No being given an equal chance, anyone else?

[leavingitatthat]

What’s going on with eBay? Can see I’ve gotten bids and offers that I was never notified about.. were talking 

Same one for $500 and another for $400 & to just push the whole thing to inconsolable levels of rage.. legit $5,000.. they tried 12 times.. didn’t receive a single notification.. come to find out was because the area was supposedly “blocked” that they were bidding from..

well how can that be when the area was Australia and I just shipped an order there two weeks prior for about $26…

so eBay tells me maybe they didn’t have the money to make the bid.. like they tried 12 times in a row and you think they didn’t have the money?? Well the error message says buying area blocked by seller.. who blocked it because I certainly didn’t??

I cannot believe this happened.. eBay won’t tell me anything useful.. after asking them to explain hope I had another sale in that same area recently without issue they told me to speak to them respectfully or they would end the conversation..

So getting called out for shady practices is being disrespectful now?

I mean I’ve caught eBay straight up lying to me on more than three occasions now, but to pull something like this..

Not only this..  

idk what’s going on at eBay but something is very very wrong. Has anybody else wound up with negative dollars after a sale?

I have some sales that cost me money.. make that make sense.. they said it’s all by the book yet refused to explain how and that they weren’t going to fix any of it. Have it all in writing..

eBay used to solve problems, idk when or why that stopped but this feels like robbery.. 

Also how many send offer prompts are considered average or normal? 

got nearly 1000 items posted and receive maybe 2-3 send offers every other day or so.. if that. Yet when I scroll through I see many items with views and watchers.. but I can’t send them offers.. if eBay rugs the deck, how does one overcome it? 

[inhawaii]

I don't  understand  the first part of your post.

Anyone else?

About the second part of your post, no i've never wound up with negative dollars after a sale. 

If you're experiencing that, you're doing something wrong. 

[farmalljr]

My guess would be that the sales you had that were negative, were because you don't really know what you are doing here. Looked at a few of your listings, and it's obvious you aren't following the rules with shipping. 

Taking from that, I can safely assume that you are making major mistakes and eBay isn't going to hand hold anyone how to sell here. You need to learn that yourself. 

[ebooksdiva]

---

@inhawaii wrote:

I don't  understand  the first part of your post.

Anyone else?

About the second part of your post, no i've never wound up with negative dollars after a sale. 

If you're experiencing that, you're doing something wrong. 

---

I’m with you on the first part. 
I’ve never been in the negative on sales. 
I’ve been with eBay for 18 years, I’ve never heard of eBay solving a seller’s problems. Those @leavingitatthat  you would need to figure out yourself. 

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

@leavingitatthat 

Posted Edited to correct it ... I totally screwed it up the first time. 

I looked at a handful of your listings. Some listings only "ship to" US while only explicitly excluding a handful of the typical "no-no" countries... Other listings explicitly include many countries including Australia.

Problem solved?

Negative dollars means you didn't plan ahead for ebay fees + S/H

[albertabrightalberta]

I'm going to try to translate what you're saying and asking. 

1. come to find out was because the area was supposedly “blocked” that they were bidding from..

well how can that be when the area was Australia and I just shipped an order there two weeks prior for about $26…

I think you're saying that some bidders/buyers tried to purchase from you but they weren't able because you don't ship to Australia. 

I looked at one of your listings and according to that listing, you only ship to the US. If other items are listed the same, those may be among the listings that Australian buyers are unable to purchase.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285560317768?hash=item427cb8a748:g:5tkAAOSwqktlVLkx

Another listing I looked at does ship to Australia. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285556613371?hash=item427c8020fb:g:F7MAAOSwLNxlUaQ1

2. Has anybody else wound up with negative dollars after a sale?

I have some sales that cost me money.. make that make sense..

If you're in the red after shipping and fees, you aren't pricing your items properly. That isn't ebay's fault. 

3. after asking them to explain hope I had another sale in that same area recently without issue they told me to speak to them respectfully or they would end the conversation..

I'm guessing that your frustration was getting in the way of your ability to have a civil conversation. It's hard to keep your cool when they aren't able to help you as you'd hoped, but getting aggressive and angry isn't helpful. 

4. got nearly 1000 items posted and receive maybe 2-3 send offers every other day or so.. if that. Yet when I scroll through I see many items with views and watchers.. but I can’t send them offers..

Many buyers watch and wait for prices to come down. Or they may be other sellers of similar items watching to see what yours sell for. As for sending offers, there may be a couple of possible reasons why you can't send an offer. If you've already sent an offer to a buyer, you can't send more to the same buyer. Also, buyers might have looked at an item or even watched it but may have their settings such that they don't want to receive offers from sellers. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

“…see I’ve gotten bids and offers that I was never notified about.. were talking 

Same one for $500 and another for $400..”

Are you not checking your sales yourself every day? With 1000 listings, i would be too worried i’d overlook something vital if i didn’t.

”…idk what’s going on at eBay but something is very very wrong. Has anybody else wound up with negative dollars after a sale?

I have some sales that cost me money.. make that make sense…”

The way i make sense of that is understanding you priced your item too low or did not account for other expenses. It has nothing to do with eBay. You alone call the shots on pricing and profit. Are you not calculating your selling costs prior to listing the item? 

[leavingitatthat]

Nah you’ve got it all twisted. First part was real straight forward. For whatever reason I’ve noticed that I have expired offers on listings that I was never notified about. Isn’t about “hand holding” why am I notified about some but not others? 

And no not necessarily as it’s inconsistent. Sometimes for the same sake let’s say $6 all said and done I’ll make $3 other times that same sale has me negative $1.80.. makes absolutely no sense. As easy as it is to chalk it up to a “me” problem, that would be easy enough to deduce on my own. I’m bringing it up here because it makes no sense. There are multiple instances of this happening on my account and the pattern that has emerged is that sometimes their fees are reasonable meanwhile other times they’re unbelievable. For example sold a nearly $700 box of Spider-Man, barely cleared $500 all said and done. That’s not a “me problem” that’s called a shake down. 

[leavingitatthat]

How kind of you to assume as much. You’re wrong but thanks for chiming in.. 

[leavingitatthat]

I wasn’t aware of this.. all of my listings should be available worldwide.. hmm 

thanks for pointing that out 

[leavingitatthat]

You’ve made a lot of assumptions & I see you’ve drawn conclusions without actually understanding what I’m talking about. In fact none of you seem to actually be attempting to understand what I’m saying. What are shipping “no-nos” for that matter? 
look if some items have reasonable fees while other ones don’t, how is that my fault? They’re the ones taking it out. 
if I set my account to not be restricted to ship to another country yet they block a huge bid and claim it was blocked despite manually changing it to not be blocked then how is it disrespectful to ask them how it got blocked? 
its a question, not an act of aggression 

[leavingitatthat]

Nah, I know what you’re talking about and it wasn’t a matter of advertising fees. Found that out the hard way upfront when they tried to claim 25% advertising fee on a 250 order.. never again. This is more like office space where they’re skin off change here & there then refusing to account for it. Accept it isn’t pennies. Meh.. I suggest you look at your numbers closely.. may not be something that you’ve caught on to. I however have been noticing unaccounted for inconsistencies & I’ve got the paperwork to back it up. 

[femmefan1946]

they said it’s all by the book yet refused to explain how and that they weren’t going to fix any of it. Have it all in writing..

When we make a sale, eBay bills our customer for

• the selling price they agreed to
• the shipping cost we specify
• sales taxes in their location.

Then eBay charges us fees on that ENTIRE payment

• plus 30c  which is a non-refundable service fee
• plus an international fee if the buyer uses a non-US credit card

The international fee comes as a shock to sellers who cannot know how their customer is paying in advance. Even if the shipment goes to a US address that may be a freight forwarder, or a Canadian snowbird, or an international student.

And if the seller is using Promoted Listings the FVF is increased by the percentage the seller opted to use.

In addition we can opt to subscribe to a Store.

EBay often has Promotions for thousands of Free Listings and usually those freebies are used before our subcribed limit is touched.

That fee is charged monthly

EBay can't know how much we paid for the item you sold or for our packaging materials.

So those are the first costs we have to consider when setting our prices.

Hope this helps.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

You asked about Shipping to no-no countries but that was my comment I believe. To answer that, it was my over simplified way intended to mean the obvious like North Korea & Russia & Myannmar and such. There are a handful of countries you're not allowed to ship to so I believe those are ALWAYS on EVERYONE'S excluded list. I'm yet to see someone (at least from the US) who's allowed to ship directly to Russia or North Korea...?

A country can be on your included list, excluded list, or niether. Honestly, I've never truly understood the meaning of when it's not on either list. It's not officially included or excluded so what is it? I'm not sure, maybe someone else can explain. But that does explain an anomaly with your international shipping and why some may work for Aussies and some may not.

Okay, fees. Yes everyone is hounding you about fees. It's because everyone here, myself included, have heard plenty of people complain about fees and the general consensus is always the same. You need to know and understand your fees before you sell on here. Personally, I have no problem estimating my precise fees with only slight variations for sales tax & shipping cost by distance.

Here is the fee break down... 

Buyer pays total (Item Price + S/H + Sales Tax)

The amount paid for Item Price + S/H then gets fees deducted

From your amount the following is taken out ...

-You pay some amount towards a shipping label. Assuming you buy label on EBay and use EBay funds for this.

-You pay 30 cents for a flat transaction fee.

-You pay a FVF (Final Value Fee) % prescribed by category on that entire amount.

-You pay an Ad Fee (if you use PLS - promoted listing standard) % based on what you selected on the entire amount.

-If the buyer is international, you pay an international fee (I believe this is a %).

These things are mostly known up front. You don't know if your buyer will be Int'l but you should know your FVF & Ad Fees, you know 30c and you have a general idea of shipping cost. You need to be able to calculate what you need to sell for to cover fees and make a profit.

I have NEVER been "surprised" by what I make after a sale. I know very well what I will make give or take a small amount for slight variations.

There really aren't reasonable fees on some and unreasonable fees on others. The fees are the fees and are known upfront. If something is unreasonable, it's the price you sold the item for. If you lost money, you sold for an unreasonable sum.

[soh.maryl]

Honestly, it seems like you do not want reasonable explanations for anything, so I will limit myself to this statement:  Most smart sellers here realize it's folly to list ANYTHING for less than twenty dollars.

And the fees are not hidden.  Another thing smart sellers do is, before listing, figure out what the fees will be so they can decide if it's worth it to list a particular item.