In need of some advice regarding cancelling sales with low bids
I have only recently started to try using ebay to sell more things in the hopes to eventually make a proper business out of it, but I am very much unaware of a lot of the etiquette that one needs to employ. I spoke with an agent recently and asked what am I to do if a sale does not reach a price where I would need it to (because often, items are not expensive enough to meet the minimum £50 reserve price so I cannot list and pay for a reserve price) so it has resulted in many items actually costing me to send. I decided I cannot afford to do that (who can?) and the ebay agent told me that if an item does not reach the needed price, then I should just cancel the order so I have done that a few times now but as a result, I had a customer leave me a bad review for cancelling the order and have gone from 100% positive to only 80% positive feedback.
What is normal practice in such circumstances? I should probably list the item higher but that seems to mean nobody bids...and I am not always able to add a reserve price because they insist on the product costing at least £50 for that for some reason. And also, it costs £2 to even add a reserve price.
It seems there's a lot of steps being taken to discourage people from trying to sell items and it's very frustrating but, as I said...I am a novice to selling on ebay, which is why I am seeking advice here.
I really do appreciate any help if anyone is able to offer it.
hoharkl_94
·1 year agoThat's is absolutely ridiculous. Then do auction off the item just sell it. A seller did this to my son and now I'm fighting the seller and eBay to get the money back. Which all I wanted was the items. But because you don't get enough money you screw the buyer. I'm disappointed this is acceptable thru eBay. I will be in touch with the BBB.
monster-deals
·2 years agoMy advice would be to stop running auctions 15-20 years ago.
frankenhobbit
·2 years agoI've bought close to 1000 items on eBay. Most transactions were uneventful. Some items I've received were damaged in transit, some due to poor packaging, some just bad luck. I did not leave negative feedback for those.
The ONLY time I have left negative feedback (I think twice) is when a seller backs out of a deal. You just don't do that where I come from (and I come from the UK as it happens).
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago@luste1239
I took a look at the results of your auctions. Looks like they all ended with one bid. That strongly suggests those items would do better as fixed-price listings. Put a price on your items and that solves the issue of not getting your desired price-point. Gone for the most part are bidding wars.
Auctions are best suited for in-demand, scarce goods, highly collectible items with a following, luxury goods, etc. Everyday, commodity items or things readily available, or common, do not usually do well at auction.
luste1239
OP2 years agoGood to know. It always seems to me as if I have more interaction when I list as auction but maybe that has only been for the more rare items. Anyway, I guess I shall be avoiding auctions from here on. Once my current listings are sold, that is.
luste1239
OP2 years agoI spent a couple of hours with ebay customer services and they were far more helpful than I expected. It seems this is going to be resolved and I am now far more aware of what not to do. I won't be making these mistakes again.
Thank you to everyone for the advice
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago@luste1239 wrote:
“It seems this is going to be resolved…â€
Hi again. Where did you contact eBay customer service? Was it thru a Help & Contact link or a phone number to overseas reps?
As mentioned upthread, the call centers are notorious for giving bad advice. I do indeed hope your concerns will get resolved, but do steel yourself for the hit those defects will take on your seller metrics. Please let us know.
Good luck to you and wish you smoother traffic ahead.
luste1239
OP2 years agoI spoke in chat with a few different agents. They were very good compared with previous agents...they acknowledged and apologised for the incorrect advice and have already taken down one of the bad negative feedback comments and are going to try getting me back to 100% again. They also taught me how to cancel bids before an auction ends so as to avoid such issues in future. But, it seems I won't need to worry about that going forward as I am going to avoid auctions.
What did you mean by 'but do steel yourself'?
fern*wood
·2 years agoHave you checked your seller dashboard to see if out of stock defects are there? That is far worse than bad feedback to your seller account. Did the reps discuss this with you or just the feedback?
luste1239
OP2 years agoNo, they didn't discuss that with me. I will have to get on to them again.
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoDon't keep going back to the eBay phone lines who obviously know less than this about the members here. Just learn from the thread here, you've been given great advice.
itsjustasprain
·2 years agoNo - really - do not rely on the phone support for selling advice or it will not end well. They have already given you wrong advice that was so bad that it damaged your account with Negative feedback. Do not go back to them for more.
This Selling group has plenty of experienced Ebay sellers (including me in another account) who can give you better advice. It is really great that you found this group so ask us anything anytime.
janet9988
·2 years agoWell, ebay charges a penalty fee when you do that . Did CS disclose that ?
itsjustasprain
·2 years agoThere is NO penalty for cancelling bids BEFORE an auction ends. A seller is free to cancel any bid WHILE the auction is running. But if you cancel all bids AND end the auction early you could be billed Final Value Fees for doing that if Ebay suspects that you are taking a sale offsite.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago@luste1239 wrote:
“What did you mean by 'but do steel yourself'? â€
Hi @luste1239
By that i meant prepare yourself for the possible consequences of canceling transactions using out-of-stock as the reason. Defects can be given for this.
Defects on an account can lower one’s eBay standing. Too many defects can cause a penalty fee (of an additional 6%) to be added to one’s Final Value fees as well.
Below is a link to the policy pages that offers more information on the subject.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy?id=4347
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoI wouldn't believe to much what CS tells you.
They'll tell you what you want to hear and it's not always right.
fern*wood
·2 years agoWhat reason did you use to cancel these sales?
luste1239
OP2 years agoThat the item was damaged or out of stock
luckythewinner
·2 years agoWhat is normal practice in such circumstances?
You do not cancel bids because the price is too low, you set the starting price at the minimum you are willing to accept.
You do not cancel bids because the price is too low, you set the starting price at the minimum you are willing to accept.
You do not cancel bids because the price is too low, you set the starting price at the minimum you are willing to accept.
You do not cancel bids because the price is too low, you set the starting price at the minimum you are willing to accept.
You do not cancel bids because the price is too low, you set the starting price at the minimum you are willing to accept.
Repeated for emphasis.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoDon't pay for Reserve.
Open your Auction at the minimum you will accept. That is an automatic Reserve and free.
Remember that most bids happen in the last few minutes of an Auction.
You are only seeing the "high" bid, not that bidder's maximum bid.
Don't use Auctions.
Auctions make up less than 15% of transactions because buyers don't like them.
Why wait seven days to learn that you have been sniped at the last second?
Auctions usually only get one bid.
And more Auctions go Unpaid than Fixed Price transactions.
Also don't take advice from the phone clerks.
They work for subcontracted call centres and are poorly trained. Mostly they want to get you off the phone, fill thier hourly quota, and get a pee break.
Use Fixed Price at the price you want to get.
Allow Best Offer, setting the automatic Reject Offer just below the price you would accept.
EBay encourages new sellers to use Auctions, because that is their brand.
But eBay is our landlord, not our friend.
luste1239
OP2 years agoThis was very helpful, thank you so much.
onefootflipper
·2 years agoDon't do auctions, at all.
The website has not been about auctions for at least a decade. Most full time sellers either never or rarely use them.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoYou've been given a lot of very useful advice, so my one suggestion to you is:
Do not ever start an item at a price that will not be satisfactory to you if the item gets only one bid.
And, BTW, if you are cancelling because you weren't going to get what you wanted, that's MAJOR mistake and could cut your eBay career short.
janet9988
·2 years agoEbay can not stop you from canceling an order... You called CS to see what you could do and they told you what you could do. That does not mean that is what you should do.
It also does not mean you will not suffer the consequences because you did not honor your end of the binding agreement.
The buyer bought it and expected you to ship it. YOU chose the starting bid . The buyer does not choose that.
Ebay counts all those cancelled sales as "out of stock" as a huge defect against your account. That is NOT a good thing.
I suggest a thorough reading of eBay polices.
Yes you need start the bidding at the lowest amount you will accept.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years ago@luste1239
Your response to one of your unhappy buyers in which you blame ebay CS for your misunderstanding of policy isn't professional or mature.
When the buyer wins an item fair and square, you owe it to that buyer to follow through and if a mistake was made on your part, you learn from that error.
If you were honest in your reasons for cancelling those orders, ebay also charged you for the FVF so not only do you have unhappy buyers, % 66% feedback and defects on your account, but you've lost more money to the fees.
luste1239
OP2 years agoI don't think my response was immature, but I did want the customer to know that it was not necessarily my fault as it was ebay who told me to cancel. It was wrong of them to give me wrong advice, which as led to my mistake and sadly, cost me my rating.
buyselljack2016
·2 years agoyou may want to take a look at your "transaction defect rate" to see your current standing.
Seller Dashboard | eBay
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoAnother option—don’t do auctions. Use fixed price with the amount you wish to sell your item for. Auctions are a risky gamble if you are setting the opening bid too low and then only receive one bid.
Canceling a transaction for a disappointing price-point at auction is a big eBay no-no. It creates a BBE (bad buying experience) for the consumer. Seller-initiated cancellations can warrant a defect placed on one’s account, which in turn can lower one’s standing on eBay.
luste1239
OP2 years agoThank you to everyone who has replied. It has been very helpful and all advice taken on board
stuff4divas
·2 years ago@luste1239 since this is the US site, try the UK site to get advice from your country's fellow sellers as well
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoYou set the starting price and if it sell's, you ship it.
Don't worry about a reserve, just start the auction at the price you want.
dryophelia
·2 years ago@luste1239
Start the bidding at the least you will accept.
That way, it can’t sell for less than.
Once again, a csrep giving bad advice. Do not cancel. You get a defect if you cancel a listing with bids.
If the public won’t buy an item at your price, that’s the way it goes.
Retail selling is fickle. It might take months for one to find their groove. Look at all the brick and mortar retail shops that don’t last a year.
Also consider all the ‘big’ established stores that have closed. Here in Canada, Sears, Bed Bath Beyond, Woolco, Easton’s, Zellers, World Wide Sports. Just a few off the top of my head.
bennotbill
·2 years agoeBay customer service are well known for giving the wrong advice. And it's also best to ignore eBay's advice on the start price of an auction.
The best you can do is to have the auction start at a price you would be willing to sell for.
If you continue cancelling orders your business will fail along with your eBay account.
luste1239
OP2 years agoI guess it makes sense to just list the item at the lowest acceptable bid to start with, in that case. I will have to revise a number of listings now.
Thank you
a_c_green
·2 years agoThis is why we generally do not recommend getting advice from eBay phone support. They tend to be clueless if not simply wrong whenever they wander off-script. It is not acceptable to cancel an auction that somebody won fair-and-square, and you can be sanctioned for that along with getting justifiable Negative feedback for it.
Instead of using a Reserve, just set the opening price to be what you would genuinely want to get for the item if you only ever get one bid, and then every bid after that is gravy. Setting an artificially low price just to get someone to bid may not succeed in getting others to bid. You are welcome to risk that strategy, but you should not back out of the resulting sale if it does not go as high as you hoped.
luste1239
OP2 years agoI see. I guess I still have a lot to learn. Thank you for this, I will just have to list things at the lowest acceptable price from now on, in that case.
Thank you