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Thread: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

  1. #11

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    Ahhh, thanks. I’d never have thought about doing that!

  2. #12
    45er
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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    Do not for one second think that a problem which may be solved logically by your mind can be solved just as logically by ebay support staff and do not rely on ebay in any way to remedy a given situation which any normal business would consider bad practice.

    Most importantly, have fun and the best of luck!

  3. #13
    Corran's Avatar
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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    Quote Originally Posted by drj52 View Post
    3) Use signature confirmation on any sale where price+shipping is $750 or more.
    No, $250 is the limit. Make sure the signature is required for anything over $250.

    My one bit of advice is to not let the anti-eBay or PayPal stories, which I'm sure will continue to come, worry you that much. It's still a tiny fraction of sales/purchases that end up being a problem.

    I say this as someone who has bought and sold hundreds, likely thousands of items, mostly photography and pro audio stuff, with only a handful of issues. Mostly on the buying side.
    Bryan | Blog | YouTube | Instagram | Portfolio
    All comments and thoughtful critique welcome

  4. #14

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    When I was actively selling:
    Only offered items as "Buy it Now" auctions
    Always included plenty of picturesMy descriptions were very long and very detailed
    Overpacked the items
    Only used USPS Priority Service for shipping

    When I was actively buying:
    If it sounded too good to be true, I passed on the item
    Only bought from people who had 99.9% or 100% positive feedback
    If the pictures were slightly out of focus, I passed on the item
    Always decided on my highest bid and stuck to it

    Past year or two have almost completely stopped selling and only occasionally buy stuff now except for used books, they have to be the best bargains out there now on eBay.

  5. #15

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    “ My one bit of advice is to not let the anti-eBay or PayPal stories, which I'm sure will continue to come, worry you that much. It's still a tiny fraction of sales/purchases that end up being a problem.”

    Amen, brother!

  6. #16

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    I wish you the best. Tell us how it goes after you have sold, say 25 items. I sold that many a month for a while, since 1998 on Ebay. It RADICALLY changed in the past 6-7 years. If anyone hasn't sold photography items on eBay in the last 2 years, you can't really comment that it's rare to have problems. How do you know? I did it, and it became a nightmare. Many others that sold a LOT found the same thing, we all got out.

  7. #17
    Alan Klein's Avatar
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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    What experience have people had selling on forums like this one?

  8. #18
    (Shrek)
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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    It's pretty much the only game in town for obscure or rare photographica that isn't worth thousands of dollars. Some things I have learned after selling for 20+ years and dealing with Paypal and eBay policies that now penalize the seller because they don't care if they lose sellers, there's always someone else willing to step in to replace you:

    Don't use your primary bank account. I keep a separate account just for Paypal, I obviously don't leave any money in it. Same for credit card, when they insisted I link one otherwise I couldn't sell anything over $1000. I just got a throwaway card with a very small limit.

    Beware anything that is popular with the kids. Every Polaroid SX-70 I've sold in the last 5 years resulted in someone trying to scam me. List some obscure lens from 1883 and you won't get those people.

    Shipping costs: the eBay calculator assumes you have a commercial account and doesn't factor in the combined 15% Paypal/ebay fees. There's no way to add a % to shipping costs to make up the difference, but you can add a fixed-dollar handling cost. Once you get an idea of general shipping rates, it's relatively easy to calculate a blanket handling cost that will let you at least break even on shipping.

    Selling to USA only: you'll be losing at least 30% of the value of your sales, and eBay is trying to force 'USA-only' sellers into using their global shipping program. If you have rare items that are worth more than a couple hundred $, you're losing a lot of money if you do this. In 1999, about 80% of my sales went to USA. Now? About 25%. There are a lot of newly middle-class people all over the world, and they're getting into our kind of photography. I can't say I've had more scammers from any one country or area than another.

    Use simple declarative sentences in your descriptions. People all over the world will be using automated translators to read them. I once sold a monobloc tube amplifier to someone in China, he paid $675 for express shipping by UPS, and when he got it he asked me where the other amplifier was. Because in my description, I said that if you could find another one, you would have a great stereo system.

  9. #19

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Klein View Post
    What experience have people had selling on forums like this one?
    This forum isn't the best place to sell, um, exotica. People here are cheapskates and not very interested in cult lenses.

    For example, I once bought a 200/2 S.F.O.M. lens. This is an aerial camera lens that flew on, among others, OMERA 31 cameras. It covers 4x5, is huge, heavy and can't be put in shutter. I wanted to see what it was, and it wasn't that expensive. Junk: hazy, dim, outer surfaces mottled, ... It would never have sold here.

    But and however, lenses that long and fast are cult items regardless of condition. I put it up on eBay, with good pictures and an honest accurate description. It went to China for silly money, no complaints from the buyer. No one on this forum would have touched it.

  10. #20

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    Re: E-Bay and PayPal: What should I know?

    Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post
    No, $250 is the limit. Make sure the signature is required for anything over $250.
    Your information is several years out of date. $750 is the limit. Requiring a signature for amounts less than that only inconveniences your buyers, while not giving you any added protection.

    https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/s...policy?id=4345

    https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mp...ler-protection

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