comment/question as a seller

[4876791]

I guess there will be both buyers and sellers here. Just trying to find out some answers if sellers have the same problems I do. #1 I'm here in the west coast and I noticed that most of my buyers are in the Midwest to east  coast locations. I don't offer free shipping due to selling only one item + hard to determine what shipping rates to add to my buy in now price items it will vary on buyers location and don't want to loose profits so that's why I have buyers pay for shipping for this case once in a blue moon there will be that one buyer that will email me and say inappropriate words about the high shipping rates and for this I report then to Ebay. #2 is when I have an item for best offer and a buyer gives an offer I agree on and accept most buyers won't reply back right away and sometimes buyers don't respond at all that you accepted their offer or otherwise you will have to cancel the order and  wasting sellers time that I will have to relist.

[wooden_flower · Accepted solution]

I'm sure all sellers see complaints about shipping costs. On the items where you use UPS, you might consider offering your buyers the discounted rate that you pay through eBay - the UPS and fedex discounts are quite significant - sometimes close to 50%.  You could add a handling charge on those items to cover packaging instead of getting such a markup on the shipping.

To offer the discounted rate, edit 'offer carrier specific discounts' here -

https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf

I don't know why buyers make an offer then not respond, except perhaps they don't understand that the offer commits them to the purchase.  I don't use best offer very often, since it is an invitation to pay less and tells the buyer you expect to get less.  I let truly interested buyers start a conversation about price.

eBay is experimenting with requiring payment info at time of offer, but I think buyers don't like it.  It is really meant to help new sellers not be the target of scammers.  If you want to try it, see if you have a section at the bottom of this page called buyer payment requirements -

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

[evry1nositswindy]

I am in the Midwest and most of my sales come from the west coast.  

[4876791]

Hi, not sure if you will read this message but I checked with ebay on shipping discounts and a percentage of this feature comes out of pocket I need not take profits away beside what I pay to print shipping labels?. Thanks for the tip though.

[wooden_flower]

@4876791You do not need to share your discount with your buyers.  Since UPS is quite substantial, you might consider offering the discounted rate there, then add a handling charge to give yourself back a portion of the difference. So that way you are not giving the buyer all of your discount.

eBay takes their % on the total from the buyer.  So if you reduce the shipping, your fees go down, too.

It is always your choice - you can always put up with the snaky buyer comments instead 🙂  The real question is if it is holding you back from making more sales.

[4876791]

Hi, I'm not a store and don't have large quantities of items only selling my own used and unused items I don't want anymore for extra cash. I appreciate your tips! take care and bye for now!