eBay's new Buy it Now policy already causing problems

Those of you who sell on eBay may have noticed the new buy it now policy change. Now, an item is still available for sale after someone purchases it until they pay for it. It is meant to cut down on people buying but not paying, but what about people who are waiting to combine shipping? I have some items listed as buy it now and others as auction. I have a few bidders right now who purchases some items as buy it now but are waiting to pay for others to end. What happens if someone else buys the items they already purchased in the meantime? They're going to be mad at me because it will look like I sold that item to someone else. I already had a buyer tell me he wasn't getting the options he is used to getting, so he just paid for everything now and is trusting me to straighten it out later. This might end up costing me money through Paypal and also might make some buyers less likely to buy from me, as they have to give me money upfront that I will be refunding later (they hope). Has anyone else encountered this, and is there a good way to deal with it?

 

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That sounds like a problem. I've always tried to stay clear with combine shipping and instead started having free shipping instead. It takes out all of the hassle not to mention customers like anything that is free.

 

Yup, I think free shipping is the way to go. And if you're going to be listing BIN you can factor in the shipping cost right into the auction. Saves you a bit of time and headache, not to mention they're taking fees from s/h anyway.

 

I said this on another thread recently, but the problem with free shipping for me is that I think shipping discounts encourage people to buy multiple items. I sell a lot of low-value coins and the only thing to distinguish me from the dozens of other people selling the same coin is if I can make it cheaper than other people, and combined shipping is the best way to do that. I had a guy buy about 35 coins today, and if I didn't have combined shipping I doubt he would have bought all of those from me.

 

If you have a lot of inventory and/or the guy was a big buyer then it is possible. But I've noticed that most buyers are into one particular coin.

 

And I say this because if you sold coins in lots, you would lose more money than selling them individually. Most people are in and out.

 

I dont like free shipping, I like to charge minimal shipping fees, and offer to combine shipping. I had a buyer purchase ten coins from me. He paid for each one seperately . paypal charges .30 cents a piece. I lost 3.00 cause of that.

 

The best way to do it is to figure out all charges and add that to the item price. A total of 12.9% from ebay and paypal plus the normal .30 paypal fee, listing fees such as bold, insertion, exta pictures.. etc.., shipping charges which is very cheap if sending 1st class mail or economy, and your handling charges for packaging, tools, and supplies. Try to buy supplies in bulk, it's cheaper in the long run. And once you start making more money that way then you won't have to worry about losing it!

 

But that way you are calculating shipping into every item you list. That's fine for you as a seller, but if you want people to buy your item, you have to give them a deal. I listed about 100 coins at $1.25 plus 75 cents shipping. If I listed them all for $2 instead, that guy who just bought 35 coins would be paying me a lot of extra money, and he wouldn't be buying from me because he has no incentive. Combined shipping gets people to look at your other inventory. They think, "Well, since I'll get a discount I might as well see what else this seller has." While it is true that a lot of people only buy one specific coin, it is the big deals like this that I really make good money on, and it is also when I am most likely to get rid of marginal coins that have been sitting around for awhile.

 

You could always have free shipping and give them a discount on multiple items in your description. They should be reading that anyways hopefully. Give them a percentage to work with like "5% with orders of 3 or more". Not only does the free shipping catch their eye but the discount sign they see will push them toward your other auctions better then a combined shipping discount since it's more noticeable.

 

Good idea Peter, perhaps you should consider removing the link to ebay. That way, when people come here there is only one classifieds section and members coin offerings get looked at.

It's the same thinking as the guy that bought a failing small town newspaper. He found when he shut down the online newspaper, citizens started buying his real newpapers again.

 

Well its gonna be a lot of work. The seller forum should be revised with its own links to different coins And moved up on the list Lets do this!

 

OK I'll BYTE

Hear ye: All* the coins I have shown are hereby for sale on CT. PM me with your offers.

*except for surfing abe or abe hanging 10

 

No no AC you should have a list of all of them on your profile with pics and info and then sell them from here with the new CoinTalk shopping cart!

 

That shopping cart doesn't show up for me just like the expandability for the truncated quotes

 

let me preface this with the fact that i know nothing about programming, website building, etc on the scale of an ebay, heritage, etc site. i would consider myself a...significant coin buyer. i spend 2 hrs a day on ebay/heritage, easily.

but im telling you flat out, i would check this site first for the coins i want if the fees, protection, etc were equal. how hard would it be to do that? i have to believe that it would monetarily work out in your favor. i am sure this isnt a new idea finding your ears, any reason you don't develop a formal auction portion to cointalk?

 

Email the buyer and ask. If they are waiting on items you have explain to them what could happen.

Explain that you'll send an invoice and would appreciate payment and will "discount" the shipping on any items they purchase or win within the next 5 days or for whatever they are waiting on.

Easy Peasy with just a "smidge" of good customer service.