Selling Basics

[phirich-58]

I was in infrequent user in the past, and that was several years ago.  ebay was not nearly as full-featured as it seems to be now. So my questions are very basic:

   * Does the seller pay a commision when their item sells?
   * How does the bidding "work"? For example, does the bidder communicate             only publicly?  Or...Can the bidder communicate privately via email or

    chat?

    * Is shipping cost paid by seller?

    * How is the seller paid? Does ebay, say, maintain an account for the seller, into          which the buyer pays?

   * Can seller (or buyer) specify that the item must be picked up, as opposed to           shipped?

Thanks for your help.
phrich58 (Phil)

[onefootflipper1]

I am not going to go over your entire question of series I only want to touch on one thing.

Do not list ANYTHING for auction as a new user. 99 percent of items are not appropriate for auction (I sell full time and have done 2 or 3 auctions in the last decade). Scammers will also target new sellers selling things on auction to make an effort into tricking them into sending them the item for free.

List fixed price and actually search prices first. 

[chapeau-noir]

@phirich-58  Start here.

There are basic tutorials on selling on eBay literally everywhere, but I would simply go through eBay's tutorials first.

[coastaltechsolution]

You might want to go through eBays tutorials:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/ebay-for-business/ebay-academy  

[monica-sells]

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@phirich-58 wrote:

I was in infrequent user in the past, and that was several years ago.  ebay was not nearly as full-featured as it seems to be now. So my questions are very basic:

   * Does the seller pay a commision when their item sells?

Yes...https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fees-selling-costs-charged?id=5297

   * How does the bidding "work"? For example, does the bidder communicate             only publicly?  Or...Can the bidder communicate privately via email or

    chat?

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bidding-works?id=4003

    * Is shipping cost paid by seller?

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options?id=4089

    * How is the seller paid? Does ebay, say, maintain an account for the seller, into          which the buyer pays?

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold?id=4814

   * Can seller (or buyer) specify that the item must be picked up, as opposed to           shipped?

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/local-pickup?id=4181

Thanks for your help.
phrich58 (Phil)

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[stainlessenginecovers]

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@phirich-58 wrote:

I was in infrequent user in the past, and that was several years ago.  ebay was not nearly as full-featured as it seems to be now. So my questions are very basic:

   *1.)  Does the seller pay a commision when their item sells?
   *2.) How does the bidding "work"? For example, does the bidder communicate             only publicly?  Or...Can the bidder communicate privately via email or

    chat?

    * 3.) Is shipping cost paid by seller?

    * 4.) How is the seller paid? Does ebay, say, maintain an account for the seller, into          which the buyer pays?

   * 5.) Can seller (or buyer) specify that the item must be picked up, as opposed to           shipped?

Thanks for your help.
phrich58 (Phil)

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1.) Yes- 13.25% plus .30 per transaction for MOST categories; some are more, some less.

2.) Bids are 'publicly shown to anyone looking at a listing, but the bidders 'name' is hidden/coded

3.) Yes- although seller can 'charge' a shipping cost to the buyer, shown in all listings..but the Seller has to then 'use' that money to buy the label.

4.) Money from a sale is put in the checking account (info you give eBay) MINUS the 'Sales Fee' (Final Value Fee)

5.) Yes- although 99% of items sold on ebay are shipping and 99.9% of the buyers expect so (this is NOT the best place for 'local pickup' as items are shown, at minumum- all over the USA. 

[caldreamer]

Before you can sell anything you must enroll in Managed Payments (this is how you get paid).    When you made a sale EBAY deduct selling fees + shipping (the balance is deposited into your checking account 3-5 AFTER sale is made).   Shipping money is held for you so you have "pending funds" available to print the label.

To enroll in Managed Payments you need to provide your checking account (ROUTING# ONLY) and social security# (for tax purposes).   Name on your checking account, social security card and EBAY profile page must be EXACT MATCH (or your application may be denied).

Many different types of fees that EBAY charges:

- Listing fee for every month each item is posted

- Selling fee % of entire sale (purchase price + shipping) plus 30 cent handling charge

- Selling fee (percentage is determined by what category you item is in) clothing, tools, cosmetics, auto

- Promotion fee % of entire sale (if you decide to promote your items to get more visibility)

- International fee (if you personally ship items to another country or your customer is registered in another country).

Seller decides:

- Who pays shipping (of course, customers want "free shipping")

- Allow shipping or Pickup ONLY 

Bear in mind...that EBAY is a very competitive marketplace and you are competing with Sellers worldwide.  You should do an "EBAY search" for a particular item and if you scroll down you will notice that "EBAY includes  100's of items from competitors".    What time means is when you pay to "list item" EBAY will also show your competitor's items on your listing.   It's a dog eat dog market.

[janet9988]

I suggest you read the User agreement and the policies as a lot has changed.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/ebays-rules-policies?id=4205

[monroe67]

Those are very good questions and you've received some good answers.  

I want to emphasize eBay's Final Value Fees (FVF).  They consist of two parts:  first, a percentage of the total amount paid by the buyer plus, second, $0.30 per order.  

The FVF percentages range now from 3% for Heavy Equipment, 6.35% for guitars, and 15% for jewelry, even fashion jewelry, with most categories of items subject to the 13.25% FVF percentage.  

That percentage is applied to the total amount paid by the buyer, which includes the item price + sales taxes + postage + any handling charge the seller adds into the listing + "any other applicable fees."  That last part applies if the sold item is being shipped to a state which charges a fee for its purchase.  California's Electronics Recycling Fee is an example. 

The fixed-fee "$0.30 per order" part can help sellers sometimes.   For example, last week my selling ID sold three embroidery booklets to one buyer who paid at the same time for all three of them; I also mailed them all in one large envelope.  Those three things qualified as "One Order" so, rather than paying eBay $.90 in fixed-fees for those three items, I effectively paid only $0.10 for each (in addition to 13.25% of the total purchase price, of course).  

The seller can offer an item for Local Pickup.  There are benefits and drawbacks, of course.  Handing off an item at a well-lit and safe location is a must.  

I strongly suggest you come back and read this Selling forum, as well as Buying, a few days every week.  The majority of my knowledge of eBay selling comes from reading the collected wisdom of experienced sellers -- and buyers -- on these forums.