What Is Your Advice For A Newbie Seller On Ebay

Hello
i would like to have some advices about selling tips on ebay from your experiences
Thank you

You'll need the patience to build a reputation as a reliable seller.

Don't sell all of your high ticket items when you start out. They'll do much better for you after you've established your credentials.

Don't profit from shipping.

Your head must always rule your heart.

Clear scans are a must, and describe any faults to the best of your ability.

Answer any questions you receive in a timely manner.

Don't delay shipping. If you're only going to post on Mondays & Thursdays, say so in your listings.

Ensure items are packed against potential water damage. Cardboard stiffeners are essential. Cereal box thickness is not thick enough.

If you're going to use sticky tape, do it so it cannot impact on the goods.

DONT!

Thank you so much Bobby De La Rue

sheetguy2 : DONT WHAT ?

Send all your items with tracking ,there are a lot of dishonest people looking for new sellers to scam . Stay away from trying to satisfy every buyer ,just refund their money and forget about them . Also ebay is no friend of yours,they prefer to give your money away . They are a lot faster to debit your account than listening to your side of the story .

You will lose all the time when a new buyer claims they never got the item ,for me I can sell 500 of a item to 500 different people and ebay will still claim I was cheating a new customer for one item .

Stealing items from internet sellers is now a national past time .In 8 years of ebay and refunding over 60 times because of lost mail . I had only one person ever told me he got the mail order weeks later , I was so surprised I mailed him a huge box of "extra stamps ".

Forget about trying to maintain a good FEEDBACK rating on ebay . ebay is not interested in what you think . New customers think the are doing GOD's work to give negative feedback , it must give them a sense of POWER . You think people want to talk to you and work out a issue with you over a purchase , not in this life .....they prefer to just throw out a negative with no care that your trying to run a business and need to keep a positive appearance .


Have fun and deal with the B.S. ,

Sound advice Bobby De La Rue - Everything I like from a seller as a buyer. The shipping is something I warn new collectors about on the FB groups I'm on. Frustrating to see a $2.00 CV set of stamps that I want with $2.50 shipping when the seller has nothing else I like or need. Usually results in a pass/lost sale.

Jbnerr; I'd also suggest (as a buyer of stamps) not over-taping when mailing orders. It make sense from the seller's standpoint; you want to secure everything well. As a buyer, I hate having to bring out a razor knife to open packages. I've never understood why sellers think stamps are going to fly out of a dealer card inside a glassine inside an envelope. One thing I will give kudos to Cherrystone for is the way they package their orders; in a plastic sleeve with a dealer card inserted inside that sleeve and no tape. The APS, while I love them and their prices and despite the numerous errors they make, is awful in how their stamps are sent in may cases. Apologies for bloviating...

I'd also suggest mailing directly from a post office; I don't sell, but when I do return stamps from time to time, I take one delivery driver out of the equation and drop off anything I am mailing at a physical location. Also ensures that the stamp(s) I am mailing does not sit in a box for a day or two. In Florida, the humidity is awful so I try to minimize the exposure to moisture that way.

Be an honest.seller. Put the faults in the header and not the description. Describe thoroughly. Take pictures.
On the flip side of the buyer to floortraders experience. I have had sellers accuse me of getting an item when the tracking says it went missing. In addition, had another seller write down the wrong address on the envelope and then practically blame me for the package getting lost. I have had sellers sell me fake stamps as real. (And they knew it). I have seen sellers put false claims in like "checked with a UV light" (really the stamp was a forgery). I have been sent stamps where the picture and the stamp I got did not match at all. I have been sent stamps where the seller managed to scotch tape the stamp down after packing it so tightly no normal person could open the package. I have had sellers sell sorted stamps on ebay but mixed them up to send it to me - thousands of stamps mixed. I have had sellers ship me stuff a month later after swearing they sent it to me. I have sellers ban me when I pointed out an obvious forgery that they were selling as real. I have had ebay sellers call me at my house to sort issues out which is "against ebay rules". I have seen sellers try to miss represent how many stamps in are the lot by taking double pictures. I can't tell you how many times I was sent stamps sold MNH or LH with thins. I could add more stuff to this list but you get the picture. So you see sellers are not Angels and do all kinds of stuff to buyers.

" I have had ebay sellers call me at my house to sort issues out which is illegal."

Illegal? or "just" against ebay rules?

eyeonwall - corrected my post. You are right "against" ebay rules. I should have been more precise. Thank you for pointing that out.

Whereas I would not advise against registering valuable items, it, also, is quite unreliable. I experienced many times it showed delivered, when this was not the case. Fortunately, in all cases this involved expensive items sent to me, the sending ended up with the sender.

Once, but this was 25 years ago, a postman - not necessarily my letter carrier - and someone at my bank colluded to intercept a bank card to plunder my bank account and the police got involved. The items were never delivered and the signatures were false (no attempt even was made to forge signatures it was just a fantasy signature).

No tape please.

Here in the UK there is a service called tracked not signed for which from experience is the most reliable delivery I get. Having things to sign for often means you don't hear the postie knocking or you're out and because of this things can take an unnecessarily long time to arrive.

I get if things are of great value the sender might like the additional reassurance of registering, but for stuff of lesser value it really just causes problems for the recipient

That was one of the most recent examples of an item that was showing delivered, dropped off the radar and arrived a week later in a different envelope from the one in a picture of the delivered item. It had British markings. So, after passing customs clearance and sorting, it was sent back to the UK, re-packed and sent out again. No signature required when it arrived.

Lots of reasonable comments from buyers here. From a sellers perspective (thousands of orders on Hip, Delcampe, Etsy, ebay), here's a few comments -

- Be as accurate as possible in your titles & descriptions. Don't oversell - buyers don't appreciate "fluff" - the pictures and words should tell the potential buyer everything they need to know to make an informed decision.
- Don't overcharge on shipping - cover your costs but don't pad. Combine shipping for buyers on multiple items.
- Include good images - scan at a good resolution and orient.
- Label your stamps/sets clearly & package securely. We use 102 cards inside cardboard protectors.
- Offer full refunds on return of a stamp. Buyers will return stamps for a variety of reasons & that's just fine.
- Respond promptly to any buyer questions. Fix your listings quickly when you make a mistake and a customer takes the time to point it out - it will happen!

Finally - don't worry about fraud - in my experience, stamp collector buyers are overwhelmingly good folk. It's been a very enjoyable experience so far.

~Greg

I agree with Randy that no tape is the best tape to use. Second most important thing is not to allow the stamps to jump around in the envelope- corners get creased if there is too much movement.

To me the best way to ship philatelic items is to use either a 102 card or stock card inside a glassine. The combination of the two should both protect the stamp(s) and limit movement. 102 cards should be of relatively recent vintage so the adhesive does not get exposed to the stamp.

To help with this, since some form of firm cardboard is necessary to prevent damage in the mails, cut the cardboard down so it fits the inside contours of the glassine, and place inside the glassine behind the 102 or stock card. This little bit of extra pressure inside the glassine is safe and will reduce the likelihood the stamp can move around and become damaged.

Wait til they ask you for your SSN. The picture will become clearer. x-ebayer for life.