Selling is a Nightmare!!!

[urbaltripz]

I rarely sell on eBay, the last time being several years ago.  Never had an issue. Recently a friend gave me a generous bag of Nars make up which is pretty pricey, so I thought it'd be a good idea to sell on eBay for a few bucks, selling way below retail price for a faster easier sale.  It has been nothing but problems, to the point where I finally just ended the last of my unsold listings today and gave them away to friends just to avoid the unnecessary headaches with these buyers.  I didn't know that eBay was set up in favor of the buyers and to screw over the seller.

-Non paying bidder requests to cancel after winning the auction. My listing is held hostage until a certain time period so I don't get charged fees. Why bid if you're not going to pay??

-Girl pays for won auction $18, retail is $70.  After the shipped notice goes out, buyer demands to cancel it asking for a refund. Then files a “never received” claim, then cancels the claim, likely because she's lying. Then leaves me negative feedback that eBay will not remove.  In all reality this negative feedback will not affect my real life, but come on.. why does eBay allow this??

-Buyer claims the product is “damaged” which it is not. It's 1000% brand new. Demands I send her a new one.  I tell her I'm not a professional make up seller and I only had one of that product. I tell her that I know it's worth $35 retail and sold it to her for $8, including the free shipping which cost me $3.50. She still argues that it's damaged and misrepresented as an inaccurate listing. I offer her a refund of her $8, minus the $3.50 in shipping, reminding her again that I only made about $4 profit not including the ebay fees and that it's $35 retail. She did not want her $5 back and decided to keep the lipstick.

-A buyer claimed she never received the product.  I write her back telling her that I'm not a professional seller and that I hope that she is being honest about her claim as there is a human being at the end of this transaction that just just money and a product over this sale.   I refund her money just to make the problem go away. I didn't think there would be problems with sales or shipping so I didnt tag on the tracking numbers, I did tell her this was my error. Retail $45, lost a $20 sale plus the product.

These are just the ones I could immediately think of out of my 20 sales.

So then I Google things about eBay buyer scams and how you need to protect yourself as a seller by taking pics of yourself packing and shipping the products.  The need for these types of practices are ridiculous. eBay is really terrible to the sellers. The buyer is always right, even if theyre dead wrong and I opted for a No Return policy, which isn't honored. I'm highly likely never doing this again unless it's there only market I have for what I need to sell. Not worth the headache and faith I've lost in humanity over stupid make up.

[vintagecraze50]

Could have got some re sellers who wanted a GOOD DEAL LOL on your expensive product, Could have gotten a product that somehow got damaged during shipment, you know, cakey makeup cracks and turns into powder if it is bumped around hard during shipment. Could have gotten the INR scammer phenomena here when you DO NOT USE TRACKING, hey no tracking, never got it. 

[lex-talon]

Yes, the buyer is always right on ebay. However, you've made a few mistakes. Pricing your items way below retail price, buyers may think your items are counterfeit. Don't be afraid to price them accordingly. Pricing items lower is just asking for trouble.

Not allowing buyers to cancel and shipping the items anyway. Forgetting to include a tracking number. In your haste to sell the items quickly, that's how these problems came about. 

Sorry you had to deal with a few bad apples. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

You've had a rough go of it, i'm so sorry. 

When expensive items are listed for cut-rate prices, it can attract the kind of buyers you describe. You might have been better off with a higher price point. It may take longer to sell, but there could be a more favorable brand of shopper purchasing your items. 

Ebay is not always a good venue for the more casual seller, because of all the rule changes and the policies that need to be followed to protect oneself. As you've seen, it is eBay's job to look out for the buyer's best interests, and the seller's job to look after his own. It is just not easy selling here. I've been at it about 10 years, wasn't here during the glory days, when there were active bidding wars and stuff sold like crazy. So I do what is necessary to make eBay work as it is now, and have had very few issues. (At least so far, knock on wood.) It can be done, but it's up to each seller to decide how much risk he can tolerate.

The whole No Returns situation is a debacle. While a seller can choose No Returns, he cannot choose No Refunds when a buyer opens a case. When i coach friends who want to learn to sell here, i always advise them to accept returns. I believe it is in the seller's interest to prevent false claims from being filed, because a determined buyer who is after a refund will find a way to get one from a seller regardless of his terms of sale.

A final thought: Video taping one's shipping and packaging efforts is an exercise in futility. Ebay does not accept such evidence, because to them, it does not prove anything. Video can be tailored and doctored. Things can happen in transit to alter a package's contents. Etc. Etc.

Whatever you decide moving forward, wish you the best of luck.

[urbaltripz]

Not including the tracking number and low pricing were total non professional seller mistakes.  I wasn't trying to make a ton of money, just fast extra money as selling online is quite tedious between listing, waiting for auctions and payments, and going to the post office after work.  I spent so much time going back and forth with these people over nonsense. Such a waste of time.  The amount I made from sales over the past couple weeks amounts to what I make in one day at work.  It's not worth the headache.  The buyer asked to cancel and asked for a refund after it was shipped.  It's just common sense that I can't just give a refund after I just shipped it out.  eBay has apparently changed alot since I started using in many years ago..  

[tunicaslot]

OP - you'd probably be better to see what similar items sold for at Buy It Now and listing it that way rather than auction format. Auctions aren't the way to go these days unless you have something really desirable. You'll get lower prices and some of the headaches you experience. I do some auctions just because they are free with my store nd run into the same sort of problems

List them buy it now with immediate payment. Choose the handling time that's right for you so that you aren't running to the PO everyday. If you choose 3 day - you're running once every three days. A longer handling time is not a deal breaker on products like make-up as women know ahead of time that they're low on foundation or they'll need new lipstick soon.

Don't give up - selling here can be fun and profitable.

[robot-hands]

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@urbaltripz wrote:

I didnt tag on the tracking numbers, I did tell her this was my error. Retail $45, lost a $20 sale plus the product.

So then I Google things about eBay buyer scams and how you need to protect yourself as a seller by taking pics of yourself packing and shipping the products.  

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Shipping without tracking is just giving away stuff for free.

Also you googled ebay info when you should have come here to hear that taking video or pictures of yourself packing is useless. Neither ebay nor paypal will look at it for anything ever.

You'd have better luck presenting a dog as a witness.

[hillbillymedia]

Low starting price auctions seem to attract every wingnut on the planet. Also, as said, never ship anything out without uploading a tracking number when you ship. It`s cheap protection and free if you print labels online. If you buy postage over the counter, include the added cost into your shipping charges when you post your listing.

[juststuffisell]

eBay has a growing problem with these types of issues. For me personally, the last 7 months have been a strain/stress with buyers. The demographics are changing here and with that, the quality of buyers with all the free this and free that attracting a lot more of the "entitled" class. With the established eBay policies heavily tilted to the buyers, expect the problems to grow, especially given sellers cannot even "tag" buyers in the feedback area so other sellers get blindsided by the same problem buyers.

Unfortunate, but it is where eBay is today.

Cheers

[kathy507]

Make up is a hard thing to guarantee in terms of quality.

I once sold a collection of sample Avon lipsticks in the original demonstration case. They were all unused, great shape.  The buyer who bought them was in Texas and it was summer.  I never gave that a thought, but the buyer left me a red donut after she received them because the lipsticks had melted in transit. (She never contacted me before leaving feedback either.)  A lesson learned!

Weather and storage are important for make up quality and for any liquid product like hand lotions.  So some of your buyers may not have been out to take advantage of you.

Of course, others may indeed have scammed you but most buyers are honest.  But we tend to remember the bad ones.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Shipping without tracking is just giving away stuff for free.

There are sellers on here all the time who have run a business for years with no tracking and very few problems. Seems to me it maybe depends on the category? 

If the make up is shipping without tracking it may be travelling in an unsafe envelope that gets torn on machinery? Maybe the items never did arrive?

[luckythewinner]

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@urbaltripz wrote:

  I wasn't trying to make a ton of money, just fast extra money as selling online is quite tedious between listing, waiting for auctions and payments, and going to the post office after work. The amount I made from sales over the past couple weeks amounts to what I make in one day at work.  It's not worth the headache.

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It takes no more time and effort to list an item "worth" $35 item for $18 than it does to list it for $8, and that would triple your net return. And if you are an occasional seller then you can list it for 30 days for free. So I would urge you to shoot for "smart money", not just "fast money". 

When it comes to mass-produced items that are generally available elsewhere, IMHO there is rarely a reason to list them at auction ... just pick a reasonable fixed price and list with immediate payment required and be done with it. 

Taking the above steps would solve several of your issues - like waiting for auctions to end, waiting for payments, and low returns that are not worth the effort. 

[moo*cow*corner]

There are those who surf ebay, looking for new sellers to take advantage of...regardless of category.  Some categories are WAY worse than others.

When I started this ID, every other transaction was a pain in the rear. Buyers hoping I'd fall for a sob story, make a newbie mistake somewhere during a transaction, or just flat out bullying for refunds. Even as an experienced seller, it WAS very disconcerting. I get it, and feel for the OP.

My first 25-50 sales were small lots of common things, priced at move-them-out prices just to get selling FB built up. It did get better as time went on.

That was a long time ago now, and I imagine things haven't really changed much. Not sure what ebay could do about it, though. It's kind of the way things have always been around here.

The crucible is exceedingly hot, but the refined product shines exceedingly brightly....

[juststuffisell]

Ahh.... I know what you are saying. I have only sold make up a handful of times and usually give it to my daughter or throw it in the trash. Even brand new stuff improperly stored spoils.

Cheers

[gopetersen]

You're not obligated to upload the tracking numbers, but if there's a dispute, it's a good idea to add it.

You can add it later, it's usually not a problem. Some used-clothing sellers choose not to upload tracking and then when the scammers claim they didn't get it, they upload it, quote the delivery date and time and reveal the scammer for who she or he is.

By the way, if you buy the labels on eBay, the tracking is automatically added to the sales record and you get a discount.