Selling on eBay

I am getting to the point where I would almost rather set something on fire than try to sell it on eBay.

From people bidding then trying to extort you into giving them free shipping (refusing to cancel their bids and telling you to do it 'if shipping isn't free') to people not paying on time to eBay's ridiculous fees (and then PayPal's ridiculous fees) to the delayed payment which leaves you the seller hoping the person on the other end doesn't scam you, it's just nerve-wracking and horrible.
 
I hear a lot of people complain about the eBay experience and I'll be honest, I've never had a problem as a seller or a buyer. Are you guys complaining about the same system?

I've moved several drum sets over the years, and have bought a lot of stuff too. I never have a problem with a buyer, I simply just lay down the rules in my item description and they either go by them, or nothing happens. Do you really lay it down in your item descriptions? That's the biggie. That has to be very clear on what they're getting, any issues in the item, shipping cost, how you'll ship it, etc.,...because that's your argument when you take it to the next level with eBay when the buyer doesn't want to pay, or if you decided to cancel the transaction.

I've gone so far as having a boiler-plate statement about how I accept payment and how I ship that gets pasted into the item description at the end of anything I have to say about the item. Everything to be clear on what I expect from the potential buyer, and what he can expect from me.

I've honestly never had a problem. Perhaps you should give us your link to your auction and I'll look and see where there could be any issues arising between buyer and seller?
 
I had a couple similar issues. The solution for me ended up being: "Make your auctions completely invisible to anyone outside the continental US." I've only had a single person waste my time since then.

There's profile settings (both in eBay and Paypal) that need to be set. Took me an hour with google to sort it all out.
 
You know what, you're both right, I was just in a dark mood. Spent a couple hours making boxes and putting stuff together to ship and had to deal with a real jackhole who was trying to make me eat the shipping.

Ah well. At the end of the day I might get to keep a really nice drum for at least a little while longer. And most of the sales on eBay went fine.

... always look on the bright side of life! ...
 
You know what, you're both right, I was just in a dark mood. Spent a couple hours making boxes and putting stuff together to ship and had to deal with a real jackhole who was trying to make me eat the shipping.

Ah well. At the end of the day I might get to keep a really nice drum for at least a little while longer. And most of the sales on eBay went fine.

... always look on the bright side of life! ...

That's the spirit!

When you're the seller, you're pretty much in control. If the guy doesn't want to pay shipping, you don't have to do anything. Cancel the transaction, eBay will refund your fees once you explain to them that the buyer is not following his part of the deal and just re-list. It'll take longer, but you'll get a buyer who will abide by your deal sooner or later. You just have to be patient.
 
You know what, you're both right, I was just in a dark mood. Spent a couple hours making boxes and putting stuff together to ship and had to deal with a real jackhole who was trying to make me eat the shipping.

Ah well. At the end of the day I might get to keep a really nice drum for at least a little while longer. And most of the sales on eBay went fine.

... always look on the bright side of life! ...

I move a lot of stuff as well, and I saw a pattern of losing my own money on shipping in the past so I took the advice of this cool UPS guy: add extra weight and box dimensions on the eBay shipping inputs (their crooked estimator) and add a shipping fee - this way shipping becomes profitable :)
 
add extra weight and box dimensions on the eBay shipping inputs (their crooked estimator) and add a shipping fee - this way shipping becomes profitable :)


I had to do something similar. I live 2 mins from a Fedex store. I do size/weight, and use their online calculator. Then I charge for shipping to LA (I live in NY) So far, I've lost a couple bucks on shipping to Texas, made a couple bucks on shipping to NJ, nothing outside of a $5 variance.
 
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