Explain to me how selling on eBay works

Factual Questions
1

It’s been a long LONG time since I sold anything on eBay. In fact my old account was blown out and I have to start over. I have a couple of questions.

1 Fees: eBay charges a 10% fee off the top and it seems like Paypal charges 3.5% on top of that although that seems more hidden. Am I really charged 13.5% on transactions? Am I expected to pass that on to the customer or take the hit to my profit myself? At what point do I want to become an eBay store?

2 Shipping: Amazon talks about printing up labels through them and I know there needs to be very specific tracking otherwise the customer can say they never got it. How does the eBay label system work and what sort of tracking do I need to get.

3 Seller Protection: Assuming I have the right tracking and it showed as delivered, what’s to stop the customer from making up reasons for a chargeback like “box was empty” or “not what I ordered” and getting the product for free?
Please do not tell me to go read the info on eBay. It is very disjointed and parts seem to be missing. I’m sure it makes perfect sense if you were an eBay seller as these changes were made but there is no Selling 101 where all of this is on one comprehensive page.

2

  1. Ebay’s fees are complicated to calculate (they are a combination of listing fees, image storage fees, shipping fees, and final value fees, some of which are fixed amounts, some are percentages, and most have a sliding scale).
    PayPal also has variable fees.
    You are expected to absorb the cost of all those fees. That is what a “reserve” value is for. BTW, this is true for a “real” auction, too - the auction house gets a pretty decent cut of the selling price.
    Becoming an ebay store only makes sense if you are going to be selling in large volumes (at least, I’ve never seen the advantage for me).

  2. PayPal is the arbiter of shipping addresses - they will have the registered address that you need to ship to. If you ship to some other address, and you get scammed, you are SOL.

  3. That’s a tough one. It boils down to reputation. If you are a newbie seller and you sell to a long-time buyer, there’s a real good chance that he would be able to scam you. The converse is also true - newbie buyers have little chance of scamming a long-time seller with a good reputation.
    Following PayPal’s procedures to “T” is a must.
    I was recently the victim of an attempted scam. The seller shipped an empty envelope to an address that was not mine (but, was in the same zip code) in an attempt to “prove” that the $1,000 camera I had purchased from him had been delivered. I immediately opened a dispute with PayPal, and was able to get a 100% refund (but, there were some hairy moments). It probably helped that he was a very new ebay user (with negative feedback), and I had over 1,000 positive feedback (100%).

3

Maybe it’s different depending on what you sell (the value, number of items, etc.), but I don’t find eBay’s fees (or PayPal’s) to be complicated. However, I do NOT have an “eBay store” - I’m just an individual seller with 300+ sales over the past 5 years, probably.

eBay takes a 10% cut of the final selling price. The final selling price is the sum of the winning bid (or Buy It Now price / accepted best offer) and any shipping charge the seller has indicated in the listing. I haven’t paid a listing fee or image storage fee in years and years. (There are, of course, “upgraded” listings - i.e., listings with bold text, etc., that you can pay extra for; I never do.)

PayPal takes 2.9% (of the final selling price) + $0.30 per transaction. This can really eat into profits when selling small items because that $0.30 is a flat fee.

As beowulff said, ship to the address associated with their PayPal address. Do NOT ship to any other address. When you sell an item, you should receive an email from eBay or PayPal (I don’t recall which, and it isn’t really important) with a link to ship the item. You pay for the shipping cost through PayPal and print it at home.

You do not NEED to use this label - this label, by default, includes tracking. I frequently sell trading cards and just ship them in a thin, hard plastic case and put them in an envelope with a stamp, no tracking.

That leads to:

Dishonest buyers.

It does boil down to reputation (again, as beowulff said), but if you DON’T have tracking that shows it was delivered, you (the seller) will be responsible for a full refund. (In ~300 sales, I’ve had 2 people say it wasn’t delivered. Dishonest? Actually lost in the mail? I don’t know, of course, but the money I save by shipping a $10 card in an envelope with a $0.49 stamp vs. $2.60 for tracking is greater than writing off these couple losses.)

eBay does tend to side with the buyer, unfortunately. They do take into account reputation, history, and obviously tracking information.

I’ve also heard PayPal tends to side with the buyer. The only interaction I’ve had with PayPal (where the buyer did a chargeback, claiming I sold him a counterfeit card), they were great - they went to bat for me vs. the credit card company and ultimately, the credit card company reversed the chargeback (meaning I got to keep the money that was originally paid to me.)

There are a lot of horror stories about eBay, but I find the fees to be reasonable (compared to other platforms for selling collectible trading cards, anyway) and their customer service to be middling (but not needed very often).

4

So if you pay for shipping through eBay/Paypal the label has the postage attached or I still need to stamp it?
It does boil down to reputation (again, as beowulff said), but if you DON’T have tracking that shows it was delivered, you (the seller) will be responsible for a full refund. (In ~300 sales, I’ve had 2 people say it wasn’t delivered. Dishonest? Actually lost in the mail? I don’t know, of course, but the money I save by shipping a $10 card in an envelope with a $0.49 stamp vs. $2.60 for tracking is greater than writing off these couple losses.)

eBay does tend to side with the buyer, unfortunately. They do take into account reputation, history, and obviously tracking information.

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I had heard that eBay weighs complaints based on rep not facts. Makes me almost paranoid enough to video each sale by boxing it up on camera, showing the shipping label and putting it in the mailbox at USPS in one uncut take.

5

The postage comes pre-printed on the label you pay for (in the form of a barcode or QR code) so no need to stamp it. (Again, if you want to ship without tracking, you just don’t buy and print the label and just slap a regular old stamp on it.)

[QUOTE=Saint Cad; 20908748]
I had heard that eBay weighs complaints based on rep not facts. Makes me almost paranoid enough to video each sale by boxing it up on camera, showing the shipping label and putting it in the mailbox at USPS in one uncut take.
[/QUOTE]

I’d heard that too - I have had so little reason to contact eBay (as I said, my one dispute actually ended up being handled through PayPal) that I can’t comment for sure on reputation vs. facts. But I have ~580 total feedback (from buying and selling) so that’s probably 600+ transactions (since some buyers/sellers don’t leave feedback) and I’ve never had a dispute that had to be handled by eBay, so I’m not sure how relevant it is about how they handle it and weigh things in disputes.

Of course, if you’re selling $5,000 items instead of $50 or $10 items, then it’s more relevant and important.

But eBay’s been in business a long time; if they didn’t base their decisions on facts, I can’t believe they’d still be in business. Based on longevity alone, I assume they are mostly reasonable about their decisions - all the evidence that they aren’t is due to the fact that nobody takes the time to write about disputes that were handled reasonably.

And unfortunately, as you pointed out, there’s virtually no reasonable way to absolutely prove that you packaged and sent the actual item to the seller.

6

Wife and daughter have been selling on eBay for a few years now. You know those clothes you buy and return to the store for whatever reason? They are donated to certain groups who sell them to others who know where the bins are.
In this < 2 years, my wife has lost one Hawaiian shirt to a Russian buyer who insisted it was delivered with holes in it. Seems he had a habit of doing this since the cost of getting it mailed back exceeded the cost pf the item so he keeps it. We blocked all of Russia after that. In fact, we have one on it’s way to Japan and one in the UK still to be delivered. The other night we were looking at her sale activity, and we’re missing just 2 states I think it was. It’s fun for her too.

eBay is dropping their PayPal for something else, but that’s another deal

Costs of selling.
Time in obtaining, examining, and price checking item - varies.
Rolling (removes lint, etc) and folding, and into plastic bag - varies
Designer mailing bag - about 50 cents each.
Print mailing label - about 20 cents for the label, Avery 1/2 sheet label. Billed to transaction. (unless you agree to pay it)

Mailing costs - typically 2 to 3 dollars, sometimes more, depending, but you know ahead of time. Overseas can be expensive, watch for that.

Fees. eBay takes a small feel, 1%. Last sale $34.99 - eBay took $1.31. So it appears it varies some.

PayPal takes a small percentage too. 1% I think, also small.

BUT, she has a store, and she’s a higher branch, so it’s cheaper for her.

Also, every so often she gets a gift from eBay, usually 30 dollars or so in gift certs which she uses for designer mailing bags and tissue paper for wrapping. Plus they increase her store size so she can put more items online. No charge for any of this if you play by their rules and keep high customer ratings.

Returns.
The Russian mess - the asshole ended up getting a free shirt, his money back, including postage, and probably turned it into the insurance for payment for damages since he’d insured it.
One other problem, sent a size 2 designer shoe instead of a size 3. Ended up sending the size 3 to the person immediately and letting them keep the size 2. They were brand new too.

Over all, eBay has been great. The daughter does it and adds about 1500 to 2000 per month. But she’s 2+ times as active.

7

Ahhh OK that makes sense. I was running calculations and for me, eBay, Paypal and postage takes 1/6 of my sell price right off the top. I couldn’t understand how anyone made money with the (usurous) fees. Now I know, pay your $ early on and become a large store.

8

Ebay is wayyy too much trouble, unless you are running it like a business. I sold a few items on it long ago, but now that shipping is calculated by dimensions instead of weight by most carriers, the likelihood of me actually making money on a sale is almost nil. I now stick to selling my stuff on Craiglist to people who are local and can pick it up and pay cash in person.

9

My .02:

Be careful about shipping as part of your cost is the materials, unless you have a stack of it laying around. You’d be surprised what a box and bubble-wrap can do to your bottom line over time. And, if you ship something expensive with insurance, the shipper will have criteria in regards to packaging in order for the claim to be valid. It’s usually something like the article to be double-boxed, or a double-wall box, and at least 2" away from any side or corner. This not only adds weight, but increases the dimensions of the package as well, which ups the cost even more.

I would also suggest to state that all packages are shipped with a tracking number and insurance and include that in the cost of the item. I found that when I started doing that the creeps stopped bidding on my auctions and I had mostly reputable buyers. A lot of people are “misguided” due to big-box retailers which factor that into the cost of their goods and they think the individual has that overhead to refund/resend packages and items. Have to address that right up front.

I ran into this issue several times with eBay and related sellers. Any ways…

10

You are completely wrong (not even close) about the fees, both for ebay and paypal.

Ebay:
If you do not have an ebay store, final value fees are 10% of the cost of the item + charged shipping for most categories. So, if you sell an item for $9.99 + $5.00 shipping, you’ll owe ebay $1.49 for the sale. That fee is not deducted from the money sent to your paypal account, but you will be billed for it the beginning of next month.

Store owners have reduced final value fees, the rate varies by category.

In addition to the Final Value fees, you may get charged an insertion fee, which is a fee just for listing. You are charged this fee whether the item sells or not. Depending on the age of your account, you are give a few free listings per month, after that you are charged the insertion fee. The insertion fee for non-store owners is $.30. Lower fees for store owners, depending on the level of store you have subscribed to.

Lastly, there are fees for upgrades to your listing, like bold titles, more pictures, etc, but these are all optional.

Paypal:
Paypal’s fees are $.30 per transaction, plus 2.9% of the sale price + shipping. This fee is on the full price, not your price after eBay’s fees.

Paypal does offer a different price structure under their ‘micropayment’ account, which is $.05 per transaction, plus 5% - this plan is better if you’re selling low dollar items, and you have to contact support to get it enabled for your account

11

Ebay shipping labels

You can use any service you want to ship with, USPS, UPS, or FedEx or Local pickup. However, if you use eBay’s shipping label system you get a discount for most rates, and it is quick and easy to print and tape to your package.

You can ship items without a tracking number (using just stamps), but without a tracking number a buyer can claim the item never arrived and they will win the case automatically (even if it actually did arrive). Ebay uses the tracking number as proof of delivery. Don’t know about the other carriers, but USPS’s cheapest service (with the ebay discount) that offers tracking is First Class package at $2.66 for under 3 oz.

12

Seller Protection

There basically isn’t any, unfortunately. In almost all disputes between a buyer and seller, it becomes a he said/she said dispute, and in most cases ebay will side with the buyer. Occasionally they do take in consideration the selling/buying history, but that is not guaranteed.

Also keep in mind that in most return cases, the seller is responsible for the return shipping costs. In a lot of cases, it’s not worth paying return shipping on an item, so sellers will just give a full refund instead. Unfortunately, many buyers have figured this out and ebay has become a very tough place to sell on.

I sell over 1,000 items per month and have many years experience on ebay. Here is a true story of a sale gone wrong:

I sold a DVD to a buyer of a foreign film. He received the DVD and opened a return case because the movie was not in English and that wasn’t in the description. Fine, whatever… I pay for a return shipping label, and he sends me back an envelope with cardboard in it. I filed a complaint with eBay because the return wasn’t as expected, they sided with the buyer and I had to give him a full refund. I’m out the inventory cost of the movie + 2x shipping and he gets a free movie.

Cases like this are common if you read eBay’s seller forums. Lucky for me, this was a lower value item, but have seen it happen with laptops, cell phones, music instruments and more.

Ebay won’t take photo proof, so there’s really nothing you can do to protect yourself from scams like these.

13

The last time I tried to sell something on eBay (a service which I have been a member of since the late 1990s, mostly as a buyer, but also as a seller), it didn’t go well.

This was around the end of November, and I had gotten my wife an upgrade to a new iPhone, and was selling her working and in VG/NM condition iPhone 6, unlocked GSM phone.

I put it on eBay in early December, with 14 days or so before Christmas to get it shipped on time for Xmas with normal USPS Priority Mail, as a 5-day auction with a Buy It Now value of X (I don’t remember what it was) and an opening auction price of about 65% of that.

Within a few hours, someone had done the BIN thing - a bidder with 3 feedback and none from the past 2 years. The buyer never paid, and never responded to messages of any kind.

I wanted to cancel the sale, but eBay forms require a 7 day period for the buyer to confirm the cancellation before I could file an “unpaid item” claim, which would then take even more time to resolve, and you cannot open an “unpaid item” after a cancellation request.

That would take my period for relisting the phone past the Xmas window, which obviously I wanted to clear, so I ended up cancelling the sale and assuming the “buyer” would never respond to it, and re-listed it on eBay anew.

That auction ended up as a bidding war between a zero and a non-zero bidder that carried even higher than my Buy-It-Now price after 3 days… Then after the fifth day, the “winner” never paid and never responded to any messages, either.

I filed an “Unpaid Item” request for that, and after 30 days, got my listing and sales fees refunded.

No, the first “buyer” never did anything elither, so that cancellation didn’t go anywhere.

I ended up seliing the phone on Craigslist.

I have no idea why there would be bot-buyers or deadbeat-buyers trolling eBay, except as a way to try to kill it as a real marketplace? If that’s the goal they succeeded, I am very leery of selling anything on eBay now that has a specific time window to be valuable (depreciating and high value goods like a cell phone, or sports tickets to events a week or two before the game, which I have often sold in the past as a season ticket holder, but may not in the future).