To ask about your experience of eBay - as a seller

[Pearplum12]

Is it a good base for selling things?
Has anyone here successfully sold lots of stuff?
Any tips? Thanks

@almahart hermes accounts are easy you can buy hermes postage on ebay though it is a few pence cheaper at hermes
make sure you add the tracking number immediately
you need to be able to print bar code label
check on hermes if there is a drop off point near your house work on or on your commute and can you park easily outside it

I used to have a business on EBay from 2009 - 2018. At its height we were selling 500 items a day.

We closed in 2018. Ebays policies were getting harder and harder to turn a profit and be a successful seller.

Also, In the business that I was in, when I originally started, suppliers were very selective on who they offered accounts to. But as times have gotten harder, they have relaxed their rules and anyone can open an account. This opened the door to a surge of what we called penny sellers (knowing how much they were earning from a sale meant they couldn’t have made much more than pennies). Some lines were not worth competing on and so we removed many of them. The last lot of accounts showed a huge deficit so we parted ways with EBay.

It will be another listing fee which varies on what you are selling. If you don’t have any bids then you won’t get a final value fee but you’ll still need to pay the listing fee regardless of whether it’s sold. Your PayPal account should be linked to a debit or credit card so they’ll deduct what is owed at the end of every month.

@checkingoutthequantocks

for future reference you can send up to 10kg with hermes for 6.49 including tracking

@TeacupDrama Argh, thanks... I wish I'd known about that before, for some reason I just assumed Hermes would be more expensive so I didn't even think about it. I have an anxious wait for my funds now!

Crazykidscrazylife- Thanks! How much is the listing fee?

Also, I wonder if the listing fee means I’m better not selling eg 99p items ..?

@pearplum there is absolutely no point in starting things at 99p unless that is all they are worth

you get 100 free listings a month whatever the start price 99p or £99

as a new seller you will be restricted at how many you can list anyway

otherwise listing fee is 12p

Thanks Teacup- I think I’ll forget the 99p listings then ..

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm a new seller and I had PayPal payment "on hold", I was initially alarmed by this. But I read the small print and if you type in the postage details or upload a copy of the postage receipt, funds are released.

I'm selling clothes that I've bought and not worn. I'm going to start clearing out my cupboards and selling stuff as job lot as per a previous suggestion.

NurseButtercup- Thanks- does that mean that you have to upload a photo of every postage receipt?

if you have a printer I would suggest you buy your postage on ebay as it upholds tracking info instantly and as soon as it is marked as delivered by courier / royal mail your funds are released
you can buy Royal mail and courier labels on ebay and when you get to post office they just scan them and give you receipts
no you don't need to upload receipts just enter the tracking number you only need to uphold postage receipt if not tracked

I buy a lot from ebay & 99.9% of the time I'm delighted with whatever I've bought. Two things that really get to me are

1. badly packed glassware/china. On the few times I've sold these kind of items I wrap them individually in bubble wrap, tape them up then tape all the items together so that they can't shift around & get smashed. Three times I've had crystal glasses smashed in transit just because they were too loose inside the packaging.
2. items wrongly described when labels etc were staring them in the face. I bought what I thought was a lovely linen table cloth only to fine a label clearly stating it was polycotton. I always claim a refund in these type of cases & I've always been given it so avoid that kind of hassle from the start. Good luck with it all. I'm a big fan of ebay - I'm wearing a dress I bought that arrived this morning & I adore it.

Overall, I have had very few problems with it but you do get the occasional CF as with anything in life. I’ve probably sold 200ish items over the years and 98% went smoothly. The issue is, eBay almost always sees in the buyers favour.

The ones that didn’t go well were:
One buyer left positive feedback then claimed the item was broken a month later so asked for a refund . I refused because obviously they had broken it... eBay sadly saw in their favour so I had to accept a return and refund. Left me £50 out of pocket and couldn’t sell the item back on...
Had a couple claim the items hadn’t arrived and again, had to refund because I hadn’t sent them recorded. Rookie error, if it’s money you can’t afford to lose then definitely send recorded!
Had one person leave negative feedback before contacting me so I couldn’t resolve the issue...
One person turned up an hour late to collect something then decided they didn’t want it when they turned up. That was annoying as fuck.

Overall it’s been a fine way of making quick cash. Postage costs are high though. When I first started selling it cost about £2.20 to send something second class, it’s now £3.

I also buy a heck of a lot on there and very rarely have issues. The biggest issue is things not turning up but that’s rarely the sellers fault. Did have one seller a few weeks ago refuse to combine postage so charged me £6 for two children’s jumpers sending then they packaged them together .

I buy a huge amount on eBay, used to sell a fair bit when my children were younger and going through clothes quickly but.... when they dropped negative feedback for buyers - this was the death-knell for sellers.

Nowadays I sell only big/valuable/collection only stuff and I gently suggest to the buyer that we cancel the sale as soon as we’ve amicably exchanged. It damages my seller rating but I hardly care.

Long story short: great for buyers, not great for sellers.

I use it selectively: some items sell really well, others not at all. Be prepared for bad experiences, I recently had a high bidder not complete the sale, and as a result the item went unsold.
My absolute favourite time to sell is between Christmas & New Year, lots of browsers looking to spend Christmas money.
My niche market is selling second hand saddles, the market is so huge, I always sell them and buyers are happy to pay postage. More difficult to sell locally. Have also successfully bought saddles. God luck!

I've found it to be quite good, but it's a lot of faff - or, if you do it well, with really good descriptions and decent photos, it's a lot of faff.

I haven't had much trouble at all with dodgy buyers - which actually, considering the number of sellers who say they have, I do find a bit weird. But because I haven't had much trouble, I'd go against the grain and say don't bother sending lower-value things signed for, because it puts the postage cost up and will therefore put buyers off - also, as a buyer, I will sometimes pass on making a purchase because I don't want the hassle of a waiting in to sign. I would put something on as signed-for if it's likely it will go for more than, say, £30.

My top tip would be to try Gumtree first, for some things. If you're going to be taking the photos and writing the descriptions anyway, you might as well. Gumtree is free - you keep the full selling price. Gumtree is all cash on collection, so there isn't the hassle of packing up parcels. And the really good thing about it is that there isn't going to be any annoying comeback - once a things is sold, that's the end of it. I've been surprised by how well I've done with Gumtree. It's not much use for clothes, but it is quite good for furniture and household items.

As a general rule of thumb, anything small and slim valued u Dee £10 I send untracked via Royal Mail, 2nd class.

If it's too wide (2.5 Cm or more) it would cost at least £2.95 at the post office (untracked) I send it with Hermes which I get fully tracked for about £2.65.

This covers you in the event of a non received claim.

I've sold about £2k worth of stuff in the last year and the only issue I've had was when I sent a PS4 game 2nd class with Royal Mail. Surprise surprise the guy claimed he didn't get it. I refunded him (better to do that before eBay do it - which they do) then I claimed the postage and cost of the sale back fromRoyal Mail.

I wasn't out of pocket but I was annoyed as I didn't believe a word he said, it was well wrapped and addressed correctly etc.

Recorded delivery is a waste of money for eBay, it means nothing. Buyers who scam a living out of sellers know this.
eBay will only protect sellers if you send everything tracked.
Recorded and tracked are two entirely different things.

Thanks!.... so at the post office can I ask to post it so it is tracked ...?

Thanks!.... so at the post office can I ask to post it so it is tracked ...?

Only Special Delivery or Parcel Force services via the Post Office provides tracking.

Special Delivery is extortionate - I only use it to send jewellery as it provides full insurance

@Pearplum12 if you upload the tracking number to ebay once it is marked as delivered ebay will find in your favour this is called "seller protection" it is not the signature that matters but tracking

hermes small parcel under 1kg is £2.85 and it includes tracking
if you drop off it is 60p extra if they collect from your house

Royal mail signed for is also tracked but you must upload the number into ebay mostly they start KB 9 numbers then GB
the tracking number is on the receipt

personally as a business seller I only send signed for above £20 as normal mail covers you for £20; signed for £50

if you go to ebay sellers pages it will explain all of this much quicker than chatting here as not all info is correct

Seller for about 18 years. Still do it, but you do have to pre-empt the hard of thinking and the cheeky and thieving ones and think ahead, prepare for every possible thing that could go wrong and try to prevent it.
Read the Ebay sellers forums, found under 'Community' and ask there for help, you will get it here but there are people there that spend a lot of time advising people.
Buy some postage scales and either use stamps and the Royal Mail price chart or print labels. I send all mine 2nd class because it gets there at the same time as 1st.
You will need a tape measure, use it in your photos to prove the size of stuff, you will also need it to measure the size of your parcels to work out the prices.
If you go to the Post Office they will usually try to upsell you a service that you don't need. An item that will go as a 2nd class parcel might need recorded delivery tracking to prevent the buyer claiming not received but it will be unlikely to need Special Delivery or 1st class which they will try to sell you.

Proof of delivery is what you get with Recorded Delivery. The parcel is tracked with regard to being accepted at the PO and delivered to it's destination or it will show as returned to sorting office or not collected when you enter the no. into Track and Trace. You can phone RM and ask them to update if nothing is showing although that happens less these days.

Fully tracked costs a lot more and is not necessary unless the item is worth a lot of money (Special Delivery).

People are still not grasping the difference between Recorded and Tracked.

Op you'd be best asking on ebay community forums as people there really tend to know what they're talking about.