Feeling Sick After Selling an Item on ebay

Question

I made $18 on a $34 sale. I feel so ripped off by ebay. It seems like I was forced into free shipping and forced into enhanced listings to sell faster. I don't think the item would have ever sold at all if I didn't opt for the enhanced listings. On top of that ebay charged $2 for instant payout when there was no charge for that in the past. I feel violated and also like I did something wrong/bad for agreeing to this. I'm sick to my stomach over it. I don't expect a solution other than not to sel...

mudshark61369 · Answer

@daymonh , "I feel so ripped off by ebay. It seems like I was forced into free shipping and forced into enhanced listings to sell faster. I don't think the item would have ever sold at all if I didn't opt for the enhanced listings. On top of that ebay charged $2 for instant payout when there was no charge for that in the past". You were not forced to do anything. eBay does make some strong "suggestions" on how to best sell, but mostly to benefit ebay, not a seller. I have been a successful low volume seller on ebay for years and I have done it without taking much of their advice. Your search placement at first may be low, but if you price items appropriately you will make sales. You can find trending prices by doing advance searches of sold listings for item you intend to sell. Things you can do are; first to use their Advanced/Business listing tool if you do not want to receive best offers. Ignore ebay's message saying it is only for high volume or business sellers. Any seller can use it. Select at least 2 shipping options Standard and Expedited, Pre-pack but do not seal your items, then enter the package size and weight into the calculator so buyers can see the shipping cost. There is no such thing as Free shipping after all, someone has to pay for it. If you want to offer free shipping add the cost into the item price. You had to pay $2 for immediate payment, because you are a returning seller who hadn't sold anything on over a year, and would have had your first few payments held for 21-30 days. But they could have been released sooner if you shipped items with tracking and uploaded the tracking number to the sale. If you buy shipping labels through ebay that is done automatically. You can use the funds received to buy the label even though the payment status would show Pending. The remaining funds are then released within a few days of tracking showing a Delivered scan. https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/using-new-listing-tool?id=5196 https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/payments-hold?id=4816

mr_lincoln · Answer

Hi @daymonh

Thank you for posting.

Even if one is selling to make a few bucks on the side they need to do their do diligence in determining what profit they want to make, research what items have sold for and listings items that have a chance to make the targeted profit and list accordingly.

I do not use Free shipping, I use Calculated shipping so Buyers can see what it will cost them to ship to their location.