Let my Ebay buyers beware....

[GunPanther]

As an ebay seller, I can honestly say that I try my best not to overcharge for shipping.

That'll especially hold true now since I recently bought a nice Escali brand digital shipping scale.

Before, I was charging a certain amount for shipping and sometimes underestimating the weight/size dimensions of the package so I'd end up paying more for the shipping then what I originally charged the buyer.

With my new digital scale, that won't happen anymore. :)


As for accepeting payments, I used to accept PayPal but ever since I discovered that Ebay not only charges me more to use PayPal to receive payment on top of the seller's fees & final value fees, not to mention that PayPal charges me to receive the money, I decided to it just wasn't worth it to use PayPal anymore.

The only forms of payment that I accept now are money orders, cashier's checks and personal checks as well as good ol' cash.

Speaking of money orders, sometimes my buyers deduct $1.00 (usually for the cost of buying the money order) without telling me they'll do so.

You might think I'm unfair, but that immediately 'delays' that particular buyer's shipment by about 7 days. :evil:

I do feel that it's wrong that the buyer 'shortchanges' me without notifying me first so to hell with em'.

All my prices are reasonable. Items, shipping, shipping time.... all reasonable.

So why do some buyers 'shortchange' me and send other payment forms (like PayPal) that I don't accept? Beats me.

I just hate it when the buyer tries to take advantage of us sellers.

I'm just trying to make a decent profit and not overcharge my buyers on anything.

It is business isn't it?

I also hate how some people can't seem to understand things that are clearly stated in my auctions like "No PayPal" payments but they send a PayPal payment anyway.

"No returns or exchanges, no exceptions" but they still try to return the game to me because they no longer want it.

I mean, if the items I sell were truly defective, I'd work on fixing the problem with my buyers but I know that all of items are either in new or completely working order before I ship them out to the buyers.

It also baffles me as to why a buyer would complain about "I should have insured the item" when they didn't pay for the insurance in the first place. (Insurance is optional on ALL of my auctions) :roll:


Perhaps some of my buyers are just doofuses?


Don't even get me started about negative bidders or new users with "0" feedback. :roll:


If my buyers don't like the terms that I've set in the auction, then why the hell do they bid (and sometimes win)?


So, let all my Ebay buyers beware.....

Cut me some slack. It's not like I'm a big corporation making tons of money. Just enough to have some spending cash for items that THEY all want.



GunPanther :2gunfire:

[Darth Sensei]

Speaking of money orders, sometimes my buyers deduct $1.00 (usually for the cost of buying the money order) without telling me they'll do so.

I wouldn't ship until they sent me another money order for $1.


I also hate how some people can't seem to understand things that are clearly stated in my auctions like "No PayPal" payments but they send a PayPal payment anyway.

How can they paypal you money without your e-mail address?

D

[Lady Jaye]

It's possible because Ebay is force-feeding everyone Paypal, regardless of whether they want it or not. I know this because I recently bought an item from a seller who didn't accept Paypal. I paid by money order, and yet the invoice from Ebay included the Paypal option nevertheless. And since Ebay has the seller's email address, that address would be the Paypal address, whether there's actually a Paypal account at that address or not.

[sisko]

As for accpeting payments, I used to accept PayPal but ever since I discovered that Ebay not only charges me more to use PayPal to receive payment on top of the seller's fees & final value fees, not to mention that PayPal charges me to receive the money, I decided to it just wasn't worth it to use PayPal anymore.

Say what?

I know Paypal charges if you have a premeire account, but ebay charges you no matter what?

Can you point me towards some documentation on this please?

[GunPanther]

As for accpeting payments, I used to accept PayPal but ever since I discovered that Ebay not only charges me more to use PayPal to receive payment on top of the seller's fees & final value fees, not to mention that PayPal charges me to receive the money, I decided to it just wasn't worth it to use PayPal anymore.

Say what?

I know Paypal charges if you have a premeire account, but ebay charges you no matter what?

Can you point me towards some documentation on this please?


sisko,

The documentation for Ebay's fees that include the usage of PayPal with their auctions is one of those "really, really fine lines of text" that you'll have to try and find in Ebay's seller area. From what I've seen, they charge you some sort of percentage (or maybe a fee) for using PayPal to receive an auction payment.

I can honestly say this: Last month, before I stopped using PayPal to receive payments, I'd have sales of roughly $400-$500 with an Ebay sellers fee of around $70-$75.

As soon as I stopped accepting PayPal, my sales were stil averaging the same but my seller fees were dramatically reduced to around $50-$60.

There's something awry going on at Ebay, especially since they now own PayPal. I just know it.




GunPanther :2gunfire:

[SoulBlazer]

Well, I'll never buy anything from you, then.

No offense, but I live 15 minutes from a post office and live a very busy life. It's hard to find time to take a special trip down there, pay extra for a money order, pay extra for a stamp, and then wait another week to get my stuff -- if at all, cause I've been ripped off on sending money orders before.

At least with PayPal I can do it right that minute, as soon as the auction ends, and have some protection with my purchase.

You were losing, what, $15 or so a month for sales of $500? Now, if you're a large business, that may add up, so I can understand that. But for most of us common sellers, myself included (when I do sell on EBay), it's just not worth it. So I lost a couple bucks in fees, for the added convience of enticing more sellers and getting the money quicker. Big deal. :roll:

As a matter of fact, I just got a Valkyrie Profile hint book today from a very large book company that sells on both Amazon and EBay and I always pay them by PayPal. Based on their feedbacks, they must sell THOUSANDS of books a month. I wonder how many people use what way to pay them, even though they take almost everything but credit cards?

No, I did'nt mean this as a rant, and sorry if it came across as one. Well, I guess it IS, but not at YOU yourself, but sellers like you. Your whole subject like makes it sound like you're going to screw over anyone who buys from you, and DELIGHT from doing it.

[Savedman]

There's something awry going on at Ebay, especially since they now own PayPal. I just know it.
GunPanther :2gunfire:

It's a conspiracy and they are out to get just you!!!! (whisles twilight zone theme)

[Flack]

Yup, that puts me out too. If I see an auction that doesn't take PayPal I just skip it and wait for another one that will. Like I said in the other thread, the point of me shopping on eBay is so I don't have to leave the house, so if I'm leaving for a money order then I might as well go to the store and buy what I was buying off of eBay. If that costs me a few cents then so be it. I'm sure it's cheaper than gas involved in driving to go get a money order, the cost of a money order, and the stamp for mailing a money order.

[sisko]

I've looked all over and I haven't seen anything about eBay charging extra if you accept Paypal. I know you get charged by Paypal if you have a Premeir account, but nothing indicates that eBay charges as well. Besides, I don't think its legal to charge you twice for the same service.

If the fees bug you that much, just call and downgrade your account (you can do it once). Sure, you can't accept credit cards, but this way you don't alienate 75% of the bidders out there.

I wouldn't bid on your auctions either. No Paypal, no sale. Its just faster, easier, and more secure.

[GunPanther]

I've looked all over and I haven't seen anything about eBay charging extra if you accept Paypal. I know you get charged by Paypal if you have a Premeir account, but nothing indicates that eBay charges as well. Besides, I don't think its legal to charge you twice for the same service.

If the fees bug you that much, just call and downgrade your account (you can do it once). Sure, you can't accept credit cards, but this way you don't alienate 75% of the bidders out there.

I wouldn't bid on your auctions either. No Paypal, no sale. Its just faster, easier, and more secure.


Yes. PayPal IS faster, easier and more secure..... FOR THE BUYER, not the seller.

When it comes to sellers, PayPal doesn't give a damn about whether or not the seller gets swindled.

I was taken several times within the last 3 years by buyers and sellers, some of whom were 'verified' and even used direct transfers to buy & sell items.

To top things off, Ebay and PayPal make you wait 30 days before you can even file a fraud claim. You also have to have lost/paid for an item that's worth MORE than $20.00. The real kicker is that Ebay CHARGES you $20.00 to file your claim!

You guys feel that I'm alienating 75% of the Ebay users out there. This may be true but at least I'm protecting myself as a seller.

You all have grief about your 'going to the post office/buying the money order/sending a stamped envelope/etc.' But you all never really think about the perspective of the deal from the seller's side.

The BUYER bid on the item. Why? Because the buyer wanted it. So the buyer should at least put in a little bit of effort to complete the transaction.


How about this scenario:

You just won an auction for a super rare video game title called (insert game title here). To sweeten the deal, the auction went for far less what you expected to pay for it. (Let's say.... you were expecting to pay $100.00 but you ended up winning the item for only $20.00)

Now here's the problem (at least for buyers who don't like the idea of taking the time and effort to purchase and send a money order/cashier's check), the seller will only accept money orders as the form of payment for the item.

No PayPal.... No Personal Checks.... Not cash.... Just money orders.

They're a reputable seller too so there's really a low probability of you getting swindled.

What do you do now?

A) Do you moan something like "Aw man.... I don't wanna' go to the post office, buy a money order and an envelope with a stamp on it because I wanna' just use PayPal" and decide not to purchase the item because it 'takes so much effort' (at least in your opinion)?

or

B) Do you just take a little effort and time to send a payment consistent with what the seller requested?

Think about it.....


If you chose "A", Not only are you a lazy fool, but you also lost out on that particular item you'd been searching high & low for! (Not to mention a probable negative feedback from the seller)


If you chose "B", You're a considerate buyer who not only gets the item you've been searching high & low for, but also at a great deal! (You also earn positive feedback to add to your Ebay account)




To tell the truth, I wouldn't want any of you 'lazy folks' to be bidders on my auctions anyhow. If you can't deal with my terms for my auctions, take your business elsewhere. I certainly don't need the extra headache just so you can all have the convenience of paying for an item quicker.






GunPanther :2gunfire:

[Ed Oscuro]

I personally will pay via MO (or IPMO, recently), but your scenario "game goes for much less, will you waffle on paying as they asked?" is pretty much forcing the answer you want. Can't say you aren't correct, because you are, but that's the sort of scenario where most rightminded folks would pay however and whatever to make sure they got it.

[SoulBlazer]

Geesh, can we say 'hostile'? :P

If I was inclined not to bid on his auctions before, I'm REALLY inclined not to now.

[GunPanther]

I personally will pay via MO (or IPMO, recently), but your scenario "game goes for much less, will you waffle on paying as they asked?" is pretty much forcing the answer you want. Can't say you aren't correct, because you are, but that's the sort of scenario where most rightminded folks would pay however and whatever to make sure they got it.

You're right Ed Oscuro.

I 'forced' the answer/outcome that makes the most sense.


It still goes back to how the buyer feels and what action they ultimately take. If the buyer is hell bent on only paying for items how they see fit and totally ignoring the seller's requests, these buyers will most likely not get too many sellers willing to sell them the items they desire. Most of these items are items that people simply desire and are usually not items of necessity.

Since when does someone 'need' a video game to live?

I love video games but if it came down to buying groceries or buying a couple of new games, I'd choose the groceries.






GunPanther :2gunfire:

[brykasch]

Well I prefer paypal as it takes no extra effort to make payment, and I knwo they got it. Plus while filing a non-paying bidder alert. Ebay had a thing like people who don't take paypal have a 15% higher chance of people not paying. I am not sayings necessarily true but interesting nontheless.

[punkoffgirl]

Gunpanther, your scenario is completely different. You're asking people here what they would do if they had already WON the auction, but everyone here is saying they wouldn't even bid if they didn't see that you accepted paypal in the first place.

[Flack]

I don't know where all this games vs. groceries and weird slanted scenarios came from.

I believe I read that eBay has 12 million auctions at any given time now. As a buyer, that lets me be picky. There are two types of auctions that I skip over; one is ones that don't take PayPal, and the other are auctions where the seller obviously hates his customers. Whenever I see, "listen you maggots, you're gonna bid and pay the way I want or else you're a stupid ass," I just go to the next auction. If someone is demeaning to their customers in their ad (or a thread), then I think to myself, "boy if he's acting like that now, what happens after the deal? Is he going to start yelling at me if I do something wrong?" Epicenter was recently selling something in the buying/selling forum, but I skipped right over it because of the threads a while back where he just kept screaming at everyone. I don't need it; whatever it was for sale, there will be another one.

I don't sell as much as you do on eBay, so I haven't had the amount of problems you have. When I list something, I put that I'll accept pretty much any time of payment they'll want to send, as well as any way they want to ship it. I want to make my customer base as large as possible.

Anyway, I think this is pretty much a dead horse. You've said you hate "sellers like us" and the "sellers like us" have said we wouldn't bid on your auctions anyway, so I don't see anything else to add.

I'm out.

[sisko]

You most certainly can protect yourself as a seller on Paypal.

Only ship to the US and Canada
Only ship to a confirmed address
Use some sort of tracking ($.45/$.55 delivery confirmation will usually do it).

I am a seller and have a fairly decent number of sales under my belt, so I am thinking about this from the perspective of the seller. Paypal = more bidders = more money. So I charge $.50 more for shipping to cover my butt. I have yet to hear one complaint.

And I agree with what POG said completely. You're supposed to state the methods of payment in the auction, not AFTER. If someone were stupid enough to bid without asking then its their own fault. They also legally have to pay (though that never stops some people).

If I saw that you never accepted Paypal, or never even bothered to state the terms, I would never have bid on your item in the first place, thus nullifying your entire scenario.

[anagrama]

You most certainly can protect yourself as a seller on Paypal.

Only ship to the US and Canada
Only ship to a confirmed address



With the introduction of PayPal UK, European eBayers can now have confirmed addresses and become verified members aswell, so there's not really any reason not to ship outside the US (except laziness).
Especially since the currently weak Dollar means that Euro bidders are likely to pay a higher price.

[Ed Oscuro]

With the introduction of PayPal UK, European eBayers can now have confirmed addresses and become verified members aswell, so there's not really any reason not to ship outside the US (except laziness).

Well, there's no reason not to ship to Canada and Europe :) Remember Nomeaz's horror story about Mexico... :/

[GunPanther]

You most certainly can protect yourself as a seller on Paypal.

Only ship to the US and Canada
Only ship to a confirmed address
Use some sort of tracking ($.45/$.55 delivery confirmation will usually do it).

You're right Sisko. However, sending the item to a verified address still didn't prevent PayPal from taking money out of my account, without telling me they were doing so. They took the funds back because the funds were allegedly 'fraudulent'. So not only was I out about $70.00+ (for that particular auction) but I also LOST my item! I guess you'll just have to wait until someone screws you over and have PayPal screw you over as well because the funds you received through them were 'fraudulent'.




I am a seller and have a fairly decent number of sales under my belt, so I am thinking about this from the perspective of the seller. Paypal = more bidders = more money. So I charge $.50 more for shipping to cover my butt. I have yet to hear one complaint.


Okay. Charging a bit only $.50 cents more to cover yourself isn't too bad of an idea. Very clever actually. Still, I'm not too pleased with PayPal anymore. I see it like this though: Paypal = more bidders = more money = more chances for the seller to get scammed = more money out of the seller's pocket which goes directly back to Paypal.




And I agree with what POG said completely. You're supposed to state the methods of payment in the auction, not AFTER. If someone were stupid enough to bid without asking then its their own fault. They also legally have to pay (though that never stops some people).


I do state the methods of payment in the auction and you know what? People still try to pay me through Paypal. They even email asking me if I accept Paypal AFTER they've bid or won the auction. So in a sense, yes, some people are stupid. (I stated that before, didn't I?)




If I saw that you never accepted Paypal, or never even bothered to state the terms, I would never have bid on your item in the first place, thus nullifying your entire scenario.


Okay. I state the payment & shipping terms clearly in all of my auctions. You don't want to bid? That's fine too. I'm not forcing you to. On another note, my scenario still applies because not only did you lose your chance to possibly get an item that you wanted (maybe even for a fraction of what you're willing to pay), but you're making yourself wait even longer to get it. If you have patience, good for you. Some people don't have the same amount of patience that other people do, so they're willing to follow any terms set by the seller. Simple.



GunPanther :2gunfire:

[SoulBlazer]

It's reasons like this I buy and sell 90 percent of my items on Amazon instead. :roll:

[Jasoco]

You don't take PayPal? Remind me never EVER to buy from you.