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07/06/2006 02:34:46 PM · #26 |
| Yeha I agree david we must be posting at the same intervals.. Hey a posting war! lol |
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07/06/2006 02:37:04 PM · #27 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
As others have said, trying to sell cheap stuff doesn't work - you lose half the sales in fees. And it is time consuming and a hassle. But for some things, it's useful - both buying and selling. |
I agree about the cheap things, but I have 200 CDs that i've not touched in years. Tried two local stores that buy used CDs..one would give me $101 for 200 disks, and the other only wanted 40 of them for $35. I've made thatn on ebay at this point and have 150 or so more to sell. And CDs are easy to pack and ship so it's not too bad - as long as they have the UPC the info is even autolisted for auctions.
I sold some books on ebay and one an amazon - talk about fees! Man. Amazon sucks 20% and tells YOU what the shipping will be, take it or leave it, so no handling fee allowed. And it takes 2 or 3 weeks to get the money, by then the buyer has the product (you have to ship in two days). Not a better system IMO. |
Some good places for this sort of stuff is Half.comfor books. It is owned by eBay, but there are no listing fees. Just list stuff and when it sells, you ship it. I use it (as do a LOT of students) for school books. You can do video games and CDs on it too, but I don't find that they are as popular.
I also discovered a site recently Lalawhere you list CDs you have and CDs you want, and then ship yours out when other people request them, and the more you ship, the more you'll get off your want list. When you get one, you pay $1.00, part of which goes to the record agency, so it's legit - like an online used CD store. They won't just buy them, but it's good for getting new music you want. I'm using it now and like it well enough.
So the point of this post, without being a total hijack, is that there are alternatives to eBay, many of them new and "undiscovered", but often more specific and easier to use.
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07/06/2006 03:37:54 PM · #28 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
I sold some books on ebay and one an amazon - talk about fees! Man. Amazon sucks 20% and tells YOU what the shipping will be, take it or leave it, so no handling fee allowed. And it takes 2 or 3 weeks to get the money, by then the buyer has the product (you have to ship in two days). Not a better system IMO. |
All you have to do with Amazon is set your base price accordingly to compensate for the 20%. I actually prefer Amazon because they take the guesswork and gouging out of the shipping, and then they credit you for it instead of expecting it to come from your sale proceeds, which actually offsets that 20% by quite a lot. Not to mention that since the buyer uses a credit card the sale is guaranteed (as opposed to waiting for your auction winner to send payment or flaking out altogether). I have never had any problems receiving my money as a seller, either. You still have to worry about your seller actually shipping the item instead of scamming you, but the rating and feedback system is decent enough, and eBay is no different there. eBay is frighteningly unregulated with respect to all of those issues - totally not worth it in my opinion.
Message edited by author 2006-07-06 15:39:09.
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07/06/2006 03:40:53 PM · #29 |
Originally posted by coronamv:
Yeah but come on that is kind of crazy the whole point in bidding is trying to get it for a good price. |
And the point of gambling is to go home rich, but you know that every game is set up so you can't win. but yet people still gamble.
there is a rush you get gambling, or bidding at auctions. Some people get addicted to either, some couldn't care less.
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07/06/2006 03:42:28 PM · #30 |
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07/06/2006 03:47:55 PM · #31 |
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
All you have to do with Amazon is set your base price accordingly to compensate for the 20%. I actually prefer Amazon because they take the guesswork and gouging out of the shipping, and then they credit you for it instead of expecting it to come from your sale proceeds, which actually offsets that 20% by quite a lot. Not to mention that since the buyer uses a credit card the sale is guaranteed (as opposed to waiting for your auction winner to send payment or flaking out altogether). I have never had any problems receiving my money as a seller, either. You still have to worry about your seller actually shipping the item instead of scamming you, but the rating and feedback system is decent enough, and eBay is no different there. eBay is frighteningly unregulated with respect to all of those issues - totally not worth it in my opinion. |
handling covers the cost of hte box, time to pack it, label and my time and gas to go to the post office (14 miles round trip, so that's $2 in gas and an hour of my time).
Sure I can try to raise the price of hte book to get my 20%, but the more i raise it the more they get and harder it is to sell it.
credit cards are not an assuranc of getting your money. ask dell about my 30D they shipped after i canceled the order. i stopped that credit card payment until dell saw reason. I worked in mail order for 11 years and know every scam out there from the sellers side...
with paypal i may wait to see my money - 3 days to 5 days max (to get it into my bank account). amazon...2 to 3 WEEKS. so they're making money on my money, and i have no way to see my account or get an update on where it is, etc. They expect you to have blind faith.
on ebay i've never not had a winner pay. i suppose it does happen, cetainly can happen. can happen anywhere though. I also know you can stop payment on money order too...didn't know that did ya?
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07/06/2006 03:51:20 PM · #32 |
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
Some good places for this sort of stuff is Half.comfor books. It is owned by eBay, but there are no listing fees.
I also discovered a site recently Lalawhere you list CDs you have and CDs you want, and then ship yours out when other people request them, and the more you ship, the more you'll get off your want list. When you get one, you pay $1.00, part of which goes to the record agency, so it's legit - like an online used CD store. They won't just buy them, but it's good for getting new music you want. I'm using it now and like it well enough. |
I'll have to check these out. Lala - i'm confused by what you say - teh record compnay gets paid something when you sell used CD? Why? Do the authors of books get paid (again) when you sell a used book?
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07/06/2006 03:58:52 PM · #33 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
All you have to do with Amazon is set your base price accordingly to compensate for the 20%. I actually prefer Amazon because they take the guesswork and gouging out of the shipping, and then they credit you for it instead of expecting it to come from your sale proceeds, which actually offsets that 20% by quite a lot. Not to mention that since the buyer uses a credit card the sale is guaranteed (as opposed to waiting for your auction winner to send payment or flaking out altogether). I have never had any problems receiving my money as a seller, either. You still have to worry about your seller actually shipping the item instead of scamming you, but the rating and feedback system is decent enough, and eBay is no different there. eBay is frighteningly unregulated with respect to all of those issues - totally not worth it in my opinion. |
handling covers the cost of hte box, time to pack it, label and my time and gas to go to the post office (14 miles round trip, so that's $2 in gas and an hour of my time).
Sure I can try to raise the price of hte book to get my 20%, but the more i raise it the more they get and harder it is to sell it.
credit cards are not an assuranc of getting your money. ask dell about my 30D they shipped after i canceled the order. i stopped that credit card payment until dell saw reason. I worked in mail order for 11 years and know every scam out there from the sellers side...
with paypal i may wait to see my money - 3 days to 5 days max (to get it into my bank account). amazon...2 to 3 WEEKS. so they're making money on my money, and i have no way to see my account or get an update on where it is, etc. They expect you to have blind faith.
on ebay i've never not had a winner pay. i suppose it does happen, cetainly can happen. can happen anywhere though. I also know you can stop payment on money order too...didn't know that did ya? |
Actually, I work in a bank and you can't. Money orders and cashiers checks, once sent, are guaranteed funds and cannot be stopped. They're only no longer good when they become stale-dated. Believe me, I've had to explain that to more than one very frustrated customer. I don't know who let you do it, but it's quite illegal and defeats much of the purpose of money orders and cashiers checks in the first place.
In my experience, Amazon's shipping credit has exceeded the actual shipping cost and paid for the padded envelope for the book or CD I'm mailing, and first class is often cheaper and faster than media mail (which is what Amazon uses). However, I don't have to go 14 miles to the post office and I guess I'm just not so anal as to charge anyone a handling fee when I'm already making a profit on it.
Message edited by author 2006-07-06 16:02:36.
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07/06/2006 04:14:39 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
Some good places for this sort of stuff is Half.comfor books. It is owned by eBay, but there are no listing fees.
I also discovered a site recently Lalawhere you list CDs you have and CDs you want, and then ship yours out when other people request them, and the more you ship, the more you'll get off your want list. When you get one, you pay $1.00, part of which goes to the record agency, so it's legit - like an online used CD store. They won't just buy them, but it's good for getting new music you want. I'm using it now and like it well enough. |
I'll have to check these out. Lala - i'm confused by what you say - teh record compnay gets paid something when you sell used CD? Why? Do the authors of books get paid (again) when you sell a used book? |
The site explains it, but here's how I understood it. When you go downtown and buy a CD, the store gets a cut, and so does the artist. Lala, when they facilitrate the trade and you get a CD, they charge their $1 + $.49 shipping, and then give $.20 of that dollar to the recording industry/artist, so there's no issue, such as you hear about with copying CDs to a disk/mp3/computer/whatever.
So in the end, someone gets rid of a CD they didn't want and in return will get one they do want. You get the CD they didn't want anymore and only pay the $1 plus shipping. And the artist/industry/whatever gets some small percentage, so they can't gripe about anything.
They explain it pretty well on their site, if this is still confusing.
As far as Half.com goes, that's just like using a used bookstore in town, except it's online. The seller gets whatever the set price (they get to chose) was, and of course Half.com takes some fraction, and you get the book you bought.
Sorry it was confusing before.
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07/06/2006 04:47:06 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
Actually, I work in a bank and you can't. Money orders and cashiers checks, once sent, are guaranteed funds and cannot be stopped. They're only no longer good when they become stale-dated. Believe me, I've had to explain that to more than one very frustrated customer. I don't know who let you do it, but it's quite illegal and defeats much of the purpose of money orders and cashiers checks in the first place.
In my experience, Amazon's shipping credit has exceeded the actual shipping cost and paid for the padded envelope for the book or CD I'm mailing, and first class is often cheaper and faster than media mail (which is what Amazon uses). However, I don't have to go 14 miles to the post office and I guess I'm just not so anal as to charge anyone a handling fee when I'm already making a profit on it. |
you're only making a profit if you bought it for less than you're selling it. if you owned it and are just sellling off stuff you don't use it's not really 'profit' and since i know i paid more for the cds and books i've sold and i know i've lost money. But that's beside the point.
there is the product, the time to go buy it, store it, insure it, the time to list it (photo it, type the listing, etc) and any research to price it. the time to answer email questions on it, time to send an invoice, collect the money, etc. IF the customer picksit up from you, fine you ahve your profit. But now they want it mailed - you need a lable, box, packing material and a trip to the PO. That takes time and money and should be absorbed by the 'shipping dept' - it need not be a profit center (others disagree) but IMO it shouldn't COST you money from your profit (net proceeds really) to mail it out. When a padded mailer can cost $1.20 that is a significant sum when the total shipping fee is $3. and on the book i sold, i was 'credited' $3.49 for shipping and it cost me $2.43. $1.06 does not cover the mailer.
As to the money order thing - I took it, the sender stopped payment somehow. perhaps your bank doesn't do that, but apparently some do.
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07/06/2006 05:00:22 PM · #36 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
Actually, I work in a bank and you can't. Money orders and cashiers checks, once sent, are guaranteed funds and cannot be stopped. They're only no longer good when they become stale-dated. Believe me, I've had to explain that to more than one very frustrated customer. I don't know who let you do it, but it's quite illegal and defeats much of the purpose of money orders and cashiers checks in the first place.
In my experience, Amazon's shipping credit has exceeded the actual shipping cost and paid for the padded envelope for the book or CD I'm mailing, and first class is often cheaper and faster than media mail (which is what Amazon uses). However, I don't have to go 14 miles to the post office and I guess I'm just not so anal as to charge anyone a handling fee when I'm already making a profit on it. |
you're only making a profit if you bought it for less than you're selling it. if you owned it and are just sellling off stuff you don't use it's not really 'profit' and since i know i paid more for the cds and books i've sold and i know i've lost money. But that's beside the point.
there is the product, the time to go buy it, store it, insure it, the time to list it (photo it, type the listing, etc) and any research to price it. the time to answer email questions on it, time to send an invoice, collect the money, etc. IF the customer picksit up from you, fine you ahve your profit. But now they want it mailed - you need a lable, box, packing material and a trip to the PO. That takes time and money and should be absorbed by the 'shipping dept' - it need not be a profit center (others disagree) but IMO it shouldn't COST you money from your profit (net proceeds really) to mail it out. When a padded mailer can cost $1.20 that is a significant sum when the total shipping fee is $3. and on the book i sold, i was 'credited' $3.49 for shipping and it cost me $2.43. $1.06 does not cover the mailer.
As to the money order thing - I took it, the sender stopped payment somehow. perhaps your bank doesn't do that, but apparently some do. |
I'm wondering if it was actually fraudulent and it was miscommunicated to you that it was stopped. That sort of thing happens a lot - I get a lot of phone calls from people claiming their cashiers checks were returned NSF, for example. No it wasn't returned NSF, it was returned for improper endorsement, but the customer has been given the wrong information. There is literally and legally no way to put a stop payment on a money order, but it will be returned unpayable if it's a fraudulent item and you may never know, especially if your bank is of the big box variety where these things don't get communicated down the chain of command or it gets handled by a low level employee who doesn't know the difference. Even if it weren't illegal to do it, we wouldn't have any way to do it.
My mailing materials involve a $1.29 bubble mailer and a sharpie from my junk drawer. The $.09 overage comes out of the $5 credit I'm getting and has been written off as being unworthy of a lot of nitpicking. The el cheapo setup mails just as well and as safely as a more expensive box and fancy costly labels. But I'm not a storefront trying to project a professional image or anything like that.
Eh. If something else works for you, fantastic. I don't think Amazon is deserving of the demonization treatment, though.
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07/06/2006 05:46:21 PM · #37 |
| Sellers who set an absurdly low price and compensate by charging excessive S&H fees are not only cheating eBay, but are also trying to evade taxes -- both the sales taxes due on the sales price, and the income taxes due on the profits. Instead, they're taking a business deduction -- which means we are all subsidizing this person's rip-off effort with our taxes ... |
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07/06/2006 05:57:15 PM · #38 |
I actually want to post a correction: I am both right and wrong, and so is prof_fate. There is a difference between a bank-issued money order and money orders purchased from other vendors.
A bank generally will not put a stop payment on a money order that it issues. Some banks will let you claim it as lost and replace it, but if someone cashes it later you're liable for the funds. A few fly by night bankers will even put a stop payment on them, but the practice is very very very heavily frowned upon by regulators (hence the miscommunication to me about legal vs. illegal). Basically, a reputable bank won't do it since it corrupts the integrity of a money order's purpose.
A money order purchased at a post office or grocery store (as examples) can be stopped so long as you have a receipt and the 1-800 number printed on one or both. Being that I am not in that particular business, I don't know anything further about that.
There is, however, no way at all to put a stop payment on a cashier's check, so if you want to be sure your buyer isn't stiffing you with a stop payment on supposedly guaranteed funds, a cashier's check is the way to go - just be sure to take extra caution to verify authenticity by calling the issuing bank before shipping anything.
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07/06/2006 06:08:59 PM · #39 |
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
There is, however, no way at all to put a stop payment on a cashier's check, so if you want to be sure your buyer isn't stiffing you with a stop payment on supposedly guaranteed funds, a cashier's check is the way to go - just be sure to take extra caution to verify authenticity by calling the issuing bank before shipping anything. |
A large percentage of internet fraud/scams depend on the use of fraudulent or counterfeit cashier's checks. It's not enough that it clears your bank -- it has to clear the originating bank, or your bank will probably charge it back to you. |
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07/06/2006 06:15:19 PM · #40 |
| I would recomend that people not buy from people that have low item price and high shipping costs. like in all businesses this hurts the comsumer in long run. If Ebay is geeting less fees from these people then they will eventually have to raise the fees to compensate. which will make ebay prices higher or less good stuff for sale. |
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07/06/2006 06:17:53 PM · #41 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
There is, however, no way at all to put a stop payment on a cashier's check, so if you want to be sure your buyer isn't stiffing you with a stop payment on supposedly guaranteed funds, a cashier's check is the way to go - just be sure to take extra caution to verify authenticity by calling the issuing bank before shipping anything. |
A large percentage of internet fraud/scams depend on the use of fraudulent or counterfeit cashier's checks. It's not enough that it clears your bank -- it has to clear the originating bank, or your bank will probably charge it back to you. |
Yes. This is why you want to verify authenticity. The bank it was issued upon should be perfectly happy to verify the serial number, amount and payee for you. If you're still wary, then wait 90 days (from the date the check clears the issuing bank, NOT the date of initial deposit) before shipping since that's when the statute of limitations for contesting any check expires. If it makes it 90 days, you're free and clear.
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07/06/2006 07:00:50 PM · #42 |
I bought such an item, 99 cents for the item, $19.50 for shipping. I figured the price was fair. But it arrived broken, packed in a way which makes me believe it was broken to begin with. The seller generously offered to refund the purchase price. One more reason to be wary.
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07/06/2006 07:16:45 PM · #43 |
Ebay's got the online auction business monopolized. They can, and do, do anything they want to do...and they'll always get away with it.
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07/06/2006 08:12:48 PM · #44 |
Originally posted by deapee:
Ebay's got the online auction business monopolized. They can, and do, do anything they want to do...and they'll always get away with it. |
doo doo? :P
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07/06/2006 08:26:54 PM · #45 |
Originally posted by karmabreeze:
... A money order purchased at a post office or grocery store (as examples) can be stopped so long as you have a receipt and the 1-800 number printed on one or both. Being that I am not in that particular business, I don't know anything further about that. ... |
No one can put a stop payment order on a US Postal Service Money Order. You can "trace" one after 30 days to see if it has been paid; and if it is lost the purchaser can file for refund or replacement after a waiting period of, I think, 90 days. Postal Service Money Orders are different than those issued by any other outfit whether a bank or a private company like American Express. The nice thing about them is that they can be cashed at any Post Office with the only requirement being proper identification. That is different than having the money credited to your account where it can possibly be taken back at a later date in case of fraud, lawsuit, etc. The person receiving the payment knows that it is irretreivable by an unreasonable customer, or any middleman company, once they get cash in hand from the PO. And they don't have to ship the item until after that. I use them whenever I don't want to have to wait for a check to clear.
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07/06/2006 09:22:46 PM · #46 |
Sure you can cash a Postal money order IF the post office has enough money!
When i sold my rebel i got a $449 postal MO. At 2 in the afternoon there was not enough money to pay it - and this was not a little rural PS, but one of the 3 biggest in the county. They told me to come back at 4:15 and they'll see if they have enough cash then!
So don't go robbing a post office before 4. LOL
As i recall, and it's been a few years, the MO that was stopped was one of those you get a convenience store. So now I take only postal money orders...but after trying to cash the last one I'm not so sure about that either!
@karmabreeze - $5 credit? Nice. I was selling a large heavy book, which obviously costs more to ship and amazon knew the weight (it shows up when you list to sell an item if i recall) so 3.49 was a bit weak IMO. I haven't ruled out selling other things there and probably got more than on ebay (if you list via a UPC ebay will tell you average sold price, avg shipping charge, hi and lo on those too).
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07/07/2006 06:00:20 PM · #47 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Sure you can cash a Postal money order IF the post office has enough money!
When i sold my rebel i got a $449 postal MO. At 2 in the afternoon there was not enough money to pay it - and this was not a little rural PS, but one of the 3 biggest in the county. They told me to come back at 4:15 and they'll see if they have enough cash then!
So don't go robbing a post office before 4. LOL
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I have run into that problem a few times. Ever since the PO started accepting credits cards they have less cash on hand. If I have a large MO I will call ahead. If they don't have the cash they will get it for you but you may have to wait until the next morning at the very latest. You can also deposit a Postal MO into a bank account if you want to. No possibility of it bouncing but perhaps a delay until your bank credits your account.
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