eBay

epsilon_publishing · ‎03-15-2019

I was selling about 15-20 items per week from September thru the first part of February, but for the past 4 weeks the bottom has fallen out. Two sales to returning customers, 4 (FOUR) people who purchased $100+ items who did not pay, and a suspicious return of an expensive musical instrument.

Except for the two returning customers, no sales in the last month, when I was averaging 40-60 sales a month for the previous 5-6 months.

Most of my items are BIN's, but I have 5 auctions going on, and they have plenty of watchers, so people viewing my listings are not the problem.

BIN, I usually price a little high, will auto-accept 75% of that price and will consider 50% of the BIN price. A lot of times I end up selling items for 50%-60% of the BIN price.

The downside of that, if I sell it for 50% there's still the FVF based on 100% of the BIN price, so I can understand why sellers don't want to sell much below BIN.

So is it just the slow season? I know that February is the slowest month (in my experience) but a zero? and things should be getting better in March, right? It's the Ides already, and my sales are still at zero.

Lesson learned....NEVER rely on just one company (or the government, for that matter) for a source of income. You can never tell when the rug might be yanked out from under you.

Oh, to top that off, I sold an expensive musical instrument and the buyer wrote me and demanded to return it. (I had previously had the local music shop check it out and they verified it was in good playable condition). He opened a case in Ebay's resolution center, after waiting 3 weeks. I provided the receipts and doc's from the music store verifying it was in good shape and that seemed to settle the matter.

After another month, he opened a case in Paypal for a refund. I told Paypal, fine, we accept the return.

When I got the horn back it looked like someone had taken a hammer to it. No, the PO is guiltless, the packaging and box was undamaged, and the instrument was inside an unharmed hardshell case, except someone took a hammer to the plastic carrying handle.

Funny thing is, my mental alarms were screaming at me to cancel this sale, all during his questions, comments and negotiations to buy the instrument. Intuitively, I knew this was not going to go well, but I am greedy...

weyland_pubs · ‎03-15-2019

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:
Hi, sorry to hear your sales have dropped off. You’ve kind of gone thru the wringer lately.

In the future, i recommend accepting returns rather than fighting them. A determined buyer will find a way to force a return if they have to. And returning one in the state you described makes me wonder if someone took out his frustrations on it prior to returning. We’ll never know, sadly.

I understand what you're saying, but the buyer wanted to keep the item, and it appears he went to Paypal in an attempt to both get refund and keep the item. I quickly called paypal and they agreed, that he would have to return it before they gave him a refund.

Bear in mind, the item was undamaged when the buyer received it. If it was damaged in transit, the secure case it was traveling in would have been damaged. He sent me photos of the undamaged case! You have seen musical instrument case, correct? They are plush velvet on inside, designed to protect and baby the instrument, it prevents even small scratches. Yet there was no damage to the case, aside from the plastic handle. The handle could have been damaged in transit, but in my opinion, no, it was cracked on both ends.

His earlier conversation was with me only, not through the Resolution Center. He did not file an Ebay case. I did not know what he was doing or why he did what he did. Like I said, my mental alarms were screaming at me to cancel this even before I even shipped it out originally.

I generally always agree to returns. It's easier that way, and I can resell the item. If the item actually is damaged I accept the return, give a full refund and let the buyer keep it, so i don't have to pay for return shipping for a useless item (unless it looks like a set-up) or negotiate a partial refund. You can tell if the item is working if they want to keep it. My sax buyer kept messaging me it sounded wrong, but he wanted to keep it. Does not make sense to me. He needs the instrument, he needs the money,. Hey we all do!

I had a converse type of case, years ago. I shipped another instrument, I think it was also a sax! to the Big Easy. She claimed the sax was damaged. She sent me pictures of the damaged CASE. I said where's the photo of the damaged instrument? She never provided one, and Ebay rejected her claim. Good for you, Ebay!

What is it about people and their Saxophones? 🙂

fashunu4eeuh · ‎03-15-2019

Oooh, i didnt realize he wanted to keep both money and the instrument. That puts an entirely different light on it. He was after a partial refund. You absolutely were right to stand your ground on this one. What a piece of work!