Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[ua_guy]

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.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/shipping-policy?id=5035

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.

[disneysteve]

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.

[QuarterMillionMan]

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

[disneysteve]

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).

[disneysteve]

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.