Selling on eBay?

[NW-Bound]

I have never sold anything, and only bought on eBay, but remember this story. I bought a used motorcycle part, and the bid started at just a couple of dollars with free shipping.

I turned out to be the only bidder. The guy ended up losing a few bucks on this sale after the shipping cost! I sent him an email afterwards commending him for honoring the deal.

 

[Tailgate]

Update

OP here... listed about 36 hours ago...have 41 watching with over 300 page views.. already have a bid on the minimum, so it will sell in another 9 days. Already bid is 65% more than I paid for it. Gotta love Capitalism..!

fyi, did USA only..Paypal, buyer pays shipping, ship only to address on Paypal account, signature required... hopefully that's buttoned down enough so there are no misunderstandings or scammers..

 

[ERD50]

OP here... listed about 36 hours ago...have 41 watching with over 300 page views.. already have a bid on the minimum, so it will sell in another 9 days. Already bid is 65% more than I paid for it. Gotta love Capitalism..!

fyi, did USA only..Paypal, buyer pays shipping, ship only to address on Paypal account, signature required... hopefully that's buttoned down enough so there are no misunderstandings or scammers..

Sounds good. Is that 65% Long-Term or Short Term Capital Gains?

Or is that 28%? Hmmm, if something like this is actually taxable, does that mean I can write off losses on stuff like this that I buy and then sell at a lower price?

-ERD50

 

[Nunthewiser]

I turned out to be the only bidder. The guy ended up losing a few bucks on this sale after the shipping cost! I sent him an email afterwards commending him for honoring the deal.

It is a sad state of affairs when you have to stroke people to honor a contract.

I have not been so lucky, even when reminding sellers of their obligations. But then , I spent 34 years wo*king as a Subcontract Administrator.

 

[sengsational]

The most expensive thing I've sold is $300, and I doubt I'd go much higher unless there was no store in town or show/event to go to. My BIL has bought cars, sight unseen. Crazy if you ask me.

PayPal can certainly screw you over, and this is good advice.

However, paypal can and will pull the funds if the buyer files a dispute. So keep good records of shipping, including tracking numbers to prove the shipment and delivery. For your valuable item, good to even take pics of the packing and box materials, so you can prove good condition when you left it off for shipping. I have had claims and most were form international sales where it was held up in customs. Parts eventually arrived and paypal released the funds back to my account. So just because a dispute is filed, does not mean you are out the money. Could just delay having it actually 100% in your hands.

I know someone who sold something, the buyer paid with a credit card through PayPal, then supposedly disputed the charge. So contact was made with the buyer, and they said they got the product and were happy with it, and didn't dispute the charge. All attempts at getting this resolved fell on deaf ears, because the USPS tracking number was lost. PayPal was totally inflexible: no tracking number, we ignore you. Even though the guy had the product, which is one better than the tracking number.

 

[Dimsumkid]

All attempts at getting this resolved fell on deaf ears, because the USPS tracking number was lost. PayPal was totally inflexible: no tracking number, we ignore you.

I'm not sure how you can lose a USPS tracking number on ebay...if you shipped via ebay, it's automatically attached to the auction. If you purchased it directly from USPS, all you need to do is type it in the space on the auction. If the latter, it's the seller's fault for not spending the 10 secs to add this info onto the auction. It's also good policy to send the tracking # in an email to the buyer. I do this on all my sales, as some buyers will try to scam you on this point.

I recently had a buyer claim an item wasn't delivered and he immediately filed a claim within minutes of delivery to his home w/o contacting me first. I had to respond to his claim with tracking #, otherwise, you pretty much have no proof of delivery. I got the impression he didn't think/know I had tracking info on this package (and insurance). When I provided this info, he replied the next day he got the package and quietly closed the complaint.

 

[Tailgate]

update from OP... item (custom ukulele) sold for $5,400 (I paid about 3k).. funds cleared PayPal, shipping tomorrow- USPS via eBay, signature required, to NYC. Feel pretty good at this point. Thanks all for the info.. definitely helped me move forward with the sale...

 

[sengsational]

I'm not sure how you can lose a USPS tracking number on ebay...if you shipped via ebay, it's automatically attached to the auction. If you purchased it directly from USPS, all you need to do is type it in the space on the auction. If the latter, it's the seller's fault for not spending the 10 secs to add this info onto the auction. It's also good policy to send the tracking # in an email to the buyer. I do this on all my sales, as some buyers will try to scam you on this point.

My DD walked into the post office, mailed the package, and promptly lost the receipt.

 

[sengsational]

update from OP... item (custom ukulele) sold for $5,400 (I paid about 3k).. funds cleared PayPal, shipping tomorrow- USPS via eBay, signature required, to NYC. Feel pretty good at this point. Thanks all for the info.. definitely helped me move forward with the sale...

Awesome! Cha-ching!

 

[NW-Bound]

Wow! I would not feel secure buying or selling something of that value sight unseen to a stranger. Have not sold anything, but the highest valued item I have bought was around $300.

 

[photoguy]

Awesome. It's always a great feeling to sell stuff for more than you paid on eBay.

 

[Tailgate]

OP here with final result... Paypal transferred funds to my bank on the 26th, but they did not clear my bank until today... on pins and needles to this point...$5,400k is a lot of money in play, but the transfer is complete so the sale was a success..

lessons learned for this eBay noobie:

1. with big $$ items, sweat the details: signatures, take pics of packing materials, tracking numbers, use eBay shipping (in case there is an issue they have accountability too with sellers protection plan)...

2. Call eBay with any questions.. they were helpful and I was on record with them because of the calls. Don't ship until they say everything is confirmed...in my case I specified I would only ship to lower 48 and Canada.. I shipped to a NYC address, but the buyer is in China and the item will be sent there. eBay said my responsibility ended when it was signed for in NYC at the confirmed address of the eBay account holder.

3. No matter what you do on eBay, there is always risk. All you can do is try to minimize it.

now, what else do I have that I can sell

 

[abbvie]

Iam in the process of decluttering and as part of that trying to sell my son’s doodle bug mini bike that we got him for Christmas years ago on Ebay. The experience is awful. This is the third time I have to relist the bike due to winning bidder that failed to respond. The new features on the site is horrible and it seems Ebay is catering to the buyers, and not the seller.

 

[photoguy]

Abbvie -- I 've had the same problem with non-paying bidders (seems to happen most on old laptops) with many different excuses (my kid bid, my text-speach software bid, etc). Eventually it will sell to a legitimate buyer.

I think you can also avoid non-paying bidders if you do buy-it-now (they have to pay immediately). Also, I believe you can block bidders if their feedback score is low (haven't tried this personally).

 

[easysurfer]

If a winning bidder doesn't pay. Isn't there an option to ask if the runner up is still interested? I haven't had non-paying bidders. But recently sold and old laptop and had to send him a couple of reminders that he won.

 

[sengsational]

I configure my auctions to block those without a good and sufficiently long reputation. Since I've been doing that, I've had a dozen good auctions, and no bad ones. But I haven't sold anything above $50 either.