Man shippings killing me!

[Nickleanddime]

Started a ebay account a few weeks ago. Been selling alot of stuff my only problem is the shipping! My monies get held for 21 days until I can use them, I'm just getting my first payment this past week. I have to wait till the 5th to get my most recent sales. Asked PayPal why they said I don't have a positive feedback so they wait till its delivered to release the funds. I even asked about why their not releasing the shipping portion like they said they do. Same reason not a established seller. It won't be so bad when I get my funds, but now I'm taking cash outta bills to ship for now. Lol oh well cost of business I know, but I guess really my complaint is. Why does PayPal tell you you can use pending translations to pay the shipping fee. If they can take my sellers fees out of that pending should be able to release my shipping?

Any body else have to do this when they started selling?

 

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[Iron Patch]

I'm sure many, if not all, new sellers on ebay deal with the same thing. When you consider you're basically starting your own business it's a pretty minimal thing to deal with starting up. As a buyer I can tell you I am very glad ebay has this in place as it has greatly cut down the amount of fraud that goes on.I would rather you have to wait for your money than me lose mine.

 

[Nickleanddime]

I understand your points as I feel the same way. As far as the cost of starting a business, yes its a very cheap alternative to a store. It was more of a question if I was doing something wrong then a complaint really lol. I did a little research and found out if you print through ebay you get reimbursed. In 24 hours. If you go and print on the actual PayPal site it costs you up front. I have to ship some items today so ill printing on ebay and see what happens. Thanks for your comment.

 

[Tallone]

Yes, it is a bit of hassle to have to wait a few week to access the money people have paid you. Because this is, in part, driven by your feedback score, I include a statement something like the following in all my listings to encourage buyers to leave feedback for me:

"I will always give positive feedback for a smooth transaction and prompt payment. I would greatly appreciate receiving positive Ebay feedback if you are pleased with your purchase and my service."

I make a point of ALWAYS leaving positive feedback for my buyers (if they handled the transaction properly). Despite all this, I still only get about half my buyers to leave feedback for me. Good luck, Nickleanddime. Things get easier the longer you work the system.

 

[diggummup]

I always print shipping labels via ebay. It saves me money and time. I only use Paypal labels when i'm shipping a non ebay item. Before long this issue will be a non issue, you'll make it.

 

[Nickleanddime]

I printed from ebay last night and it still took it out of my checking lol. Oh well like you said it'll get easier just have to make it through the first month. I'm use to the f2f transactions, eBay is more like business ownership then what I thought, but the money is alot better on some items. Most aren't even worth posting, I just gotta learn the eBay ropes. Have a great day.

 

[Beachkid23]

If it helps at all this is where I get my supplies for shipping. Most of my boxes are off uline.com. I use mostly poly mailers for a lot of other stuff. You can get those off eBay pretty cheap. Bubble fast.com is another site where I get a lot of stuff. Then all my bunble wrap comes from Home Depot. And any larger boxes come from Dollar General or out of the recycling dumpster.

 

[cyberdan]

Right now you should be selling light weight and cheap items. That way you can get a lot of feed back sooner. But everybody does not leave feedback. For me 57% of my sales gets feedback (good and bad)

 

[Nickleanddime]

That's all I'm selling is smalls. I kinda messed up at first shipping flat rate boxes instead of running to the PO. I bought a scale today so that'll take care of that. One person gave me feedback today so hopefully that'll make a difference. Another thing I'm doing I'm putting to much stock in the "auction" by starting out low and expecting the people to jump it up. But it's not working that way and I think it's driving buyers away. When I see a low price on something that I know is worth more first thing I think, what are they not telling lol. Thank everyone.

 

[Nickleanddime]

Been going over my ads and I got a list of my mess ups so far.
1. Bad pictures
2. Shipping cost for buyer
3. Starting price to high with high shipping. Ex. Item worth $5 but starts at $3 and shipping is $5.
4. Wording in title for search results.

 

[Beachkid23]

Find other sellers that have the same things as you in the completed listings. Then list it like theirs. Maybe not exactly, but it will help you out. Keep the title simple, use name brand of whatever it is. Key words, vintage, antique, Ect. And if your package is under 13oz it can go first class. Which is a lot cheaper. Also when you get into insurance on eBay shipping, I don't insure anything under $75. But that's up to the seller.

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Been going over my ads and I got a list of my mess ups so far.
1. Bad pictures
2. Shipping cost for buyer
3. Starting price to high with high shipping. Ex. Item worth $5 but starts at $3 and shipping is $5.
4. Wording in title for search results.

Mess ups according to whom? Ebay?

Items 2 and 3 on your list look fine. Don't let them push you into taking a loss just because they think you should do free shipping. What else are you supposed to do? Sell a $5 item for $3 and eat the $5 shipping?

 

[Nickleanddime]

Mess ups according to whom? Ebay?

Items 2 and 3 on your list look fine. Don't let them push you into taking a loss just because they think you should do free shipping. What else are you supposed to do? Sell a $5 item for $3 and eat the $5 shipping?

No no one told me it was wrong, just figured it might be a little of it. It'll get better after Black Fridays sales I'm hoping.

 

[mjlalt]

I love to use padded flat rate envelopes for shipping many items. It costs about $5 for shipping
Plus they are free from the post office.
Sometimes I will pack the item in a box (for extra protection ) and then stick the box in a padded flat envelope.

Also with priority mail you can schedule a carrier pickup

 

[Ursus]

I love to use padded flat rate envelopes for shipping many items. It costs about $5 for shipping Plus they are free from the post office. Sometimes I will pack the item in a box (for extra protection ) and then stick the box in a padded flat envelope. Also with priority mail you can schedule a carrier pickup

You can order supplies from USPS website or through eBay (they have a couple sizes not offered by USPS website). Plus, get some sales up you will get discounts by printing postage through eBay. Then what they pay for parcel shipping will often be cheaper as priority mail. They are happy they got it faster. You are happy that you saved a few cents plus can have the postman come pick it up at your door!

 

[mjlalt]

One neat thing with Carrier pickup is you only need one of your packages to be priority to have all your packages picked up.

I once had 10 packages going parcel and only one priority envelope and was able to scheduled a pickup.

 

[Beachkid23]

You can put in that you have 1 priority then how ever many ground. Then take out the priority package. Then finish the rest. Your good to go!

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

A big player is fiding the right way to ship things....You can set up a FedEx account for free, and they give you a good discounted rate, and dont charge you until the end of the month...Ive burned myself on a few things...but others I have actually profited

And yea, I hate the way they started the Hold on monies for 21 days, usally it doest really take that long, but it can be annoying....I sure do miss the good ol days of Ebay....when it was fun to sell

 

[Nickleanddime]

Wow what a bunch of info added. Thank you everybody, ive been thinking about that pick up saves on gas. Igot burned by ebay today sucking my sellers fees out with out my approval and I even have it with no auto withdraws, everything is suppose to go with my approval. Got me for a $32 bounce fee at my bank. I'm fixing that though today, I had a coupon for a free green dot card, I'm going to use it for payments and my checking as a deposit that way if the money isn't there no problem. This 21 days sucks I just got my first sale money going through today(2 hours to late), so I can start rolling now l. Thanks again everybody, were all in this toghter.

 

[cazisme]

The Ebay discounted postage rate is great you get to print postage label first class and it like 15% cheaper than if you went to post office and they track it.If you go in and make paypal your proffered payment they take it out of your paypall not your charge card.