Posted on 05/21/2005 9:29:58 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
"Want to sell your extra stuff on eBay? Visit your local post office." What an unexpected invitation to see on post office posters.
The U.S. Postal Service is offering free workshops on how to buy, sell and ship on eBay as part of a national partnership with the world's largest auction Web site.
The U.S. Postal Service is offering free workshops on how to buy, sell and ship on eBay as part of a national partnership with the world's largest auction Web site.
Three workshops are scheduled in Orange County next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
The newest gimmick I've noticed on E-bay lately are outrageous shipping costs. At first glance, very cheap software, until you realize some are charging up to $20 to ship one disk -- first class, not even priority.
What is more ironic is how nasty some of the postal workers are to the ebay seller when he/she brings their packages in to be scanned.
You MIGHT do better at a flea market. Ebay keeps upping the costs of doing business, but the original apparatus remains constant, and cannot be beaten by one's garage sale: People from ALL OVER THE WORLD are looking at your stuff.
As for $20. shipping fee...I NEVER pay outrageous "handling" or shipping fees to ebay vendors. They are quite snotty about it, too. But they're really bad businesspeople--they engender ill will. Several have responded to my inquiries about $17-$20 shipping on a $5 item with, "Shipping nonnegotiable! If you don't like it, don't bid!" I guess slobs working out of their garages think they're hot stuff. I alway oblige them by NOT bidding.
They (USPS) are trying to stay up with UPS and FedEx.
That being said, Ebay is no fun anymore. Too many people selling the same JDK junk or whatever it is.... the stuff from the catalog you see on the infomercial... it is hard to find the real bargain when you have duplicated od the same garbage. Beware also of fake software-- I was trying to buy a copy of Word for my old Mac and there was a Word-like "shell" or something so cheap but when you actually read about it, is not software, it is like a PDF mechanism or something.
Anyway, I agree that everyone is trying to scam you wth shipping. And how do you make any money on an item that sells for 2.00 if eBay takes like 20 per cent of it (what is the latest amt? I have not sold through them in a long time)...
anyway, the ebay market is saturated...
"The newest gimmick I've noticed on E-bay lately are outrageous shipping costs. At first glance, very cheap software, until you realize some are charging up to $20 to ship one disk -- first class, not even priority."
Anyone who does not check shipping charges on eBay is a fool. In fact, anyone who doesn't check everything, from feedback to comparable items in past auctions is a fool.
The USPS is the shipping of choice for typical eBay sellers. You can get free Priority Mail boxes in sizes up to 12"x12"x9", free flat-rate tyvek envelopes, tracking, and insurance, all at good rates, and the shipper is right there.
You can buy postage and print labels on line. The whole bit.
I've been shipping items via USPS Priority Mail, Global Priority Mail, and otherwise for a long, long time. Of all the packages I've shipped, not a single one has gone missing, and only one has been damaged. I don't even bother with insurance any more.
Best deal, though, is the free boxes (shipped to you directly, also at no charge) and the online postage and label buying. If you're willing to pay a small fee, someone will come and pick up your day's shipments. One price covers as many packages as you have. You don't even have to go to the darned post office.
USPS is the eBayer's friend.
The USPS reeks compared to UPS. I bought an item on eBay and the seller sent it via the USPS, giving me a "tracking" number. For 5 days the USPS web site said that the item associated with that "tracking" number hadn't even gotten into their hands yet. On day 6, it plops down on my porch. That evening, the "delivered" entry shows up for that item. Thing is, the only other entry was the "we're still waiting for it to be given to us" one. So evidently, as far as the USPS "tracking" system is concerned, the item was teleported to my doorstep without them touching it. Immaculate delivery.
Ebay's time was a few years ago...
now I watch the site for sports tickets and thats about it...well that and the occasional Cal Ripken baseball card...
Bump for later read.
Thanks for the info!
"The irony here is that when you factor in the mailing cost (and E-bay fees) you're better off at the local flea market, or holding a garage sale."
That depends entirely on what you're selling. Me, I've recently started buying defunct outboard motors with either collector value or more modern ones. I strip 'em and sell the parts on eBay. You can't do that at a flea market, you see. There are no customers. On eBay, the guy looking for a cylinder head for a 1923 Johnson outboard motor is gonna bid on yours, since it's the only game in town.
On eBay, the most obscure item will find bidders. In fact, you can sell almost anything unusual on eBay for WAY more than you'd ever get for it at a flea market or garage sale.
eBay has revolutionized the collectible and antiques business.
USPS does not offer Tracking Numbers, they offer Delivery Confirmation numbers. This is written on the USPS website and this info is as clear as a bell. Delivery Confirmation Numbers are mainly for the sellers benefit and not the buyers.
You can't sell antiques at a garage sale and get a fair price for them. If you send them to the local auction house here, the commission fee is 20%. I ran an antique booth at a local mall for several years and besides my rent, I had to pay a commision of 10-20% depending on the cost of the item.
This is simple... Start printing out your postage from the USPS site, through PayPal, or some other online electronic Postage system and have you packages ready to mail when you take them to the PO. Not only does this save you time (and money) but most likely you will never get another nasty look or attitude.
I hate walking into the PO Office now and having to wait behind an eBay seller that expects the PO Clerk to weigh and post every single package for them. It is too simple and cost effective now do it yourself right at home. Including insuring the packages now right from home with electronic postage at any time of the day you choose.
You can go right now on eBay and buy cases of 2 labels per 8.5" x 11" sheet regular type printer labels dirt cheap.
All my postage and shipping labels have been printed out from home ever since electronic postage was offered online a couple years ago. All I have to do is drop the packages off at the PO, no waiting in line. (my time is money to me)
I've noticed lately than if you are shipping by Priority Mail (probably Express as well), that you can go online to schedule a pickup and they don't charge. I think the small pickup charge you mentioned for parcel post or first class is only $12.50.
I only sell one or two items a week, and I still bring the packages to the post office myself -- I don't mind going there as long as I can just drop the box in the slot and don't have to stand in line. The way ebay has shipping, label printing, and insurance capabilities integrated into their system works really well.
Isn't it great! I sold some items a couple of years ago, then stopped selling until about 3 months ago. It has changed for the better. Before, even though I had paid online at the USPS website with a credit card, I still had to wait in line because the slots at the post office were not large enough to pass a box through. So I had to stand in line JUST to hand someone a box. Or to buy insurance, since they wouldn't let you buy insurance on the website. Now they've got it all set up. Only once since I started selling again has there been a need to stand in line, because the insurance limit through the website (I think $200?) wasn't enough -- the item sold for $250. But when a bidder wants to pay you that much for something, they are worth standing in line for.
I'm so tired of hearing people slam ebay. If it was such a bad deal, the market would kill it off. But the volume just keeps growing and there are thousands of people who have been augmenting their incomes there for years. As a buyer, I find ebay to be extremely competitive with a selection of items unmatched anywhere else. While it's very difficult for sellers to get a decent price on some categories of goods (such as original artwork, for example), there are many categories that work out just fine for buyer and seller. Sellers who pad the cost of shipping can generally only get away with that on high ticket items. If you're buying a solid gold mint condition vintage Rolex for $14K, you're not going to care that shipping is $50.
The high shipping costs are a way to reduce payments to Ebay. Ebay charges a percentage of the sale price excluding shipping, so it costs the seller less to sell an item for $1 plus $20 shpping than $20 plus $1 shipping.
Damn smart of them, I say. Surely, they've seen business go down as a result of the proliferation of computers, a lot of people pay bills online. That's a lot of unsold 37 cent stamps unsold to deliver mail a few miles, in many cases.
eBay has created an opportunity for really big postage fees, and it's savvy of the USPS to want to grab this market. They need to come down hard on counter employees who give crap to eBay package shippers.
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