SCF members selling on eBay

[allonblack]

Hey gang, hope everyone is well! It's been quite some time since I've sold on eBay. I basically shut it down well over a year ago due to the numerous "missing" claims, etc. I like to sell some stuff during playoffs but I'm still not entirely comfortable with eBay's policies. Just wondering what people who have been selling are experiencing...has anything changed? I have noticed a lot a sellers have switched over to all transactions being sent with tracking but the increased cost probably scares a lot of buyers away (I know I hate paying for extra shipping costs as a buyer when I know that there's almost a 0% chance of something not arriving). Hoping that a few folks here who are still selling can chime in with what they're charging for shipping costs and if things SEEM any better for sellers on the big site.

Many thanks,
Shawn

[RGM81]

Why not just sell here? LOL

I haven't sold anything on eBay in quite some time myself but I definitely have noticed a marked increase in the number of sellers who are requiring tracking regardless of the listing/sale price. It's frustrating as a buyer....I totally get it, but very few people are going to spend $15 to have XpressPost on a $10 card.

I don't know if you follow the Facebook page CardPorn or not, but some of the excuses that people send via PM to sellers....it's terrifying. It's almost always guys with less than 30 feedback but you do see the occasional veteran of eBay. Times are wild, truly the dumbest timeline.

[30ranfordfan]

I don't sell much there, a bit here and there. Never really stopped, I just don't have a ton to move.

I typically do not send with tracking (unless it's high dollars) and have never had an issue. I'm sure if you do high enough volume, you're going to run into issues.

[Devlin]

USPS doesn't charge for tracking, but you are probably addressing fellow Canadians.

[ac4760]

I also don't sell much but every now and then, I'll throw a few things up. For cards in the US, I use eBay's preset fee which includes tracking. It's a little more expensive ( for the buyer) but it's easy for me and eBay also has the tracking for future reference. For out of the country, I usually list a flat fee which is 25-50% of the cost to mail to maybe attract more bidders ( or which is absorbed in an optimistic B.I.N. price).. My last selling on eBay was about 40 cards. I told my wife I could write a short story about the experience. I had to learn real fast how to block bidders and cancel bids. Just a lot of unnecessary crap for the small time seller that I am. Everything worked out, mostly. I have sold and traded on here with no issues but I usually list as an auction on eBay to see what things actually bring.

[scarrman]

Some good comments. I just started selling in January, never sold a card before. Figure might as well try to pull some cash back out of this hobby after all the years of pouring money in to it.

I have had almost 50 sales, no issues yet (I'm knocking on wood as I type this as I know now the jinx is in), all but a couple have gone out with tracking. I expect at some point a transaction is gonna go sideways and I'll lose money, it's inevitable. I do check feedback on each buyer to see that there is some solid history. Haven't had to block anyone yet, although I did have one buyer that accepted an offer and never followed through with payment so I simply cancelled and re-listed.

One thing I will say, the feedback rate has been remarkable with about 75% of the buyers providing feedback. I expected much less.

My shipping costs typically are higher than what I sell for, but I overpackage and use tracking on some where it may not be necessary, better safe than sorry.

My final return is about 20% above the USD sale value, speaking in CAD dollars, after fees and exchange. But the sale values are up and I am sometimes shocked what values I can get so I am delighted with how things have worked out so far on the mighty Bay.

[doniceage]

@scarmann

I did have one buyer that accepted an offer and never followed through with payment so I simply cancelled and re-listed.

There a ebay thread where we ask folks to post about ebay members to avoid. You might want to include that for sellers so they can add that person to the block list. Just a thought and if you cannot find the thread lmk.

DON

[sjw241]

Im still selling on Ebay. Had to change my shipping to USA as Canada post stopped allowing cards to be shipped letter mail. Luckily I found out about Chit Chats shipping, which saves a ton, and tracks items to the USA for around $6.00cdn. Any items I sell to USA must be tracked and I charge $7.99usd. I have noticed a small decrease in Sales to USA but not enough to worry about. No items have "gone missing" to the USA since I started this. Also not getting emails in 3 days asking where their card is.
I only ship overseas with tracking now as well. Charge $25.99usd, which sounds high but it actually costs more to ship than I charge.

Within Canada I still charge $2.99usd for the first 4 cards, and 39 cents per additional card. However anyone who has bought from me knows I usually don't charge the full 39 cents per additional card. I just had to put an amount in there on ebay. If your invoice is $65usd or more I charge for tracking. Right now it is $12.99usd within Ontario and Quebec, and $15.99usd the rest of Canada. Shipping costs have gone up a lot through Canada post and I have started shipping through Chit Chats for Canadian shipments as well when Canada Post charge too much! ITs crazy that Chit Chats can charge nearly half of what Canada Post does, and Canada Post are the ones delivering for Chit Chats! I really don't get it but whatever, it works for me.

I really don't want to jinx myself but I haven't had a claim in a long long time, knock on wood........

There are scammers everywhere and nobody is immune from it. I just keep plugging away at it and try my best to provide great customer service 100% of the time. I think once the scammers see I track most items they stay away.

Hope that helps......

[canucksfan007]

@allonblack - I was a Top Rated international seller with a storefront when I decided to stop using ebays services. It wasnt because of missing mail, but I stopped when we were all uncertain if we should go to the Post Office back in 2020.

I have since started up again. I charge $12USD tracked to Canada, and $15USD tracked to the US (I sell in USD on .com), and this is mandatory for items ending $50.00 or higher. Heres the kicker, I dont sell cards for under $50.00. I only list BIN/BO auctions. Everything under $50.00 I send to COMC, or wait to lot up multiple similar cards to make the total worth over $50.

COMC has been great for selling low - mid range stuff (also good for hiding sales if you claim that kind of stuff every year), you can just flip stuff into cards you actually want or decide to cash out. Without the pandemic, I dont think I would use COMC as much as I do. The fees are very similar overall to ebay, but with COMC when you cash out to your paypal account the currency stays in USD (unlike eBay now). People always harp on shipping times and prices, when they're actually not that bad.

Sales on COMC:

2020 - 1683 cards sold - $7163.76USD total sales
2021 - 3294 cards sold - $19,896.87USD total sales
2022 so far - 2077 cards sold - $14,744.57USD total sales

When you compare items currently for sale on COMC compared to eBay:

COMC
- Total items for sale - 3390 - Total asking price - $14,513.87USD (average asking price $4.28)

eBay
- Total items for sale - 77 - Total asking price - $27,690USD (average asking price $359.60)

@RGM81 - Because forum selling is all but dead. Unless you're running a fire sale (like 30 - 40% off of comps), you need the eyes COMC and eBay generates on your items for sale. Hate to say it, but the forums never caught the attention of the younger crowd. Our generation, its all we had. But with facebook / IG, I feel the forum buying will die out sooner rather than later.