I dont know much about ebay but am interested in doing some purchasing and the selling of coins. 1. What are the average fees? If a roll of silver washingtons sold for $250 flat and subtract the paypal and ebay fees what would I be left with? (Assuming I ship it in a basic 2 dollar bubble envelope)* 2. *How bad is bad feedback to you? I mostly see everyone with 100% feedback so when I see someone with 97% it looks bad relative to the rest.* *** * Any help and tips are greatly appreciated.
Ebay has sliding fees for final value based upon how much something sells for and the method of sale (auction vs. BIN). They also charge extra for certain bells and whistles (bold text, extra line in the title, etc...) that you do not need to purchase. Therefore, it would be mighty tough to give an accurate estimate for everything. However, if you sell bullion such as silver rolls of quarters then ebay is not your friend since folks will only give you bullion value and you will owe ebay and PayPal 10-15% of the price. Sell those locally or on the boards. Generally, expect about 13% in fees, factor in postage and do everything possible to adhere to PayPal policies or you risk losing the entire sales price to a fraudulent buyer.
Thanks Tom B, I see so many listings for bullion, I thought well maybe im missing out on some good potential sales but if the fees are that high I dont see myself selling at least for amounts that small.
Ebay has it's own fee calculator, but I like to use this one. Ebay fee calculator And in regards to the feedback question. I recommend reading the feedback before casting judgment on a seller. Sometimes the negative, or multiples of negatives can be from one buyer, and for things the seller has no control over, like the Post office taking too long or losing/damaging the package.
Thanks Jay, that calculator is definatley useful. I will be sure to check the feedback for who it's from and for what reasons. Upon reading I now know that ebay uses a kind of "calculation" for the ratio of positive to negative feedback and the total number of feedback. I'll make a note to not disregard a new seller just because he/she has 1 negative and low total feedback.
I sell hundreds of items on eBay and my feedback is 100%. But I can tell you it is very difficult to maintain that 100% because there are lots of morons out there who will leave negative feedback for very stupid reasons. I've come very close to receiving some myself from unhappy buyers. For example, I sell mostly laptop computers. Sometimes I sell them with known problems. I am very specific about those problems in the listing ad. I don't try to hide it either. I usually put it very first thing in the ad with bold letters. Then I sell it very cheap just to move it out of my inventory. People buy them, then call me up saying the laptop has such and such problem. I explain that this was clearly stated in the ad (which they apparently didn't bother to read) and also mention that it was also sold as-is without warranty. Then they demand a refund and threaten to leave me negative feedback. I also have had other weird issues. Like one buy bought a laptop and requested that I not ship it because he lived in town and wanted to pick it up. So I sent him an email back saying it was ready for pickup whenever he wanted. I gave him my phone number and address. I sent him an email every day for a week to remind him to come pick it up. He never showed up. Then suddenly I get an email from paypal saying a case has been opened against me claiming I did not deliver the product, demanding a refund. I called my paypal representative and explained the issue. So they called the customer and the customer told them that he really just changed his mind and decided he didn't want it anymore. However, they still told me I'd be better off just giving him a refund because he can make all kinds of claims to eBay or Paypal that I misrepresented the item, etc. In the end, they always side with the buyer. Anyway, I guess my point is.. When I see feedback rating of 98% or better, I'm still plenty happy to buy from them. Because I know there are a lot of idiots and jerkwads out there and it is really difficult to prevent somebody from dinging you with bad feedback for things that are often not your fault.
Yes buyers that are extremely "unintelligent" keep me cautious about everything, considering they can ruin you reputation just because they are not capable of reading a description.
Nice calculator. I never knew that they exist. I always tried to figure it out myself. This is so cool thanks for posting it
I used an excel spredsheet(still do) to keep track of my sales that would somewhat calculate the fees, but with the seller discounts and the stores it was getting complicated. I was so happy when someone posted that site.
This thread is a great opportunity to post this: I have learned much more here on CT about doing business on eBay and PayPal than I learned on those sites. Thank you, CT members.
That is a very good resource. I use that along with this: http://www.auctioninsights.info/templates/index.html And upload photos to imageshack to use in the auction body. And that's about it. Makes life easy.
I have been buying and selling on ebay since 99 and what has been said in the above is all so very true. EBAY OWNS PAYPAL so its a double hit, I always email the seller and ask to buy by money order... it is risky very risky but in all those years I have been lucky and only taken once for 28.33 form a seller name (Itcoinshop) gave me a story about losing job and he would ship double the pennies ect... this went on for a month and I NEVER received either so its a risk. Some seller you develop a relationship and there are no worries.. just my two cents..........
I would recommend trying Craigslist. I've used it once to buy silver and once to sell gold, both times the transaction was smooth and easy and fair for both parties. Next time I decide to sell any bullion craigslist will probably be where I do it. I got two email responses to the gold I had for sale within one hour of posting it. Also you get the cash at the time of the sale, no waiting like you have to on ebay.
I have thought about craigslist, but I am 19 and dont have a car so I would be very limited to a small radius.
Here is another site I have used to calculate ebay & paypal fees and profits.... http://salecalc.com/?og=1
