Low ticket, high maintenance
With 2500+ transactions on this account, I've had exactly one problem child in the $100+ buyer demographic. I've had a couple in the $50-100 group. Every other headache (false INRs, false damage claims, bank disputes) has come from the under $50 crowd with the overwhelming majority in the sub $30. My sales are pretty evenly distributed across high-,mid-, low-priced items so it's definitely not a case of representation being equal to number of sales in the price range. So, what is up with this?
I'm seriously considering phasing out the under $30 (or at least the under $20) items at this point. The margins on many of these items are generally outstanding, but good grief, I'm not sure the headaches are worth it.
Note: I'm not including legitimate claims of a problem here, strictly those where there is a dispute and ebay found in my favor. I have no problem with providing follow up service when something legitimately goes missing, a package gets squashed, etc.
sin-n-dex
·4 months agoAll my pain in the butt issues come from under $25 transactions. I got one claim on a $10 copper medal that it was fake, my answer to him was "who would fake that thing?" Hardly seems worth it on a low value thing to make a fake one (but in Canada people are making fake Twoonies and they are circulating quite heavily around here, that's only $2 CAD).
I've had an occasional complaint on a much more expensive item, but they are serious collectors and a bit picky about condition (there's a certain silver item that attracts lots of trouble, I don't sell those here anymore).
C.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·4 months ago@tarotfindsandmore "The margins on many of these items are generally outstanding, but good grief, I'm not sure the headaches are worth it."
It's your business, and only you can weigh the great margins versus the headaches....because it is YOUR headache tolerance that matters, not mine or anyone else's.
As to the economy, as I've been saying repeatedly, we appear to be in a K shaped economy, with wealthier people buying much more, and most others buying less. One stat : " The top 10% of households, whose consumption drives over 50% of the economy, saw sustained gains, with spending increasing by 62% between Q3 2020 and Q3 2025."
Many, many businesses ----including the Disney Parks, many restaurants, etc----are targeting that top 10% (give or take). And I'd say much of ebay's focus is there as well, as its "enthusiast buyer" target is basically higher wealth buyers.
So, as I've also been saying repeatedly, sellers with the right inventory can also narrow their approach to a targeted wealthier cohort. I'm guessing much of your inventory --especially higher dollar items---is already being bought by people in the upper tier. Some businesses track sales by Zip Code, which isn't foolproof, but if a lot of your buyers reside in affluent zip codes, that certainly would be one indicator.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoHistorically, these were the overwhelming majority of my buyers. I might get a few a month, here and there, who had saved up for a special deck they'd been wanting or a present for someone, but I had very little contact with folks who may have been in more economically stressed income brackets. It wasn't until I started adding items below the $50 (again, mostly under $30) mark that I started seeing the scammy buyers. As I stated in my original, to this day, I've had exactly ONE dirtbag in the over $100 group.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·4 months ago@tarotfindsandmore Yes, I do understand your experience with various buyers. But my point is, this is a business decision only YOU can make. If I'm understanding correctly, you really only added lower dollar items because you kept hearing about how tough the economy is , and so offering lower priced goods seemed wise.
But as I've noted, while the economy may indeed be tough for the lower tiers, the upper tier---already your main buyer group---have been largely unaffected and indeed, many have seen their wealth increase. So, you probably could have just kept your focus on the upper tier and higher priced items, and done just fine.
So, it's a question of dollars and cents, plus your tolerance for headaches. You say the lower dollar items have great margins---do they also have great sales velocity? How much do the lower dollar items actually contribute to your revenue and profit? If they are responsible for 90% of your profit, then maybe the headaches are worth it. If they contribute 5%, maybe not. Only you can decide that.
As others have noted, many sellers sell lower dollar items without running into the problems you have run into. And I have seen sellers make the opposite claim: that lower dollar sales usually work out OK, but higher dollar buyers ask lots of questions, complain more, etc. We each have our own experiences to deal with. I sell mostly lower dollar items, and , over the years, have had very few problem buyers at any price level---I just accept that I've been lucky and continue plugging away.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoI understood your reply completely. I also am fully aware that I'm the only one who can make the decision. I posted here to get feedback, to help assist in making that decision. I'm not asking anyone to make the decision for me. I've been making my own decisions for at least a half a century, happy to continue to do so. 🙂
Mostly, I was just curious as to whether others who do have a business model similar to mine have had similar experiences (which it does appear many have) and what they decided to do. Obviously, if those people haven't had this experience and I was the only seller noticing these trends, it would indicate that there was probably something amiss with my low ticket listings or business policies.
Congratulations on your record of totally smooth sailing. At present I have perfect seller metrics with no INADs and no INRs, but I've had to fight for that...almost entirely as the result of low ticket items. I don't have a problem with buyers who ask a lot of questions, I expect it, it's their money after all. Complainers just go straight to the BBL after a polite "thanks for reaching out, no I don't/wont..." so they don't really bother me either. My current question is solely to do with the "buyers" (scammers) who make up tall tales in the hopes of getting cheap items for free. It's not really all that complicated.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·4 months agoOh, OK. Got it.
nh_sales_lv
·4 months agoI see it as a Cultural Issue. In many Countries if you don't attempt to Scam then you are not a man you are a child. That's their take. They take Scamming Seriously. There's videos you can watch where the Scammer wants 90 dollars for 3 underwear and the shopper says Can you do 6 dollars and then they say 6.50 Sold.
Same goes for them Buying Items, if they don't attempt to Defraud they aren't doing business.
If they Succeed in the Scam they will curse profanity's at your Back when you walk away. If they get Scammed it's 😍 Wow that guy was good.
Lousy Cultures
albertabrightalberta
·4 months agoRather than problems with buyers of low cost items, every problem buyer I've had over the years has been an experienced buyer with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of feedbacks (as a buyer).
Although I haven't had too many problems over the years, those I've had have given me gray hairs. I've found that those buyers know the ropes, know what they can get away with and study ebay policy to tweak their claims in just the right way.
This is why I have to giggle when sellers come to the boards wanting to know how to block newbies or buyers with fewer than a certain number of feedbacks. Those buyers have never been a problem for me!
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoNow that you mention it, it has been primarily experienced buyers, who also happen to be very low ticket shoppers. Maybe that group thinks, or knows based on experience, that sellers who sell evenly across different price points may be less inclined to fight them on a bogus return?
The logic does work, if that's the case. I'm definitely going to fight a bullspit return on a $200 item far harder than I would a $20 one. If you only sell low ticket items, maybe they're less like to try?
Like you, I haven't had much trouble with newbies...other than my little coin-purse-thieving jailbird, mostly they've just been a little confused at worst (as in not realizing they've paid tax and shipping).
dhbookds
·4 months agoMy experience, mainly selling less than $50 collectible items.......is different......probably 2 "frauds" in 20+ years.. so I'll continue to sell the lower priced items....but different categories certainly seem to be more "attractive" to scammers.... to me, it's up to the individual seller to make the decision based on his/her experience.
annadryl
·4 months agoTry working in a thrift store. Half of the customers are the nicest and the best you could ask for. The other half will never be happy.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoSounds like the public library.
funfactorychannel
·4 months agolower ticket has less risk cause they spend less.
They are hoping it cost too much to send back that you just refund the amount.
lakefor94
·4 months ago@tarotfindsandmore
When I went fulltime in 2017, I had a lot of inventory to list so I decided I was too busy to ship items under $10 (1st class USPS package was $2.61 for 4 oz).
I listed a LOT of multi quantity items in lots only and had some decent success but buyers did not always want 10, 20 or 50 of something so I eventually broke down and changed to selling whatever quantity they might need.
Using volume pricing has been a key with discounts of 10%, 15% and 20%. Some items at 15%, 25% and 35% as I don't have any skin in the game on most of these items.
This has been working well over several years as it entices buyers to purchase more. The steep discounts allow them to perhaps by some for stock aside from what they actually need at the moment.
With shipping where it is right now, some of these onesies they buy have me just breaking even. I look at those as padding the metric numbers so I really don't mind shipping them as I have more time here at the house since I am only on the lake a time or two every month on average rather than ~75 days a year when I was fishing tournaments in past years.
Most all of the low cost items are new in the package and the buyers need them for projects so I don't get any returns on them. I think last time I checked my return rate was at about 2%.
Soooo, still shipping the inexpensive items for more sold numbers in case the stuff might hit the fan at some point. Can't take a chance on losing TRS.
On another note, if my low cost items were running up INAD numbers in Seller Metrics, I might be sharing a different tune.
mcdougle4248
·4 months agoThere have been no problems with buyers of my low-priced items (most of what I sell is priced less than $10.00). I have sold more than 44K items with zero bogus claims. I do not make much money, but I have fun and no headaches caused by problem buyers.
yuzuha
·4 months agoSame here. The vast majority of what I sell is under $40 and I can count the bogus claims I've had on one hand. And, in fact, two of those were for items over $40.
redlinear
·4 months agoMy experience seems to be the same as @tarotfindsandmore
I'll go a step further also. If somebody is complaining about your price up front....There's a really good chance they are going to be a problem later.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoI too have experienced the bulk of my problem orders in the lowest price range.
I don't any more. I realized that the items in the low price ranges that I experienced problems with were more common and "less worthy" of my efforts, than other similarly priced items I was offering.
I made a conscious effort effort to apply a greater sense of value to what I was offering, and eliminated items which appealed to certain types of buyers, who have no compunctions about cheating anyone.
Obviously, my attitude can be seen as a form of elitism, and perhaps it is, but my online selling is far less stressful than it would be.
Know your customers and know what the buyers you do not want as your customers want to buy.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoDoesn't sound elitist at all, just sensible. Low ticket items are new territory for me. My ebay selling career started with very high ticket collectibles and has gradually gotten lower and lower over time. Much of it stemmed from wanting to broaden my buyer base, in conjunction with all the non-stop whining about the economy here and online more generally. Turns out the economy isn't particularly bad (based on my sales) and that the very people I'd hoped to appeal to are the least appealing buyers.
It's probably time to return to my roots, based on what I'm seeing here. Live and learn.
bonanza125
·4 months agoYou are running a business. A claim can happen with any value item regardless of price. So it's not how much money you charge it's the situation which varies. Some are INR, damaged claims, bank disputes like you said. Ebay gives a 30 day moneyback guarantee. If an item is damaged the buyer can return it and you have to file a claim. If its not worth it then you have the right not to list the item them.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoThat's not what I'm talking about here. I'm speaking strictly about bogus claims. I've been "running a business" for nearly 30 years, and grew up in one, so I'm familiar with everything you're saying.
My question/reservations have to do with the sheer volume of bogus claims on low, or very low, ticket items. I'm fully aware that there are always issues in any business, what I'm wondering here is whether it's time to simply offload these very low ticket items with such high buyer fraud rates.
bonanza125
·4 months ago"My question/reservations have to do with the sheer volume of bogus claims on low, or very low, ticket items. I'm fully aware that there are always issues in any business, what I'm wondering here is whether it's time to simply offload these very low ticket items with such high buyer fraud rates."
I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it's 1 particular item. The only reasons why I would remove lower ticket items is either lack of demand or high shipping cost. I have removed specific items after two returns due to buyers not understanding the description. In my case most claims are from parts.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoMy experience as well. Most of my trouble usually came from the under $10 purchases.
tarotfindsandmore
OP4 months agoDo you think it's worth to bother continuing to sell to that buyer demographic? I know there's a good chunk of change to be made there, but the aggravation...