Wanted: eBay stories.

[valis2]

The good, the bad, the ugly. Bring it on.

I just realized, you see, that I've never purchased a single item on eBay, and I'm wondering if I'm packaging things correctly, or doing things that most eBay sellers do. I've pretty much just muddled through, and invented rules as I went along. It could be that I'm doing this whole thing backward, for all I know. I'd really like to see this from a buyer's perspective.

So tell me what you like in an eBay seller. What do you expect? What do you dislike?

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've never included anything for scale before. That might be a good idea. I mean, I always include the dimensions, but still, I thought that putting pennies in the photos looked a little weird.

Now it's settled. I definitely am going to start emailing buyers to let them know their items have shipped.

[chazpure.livejournal.com]

You can use a ruler if a penny in the pic looks weird to you - or if you're shipping internationally and think your customers won't recognize the scale. *g* A lot of people just don't *read* descriptions carefully, or don't grasp scale unless they see it. I once bought some accent garnets through eBay that I somehow had convinced myself were going to be larger, even though the description said 2mm, and I *know* 2mm is tiny. The description was accurate, but a scale in the picture would have made it much more meaningful.

And I *always* appreciate a message from the seller telling me something has shipped. It's disconcerting to win an auction, pay and then just...wait...with no way of knowing if anything's going on at the seller's end or if you've just tossed your money down a black hole.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I'll try to get a little ruler, then. That's a great idea, thank you.

And I'm going to start sending out emails for shipping confirmation...today, in fact. Just shipped out thirty packages, after all. Thank you so much!!

[harry-crazy.livejournal.com]

Instead of having to send all those emails, you could just note in your auctions that you ship "fill in here" Saturdays, the day after payment, etc.

It will just get overwhelming for you to send all those emails out! 30?!?! Goodness.

[harry-crazy.livejournal.com]

IF you are only selling a few items at a time, I guess it won't be too much of a bother to send those emails.

As far as scale--definitely ALWAYS include measurements--that should be enough for most people, instead of a ruler thing...but there are those out there that don't understand measurements, so--just make sure you cover yourself either way. Also, I prefer auctions that have a picture in the gallery. Can't stand having to open the auction to determine that it's not the item I want. I think that's rude. Multiple pictures are appreciated too, for the backs, bottoms, nick-marks, etc.

I always wrap the item in white tissue paper and then in the protective stuff. It's just nice to pull out the item from a clean wrapper, not covered in bits of white popcorn or newspaper. Once I received an item wrapped in a lightly-scented tissue, which I thought was nice. But I don't do that since some may be allergic.

Also, if you smoke or have pets, please notate that in the auction. Nothing worse than pulling out the item and getting a large whiff of cigs as I pull it out! Boo.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for all of the comments! I'm only going to respond to one, just to make this easier (am in the middle of writing, yergh).

You've covered a ton of stuff here, and I totally appreciate it! Many of the things you've mentioned are very smart, common-sense kinds of things. Luckily, I have no pets, and I don't smoke, and I'm pretty careful about enclosing items in plastic bags.

I'm very interested in what you're saying about the shipping calculator. I had no idea that you could input weight...that does change things. A lot. I think I will research into this and then begin to use that calculator. However, I only ship via USPS at the moment, so I'll have to check to be certain about that. I don't want to add UPS to the mix...I'm already investing so much time into eBay that I would rather not add to it.

I don't mind taking MOs, but I really don't want to take PCs. The problem I've had with the few MOs I've accepted is that people take FOREVER to mail them out. Also, I don't check the PO box until I'm mailing things, so that adds another delay.

I've looked into taking cards on my own (I already have a merchant account with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover), but it means I'd have to have the buyer send me their info, or shunt them into an external checkout program. Either way, I'm not really excited. They both have drawbacks (too many emails to go through, and too expensive), and I'm still kind of sorting through it.

Thank you so much for all of the advice! I really appreciate it.