Step #7 Pay me, please
So you have come up with a good, eye catching title, honed your photo skills, decided that it is ok to ship overseas and weighed your package. You have now reached the payment section on the sell your item form. You do want them to give you money for your item, but how does it get to you? You have a few options:
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Cash
Arrives in the mail, not a good way to go. Every now and then someone will send cash in an envelope, but I never would consent to this if I knew they were going to do it.
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Money Order
Arrives in the mail, and is a very acceptable form of payment. I like money orders because you actually have to have the cash to purchase one. In addition, it takes extra trouble to get in the car, get the cash, go to the store and purchase the money order, and then actually stick it in the mail. Previously I discussed the fact that you can cash postal money orders, both from the US and abroad, at any United States Post Office. I like ‘em.
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Check
Arrives in the mail. This method scare some people, but I (truthfully!) have only had one personal check bounce since 2000. Now that I have said that I will probably have one bounce tomorrow, since that is usually how it goes. I would gauge whether or not you accept personal checks based on what you are selling. If you are selling used car radios, ipods, or big ticket items you may reconsider. When I sell a Louis Vuitton I will not accept personal checks-or, if I did, I would wait until it cleared my bank. Trouble with waiting for it to clear the bank is who the heck knows when that happens? At least at my bank they can’t give me a clue as to when it takes place.
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Paypal
Internet payment, and bottom line you must be prepared to take this form of payment. 99% of all of my transactions are paid via Paypal. I firmly believe you will lose bids if you don’t accept Paypal. You will need to register with Paypal in order to accept payments. Also, there is some seller protection with Paypal, but you need to make sure you are shipping to a confirmed address and also ship your package with delivery confirmation (will discuss next post). When you are just starting out you will not (at least at this writing) incur any fees with Paypal if you do direct deposit. If you start to sell more on a regular basis and make more than $500 per month they will start charging you fees which pretty much equate to roughly what you pay in Final Auction Value Fees. Kinda like giving ebay an arm for your Final Auction Value Fee and then giving Paypal (also owned by ebay) a leg. The fees add up when you start selling on a regular basis. So, if I sound a tad bit bitter about Paypal I guess I am, somewhat. Someone needs to come up with another form of Internet payment…and someone probably is as I write.
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Wire Transfer
I have done this once and it wierded me out. If they inquire if you would accept this method I would turn it down. Too many unsavory things transpire via wire transfer.
I am sure there are other ways for people to pay you, I just utilize the methods listed above. Just remember you don’t ship the item until you have been paid.
Step #6.2 Help me ship my package!!!
For those of you who have sold on ebay before, you are allowed to skip this post, and maybe many other posts, and read something else. Many of you have entertained the idea of selling before, but for whatever the reason, have never taken the plunge. One reason may be that you are intimidated by the thought of mailing a package. Or, maybe what stops you in your tracks is having to figure out first how much it costs to mail something. It can seem a little overwhelming. Hopefully I can help clear the fog.
To start, if you are going to sell on a regular basis it behooves you to purchase a small postal scale. They are available on ebay, at most office supply stores, and anymore you might be able to find one at Wal-Mart or Target. The scale I have I purchased at an office supply store and it has served me very well. I think I paid around $49 for this Pelouze scale back in 2000, just to give you an idea (my scale still has January 1999 postal rates on it-those were the days!).
But wait Tracy-I don’t want to buy a postal scale!
Now, if you are waffling back and forth on if you want to sell on a regular basis and not sure that you want to puchase a postal scale, you do have another option. The other option is more time consuming, but will still work. First, after you decide what you want to sell, find a box to ship it in. Priority Mail boxes are free to you at the post office so it is handy if you can get one of those first. Once you have secured a box, take it to your local post office and weigh it there-most post offices have a scale for public use somewhere in their lobby. If not, ask the postal clerk to weigh it for you. Write down the weight. This is all you need to get started.
When picking carriers, it seems that you have multiple choices, or at least that is what UPS, FedEX, and others want you to think. Personally, I ship 99.9% of my packages via USPS Priority Mail. For one, you get a box from them. Second, I have found them to be a tad bid cheaper than UPS. Also, Priority Mail shipping is generally faster than UPS ground, so your customer gets it faster. Last, I can never correctly estimate shipping costs via the UPS website. I am always pretty much dead on right with the USPS website. So, personally, this is my carrier of choice. On occasion I will use UPS for a large item, but it is a very rare occurance and you have to take it to a UPS store. So, in a nutshell, I would consider that USPS Priority Mail to be the method of choice. Please note that if you utilize the services of a mail store they will add a charge onto your bill above just the postage price. This is a very expensive route to consider if you wind up mailing multiple packages.
Sometimes you will have a customer who wants the cheapest method of shipping possible. I understand them wanting to save money, but it is often a hassle for you as a seller. Parcel post vs. Priority mail generally only saves the customer $1-$2. But, some people still ask for it. Don’t forget to change boxes when you ship parcel post.
You must become very comfortable using the USPS website. You will often need to use it to compute your shipping. Ebay has a handy shipping calculator but there will be times you need to compute it yourself (say, if someone wants an overseas quote). Email me if you need help at first.
Step #6.1 (Continued) Shipping Overseas-Customs Forms
For every package that goes overseas, you will need to attach a customs form declaring what you are shipping. There are two forms for customs that are used but only one per package is required (which one you need is determined by size).
For smaller packages there is a CN-22 slip that is used.
Larger packages require a CP-72 form that produces duplicate copies.
At first, they may seem intimdating. But, just take your time and read. If in doubt, take it to your post office. Ask for help. They fill these out all the time. Don’t let this keep you from shipping overseas-once you fill them out a few times you know which areas on the forms need to be filled out.
To give some insight, on the CP-72 form these are the areas you need to fill out:
Step #6 Shipping Options: Is it dangerous to ship overseas?
Ever since I started on ebay I have shipped internationally. I view overseas sales as just another bidder, who may or may not have great command of the English language. The risk was greater back in 2000 than it is today.
I will ship to any country in the world that has postal delivery. Regarding payment, if your winning bidder can get to their local post office, buy a postal money order in US Dollars and then mail it to you, you can cash it at you local post office. Not everyone is aware of this being a possibility. Just make sure to tell your buyer to make it out in Dollars. Or, they can pay you with Paypal. As far as I know, as of writing this post, Paypal offers buyer protection on international sales paid via Paypal to confirmed addresses. This may change so please do not quote me on this. Clarification from Paypal is not easy to get regarding international sales. They are very vague in what they commit to so on your higher priced items you may wish to restrict selling internationally.
In all my time on ebay I have had one bad experience with an overseas bidder. A girl from Sweden or Switzerland or Germany left me negative feedback within 30 minutes of an auction ending. Made me mad, and frankly I don’t think you should be allowed to leave feedback so early in a transaction. Kinda silly when you think about it.
You must be aware though that once the package leaves the US, you are relying on the goodness of the postal service in the country that you are shipping to. Some countries, such as Greece or Lithuania, do seem to take a bit more time for the package to reach its destination. Warn your bidders prior to shipping to be patient. Bottom line, there is no way to track what is going on when it leaves our borders.
I once sold an Hermes agenda to a man in Switzerland. This was prior to Paypal being geared up to take international payments. He send $128 in cash in an envelope he cleverly marked, ‘Do not bend-photographs’. Well, someone (customs clerk maybe?) decided to peek in the envelope and mysteriously the envelope never arrived. Finally, after the poor man tried three times he finally emailed that he could no longer afford to try and pay for his item this way. I do not advocate your international bidders sending you cash in the mail. Whoever you are, it is hard to walk away from cash staring you in the face, especially if no one is looking over your shoulder.
Should you sell internationally? My vote is yes. If I sell 100 items maybe 4 of them will go overseas. It is just one more way to increase interest and pump up bids on your item. Now, please note one important precaution: if I am selling an item of considerable value, I often will NOT allow overseas bidders. This is because of the vagueness of Paypal regarding international transactions. I would not encourage international sales on what you would consider a high dollar item, and you must be the judge of that.
Free online translation is availible from Alta Vista.
¡Tenga un buen día! (Go give the free translation service a try. I have had to use it before!)
Beware: Replica Designer Handbags on eBay
While researching for another post, I was perusing some auctions of Gucci handbags. As a result, I must comment on the number of fake, non authentic handbags and accessories being sold on ebay. The sales are rampant, and I abhor the fact that it is allowed. Bottom line, replica bags are illegal and are guilty of trademark infringement. There is no place where this is legal or even ok with the designers of these handbags.
To start, here is a very short list on if a bag is fake:
- There is not a designer who wholesales their bags to individual dealers. If someone states this in an auction they are lying or just don’t know they should not be selling these bags. Ask yourself the question: why would a designer sell wholesale to someone working out of the trunk of their car in Topeka? Doesn’t that kind of sully their name?
- If someone claims that they got the purse as a gift, and it just was not their style, is too big/small, or whatever, run like the wind. Many of the bags these people are claiming were gifted to them would retail for hundreds of dollars, if not over a thousand. How many times has your sister given you a $1000 purse as a birthday gift? Come on!
- Does the item have nice, plastic wrapped handles? Fake, fakety, fake fake!!! Silica bag still inside the Louis Vuitton or Gucci? Not present in the real thing. Run!
- The designers most often faked are Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Kate Spade, Prada, Dior, and Michael Kors. The list is much more extensive, but please know that if you want one of these bags, buy from a reputable seller. I would be wary of someone who has feedback less than 10, who is stating they just want to clean a few brand new Louis Vuitton bags out of their closet. Puh-leeze!
- Also, take care of the person who is as nice as they can be, answers all your questions, story sounds good, but you still don’t have a good feeling about the item being sold. Many, many times people have no idea that the bag they are selling is fake. They just don’t know. Don’t blow a large amount of cash on something that you are not 100% sure about. No matter how nice they are.
- There are now many replica bags that are listed as AAA quaility replicas. I have seen these myself and they are very good. The average purse buyer would not be able to tell the difference. Here again, buy from a reputable seller. Many sellers, including myself, have seen quite literally thousands of handbags. Chances are, we can tell the difference. Look at their feedback and what else they sell prior to bidding.
This will not be my last post on replica items. Lots and lots of money is being made from the fakes. The person on the bottom end of the food chain who provided the handbags for that purse party you went to is usually a hard core criminal. There are stupid purse party girls who have been arrested, much to their surprise.
Step #5.1 Satisfaction Guaranteed
Do you remember your first purchase on ebay? Maybe it was even back in the day before Paypal, and you sent a check or money order in the mail. Not without some trepidation, I am sure. Everyone could be a potential crook! They may never send me my item! Or, they will do a bait and switch-take a picture of a great item and will send me a cruddy one instead! Fears, perhaps not unfounded, ran through your mind. I think it is safe to say that the person buying on ebay for the first time may feel the same way, even today.
Which begs a question: should I offer a satisfaction guarantee? Boy, I wish I had a good, pat answer to give, but after years of experience I feel it is a personal choice. That being said, I choose to offer my customers a no questions asked satisfaction guarantee if they contact me within three days of receiving the item. My thought has always been that I must allow for my opinion and the opinion of my buyers to vary. And we may not always see the item in the same way.
I sell designer purses and accessories. If electronic equipment was my speciality, I may not feel the same way. Some categories lend themselves to people who are a bit shadier than others, so consider what you have chosen to sell.
Will you get burned by offering a satisfaction guarantee? Maybe. But I can only think of a few times when I have begrudgingly refunded money. Like the time a female pastor said that the interior of a purse was dirty when in reality it was just the adhesive bleeding through the fabric that adhered the lining to the purse. But, in her defense, I should have noted it! And she was a pastor!
To be steadfast in your grit and determination not to refund money will not earn you friends or repeat customers. Just keep that in mind, and comtemplate if it is worth a negative on your feedback. Especially if your feedback is under 100-ouch!
Step #5 “KISS” Your Text
Growing up, did you ever have an English teacher who came into class, put an apple on the table, and then told you to pull out a piece of notebook paper and write a page describing the apple? Well, I didn’t either, but it sure is a good exercise in learning how to describe an item. 
As you list more and more items, your text will come quite naturally and you will know what it is you need to include. Just starting out though, as an ebay newbie it may seem more challenging.
“KISS” your text. In other words, when thinking of what to say about your item, keep it simple stupid (no unkind feelings intended)! You need not go into marginal or unrelated blah-blah. Your bidders want to know the facts:
- Size- Small, medium or large if applicable
- Dimensions- Height and weight
- Color-Does the real color match what is represented in your photos?
- Condition-Here, you must be truthful. It will bite you in the butt otherwise. I feel it is better to err on the side of caution.
- Special Features- Is there something about your item that is unique? Something that sets it apart from other items listed on ebay? Toot your item’s horn here.
- Shipping Terms-You have gotta know this at the beginning of the auction. People don’t want surprises here.
- Return Policy-You may or may not have thought about this yet, but it is something to comtemplate. Someone will ask you. I will cover this in detail at a later date.
OK, that about covers it. Wait…are you sure this is enough? Yep, if this is all you include it would be fine. Now, for example, on condition, let us look at this Gucci checkbook holder:
For condition, one could write:
The condition of this checkbook holder wallet is good. Lots of life left.
Wow, that sounds ok by me the bidder, I will bid high! But wait, is that wear I see on the four corners? Will I be loving this item when I open up my box? Maybe…or maybe not. Perhaps the condition should read this way:
The overall condition of this wallet is used, but still looks nice. There is wear showing on all four corners-I tried to catch it in the photos (provide supporting photos). Also, please note that the leather on the inside is split from the side-I actually think it may have been previously used for a side tear checkpad (see supporting photo). ‘GG’ logo canvas is in great shape with no splits.
Hmmm, maybe I won’t bid as high, but if I do bid I realize that the checkbook holder has a few issues, but I think I can live with them. Do you see the difference? Many, many times I see sellers who want you to look at the item through rose colored glasses. This is unfair to your bidders and it will reek havoc on your feedback. You may get by with it from time to time, but it is a risky slope to travel (and…why I offer a satisfaction guarantee on all of my items-I want happy buyers!).
To close, there is more to cover on text. But, if you are wanting to list your item today this is a good beginning. Email me if you have questions or need help.
Step #4 Continued: The Do’s of Taking Pictures
It sounds so simple: put good pictures in your auction. But then why are so many auctions filled with poor, out of focus shots? Still baffles me. Also, to remind you, it is a must to include multiple pictures in your auction. You are losing money by only including one picture. Please sign up for ebay’s Picture Manager. This money saving tool is very cleverly hidden among the dusty web halls of ebay. I found out about it via my PowerSeller newsletter. Worth looking into.
So, without further ado. Here is a nice good looking shot of our Coach wallet:
No clutter, just a good front view. Of course, you want to include the backside of your item. Also, if applicable, you would include the side, bottom, and top, depending on what you are selling.
Personally, I like to show how the wallet opens. Realizing that you will not always be selling a wallet, I just want to emphasize that your photos need to highlight the features of your object. If it does something cool, try to catch it in a photo.
Next, and most importantly, if your item is marked or hallmarked in any way show it in a photo! When buying something off of ebay people like to see the mark that distinguishes what they are buying from something else, especially if this hallmark makes it cost more money. Do not rely on them taking your word for it. Too many crooked sellers out there…
I also like to include some extras. Maybe a picture that your competition is too lazy to include, but something that buyers like to see. Speaking of wallets in particular, the coin purse area often gets quite soiled from dirty coins. Coach lines many of their purses and wallets with pretty signature fabric. People like to see it:
Last-if you are going to sell jewelry of any kind you need to get really good with your photos. If your item is 14KT, people want to see the hallmark. If your piece is signed, people want to see it. For example:
Just by showing the signature of famed Navajo jewelry maker Tommy Singer the price on this turquoise necklace went from $10 for an unsigned piece to at least $100 for a signed Tommy Singer piece. Nice return on one picture. Next topic: your text and why you wish you had paid better attention in English class.
Step #4: The Don’ts of Taking pictures
There cannot be enough emphasis placed on the importance of good photos in your auction. As you progress you will become better. I feel very strongly that the photos are much more important than the actual text of your auction. If your item has a very large blemish, the photo speaks volumes over anything you will attempt to write.
Today I will cover the don’ts of picture taking. Many good laughs are provided by people taking pictures on the fly. What we don’t want to see: your dirty house, your unkempt fingernails touching the item I am about to bid big money on, your foot (without sock of course), your unmade bed, your stained carpet, your messy desk, your packing materials, your fake plants, the interior of your car or trunk, your item as seen through your camera phone, and on and on…
Here you go, and by the way, for the sake of example we want to sell a Coach wallet:
Whose messy desk is this? And what is for sale? (The scary thing about this is that I did no prepping or staging for this photo whatsoever…!)
Now, where is the rest of the wallet? My guess as a buyer is that the portion left off probably has a big scratch, or at least that is what I may imagine.
I am a strong believer is cropping your photos. But, give the buyer a little perspective. They have no idea how big this wallet is in real life.
I won’t even comment on this one. As obvious as it is, you see it all the time. And then they wonder why their item has not sold.
All in all, not really a bad photo. But, clear all the excess away. Your buyer wants the wallet, not all your home furnishings.
This one is not so bad. But, if I am about to spend lots of money on an item, do I want to know you have been putting it on your landscaping?
These are some rockin’ shoes. But they are not for sale, so get ‘em out of the picture!
I could really take bad pictures all day. Just know you don’t want them in an auction. Next up, pictures of some do’s.
A comment about debt
I feel compelled to comment about something I heard on Dave Ramsey’s radio program. A lady for San Antonio called in with $90,000 worth of credit card debt. Just makes my head swim. Now, I know that my blog is primarily dedicated to helping people learn how to be successful on ebay. However, if there ever was somebody who needed to sell something to make money it is that lady. I would love to hear from anyone who has debt and is working their way out of it. More importantly, I am interested to know what you are doing, and if you think ebay can help you.
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