Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[Purplelabel]

This doesn't surprise me one bit but comme des **** on...

 

[vestbash]

I have a parcel sent USPS priority internatinoal to Belgium. I found out that it has been stuck in Belgium customs for a number of weeks. I contacted USPS and they have no jurisdiction. I am trying to contact Belgium customs now but it proving to actually be difficult to figure out what number to call (language barriers aside) or what number to email. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[vestbash]

I have a parcel sent USPS priority internatinoal to Belgium. I found out that it has been stuck in Belgium customs for a number of weeks. I contacted USPS and they have no jurisdiction. I am trying to contact Belgium customs now but it proving to actually be difficult to figure out what number to call (language barriers aside) or what number to email. Any suggestions on what to do?

Belgium customs has gotten back to me in a timely manner via email.

 

[vestbash]

Hey guys, is the attached form a complete customs form? I used to put 2-3 pages printed directly off from ebay, now I'm just putting one page. Label (heavily redacted, attached).

 

[Reosymes]

Yeah, I had the same doubt a few months ago. USPS did change from three pages to one.

 

[goatamous]

Is anyone aware of eBay policy changes around BIN? There is buzz going around about eBay.au that they have changed BIN so that you can no longer set a listing duration, and that they convert the listing to OBO after 6 days unsold and send a message to all watchers that the seller is now taking offers, without the seller actually making that change. People are getting abused by members who have made offers that they have not responded to, because they weren't aware eBay had done this.

This would lead to the grailed approach for buyers, which is terrible

(if unsure what i mean)
grailed makes you drop your price by 10% for every bump after 30 days
what that creates is a market of people waiting for the price drops instead of using BIN

 

[Sartoriamo]

Is anyone aware of eBay policy changes around BIN? There is buzz going around about eBay.au that they have changed BIN so that you can no longer set a listing duration, and that they convert the listing to OBO after 6 days unsold and send a message to all watchers that the seller is now taking offers, without the seller actually making that change. People are getting abused by members who have made offers that they have not responded to, because they weren't aware eBay had done this.

Actually, I quite like this idea, as I will often list an item BIN without a BO if I think it might be a quick sale of a highly desirable item, but I often forget to go back in and add the BO after a week or so. So weirdly, that would actually work for me, and I will look out for it. However, I would not want them reducing the price without my agreement, as that assumes ALL transactions are driven only by price elasticity, which is a false assumption. There is no question that at some level of price reduction, pretty much everything will sell, but in my experience, that affects only the time to sale, not the likelihood of sale. Unless something is egregiously overpriced, it will eventually sell. It's often just a matter of the right person coming along at the right time. Which is why most of us just BIN/BO and wait. And wait. And wait. And then put everything that hasn't sold on 10-day NR auctions starting at $9.99. And then re-list all the items that fail to sell back at full-price BIN and sell some right away. And scratch our heads (gratefully) trying to figure out why the hell that just happened. And so it continues . .

On another subject, it still blows my mind that I can get $39 BIN for an Unfuckit shirt when I can't get 30 unfucking bucks for an unfucking Borrelli, Isaia, Finamore or Fray unfucking shirt. What the unfuck is that about? Yes, I know, I know: a passing fad, like skeets used to be. The others aren't designed to be worn unfucked. But still . . . relative quality . . .

 

[kbadgley84]

Long story. Trust me on blocking this guy he’s a huge shithead

 

[Sartoriamo]

Anyone know of any software that will automatically pay the listing and FV fees the moment an item sells? Over the years, I have experienced a number of "month-pairs" where I have a whopping good month followed by one where I didn't list or sell much, and halfway through that month comes the monster hit from the prior month. Ouch. Anyone know of someone who's developed an API hack to do this?

 

[Fueco]

Anyone know of any software that will automatically pay the listing and FV fees the moment an item sells? Over the years, I have experienced a number of "month-pairs" where I have a whopping good month followed by one where I didn't list or sell much, and halfway through that month comes the monster hit from the prior month. Ouch. Anyone know of someone who's developed an API hack to do this?

I don’t know about doing it automatically, but you can make manual payments from your My EBay page on the website.

I tend to not withdraw any money until after the 15th of each month to avoid the problem you have.

 

[fastfiat81]

One for your blocked list. Guy lies about the material of a tie to force a return.

 

[Genericuser1]

Question for you all, this is my first time selling clothing and I'm getting interest from buyers that ship to Portland but looking at their profiles they are from China. Is that any cause for concern or should I just go by the number of positive reviews? (one only has one review so I'll probably decline there offer.)

 

[div25sec9]

Question for you all, this is my first time selling clothing and I'm getting interest from buyers that ship to Portland but looking at their profiles they are from China. Is that any cause for concern or should I just go by the number of positive reviews? (one only has one review so I'll probably decline there offer.)

In my experience, they have been fine customers. They are using a reshipping service to cut down on shipping and taxes. Their purchases get delivered to a company who then gathers them together and reships them to China.

 

[wumpyfish]

Same here, freight forwarders in Pacific NW for Chinese buyers looking to exchange yuan. I had one that had over 2,000 purchases for at least a quarter of million dollars in one month and then boom, no longer an active user.

Edit: 1,999 transactions were from other than me.

 

[Fueco]

FYI, tomorrow (December 5th) is a national day of mourning in honor of President Bush. There will be no mail delivery, though I’m not sure what this means with regards to uploading tracking information and getting stuff shipped.

http://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/120318-usps-operating-status-national-day-of-mourning.htm


Edit: I asked the guys at the Post Office. They said there will not be anyone accepting packages tomorrow, so just treat it like a holiday.