Not worth it

[Chocolate1985]

I used to use eBay to make a bit of extra money for spending money for holidays etc had a great experience say 2010 ,2011. This year I put on clothes old toys etc all photographed and described as accurately as possible . Had nothing but trouble though one buyer bought a number of items of me and wanted combined postage which I was going to give them anyway but then told me the combined postage amount was too expensive in their experience. I knocked it down and then went to post items and was £6 out of pocket . Another buyer wanted to come to the house from 20 miles away for a £1 item and £3.50 postage and got cheeky when I said no as don't particularly want strangers at my door . Then another buyer wanted a return as they say a dress I sold doesn't fit them even though I didn't mention a returns policy . I've got to the point that I'm really fed up of the whole thing especially as eBay fees seem to have went up so much recently sometime and end up out of pocket ! Has anyone else found their experience is less positive than before ? I think it will be back to car boot sales next summer .

Did you post all the times together, that you combined the postage for?

How did it work out £6 down?

The simple solution to this is sell your items for a (realistic) buy it now price including P+P. Make sure you factor in the exact postage costs and PayPal / eBay fees.

Definitely going to do the buy it now thing as this means postage and packaging won't be an issue .
It worked out £6 down as the buyer told us the postage would be £7 however posting second class at post office was £13. Lesson definitely learned .

It sounds like your parcel was over 2kg, so was very expensive to send via Royal Mail.

Make sure you double check how much a parcel is going to cost by using the Royal Mail online price finder, rather than relying on a buyer telling you what it's going to cost.

Also, if a parcel is over 2kg, check out other couriers prices using the Parcel Monkey website, as you will find it cheaper than RM.

Over 2 kg we use other services, but less keen on using ebay now. The fees are too high and fees on the pp is stupid. As for grumpy/poor/bad buyers, sellers are without any defence anymore. Ebay is terrible these days.

I also agree that eBay is terrible these days. I sold lots of clothes, baby items, accessories and books around 2010-11 and made £200 which was huge to me at the time on mat leave.
These days, hardly get any watchers let alone buyers.

Got a prIce guide from the post office but honestly been using it since 2002 and this is the first year it's been such a negative thing . I remember when I first used it you could actually have friendly feedback and messages between sellers and buyers not any more . Have to say I was a lot happie giving unwanted clothes etc to my 13 year old cousin rather than try sell them for 99p!

I have much less problems with buy it now and free p+p. Factor the postage into the price.

I list items for as much as I think I could get. Look at sold prices on eBay and how much the item costs new and make a judgement. List for 30 days and reduce the price slowly each week. I don't sell anything for less than £4.99 but most of my items go for quite a bit more. Last item I sold was a White Stuff tunic for £25 a couple of weeks ago.

Also, check how much it would cost to send before you list. Royal Mail and Hermes both have postage calculators online.