Anyone have experience selling on ebay or similar sites?

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SorcerorElf

SorcerorElf

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I've heard a lot of good (and bad) things sites like ebay and amazon, so is it worth setting up a seller's account there? In case anyone asks, I'm planning to sell some old textbooks and other things of that nature.
 
SorcerorElf said:
I've heard a lot of good (and bad) things sites like ebay and amazon, so is it worth setting up a seller's account there? In case anyone asks, I'm planning to sell some old textbooks and other things of that nature.
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As I live in germany things may be different...

ebay is simple: you just have to submit your business license after registration. There're no costs for opening (or updating to) an ebay seller's account. If you sell s.th., the costs depend on what you've sold and the price. I recommend you to add a Paypal-account.

What exactly are you wondering about ?
 
In The United States you don't need a Business License to sell on eBay, AFAIK anyways, but maybe a Business License would be required if you are constantly selling things like 24/7.

All me and my mom had to do was create an account for eBay and another account for PayPal and link them together, with a bank account and Debit cards linked as additional payments methods.

Basically once you set up you can sell things on your own schedule, but beware there are scammers about; some of them intend to scam people from the very beginning; it will look like a normal sale until the "customer" gets eBay or PayPal customer support involved and makes up a bogus excuse to try to get a refund.

Its basically tantamount to stealing and they have all kinds crafty tricks, from "item never arrived", to "item is a counterfeit", to "Significantly Not As Described (SNAD) ", which basically means you lied about the condition of the item you sold, like if you sell something as functional and then they say "its broken".

Sadly sometimes the "customer" gets away with it and you end up having to accept giving them a refund, even if you didn't do anything wrong.

Also eBay has a lot of fees (well I guess "a lot" is subjective, but I find eBay fees are usually 10% of your sales at the end of the month, then PayPal (which most people use) is 3.5% fees, then there is shipping).

As a general rule I don't even sell anything on eBay for under $35 because I like to be able to keep like half (or more) of the item price.

All in all, it's not all that bad as a seller on eBay the Majority of the time, but if you sell a lot of stuff you probably will come across a few wannabe scammers (hopefully if you do eBay and PayPal back you up), and as a buyer I would be very careful because the last time I needed eBay/PayPal (I think they are owned and operated by the same people) because I was sent a Magazine when I paid for a PS4P they made me wait almost 2 weeks, even though they said they believed me and would get me a refund.

Overall I still like it as a buyer more than a seller because most sellers seem to be honest, but look at their feedback and question if it is likely to be what it appears, or if it is likely a Scam, any new seller selling things close to or above $100 I would be cautious of because there is a good chance The Seller may be a scammer.

I hate having to be cautious like that (because everyone starts as a noob) but since eBay/PayPal Customer Service has turned into a nightmare I would rather not be scammed again.

But yeah, as a buyer you can get coupons for 15% off, which is pretty awesome when combined with already low price, at other times you can get up to 8% or 10% eBay bucks (basically if the offer is 10% and you spend $300 you will get $30 to spend on stuff further down the road, yay free stuff)
 
I wonder if tighter wording in the sellers' description of items would avoid having Paypal refund the scammers.

IE: Instead of saying "It's used but works" it's "As Is". In other words "However you get it, that's how you get it." It's how a lot of places sell items. You usually can't go into a secondhand shop and buy something and then come back the next day and say "This is broken! I want my money back!" They'll just say "Sorry, but it's sold as is. If you didn't look at it and it was broken, it's not our fault." (Yeah, people will fuss a LOT but basically that's the gist of it.)
 
CuddleWoozle said:
I wonder if tighter wording in the sellers' description of items would avoid having Paypal refund the scammers.

IE: Instead of saying "It's used but works" it's "As Is". In other words "However you get it, that's how you get it." It's how a lot of places sell items. You usually can't go into a secondhand shop and buy something and then come back the next day and say "This is broken! I want my money back!" They'll just say "Sorry, but it's sold as is. If you didn't look at it and it was broken, it's not our fault." (Yeah, people will fuss a LOT but basically that's the gist of it.)
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"As Is" means nothing on eBay, they still have customer support to back them up and get a refund.
 
Business license? I ain't got no business license and ebay never asked for one.

I've been buying an selling since 1997 there. I've gotten bitten exactly twice in hundreds of transactions. Once as a buyer (I got most of the money back) and once as a seller (I relisted and sold it the second time for more).

Note that selling EXPENSIVE TO SHIP but LOW $$$ items on EBAY is a losing proposition now as they charge you the fees based on both the selling + shipping amount. The problem is if you media mail a book, you're probably going to be screwed over by the buyer (because he won't have received it timely, media mail sucks).
 
Hm. Contractual wording should stand up in a 'I didn't get what I wanted' type of way.

eBay is weird though, they're not like a real life auction where a bid is considered a sort of contract. (IE: I am bidding on this item, therefore I am obligated to purchase it if I win the auction.) They'll let people back out, but if you get 'known' for it in real life, they just won't sell to you at all. (And really here you're not talking about people backing out, you're talking about people abusing a system meant to make sure that people aren't being sent a brick in the mail when they bought a toaster.)
 
Both my brother and my uncle have sold on E Bay quite extensively. I've bought quite a bit on E Bay, Amazon, and Wish...

Wish seems to be the most iffy of the three. Probably 10... ish percent of the stuff I've ordered have never been delivered
 
So I get the sense that ebay doesn't care much about maintaining honesty? Or only in certain situations, or what exactly?
 
SorcerorElf said:
So I get the sense that ebay doesn't care much about maintaining honesty? Or only in certain situations, or what exactly?
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Basically yeah, at times it is like they believe the customer too much, other times they act like the buyer is at fault for somehow not knowing they were gonna be scammed.

I like to believe in the goodness and honesty of people, but unfortunately some people try to hook people giving Newbies a chance and they use that opportunity to screw the buyer over.

I was literally told I should have known I wasn't gonna get a PS4 pro for the price I paid (which was over $300 at the time, instead I got a $5 magazine with the shipping number that was supposed to be on the packaging containing my PS4P), which 1. Wasnt so low that I should have expected to get ripped off; 2. It was listed as used (and i believe used items should cost less than new), 3. eBay/PayPal shouldn't blame the buyer, they should listen and help them out.

Unfortunately when i needed help all they would do is freeze the money and make me wait almost a full 2 weeks before I actually got a refund.

That's the last time I spend over $100 on anything on eBay with a new seller .

CuddleWoozle said:
Hm. Contractual wording should stand up in a 'I didn't get what I wanted' type of way.

eBay is weird though, they're not like a real life auction where a bid is considered a sort of contract. (IE: I am bidding on this item, therefore I am obligated to purchase it if I win the auction.) They'll let people back out, but if you get 'known' for it in real life, they just won't sell to you at all. (And really here you're not talking about people backing out, you're talking about people abusing a system meant to make sure that people aren't being sent a brick in the mail when they bought a toaster.)
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Another thing is they let the buyer keep your stuff for 45 days and then send it back and still be eligible for a refund 45 days to play with your stuff, ruin it, buy a broken item and pull "Le Olde Switcharoo" and send you a broken item in place of your brand new item and claim it arrived broken, and they hold cancelled orders against sellers

That sucks because if you know there is a chance the buyer didn't read anything in your listing and if you don't cancel the order you will have trouble down the line; isn't cancelling the order better than needing customer support with an unhappy customer too lazy to read?

Which is another thing, when have people got SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy they cant take a minute to read a listing?

This isn't a problem exclusive to eBay either, I've encountered it many times on CL, LetGo, FB, etc; I thought reading was an ESSENTIAL SKILL everybody knew how to do these days, or are these people 3rd grade dropouts?
 
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I have bought quite a few things on eBay, and sold a few as well; my experiences have been almost always positive. I've gotten taken in buying a couple of times--one was my own fault as I misread a seller's listing, and it was very clear when I re-read it. The other time I got taken was that the item was not in nearly as good of shape as described, but not bad enough for a formal complaint.

Mostly though, the sellers (and buyers) I have encountered have been good, honest people who do the right thing. No complaints, really. When I buy, I try to deal only with people who have 100% positive feedback, or at worst, 98.5% positive. You can read the individual feedback listings for each seller; I think you can also spot when someone is trying to rip them off with ridiculous feedback. I have bought a few times, maybe 4 or 5, from a new seller (always hold my breath for a good outcome), and have experienced positive transactions with no problems encountered. I got lucky, but everyone has to start sometime.

Whether you buy or sell, just be careful and use common sense.
 
I would say I have a good experience on eBay probably 98 or 99% of the time as a buyer or seller, but there are always scammers lurking and there is no pleasing some people; and the few times things go wrong it can feel like the worst migraine of your life, if eBay/PayPal dont feel like being particularly helpful I've had times where I had to wait weeks for a good resolution more than once, so buyer beware (not much you can do as a seller except do your best and hope you avoid people that want your stuff for free from the beginning)
 
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