Free Shipping & Crazy buyers all can be found on eBay

Dear eBay Queen;

I have some new shoes (without the box), some new with tags t-shirts, as well as some vintage 1980’s Barbies. I think these items can either be packed tightly into a flat rate box or maybe folded nicely and shipped in a heavy plastic shipping bag. I am considering using free shipping on these items. What is the best way to figure out ahead of time how much to allow in my starting price on eBay?

What would be the cheapest way to ship these items? How do you figure out that fine line between using a Priority Mail box versus an envelope? How much is flat rate shipping?

If I am shipping a t-shirt, would it be appropriate to just slip the shirt into a Priority flat-rate envelope? I had wondered about putting a t-shirt into a shipping bag or envelope; do you think it would get there ok? Or does it need a box?


G Hull; Lawrence, KS

Dear G:

When figuring what to start your item at you will need to add the cost of shipping, eBay fees and PayPal fees to the price of your item. You can ship light weight items (such as t-shirts if they are 13 ounces or less) in a first class shipping bag or manila envelope. I know many sellers who ship clothing in a variety of things besides a box. All of the methods you mentioned would be acceptable.

USPS has all of their pricing listed on their website. This will make it easy for you to figure your shipping costs. http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm Priority Mail flat envelopes are $4.80 and Priority Mail flat rate box is $9.80.

eBay is really pushing for free shipping, but as your parents always told you “nothing in life is free”. Make sure you add in all of your costs before you set your price for your eBay listing. Good Luck, and let me know how your free shipping experiment goes.

Dear eBay Queen;

I have a really strange problem. I sold a Red Wing Crock to someone that only lived in the next town over. She paid me with PayPal but asked if she could pick the item up. I agreed, and the woman came over to my home. She stood here and talked to me for a long time. She was very nice and friendly and she never once said anything negative about the crock. Then she went home and filed a PayPal not as described claim and left me a negative feedback. She never said that there was a problem and did not ever contact me.

What should I do?

Barbara; Gardner, KS


Dear Barbara:

This is unbelievable! Have you responded to the PayPal Claim? If not you need to do that right away. Make sure you say in your response that the customer picked the item up at your home and inspected it there. From there you have several choices:

1. Authorize a return, where the buyer will return the item to you. Will the buyer ship it back or return it to your door?
2. Escalate the claim. By doing this, PayPal will decide what will happen. They could have the buyer return it, or tell the buyer to keep it since they looked it over in person. It’s very important that if you choose to escalate the claim, to make clear the buyer came and picked up the item.
3. Continue to communicate with the buyer. Do this if you believe the two of you can work this out between yourselves.

Sometimes people do things and there is no explanation for why they do them. If this were my buyer and transaction I would respond to PayPal, and to the negative feedback she left. My feedback response would say; “Buyer picked up item, was happy with it when she left, no contact just left negative.”


Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 310085850577 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page) Christopher Columbus’ birthday is going to be here soon. I wonder if he would have liked a figural match safe of his own head? SOLD $450.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item310085850577

Paypal doesn't send emails like they should.. and What the heck is Best Match?

Dear eBay Queen;

I had a buyer email me today, and asked where their item was. My first thought was they hadn't paid, but after I did a search of my PayPal account, I realized they did pay. I never received the PayPal notification! I had no idea, and this was a total accident. What should I do?

Janet R, Springfield, MO

Dear Janet;

I completely understand your frustration. I have had the same thing happen to me. It's important you let your buyer know what happened, and that you are sending their product out today. When this has happened to me, and my buyer seemed especially upset I have refunded their shipping, or offered them free shipping on the next item they purchased.

A good way to check who has paid you without looking at your PayPal account, or watching for emails, is to check out your sold listings on your My eBay page. In the top right corner of any eBay page you will see My eBay click on it. Once you are on your "Items I've Sold" page you will see the items that have been paid for with PayPal.

Dear eBay Queen;

I took a little break from eBay, as I always do between the end of December and March. I was doing a little research the other day, and noticed that everything was different! The searches, and really the whole look of the site. I don't remember hearing anything about a change like this being in the works. Can you explain to me what is going on?

T.S.M

Dear T.;

There have been quite a few changes since you last listed an item on eBay. I believe the search changes you are talking about is eBay's new "Finding 2.0" or Best Match. Best Match is the new sorting algorithm that is suppose to revolutionize the way people search for items on eBay. eBay has taken all of the data they have accumulated in the last 10 years and put it to use, creating this new search tool.

As a buyer, I don't like it much. If I search for "polka dot pig", I want all the pigs on eBay with "polka dot" in the title. I do not want a computer or search algorithm to decide what I mean by the keywords I am searching for.
As a seller, this new tool can effect how a buyer comes across my eBay items. There are several factors that influence this search tool. It is important you know what they are so your listing will come out on top.

1. Make sure your Title has good keywords. If you are having trouble creating a good, effective title, try this eBay title builder. http://labsebay.com/raghavgupta/demoto/to?
2. Always use Item Specifics when they are available
3. Keep your shipping and handling fees fair
4. Create a great buying experience.
eBay scores you as a seller and each item you have listed. Here are some of the things they are scoring.
1. Listing Time or ending time
2. Listing Format (auction, store, fixed price)
3. Distance (how far the buyer is from you)
4. Other terms of sale such as warranty, refund policy and shipping cost.
5. Seller performance factor. This is where the Detailed Seller Ratings and PowerSeller status comes into effect. If you have above a 4.6 in your DSR scores for the last 30 days you will be advantaged in the search results. I f you are below a 4.2 in the last 30 days you will be disadvantaged.
No one really knows what weight they put on each of the factors listed above. Many people in the industry believe that the Seller Performance factor weighs heavier than listing or end time.
This new search tool is optional, and you can select to opt out of it by changing the sort feature in the blue gray shaded area above the search selections. The box will read "sort by". You can select; date ending first, shipping price or even nearest to you. If Best Match is in that box, that is your current search.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 190206930123 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the eBay homepage). This seller makes the jewelry she sells. Her spring flowers are selling for quite a bit of money. Carved Bakelite Jonquils Flower Clamper Bracelet SOLD $441.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP.dll?ViewItems&item=190206930123

eBay Listing Standards?

Dear eBay Queen;

I buy lots of stuff on eBay. I've been searching for a couple of what I call, high-priced technical items. After searching for this stuff, it seems there are no standards of what is in an eBay ad. I searched everywhere on eBay and I can’t find any kind of standards on basic information to supply when selling something. What do you think of about this? Do you think there is something I can do to make this better?

Dear Standards;
You are right! There are no real standards on what a seller must include in the auction listing in order to list it on eBay. I did do a little digging and came up with this link under eBay’s Seller Central http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/bestpractices.html . It only is a guide on the best practices of how to sell on eBay.

As a seller, I like it that other sellers don’t include all the information that I include when I write up an eBay ad. It puts me in front of the pack. I completely understand as a buyer why you’d like to see some kind of standards in eBay listings. I’m not sure that eBay would be able to enforce these kinds of standards. You, as a buyer, have much more power than eBay does. You can simply not buy from that person who is not including the right information for you.

At this time, eBay is definitely a buyers market. You have your choice of sellers to buy from. When I come across a seller that is not giving me enough information in the eBay ad, I ask them a question. That usually enough of a hint to tell that seller they are not putting enough information in their ad. If you don’t receive the answers you are looking for, you can always move on to the next seller.


Dear eBay Queen;

I have a dilemma. I sold an item Tuesday night and it was paid for on Thursday with an e-Check through PayPal. The problem here is that I told the buyer if she paid me with PayPal by this weekend I'd get the package shipped to her on Monday. I'm leaving Monday for the week and I won't be back until next Sunday. Of course the payment hasn’t cleared my PayPal account yet. I promised her I would send it out, but the payment hasn’t cleared.

The buyer has a feedback of 2. She had four total with one negative for nonpayment. How does that math work? The negative cancels out a positive? She's been a member since March of 2004, but her activity only began in May of 2007. Her last transaction was June 2007. All except the negative indicate she's a good customer who pays quickly. So, what do I do? Do I write to her and tell her I’ll send it next week when I get back? Take the packed item with me and mail it when the e-Check clears or go ahead and send it today? If it were you, what would you do?
Wanda

Dear Wanda;
This is quite a predicament. You told her you’d mail it if she paid by a certain day, and she did, but the funds won’t be available until the check clears.

I think your best bet is to email the buyer and let her know what is going on. Explain to her how e-Checks are fast, but the funds are not available in your account until the check clears. I would then offer to send the item while I was away, or ask her if it is ok to send it when you get back from your trip. I’m sure your buyer will understand.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 230197327736 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page) With all the ice that has hit the Mid-West I thought it would be interesting to see what a top selling “ICE” item on eBay is going for. Check out this Vintage Opco 1950’s Ice Gun SOLD $6000. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110190385285