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

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

I've got a real gem for your block lists today. Guy won a Brioni tie for $9.95. Thanks to the current USPS sluggishness, his package is a week late, so he's filed a payment dispute and left me a neg, along with a super passive aggressive message: "You're forcing me to leave you negative feedback."

I'm in the process of contesting both.

 

[madeinbogota]

Any of you ever seen a men's jacket with buttoning on the left side? Bought a suede Loro bomber jacket a couple of weeks ago (sold as men's by the seller), tagged a 48 and has a 22 inch chest with a 41 inch waist (both would seem big for a women's jacket, along with a length of 31 inches and sleeves of 25 inches), but the only issue is the aforementioned buttoning. Any advice? Don't want to sell this as men's if there's a chance it would be women's, but man everything besides the buttoning side screams men's.

 

[othertravel]

I've got a real gem for your block lists today. Guy won a Brioni tie for $9.95. Thanks to the current USPS sluggishness, his package is a week late, so he's filed a payment dispute and left me a neg, along with a super passive aggressive message: "You're forcing me to leave you negative feedback."

I'm in the process of contesting both.

View attachment 1562540

Passive-aggressive, and perhaps hyperbolic ('Nightmare seller').

 

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

Annnnd, eBay does NOT have my back. Customer threatens to leave negative feedback if I don't refund him for a tie that's on it's way to his mailbox. I refuse, he leaves negative feedback, and eBay says they won't remove it.

"We've looked into the feedback you've received for this item and it is allowed under our policies. We won't remove feedback on the grounds that a seller believes a comment is untrue or undeserved. Feedback is based on transactions between members and isn’t included in your seller performance metrics. Because eBay wasn't involved in the actual transaction, we can't take sides."

I've been at 100% positive for ages, but it just takes one asshole ...

 

[Sartoriamo]

Any of you ever seen a men's jacket with buttoning on the left side? Bought a suede Loro bomber jacket a couple of weeks ago (sold as men's by the seller), tagged a 48 and has a 22 inch chest with a 41 inch waist (both would seem big for a women's jacket, along with a length of 31 inches and sleeves of 25 inches), but the only issue is the aforementioned buttoning. Any advice? Don't want to sell this as men's if there's a chance it would be women's, but man everything besides the buttoning side screams men's.

Not unless it's reversible, and the buttons correct when you switch it.

 

[carreragt7]

And that’s why I have all but stopped selling on eBay. Most items I’ve sold in my 15+ years on there have been higher priced items and my feedback has been stellar. But one negative and all of a sudden my first impression to potential customers is not so great...

 

[capnwes]

Annnnd, eBay does NOT have my back. Customer threatens to leave negative feedback if I don't refund him for a tie that's on it's way to his mailbox. I refuse, he leaves negative feedback, and eBay says they won't remove it.

"We've looked into the feedback you've received for this item and it is allowed under our policies. We won't remove feedback on the grounds that a seller believes a comment is untrue or undeserved. Feedback is based on transactions between members and isn’t included in your seller performance metrics. Because eBay wasn't involved in the actual transaction, we can't take sides."

I've been at 100% positive for ages, but it just takes one asshole ...

Maybe you'll get a different response after it's delivered. They did make this announcement last week.

UPDATE: Seller Protections for shipping delays from storms across the US, and messaging to buyers

Winter weather conditions are still disrupting transportation lines across parts of the US. We previously announced seller protections for these weather delays and we are expanding those to also cover defects resulting from transactions you cancelled. We’ve also added the following message...

community.ebay.com

 

[Steve Smith]

Anyone have any ideas on where to go with a couple of mid '50s stewardess uniforms from a long-defunct US airline?

 

[Shoeluv]

Anyone have any ideas on where to go with a couple of mid '50s stewardess uniforms from a long-defunct US airline?

Sounds like you should list them in the same place as Catholic School, Naughty Nurse, Librarian, and other sexy dress up items.

 

[Nickd]

And that’s why I have all but stopped selling on eBay. Most items I’ve sold in my 15+ years on there have been higher priced items and my feedback has been stellar. But one negative and all of a sudden my first impression to potential customers is not so great...

I don’t think people give a **** about one negative. 5 or 10, even for a volume seller, now that might put them off.

I think most buyers understand that you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

 

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

Sounds like you should list them in the same place as Catholic School, Naughty Nurse, Librarian, and other sexy dress up items.

Which airline? I know there's a market for PanAm paraphernalia on eBay.

 

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

Follow up on ******* buyer. Tracking info showed that the tie was delivered to him today, so I called the number that @SpooPoker recommended, explained that his feedback statement that "it never arrived" was demonstrably untrue, and the customer service rep hooked me up!

 

[dadjeans]

Negative feedback go brrr

 

[noob in 89]

What number does Spoo recommend?

Also, wtf, $100,000 on eBay, part time?

 

[Sartoriamo]

Also, wtf, $100,000 on eBay, part time?

Well yeah, but I'm 23 years in on the 'Bay. I'm sure at least a few of the gang here had the same experience back then. I remember @SpooPoker was around, although I knew him only by his eBay handle; a few others like Daniel Weigand (wowniceshirt) and topshelfapparel were hustlin'. StyFo was embryonic, so I was learning from askandy (where I never go now).

I remember in the mid aughts listing a Kiton Blanc Blu suit with a huge gash on one of the pants legs. Frantic bidding took it up to $450, as it was the only Kiton suit that size on eBay at that moment in time. The buyer was thrilled. Today there are 631 Kittys, many NWT, thanks to the jobbers, but almost 200 used. You just didn't see that back then. You were lucky if you saw one. And frankly, since both askandy and styfo were starting to educate people about CM, and there was a burgeoning interest, a huge number of people were doing their experiments with CM, and buying it in significant quantities, trying to build their wardrobes, often for the first time. So they were fighting over it. I was one of those people. At one point I had 70 suits and 150 sport coats in my own wardrobe. Packages arrived every day. Remember, this was the first time we could easily get a $3-6K suit for $150-$350 (or ten bucks at a thrift). ****, before that I didn't even know a $6K suit was even a thing. The spare bedroom was filled with racks of my own stuff, while the eBay stuff was in the basement. Now, I've got only half a dozen SCs and 2 suits that I never wear (though they're Kitty, Isaia, Tom Ford, Attolini, Campagna etc). So that entire cohort of people who were literally frantic about building their wardrobes are pretty much all gone as buyers, including me, limiting their purchases to occasional grailey items, and being super-cheap about it to boot.

I know this seems like fantasyland for all of you who are grinding it out in the current difficult marketplace, but those were the glory days when we could put everything on auction and make out like a bandit. No need for BIN/OBO like now. So stuff moved. I don't remember exactly when I made the switch away from auctions (mb 10-12 years ago?), but it was purely in response to watching auction end prices start to plummet, and with no or few competing bids, reflecting massively increased supply and equally reduced demand. A constant, progressive decline. I would have to dig into backup drives to get you the exact numbers, but even trying full time I can't make even half of what I used to for what feels like 2-3 times the work and a whole lot more frustration. And CM? I rarely pick it up nowadays unless it's primo primo, and then it still sits, and sits. Neither demand nor supply are there. Back then, in New England in the mid-aughts, I would often arrive at the checkout with two carts, overloaded with nice suits and outerwear that sold fast for $150-600 a pop. Even a decent HF would get $150. And Ferragamo shoes always sold at $250-350. Doesn't take a whole lot to get to $100K when your average sales price is up there. Those were the days. I rarely get into 3 figures for 'Gamos now, and don't even kop HF unless it's either pristine or on $1 day.

So yes, that really happened, and others may chime in to confirm what it was like, but those glory days are gone forever . . . Too many flippers, not enough buyers (and the buyers want flipper pricing) . . . Simple economics.