Never sell on ebay!

[robindavis]

NEVER SELL ON EBAY!

Why you say? You've sold on ebay before and had no problem? Well, because if ONE LITTLE THING goes wrong, Ebay will not to anything to back you up. And the U.S. Postal Service will not do anything to help you find lost packages. Selling on Ebay is not worth the trouble.

As you all may know, I posted my 3Wheeling Magazines on ebay. I am a novice seller on ebay. I have bought before but never sold. Selling on ebay is not for the little guy or novice. There are so many things that could go wrong if you click on the wrong button or don't know what you are doing.

I made the mistake of not blocking international bids. I had a guy in the UK make three orders of magazines. I mailed him four USPS Flat Rate envelopes and only two of them made it. Because I used Priority Mail, they are not trackable. The US Customs Bar Code MEANS NOTHING. So, two envelopes are lost somewhere between San Diego and the UK.

The USPS will do nothing to help me because they do not recognize the US Customs Bar Code. I have called various USPS offices, including Consumer Affairs, their International Shipping Desk and their lost mail department. NOTHING. They can't help. I have called US Customs and they do not inspect outgoing mail; only incoming. So the US Customs Bar Code that Ebay and USPS supply on their printed label DON'T MEAN A THING!

So, with Ebay Resolution cases pending against me because USPS or Customs or UK Royal Mail has lost those envelopes, I have to refund the buyer his money. $500 worth of magazines that I don't have to resell and he does not have because those Priority Mail Flat Rate envelopes are sitting in Tim Buck Two somewhere and someone is reading those magazines.

Ebay is hard to contact, hard to get to understand that I don't have them. Pretty much it is "Did they get delivered?" If not then refund the money. They do not have a department to help little sellers figure out where the packages went.

I trusted Ebay. I made a mistake in doing so. I trusted the USPS and I made a mistake in doign so. I should have never shipped international to begin with. I made a mistake of trusting that the USPS would track the package, which it did not.

I am a little seller; the little guy trying to sell a few things on ebay. What I found out that is Ebay is not for the little guy. It's for the "stores". If you don't know what you are doing, you can get chewed up and spit out fast. That's what happened to me.

My recommendation is to sell on the message boards here with Pay Pal. I did that with a few magazines and the sales turned out just fine. Don't waste your money on Ebay.

I was lucky that I posted my ads when I get a free listing and free buy it now. Otherwise it would have cost me a fortune. There are listing fees, buy it now fees, duration fees (for the # of days you want it posted for), final value fees and pay pal fees. By the time you sell something you could see most of your profit eaten up in fees. On a $55 sale(magazine and postage), I probably saw $35 of it.

I would never recommend selling on Ebay. What a nightmare. I'm more stressed out from this than anything I can think of.

[D-dub]

Basic International shipping can take an extremely long time to arrive at its destination. I bet the shipments are still in transit.

[NINJA]

I'm really sorry to hear this happened to you. You are right, the little guy is at a huge disadvantage. That's pretty much how everything is run in this country.

[swampthang]

Wow! dude, sorry to hear this not only because you got a crappy deal but those magazines are a peice of our history and now there lost. I was just setting up a ebay acount last week and thinking about trying to learn to sell things on there but was confused about shipping cost and how to all that and the whole setting up a pay pal account too. Its kind of overwelming for a low tech guy like myself after all i dont even have a cell phone(how many people in there 20s can say that!) I guess ill stick with what i know 3wheelers. I hope all works out for you and thanks for the heads up dude you may have saved me from making the same mistakes

[Xfile]

I sell on e-bay a lot...I don't have a big store, I just sell some parts here and there. I suck at computers and know very little about them. E-bay is not that complicated---even for me. If you follow there advise on setting up your e-bay account properly, you will have very few problems. I have been selling since 03 and have maybe two or three minor problems that I easily worked out with the buyers. I still have 100% feedback. Just my .02.....

[250rmanfmf]

Yup, Thats the new EBAY! I sell lots of stuff on ebay and ebay has gone to a system that benefits the buyer more than the seller. I had a similar issue with a motor I shipped that got lost (How you lose a 90lb motor I dont know, ask UPS) and I had to refund the buyers money and I was out $300. Also that new star rating system is a joke as 4 out of 5 stars affects your rating and they can charge you more money for fees. Unless there is another site that can bring the type of buyers and sellers like ebay I have to stay as you can do pretty good.

I am all for another website to get rid of ebay.

Tyler

[hrspwr]

I have sold a few items here and there over time. My biggest gripe was all of the fees, they can easily chew up 15% of the gross. A bit excessive for my tastes.

[swifty]

i sell on ebay all the time heres the tricks ive learned the hard way also! NEVER SHIP OUTSIDE THE USA!! postal service SUCKS!!! ship ups only never have i had a problem with UPS trac # is free shipping is cheaper for 97% of stuff i used to ship postal only and got screwed just like you many times with the ohh we cant trac that sorry! and ohh sorry your 200x motor has a 3 in hole busted in the bottom of the case!! oh sorry we lost those dana 60 calipers that weigh 50 lbs.. those arrived at the guys house 2 month late!!! but did show up????

[willrideanythin]

Not justy the little guy, I make my living this way and deal crap all the time. its jsut less crap then other jobs.

[swampthang]

So how do you guys figure out what to tell people shipping is going to cost? Sorry for the ebay newb question but id like to sell on ebay but idk anyone thats done it to ask.

[fmnrd]

Ya Ebay has geared itself for the big time sellers . They want to be a mall of sorts . They love the sellers who sell 20 pairs of new shoes a day and don't give a s**t about the small sellers to helped build it to what it is today. The problem is they have no compition so they can basically do what they want . They have acually purchased 25% of CL .I figure it is just a matter of time before they figure out a way to ruin that as well . I wish a internet giant like Google would start an auction site . Google could lanch a auction site that could grow as big as ebay fast if they would make the fees cheap .

[shortline10]

I've had packages take up to 2 months to get to the UK . Kinda stressful and ebays time line is no good for international shipping .

[fmnrd]

I over estimate a the cost and set Fixed price .This way the buyers know up front what the cost is and can bid accoring . Plus I save a little on the final value fees and it helps pay for shipping supplies .

[shortline10]

Go to this link and click on calculate shipping . http://www.usps.com/welcome.htm

So how do you guys figure out what to tell people shipping is going to cost? Sorry for the ebay newb question but id like to sell on ebay but idk anyone thats done it to ask.

[Xfile]

Sell stuff that fits in flat rate box's...I don't care if it weighs 1 oz or 50 pounds, if it fits in a flat rate box...thats what I ship it in. then people can't complain about the shipping price, it's already set, so if they don't like it they don't have to bid.