A Question: Why do sellers on ebay only accept....???

[murph0]

Actually if it ends up going for 100 dollars, thats 3 dollars...if I'm paying for that..why don't I just pay for the shipping to send it to them too..wouldn't wanna inconvience them too much..

 

Brian

[g-man]

i know a kid who sold something with paypal. got the $$ in, sent out the book. Guy then said that he never got the book, filed some sort of complaint, paypal or something took the $$ out of his account. How is that for a scam? Also, never send anything to a p.o. box with paypal and always use tracking! Common sense...sure. But people forget.

[Rubicon]

If you accept more than $1,000.00 a month via PayPal you qualify for the Merchant Rate of 2.2% then add the $.30 per payment accepted.

 

I use the PayPal debit card to pay for my Packing Supplies & Postage & e-bay Bill at an added 1.5% cash back. Then I earn 1.85% on my PayPal balance. It's not a huge bonus but it makes that 2.2% more like 1%

 

I also offer FREE shipping on my Magic The Gathering Cards. Hers's why....

 

When a winning bidder looks for a specific card on e-bay they add in the shipping rate with the end of auction total to see the overall cost. Since my shipping is FREE then tend to bid about $1.00 more per auction. Let's take an average of $0.50 more per auction as a worst case senario. This is what happens per auction won.

 

1 Auctions - $0.50 more in bids - $0.84 postage and supplies = - $0.34

2 Auctions - $1.00 more in bids - $0.92 postage and supplies = + $0.08

3 Auctions - $1.50 more in bids - $1.23 postage and supplies = + $0.27

4 Auctions - $2.00 more in bids - $1.39 postage and supplies = + $0.61

5 Auctions - $2.50 more in bids - $1.39 postage and supplies = + $1.11

6 Auctions - $3.00 more in bids - $1.62 postage and supplies = + $1.38

7 Auctions - $3.50 more in bids - $1.62 postage and supplies = + $1.88

8 Auctions - $4.00 more in bids - $1.62 postage and supplies = + $2.38

 

The average winner wins 3 auctions from me per week so the FREE shipping is really making me $0.27 - 5.25% = $0.25 ( you have to take into account that they are BIDDING more so e-bay takes out more fees ) so FREE shipping is not really FREE. This only works in Volume as you can see I take a hit of $0.34 if someone only wins 1 auction. But if someone wins 8 I'm making about $2.25

 

FREE shipping on e-bay is usually an Illusion

[hogations]

A lot of people don't like Paypal - I'm not a big fan of them as well, but they are the #1 form of digital payment on eBay. There's an interesting site that has many stories of people getting burnt by Paypal. If you use Paypal a lot and you're a seller, check out the site:

 

Paypal Warning

 

 

[Rubicon]

Yeah that's why for CGC Items I would ship Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation to a confirmed PayPal address only. If you don't the bidder can do a chargeback at will and if you have no proff of delivery ( to their confirmed address only ) PayPal will take the $$ from your account

[scottish]

When I was selling heavily I accepted ANY form of payment. Paypal, Bidpay, check, etc....

 

It's come to a point (for me) as a buyer that I will NOT bid on 'money order' only auctions. No offense to those of you who only accept those as I can understand the reasons, but I have my reasons as well.

 

I buy product occassionally from a fellow in Italy (not comics) and he accepts personal checks drawn on a US account. He uses an Italian bank. He probably has a big base in the US which makes it cost effective to do this so I do business with him. NEVER had a problem.

 

Paypal or checks allow me to shoot off payment from the convenience of my home. Money orders cause me to go to a third party, withdrawal the money from my account and pay the associated fees (usually not from the ATM, but MO cost). I also have to make sure the seller accepts or not postal money orders. Too much hassle!

 

The credo of 'not accepting paypal or personal checks will only cost me a few bids and I don't care' goes both ways. Only accepting money orders occurs on very few auctions so missing out on the occassional book here and there doesn't bother me.

 

Bottom line: It's all about convenience - and if I'm buying it's my mulah!

[OldGuy]

"Why do some sellers only accept money orders as form of payment??? "

 

Because they want to limit how many people will bid on their auction so that their final price is lower then it would be if they took e-payments. Or maybe it's just because they don't want me bidding on their auction.

[Kevin Boyd]

I usually accept only Paypal and Money orders from people I don't know.

 

Personal Checks are a hassle because my bank usually slaps a 21 business day hold on all personal checks I've received from US accounts.

 

Sometimes they will do the same for a money order if I'm going to a different branch from my usual one.

 

If the buyer is a Canadian I will give them the option to send a personal check and translate the amount into Canadian funds for them.

 

I usually don't ask for a surcharge on Paypal transactions, but I will sometimes ask for a 3% handling fee if the item is a big ticket commission sale and the owner does not agree to pay for additional charges beyond e-bay fees. If that is the case I will clearly say that because this is a third party sale there is a 3% handling fee.

 

I get around losing money on my Paypal transfers by keeping the money in my Paypal account and using my Paypal debit card. Since Paypal shafts Canadians on the exchange rate when transferring to my bank account, I use the debit card as my spending card and get 1.5% back on every purchase I make using the card, even when I use it to pay for my e-bay fees. PLUS I get a better exchange rate on my Canadian dollar purchases.

 

Kev

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

really? I am not sure since everytime I have reported, the auction was ended the next day. Have you sold anything on ebay recently? It is embedded in red letters before you submit saying surcharges are against ebay rules & is grounds for the auction being terminated. It's kind of like the "electronics piracy" lil note ebay warns sellers about.

 

From e-bay:

 

Sellers may not charge eBay buyers an additional fee for their use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of checks, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards. Such costs should be built into the price of the item -- this policy reduces the potential for confusion among bidders about the true cost of an item. Further, some forms of payment surcharges, such as credit card surcharges, are forbidden by law.

 

Can a seller add a surcharge to the final price of an eBay item? Yes, in three instances.

 

1. Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fee to the final price of their item, providing that this fee is disclosed up front in the listing. A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item. Shipping and handling fees cannot be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.

 

2. Sellers may pass along the costs associated with using a third party escrow service, if the buyer chooses to use an escrow service.

 

3. Sellers may choose to accept payment in a different currency than the currency listed on eBay. If the buyer chooses to take advantage of this optional payment method, the seller may pass along to the buyer any costs associated with the currency exchange, provided that the costs are disclosed and agreed to in advance by the buyer.

 

Kev

 

[homer-migration]

All Canadians should boycott PayPal & BillPoint in principle. PayPal & Billpoint charge Canadians a higher percentage, and they exchange funds on the day of their whim ?- The best on-line payment is www.bidpay.com - not an arm of Ebay - you get paid in the currency of your choice, and they do not charge sellers a commission at all. They do charge the buyer, however, and you have build your limit for a single transaction.

 

The other option for Canadians is that through the Royal Bank you can actually get a US Dollar Visa, not offered by the other Banks.

For me I don't use PayPal or Billpoint simply because I have a US Dollar account - their exchange rates are silly; and if I register to pay someone through Paypal their logo appears in all my auctions - When you complain they tell you it will take three weeks to remove it (even though it appeared overnight.) If I count on the difference in exchange rates, and the percentage, it can work out as high as 5%, which is $100 on sales of 2000. Add that to the Ebay commission and listing fee, and you are getting very close to mainstream auction house commission - Keeping in mind through mainstream auction house sales you do not have to deal with anyone, do any wrapping, or worry about feedback.........But for an extra 25 cents you can have a little picture.............

[comicinvestor-migration]

Everyone wants a piece of the auction pie, and normally (since offering Paypal yields higher overall bid prices) I wouldn't care, but it'll be a cold day in Hell before I use my hard-earned money to subsidize those cheap- offshore sellers.

 

Paypal really expects someone with an inside view of the North American banking system to believe that it costs them the EXACT same amount to transfer money from the US to Canada as it costs going from the US to Greenland, Somalia or Tasmania.

 

Paypal execs probably think we're too busy eating whale blubber to understand high finance.

[homer-migration]

pass the intestine while I put on my mukluks