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Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

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  • Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

    Yes it's wrong. ebay policy requires you to ship with the advertised carrier. It's okay to upgrade service, for example if you listed it as USPS Media Mail you can upgrade to USPS Ground Advantage. You can't downgrade. You can't change carriers. Some buyers don't want UPS or FedEx because of service issues where they live.

    Sellers must use the shipping service the buyer selected during eBay checkout.


    The policy states, among other things:
    "Sellers must use the shipping service the buyer selected during eBay checkout.
    In order to ensure a positive experience for all eBay users, the shipping service detailed in the listing and chosen by the buyer should be provided."


    Thanks. Yep, I read the same thing after some searching and used USPS as the listing advertised. I goofed because the original box I was going to use was going to be a tight fit, but I never updated the dimensions in the listing when I found a new box. This item is in a rugged carrying case anyway, but I figured I should give it some extra room and padding just to be safe. The bigger box ended up costing me $4 more for the shipping label; oh well.

    $150 was the agreed price (vintage Snap On vehicle diagnostic scanner). $33 in fees to eBay (ouch), minus $ extra in shipping charges. Buyer paid $65 in shipping.

    But hey, one more unused thing converted to cash and OUT of my garage! That's a win in my book.
    History will judge the complicit.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by ua_guy View Post

      Thanks. Yep, I read the same thing after some searching and used USPS as the listing advertised. I goofed because the original box I was going to use was going to be a tight fit, but I never updated the dimensions in the listing when I found a new box. This item is in a rugged carrying case anyway, but I figured I should give it some extra room and padding just to be safe. The bigger box ended up costing me $4 more for the shipping label; oh well.

      $150 was the agreed price (vintage Snap On vehicle diagnostic scanner). $33 in fees to eBay (ouch), minus $ extra in shipping charges. Buyer paid $65 in shipping.

      But hey, one more unused thing converted to cash and OUT of my garage! That's a win in my book.
      It's a win for sure. At least it was a reasonably high dollar sale so the extra $4 wasn't a huge deal. I've made mistakes like that on much smaller sales where the overage basically erased my profit or even resulted in a small loss.
      Steve

      * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
      * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
      * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

      Comment


      • Good job ua_guy, must be a good feeling to convert unwanted things to cash. Most people won't make the effort to list their unwanted items on eBay or other platforms and thus miss out on a fantastic opportunity. Take my own mom as an example who has valuable Hawaiian heirlooms she could sell but rather leave it to relatives such as;

        Kamaka ukuleles such as this $800 pre-owned on eBay,
        Kamaka HF-3 Kamaka Tenor Ukulele | eBay

        Niihau shell necklaces such as this $1200 one on eBay,
        Traditional Niihau 5 Strand Lei Necklace 36" Vintage | eBay

        Comment


        • Originally posted by QuarterMillionMan View Post
          Most people won't make the effort to list their unwanted items on eBay or other platforms and thus miss out on a fantastic opportunity.
          If everybody did it, I'd be out of business. I'm happy to get other people's things for pennies on the dollar (or totally free) and flip them for fun and profit.

          Just the other day I got a bunch of items free online. 10 items that should sell for $65-70 total in 2 lots (2 different brands of similar items).
          Last edited by disneysteve; 07-06-2025, 04:38 PM.
          Steve

          * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
          * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
          * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

          Comment


          • I always love finding those items that fly under the radar of most buyers.

            I went to an estate sale last week. The woman was a lifelong quilter and the house was filled with fabric, patterns, sewing machines, and all of the related items used for her craft. People were buying it all up too. I got to the sale a couple of hours after it started so a lot of things had already been claimed, but in one bedroom I found a bookcase filled with quilting magazines. There are a bunch of quilt magazines out there but I could immediately tell that these were higher end publications. Heavy stock, bound not stapled, and just clearly high quality. Magazines were priced at 2 for $1.00. I bought 45 magazines for $22.

            In just over a week I've already sold 6 issues for just over $125. Over 5.5 times what I spent and I've only sold 13% of them. Assuming I'm able to sell them all for about the same price, that will come to $458 or nearly 21 times my cost. All I need to do is slide them into an envelope and add a sheet of cardboard for protection so quick and easy to ship.

            ETA: Since making this post earlier today, I sold another magazine so that makes 7 for $143 so far, 6.5 times what I paid and I still have 38 more issues to sell.
            Last edited by disneysteve; 07-07-2025, 02:50 PM.
            Steve

            * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
            * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
            * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

            Comment


            • I'm thinking the next thing to go is the Matchbox car collection. I think the best way to sell them is as a lot, maybe even just loose, as they are, adding some packing material in the tub so they can't move around much during shipping. I don't know that I want to take the time to list each individual car when most of them are going to be worth less than $1.00 anyway. Or, maybe I sell them in loose lots of 25?
              History will judge the complicit.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by ua_guy View Post
                I'm thinking the next thing to go is the Matchbox car collection. I think the best way to sell them is as a lot, maybe even just loose, as they are, adding some packing material in the tub so they can't move around much during shipping. I don't know that I want to take the time to list each individual car when most of them are going to be worth less than $1.00 anyway. Or, maybe I sell them in loose lots of 25?
                The absolute best answer is to look them up one by one. If you are not tied into the collector market you have no idea what is and isn't of value. What you think is worth $1 might be worth $25 or $50 or more. Go to Product Research on ebay and check.

                As for packing, if you're talking about shipping them piled together in a tub, don't do it. Each car needs to be individually wrapped and protected, even if it's just with a sheet of packing paper or tissue paper. Throwing them all in a tub rubbing against each other is just begging for a return and/or negative feedback. Ship them the way you would want to receive something of value. Even if they aren't worth much monetarily, sentimental value matters too in the market. Somebody might be buying them because they had the very same ones as a child and want to replace them.
                Steve

                * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                Comment


                • Selling it as a set would be the easiest way to get rid of it quickly. One by one might take too long and may not sell the entire set at all. Price the set a little higher than market value and accept offers and rid yourself of that ball & chain of collecting dust.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by QuarterMillionMan View Post
                    Selling it as a set would be the easiest way to get rid of it quickly. One by one might take too long and may not sell the entire set at all. Price the set a little higher than market value and accept offers and rid yourself of that ball & chain of collecting dust.
                    Selling as a lot is definitely the quickest way to go. I would still recommend checking values before doing so. You might have 50 cars and 49 of them are each worth $2 but one is worth $100. That's something you want to know before you include it in the lot.
                    Steve

                    * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                    * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                    * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                    Comment


                    • Notice anything wrong with this seller's ad? If someone buys it with the $4.08 shipping the seller will have to cancel and refund the order and pay eBay's fees.

                      Click image for larger version

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                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by QuarterMillionMan View Post
                        Notice anything wrong with this seller's ad? If someone buys it with the $4.08 shipping the seller will have to cancel and refund the order and pay eBay's fees.
                        I actually just sent him a message. He's new and I'm sure didn't realize what he was doing. I don't usually reach out to correct sellers when they make mistakes but for a brand new seller hopefully he'll appreciate it. His listing is crappy all around but I only commented on the shipping issue.
                        Steve

                        * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                        * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                        * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                        Comment


                        • By the way, when you cancel an order or give a refund, most of your ebay fees are refunded to you (except for certain extra promotion fees). The bigger problem if the seller has to cancel is it gets you a defect on your account. As an experienced and active seller, I can absorb the occasional defect as long as I don't do it more than a couple of times per year but for a new seller, it will wreck his seller metrics and drop his account to Below Standard status which is bad and hard to climb out of.
                          Steve

                          * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                          * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                          * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by disneysteve View Post
                            I went to an estate sale last week. I bought 45 magazines for $22.
                            I had sold 12 issues for about $194. Yesterday, someone reached out wanting to buy the 19 remaining issues of one of the magazines and we agreed on $250 plus shipping.

                            I've now sold 31 issues for $444 (over 20 times cost) and have 14 issues remaining. Not bad at all.
                            Steve

                            * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                            * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                            * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

                              I actually just sent him a message. He's new and I'm sure didn't realize what he was doing. I don't usually reach out to correct sellers when they make mistakes but for a brand new seller hopefully he'll appreciate it. His listing is crappy all around but I only commented on the shipping issue.
                              In case you were wondering, seller never responded to my message and has not changed the listing at all. It still shows I can have it shipped to me for $4.80.
                              Steve

                              * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                              * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                              * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                              Comment


                              • I started doing inventory on my reselling business at the beginning of the month. So far, I've covered 9 shelves of stock. I've found several items that weren't listed. I already listed and sold one of them. A couple got given away in our Buy Nothing group. A couple of items got trashed and several more will be donated. All of that helps free up storage space for newer items coming in. I've also taken the opportunity to adjust some prices and edit a few listings to freshen them up. I've got 10 or so more shelves to inventory. I'm in no rush and it doesn't need to be done all at once but hopefully over the next few weeks I'll finish up.

                                Once I make sure that everything in stock is listed, I have to do the opposite part of the process. I need to make sure that everything listed is actually in stock.

                                Lots of sellers - most probably - don't take inventory regularly and pay the price when something sells that they no longer have or they've got a bunch of stuff in stock that isn't selling because it isn't actually listed and they don't realize it. I've already found 9 items that weren't listed. ebay does something they call "spring cleaning" where they will end certain dormant listings but they don't notify the seller and they don't give us any indication of how they choose which listings they end. You may have an item that you listed a few years ago and it's sitting on your shelf but ebay took it down ages ago and you don't know that unless you've taken inventory.

                                Bottom line is that all sellers should do inventory at least once a year. I was actually overdue.
                                Steve

                                * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                                * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                                * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                                Comment

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