I have a couple of newbie questions if anyone has a mo?

[SuePurblybiltFromChocolate]

TIA [busmile]

I have just started selling DD's old clothes and the like on Ebay. One dress sold last Saturday (a week ago) but no payment yet. How long would you leave it before emailing? Is there a cut-off for giving up? Is this normal?

And postage. I've been estimating by searching for similar listings and going slightly under, and it's worked rather well . But if I do overcharge, what is the normal thing to do? I use proper mailing packets etc so there are some packaging costs too. Do people expect to be charged the amount on the stamp? I've just sent one off, I charged £2.50 and I think it cost more like £1.50, plus packaging. Would you try to refund for that?

i usually send another invoice about three days after the person has won the item as a gentle reminder. if i dont receive anything a couple of days later i email them to say they havent paid in a polite manner. then a couple of days after that i email them again saying they havent paid and if they dont do so within the next couple of days i will inform ebay. i give a couple of extra days over the holiday period. For your postage query i wouldnt send a refund unless they query it. if i sell something i usually send it second class, however, if the postage is a lot less than i usually send it first class and have had no complaints as yet (must say its been very rare i have overpriced, i usually underprice by mistake!). children's clothes i usually budget 20p-50p packaging depending on whether its a t-shirt or jeans for example. i usually parcel mine up in a plastic food bag or equivilent and then wrap in two layers of brown paper.

Buy your mailing bags from ebay, plastic ones which are durable and cheap. I usually slightly overcharge (by around £1) for postage due to petrol and time.

I usually leave it 4-5 days then send a polite reminder, I also have buyer requirement settings so anyone who has had two unpaid item strikes in teh last 6 months cannot bid on my stock.

Hope this helps!

Oh that's OK then - you're right, it should include petrol and parking and time, shouldn't it. I have bought mailing bags now (grey ones by the 100!). Nobody's queried, I just wondered if there was a sort of unwritten rule.

Thanks for your advice. I emailed on Wednesday night (5 days after) just politely pointing out that if they didn't pay by Thursday lunchtime, they'd miss the bank holiday posting window. No reply and no payment as yet. I'll give it a bit longer.

I thought I was being clever by ending my auctions on a Sunday so I could go the the PO with all the parcels on Monday/Tuesday. It didn't occur to me that people would keep paying in dribs and drabs and I'd be going every day!

I would open a non payer case now to be honest - then close in 4 days and get your fees back. No point waiting, if they aren't going to pay they won't pay.

After you said that I went to check out their feedback. 75 left, from the first few I saw three saying non-payer - avoid.
So I opened a case

You really should set your buyer requirements, saves a lot of hassle! If they are serious and have ticks against their account they can always contact you and you can allow them to bid at your discretion

OK, will look into how to do that. Thanks

Ooh yeah I'm rioght snarky about payment. I give them 48hours then I send them an email asking for payment within 24hrs. If nothing, I open a NPD and get fees back - though they normally pay straight away then.

Don't worry about overcharging postage - you can refund a bit if they ask but most people understand it's part of the ebay process so

Excellent. I am learning.

I send extra little bits and pieces if items sell above what I expected. So for e.g. if I'm selling an eyeshadow I'd include a trial sachet of toner or whatever (I have them stashed away like a weird hoarder) and with DS1's old Chelsea shirt that made £15 I enclosed a Chelsea lanyard strap thing as a freebie.

That way you get extra lovely feedback and it creates good karma for when tosspots are a pain to you.

:) :)

I did that a few times with bundles. Good karma, innit .
I put something on yesterday for 99p and it had reached £20 within ten minutes. I have convinced myself I will be a millionaire by the time it finishes in 6 days

WOAH! What is it? I may have a bid meself ! Unless it's DD clothes :o

Nah, it's nothing good (to me). It's a weirdy wall hanging thing I was given.
But they appear to be ver' popular on the ebays.

well i never knew that. A secret market for weirdy wall hangings :o

Who knew?
Or we have stalkers buying up our excess wall decoration and nail polishes. And sniffing 'em.

if you are a private seller you can not charge for time in your postage costs, only a business can charge for time it is reasonable to include cost of mailing bag/ bubble wrap to be honest of selling clothes i think £1 extra is a lot it costs about 20-30p max ; 10p for mailing bag
I always partial refund on return from PO if postage is cheaper than i thought ie if I charged thinking it would be 500-750g and actually in under 500g category, it wins you loads of brownie points and good feedback, I might not ask for a refund for excess postage but you would get 3 or 4 stars not 5 too many 4 stars will negatively impact your DSR

though technically you can open dispute on 4th day i would always send invoice after 2-3 days then a email on 4th day asking for payment then open on 6th or 7th day, many people snip so add an extra day if it was like last friday as some people away all weekend, but i would always close non paying dispute within 4 days not longer, but mostly i would give a week to pay but as fergoose says you can open on 4th day to the minute

I am lucky in that I live round the corner from 2 Post Offices so I don't charge for time/fuel/parking etc - but I don't think I would anyway, as a private seller, I see it as part of my effort and not something buyers should pay for.

I don't make any profit on postage but my items get lots of watchers and I do ok so I'm sticking with this method.