I remember the pre-Paypal ebay days

In 20 years of being an ebay Buyer, I've only had 2 negative experiences, that I can recall. One involved sending an $ 8 money order to a seller in Florida for a SkyBox Simpsons promo card. Never received the card, never heard from the seller again (emails were ignored) and ebay told me that there was nothing that they could do. P.S. the seller accepted only cash or money orders

I occasionally sell bits and pieces on ebay from my varied range of collectables. As a private seller I always wait for the listing offers of £1 final value fee only. So even if you sell something for a couple of hundred and charge £20 postage you still only pay a £1 fee in total. I can then offer slightly lower postage. That was a total blessing for moving on some Sideshow/Weta statues and busts. Especially as a couple of items weighed nearly 10Kg(22lb) and insured postage domestically was expensive. I sure as heck wasn't going to trust the cheaper Hermes couriers with it, besides which they wouldn't fully insure collectables such as those(reading their small print). Despite the high prices I trust Royal Mail more than most delivery companies. I pack things REALLY well too though and make them idiot proof.

I absolutely hate that ebay normally charges 10% fee on postal charges. I'm not even sure how legal that is. When you really think about it, they are taking a fee off you for charging a service for delivery with a company that has nothing to do with ebay.
Of course this is just a gentle nudge to the day when you can only use their stupid shipping program.

I had an email a few months ago about the new payment system ebay is going to use. I'm not over happy with that myself as it's yet another place for financial details to be stored.

I do like Paypal(most of the time). If a site uses it then I will buy from a site with that option, rather than the one without it. I know there's always stories of stolen details and fraud and the usual stuff but for me personally it's been great. I'm a very careful person online with credit card numbers and secure sites etc, but a few years ago I was regularly getting credit card fraud and even my bank had no clue how it kept happening. However since keeping to mostly Paypal sites, especially for any new company I buy from, I have had zero fraud for a few years.
But, as I say, I'm not sure about yet another financial company coming in to view with ebay's new direction.

If you join the dots it becomes clearer that ebay want everything to be in-house. Listing, shipping, payments. And you can guarantee it will still cost nearly the same in fees!
But there's not much of an alternative. I tried ebid once, but the traffic even looking at items was in single figures. And ebay know this. It's a real shame Amazon isn't a bit more competitive, but they're really geared towards bigger businesses selling through them too, rather than the smaller businesses and private traders.

I've heard that eBay is trying to move more towards an amazon model where each item will only have one landing page. I'm curious to see how that changes things. I do wish there was a viable alternative to eBay.

The postage problem is huge, especially when shipping overseas. It is so expensive and time consuming to ship anything out of the US now, and if you need to follow eBay's rules for being able to track shipments the costs are insane.

While there certainly were more risks in the days of paying with checks/money orders there were also options. Not every card needs tracking. . .

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

Not every card needs tracking. . .

Correct, i wish u.s. based ebay sellers would get this into their heads, i might buy something off them again.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

Not every card needs tracking. . .

Correct, i wish u.s. based ebay sellers would get this into their heads, i might buy something off them again.

For me at least this is a Paypal rule, Paypal requires tracking . . . If I get paid via Paypal I stick to their rules . . .

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

Not every card needs tracking. . .

Correct, i wish u.s. based ebay sellers would get this into their heads, i might buy something off them again.

For me at least this is a Paypal rule, Paypal requires tracking . . . If I get paid via Paypal I stick to their rules . . .

Even without tracking First Class Parcel starts at $14.00 to the UK now. When I first started selling online 50-60% of my sales were to Australia, the UK, and Canada. Now it's less than 1%

It helps if you can find a seller who has a lot of cards that you want. The $14 rate covers up to 8oz.

quote:

Originally posted by Chrisahend:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

Not every card needs tracking. . .

Correct, i wish u.s. based ebay sellers would get this into their heads, i might buy something off them again.

For me at least this is a Paypal rule, Paypal requires tracking . . . If I get paid via Paypal I stick to their rules . . .

Even without tracking First Class Parcel starts at $14.00 to the UK now. When I first started selling online 50-60% of my sales were to Australia, the UK, and Canada. Now it's less than 1%

It helps if you can find a seller who has a lot of cards that you want. The $14 rate covers up to 8oz.

I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers and pocketing an extra $10 on every international sale.

I wish UK buyers would get into their heads that most sellers charging $14 postage

STILL LOSE MONEY ON EVERY SALE DUE TO EBAY'S 10% OF POSTAGE COST FEE ($1.42) AND MAILER COSTS (.17 to 1.00)

I am with Wolfie on this gouging issue you just have to go through the selling lists to see the various high charges that overseas sellers are charging and not all of them can be attributed to consumables I am not sure wether American buyers can see what costs are charged for some overseas buyers wether it comes up on the sellers listing or not but i am sure some of them dont see it I have semi got around it by buying Shipping free in the U S A and having a New Zealand Post Office address in the states and for thparcel to come to N Z it costs me US$8 to ship to N Z And I can combine up to 5 parcels for US$16 that is a lot of cards if you can get more than one or two from each seller as I try to get as many as I can from each seller this dose alleviate pressure on shipping costs but unfortunately I have to pay an extra 45% exchange rate but I am behind Wolfie on the gouging issue wether it be E Bays or sellers faults

I have to agree with Studio. It does cost close to $14 to ship a package outside of the US. Yes there are those who try and take advantage and nail the buyer for $20+. But those who are charging under $15 are just covering themselves to make sure they don’t lose money on shipping or their status as power sellers to make sure they can keep preferred status. Yes $14 is a lot for a $5 card but as others have said best thing is to buy from a seller who has multiple cards that you want. I have found most will keep the price at $14 even if you are buying 10 of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades


I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers

Oh god i think i better come back in here before i get banned from entering the usa.

The point i think i am trying to make is that if you want to sell me a $1 promo there is no point telling me that postage will be $14 because obviously that is going to end in no sale, i would have to be mad to spend $15 on a $1 card.
Now i perfectly understand that ebay say that if you want the card to be covered by their money back gaurantee you have to post it at the $14 rate, my thought is why would you care if a $1 promo went missing and you had to refund the $1.
As it stands i could buy 100 cards off you at $1 per card and you could post 100 envelopes to the UK for a couple of dollars each, now if one of those envelopes goes missing who cares, you have still sold 99 cards.
Unfortunatly as it stands now you will sell me no cards at all, this is no use to me, no use to the sellers and no use to the hobby.

We all still love you Wolfie! Even when we disagree!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kevins:
We all still love you Wolfie! Even when we disagree! And I will personally vouch for you if they give you any hassles when entering the US.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades


I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers

Oh god i think i better come back in here before i get banned from entering the usa.

The point i think i am trying to make is that if you want to sell me a $1 promo there is no point telling me that postage will be $14 because obviously that is going to end in no sale, i would have to be mad to spend $15 on a $1 card.
Now i perfectly understand that ebay say that if you want the card to be covered by their money back gaurantee you have to post it at the $14 rate, my thought is why would you care if a $1 promo went missing and you had to refund the $1.
As it stands i could buy 100 cards off you at $1 per card and you could post 100 envelopes to the UK for a couple of dollars each, now if one of those envelopes goes missing who cares, you have still sold 99 cards.
Unfortunatly as it stands now you will sell me no cards at all, this is no use to me, no use to the sellers and no use to the hobby.

I personally would be willing to send PWE shipping to the UK at cost if someone paid in a way that didn't require tracking, and if the buyer was willing to assume the risk of PWE shipping.

If I was selling repeatedly to someone I would be willing to assume some (all?) of the risk of PWE shipping especially on lower end cards.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Studio-Hades


I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers

Oh god i think i better come back in here before i get banned from entering the usa.

The point i think i am trying to make is that if you want to sell me a $1 promo there is no point telling me that postage will be $14 because obviously that is going to end in no sale, i would have to be mad to spend $15 on a $1 card.
Now i perfectly understand that ebay say that if you want the card to be covered by their money back gaurantee you have to post it at the $14 rate, my thought is why would you care if a $1 promo went missing and you had to refund the $1.
As it stands i could buy 100 cards off you at $1 per card and you could post 100 envelopes to the UK for a couple of dollars each, now if one of those envelopes goes missing who cares, you have still sold 99 cards.
Unfortunatly as it stands now you will sell me no cards at all, this is no use to me, no use to the sellers and no use to the hobby.

I personally would be willing to send PWE shipping to the UK at cost if someone paid in a way that didn't require tracking, and if the buyer was willing to assume the risk of PWE shipping.

If I was selling repeatedly to someone I would be willing to assume some (all?) of the risk of PWE shipping especially on lower end cards.[/QUOTE


I think we have stirred up a hornets nest here as i have said before that E Bay have said the seller can send as they like but I was not told and did not know that this incurred the seller a penalty I have had a couple of parcels with cheap cards in them go missing even by not arriving at my n z post address when i enquired about them I was instantly reimbursed the price of the cards not the shipping rate these cards turned up about four months later on e mailing the sellers about a way to return their money i found that I had been blocked by the seller now this was for only a $2 item I agree that sellers should not take a hit E Bay did not care that I had been blocked either so someone still got the shipping costs Or their share I have asked sellewrs if they would send if i took all responsibility but they have refused is this because they are penalised by E bay or as Wolfie says they are scared of loosing a dollar if one lot from a hundred go missing they have still made 99 sales and i would somehow reimburse them for the missing one if they did not block me the worst thing you can do with a missing card is to start a case with e Bay as I think most people will agree it seems to be the catalyst for a seller to block you most hassles can be sorted with most sellers by a e Mail without E Bay. I do not sell cards only purchase and consider myself an honest buyer with 100% feedback but that goes for nothing with some sellers as I unfortunately think that all the E Bay rules allow this and some sellers take advantage of this and under the cover of E Bay rules wich allows them to Gouge us

Think buyers have it bad? How about dealing with the post office, customs forms, fighting with post office clerks about classifications of manila envelopes over 1/4 inch thick as "parcels", air mail rates that literally more than doubled starting 2 years ago, having stuff sent back randomly because the post office wants $14 to ship it rather than $4 because someone at the post office decided it was a "parcel", ebay taking even money on postage fees, losing money on shipping every week and at the same time being accused of greed and gouging by customers (and not only this thread, believe me).

Yes, shipping internationally is a real treat.


Now, if you will excuse me i'll get back to booking a late summer vacation to Mexico with all the money i'm skimming from stupid overseas buyers.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
I personally would be willing to send PWE shipping to the UK at cost if someone paid in a way that didn't require tracking, and if the buyer was willing to assume the risk of PWE shipping.

If I was selling repeatedly to someone I would be willing to assume some (all?) of the risk of PWE shipping especially on lower end cards.

To be crystal clear -- I would never do this for an item I sold on eBay.

eBay has rules that need to be followed for seller protection, if you don't follow the rules and get dinged for returns/lost packages it can lead to loss of eBay fee discounts, loss of product ranking in searches, and more. . . This is a huge risk, especially to power sellers.

Also, as Studio-Hades pointed out -- the act of actually shipping internationally is rather time consuming, and I believe requires you to actually go through the line at the post office to ship things out. On a good day for me to package an item, fill out the forms, drive to the post office, stand in line at the post office then drive home takes an hour. For me the sale value has to be worth all the time this takes to make it worth while. . .

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades


I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers

Oh god i think i better come back in here before i get banned from entering the usa.

The point i think i am trying to make is that if you want to sell me a $1 promo there is no point telling me that postage will be $14 because obviously that is going to end in no sale, i would have to be mad to spend $15 on a $1 card.
Now i perfectly understand that ebay say that if you want the card to be covered by their money back gaurantee you have to post it at the $14 rate, my thought is why would you care if a $1 promo went missing and you had to refund the $1.
As it stands i could buy 100 cards off you at $1 per card and you could post 100 envelopes to the UK for a couple of dollars each, now if one of those envelopes goes missing who cares, you have still sold 99 cards.
Unfortunatly as it stands now you will sell me no cards at all, this is no use to me, no use to the sellers and no use to the hobby.

Sellers charge $14 per card because thats how much it costs to send a ***rigid*** package over 1/4 an inch thick overseas now. That's as little as 2 cards in toploaders. I've done 2 cards in toploaders letter rate (1.15) and large letter rate ($3-4) but half the time they come back because too little postage. If they do go through, they run the risk of getting mangled in the sorting equipment. So then the buyer can complain about how poorly packed the card was.
If you want it well packed, its gonna be $14


If the seller wants to send every single card individually, letter rate, in a multi card order, which is a hassle, for less than $3-8 in sales its up to him or her if they want to do that or not. But likely it would go into one order and that package would be $14.

Im not still not sure how charging what the post office charges is gouging, or how the post office is not at fault for more than doubling rates and reclassifying all types of packages within the last 2 years, and the fault is with the sellers. But ok.

Something for wolfie to consider. Buyers, whether here in the UK or somewhere overseas, want their cards to arrive undamaged. It doesn't matter if the card is a cheap $1 promo or a sketch card, auto or relic worth several hundred dollars, it still has to arrive in pristine condition. For that to happen, the card needs to be in a sleeve, in a toploader, in a teambag with a stiff piece of card and ideally wrapped in a couple of layers of cardboard just for good measure. You can't send a card with all that through regular letter post. Well, actually you can if you remove all the packaging apart from the plastic sleeve but don't expect it to arrive intact

As a sideline, and you haven't heard me say this, I am part of two postal testing services. I send and receive parcels for a European Post Testing Group and send and receive parcels, letters and packages for the Royal Mail here in the UK. If there were cards in the letters I receive for the Royal Mail, then anything up to 25% would be wrecked from a collectors point of view if they were sent without the protection I described before. Machine sorting combined with being carried around in a postman's sack is not kind to regular envelopes. I imagine it is the same in countries outside the UK.

The sad truth is, we have to send and receive cards through the post and the postal service is not kind to them so they need to be protected...and that means well packaged and that in turn costs money. Sorry.

The reason why people are so passionate about the topic of postage is because its frustrating to both sides of the transaction. If a card collector sees some nice cards, he/she wants to buy them. They could be expensive or they could be very cheap, they need them. And most sellers really want to sell the cards. US sellers are not ignoring the card collectors in the rest of the world if they can help it. That would be very bad business. So when the cost of postage and postal materials and insurance and eBay rules make these transactions just impossible for either the buyer or seller, everybody loses and its not the fault of either end.

Here's probably a stupid question, but I was wondering something while reading the posts from UK members. There is eBay UK. Is it that the selection isn't there and you can't get a lot of US produced cards in country? Do the postal charges and insurance there follow the same rules as eBay over here? Can't you contact a US dealer directly and see if you can order straight from him/her? Yes, you will have to give up buyer protection and take some more risk, but that was always the way. If UK customs makes shipping even direct sales cost too much, its hard to see how you can blame US sellers. Its just a lousy situation all around.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades


I think wolfie is convinced it's just greedy U.S. sellers gouging international customers

The point i think i am trying to make is that if you want to sell me a $1 promo there is no point telling me that postage will be $14 because obviously that is going to end in no sale, i would have to be mad to spend $15 on a $1 card.
Now i perfectly understand that ebay say that if you want the card to be covered by their money back gaurantee you have to post it at the $14 rate, my thought is why would you care if a $1 promo went missing and you had to refund the $1.
.

Right here. Why do you care if you had to refund 1.00? If Wolfie orders 100 cards from 100 different sellers on ebay and gets them to send the card for 2.00 (cost on an international stamp was 1.50 -at these that what it cost a few months back, the envelope and what not (even the cheapest money can buy)+ ebay fees and now wolfie claims he did not get 100 cards even though he did. That is money out of other people's pockets you just said they should not care about. Now, I know when it comes to other people's money scammers don't care, but, yes, people like to keep the money for goods sold. If you think that honest sellers don't deserve it, maybe the problem is not the postage system.