eBay & Paypal Fees

[toledo_mudhen]

I did a quick calc on a recent sale on eBay and it comes out that eBay charges a full 10% on the sale and Paypal charges another 4.3% for me to receive payment.

So a couple of things come to mind :

How does this compare to whatever alternative auction services

and

If I were an eBay "power Seller" - how much would the percentage decrease

14.3% just feels like a bit much for me...........

[m.wright58926]

PayPal actually charges $0.30 per transaction plus 2.9% of the value...so the total % is impacted by the amount of the sale. When you calculate the % on lower dollar items, it's discouragingly high. At $5, the total PP fee is 8.9%, on top of the ebay 10%...

[GregMitch34]

I thought that on a, say $100 or $300 item or so, the total charge was 10% ebay and about $3 pay pal so equals about 13%, right?

[m.wright58926]

Yep, as the sale amount gets higher, the impact of the fixed fee is reduced. The total PP fee on $100 is 3%, just slightly above their value fee of 2.9%. The eBay fee is a constant at 10%.

[prestigecollectibles]

I have an Ebay store which gives me a final fee of 9% on most items and I am a top rated seller which gives me a 20% on final fees.

[thecatspajamas]

If you have sufficient sales volume with Paypal ($10k+ per month) you can also get your PP fees down to $0.30 + 2.2% per payment received.

So at best, with an eBay Store, Top Rated Seller status, and $10k+ per month Paypal transaction volume, you can get your fees down to $0.30 + 9.4% per transaction.

You really have to keep on top of it to maintain that 20% discount though. Your average, low-volume seller is going to pay $0.30 + 12.9% per transaction. And in both cases, the percentage applies to any shipping fee you charge as well.

[Exhibitman]

To answer part of the OP:

Some auctioneers will give you a no commission deal on graded cards you consign. All you would absorb is the buyer's premium. If their BP is 15%, it is not worth dealing with eBay for me.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

I have an Ebay store which gives me a final fee of 9% on most items and I am a top rated seller which gives me a 20% on final fees.

Me too...Which I think is pretty fair considering the number of people get to see my items.

Jeff

[Harliduck]

I agree that Ebay & Paypal fees are a bit much...but I will take the other side.

I am 99% a BUYER on Ebay, and certainly do not buy cards to resell or even consider them an investment. So naturally as mostly a buyer, fees mean nothing on Ebay.

Now...this last month my wife and I adopted a beautiful young girl out of the foster world (to add to my 4 kids) and the wife asked if I would part with anything temporarily for all the fees and such...I have such a great wife I couldn't say no. I picked a 1957 Topps set which I know is in pretty good demand, and it was pretty high grade. Again, I hate selling, but considering what it was for, I dove in.

I first put the set up here for on the B/S/T hoping for a quick sale, and discounted it accordingly. I was missing Koufax and the Berra/Mantle card. I asked $2000, and I felt it was worth $2500. I put up scans of all the stars, and all the high # tough to get cards. I immediately received three offers ranging from $700 - $800 and was told if I sold it anywhere else I would be lucky to get $1000. I did get one offer of $1600, but was also told that was all it was worth.

Off to Ebay...I did sell a few cards offline before I put it up, including the Mantle, for $500. The rest sold on Ebay for $3322. ($3822 total). My Ebay fees ended up being $348 and Paypal took their percent.


So...yes...the fees and nickel and diming is pretty tough to take...but I ask you...where else would I get such a bang for my buck? Certainly a brick and mortor store would have probably offered less than here....and the differences are staggering. I am certainly not an Ebay cheerleader (they have certainly pissed me off before)...but I have to be honest with the results...they earned every dime they got from me for providing such a medium as a regular joe like myself. Its easy to bitch about the fees...and not see the value of such fees.

I also must add as a buyer there is no better medium. To me the auction houses are better suited for the sellers...I see items routinely over sold. At any time I can go purchase just about any card ever made on Ebay in my underware at 2am. Tough to compete with that.

Just my .02...another view. Legal/Adoption fees are paid, as well as new childrens furniture and I even was able to get my 1955 set down to only needing 5 cards. Happy wife...can't beat that.

[frankbmd]

I also must add as a buyer there is no better medium. To me the auction houses are better suited for the sellers...I see items routinely over sold. At any time I can go purchase just about any card ever made on Ebay in my underware at 2am. Tough to compete with that.

John, I basically agree with your argument regarding Ebay, but

you say that AHs are better suited for sellers and then when you sell you use Ebay (?). I would just add that many of us who frequent auction houses place bids at 2AM in our underwear (correct spelling) or less during those interminable extended bidding sessions. The fee structure on BST is unbeatable compared to Ebay or AHs but this is basically a prewar audience. Selling postwar cards on BST can work but frequently is like trying to sell beef in New Delhi.

[autograf]

As a seller, fees are on the high side of reasonable. But there's really no other game in town where you set ALL the parameters on your sale. You can bundle stuff and send to a multitude of auction houses ranging from the very large to the boutique and pay fees ranging from zero to 10% depending on the item's value but you lose much of the control of the aspects of the sale. For some, that's no big deal as they just want to move the goods or they're goods that will sell for what they will sell for anyway. I still sell on ebay though not as much and I just figure the fees are what the fees are. If you have a business model of selling 1.00 cards on there, it might not be the best unless you're selling dozens of them to a single person.......anyway, they won't be going down!

John.....wish I'd seen your 1957 set FS....I must have missed it.......and I have two daughters adopted from China, so I know all about REAL fees.....much higher than the ebay 12-15% ones! Congrats.....

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

I agree that Ebay & Paypal fees are a bit much...but I will take the other side.

I am 99% a BUYER on Ebay, and certainly do not buy cards to resell or even consider them an investment. So naturally as mostly a buyer, fees mean nothing on Ebay.

Now...this last month my wife and I adopted a beautiful young girl out of the foster world (to add to my 4 kids) and the wife asked if I would part with anything temporarily for all the fees and such...I have such a great wife I couldn't say no. I picked a 1957 Topps set which I know is in pretty good demand, and it was pretty high grade. Again, I hate selling, but considering what it was for, I dove in.

I first put the set up here for on the B/S/T hoping for a quick sale, and discounted it accordingly. I was missing Koufax and the Berra/Mantle card. I asked $2000, and I felt it was worth $2500. I put up scans of all the stars, and all the high # tough to get cards. I immediately received three offers ranging from $700 - $800 and was told if I sold it anywhere else I would be lucky to get $1000. I did get one offer of $1600, but was also told that was all it was worth.

Off to Ebay...I did sell a few cards offline before I put it up, including the Mantle, for $500. The rest sold on Ebay for $3322. ($3822 total). My Ebay fees ended up being $348 and Paypal took their percent.


So...yes...the fees and nickel and diming is pretty tough to take...but I ask you...where else would I get such a bang for my buck? Certainly a brick and mortor store would have probably offered less than here....and the differences are staggering. I am certainly not an Ebay cheerleader (they have certainly pissed me off before)...but I have to be honest with the results...they earned every dime they got from me for providing such a medium as a regular joe like myself. Its easy to bitch about the fees...and not see the value of such fees.

I also must add as a buyer there is no better medium. To me the auction houses are better suited for the sellers...I see items routinely over sold. At any time I can go purchase just about any card ever made on Ebay in my underware at 2am. Tough to compete with that.

Just my .02...another view. Legal/Adoption fees are paid, as well as new childrens furniture and I even was able to get my 1955 set down to only needing 5 cards. Happy wife...can't beat that.

+1, great story, and I agree that ebay tends to bring net higher prices for most things. good luck w/ your adoption. read a recent story about adoptions in the nytimes. I have three kids and my wife and I are always scrambling. That's terrific that you and your wife are able to do so much.

[Exhibitman]

My experience has been that auctioning mainstream postwar cards tends to be as good as or better than the net results on eBay, provided you can control the lotting and prevent your stuff from being thrown into dealer-friendly mass lots that are just going to be broken up anyway. There is also the headache/BS/time commitment aspect of eBay to consider. I don't have the time or the energy to list bunches of cards on eBay, monitor results, invoice buyers, pack and ship orders, chase down deadbeats, deal with the inevitable fraction of buyers who are mentally ill, etc.

[Rollingstone206]

...

[bobbyw8469]

I agree that Ebay & Paypal fees are a bit much...but I will take the other side.

I am 99% a BUYER on Ebay, and certainly do not buy cards to resell or even consider them an investment. So naturally as mostly a buyer, fees mean nothing on Ebay.

Now...this last month my wife and I adopted a beautiful young girl out of the foster world (to add to my 4 kids) and the wife asked if I would part with anything temporarily for all the fees and such...I have such a great wife I couldn't say no. I picked a 1957 Topps set which I know is in pretty good demand, and it was pretty high grade. Again, I hate selling, but considering what it was for, I dove in.

I first put the set up here for on the B/S/T hoping for a quick sale, and discounted it accordingly. I was missing Koufax and the Berra/Mantle card. I asked $2000, and I felt it was worth $2500. I put up scans of all the stars, and all the high # tough to get cards. I immediately received three offers ranging from $700 - $800 and was told if I sold it anywhere else I would be lucky to get $1000. I did get one offer of $1600, but was also told that was all it was worth.

Off to Ebay...I did sell a few cards offline before I put it up, including the Mantle, for $500. The rest sold on Ebay for $3322. ($3822 total). My Ebay fees ended up being $348 and Paypal took their percent.


So...yes...the fees and nickel and diming is pretty tough to take...but I ask you...where else would I get such a bang for my buck? Certainly a brick and mortor store would have probably offered less than here....and the differences are staggering. I am certainly not an Ebay cheerleader (they have certainly pissed me off before)...but I have to be honest with the results...they earned every dime they got from me for providing such a medium as a regular joe like myself. Its easy to bitch about the fees...and not see the value of such fees.

I also must add as a buyer there is no better medium. To me the auction houses are better suited for the sellers...I see items routinely over sold. At any time I can go purchase just about any card ever made on Ebay in my underware at 2am. Tough to compete with that.

Just my .02...another view. Legal/Adoption fees are paid, as well as new childrens furniture and I even was able to get my 1955 set down to only needing 5 cards. Happy wife...can't beat that.

+2 on the great story! I can totally relate, as I (and probably everyone that has tried to sell on the Net54 BST board) has been subject to the low balling that goes on there. I have a hard time giving cards away on there, to the point that I am scratching my head and second guessing what I am doing wrong (only to see them sell higher on Ebay). For all EBay's faults and the high percentage and fees they charge, for the amount of eyeballs they bring, there is no better game in town.

[peterose4hof]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

I agree that Ebay & Paypal fees are a bit much...but I will take the other side.

I am 99% a BUYER on Ebay, and certainly do not buy cards to resell or even consider them an investment. So naturally as mostly a buyer, fees mean nothing on Ebay.

Now...this last month my wife and I adopted a beautiful young girl out of the foster world (to add to my 4 kids) and the wife asked if I would part with anything temporarily for all the fees and such...I have such a great wife I couldn't say no. I picked a 1957 Topps set which I know is in pretty good demand, and it was pretty high grade. Again, I hate selling, but considering what it was for, I dove in.

I first put the set up here for on the B/S/T hoping for a quick sale, and discounted it accordingly. I was missing Koufax and the Berra/Mantle card. I asked $2000, and I felt it was worth $2500. I put up scans of all the stars, and all the high # tough to get cards. I immediately received three offers ranging from $700 - $800 and was told if I sold it anywhere else I would be lucky to get $1000. I did get one offer of $1600, but was also told that was all it was worth.

Off to Ebay...I did sell a few cards offline before I put it up, including the Mantle, for $500. The rest sold on Ebay for $3322. ($3822 total). My Ebay fees ended up being $348 and Paypal took their percent.


So...yes...the fees and nickel and diming is pretty tough to take...but I ask you...where else would I get such a bang for my buck? Certainly a brick and mortor store would have probably offered less than here....and the differences are staggering. I am certainly not an Ebay cheerleader (they have certainly pissed me off before)...but I have to be honest with the results...they earned every dime they got from me for providing such a medium as a regular joe like myself. Its easy to bitch about the fees...and not see the value of such fees.

I also must add as a buyer there is no better medium. To me the auction houses are better suited for the sellers...I see items routinely over sold. At any time I can go purchase just about any card ever made on Ebay in my underware at 2am. Tough to compete with that.

Just my .02...another view. Legal/Adoption fees are paid, as well as new childrens furniture and I even was able to get my 1955 set down to only needing 5 cards. Happy wife...can't beat that.

It takes an incredibly strong, self-assured and stable family to adopt. You and your wife are awesome! I would like to think me and the Mrs. are building the type of home/family that we could someday adopt. Sharing your good fortune with those less fortunate is commendable; sharing your home with a foster child is truly divine.

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

I did a quick calc on a recent sale on eBay and it comes out that eBay charges a full 10% on the sale and Paypal charges another 4.3% for me to receive payment.

So a couple of things come to mind :

How does this compare to whatever alternative auction services

and

If I were an eBay "power Seller" - how much would the percentage decrease

14.3% just feels like a bit much for me...........

I sell on Amazon, not ebay because I mostly hate ebay and wish there was a true competitor. Unfortunately Amazon actually charges more, but besides that I like selling on Amazon better. To see the fees, check an email I received from them after a sale last week below. It's not cheap. It's a waste of time selling $1.00 to $5.00 items on any of these websites unless you really don't want to throw away the item. It's a shame you can't sell on craigslist like the way you can on Amazon and ebay with that national exposure. When someone buys something from me, I offer making future sales off the site for less and accept checks and money orders. I still don;t get how ebay has not been sued for banning cash, money orders, and checks. They got sued in Australia and have to allow it.

Dear Thegoodoldboys,

Congratulations! You just sold an item on Amazon!

Please note you agreed to ship this order no later than 11/19/2013. Keep in mind you are responsible for the item until it reaches the buyer at the address provided in your seller account. We recommend purchasing insurance for high value shipments.

After you ship the order, return to your seller account to confirm shipment. If you do not confirm shipment of the order within 30 days, Amazon will cancel the order, and you will not receive payment for it.

Please see the remainder of this e-mail below for more information about shipping and confirming your order.

Order ID: 105-0864878-6268233

Please ship this order using Standard shipping.

Ship by: 11/19/2013
Item: 1993 NHL Hockey Kenner Starting Lineup Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Penguins
Condition: Collectible - Like New
Condition note: Check scan for condition. If there is more than one available, buyer gets best available.

Listing ID: 0722MQD2GGP
SKU: 9U-O3E0-Y2L4
Quantity: 1
Order date: 11/15/2013
Price: $99.99
Amazon fees: -$20.45
Shipping: $4.49
Your earnings: $84.03

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Acollector

... I still don;t get how ebay has not been sued for banning cash, money orders, and checks. ...

You can accept cash, money orders, or checks on ebay, and in fact, I've received payment via all of these methods from ebay sales. (Yep, I've had people send me cash in envelopes before.) You just need to setup your listings to not require paypal accounts from the buyers, and you're good to go. There is less protection for buyers this way however, because there's no way for ebay to confirm that the buyer really did send the funds. I still prefer paypal payment and the 3% fees because I prefer to receive the payments much faster rather than have to wait to see if I get the payment through the mail. One time a money order payment got lost in the mail, so it was a pain to try to keep checking to see if I got it, but it never came.

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by glchen

You can accept cash, money orders, or checks on ebay, and in fact, I've received payment via all of these methods from ebay sales. (Yep, I've had people send me cash in envelopes before.) You just need to setup your listings to not require paypal accounts from the buyers, and you're good to go. There is less protection for buyers this way however, because there's no way for ebay to confirm that the buyer really did send the funds. I still prefer paypal payment and the 3% fees because I prefer to receive the payments much faster rather than have to wait to see if I get the payment through the mail. One time a money order payment got lost in the mail, so it was a pain to try to keep checking to see if I got it, but it never came.

How many buyers are willing to pay by cash, check, or money orders? Also if you post in your description you accept those forms, ebay will cancel the listings, so yes it is possible to accept them, but ebay doesn't allow it. The non Paypal requirement is if you have a merchant credit card account, so yes you can accept those payments, but ebay makes it online payments only. Ebay has brained washed their sheep to think the cash, checks, and money orders contain cooties and they will get robbed for sure if they send them. I prefer the other 3 classics for a couple of reasons. I think it as a major conflict of interest that ebay has paypal. If they are going to require Paypal, then it should be no Paypal fees for an ebay sale since there are seller fees. If Paypal payments are made elsewhere, I can understand the fees.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Acollector

How many buyers are willing to pay by cash, check, or money orders? Also if you post in your description you accept those forms, ebay will cancel the listings, so yes it is possible to accept them, but ebay doesn't allow it. The non Paypal requirement is if you have a merchant credit card account, so yes you can accept those payments, but ebay makes it online payments only. Ebay has brained washed their sheep to think the cash, checks, and money orders contain cooties and they will get robbed for sure if they send them. I prefer the other 3 classics for a couple of reasons. I think it as a major conflict of interest that ebay has paypal. If they are going to require Paypal, then it should be no Paypal fees for an ebay sale since there are seller fees. If Paypal payments are made elsewhere, I can understand the fees.

Ebay DOES allow you to accept checks and money orders, they just don't allow you to SOLICIT payment by those forms. Any text in your description that looks like you're soliciting those forms of payment will get your listing cancelled (or denied upload in the first place). If the buyer requests to pay with one of those forms though, it's okay, and eBay even has an option in the drop-down menu when you go to mark an item as "paid" where you can specify that payment was with a check or money order.

There are still a few old-school buyers who pay for everything with money orders, and even fewer who will pay with a check and don't mind waiting for it to clear. My experience has their number at around 1-2% of buyers paying with something other than Paypal though, and for some reason those also tend to be the cheaper items (perhaps even old-school buyers want that "Buyer Protection" on the more expensive items?)

As for the legality of requiring a method of payment (Paypal) that their company also controls, they get around that by allowing sellers to also specify other similar payment methods (ProPay, Skrill). Of course, nobody actually uses those options, but they are still options so from a legal standpoint, it's not a monopoly. You can also specify in-person payment/pickup, which will also kill your sale potential, but again that's beside the point legally speaking. That's all from a lay perspective, and there may be some argument for a de facto monopoly that could be made, but I would imagine eBay's legal team have things sewn up so that they are protected from any unfair business practice lawsuits, whether their practices seem fair to the average user or not.

[tschock]

Removed after reviewing ebay's accepted payment policy.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Ebay DOES allow you to accept checks and money orders, they just don't allow you to SOLICIT payment by those forms. Any text in your description that looks like you're soliciting those forms of payment will get your listing cancelled (or denied upload in the first place). If the buyer requests to pay with one of those forms though, it's okay, and eBay even has an option in the drop-down menu when you go to mark an item as "paid" where you can specify that payment was with a check or money order.

Lance,

I thought the same thing too until I went back and re-read the policy.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/methods.html - Other payment methods

Checks, money orders, and bank wire transfers aren't allowed for most eBay purchases.

But sellers can offer these payment methods for certain items in some categories, including Motors, Capital and Business Equipment, Real Estate, and Adult Only.

There full list of what categories is allowed is would not cover cards. I was going to point out selling a car for cash (on pickup) in my previous post, but cash on pickup/deliver is explicitly allowed.

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Ebay DOES allow you to accept checks and money orders, they just don't allow you to SOLICIT payment by those forms. Any text in your description that looks like you're soliciting those forms of payment will get your listing cancelled (or denied upload in the first place). If the buyer requests to pay with one of those forms though, it's okay, and eBay even has an option in the drop-down menu when you go to mark an item as "paid" where you can specify that payment was with a check or money order.

No they do not allow cash checks or money orders on MOST items sold on ebay. They want most items to be Paypal or online payments because they are trying to be like Amazon. If they want to be like Aazon, I'm surprised they have not eliminated auctions.

I never said Paypal was a monopoly, I said Paypal is a conflict of interests since ebay owns them and you are already paying a final value fee to them. If you pay to list and get paid via paypal, you end up paying 3 fees to ebay. Ebay has made it close to impossible for a seller to accept any type of payment he or she wants if it is not electronic (with the obvious exception of having a merchant credit card account to accept credit and debit cards), but no one has taken ebay to court here over it. How many buyers really pay with any other form besides Paypal? Ebay bullied sellers into accepting Paypal and it's really at the point of no return. You can't force a business to accept cash, but if I sell something to you, you and I are doing business through ebay, but you are not doing business with ebay, I am, so it should be up to the seller what form of payments he or she will accept. You aren't paying anything to ebay to buy anything from me. I am paying ebay to sell to you.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Acollector

I'm surprised they have not eliminated auctions.

Just give them a little more time. They're working on it.

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Just give them a little more time. They're working on it.

I think you're 100% right. It's ironic, isn't it? Eliminate the thing that made you successful and famous. Like divorcing your wife after she played a large role in making you successful. "Hey thanks for the help and the memories. Now, Getta here dame, ya botha me!"

[thecatspajamas]

Also, based on Taylor's actually reading of the TOS, it looks like my own observations (based on personal experience over 16 years of buying/selling on eBay) is technically incorrect. The options from the drop-down on the "Mark Item As Paid" menu are likely intended for those categories where requiring cash/check/MO payment is allowed.

I would suggest though that eBay does not go out of its way to police the payment method used on the back end. I frequently get messages to the effect of "do you accept checks/money orders?" which could have been blocked by eBay in the same way that they block messages containing e-mail addresses or block listings mentioning those as payment options. There also isn't any problem with marking an item as paid with one of those methods that was listed in a category that shouldn't have qualified for them.

I guess at that point, they would be hampering the buyer rather than the seller if the buyer insists on using those payment methods, and eBay has never been one to turn away any sell made within their system as long as the buyer is happy and eBay is collecting their fees.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Also, based on Taylor's actually reading of the TOS, it looks like my own observations (based on personal experience over 16 years of buying/selling on eBay) is technically incorrect. The options from the drop-down on the "Mark Item As Paid" menu are likely intended for those categories where requiring cash/check/MO payment is allowed.

I would suggest though that eBay does not go out of its way to police the payment method used on the back end. I frequently get messages to the effect of "do you accept checks/money orders?" which could have been blocked by eBay in the same way that they block messages containing e-mail addresses or block listings mentioning those as payment options. There also isn't any problem with marking an item as paid with one of those methods that was listed in a category that shouldn't have qualified for them.

I guess at that point, they would be hampering the buyer rather than the seller if the buyer insists on using those payment methods, and eBay has never been one to turn away any sell made within their system as long as the buyer is happy and eBay is collecting their fees.

Ebay doesn't make it easy though, with that drop down menu. I've clicked on check or M.O. several times and then have gone on to try a print a mailing label through Ebay, only to get a message "Can't print mailing label until customer had paid for the item".

Dammit, I just told you they paid for the item........you don't believe me Ebay?

I think at this point this is mostly for International customers though. Believe it or not I still have some European customers who like to send cash through the mail. Makes label making, and payment confirmation a pain.

[GoldenAge50s]

You can make labels in PayPal no matter how you get paid, even from Net54 BST---Just use the multi-order shipping option & create any label to anybody for any kind of pymt. No explaination needed.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by GoldenAge50s

You can make labels in PayPal no matter how you get paid, even from Net54 BST---Just use the multi-order shipping option & create any label to anybody for any kind of pymt. No explaination needed.

Yes, but it creates a lot of extra steps you wouldn't need if Ebay just recognized the payment to begin with. It also negates any commercial shipping discount you receive through the Ebay system, which can sometimes be a decent chunk on International shipments.

I used to use the Multi-Order shipping tool all the time but have moved over to a combination of Ebay shipping and Stamps.com. The Paypal system was glitching up all the time and never kept up the USPS rate changes in a timely manner.

[thecatspajamas]

Dave,
Did you know that if you're already using stamps.com, you can use the Batch shipping option to pull your eBay order information (including addresses), print the labels, and have it automatically report back the tracking info to eBay and mark the items as shipped?

I've been using stamps.com for years to print my postage (since before Paypal/eBay added the option) because not all of my sales are through eBay, and I like having the standard interface regardless of where I'm shipping to. I also like that it stores the shipping information for much longer than eBay, and keeps all of your shipping info in one place regardless of what platform you sold the item you're shipping on. Recently discovering the ability to import eBay orders was just icing on the cake for me, and saves me a lot of copy/pasting.

Stamps.com may not be for everybody (doesn't really make sense for low-volume sellers), but thought I'd throw that out there since you're already using it.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I would suggest though that eBay does not go out of its way to police the payment method used on the back end. I frequently get messages to the effect of "do you accept checks/money orders?" which could have been blocked by eBay in the same way that they block messages containing e-mail addresses or block listings mentioning those as payment options. There also isn't any problem with marking an item as paid with one of those methods that was listed in a category that shouldn't have qualified for them.

Totally agree with this. Like you indicated, ebay could catch more of this easily, if they wanted to. They already have checks in place on messages to try and catch email addresses. They could do it for other keywords too.

I just received this yesterday: "i do not have pay pal but i have 628 pos, feedbacks and 0 neg feedbacks i pay with post office money orders can i bid thanks". So if this guy is telling the truth, ya think ebay would have found something suspicious about someone with this many feedbacks (ie buys) that doesn't use paypal, regardless of monitoring message content?

I think ebay's intent is to minimize this as much as possible. And I don't think that 1-2% of the people who still use cash/check/MO are taking a big chunk out of the ebay/paypal pie. So they let it slide. Even for my "nickel-and-dime" sales, ebay still makes a bigger chunk on keeping me rather than shutting me down for a rare, "minor" infraction. If someone was doing this on a regular basis though, might be a different story.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Dave,
Did you know that if you're already using stamps.com, you can use the Batch shipping option to pull your eBay order information (including addresses), print the labels, and have it automatically report back the tracking info to eBay and mark the items as shipped?

I've been using stamps.com for years to print my postage (since before Paypal/eBay added the option) because not all of my sales are through eBay, and I like having the standard interface regardless of where I'm shipping to. I also like that it stores the shipping information for much longer than eBay, and keeps all of your shipping info in one place regardless of what platform you sold the item you're shipping on. Recently discovering the ability to import eBay orders was just icing on the cake for me, and saves me a lot of copy/pasting.

Stamps.com may not be for everybody (doesn't really make sense for low-volume sellers), but thought I'd throw that out there since you're already using it.

Lance,

Yes, I use the batch on Stamps.com. Very convenient. I still use Ebay shipping for larger boxes though. Better commercial discounts and the sizing and Insurance tools on Stamps leaves something to be desired. Can't beat Stamps for smaller 1st Class packages though.

[thecatspajamas]

Good to know on the bigger packages. Thanks for that tip. I'm typically shipping more smalls and flats, but will definitely keep that in mind for the odd big box. Wish I had discovered the import option a long time ago, as it has definitely sped up the shipping process over the last couple of months.

[Acollector]

You know, I have never printed a shipping label, and never bought postage online. I hand write every package and go to the post office and pay the postage there. I really hate that everything has become computerized and virtual. That's part of the reason I like dealing with money orders and checks. It's physical it's there. You have to go to the bank and deposit it, interact with other people. We've lost a lot of human contact thanks to cellular phones and the inter net. When something is printed on paper, if stored correctly, can be looked at 300 years from now. With a computer, it's a lot tougher, unless it's an email from the king of Nigeria telling you he has $1 million for you if you give him your account number. I had an external hard drive that lost me over 300 pictures I never printed. That might be part of the reason I am anti digital to a point. A computer virus can't delete what's on paper. I like protecting and saving things and history.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Acollector

You know, I have never printed a shipping label, and never bought postage online. I hand write every package and go to the post office and pay the postage there. I really hate that everything has become computerized and virtual. That's part of the reason I like dealing with money orders and checks. It's physical it's there. You have to go to the bank and deposit it, interact with other people. We've lost a lot of human contact thanks to cellular phones and the inter net. When something is printed on paper, if stored correctly, can be looked at 300 years from now. With a computer, it's a lot tougher, unless it's an email from the king of Nigeria telling you he has $1 million for you if you give him your account number. I had an external hard drive that lost me over 300 pictures I never printed. That might be part of the reason I am anti digital to a point. A computer virus can't delete what's on paper. I like protecting and saving things and history.

Yeesh, I can't imagine hand-addressing the 100-200 packages per week that I ship, not to mention dealing with the handful that I would inevitably mis-copy some of the info. I am on a first name basis with all of the clerks at my local post office from dropping off and picking up packages. I think they would probably be LESS friendly though if they knew I was going to be standing at the counter for an hour every time I walked through the door.

I get where you're coming from with the photos, but I think I would miss photos lost from a failed hard drive more in 50 years than I would records of who I shipped packages to. I too have learned the hard way the value of a back-up system that is updated regularly. I just don't get as sentimental about old business records.

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Yeesh, I can't imagine hand-addressing the 100-200 packages per week that I ship, not to mention dealing with the handful that I would inevitably mis-copy some of the info. I am on a first name basis with all of the clerks at my local post office from dropping off and picking up packages. I think they would probably be LESS friendly though if they knew I was going to be standing at the counter for an hour every time I walked through the door.

I get where you're coming from with the photos, but I think I would miss photos lost from a failed hard drive more in 50 years than I would records of who I shipped packages to. I too have learned the hard way the value of a back-up system that is updated regularly. I just don't get as sentimental about old business records.

I wouldn't say I am sentimental about business records, it's more keeping an almost foolproof (fire, flood, and theft being the fools that disprove it) methods of saving the records in case they are ever needed. I don't delete email and have had to look back 5 years and got my information, so it's sort of like insurance. It's seems like a waste until the day you need it, then you're glad you have it.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by Acollector

You know, I have never printed a shipping label, and never bought postage online. I hand write every package and go to the post office and pay the postage there. I really hate that everything has become computerized and virtual. That's part of the reason I like dealing with money orders and checks. It's physical it's there. You have to go to the bank and deposit it, interact with other people. We've lost a lot of human contact thanks to cellular phones and the inter net. When something is printed on paper, if stored correctly, can be looked at 300 years from now. With a computer, it's a lot tougher, unless it's an email from the king of Nigeria telling you he has $1 million for you if you give him your account number. I had an external hard drive that lost me over 300 pictures I never printed. That might be part of the reason I am anti digital to a point. A computer virus can't delete what's on paper. I like protecting and saving things and history.

You must have a ton of extra time and money on your hands. I save a ton of time by printing my labels (from both my eBay stores) at my desk. I also get a pretty nice discount as well as free tracking. I do print out a sales record for each sale and have those records all the way back to 1997.

Jeff

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

You must have a ton of extra time and money on your hands.
Jeff

Actually I do. I'm actually spending some extra time as we speak. Money though, in about 2 and a half years I should be good. I consider myself retired, though I'm no where near 65. Unemployed people look for work, I'm not looking for work, so therefore I am the other one. Maybe that's one reason I am ok with human contact since I don't have to commute to work with all that crap. I never liked it and never will. I don't take pleasure in riding a crowded subway train and having someone's elbow in my mouth.

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by Acollector

You know, I have never printed a shipping label, and never bought postage online. I hand write every package and go to the post office and pay the postage there. I really hate that everything has become computerized and virtual. That's part of the reason I like dealing with money orders and checks. It's physical it's there. You have to go to the bank and deposit it, interact with other people. We've lost a lot of human contact thanks to cellular phones and the inter net. When something is printed on paper, if stored correctly, can be looked at 300 years from now. With a computer, it's a lot tougher, unless it's an email from the king of Nigeria telling you he has $1 million for you if you give him your account number. I had an external hard drive that lost me over 300 pictures I never printed. That might be part of the reason I am anti digital to a point. A computer virus can't delete what's on paper. I like protecting and saving things and history.

You do realize that you are complaining about technology on an internet message board?

[Acollector]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

You do realize that you are complaining about technology on an internet message board?

Isn't it deliciously ironic?

[thehoodedcoder]

Originally Posted by Acollector

You know, I have never printed a shipping label, and never bought postage online. I hand write every package and go to the post office and pay the postage there. I really hate that everything has become computerized and virtual. That's part of the reason I like dealing with money orders and checks. It's physical it's there. You have to go to the bank and deposit it, interact with other people. We've lost a lot of human contact thanks to cellular phones and the inter net. When something is printed on paper, if stored correctly, can be looked at 300 years from now. With a computer, it's a lot tougher, unless it's an email from the king of Nigeria telling you he has $1 million for you if you give him your account number. I had an external hard drive that lost me over 300 pictures I never printed. That might be part of the reason I am anti digital to a point. A computer virus can't delete what's on paper. I like protecting and saving things and history.

Until your house burns down. Who do blame then? Surely it must be someone's fault other than yours.

A simple backup is all any normal person needs to ensure they are not their own victim.

As far as doing stuff manually. That is for the birds.

Kevin