Lessons Learned From Selling on eBay
misterwheeler
8 Posts
Any advice for someone about to start selling records on eBay that you wish someone would have told you?
Comments
-Ship fast. (even though alot of buyers take all the time in the world to pay, they will expect you to ship 5 minutes after they pay.)
-THE SELLER ALWAYS GETS SCREWED if a problem comes up. This'll happen 99.99999% of the time unless you seriously know what you're talking about and call ebay direct to straighten out any problemes. Ebay can say what they want but things are usually always in the buyer's favor.
-Unless a record sells for major loot, the buyer usually wants the cheapest shipping possible. These buyers will bitch like little girls over $1. But when the package takes the expected amount of time (which is usually long) they will message you constantly, "where's my item", "give me a tracking number" even though they paid the bare minimum for shipping.
-If you're using paypal be prepare for hassles. Remember paypal is not a regulated bank so they can pretty much do what ever they want with your money w/o reason. I haven't had too many problems over the yrs but when I do have a problem it is usually a HUGE hassle. They have the right to hold your funds, including the shipping cost, until the package is a confirmed delivery. If this ever happens you will have to come out of pocket for shipping and that schitt can get out of hand pretty fast.
-Also, a lot of times, depending on where you are and where the buyer is, some packages can sit at customs offices for weeks w/o getting delivered and the buyer will swear up & down that you did not ship it.
Point blank, just be as honest as possible and you need major patience because as I stated above some buyers take forever to pay.
I do both and they really aren't comparable.
Discogs is better for some things and ebay others. No way you're going to sell a $1000 dollar record on Discogs, and people on Discogs can be tools also.
This is pretty crazy to me, considering that sellers are the ones actually paying to use the site!
I avoid sellers with 8 paragraphs of diatribe of why buyers suck and DON"T BID IF YOU.....
Keep it simple and honest....
This sort of thing is what I use Discogs for.
Paypal can take money out of your bank account, so you would have to empty your bank account as well.
What is the best practices when it comes to covering your ass for shipping costs?
My paypal is tied to my savings account, I move the money to the linked checking account to keep the amount they can take low.
Do you think they can take money out of my checking account?
You must have me confused for someone else.
They can only take money out of the bank account that you have linked to your Paypal account.
If your checking account isn't linked to your Paypal account, then no, they can't.
if you make it, sure it's great.....but having that emotional investment could turn into devastation if things don't go as planned.
discogs and ebay both have their place....
like rock said, pay your taxes! and keep things simple
What other primary intents are there?
basically i mean that if you are selling online, you are going to encounter shit! there's always a void between the virtual and physical, and being that vinyl is physical.......the virtual will make up for it on the other side!
i'm all for making $$ on a record i bought for cheap, but have learned it's better to focus more on building a personal for the interest of oneself, first and foremost...thats all
ha, i don't sell on ebay nowadays but i used to do this too, moving money around from one account to another. and i had 100% feedback and wasn't shady at all! made me feel like a dirty money launderer just to protect myself from a potentially dishonest buyer.
It takes too long.
If you think an online eBay experience would be good for you, then try it as a buyer.
Nothing to do with the buyer. For me.
I have read paypals user agreement.
I am taking steps to protect myself from paypal.
Way less hassle.
Just do it.
And that just makes no sense to me. As a buyer, my most frequent positive feedback is "FAST PAYMENT" I'm thinking... what are they waiting for? Should they be bringing items to a virtual checkout if they aren't prepared to square up?
The only time I wait is if I am also bidding on an auction that's like 5 days away (and not just planning to snipe, but have a bid in) and I wanted the schitt shipped together. Surely, something to consider if you are a seller with various auction end times or a mixture with "buy it now" items.