Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[QuarterMillionMan]

Ebay gives the buyer up to March 15 to pay. It should be same day or at most 1 day to pay.

[disneysteve]

Ebay gives the buyer up to March 15 to pay. It should be same day or at most 1 day to pay.

Buyers have 4 days to pay on auctions. ebay has already rolled out immediate payment on buy it now listings and offers and is working on it for auctions. I agree that it's ridiculous. ebay is the only retail site I know of where payment isn't required at the time of purchase.

I'm going to message you with some other ebay info specific to your listings.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Thanks for all the pro-tips disneysteve. Especially the tip about international shipping which was activated. In the past international shipping had an on/off button on each listing which I could not locate recently. Now it is in account settings which was enabled for all of my listings. You taught me to disenable it should I choose not to participate in international shipping which I disenabled it. Ebay said it could take 24 hours to take effect so I pulled down all of my listings and will relist later. I wrote in the description of my listings "ships to USA only, no international shipping," because I had a sense international shipping was enabled but could not figure out how to disenable it. Now I found it and disenabled it. International shipping is too complicated.

[disneysteve]

Shipping internationally with the eBay International Shipping program (eIS) is actually ridiculously easy. You do everything exactly the same as if you were shipping domestically. All you do is buy your label and ship to the US hub in IL or CA. Once it gets to that hub your job is done. eBay handles everything from there. You don’t have to worry about returns, refunds, item not received, or item not as described. eBay handles everything. It’s actually way easier to ship internationally than it is to ship domestically.

[QuarterMillionMan]

What about the extra shipping charges?

BTW, the buyer just paid so I printed the shipping label and dropped it off in the blue mailbox dropbox which I know I should take it in-person to the USPS store and get it scanned but won't have time to do that. I had time last night to do drop it off in the blue dropbox if the buyer paid last night and didn't want to rush like this morning but again eBay should make payment immediately upon winning an auction.

[disneysteve]

What about the extra shipping charges?

BTW, the buyer just paid so I printed the shipping label and dropped it off in the blue mailbox dropbox which I know I should take it in-person to the USPS store and get it scanned but won't have time to do that. I had time last night to do drop it off in the blue dropbox if the buyer paid last night and didn't want to rush like this morning but again eBay should make payment immediately upon winning an auction.

eBay handles collecting the international shipping. You just ship to the hub and you’re done.

I always take my packages to the post office, get them scanned, and get a receipt. That’s the only way you have proof of shipping. There are posts every day in my eBay groups from people who get screwed because they didn’t do that. Package doesn’t get scanned on time and they get a defect on their account for late shipping. Or it doesn’t get scanned and tracking never updates. Buyer files item not received and buyer has no recourse but to issue a refund because they can’t prove anything.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I guess that I should enable international shipping. I always thought it was so complicated but you make sound so easy and it'll increase my sales to world wide.

[disneysteve]

I went to Goodwill yesterday and found 5 items that had yellow labels, the color of the week, so they were $1 each.

I listed two of the items last night and already sold one of them today for $32.49.

It really is ridiculous how easy it can be to make money reselling stuff online.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Last night on Ebay I purchased a new $500 ebike and 3 years of this Allstate service protection plan for $25. Any thoughts about this $25 for 3 years of service protection. Good or bad investment?

[kork13]

Last night on Ebay I purchased a new $500 ebike and 3 years of this Allstate service protection plan for $25. Any thoughts about this $25 for 3 years of service protection. Good or bad investment?

Most of the time, these "protection plans" are pretty worthless -- often, nothing ever comes up to merit a claim. When something does arise, you may be shocked to find that your issue is not covered, or it's impossible to successfully get the policy to cover the problem (ex: repair must be done by a certified to be covered ... the nearest such shop is in another state/country). Be sure you understand what it does & does not cover. In this case, $25 for 3 years probably isn't horrendous ... worst case, it's no more of a waste than going out for a meal or two. I wouldn't have done it myself, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it now that you've done it.

As for the eBike.... Hopefully it's a decent quality. They're all the rage right now, and many good models are getting knocked off, using cheap batteries or components to save money on production costs. Good luck.

[disneysteve]

Generally speaking extended warranties are a waste. I avoid them.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The ebike was $399 but w/taxes and service plan close to $500 so I rounded up. My 4th ebike thusfar and 2 died where I tried fixing it myself to no avail. The electrical components are complicated with multiple sensors. Beyond my knowledge when trying to fix it so I figured $25 for the service plan cannot hurt and I'd take it to a professional if this one dies.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My pro-tip when buying an ebike is to make sure it has a pure electric mode. Some only have 2 modes peddle assist where the motor only engages while peddling and pure manual mode using pure human peddling (no motor). Also, don't ride in the rain because twice during the rain something happened where 2 of my ebikes died. I tried changing fuses and tinkering around but could not get it to work. You can thank me later, lol.

[disneysteve]

Also last week, I responded to a free posting on Marketplace by a family getting ready to move. It said that everything they were taking with them was packed up and anything left in the house was free. I shot right over there and got a bunch of stuff.... I also got a carton with 9 ready to eat emergency food bars. They're good for camping and disaster prep. Turns out they sell for $19.95 each on Amazon and ebay. I listed mine for $18.95 and just sold the first one. That price does include shipping so my net profit is only $7.00 but still, I got them for free. If I sell 9 of them, that's $63 profit with no upfront cost.

Quick update. I sold the 9th and final one of these bars today so it took me about 2 months to sell them all. My total net profit after shipping and fees came to $84.04. I paid nothing so not a bad deal at all. I don't pursue the free stuff nearly as much as I could but it would be quite doable to build an entire business off of selling nothing but stuff you get for free.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Amazing how eBay is so effective at selling items. Listed this new bike rack last week for $35 and allowed offers. Tonight a buyer offered $30 so I accepted. I thought it might take months to sell but I was surprised that it only took 1 week to sell.