I'm thinking about selling, what are the most important tips you can give.

[spiritdreams-4]

I use to sell on Ebay years ago and stopped because of the not so friendly policies toward sellers. I’ve been thinking about selling again. I thought I would test the waters by starting out with some not so expensive stuff and would like as much advice and tips from skilled sellers and even new sellers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[agent006140]

I dont think Paypal access our bank account to withdraw money,altho  I have heard it does.

It used to but no more,if you have a negative balance,Paypal will ask you to transfer fund from your bank account to bring it to zero.

Or your future payments will be used tooffset the negative balance.

as for starting auction at 99 cents,there are many who are searching for 99 cents items,I will list things I dont need at 99 cents and shipping so others can enjoy them,like a box of chocolate,a pack of oral toothbrushes which I no longer use,plus samples from my dentist,WFC stuff toy,which I picked up in convention,supermarket coupons I dont use,Dr Scholl pad which does not fit my feet.

but if you expect them to bid up to $10,$20,well,those days are gone,unless they are worth a lot more than your asking price.

[agent006140]

seller cannot leave negative feedback or positive feedback with negative tone.

dont sell anything you cant afford to lose .

[agent006140]

-ship with tracking

-signature confirmation if it is $700 or $750 and more?

-be ready to pay return shipping if your buyer wins a Item not as described dispute

-try to resolve issue before getting Ebay involved,it would cost you a defect.

-if they pay you via e check,wait till it clears before you ship. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Paypal has never had access to withdraw from bank accounts when your account was negative.

What they did do was piggyback on other outgoing payments and use any incoming payments to bring a negative balance back to zero.

[spiritdreams-4]

Ouch, 50 free listings a month sure set off some red flags that Ebay is trying it’s best to bring in sellers but the policies still support the buyers with an unfair advantage. Whew! But 50 free listings helps a little with the policy downfalls. For sure going to read the Buyer protection policy. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

The 50 free listings were part of the offset when Ebay extended FVF to the total instead of just to item price. They also dropped some of the FVF percentages and started allowing 12 pictures for free.

[spiritdreams-4]

Thank you, I’ll certainly price my items accordingly and search the sold items before listing. I wonder if a Buy it now wouldn’t be best. I noticed they stay up longer. Is that something that comes along with the Buy it now listings (a longer listing duration)? 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@spiritdreams-4 wrote:

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 ... Can sellers still start auction out at $0.99 and  if so does it help with the listing cost?

Insertion fees are no longer related to the opening bid value.  If you are asking that question, then you have been away for so long, and the policies, fees, etc. have changed so much, you need to just start over as if you had never sold here before, and read everything about seller performance, evaluations, etc. Start with these:

Fees for sellers who don't have a Store: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

Seller performance:  http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html

Don't start an auction at 99 cents if you're not willing to sell the item for 99 cents.

[gracieallen01]

The first and foremost thing to do is to go down to you neighborhood distributor and stock up - at least a dozen cases - on COMMON SENSE.

Then read everything you can find on these boards, and any links that are included - good, bad or indifferent.

Then sit down for a couple of days, digest and decide IF it is something you REALLY want to do and HOW YOU are going to go about it.

[luckythewinner]

My advice: 

Any item you list can be stolen through a fraudulent SNAD dispute. Do not sell anything you cannot afford to lose (and pay to ship to the thief). 

When you list an item, you are risking the cost of the item and the cost of shipping. Focus on low-cost items that can be shipped inexpensively. 

If you sell a $50 item that costs $25 to ship and you stand to make $25 in profit, it will require three additional sales just to get back to even after a bad transaction. 

But if you sell a $5 that costs $5 to ship and you stand to make $25 in profit, the very next sale after a bad transaction will more than make up for the loss. 

[designforyou]

Here are things to be aware of:

Ebay supports buyer returns for any reason.  Period.

If you get a return, you don't agree with, and ask EBAY to step in, they will fnd in favor of the buyer, 99.9% of the time.

If you ask ebay to step in on a return, they will give you a seller defect, possibly allow the buyer to keep the item , AND a refund.  If they force a buyer return, you will pay for return shipping, and get a seller defect.

DO NOT SELL ANYTHING YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVEAWAY OR REFUND IN FULL AND/OR AFFORD RETURN SHIPPING ON!

Paypal deducts .30 cents on the payment side and does not refund it.  So an extra .30 cents will be deducted from your account and added to the buyers refund to make them whole when a refund occurs.

A buyer can pay one day and ask to cancel the transaction shortly after.  This will also cost you processing fees in paypal, even though the transaction is cancelled.

Your return policy means nothing.  EBAY trumps all policy with their own, and right now they believe all requests for returns/refunds are approved for the buyer by the seller, even if you dis-approve.

If you feel a buyer has scammed you out of merchandise on a return, or the return is for false reasons, you can file a report with EBAY on the buyer for abuse of the MBG policy.  Legal options are also available.

Please review the shipping/returns board for more info on the current state of affairs sellers are experiencing with returns.

Be prepared to be on edge stressed out wondering if your item is going to be returned/stolen/refunded within 30 days after receiving it by the buyer.

If you think you are able to handle all that, plus negative feedback, without being able to leave negative feedback  for buyers, than welcome back to selling!

Oh and FVF fee ae at 10% for most categories if you don't have a store.   And 10% on shipping too.

[agent006140]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

Paypal has never had access to withdraw from bank accounts when your account was negative.

What they did do was piggyback on other outgoing payments and use any incoming payments to bring a negative balance back to zero.

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In the early days,Paypal did access our bank account to retrieve the payment if we lose a dispute or chargeback,this is how a merchant account provider does,but due to complaints,Paypal swore not to do it anymore,(Paypal is not our merchant account provider).

But recently there are some sellers who insist Paypal did that,-withdraw fund from their bank account,I dont know any details how it happens.

But Paypal will remind you to bring the negative balance to neutral by transferring fund from your bank account,or if you continue to sell,furture payments would be used to offset the negative balance OR if you ever use your credit card to make purchase,yes,Paypal will piggyback and charge the negative balance to your credit card.

Also OP may want to know ,if she pays with her bank account in the form of echeck,paypal will withdraw the payment via ACH,not once,but twice if first time results in NSF,and her bank will charge her NSF fee every time Paypal access her account and there is not enough fund.

[agent006140]

sometimes Ebay offers 100 free listings,but what good does it do?
if items do not sell/
I do not bother with auction,I only look at BIN if I want somthing.
Merchandise like generic inkcartridge,lens wipe,envelopes,you may as well make it BIN.
Same goes with t shirt,baseball cap,etc

[kensgiftshop]

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@spiritdreams-4 wrote:

 Can sellers still start auction out at $0.99

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Yes, and sometimes that all you get.

As others have said, start with cheaper items that you can afford to loose.

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Auctions are a dying thing on eBay, it depends what you have. eBay is pushing HARD for eBay to be NEW merchandise with free shipping and 30-60 day returns. They are already advertising that most of their items for sale are new with free shipping.

Many of us who did almost all auctions have gone to buy it now, auctions are getting very bad in many categories. If you do an auction, you pretty much need to start it at the lowest price you can deal with taking, as it is likely to sell for the starting price. Start at .99c. that is what you may sell it for. As a test I listed a high selling item at .01c with free shipping, auction ended at 8 PM Sunday Night, perfect. Normally it would have had a bidding war on it and gone upwards of $20. It sold for .39c. Buyer leaves feedback, "Most amazing seller on eBay", uh, yeah, I paid him to take my experiment and probably helped train him to expect something for nothing.

Go through the sold listings on things you have and see how many people put things up starting at .01c or .99c and then groan when you see they also gave away items. Buyers must love this right now, sellers doing desperate things to make a sale. It's a buyers paradise now on eBay, if they can get the shopping carts to work correctly! Had a guy offer me $5 on a item that was nearly $4 to ship and it was listed as free shipping. I countered with $7.50, he bailed. Fun times. He probably buys tons of stuff from Chinese merchants at .99c with free shipping, not knowing that US merchants cannot offer this crazy low ball pricing. Probably thought I was greedy!

The old eBay is long gone, it is no longer East Bay Area Yard sale. They want to be Amazon and Walmart, if that helps you decide what and how to sell. Collectibles are apparently an evil thing to eBay now, they really do not want them here anymore. They want quick selling high volume products and sellers.

I came back after being gone running my own business and website for many years. I was shocked and dismayed when I realized what eBay had become. Both myself and what I sell are obsolete on eBay. I am not alone. I hope you can make a go of it. Would be nice to see some small sellers triumph in this current climate!