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

[Fueco]

A quick non-menswear eBay question for the group.

I made a $40 offer on a baseball glove that was listed at $65 OBO Free Shipping.

Offer was accepted and I was invoiced $40 + $10.50 shipping.

I just went ahead and paid it, because I was willing to go to $50 on my offers, but I felt a little scammed. As the potential buyer it was my understanding that I can’t add in terms such as “free shipping” in the notes section of my offer. So I thought that my offer of $40 was understood to include all other terms of the original listing.

Did I mess up by not specifying “free shipping” in my offer?

If the listing had free shipping, the seller should not be charging you shipping on top of your offer price. I would contact them. If they don’t respond, call EBay. This is a violation of Ebay’s Terms of service.

 

[masaccio]

If the listing had free shipping, the seller should not be charging you shipping on top of your offer price. I would contact them. If they don’t respond, call EBay. This is a violation of Ebay’s Terms of service.

Have I lost any leverage by having already paid? I don’t want to screw things up because the glove is for my son, and I’m mainly interested in getting the glove. Getting a $10 refund would just be icing.

 

[capnwes]

Have I lost any leverage by having already paid? I don’t want to screw things up because the glove is for my son, and I’m mainly interested in getting the glove. Getting a $10 refund would just be icing.

No. The terms are the terms. If it’s free shipping you should get that $ back.

 

[ace13x]

A quick non-menswear eBay question for the group.

I made a $40 offer on a baseball glove that was listed at $65 OBO Free Shipping.

Offer was accepted and I was invoiced $40 + $10.50 shipping.

I just went ahead and paid it, because I was willing to go to $50 on my offers, but I felt a little scammed. As the potential buyer it was my understanding that I can’t add in terms such as “free shipping” in the notes section of my offer. So I thought that my offer of $40 was understood to include all other terms of the original listing.

Did I mess up by not specifying “free shipping” in my offer?

If the item was listed with $10.50 shipping then you have no case. All offers DO NOT include shipping. Even if you say something like "$40 including shipping" in the text of your offer, it does not override you typing in $40 in the actuall offer box. You should have made an offer of $29.50 if you wanted to pay $40 total.

If the the free shipping is stated in the listing the you should get the money back.

 

[Brianpore]

No. The terms are the terms. If it’s free shipping you should get that $ back.

You should receive a refund for the shipping cost. If he countered you and in the note section put "plus shipping" and then you accepted that is the only time free shipping should not be included on an item that says "free shipping" in the terms of the listing

 

[masaccio]

If the item was listed with $10.50 shipping then you have no case. All offers DO NOT include shipping. Even if you say something like "$40 including shipping" in the text of your offer, it does not override you typing in $40 in the actual offer box. You should have made an offer of $29.50 if you wanted to pay $40 total.

The listing was posted as $65 BINOBO with Free Shipping.

You should receive a refund for the shipping cost. If he countered you and in the note section put "plus shipping" and then you accepted that is the only time free shipping should not be included on an item that says "free shipping" in the terms of the listing

He didn't counter, he accepted my offer.

I just looked carefully at the invoice, and he included a "local pickup" option at $0 and a USPS Retail Ground option at $10.50, along with a note that said:

Thank you for purchasing the first baseman's glove. I have calculated shipping with a $2 discount ($10.50 vs. 12.50.) I hope you like the glove. It is a nice example of this particular model. David

 

[capnwes]

I hate the terms section.

 

[double00]

i made an offer on a non-obo piece maybe last year, i'd asked what the reserve was and let the seller know i'd match it if the item didn't sell on its own. shipping was free at that point.

so the piece goes unsold and so we get down to it. on the invoice was some shipping charge, so i just wrote the seller and told him free shipping per original listing, or he can relist - his choice. i think that's all it would normally take.

 

[Brianpore]

The listing was posted as $65 BINOBO with Free Shipping.



He didn't counter, he accepted my offer.

I just looked carefully at the invoice, and he included a "local pickup" option at $0 and a USPS Retail Ground option at $10.50, along with a note that said:

I hate how ebay redirects you to a live listing now but looked up the ebay# and the seller is 100% in the wrong.

It was listed as free US shipping.

In the listing he says "Free shipping by request on orders of $50 or more." which is totally BS and he would lose an eBay case every time. H

 

[Fueco]

I would wait until you get the glove, and then open a case for the shipping charge. I can't recall off the top of my head what the option is, but you should certainly fight for that $10.50 back. The listing terms say free shipping, and what is written in the listing does not override that, as @Brianpore pointed out.

 

[capnwes]

I would wait until you get the glove, and then open a case for the shipping charge. I can't recall off the top of my head what the option is, but you should certainly fight for that $10.50 back. The listing terms say free shipping, and what is written in the listing does not override that, as @Brianpore pointed out.

Right...I had a CSR tell me once that it doesn't matter what I say in the description. My response was "Then how can they open a case for Not as Described, if the description is not even a factor?"

I've even considered not using the description at all anymore.

 

[Fueco]

Right...I had a CSR tell me once that it doesn't matter what I say in the description. My response was "Then how can they open a case for Not as Described, if the description is not even a factor?"

I've even considered not using the description at all anymore.

In a case where your stated terms don’t match what’s in the description, that should absolutely override your description. Generally though, buyers not reading your description shouldn’t be on the seller.

 

[laufer]

I hate how ebay redirects you to a live listing now

I really hate that feature.

 

[Sartoriamo]

I've always wanted eBay to allow a BIN with Free Shipping, and BO with a stated shipping charge. I rarely offer free ship, as I don't want it to be part of the refund in case of a non-SNAD return, but I occasionally use it when I have a whopping spread. However, I have been caught out a few times with items I have marked down substantially, such that the shipping charge now becomes a burdensome out-of-pocket, especially on heavier UPS items going cross-country. So it would be nice to have the option, but I doubt eBay will ever do it since they appear to be trying to push us all towards "seller pays for everything including your item, free return once you've worn it to the interview, and an opportunity cost surcharge for the time you spent buying it", plus regular fees.

On another, unrelated matter, what's y'all's perspective on "leave listings up vs. take down and re-list later". I have seen some discussion about it but without a sense of firm conclusion (TWSS). Anybody actually aggregated data on this?

On a third matter, I've been doing eBay the same way for over 20 years (notwithstanding that we didn't have BIN/BO or PayPal when I started), but sometimes I'm concerned that I'm not optimizing my listings for best placement and higher conversion. Most of the stuff that's written online about that seems to bear more relevance to those who are selling tons of the same SKU, rather than those of us selling 1 of 1 items. So I guess I'm asking what you think the current "state of the art" is in terms of maximizing conversions and sales (yeah, yeah, notwithstanding the price elasticity of giving the stuff away), but in terms of free ship, TRS, handling/shipping time etc. I tried historically to match eBay's nudges to behave in particular ways, but damn, as soon as I tried to match the whole same-day-handling/30-day returns thing (never free ship), my return rate more than doubled, with many being "try on" returns, making me think that when returns are super-easy, people pay less attention before buying. All that said, what are you finding is keeping your sales humming along (other than grail inventory), if indeed they are?

 

[ace13x]

What a dope.

New message from: y******(60 )
Hi,

When I purchased this under a very specific search for XL, this popped up. I’m 6’2” 230 wear a 16.5-17X35/36 is this gonna be too small?


Shirt is a 16-36 Brooks Brothers MILANO. I told it will almost certainly not fit.

Nowhere had I used XL in the description or any of the sizing fields.