It looks like one of THOSE selling weeks

[ernest_price]

I like selling. Apparently my buyers even think I'm good at it. But some weeks it's really hard biting tongue and not responding to questions as you'd like.

This was one of those weeks. Hopefully I haven't driven 2 people off eBay forever, but I just couldn't help myself as i was having a bad day on other fronts.

#1. Q. "Can you reduce the price of the postage" A. "I'll check with Australia Post. How much do you want them to reduce the postage?"

#2. Q. "Can I pick this item up at 2pm today. What's your address?" A. "2pm is fine. When you purchase the BIN item you will see my address, or just call me on the number you will also get". Item doesn't sell by 2pm so I make other arrangements. The item then sells to someone else by 3pm when I get back. I then get a contact email at 4pm. Q. "Why did you sell the item to somebody else? I really needed that item today." A. "To buy the item so nobody else can buy it before you, you need to buy it before them".

This week I've had 3 people now say they are buying at X pm and will I be there for pickup. Then another guy couldn't find drivers for a PC component I'm selling and asked me if I could send them to him. I found them after a longish search, sent them to him, then he had the nerve to tell me he bought the item for $2 less from another seller but they didn't have the drivers. Funny thing is it was $2 less for the item but $5 more postage.

I know. Terrible attitude as a long term seller, but 2 in one day combined with a pig of a week just got to me.

[llama]

#1. Q. "Can you reduce the price of the postage" A. "I'll check with Australia Post. How much do you want them to reduce the postage?"

That happens to me too... let's say the item is $20 + $5 P&H.... I reply that I'd be pleased to list a BIN for them at $25 with FREE P&H.

The ones that annoy me the most are the "Do you have a Buy Now price?" questions on an Auction listing.

My reply is "sure, if you pay me $100,000 I'll end the auction early and sell to you. Alternatively, you are welcome to place that bid on the auction and hopefully win it at a slightly better price - or you can look in my Store and see the item listed there as a Buy Now".

[Liisa-Sx]

or.. like the buyer I had on my Artwork ID that told me they really really really wanted a particular Painting but could not afford the shipping cost ($20) and the most they could afford to bid was $100 at the very most, the item was priced at $80 ish at the time, I sent a message back saying if they wanted the item badly I would waive the postage if the painting went for $100 or over for them , they did win the auction for...... $120, go figure.
 
and yes.. I waived the postage  LOL 

[cueperkins]

Hi EP....I used to enjoy selling from 2001 to 2008, and I came across all kinds during that time....thankfully only a few over all those years caused me any real grief.  In fact, more sellers have ripped me off than there have been annoying buyers...so I guess it goes both ways.... 

I think I'd be a bit annoyed by all this too....Ebay have given buyers so much power, their expectations are becoming unreasonable.  Unfortunately with the removal of two way feedback, the balance of power has swung to the extreme and sellers either like it or lump it.   All you can do is avoid buyers who want to make unreasonable demands.

Postage however, has to be the single biggest bug bear of all buyers...and it's something that Sellers need to pay attention to. When I was selling, I was happy to combine for cost, because buyers will purchase more if you keep postage reasonable. I didn't charge for packing because it's everywhere begging to be recycled.  I didn't charge for handling, and when I had to buy packing material, I purchased a 50 mtr roll of bubble wrap regularly for 25,00, working out to 50 cents per mtre...too easy and something that isn't noticeable when it's built into the purchase price. 

But I was a collector/seller, not a business.   Not saying your postage was too high, just saying it's something I email sellers about predominantly, and which causes many of the disputes on ebay.  Some sellers do little to keep postage costs as low as possible, and many don't realise they are doing it....

e.g.  I just purchased three items from a seller, who was absolutely fantastic to deal with.....fantastic....they are obviously an ex powerseller, who has now opened their own specialty shop and website in an effort to move away from Ebay...who can blame any serious business...it's the only marketplace where the business has absolutely no rights and no recourse.  I was able to view all the same products on their website, and the prices were the same....too easy...oh and they have a merchant facility...yippee !!!

Anyway.....the only mistake this seller made, was to send the items in a massive tough bag, which ultimately cost me about 4.30 extra .  The items could have been sent in a prepaid satchel for under 10.00, but I ended up paying 17.00 or more to have it sent from qld registered....So in my view, the seller didn't pack the item cost effectively. 

On my next purchase I will as a prerequisite, ask that seller to send the items in a prepaid satchel...I'm sure the seller wouldn't be offended because it means I'll become a return customer to their actual website.

Some sellers do take offense if a buyer questions postage, so again, it goes both ways. 

Being a buyer and seller, I have empathy for both parties....if only Ebay would stop interfering with the buyer seller relationship as their UA states?  Restore two way feedback at least.   

[ernest_price]

At least eBay and PayPal are thinking about it IMO.

The last eSayers selling/buying survey at least recognised that sellers are feeling open to abuse from deceitful buyers.

Plus PayPal are pushing their seller protection very solidly.

So while I have no idea if anything will actually come in to assist a seller, at least there is some sign of improvement.

[Liisa-Sx]

  Wait for the new buyer returns policy being implimented.. one of the reasons in the drop down box is "I changed my mind"

[*CountessA*]

It sounds ghastly...!

I think selling both online and offline is suffering badly at present. People buying online are becoming used to being rather cheeky, and it isn't any surprise that sometimes good sellers feel like snapping.

Oh, Ernest - can I buy something from you in 5 minutes' time, with free postage, and will you take my offer of 40% of the starting bid and send me a free ticket to see the Russian Ballet?

[*Yibida*]

I'm probably one of thousand's, if they didn't make paypal compulsary then I .. and thousand's more would be listing !... but I guess we don't matter...they want a mall.

Careful what you wish for Ebay......all been said and done before..

[Liisa-Sx]

The stupid thing is we LIKE Ebay, we want Ebay to work, why they cannot find a happy medium and stick to it is beyond me, maybe I am optimistic or naive but sitting down and having a good THINK as to what will be suitable to both buyers and sellers would be a good start and stop this ridiculous imbalance.

[cueperkins]

I'm probably one of thousand's, if they didn't make paypal compulsary then I .. and thousand's more would be listing !... but I guess we don't matter...they want a mall.

Careful what you wish for Ebay......all been said and done before..

Yep  100% right there yibida - IMO only of course.

In fact, those of us who have generally stopped selling, are made up of collectors, hobby sellers, craftspeople, artists etc. who also used to buy quite a bit on ebay....I think they killed off a lot of their buyers when they killed off their hobby sellers.   We were Ebay's founding consumer base....and they have literally abandoned us for the strip mall mentality of spam listings.  Such a Shame, and Lisa, you're right, assumption is a funny thing.....I never hated Ebay, it was the centre of my collecting interest for 7 years, and only in the last year has the shine gone right off. 

If they made room for collectors and mum and dad sellers again, then I might think more of them, but they don't want us...they want big retailers...small sellers can't compete just on the basis of volume alone.

[col52]

#2. Q. "Can I pick this item up at 2pm today. What's your address?" A. "2pm is fine. When you purchase the BIN item you will see my address, or just call me on the number you will also get". Item doesn't sell by 2pm so I make other arrangements. The item then sells to someone else by 3pm when I get back. I then get a contact email at 4pm. Q. "Why did you sell the item to somebody else? I really needed that item today." A. "To buy the item so nobody else can buy it before you, you need to buy it before them".

  Idiot "buyer"

I've had my fair share of stupid questions and time wasters.

A few weeks back, someone asked if I had 3 of a particular item, I said yes - would you like me to list for you? They said yes. I listed - listing finally ended with another person buying just one of the items.

Another, I had a pendant listed with title including "solid gold" then detailed more in the listing saying "solid 14ct gold" Plus, I detailed what the hallmarking was. "Buyer" e-mails saying "is this item solid gold?" 

Just yesterday, for a charm listed as "plain edged" (as I also have ones listed with coloured edges). Large image showed the plain charm. "Buyer" e-mails saying "Is this the plain charm, not the coloured ones you have listed and is it hallmarked 925?"
Needless to say, the listing also states "Hallmarked 925".

Can't count how many times I get asked for measurements! (considering I list all measurements on my listings!!!)
I was once asked "how big is 20mm".........from an Australian.

[primaryaim]

As far as I am concerned, any question is a good question as it means we have prospective buyers looking at our items.

The only question in life you should ever be wary of is......

From a female :  Does my bum look big in this?

From a male: Was it good for you?

[*CountessA*]

I'd agree that questions do at least indicate some interest!

If the seller has described everything I need to know, and his terms and feedback raise no alarms with me, I generally don't need to ask anything, though.

I may ask a question just to get a "feel" for the type of seller he/she is. If there's no reply or a rude reply, I would avoid that seller. It's really the only way to get some sort of interactive idea of the seller, because one hasn't the option of wandering in to a shop, having someone ask "Can I help you?", chatting with the seller about the goods and about various things. I don't buy electronic equipment from a shop without guaging how knowledgeable the seller is, and how good the level of service I could expect if there's a problem, for instance. I like getting personal recommendations - it often helps me to decide to go ahead with a purchase.

It also means I might be willing to spend more if the item is personally recommended as being easier to use, more efficient, less likely to become obsolete, etc. I have decided upon a GPS unit based on this very process. I didn't expect to spend as much as this unit it, but the recommendation plus the checking I've been doing on this particular unit have convinced me it's better than buying a similar item at almost 1/4 of the price.

So... hmm... don't necessarily become annoyed by question-askers. Of course there will always be time-wasters, but some won't be.

[Bellagina]

My "favourite" question asker usually goes along these lines.

"how much to post x, y and z together" ( usually these are BINs)

Hmmm... 'no idea as I don't know what your postcode is, but I can give you a rough guide'
... and do, after gathering together the items, sourcing a box big enough for them all, weighing and factoring the bubblewrap etc.

Then I get another email saying "oh sorry - Im at xxxx"

So I send another quote, including the item's' weight and all my costings so they know exactly what they are paying for, and wait.
and wait
and wait
   ( we need a finger drumming smiley here!)
...........
VERY occasionally, they do buy!

[*smee*]

Has anyone else noticed that watchers and bidders/sales appear to have picked up over the last 2 or 3 days .... The previous week or so was terribly slow for me ??

[*CountessA*]

Bellagina, I agree that buyers often expect sellers to osmotically know their postcodes... through some mysterious process that floats through the ether...

Smee, I don't know! I'm just a buyer on eBay!

[col52]

My "favourite" question asker usually goes along these lines.

"how much to post x, y and z together" ( usually these are BINs)

T'would depend on whether they were upper case, lower case and font size (as well as bold, italic, etc.,)

 :P

[bnwt]

Has anyone else noticed that watchers and bidders/sales appear to have picked up over the last 2 or 3 days .... The previous week or so was terribly slow for me ??

while today still has a few more hours to go it's shaping up to be my slowest week in years ............ my traffic is down and my sales are way down

it's like the whole thing has ceased up ......... no one is giving feedback, I'm not get any questions, few watchers

it WILL pick up ........... I hope sooner rather then later

[*smee*]

Has anyone else noticed that watchers and bidders/sales appear to have picked up over the last 2 or 3 days .... The previous week or so was terribly slow for me ??

while today still has a few more hours to go it's shaping up to be my slowest week in years ............ my traffic is down and my sales are way down

it's like the whole thing has ceased up ......... no one is giving feedback, I'm not get any questions, few watchers

it WILL pick up ........... I hope sooner rather then later

thats what my last week was like but has picked up dramatically the last 2 days hope your drought stops soon

[cueperkins]

Hi bnwt....I don't buy as much or as often as I once did but what I'm noticing when I am bidding or even watching lately...is that there is little competition and things are going for really low prices...so I guess it is a buyers market to be sure. 

I've bought a couple of things lately that would have normally gone for three times the price, maybe people are feeling so disenfranchised by these innovative disruptions, the shine has gone off Ebay altogether.

Best way to see if it's just a seasonal trend though would be to check your sales for the same time last year....if it shows a downturn, then it could be in line with people awaiting tax refunds etc, or buying from retail stores who are having half yearly clearances nation wide before end of tax year.....so, as I said, it could be seasonal.  It might be a good idea to have an end of year sale round about now if you have surplus you need to shift, but I think many may be going retail while the sales are on.