Questions on the new eBay

[Bigcypresshunter]

I just got started back into eBay and boy is it different. For starters you cannot leave bad feedback for buyers so I am having the problem where almost half of my winning bidders are not paying and another has paid by echeck which I promptly cancelled. Also I am not getting any bids where just a few months ago I cleaned up. What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[bazinga]

Why are you cancelling echecks?

The lack of bids things could be a bit to do with summer doldrums. But, this is the new ebay. If your items aren't in high demand, they probably aren't going to get many bids. And if you are selling antiques/collectibles items that sold for $100 last year they now sell for $50. I list many of my antiques with higher prices now so I don't lose money. Gone are the days of starting an item at 99 cents or 9.99 and watching it get lots of bids. If you do that now, you sell an item for 99 cents.

Buy it nows seem to be the best way to sell an item for me lately. I will list an item at 9.99 and get no bids and list it for 29.99, wait 2 months, and a buyer will come along. I always use best offer as well.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Thanks bazinga. I am selling collectables and I have also decided to no longer list at 99 cents or 9.99. The old days would be a feeding frenzy. Even several months ago I got great prices with bidders fighting each other. I list auctions for free do you have to pay for Buy It Now?

Another problem I am having is people that dont pay and I have to relist.

Why are you cancelling echecks?

I only received one echeck and I state in my listing that I do not accept echecks. I dont want to fool with them besides it could take weeks to clear so I cancelled it right away but I dont know what will happen next. I could use some help here. It was a bad price anyway and I dont care if he pays or not but he has yet to repond. Of course Im concerned about my perfect feedback.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

And if you are selling antiques/collectibles items that sold for $100 last year they now sell for $50. I list many of my antiques with higher prices now so I don't lose money. Gone are the days of starting an item at 99 cents or 9.99 and watching it get lots of bids. If you do that now, you sell an item for 99 cents.

Buy it nows seem to be the best way to sell an item for me lately. I will list an item at 9.99 and get no bids and list it for 29.99, wait 2 months, and a buyer will come along. I always use best offer as well.

Why what happened? Why are auctions no longer working?

Another thing I noticed is there are very few last minute snipers. This ruins all the fun of selling. Whats going on?

 

[diggummup]

do you have to pay for Buy It Now?

Another problem I am having is people that dont pay and I have to relist.




I only received one echeck and I state in my listing that I do not accept echecks. I dont want to fool with them besides it could take weeks to clear so I cancelled it right away but I dont know what will happen next. I could use some help here. It was a bad price anyway and I dont care if he pays or not but he has yet to repond. Of course Im concerned about my perfect feedback.

I believe the buy it now feature is free for everyone, it is for me. The fixed price option is not though.

Although echecks are a pain in the but because of the time it takes them to clear, I still accept them. Never had any problems except once when I waited a week and it didn't clear.

As far as non paying bidders, just open a case against them if they haven't paid or communicated with you after 4 days of the end of the auction. 4 days is the minimum time you have to wait to open a case in the resolution center. I do it whenever I have to, most of the time I get a payment.

On your account page under site preferences- buyer requirements, edit it as follows-

Buyer requirements

Hidebuyer requirements preferences

	Block buyers who:	1- Don't have a PayPal account (I added this because many times these were the bidders not paying 'checks in the mail kind of thing', if you don't have a paypal account, you shouldn't be on ebay imo) 2- Have received 2 Unpaid Item strike(s) within 12 Month(s) (can't pay don't want you bidding on my stuff) 3- Have a primary shipping address in a location I don't ship to ( some buyers will contact me and ask if I will ship to a certain country, sometimes I will sometimes I won't) 4- Have 4 Policy Violation report(s) within 6 Month(s) (this is the lowest setting you can choose for this option) 5- Have a feedback score of -1 or lower (useless feature)	Edit

I've had 68 buyers blocked from bidding in the past 30 days. The overwhelming majority from unpaid item strikes. Personally, I usually pay for anything I buy immediately after the auction ends or the next day if it ends too late. IMHO- There is no reason for someone to bid on something if they don't plan on paying for it within the first couple days of the end of the auction. If they can't for whatever reason, communication should follow as to why and when they will pay.

The summer months are usually slow on Ebay, it should start picking up around the beginning of Sept.
after labor day.
Don't list anything for less than the minimum price you will accept for it as a starting bid. The first 50 listings are free no matter what the start price is.
If it doesn't sell after a few weeks or a month, list it with a fixed price higher than your auction price like Bazinga mentioned. For some strange reason people pay higher prices alot of times when it has a non auction, fixed price, go figure.
Hope this helps some.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

The problem I am most concerned about is the echeck. Its too late to accept it, I already cancelled it. I cancelled it and now I am afraid he will leave me bad feedback. If he doesnt fix his PayPal, I have to report him as a nonpayer and that would make him more angry and he may be able to report me as not received.

If anybody can help me on advice on how to handle this iissue I appreciate it but I wont be back home until tonight. I was up searching all night for 2 days and I cant find iany information on how to proceed. Gotta go in a few minutes thanks.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Btw I read a lot of bad about echecks. Thats why I dont accept them and thats why I canceled it. I also read that I am not alowed to say I dont accept echecks if its sent by PayPal but I cant verify that this is true. A lot of scams involve echecks. What do I do now??

 

[jerseyben]

If they leave you negative feedback for not accepting their e-check, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. You MIGHT even be able to get ebay to remove it.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

If they leave you negative feedback for not accepting their e-check, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. You MIGHT even be able to get ebay to remove it.

I hope this is true. Thanks.

My rides here I gotta go.

Should I report him as a non-pay if he doesnt fix his PayPal or respond in 2 more days?

 

[GibH]

One good thing about fixed price or buy it now is you can require immediate payment.

 

[bazinga]

Thanks bazinga. I am selling collectables and I have also decided to no longer list at 99 cents or 9.99. The old days would be a feeding frenzy. Even several months ago I got great prices with bidders fighting each other. I list auctions for free do you have to pay for Buy It Now?.

Yeah, the feeding frenzies are pretty much a thing of the past unless you have really nice items and don't care if they sell for $120 or $320. Too many sellers now getting grandma's old stuff and just listing it for 9.99 and degrading the prices. It might sell commonly buy it now for $50, but they don't care, they got it for free.

I do the fixed price buy it now listings that are good until the item sells. So it costs me 50 cents a month for those listings. Of course, it doesn't pay if you are selling $10-20 items. Most of what I sell is in the $50+ range and I don't mind having an item listed a year before it sells. $6 in fees is worth it to sell an item for $30 more.

 

[bazinga]

Why what happened? Why are auctions no longer working?

Another thing I noticed is there are very few last minute snipers. This ruins all the fun of selling. Whats going on?

When it comes to collectibles, there are just fewer collectors now I believe. And when you combine that with the economy, they just aren't buying. They know if they don't win your item, another 5 sellers will come along in the next week with the same item. They can wait. There are more items being sold than there are buyers for those items.

So I just remember something pretty simple I learned years ago: "You make your money when you buy an item, not when you sell it." If you buy an item right, then it's nearly impossible to lose money on it.

 

[Lafitte Deux]

BCH,
If you stated in your listing that you do not accept echecks, don't worry about it. If the buyer leaves negative feedback, just contact Ebay and let them know your listing stated so.
Also, if the buyer doesn't get their paypal fixed, you can report it as a non-pay. If the resolution is in your favor, the buyer can't leave negative feedback.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Sorry I had to work and couldnt reply. Thanks Bazinga, Digg, Jersey, Gib and Lafitte. It pretty much explains it but it would also seem to imply that there are some very good deals to be had in auctions. I know I sold an expensive antique for 9.99 because I had only one bid. Lesson learned.

At this time I have 4 sales waiting to ship. 3 are no pay and one I cancelled the echeck. WTF? They all have 100 percent positive feedback over 50 but then again of course they are because you cant leave negative feedback to sellers. It seems the new eBay doesnt punish non-payers. Maybe cancelling the check was a mistake but he won the auction at a very good price and I dont want to fool with checks of any kind. Digg, by blocking non-payers you may be losing a lot of bidders.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

BCH,
If you stated in your listing that you do not accept echecks, don't worry about it. If the buyer leaves negative feedback, just contact Ebay and let them know your listing stated so.
Also, if the buyer doesn't get their paypal fixed, you can report it as a non-pay. If the resolution is in your favor, the buyer can't leave negative feedback.

The item sold July 5. I promply cancelled the check and wrote back an explanation. I have since written back and sent an invoice every day and he has yet to reply. As a matter of fact all 4 of my sales that day havent replied. The new eBay kinda really suks so far.

He has a perfect feedback of 127. I knida hate to report him as no pay, but I think I have no choice.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

When it comes to collectibles, there are just fewer collectors now I believe. And when you combine that with the economy, they just aren't buying. They know if they don't win your item, another 5 sellers will come along in the next week with the same item. They can wait. There are more items being sold than there are buyers for those items.

So I just remember something pretty simple I learned years ago: "You make your money when you buy an item, not when you sell it." If you buy an item right, then it's nearly impossible to lose money on it.

All my collectible items I obtained for free from evictions, dumpster diving, gift or inheritence. I have some great items from evictions. I am not losing any money but I wont give my stuff away either. Its all going back in storage if I cant get what its worth. In the past, I have hated to sell to antique shops but I may try this because some of my stuff is that good and eBay really seems to suk right now. Im thinking the summer is bad because I did great only a few months ago.


The fun with auctions was that I many times got over 100 dollars for something I thought wouldnt get 5 bucks. That was the fun of eBay watching the last minute bids. I will try auction first, if it doesnt sell I will relist at BUy It Now..

Another thing I noticed is bidders dont seem to want USPS Priority shipping anymore. They seem to want whatever is cheapest which means I have to stockpile more boxes..

 

[Jason in Enid]

The problem is that Ebay just sucks. It's gotten too big, too complicated and too expensive for many people. I used to sell on Ebay, but never again. After the listing fees and paypal fees, and then paypal forcing you to accept credit cards and then charging more fees it's just plain rediculous. It cheaper and easier to sell to people on forums or through craigslist.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

The problem is that Ebay just sucks. It's gotten too big, too complicated and too expensive for many people. I used to sell on Ebay, but never again. After the listing fees and paypal fees, and then paypal forcing you to accept credit cards and then charging more fees it's just plain rediculous. It cheaper and easier to sell to people on forums or through craigslist.

I dont mind credit cards but I understand the fear of chargebacks.. I just dont like echecks.

I cant sell here at TN without paying for a charter membership.

 

[Iron Patch]

The item sold July 5. I promply cancelled the check and wrote back an explanation. I have since written back and sent an invoice every day and he has yet to reply. As a matter of fact all 4 of my sales that day havent replied. The new eBay kinda really suks so far.

He has a perfect feedback of 127. I knida hate to report him as no pay, but I think I have no choice.

Ebay sucks for you because you are going about it all wrong.

The first thing is, I don't understand what's the big deal about an E-check? You wait, it clears, and it's the same as he paid you instantly. In some situations when the buyer draws from his bank account and not his PP balance it has to go as an E-check. That is what happens for me, so I make a point to always have enough money, but it's the back up if I run short. A few years back I had to send E-checks for a week straight for many items and never had a problem. I've also received my fair share too, and even shipped many things before they cleared, and still never had a problem.

Next... it's not too late, talk to the guy and figure it out. There's nothing worse than the other party acting in a negative manner and not explaining themself. It's not too late to take an E-check (write him and send another invoice saying you made a mistake)... but if you still don't want to, surely don't file a non paying bidder on the guy, just go through the same process, but cancel the transaction and you both walk away the same as before the transaction. But talk to the guy! Most people are reasonable.

How long has it been since you sold? The bottom has fell out of lots of stuff because the supply is up, and demand is down. It's had to say anymore not really knowing what you're selling, but things like double listing helps, as does doing a higher volume to get a lot of traffic. For many things Ebay seems like it has changed in the way that you have to tie up more money and run it like a store, than just do straight auctions and get great prices, but again it depends what you sell. For me it's a balance of both, but I know my market and what to expect out of my listings.

PS: I have done the ebay thing for a lot of years with a lot of transactions, and for some weird reason every time I start back after a break things go terrible and I really doubt myself, and as you are, the whole system too. First I get mad, and then frustrated, but then go like hell and a few weeks later it's feeling like things are better than ever. It's like in detecting when you can't seem to get over a good target no matter what you do, but a short time later your coil gets hot and the great finds seem to find you. The difference is the thinking part in detecting is finding the site to have the chance, where as in Ebay it's the over all strategy to sell. Last week on the show secret millionaire the guy said something that stuck with me, it was that to increase business there's two ways to do it.... sell the same stuff to more people, or sell different stuff to the same people. I plan to try to do a little of both.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

How long has it been since you sold? The bottom has fell out of lots of stuff because the supply is up, and demand is down. It's had to say anymore not really knowing what you're selling, but things like double listing helps, as does doing a higher volume to get a lot of traffic. For many things Ebay seems like it has changed in the way that you have to tie up more money and run it like a store, than just do straight auctions and get great prices, but again it depends what you sell. For me it's a balance of both, but I know my market and what to expect out of my listings.

PS: I have done the ebay thing for a lot of years with a lot of transactions, and for some weird reason every time I start back after a break things go terrible and I really doubt myself, and as you are, the whole system too. First I get mad, and then frustrated, but then go like hell and a few weeks later it's feeling like things are better than ever. It's like in detecting when you can't seem to get over a good target no matter what you do, but a short time later your coil gets hot and the great finds seem to find you. The difference is the thinking part in detecting is finding the site to have the chance, where as in Ebay it's the over all strategy to sell. Last week on the show secret millionaire the guy said something that stuck with me, it was that to increase business there's two ways to do it.... sell the same stuff to more people, or sell different stuff to the same people. I plan to try to do a little of both.

I sell under the same name. You can click see other items. I will relist some stuff today.
Antique patent STANLEY LEVEL No 1-3/4 Rosewood Marking Gauge No 104 Sweetheart | eBay

I havent put the best stuff on yet because Im learning still.

I hear you. I sold several average items for over $200 a few months ago and I was very happy. But before that it was years ago. Thanks IP.