Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions



capnwes said:

If you schedule the listings a few minutes later than you really want them to start and then go in early and edit them to start immediately, you will avoid the .10 fee. That's what I do every week.

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Why don't you just save the listing as a draft and then post when you want? Is there added benefit doing it your way?

FlyingMonkey said:

Just to continue my small attempt to rebalance the negative tide against buyers on ebay here by sellers... what is with sellers who point blalnk refuse to sell to buyers outside their home countries? Mostly, I have to say, Americans, and one or two, I've noticed, forum members. I know Americans are notoriously suspicious of the outside world and 50% don't have a passport etc. but I would have though that forum members in particular would be a little more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than that... But more seriously, it is really damn annoying when you see something you really, really like and are prepared to pay even via the ridiculous scamtastic Global Shipping Program, and then, you see 'I don't ship outside the US. Never. For Anyone. Don't Even Ask' (or words to that effect)... grrr.

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Quote:
Dude you are from Japan, a cursory search shows a much smaller percentage of Japanese have passports. Those who live in glass houses and all that.

I am not a 'notoriously suspicious' American, I have spent about 10 of the last 15 years traveling to every country in Europe and South America, a bunch in Africa and quite a few in Asia.

But your question is easy to answer, only recently did I start to ship overseas. The main problem is eBay, if a buyer lies or I miss something and a case is opened for item not as described than I am on the hook for return shipping. Some of the places I ship to are $60 or more for shipping with tracking, so while it is nice to get the extra business it is just simpler to ship in the US for the majority of sellers. When you start getting into high end items, that is when it gets to be beneficial to ship internationally. If you just find one or two high end items than again, why would you risk the hassle? Many of us just consign our higher end stuff and sell the mainline things. I know the consignors @Brianpore and @SpooPoker are happy to ship their stuff overseas.

Maybe next time you could have asked if there were any alternatives...



dazedstate said:

Why don't you just save the listing as a draft and then post when you want? Is there added benefit doing it your way?

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I use garage sale.

Even if I was still using straight up eBay lister, I'm not sure there is a way to save 150 drafts a week and then release them all precisely at the same time on thursday night. The way I do it only takes like three clicks if a mouse. It is not at all complicated.



capnwes said:

I use garage sale.

Even if I was still using straight up eBay lister, I'm not sure there is a way to save 150 drafts a week and then release them all precisely at the same time on thursday night. The way I do it only takes like three clicks if a mouse. It is not at all complicated.

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Yes that makes sense. I need to automate the process better myself. But no Mac unfortunately.



razl said:

As an aside, I'm a buyer with a perfect track record and I usually pay immediately, I rarely have returns, and don't jerk my sellers around. In fact, I generally have the attitude that sellers - especially good ones - are like a precious resource . I want them to stay in business and keep the good stuffs coming, that means I'm fine with them making some money off me. Heck, as long as I'm good with the price, I hope they are making a mint since it means they're more like to stay around.

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A person's reasons for selling on Ebay have no relevance whatsoever to the buyer. One of my biggest pet peeves is buyers who send messages with lowball offers making it perfectly clear that they don't think I should be making money reselling stuff. I had someone yesterday offering $10-15 for a shirt INCLUDING SHIPPING!! The shirt in question sold this morning for my list price of $35.

I'm not saying that you are like this, however I would suspect that most sellers (at least those doing this for a living) are setting prices that they feel are reasonable and will net them a reasonable profit. As well, how much money a seller makes off an item is irrelevant to the buyer.

Fueco said:

I'm not saying that you are like this, however I would suspect that most sellers (at least those doing this for a living) are setting prices that they feel are reasonable and will net them a reasonable profit. As well, how much money a seller makes off an item is irrelevant to the buyer.

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+ 1 *Hand Raised*

Quote:
I especially like the people who send me an offer of $10 for something i have listed at $100. I usually counter them back an offer of $99.99.

Fueco said:

A person's reasons for selling on Ebay have no relevance whatsoever to the buyer. One of my biggest pet peeves is buyers who send messages with lowball offers making it perfectly clear that they don't think I should be making money reselling stuff. I had someone yesterday offering $10-15 for a shirt INCLUDING SHIPPING!! The shirt in question sold this morning for my list price of $35.

I'm not saying that you are like this, however I would suspect that most sellers (at least those doing this for a living) are setting prices that they feel are reasonable and will net them a reasonable profit. As well, how much money a seller makes off an item is irrelevant to the buyer.

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Hmm I didn't read razl's post the same way you did - seems to me that he's built a good track record and possibly buys multiple items from the same sellers, so he feels he'll get preferential treatment if he offers 10 - 20% less than the list price.

There's a guy who has bought several items from me. He pays immediately and has always left positive feedback. Each time, he'll make an offer a bit less than the list price and include a friendly note with the offer. I'd much rather sell to him at a slight discount than to a buyer without a lot of feedback that I've never dealt with before at the listed price. The peace of mind is worth it to me.

Totally understand your frustration with buyers who make lowball offers that border on obscene. Especially since it's clear from your listings that you take a lot of care in creating a professional sales platform. Do they think that shirt sets up the camera tripod, photographs, measures, and fires up the computer to create the listing its ******* self?



woodchuck312 said:

Quote:
I especially like the people who send me an offer of $10 for something i have listed at $100. I usually counter them back an offer of $99.99.

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I can't stand that. The lack of face to face contact turns people into douchebags. Offers like that are just insulting. Fortunately you can auto decline offers under a certain amount.

dazedstate said:

Yes that makes sense. I need to automate the process better myself. But no Mac unfortunately.

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You don't need a Mac or GarageSale to schedule listings, then have them all go live at once prior to the scheduled time, to save the dime per item. This is what I do:

• List my items to start on a future day, timed around 15 minutes later than I actually want them to start.
• Around 15 minutes before they are scheduled to go live, click on My eBay --> Selling --> Scheduled.
• Click the first check-box under the Edit button (to select all scheduled items), then click the Edit button itself.
• A new page will open - here, again click the first box under the Edit button to select all items (edit them in bulk).
• Under the Edit button drop-down, select Start Time.
• A pop-up window opens, and if not already checked, select Start my listings when I submit them.
• Click Save & Close.
• Click Submit.

Now all your previously scheduled items are live and you were not charged the dime each.



Fueco said:

I'm not saying that you are like this, however I would suspect that most sellers (at least those doing this for a living) are setting prices that they feel are reasonable and will net them a reasonable profit. As well, how much money a seller makes off an item is irrelevant to the buyer.

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Snoogz said:

+ 1  *Hand Raised*

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As a buyer, I totally agree. Like I said in my OP; I want my sellers to make money, stay in business, and keep good deals flowing. Sellers who don't are going to quit and that ultimately reduces my opportunities.

Buyers who don't understand that hurt everyone.



ATLnoob said:

You don't need a Mac or GarageSale to schedule listings, then have them all go live at once prior to the scheduled time, to save the dime per item.  This is what I do:

• List my items to start on a future day, timed around 15 minutes later than I actually want them to start.
• Around 15 minutes before they are scheduled to go live, click on My eBay --> Selling --> Scheduled.
• Click the first check-box under the Edit button (to select all scheduled items), then click the Edit button itself.
• A new page will open - here, again click the first box under the Edit button to select all items (edit them in bulk).
• Under the Edit button drop-down, select Start Time.
• A pop-up window opens, and if not already checked, select Start my listings when I submit them.
• Click Save & Close.
• Click Submit.

Now all your previously scheduled items are live and you were not charged the dime each.

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Nice I think I'll try that the next go around. Any idea how to automate the actual listing creation?



COtoKS said:

Hmm I didn't read razl's post the same way you did - seems to me that he's built a good track record and possibly buys multiple items from the same sellers, so he feels he'll get preferential treatment if he offers 10 - 20% less than the list price. 

There's a guy who has bought several items from me.  He pays immediately and has always left positive feedback.  Each time, he'll make an offer a bit less than the list price and include a friendly note with the offer.  I'd much rather sell to him at a slight discount than to a buyer without a lot of feedback that I've never dealt with before at the listed price.  The peace of mind is worth it to me.

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Yes, this is what i meant - both my perspective and, I feel, the sellers who have taken me up on it (for the "good buyer" reasons I stated)

COtoKS said:

Totally understand your frustration with buyers who make lowball offers that border on obscene.  Especially since it's clear from your listings that you take a lot of care in creating a professional sales platform.  Do they think that shirt sets up the camera tripod, photographs, measures, and fires up the computer to create the listing its ******* self?

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And, I agree with seller's sentiments who hate lowball/douche buyers that don't get it or, worse, don't care.

Facebook. Does anyone use it to showcase their items? If so, is there a decent, free app that will synch with my eBay items and list them on Facebook n a pleasing manner? I tried one and it was pretty ugly / cheesy, and their basic free version won't cut it if I have a bunch of items.

razl said:

As an aside, I'm a buyer with a perfect track record and I usually pay immediately, I rarely have returns, and don't jerk my sellers around. In fact, I generally have the attitude that sellers - especially good ones - are like a precious resource . I want them to stay in business and keep the good stuffs coming, that means I'm fine with them making some money off me. Heck, as long as I'm good with the price, I hope they are making a mint since it means they're more like to stay around.

With that in mind, I've taken to pitching myself as a better-than-average, quick paying, no-nonsense buyer in some of my recent best offers to get a nice discount. No lowballs; but 10, 20, or maybe 30%. I've been pleasantly surprised to see sellers take me up on it. I'm mentioning it because I hadn't realized that a "good buyer" had value in and of itself. I doubt that "bad buyers" would have gotten the same treatment.

Just a thought, hope it helps someone out - both buyers and sellers - in their next deals.

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Do you ever Bid? Sounds like you are just a BIN/OBO guy?