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

He has been active (at least, he's gotten feedback in the last 24 hours and left feedback within the last 72). I actually wouldn't mind paying extra to having them shipped to S. Korea--I'm the same size as my father and the more I sit here looking at the shoes, the more I like them--but I'm now a little nervous about it. It's been sitting there since 9/18/12 (so more than 10 days). I'll message him again.

The shipping doesn't seem marked up at all (my initial thought was that he accepted my bid because he was planning on jacking up the shipping, and now that I explained I was planning on shipping to the US, he wants to back out), so I really have no idea.

But I would definitely like to have "My eBay" stop telling me "You need to pay for one item."

Thanks for the insight.

EDIT for Capnwes: Yesterday I had to message you asking about the price to ship a jacket to South Korea. For some reason, eBay.com won't let me select an international delivery address (the tab is shaded gray), but eBay.co.uk will (and shows the price of the shipping). So apologies for bugging you unnecessarily; the problem was on my end.

grendel said:

So this morning the Samuelsohn suit buyer opened a SNAD. How a restocking fee issue makes the item not as described I'm not sure, but there you go.

I talked to eBay at lunchtime and the customer service rep said that since it's there in the description the restocking fee is valid, even though I didn't have it in the return policy section (which I've fixed in my auction template going forward). Unfortunately I had to respond to his case first and can't escalate to the eBay customer service reps for a week, but she did indicate that it's pretty clear.

I forgot to ask about the final value fees that he denied by refusing to cancel the transaction, so I called back and they did it immediately.

Altogether a much more pleasant experience than I expected, so now we'll see if this guy sees the light or if eBay has to step in.

Where's the ebay black list again? I need to add this guy and wes needs to add his.

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Trust me...mine has been on there since day one..
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AndDRTDgBtt0dEttcTNQVmV1OVNUOERYMVdjUXI0ZHc#gid=0

Snoogz said:

Thank u all for the info, so now with my settings changed I guess I'll have to accept low feedback bidders since I really can't specify say 5+ feedback bidders only. Is there a list of eBay names on SF that I can add to my no bidders list?

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See directly above...

Brian has to give access first, Wes.



Claghorn said:

Any idea why a seller would be fine shipping international but not want to ship domestically (he's located in the US).
Thanks much for your insight.
-A

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capnwes said:

The seller needs to send the item to either the address provided by ebay or paypal in order to be covered by "seller protection"

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There's a very easy solution to this.

Go into your Ebay accounts, manage my addresses. I'm too tech dumb to be able to post screenshots, but I know there's a way for you to add delivery addresses. Add:
Your Name
C/O Your Father's Name
Your Father's address

When you pay, you should be able to select that address for delivery. Your buyer gets protection because it's shipped to an address associated with the account. And you get the gift sent where you need to without double-paying shipping.

I don't think that's the problem as I've had stuff shipped to it off eBay multiple times.

What camera is everyone using? Let's assume that you have decent lighting and a backdrop of some sort, and you are photographing a suit jacket on mannequin. Some suit colors/pattens make it difficult (impossible) to capture their true color with a sub-par camera when you're attempting to shoot from a distance that allows you to get 90% of the suit in the photo. I had a decent point and shoot but sadly I lost it years ago, and never had a need to replace it until now. My gf has some bullshit point and shoot that's so old my iphone 4s does a better job. Ideally, I don't want to go out and drop $500 on a camera - at least not right now, as the iphone is capable of photographing most items in a way that makes a listing looking pretty decent if it's cushioned by a good template.

Suited, you could get along nicely with any Canon point n shoot in the $300 range, and more than likely most in the $200 realm as well. I use an ancient by today's standards G9 for most of my ebay shots, and it's been everything I've needed and more. I save my 5D mark 3 for work (as a professional photographer).

The macro mode on Canon point n shoots is awesome for detail work too-

I highly recommend going to your local pawnshops and asking to see their inventory of digital cameras. They usually have at least 10 or more from which to choose and you should be able to test them out right there. Most come complete with cases, instructions, batteries and memory cards (more on that in a moment!). I picked up a 3 year old Olympus that sold for around $300 new for $40. I looked up reviews of the cameras in the store on my phone before I made a selection.
I deleted the pics of the nubile females in swimwear that were still on the memory card, however.

Just remember to offer less than the ticketed price.

Thanks, guys.

I use my old Canon XTi with a zoom. It can be had on eBay for around $200. For lighting I use a Vivitar manual flash on a stand bounced off the wall / ceiling. A flash will give you better color accuracy unless you've got studio lights and is much easier to control than natural light.

I have a question and concern about shipping to Canada. I have no experience shipping there, but what little research I have done thus far informs me that shipping cost is 15-20$ with a package that is 4.9 pounds and under. From what I've been told anything over 5 pounds the cheapest shipping is about 30-35$.

Now the concern for me is that I have a pair of Red Wing boots up for sale, the highest bidder is located in Canada (even though I specified in my description that I only ship to Cont. US) Now I really don't want to lose this bidder because he has excellent feedback and these boots are at 60$ thus far. Problem is, shipping them will well exceed the 4.9 pound mark as they are a size 15 Red Wing boot with steal toes...

Any suggestions as to how to efficiently ship to Canada? The shipping cost on the Auction right now is 16.99. I can inform the bidder of a price increase in shipping before auction ends and make sure he is ok with it.

-remember, I've never personally shipped to Canada so my research of pricing may be off compared to those here with experience with it.

I use my ancient 10D on a tripod. I'd kill for the new 5D. I also have a Panasonic TZ5 P&S.

BTW, here's an awesome site for reviews: http://www.dpreview.com/

Snoogz said:

I have a question and concern about shipping to Canada. I have no experience shipping there, but what little research I have done thus far informs me that shipping cost is 15-20$ with a package that is 4.9 pounds and under. From what I've been told anything over 5 pounds the cheapest shipping is about 30-35$.

Now the concern for me is that I have a pair of Red Wing boots up for sale, the highest bidder is located in Canada (even though I specified in my description that I only ship to Cont. US) Now I really don't want to lose this bidder because he has excellent feedback and these boots are at 60$ thus far. Problem is, shipping them will well exceed the 4.9 pound mark as they are a size 15 Red Wing boot with steal toes...

Any suggestions as to how to efficiently ship to Canada? The shipping cost on the Auction right now is 16.99. I can inform the bidder of a price increase in shipping before auction ends and make sure he is ok with it.

-remember, I've never personally shipped to Canada so my research of pricing may be off compared to those here with experience with it.

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Have you checked in the options that you only ship to the US?

If you are doing flat rate shipping to all buyers, maybe it is time to look into getting a scale and doing calculated shipping instead.

Can we have a link to the auction so we can check out what your listings look like and what options you have chosen?

capnwes said:

Have you checked in the options that you only ship to the US?

If you are doing flat rate shipping to all buyers, maybe it is time to look into getting a scale and doing calculated shipping instead.

Can we have a link to the auction so we can check out what your listings look like and what options you have chosen?

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I scared to link my auction, only because compared to the rest of you guys, I'm still very noobish at all this. Granted its been a few months with successful sales, I dont have the layout or consistency in all my auctions with the rules regulations and what not...

So I guess I apologize in advance for a terrible auction layout and details. but here it goes....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221131250978?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649