As an Ebay Seller...a Little Advice to Other Sellers

T

twiggers

O.G.
May 7, 2006
33,003
32
#1
Just finished reading a couple threads this morning...and I'm just a little irked. I'm not trying to stir up trouble but instead thought I would pass on some advice. The majority of this advice will help you, the SELLER, avoid losing paypal appeals, avoid losing chargebacks...and the myriad of other complaints popping up here.

1. Block bidders who are not from countries you ship to. It is a very simple little button you click that takes 30 seconds. Avoids: complaints of people having to ship outside their designated shipping areas, and complaints of 'but now I lost my FVF and have to relist.

2. When doing a BIN, check the box that says 'Immediate payment required'. Avoids slow paying buyers and complaints of 'It's been 3 days and my buyer hasn't paid'

3. Know the paypal rules and regulations.
a. Under $250 requires delivery confirmation
b. Over $250 requires signature confirmation
Spend the extra $2.00 and avoid losing appeals.

4. Pay for the insurance!!!! Incorporate it into your shipping prices. Basically if you don't, and the item gets trshed...guess who is responsible...YOU! You will lose a paypal appeal for an 'item significantly not as described'. So again...pay the couple dollars and insure it. DON'T make it an option for your buyers...just fix it into price. Avoids: people saying 'I lost my appeal because of SNAD'

5. Take 2 minutes to put a security tag on your expensive item and photograph it before placing it into box. Avoids: bait and switch and returns.

6. Get a new bank account that you never use and attach it to your paypal account. Avoids the 'my account is in the negative and now I can't do anything'...if it's not attached to your regular bank...who cares. Just open another paypal account.

7. Know the ebay rules!!!! You CANNOT require payment witn 24 hours and then file a NPB...you have to wait 7 days for NPB...so technically the buyer has 7 days to pay! You can put it on your auction...but you won't have a leg to stand on in any complaint with ebay. I personally say 3 days just to avoid the slackers.

8. 0 feedback bidders...they are a PITA sometimes...but nothing you can do about it!!! We all started there too....best suggestion is to open a line of communication with them at the very beginning before you ship...just to make sure it wasn't a stolen account or anything.

9. Shipping overseas: Unless the item is worth $5....ship it with Express Mail!!!! It requires a signature and the insurance is actually cheaper than with priority mail. Don't potentially lose out on $2000 when the extra postage would've cost you $10.

Some of these things above will avoid 90% of what we, as sellers, complain about....returns, chargebacks, people not reading auctions, paypal appeals, etc. etc.


Sorry for my rant...but really these are little things that you can do!!! I personally follow every single one of these and have not had a problem in 6.5 years of selling on ebay....and just completed nearly 10K worth of transactions in the past 2 weeks.
 
#2
GREAT post Twiggers! I'd like to add that for US transactions, I've found that USPS priority mail with delivery confirmation is the easiest to use, and you can print the postage from your computer and the DC is free. No excuses not to have a DC any more!
 
#3
Thank you! I follow all these too! I heartily agree with the Express mail to international. I've run into the most problems using priority mail because it takes anywhere between days to weeks to get there and then I get complaints! Express Mail has guaranteed delivery dates!
 
#4
Great post! It does seem like we see a lot of the same posts over and over and this should help out those who may not have been aware. It will also help some people avoid getting burned. I learned most of what I know from getting burned a few times. Sure wish I would have been on this forum back then! Thanks for an awesome post! :smile:
 
#5
Great post, I don't think it's harsh at all. Much better to get some tough love from a fellow tPFer who has been there and dealt with that than have to deal with the headache that follows claims, disputes with buyers, shipping problems, etc.

For extra precaution, I'd also recommend:
- Stating that you only ship to confirmed addresses
- Stating that you reserve the right to cancel bids from people with excessive negative feedback

And I DEFINITELY concur with using Express Mail on international transactions and Priority Mail on domestic ones and integrating insurance/confirmation as a staple into your shipping procedures.
 
#6
AMEN, Twiggers!!! Thank you for taking the time to write all of that out. I ALWAYS ship my items out with USPS, full insurance, and signature confirmation. The post office always tells me, when I get there to ship my parcels, that I don't need both of the insurance AND signature confirmation, because they have to sign for an insured package. I just tell them that I know that, BUT I need to be able to pull up WHO signed for the package in case the buyer says they did not recieve it. I do EVERYTHING possible to avoid ANY complications.

Twiggers, you composed a fabulous list, of exactly what I do as well, when selling on ebay. Kudos to you for sharing it with tPF members here.
 
#7
great post, this should be stickied to prevent reposting questions. people should also update their posts rather than starting new ones..

thanks twiggers for sharing with us all!
 
#8
Where's the standing ovation smiley??! Awesome post, Twiggers. I think I forget that not everyone has been around eBay since the dawn of time--it still surprises me when I hear people's dilemmas because they DIDN'T do one or more of these things!

Thanks so much for taking the time to put this all in one place.
I second the motion for this to be made a sticky. Very, very valuable info in here!
 
#9
designbutterfly said:
Thank you! I follow all these too! I heartily agree with the Express mail to international. I've run into the most problems using priority mail because it takes anywhere between days to weeks to get there and then I get complaints! Express Mail has guaranteed delivery dates!
Click to expand...

Just a note to Canadian sellers - it's not as easy - it costs an arm and a leg to ship an expensive item overseas with full coverage :sad:
 
#12
3. Know the paypal rules and regulations.
a. Under $250 requires delivery confirmation
b. Over $250 requires signature confirmation
Spend the extra $2.00 and avoid losing appeals.
Click to expand...

Just a note to Canadian sellers - it's not as easy - it costs an arm and a leg to ship an expensive item overseas with full coverage :sad:
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was just going to say. I looked into sending bag air to Singapore the other day and with everything except signature it was about $50. With signature it jumped to $150 as the only option was Purolator courier as no other method offered signature and over $100 insurance. This applies to shipping to the US as well as no method other than Courier allows for signature.

So, if only it were as easy as "Spend the extra $2.00 and avoid losing appeals."

Canada Post Sucks!
 
#15
Great post!

I've learnt to do all these things too - through experience - plus I offer to refund the "authentication fee" if buyers have an item checked with mypoupette before winning one of my auctions.
 
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