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Being a Buyer and a Seller on Ebay has given me much expierence in a short time.
There are a lot of wonderful people who are involved with Ebay, as sellers and buyers. And some you should beware of.
When I look at the viewpoint of a Buyer, I look for items that are priced reasonably, but most of all the shipping charges. There are sellers who charge a low price for the item, but then mark up the shipping to an extreme of over $5.00 more. I avoid those sellers, even if I like the product. And I am sure most buyers feel the same. I have been charged way over the $5.00 mark and also had an item come to me with $2.00 postage due, because the seller did not weigh the item properly, and then she never answered my email. Always answer your email, whether good or bad, to avoid negative feedback. As a Seller, I have personally returned cash for shipping, when the item turned out to have a lower shipping cost then stated. Anything over the shipping charge and a dollar handling fee is returned.Combined shipping means I weigh all the items together and that is what the charges are.Even if a book weighs 1lb and 1oz. I have to go to the nearest pound. So if I weigh them together it will cost less for shipping.
Then there are the Sellers who advertise the items come from a smoke free home, maybe they live in a smoke free home, but if they bought the item at a yard sale, a church sale, a discount store or flea market, they have no way of knowing if it came from a smoke free home or not. So if you are selling anything leather, make sure it has been washed, and aired out properly.That goes for any item you are not sure of. State it in your write up to avoid negative feedback.
Another thing that has come up when I have bid on an item , won it, paid for it, only for the seller to cancel it, saying the item had been damaged, perhaps by weekend company. IF You are selling an item, and have it up for bid, you should not leave that item laying around exposed to potential damage. And you should also notify the winning bidder first of the problem before they get an email from Ebay saying they are a non paying bidder. Again communication is very important.
Also I have bid, paid thru paypal instantly, waited for the item to arrive. After 2 weeks, wrote the seller and asked if the item had been mailed yet ? What I got back was astounding...She said I had an attitude and I was harrassing her ?She also gave me a negative feedback, calling me a Scam artist...really over a 2.29 item.I am dissapointed at not getting my item, as it was a gift for my 5 yr.old granddaughter. I showed her the item online, and every day she asked me if it came yet ? She loves Butterflies and it broke my heart to tell her I don't think I will be getting them. So how can you protect yourself against a Bad seller ?
I guess you just gotta grin and bear it -Or look at their feed back rating and shipping charges.
The best sellers are those who Thank the winning bidder for their bid, and let them know when to expect shipping of their purchase. Equally important is the description of the item, if you get too many emails with questions about your items, re look at your write up to see what you could have written more about.
If you are a buyer and plan to pay with an E-check or money order, please notify the seller at once. I have waited 6 days for a payment, and was ready to turn the person in as a non payer, then I got his money order in the mail.And please use Postal moneyorders not moneygrams.
Never,never ship an item out until payment has been received. Unless it is a fault of you as the seller. For instance you have changed your email with Ebay and Paypal, and it is not yet changed over to accept payment. It could be very frustrating for the buyer trying to pay, but can't. Especially if the buyer hopes to get good feedback saying Fast payer. And would like the item shipped right away.
Feedback is everything on Ebay. Most people hate to deal with a newbie, perhaps they have forgotten how they first started out. When the communication is good from the seller, the buyer will generally leave a positive feedback. And I know many, including myself have been stung by one with NO feedback, but that doesn't mean all New Ebayers are bad or non-paying. If they are non paying, non communicating bidders, Ebay will give them a strike. You do not have to upset the matter further by being nasty. I do not like to give bad feedback to ruin someones business which they may need very badly to make ends meet. Again COMMUNICATION is very important. But what really angers me, is having to wait for 7 days just to report them as non paying-non-communicating, then wait another 7 days for them to respond. Meanwhile you can not relist the item or receive your Final value fees back for 14 days. But then you may see where they have purchased items and paid for them at the same time they did your auction.But they will not answer any mail you send them ! They most definetly get a mark against their account and a non paying non communicating feedback from me.
There are some people who are never satisfied, and do not care what they write on someones feedback to hurt them. But if the item is very bad, the service is poor, and no communication, then the person should receive a negative feedback to protect others who may purchase from the bad seller.
But then there are those who leave a negative feedback just for spite. It is hard to judge a persons reputation on those few negative ones. I have a nephew who had boughten coins, paid for them and never got them. He wrote to the seller, the seller accused him of trying to get something for nothing, never trying to put a tracer on the item, instead gave my nephew a negative feedback, meanwhile my nephew was out $50.00 plus, He had purchased many items and had a 100% rating before this deal.
Always buy from sellers who Gladly give a refund if you are not satisfied with the item or because it was grossly mispresented. And always purchase insurance if the item is higher priced, even if the buyer doesn't purchase the insurance, It is great protection when you need it most.
We have boughten memory cards which did not work on our system, but before we notified the seller, we checked them out on someone else's system and they worked. So we cannot say the seller sold us a bad product. Do not be Quick with your feedback- Stop and take a breath and think about it first. Every one will be much happier for that.
And if you have ordered any item from me, you will know that I go green-- I recycle light weight boxes to protect the items I ship,such as cereal, popcorn and cracker boxes etc.I always strive to keep the shipping costs down when I can. If you purchase multiple items, please wait to pay until I send a corrected invoice, I like to combine shipping whenever I can.
Sometimes Priority shipping costs less than Parcel Post. It depends on your zone.
So I will try it both ways to give you the best. Media mail is even less than First Class mail on books under 16 oz. But if it weighs less and First Class costs less, than that's the way it is shipped.
I try to ship the same day, or the next depending on what time the payment came through.I feel after you have bought an item, it is yours and not mine.I include delivery confirmation at my own expense, because you can track it online. And know that it was shipped and delivered. I bought some movies from a real nice seller, she used delivery confirmation,it showed at both of our ends, that it was delivered. But I never received them, until 8 days later, when I found they were delivered to the wrong address. But because she used the delivery confirmation I knew she was an honest, good seller.
I have also won auctions and never received the items, only for the seller to say they were mailed, but no tracking was available. They gave me a fast refund with out questions,so I knew they were never mailed in the first place. They would have sent the item at a loss, so they never sent it.
I often sell at a loss, and I honor all bids.I want all my buyers to know they got a good deal from me !
Thanks for reading all of this my friends....
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