Selling online: tips, tricks, what to and not to do

OfficePants

OfficePants

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Messages
9,933
War stories are welcome also.

So, who sells online, what platforms are you on, and what's working and not working?
 
I suck at selling on ebay. I've lost money by totally underestimating shipping and forgetting how steep their seller fees are. I still have no idea what the fee rubrics are. They seem to go out of their way to hide them.
Package, weigh, and determine shipping costs before listing.
 
Russell Street said:
I suck at selling on ebay. I've lost money by totally underestimating shipping and forgetting how steep their seller fees are. I still have no idea what the fee rubrics are. They seem to go out of their way to hide them.
Package, weigh, and determine shipping costs before listing.
Click to expand...

In general, you can probably count on 15-17% including paypal fees.

I don't find shipping a challenge. Once you get a feel for costs, it's pretty simple.

If you were losing money, then you likely were paying too much for the product you were selling.
 
PayPal and eBay fees are a king's ransom. If you include free shipping to your items, it makes you think twice before selling.
 
I just sold my fourth pair of shoes. A pair of Allen Edmonds Strand. The first three were on eBay--also AEs. This is the first time I've sold using SF B&S. I hope this goes well.
 
eBay seller here. eBay currently charges approximately 10% fee and PayPal charges about 4.7%. Unless you are selling at large quantity or expensive items, selling on eBay is not worth it. In addition, eBay adds shipping charge to the final value when assessing fees which makes shipping international a pain.

Paypal always protects the buyers if they decided to open a case against you. So try to be as clear as possible on your listing and take as many pictures as possible. I avoid selling/shipping to countries where fraud is rampant (ie China, Southeastern Asian countries, African countries, Eastern European Countries). I have taking some huge losses before. There is feature on eBay where it allows the seller to block buyers from countries you want to avoid.

Another headache I have encountered lately is buyer refuse to pay for the item after bidding. There is not much to do except wait it out and negotiate to cancel the transaction. I dislike eBay but it's the only platform that is semi-useful.
 
Pauly Chase said:
eBay seller here. eBay currently charges approximately 10% fee and PayPal charges about 4.7%. Unless you are selling at large quantity or expensive items, selling on eBay is not worth it. In addition, eBay adds shipping charge to the final value when assessing fees which makes shipping international a pain.

Paypal always protects the buyers if they decided to open a case against you. So try to be as clear as possible on your listing and take as many pictures as possible. I avoid selling/shipping to countries where fraud is rampant (ie China, Southeastern Asian countries, African countries, Eastern European Countries). I have taking some huge losses before. There is feature on eBay where it allows the seller to block buyers from countries you want to avoid.

Another headache I have encountered lately is buyer refuse to pay for the item after bidding. There is not much to do except wait it out and negotiate to cancel the transaction. I dislike eBay but it's the only platform that is semi-useful.
Click to expand...

have you tried Grailed? Seems like SWD would sell there
 
I tried with Grailed before, didn't have much success. TBH I have had more success on eBay than anywhere else. But success also comes with risks. Huge risks that is.
 
Unless you know there will be an instant bidding war, set a starting price equal to the minimum you will sell for. If it doesn't sell you can lower it the following week. I bought a new jumper for .99c and free shipping because the seller just assumed everyone would be fighting for it (he then refused the sale).
 
Pauly Chase said:
In addition, eBay adds shipping charge to the final value when assessing fees which makes shipping international a pain
Click to expand...

You can thank the assholes in the past that listed their product for $1 and charged $70 shipping. This is why we have laws for everything, people don't think.
 
Pauly Chase said:
I avoid selling/shipping to countries where fraud is rampant (ie China, Southeastern Asian countries, African countries, Eastern European Countries). I have taking some huge losses before. There is feature on eBay where it allows the seller to block buyers from countries you want to avoid
Click to expand...

This is an ideal exclusion list:

Cambodia, Jordan, Afghanistan, Brazil, Barbados, Africa, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Yemen, Qatar, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Pakistan

Don't ship to Brazil, ever.
 
OfficePants said:
This is an ideal exclusion list:

Cambodia, Jordan, Afghanistan, Brazil, Barbados, Africa, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Yemen, Qatar, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Pakistan
Click to expand...

I know this list makes sense and sellers do wise to adhere to it, but for an expat living in Indonesia it can be very frustrating sometimes...
 
ElioDA said:
I know this list makes sense and sellers do wise to adhere to it, but for an expat living in Indonesia it can be very frustrating sometimes...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I wouldn't ship to Indonesia under any circumstance within the PayPal/Ebay mafia.
 
OfficePants said:
Does Grailed import ebay listings?
Click to expand...

Unsure. Haven't used Grailed in ages (buy or sell)

ElioDA said:
I know this list makes sense and sellers do wise to adhere to it, but for an expat living in Indonesia it can be very frustrating sometimes...
Click to expand...

Have someone who can receive shipments for you in the States and have them shipped to you. It's a hassle, but at least you avoid some headaches.
 
When bidding, if in doubt, always ask seller questions. I have found those that take the time to answer usually sell items fitting the description. This is particularly useful if you are bidding on popular items (Rolex/LV/Hermes/Rick)
 
Pauly Chase said:
When bidding, if in doubt, always ask seller questions. I have found those that take the time to answer usually sell items fitting the description. This is particularly useful if you are bidding on popular items (Rolex/LV/Hermes/Rick)
Click to expand...

Funny... I usually have problems with the Q & A buyers. "Hey yo, any scrapes, scratches, pulls, wear spots, holes, burn marks, or radiation exposure?"... they have ended up in returns.
 
OfficePants said:
Funny... I usually have problems with the Q & A buyers. "Hey yo, any scrapes, scratches, pulls, wear spots, holes, burn marks, or radiation exposure?"... they have ended up in returns.
Click to expand...

I think it's easy to distinguish the genuineness of the bidders in their questions. If i provided 7 pictures of the item, and they are sitll asking for additional pictures, then I usually smell something fish.

Here is a random thought, when eBay and Paypal were under the same roof, shouldn't it have been illegal to charge two fees?
 
Pauly Chase said:
Here is a random thought, when eBay and Paypal were under the same roof, shouldn't it have been illegal to charge two fees?
Click to expand...

No. They can do whatever they want. What should have been class actioned 15 years ago was forcing paypal down the sellers throat.
 
What is this? I have a payment in paypal from the UK in GBP with a status "unclaimed". Anyone seen this?
 
OfficePants said:
Funny... I usually have problems with the Q & A buyers. "Hey yo, any scrapes, scratches, pulls, wear spots, holes, burn marks, or radiation exposure?"... they have ended up in returns.
Click to expand...

I have just finished a sale to a user like this. He also hasn't paid right away. I am not liking my chances. But my post did say no returns. Does this save me at least a little bit?
 
Darkside said:
I have just finished a sale to a user like this. He also hasn't paid right away. I am not liking my chances. But my post did say no returns. Does this save me at least a little bit?
Click to expand...

Not from negative feedback it won't. Not sure about misrepresentation forcing a return as I always accept returns.

He's prly asking because of the no returns policy.
 
I've read that for real auctions, the prime time to have them scheduled to end is ~8pm PST on Sunday night. In the smartphone age, I'm not as sure if this matters anymore.
 
Russell Street said:
I've read that for real auctions, the prime time to have them scheduled to end is ~8pm PST on Sunday night. In the smartphone age, I'm not as sure if this matters anymore.
Click to expand...

It definitely does matter. Sunday night does seem to be the wind down time when folks are home ready for work the next day. Problem is EVERYONE does the same thing. And 8PM is an EST thing... thats 5 PM in the west. I'd go for 10 or 10:30.

And by the way, as if they weren't a big enough fee suck, ebay charges for scheduling a listing, the fucks.
 
1. A pound is the magic cutoff from cheap-ass shipping to "fuck, might as well Priority this bitch" costwise.
2. I am happy to announce that a seller can indeed have negative feedback scrubbed if they can prove "feedback extortion" by seller. Basically I sold a lightly used item as new, and some douche found a scuff and I gave him a return but decided to let the refund wait a bit. He whined (after like two or three days) with an ultimatum that he'd leave negative feedback if no refund was issued later that day. I said pffft, I got six days per the rules. He negged me, I reported it, and it got removed in about a week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top Bottom