I finally made a Ebay account

I buy a lot of coins on Ebay and it's always good when the seller ships the coins quickly and not days later.

Buyers like good communication and tracking with their coin purchases. And lastly, take the time to pack the coins well to protect them from damage.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Welcome to hades; may you not be burned too badly.

 

My advice is:
(1) Use quality photographs;
(2) Always use private insurance rather than the crap they sell through eBay's printing feature or USPS (if you need recommendations PM me);
(3) You can save a lot of money by generating your postage labels online;
(4) Make sure that your terms of sale are ironclad and elaborate enough. If you are selling items that are expensive, make sure to use Registered Mail and state that it will increase delivery time. Yes, I had someone email me to wonder where their coin was three days after it shipped by Registered Mail after a tracking number had been uploaded as if I had a magic crystal ball and could see around Post Offices around the country;
(5) For higher value items, especially BINS, always quote a higher shipping rate and offer to discount it through the invoice. It keeps your buyer happy, but if there is a frivolous return, you can elect to keep the shipping money through eBay's new return feature (you don't want to short change yourself - you can still deduct full shipping value if you do it this way);
(6) Use eBay's bidding weed out features to limit buyers with no PayPal accounts and with two or more unpaid item strikes;
(7) Keep a separate bank account for PayPal transactions and leave only what you must in the account. If someone tries to rip you off and sends you an empty envelope on a return, eBay will likely side with them and PayPal will likely attempt to pull from your other accounts;
(8) I also keep a separate PayPal account for my buy and sell transactions. Even if a return is amicable (even if frivolous like returning an item because you refuse to renegotiate the agreed upon BIN price when the buyer agrees the coin is as described), PayPal will freeze the money in your PayPal account if it is above a certain dollar amount which is a PITA. They sometimes have difficulty unfreezing it without a two hour long phone session with the idiots at eBay and PayPal on an agreed upon return. As you can tell, I was bitter about at large value return (frivolous) that eBay screwed up Fortunately, I got through it without losing the coin or any money or an angry buyer; and
(9) If you are doing large value transactions or large volume, an eBay store (which gives final value fee discounts) may be in your best interest.

 

You're aware Paypal is going to hold your money for a while after each transaction (probably until confirmed delivery) until you establish a sales record, right?

 

It has been so long since I started my PP and eBay account that I had forgotten about that provision. Nevertheless, it still only applies for the first few.

 

Yeah, it had completely escaped me until I started selling from my former buying-only account. The account was steadily active for ten years, hooked to the same Paypal as my selling account (dating back to a couple months after Paypal's founding), and they still held my payments....

 

I think the eBay experience is good for small sellers and educational for someone new to online selling, but you will find that selling on eBay can be quite frustrating too. The frustration isn't with buyers (at least not for me), but with eBay itself. If your item doesn't sell in it's initial offering or after it's first relist, they start to bury it in Best Match search results. In case you're unaware, Best Match is the default search sort setting.

I wouldn't have a problem with this search manipulation if I wasn't paying a monthly fee for a store, but since I am, I would like eBay's search engine to rank search results based on relevant keywords provided (as in actual "Best Match"). To the best of my knowledge, I don't believe eBay discloses their search manipulation practices either. It would be nice if they did that too.

I am also convinced that eBay throttles sellers monthly sales using this search manipulation, especially for sellers who do mostly Buy-It-Now, but they also do it to auction listings. I can predict with near certainty what days I will sell items and which days I won't (and for how much). The throttling appears to be based on your current monthly sales total. So if your average sales per month is $5,000, don't expect it to be much different the next month (even if you were to triple your listed inventory). So for example, if halfway through the month you are below your average at $2300. You can expect that you will sell $200-300 on the 16th or 17th to put you back on pace with your monthly average.

How does eBay keep or put you back on this pace you ask? They will "Feature" your items on main pages such as Item Category page or Home page, to name a couple, along with bumping up (or removing blackout) of your items in search results. You will also notice that if on the 1st day of the reporting month someone buys an item at $1000, you will go several days without selling anything since you are ahead of your pace. eBay will bury or blackout your listings. It's sort of like communism. Great for beginners and small time sellers to get a piece of the action, but for experienced or ambitious sellers who want to grow their business they get shafted. Especially those sellers who are paying eBay a monthly store fee.

As aforementioned they will also throttle auction listings. So if you're selling a coin that normally goes for $100 (based on previously closed sales), the only way you are going to get more than that average sale price is if early bidders (early as in when the price was still below $100) get into a bidding war. As soon as the bid price gets to the average closed sale price, eBay will bury or blackout the listing in search results.

It seems to all be part of their keep the buyer happy business model. They don't want buyers to have any remorse. It also has to do with what is best for eBay's bottom line. Again I have no problem with eBay doing what they feel is best for their business so long as they don't shaft sellers who pay them monthly store fees by not being clear about their search manipulation practices.

EDIT: Someone on eBay's community forum brought to my attention that eBay does admit to this search manipulation in their Terms of Service. Of course it's not something that is highlighted but it's in the fine print.

 

Then you will have buyers come to you regularly. From a buyer's standpoint I see the same sleaze you do.

 

I only do a very limited number of sales on eBay, but my advice would be to act as a Seller as you would like to be treated as a Buyer (e.g., honest ads, great packaging, quick shipments, etc.). BTW: Welcome to the dark side. TC

 

I have been buying and selling on eBay for over 15 years now.

If I ever had a problem, and I seldom do, it was because I did something wrong or stupid, such as sending unregistered packets to China and Russia or trusting someone over my bad gut feeling (and you should ALWAYS trust your gut feeling...).

Have fun, don't stress, and if you can get some great finds (remembering that if it's too good to be true, is usually isn't) and make a little money (and don't expect to get rich selling coins on eBay), that you're doing good!

And, as with anything else in life - If it stops being fun, STOP doing it!!!

 

List exactly what the item is and abide by the listed price. If its on bid honor the highest bid unless you list a Reserve Price. For an extra fee you can ask a certain price an if the item doesn't reach that specified price you can withdraw the item. This only works with a Reserved Price. Take detailed photos with as many angles to get bites on your offer.
Look around on line to see what the coin or other item is selling for and if you can try and lowball the price of the item to move it. Some coins such as those from the Philadelphia mint move slower than others based upon their quantity minted. Do your homework beforehand an you should have no problem. Don't forget to do FREE SHIPPING as most people do not like to pay shipping. Incorporate the price of shipping into the item. If you look hard enough online you might find my website on ebay. I do have a few coins but mostly Mint Never Hinged/Original Gum U.S. stamps.
If you still have problems an need more information feel free to call ebay as their Customer Service Reps in their selling department will help you.