I want to start selling a lot of unneeded computer and related hardware. I know that I can't get what I paid for it. But I need to adjust selling price so that the buyer has a good deal with shipping included. Here is my problem. I can't understand how many people sell stuff that clearly needed to be boxed, where the ship cost is like $6.95 or $9.95. What do these people know that I don't know?
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how to minimize eBay ship costs?
- Thread starter philb2
- Start date
Without an example I have to assume, but it seems like you're talking about Chinese sellers. They get subsidised shipping. Not available to us poor North Americans.
Check PirateBay.com for shipping. Easy and a real money saver. You sound like a good seller and my best advice is to stay away from Ebay. Too many ripoffs, even the thieving customer is always right. Send them a video card, they return a newspaper, you pay.
Tengis
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I just had my first dishonest scumbag on ebay. They submitted a return request because my product was "faulty". Once I received it back, they had actually butchered it and effectively destroyed it. Before I refunded their money, I uploaded pictures with a response but it was just for show... there was a notice that it was basically just for records keeping and that nobody would be reviewing my response.
Ship outside of generating labels on ebay. You can use something like pirateship.com and get highly reduced USPS rates. I use easyship.com for my business but it has a monthly fee.
Ship outside of generating labels on ebay. You can use something like pirateship.com and get highly reduced USPS rates. I use easyship.com for my business but it has a monthly fee.
GoldenTiger
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This makes me feel so comfy when considering selling a big ticket item soon on ebay.
.I've had dishonest buyers occasionally over the course of 25+ years on forums and ebay, but thankfully on nothing major.
These kinds of stories have me thinking of just giving it away locally to family/friends, which is what I've been doing with stuff the past several years. It's just too risky nowadays I feel like to sell most stuff online unless you're willing to entirely lose the item.
bigdogchris
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That happened to me about 15 years ago. Guy screwed up a GPU and wanted a refund. Looked like he tried removing the heat sink. When I got it back there were pieces of super glue broken off in the box. That was back when sellers had some pull. I fought it and he got a refund but I got to keep my money as well, so eBay ate it.
philb2 - Pro Tip. Don't sell anything on eBay that you are not willing to lose everything on. I recommend you just use Free Shipping option. Look at completed listings for similar items when you set your prices. I always include a disclaimer that I will only ship to lower 48 states which helps keep shipping cost reasonable since I'm paying for it. If you don't want to sit on items, set your item to best the lowest priced of available items. You'll be able to sell everything that way. Remember that most people are going to search for an item, choose free shipping, and sort least to most expensive.
Tengis
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I make and sell titanium keys... every once in a while I get someone that doesnt even read anything on my website and they just take it to a random schmuck to get it cut and they destroy it. Thats what this guy did.This makes me feel so comfy when considering selling a big ticket item soon on ebay.
I've had dishonest buyers occasionally over the course of 25 years on forums and ebay, but thankfully on nothing major.
I actually get a decent number of sales from ebay... the fees are the real killer.
You could've disputed this instead of refunding actually.
bigdogchris
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I thought eBay always sides with the buyer?
I've seen stuff on YouTube where eBay sellers show items were sent back completely broken and eBay still forced a refund.
^this. I used ebay to sell a bunch of computer stuff taking up space. dealing with the people/scammers from overseas became so exhausting that it was no longer worth it. I limited my ship to 48 states, but they always used local agents to ship internationally for them.
always check badbuyerlist.org before you buy shipping.
always google map where you are shipping. often it is a foreign freight service to a scammer. at least that way you will be aware that you are about to be screwed if you actually ship your good. ebay claims that foreign freight shippers invalidate buyer protection, but they dont seem keen to enforce that.
good luck.
I think it depends on the product. Even if it needs a box if it's <1lb it will not be $7. I ship plenty of padded mailer type stuff for $3-4, but as you approach 1lb its usually around $6. I would think anything under 8oz or so should be <$5
Prince Valiant
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Using a service like Pirate Ship or similar would help. I accounted for shipping in the item cost when I used to list things on eBay. I agree with the others and think it would be best to stay away from eBay if you can.
This should have been a call to ebay. They will usually side with you on thiss kind of stuff if you have the photos and actually dispute and call them. I don't know how easy that is to do anymore since the PP/Ebay split.
This thread is disheartening. I have a bunch of stuff I am looking to get rid of. So much stuff that it's completely covering my pool table. I was going to use ebay until I read through this thread. Is ebay nothing but scammers all around or is just on computer parts?
Wrong URL. LOL Pirateship.com
not all, but the scammers do ruin the overall experience.
I sell stuff on ebay all the time. Don't let the thread dissuade you.
Not sure. Many of the listings on eBay that I have looked at are from private individuals, or so I'm assuming.
All good stuff. I had no idea, but that's why I did the OP. I have a nice ebay rating as a buyer, but I haven't really sold anything there, because of worries about fraud and high ship costs.
like they do with so many other things. See my post #20.
Have you ever been hit by fraud? Difficult buyer? How do you protect yourself?
dogDAbone
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For the shipping costs, either make your price high enough to cover both the item & the actual shipping, or put the price at or a little below the norm, and then charge a bit more for shipping....
A) Take several close-up photos of the item when packing it up, and include them in the listing
B) Take photos of the box when dropping it off at the shipper's location, and keep the receipt until the item is delivered to the buyer
C) Insure the item for a reasonable amount, in case you do get stiffed, you can at least get some of you money back
D) Only sell/ship to the lower 48 states (if in the US) NO EXCEPTIONS
E) Sell as local pick up only
F) Avoid fleabay altogether, & sell your stuff on here, or other pc/tech forum, and only to folks that have considerable positive heatware feedback
kirbyrj
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Sure, when it works out for you, it's great.
Computer equipment is one area that can be iffy with lots of scumbag buyers (and/or sellers). I've sold plenty of golf clubs, etc. and had no issues.
bigdogchris
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I've sold a TON of stuff on ebay (probably 150 or so items) over the past 15 years and I've gotten screwed twice. Once was the GPU I mentioned earlier and another was I sold a digital code and never considered someone would claim it and say it was no good. So both were computer related in one way or another.
If you have 15-20 things to sell, you certainly could sell all of them and not have a problem. I just recommend you accept that you will get screwed on at least 1-2 items and just be prepared. At the end of all the sales, hopefully the total amount of money you have is enough to make it worth it. Just don't worry about the money on individual items.
Also, this is a good thread to discuss the point that people who buy also need to behave in a way which you want others to. Don't screw over sellers because eBay will always side with you. Be a good person.
GoldenTiger
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Yeah, I should qualify that my bad experiences were a few out of over 200+ items over my time. The percentage isn't high.
DoubleTap
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A - Agree, specifically if there are specific areas that could be an issue, but generally if you're not selling collectibles you don't need a TON of pictures
B - Probably a good idea but I've never done the pictures. Receipt is simple enough though.
C - I very rarely insure packages, but I pack exceedingly well. If over $500 I send signature confirmation which I believe is required to win a case for items beyond a certain amount (I think $750 but not 100% sure). Insurance has been so/so for me, especially if shipping electronics not in the original packaging, and often requires buyer assistance in documenting which can be tough to wrangle. I have had the $100 free priority mail insurance come in handy a few times when USPS lost or destroyed a package, they paid out without much effort. If you are the insurance type, pirateship.com does offer cheaper insurance than UPS or USPS offer to retail customers, but whatever you do READ THE TERMS of what you're buying to ensure you will be able to meet them. Insurance is expensive, and nothing worse than paying for insurance, needing it, and having the claim denied because you did something wrong or shipped something that wasn't covered
D - Again, personal preference. I use the Global Shipping Program and ebay covers you as long as they receive it in their sort center, regardless of what the buyer reports, so this seems very heavily weighted in the seller's (and buyer's, ebay takes all the losses) favor so I don't know why you would cut yourself off from these sale opportunities. I haven't had anyone in HI or AK buy my goods, but have shipped quite a bit to Puerto Rico and APO/FPO without issue.
E - A good option if you're in or near a major metro for sure
F - Yep, forums and insider communities are typically the best place to move specific goods and certainly are more friendly and less troublesome.
As with everyone YMMV and your results are your own which I can't debate with. I am just pointing out that people have some success on ebay and it's not all scammers, otherwise it wouldn't be one of the best marketplaces to sell on still. Every marketplace has its risk, and I agree that electronics / computer hardware does have a higher share of people out to get you, but that's because of the high value to small size + millions of things that can break so lots of ways to make a claim. Personally I accept returns, and if/when buyers complain about an item, I offer a complete refund once they ship the item back to me. This cuts out almost all the fuss. Often people will message and say it's missing this part, or it's dirty, or there is a small hole in the box, or whatever, fishing for a 10-50% discount. You see this all the time on r/flipping. The solution is to say I'm sorry you're not happy, but I don't do partial discounts. Please return for a 100% refund. No one ever does.
On digital sales the key is to ALWAYS SHIP SOMETHING. There are two things you can do depending on your preference:
1) State in your auction that the code will absolutely not be sent by email or ebay message, and will be mailed to the address on file (and follow through on this). This will piss off a lot of buyers who want instant gratification from the digital code and will slow down your sales, but is the safest.
2) Share the code via email or ebay message but also still drop something in the mail with tracking. You need to have a tracking number uploaded to ebay and shown as delivered.
bigdogchris
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The digital code I sold was in like 2010 so a lot has changed since then
But I do think those are good tips specifically sending the code via mail instead of email.chameleoneel
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I've had good experiences selling on Facebook local marketplace, and right here in the [H] forums.
For FB, you will get a lot of lowball offers and some annoying chat. But, people whom actually make plans to buy, have been fine. I have also purchased a few things and its been similar being on the other end.
For [H], I've had a couple of people be REALLY scrutinizing about shipping prices and any potential fees for something like Paypal with buyer protection. Its annoying, but I generally walk into selling something, expecting to lose a few dollars on shipping, etc. Overall, [H] has been great and low friction.
Ebay is not recommended unless you are a very high volume seller. For electronics, its like 12% fees to Ebay, from the total sale price (so that's your shipping cost, included). It can really make a dent in the money you recieve.
If you really must sell on Ebay, I also recommend posting the item with 'free' shipping. And adjusting your sale price to reflect that.
The main reason to do that, is to give you flexibility in shipping options. If you post a certain type of shipping----but actually ship with a cheaper/slower option, the buyer can rightfully rate you poorly. I have done it myself (rated someone poorly for shipping with a super cheap/slow option, when they had posted First Class USPS for the shipping.)
If you are going to be using a service to generate your own labels, use a GOOD scale and also overstate the weight an ounce or two. If you don't, I garuntee you will get dinged with fees, after the courier checks your actual shipped weight and their scale doesn't match what yours said. I had it happen twice with a pro shipping scale used in the shipping center at one of my jobs. So I started over stating weights, as I said.
For FB, you will get a lot of lowball offers and some annoying chat. But, people whom actually make plans to buy, have been fine. I have also purchased a few things and its been similar being on the other end.
For [H], I've had a couple of people be REALLY scrutinizing about shipping prices and any potential fees for something like Paypal with buyer protection. Its annoying, but I generally walk into selling something, expecting to lose a few dollars on shipping, etc. Overall, [H] has been great and low friction.
Ebay is not recommended unless you are a very high volume seller. For electronics, its like 12% fees to Ebay, from the total sale price (so that's your shipping cost, included). It can really make a dent in the money you recieve.
If you really must sell on Ebay, I also recommend posting the item with 'free' shipping. And adjusting your sale price to reflect that.
The main reason to do that, is to give you flexibility in shipping options. If you post a certain type of shipping----but actually ship with a cheaper/slower option, the buyer can rightfully rate you poorly. I have done it myself (rated someone poorly for shipping with a super cheap/slow option, when they had posted First Class USPS for the shipping.)
If you are going to be using a service to generate your own labels, use a GOOD scale and also overstate the weight an ounce or two. If you don't, I garuntee you will get dinged with fees, after the courier checks your actual shipped weight and their scale doesn't match what yours said. I had it happen twice with a pro shipping scale used in the shipping center at one of my jobs. So I started over stating weights, as I said.
thanks for all this advice.
Furious_Styles
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I've been selling a decent amount on ebay for the past several years. So I've dealt with my fair share of idiots/fraudsters. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I have almost stopped using ebay because I'm sick and tired of their "the buyer is always right" philosophy.
They don't have a buyer is right policy.
Just last month I won an eBay case that a seller opened up against me.
The unfortunate reality is that many sellers are unscrupulous.
Furious_Styles
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Yes they do. I've won lots of cases against buyers. But it's always an uphill battle and the return auto-refunds even if you dispute.
When I sell on ebay I use USPS 100% of the time, they are way cheaper then UPS and FEDEX and I've never had a problem with them. I also always chose the cheapest (longest shipping) option. Skip the signature option, I've had ebay customers get mad at me for wanting it so I stopped it.
If you have issues with buyers, I have had good luck with buying firstnamelastname.com and posting *facts* about the incident. I send them a notification of my intent to publish it and usually they back down. It's a minor cost for me since I have the resources.
UnknownSouljer
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Every shipping provider has business level accounts. If you're going to ship 1000's of packages every month, then it's possible to negotiate down with whomever the provider is a lower cost per package. That's generally how all of these high-volume eBay shops work.
LOL! I may ship as many as 5 packages a month.
UnknownSouljer
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Then it's likely you won't be able to get a business account. And also likely that you won't be able to match people running eBay businesses that have incredibly low shipping costs. You asked what other people know that you don't.
I've been selling things on eBay for 20 years. So I have some shipping advice.
For shipping smaller things that fit in an envelope through USPS, eBay and Pirate Ship are functionally the same, they both have the same cost. Media Mail is the same, as well. (Though this is just for CDs, DVDs and books.) Media Mail is no longer available as an option for video games or PC software through eBay's own shipping services.
For shipping smaller things that go in a box, Pirate Ship is best. Depending on the size and weight, you can get an amazing deal on shipping because they offer reduced prices via Ground Advantage and Priority Mail Cubic. I sent some super heavy boxes from CA to TN and it was way cheaper than I expected. Ground Advantage is actually very fast most of the time, too. There's also heavily reduced UPS prices, but I don't use that for eBay sales because some folks can't receive UPS packages. I offer it as an option, but it's not the default.
USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate is, unfortunately, not that good of an option nowadays. The small flat rate boxes are too small to ship anything larger than a 3.5" HDD (and even then it barely fits), the Mediums and Larges are good but still pricey and the cardboard is just too flimsy now. Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are good to ship a small boxed item in, but the mailers aren't available everywhere so you have to order them from USPS. USPS used to offer a very long flat rate box which I loved to use to ship several flatter boxes in (like keyboards!) but they discontinued it a while back.
And as an eBay buyer: Nothing ticks me off more than seeing a really cheap item with an absurd shipping cost. There's a seller on eBay who has a ton of CDs I want, but he's asking for $7 shipping per item. So if you can, make it clear that you offer shipping discounts on multiple items. A lot of people will buy more than one thing from you if you can package them together and save them some money on postage.
Hope this was helpful.
For shipping smaller things that fit in an envelope through USPS, eBay and Pirate Ship are functionally the same, they both have the same cost. Media Mail is the same, as well. (Though this is just for CDs, DVDs and books.) Media Mail is no longer available as an option for video games or PC software through eBay's own shipping services.
For shipping smaller things that go in a box, Pirate Ship is best. Depending on the size and weight, you can get an amazing deal on shipping because they offer reduced prices via Ground Advantage and Priority Mail Cubic. I sent some super heavy boxes from CA to TN and it was way cheaper than I expected. Ground Advantage is actually very fast most of the time, too. There's also heavily reduced UPS prices, but I don't use that for eBay sales because some folks can't receive UPS packages. I offer it as an option, but it's not the default.
USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate is, unfortunately, not that good of an option nowadays. The small flat rate boxes are too small to ship anything larger than a 3.5" HDD (and even then it barely fits), the Mediums and Larges are good but still pricey and the cardboard is just too flimsy now. Priority Mail Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are good to ship a small boxed item in, but the mailers aren't available everywhere so you have to order them from USPS. USPS used to offer a very long flat rate box which I loved to use to ship several flatter boxes in (like keyboards!) but they discontinued it a while back.
And as an eBay buyer: Nothing ticks me off more than seeing a really cheap item with an absurd shipping cost. There's a seller on eBay who has a ton of CDs I want, but he's asking for $7 shipping per item. So if you can, make it clear that you offer shipping discounts on multiple items. A lot of people will buy more than one thing from you if you can package them together and save them some money on postage.
Hope this was helpful.