tip for eBay sellers

[larciel]

I've selling on eBay for living for last 20 years. (Not golf stuff) and yesterday I had 5 instances where Customers (D*ckholes) returned a totally different, used, trash items and asked for full refund. 

I wanted to share some tips that I learned after getting burned so many times. Hopefully you are covering your end because eBay sometimes is clueless.

 

1. Always accept return. 

If you mark your item as 'NON-Returnable' then you're NOT COVERED. Weird but eBay put this so buyer can report the item as 'NOT DESCRIBED" and get full refund (INCLUDING SH) back. You might say this is crap but there are rogue sellers who sell fakes for a cheap price so this is to protect buyers.

If you accept return, you can deduct upto 50% of the value of the item for restocking fee. In case buyer used your clubs, broke it, etc etc. It's worse than getting your full money but beats giving the crooks 100% of your money.

 

2. If there's an issue with return

I learned this hard way. When buyer initiate return and it's time to give refund, You have 2 choices. 1) Give refund (minus whatever restocking fee you choose) or 2) report the buyer and hope that you get your money back.

Yesterday, I chose #2 because it was so obvious that returned items were TRASH.  WRONG CHOICE. eBay sided with the buyers and I lost 100% of my sales money and ended up with TRASH ITEMS.

Always refund with restocking fee.  If you do, eBay usually sides with the seller. Buyer has no recourse to get the fee back. 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by larciel

[sittingbull]

Ebay ALWAYS sides with the buyer.. ALWAYS 

[Anser3]

Thank you for this.  My days of selling on ebay are about done.   I have some items that I have no buyer market for elsewhere  (mostly NFL team-issued gear) .  It's definitely not a business for me and is just a way to get rid of unwanted items that have value.  I've also had an Epic Max LS driver  (super condition) with 3 shafts on there without even a nibble.

[larciel]

2 minutes ago, sittingbull said:

Ebay ALWAYS sides with the buyer.. ALWAYS 

Amazon ruined the market with this but in my experience, eBay is pretty harsh on buyers too. As a seller, you have to follow certain steps to be protected.

[larciel]

2 minutes ago, Anser3 said:

Thank you for this.  My days of selling on ebay are about done.   I have some items that I have no buyer market for elsewhere  (mostly NFL team-issued gear) .  It's definitely not a business for me and is just a way to get rid of unwanted items that have value.  I've also had an Epic Max LS driver  (super condition) with 3 shafts on there without even a nibble.

as a club ho, I have too many stuff in and out and BST here is limiting to only 10 items and I just list on eBay hoping someone buys. If you follow the steps, you are at least protected from obvious abuse by buyers.

[sittingbull]

4 minutes ago, larciel said:

Amazon ruined the market with this but in my experience, eBay is pretty harsh on buyers too. As a seller, you have to follow certain steps to be protected.

To me the seller is not protected at all. You said it your self you only get 50% of your money why not 100%..

 

[larciel]

3 minutes ago, sittingbull said:

To me the seller is not protected at all. You said it your self you only get 50% of your money why not 100%..

 

to me, 50% is better than 0%. and with eBay, you can block the ID but amazon, no. You're susceptible to getting robbed again by same guy (happened to me)

[brew4eagle]

5 instances?  Had to be the same buyer, correct?

[larciel]

15 minutes ago, brew4eagle said:

5 instances?  Had to be the same buyer, correct?

No. All different. I was so pissed but the trend is increasing so that's more worrisome for me.

[crsmith1234]

I see returns getting worse around the holidays.  People over spend and they try to get a discount or just return the items.  It’s sad there would be 2 day window for golf returns. I have gotten burned several times selling guy beat up an m6 and sent ti back I was out everything. So be careful out there.  
 

[brew4eagle]

46 minutes ago, larciel said:

No. All different. I was so pissed but the trend is increasing so that's more worrisome for me.

That's crazy.  I've sold thousands of items on ebay with 0 incidents.  What types of items were they?

[Ezekial]

Be careful with the language in your listing though. eBay does not allow any sort of restocking fee, the partial refund feature is for a return that wasn’t received back in the condition it was shipped. I was issued a partial refund on a club that was 4 inches shorter than listed (buyer listed as accepting returns) seller stated restocking fee, I questioned the refund with eBay and quoted their on policy in selling guidelines where it clearly states this wasn’t allowed, I was then issued the full refund. 

[Anser3]

1 hour ago, larciel said:

as a club ho, I have too many stuff in and out and BST here is limiting to only 10 items and I just list on eBay hoping someone buys. If you follow the steps, you are at least protected from obvious abuse by buyers.

 

 

Yeah,  I understand the reason for the 10 item limit.  I have several shafts I would love to sell as a lot or in small lots but am afraid to list them on the BST if they don't sell.  Each shaft counts as one item.  Folks on ebay tend to lowball  (I am pretty lenient but offering somebody less than half is crazy).  I don't mind haggling but taking a small cut  plus ebay's fees makes it pretty rough.

[Tigertown811618]

38 minutes ago, Ezekial said:

Be careful with the language in your listing though. eBay does not allow any sort of restocking fee, the partial refund feature is for a return that wasn’t received back in the condition it was shipped. I was issued a partial refund on a club that was 4 inches shorter than listed (buyer listed as accepting returns) seller stated restocking fee, I questioned the refund with eBay and quoted their on policy in selling guidelines where it clearly states this wasn’t allowed, I was then issued the full refund. 

Thanks for clarifying for everyone and your spot on. There is no such thing as a restocking fee with eBay.

[darkhelmet]

One thing I discovered -- you pay selling fees based on the listed price, not on the actual sales price.

 

So if you list something as "$200 or best offer", and you sell for $175, you still pay fees as if it was a $200 sale.

[nsxguy]

2 hours ago, sittingbull said:

Ebay ALWAYS sides with the buyer.. ALWAYS 

 

Well, that's not entirely true.

 

I sent a club to California. USPS tracking says "Delivered". Guy emails me he sees tracking said it was delivered but he wasn't home.

 

Apparently a porch pirate took it. Tough luck, no refund required by eBay.

 

Felt sorry for the guy but thankfully he understood it wasn't my fault and didn't blame me. He filed a police report but the value of the club was only about $100 so he likely couldn't recover it from his homeowner's policy.

 

But yes, with any sort of "he said" "she said" eBay almost always decides for the buyer - makes the most business sense for them.

[Ezekial]

18 minutes ago, darkhelmet said:

One thing I discovered -- you pay selling fees based on the listed price, not on the actual sales price.

 

So if you list something as "$200 or best offer", and you sell for $175, you still pay fees as if it was a $200 sale.

That hasn’t been my case but your fee is based off the sale price, shipping and taxes, so a $200 sale the fees may be based off $230 (example with $10 in taxes and $20 in shipping) .

[nsxguy]

21 minutes ago, darkhelmet said:

One thing I discovered -- you pay selling fees based on the listed price, not on the actual sales price.

 

So if you list something as "$200 or best offer", and you sell for $175, you still pay fees as if it was a $200 sale.

 

Do you have an eBay rule/reference for this ?

 

Only thing I can see is the fee is based on the selling price plus S&H and sales tax (if any).

[Pastit]

Just now, BeachsideGolfer said:

I gave up selling on eBay, between what the fees were based off of and people messaging asking to remove bids it became a joke, plus the 1099 tax nightmare. It’s just not worth it. I would rather just do in person sales or hold onto it. 

Gave it up years ago for selling, rip off and EB failing to keep their word. Will only buy from PGA pros or when I can inspect or collect the gear in person.

[brew4eagle]

49 minutes ago, Ezekial said:

That hasn’t been my case but your fee is based off the sale price, shipping and taxes, so a $200 sale the fees may be based off $230 (example with $10 in taxes and $20 in shipping) .

Correct, fees are 12.9% of (total of sale price + tax + shipping) + $0.30.  Slightly higher for international sales through Global Shipping Program.  I still sell a lot on ebay as I almost always make more even after the fees and usually sell faster than elsewhere.  I track everything on a spreadsheet for tax time.