buyers, so in theory we are responsible for the actions of the USPS, which is impossible but ebay has many policies that are simply impossible for sellers to fulfill.
 
I sent over a hundred guides over the year by media mail and never had a problem. Many CAG did the same.

The website is saying you can't send video games, not books about video games.

Majority of the people live in the Central/Eastern time zone so thats normal.
 
Has anyone ever tried to do a chargeback on PayPal against the USPS for failing to deliver a package or perform a service like Signature Confirmation? I haven't looked into any fine text or agreements you implicitly agree to by purchasing your postage through eBay/PayPal, so I wouldn't be surprised if they disallowed that.
 
Well if you wanna chargeback the government go ahead... Not recommended. Also, I'm a powerseller too now, AND a top rated seller!
 
[quote name='Hemi']Well if you wanna chargeback the government go ahead... Not recommended. [/QUOTE]

I hate this mentality , government is your employee.

If USPS didn't provide the service that you paid for than you should be refunded. But getting money back from USPS is a very tough task.
 
I was curious about the guides being sent Media Mail too since I have started to go through guides I have and no longer want and plan to list them soon. I bought bubble mailers at Sams Club that will fit the guides for around $10 for a 25 pack and plan to ship them media mail. My only issue is delivery time since I'm on the east coast and if someone from the west coast buys the guide, delivery could take over a week and hurt my DSRs.

I had someone complain in December for very slow shipping since it was 10 days to be delivered and that was with 1st class and shipping the item out the next day so that's why I wasn't sure if I want to use media mail or not for the guides but if I sell a guide for $8 to $10 shipped, I can't afford to spend $5 to ship it Priority in a flat rate envelope.
 
[quote name='major morgan']
On another note: is it only me, or do a majority of ebay buyers live in the Central/Eastern time zones? I feel like 85+% of my buyers come from there.[/QUOTE]
That's really bizarre, because I'm on the east coast and it seems like 75% of my items go to California :V
 
[quote name='aptanor']That's really bizarre, because I'm on the east coast and it seems like 75% of my items go to California :V[/QUOTE]

A year or so ago their was a conspiracy theory that eBay manipulated the search result servers so that buyers on the east coast were only seeing listings from sellers on the west coast and vice versa.

People were convincing themselves that eBay did this to make a little extra profit of each sale now that they charge fees on the shipping costs.
 
Most of the items I sell are to people on the east coast and California too. What I find odd is that I don't think I've ever sold anything to someone in the north-west.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']A year or so ago their was a conspiracy theory that eBay manipulated the search result servers so that buyers on the east coast were only seeing listings from sellers on the west coast and vice versa.

People were convincing themselves that eBay did this to make a little extra profit of each sale now that they charge fees on the shipping costs.[/QUOTE]

I thought the rolling blackout stuff was an ongoing issue for years now. Not because of shipping, but due to server space. Remember back in the day ebay use to go down for a few hours a week (usually late on Thursday nights)? I can say from my experiences I wouldn't doubt blackouts are true. As the one event I witnesses a few years back convinced me. After never having an order from P. Rico I get 3 in one night. I mean if it was a huge state like CA I could see, but three unrelated people on different types of items? Also I definately see a state pattern overall how my sales come in.
 
Thanks yosh

[quote name='SaraAB']Same here I am on the east coast and I get a ton of buyers from CA and the west coast[/QUOTE]

Me too, I'm in FL. and most of my shit goes to Cali.

Last 5 sales

CA
CA
NV
APO
CA
 
75% of my packages go to Cali and Texas and I almost never sell anything to New England. Though during the huge snowstorm a couple weeks ago 34 of the 52 items I sold that day were to Massachusetts.
 
I have sold to all over the US and I do get a lot of international buyers, so its not like 75% of my buyers over the years are in one region,though I just think video games are more popular in CA than they are in say... Wyoming.
 
Small insignificant rant, but I just find it funny. Someone won my auction this past weekend, and they still haven't paid. I messaged them as a kind reminder to pay the invoice so I can ship out asap (games are good to go), and they let me know that they don't get paid until next week, so they will give me the funds then (buyer has good ratings btw).

I'm just curious if $25 is going to set you back enough to wait until payday, why are you spending your money on video games in the first place?

Also, I do notice that about 70% of my auctions go east coast and I'm in west coast.
 
Those of you who primarily sell in auction style format have much more patience then I ever will. I do think that auction style listings are better suited for used items but I don't have the patience to wait for someone to pay so outside a few exceptions (rare items where I don't want to cap the value because it hasn't been defined) I don't bother with auction listings anymore.

When I do run auction listings I've noticed international buyers pay almost immediately; it's the domestic buyers that like to stretch the payment window but that is probably more indicative of our "buy now pay later" culture in the United States.
 
[quote name='Donut2922']Auctions help move sales faster though.[/QUOTE]

Sure, that is absolutely correct (assuming the buyer pays; if not you have to wait 4 days before opening an Unpaid Item Dispute and then another 8 days before you can close that dispute).


But unless you're moving or need money if you have a sense of what something will sell for you should be able to list it at a fixed price and still have it move.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']Those of you who primarily sell in auction style format have much more patience then I ever will. I do think that auction style listings are better suited for used items but I don't have the patience to wait for someone to pay so outside a few exceptions (rare items where I don't want to cap the value because it hasn't been defined) I don't bother with auction listings anymore.

When I do run auction listings I've noticed international buyers pay almost immediately; it's the domestic buyers that like to stretch the payment window but that is probably more indicative of our "buy now pay later" culture in the United States.[/QUOTE]
I practically price my listings at good BIN prices, with the 10% discount on the auction price (the most you can list them on). That way, most all of my auctions are still done BIN, and I only take a 9% Ebay fee cut instead of a 13% if I used a fixed price BIN without auction.

Occasionally someone will bid on the auction price instead of BIN, but I'm a pretty patient guy. I just find it funny that they need to wait until they paid, which is either a lame excuse, or a sad truth.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']Sure, that is absolutely correct (assuming the buyer pays; if not you have to wait 4 days before opening an Unpaid Item Dispute and then another 8 days before you can close that dispute).


But unless you're moving or need money if you have a sense of what something will sell for you should be able to list it at a fixed price and still have it move.[/QUOTE]

Also if you sell an auction item for about $100 or less, you actually save on eBay fees via auction format (assuming BIN price is the same). $100 is the breakeven point for me to consider auction vs. BIN listings assuming the final sale price will be equal.
 
[quote name='Billytwoshoes']Small insignificant rant, but I just find it funny. Someone won my auction this past weekend, and they still haven't paid. I messaged them as a kind reminder to pay the invoice so I can ship out asap (games are good to go), and they let me know that they don't get paid until next week, so they will give me the funds then (buyer has good ratings btw).

I'm just curious if $25 is going to set you back enough to wait until payday, why are you spending your money on video games in the first place?

Also, I do notice that about 70% of my auctions go east coast and I'm in west coast.[/QUOTE]

This happens to me all the time, I really have no problem honoring these requests as long as I am informed by the buyer. However I do wonder about these people, one time I had a girl buying these pencils from me, don't ask I sell a lot of obscure things, from CA and she kept buying them, and she was like, I will pay after I get my next check. It was so funny because she was buying these $25 hello kitty/sanrio pencils from me and obviously using every last dollar she had to buy them.

Its probably a lot of people who live with their parents and work a part time job and they are spending all their part time job money on some items or video games.
 
One rant of mine is this: other sellers lowering the price by one fricking penny or even lowering it a few dollars just so they can try to unload their item before everybody else.

One time I had one game on sale and I matched the lowest available BIN price. The seller who had 10+ copies of it lowered his price by $2 and sold a bunch of copies before I sold mine. When I eventually sold mine he hiked his price back up $5 to the next lowest BIN price. lol. If he was smart he'd have just let me sell mine and he would have sold all of his copies close to his original sales price. My one listing ended up costing him at least $20 if not more. So I guess my rant is more about the idiotic behavior of some fellow sellers. A simply grasp of supply vs. demand concepts would go a long way in understanding that buyers will eventually pay for the items listed - just be patient. no need to lower your profit margins. lol Jesus.
 
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Some of these wholesalers get there stuff cheap though, I'm guessing they make their money on volume vs. how much they can milk it for. I can't imagine how some of these people make money on new releases. I really don't mind though as a buyer I'm always looking for the better deal.
 
[quote name='skiizim']Some of these wholesalers get there stuff cheap though, I'm guessing they make their money on volume vs. how much they can milk it for. I can't imagine how some of these people make money on new releases. I really don't mind though as a buyer I'm always looking for the better deal.[/QUOTE]
You don't want to tie your money up for too long. Giving up 5% of your profit for a quick sale is worth it if you are looking to unload a bunch of inventory.
 
I have an ebay Confession, I sometimes bid the $1 to assassinate the BIN option on auction's, lol, It's rather harmless but I find it ammusing.
 
[quote name='Hemi']I have an ebay Confession, I sometimes bid the $1 to assassinate the BIN option on auction's, lol, It's rather harmless but I find it ammusing.[/QUOTE]

lol.... Do you ever win anything for $1?
 
Totally forgot about an auction for some wavebirds and it ended for $15 shipped.Pissed I missed out on 2 wavebirds and a 3rd party one for that little.Thought Id put it here since no one ever seems to rant about missing something.
 
[quote name='Hemi']I have an ebay Confession, I sometimes bid the $1 to assassinate the BIN option on auction's, lol, It's rather harmless but I find it ammusing.[/QUOTE]

what if the auction end up going for more than the BIN?
 
[quote name='GBAstar']Those of you who primarily sell in auction style format have much more patience then I ever will. I do think that auction style listings are better suited for used items but I don't have the patience to wait for someone to pay so outside a few exceptions (rare items where I don't want to cap the value because it hasn't been defined) I don't bother with auction listings anymore.

When I do run auction listings I've noticed international buyers pay almost immediately; it's the domestic buyers that like to stretch the payment window but that is probably more indicative of our "buy now pay later" culture in the United States.[/QUOTE]

I have always done BIN for the past 5 years, mainly because I used to buy wholesale from a electronics store and I would always sell in the Consumer Electronics section so the fee % didn't bother me when I put in the equation the volume of sales I had.

Now that I'm out of that biz and just selling occasional crap (sometimes games) I've shifted into auction-style. Especially for those more expensive items, I feel a little bit more in "control" of who I can and will not sell to. I can now cancel and block newly registered 0 feedback users instead of feeling uneasy that something might go wrong in the longrun.

Of course, there will always be the possibility a 0 feedback user will bid at the last minute. I think I got traumatized ever since the day I nearly got screwed over off with my $600 iPhone 3G a few years ago.
 
Do you guys ever get stupid feedback once in awhile from a buyer who doesn't read or actually does read and still gives you stupid feedback? I had someone give me a neutral because the game was "cart only" even though the title clearly stated it was cart only in BIG letters and it was plastered all over the description. Apparently he even knew this (he told me that he was aware that it was cart only, yet won't answer as to why he gave me that rating) yet I still get a neutral? It makes no fucking sense.
 
[quote name='skiizim']lol.... Do you ever win anything for $1?[/QUOTE]

No, I just like ending the life of the BIN option XD.
 
Why do people use the BIN option and never pays? Such a waste of time to wait 8 days total for the case to be opened and closed. Now I just relist the item if its BIN and no payment is made within 3 hours...

end rant.
 
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