Please correct my sales example if it is incorrect.

[kabilab]

According to my Google research, there are 2 billion daily e-Bay transactions. Reducing that figure to 100 million and factoring 1000 fraudulent transactions per day, from a business standpoint, that would seem to be quite acceptable. Am I missing something? If so, please provide me with accurate numbers. The reason for my request is that I have resisted listing my comics from the 40s and 50s and my records from the 50s.

I am 81 and if it is to occur, it is time for me to begin the liquidation.

[kensgiftshop]

What difference does it make how many transactions are done through Ebay daily?

If no one is interested in the item you have for sale, it isn't going to make any difference.

[onlinecentral · Accepted solution]

These are my numbers from some prior year.
4,000 Units sold in
2,500 Packages with
24 or 1% Honest returns where the buyer paid the return shipping and
10 or 0.4% Dishonest or incompetence returns where I paid the return shipping.
I was able to relist and resell 32 or 33 of the 34 total returns.
One or two unsellable returns out of the 2,500 total packages.

[murph1727]

Sounds like you are worried about getting scammed by a bad buyer. One alternative is to go to several stores that sell comic books and see what they would pay. Obviously, they would not pay retail but you would have cash in hand and less hassle (no listing, shipping etc.) Before you do that, check the sold listings on ebay to see approximately what they have sold for to give you an idea of a retail value.

[stainlessenginecovers]

1 out of 21,600 transactions was an 'issue'.

Top of my head I average 150 sales a month over 12 years for 21,600 transactions and have had 1 actual 'real thievery type transaction- where a return was missing 50% of the items and buyer said 'I sent all I got', which was a lie.

I've had less than 5 others where I had to ONLY refund 50% because items were returned NOT re-sellable. 

[kabilab]

Ken's query--What difference does it make how many transactions are done through Ebay daily?

Kabilab's reply--If one in ten sales went belly up, that would be a problem. If, though, it were one in a 1000, that is acceptable to me. My reason for posting, was to take the pulse of sellers concerning problem sales in the triple and quadruple figure amounts. Except for two games, in 10+ yrs., all of my product has sold for single and double digits.

[pargran3]

Ken's observation was spot on. Taking the entirety of daily transactions and  trying to make that make sense to your niche of product makes zero sense. 

Worried about scammers? Can't stand the expense of the rare scammer? Do not list. And exactly what does your age have to do with anything?

[soh.maryl]

If yours was, unfortunately, one of those 1000 per day, pretty sure you would not feel it was "acceptable".

[maxine*j]

If you're going to sell comics and records, the only sales figures and averages that matter are the ones relating to comics and records.

Some categories have far more problematic buyers (and sellers!) than others, so just looking at overall statistics is fairly meaningless if you're trying to make some sort of risk assessment for your particular goods.

Frankly, I feel that if you're going into selling with substantial concerns about being cheated by buyers, on-line sales are not for you.

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[slippinjimmy]

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@kabilab wrote:

According to my Google research, there are 2 billion daily e-Bay transactions.

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Your research is faulty. There are NOT 2 Billion "transactions" per day on eBay. The total value of goods sold per day is about $200 Million (in the area of $75 Billion annually)

If there was 2 Billion sales per day the value of each sale would be about 10 cents.