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rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
so I've been buying from ebay for about 2 decades and now I'm getting into selling on there. I've listed 18 things so far, sold 3.

Since I'm a noob seller and things are not flying into the collection box as fast as you'd think would happen with ebay as a platform, you start to question your listings to see if something stupid is being done that turns off buyers.

Has anyone found it's better to list and have buyers pay shipping or is it better to list with seller paying shipping "Free shipping"?

I'm thinking of something like a $10 card. I know you could try to sell it for $7 and charge $3 bubble mailer shipping or just sell for $10 dlvd. Is the ebay buyer psychology such that $7 is cheaper than $10 and purchase the $7 card even though the delivered price is the same as the $10 free shipping card. When I buy, I consider delivered price so I must be an oddball in using the way I buy on ebay to set delivered prices when trying to sell things. I did get what would be a reasonable offer on one item that hasn't sold yet if buyer was paying shipping, but I had to reject it since I listed it with free shipping.

I also wonder if the words "paper envelope" is killing things when I list buck'ish inserts with free shipping to keep the delivered price reasonable. Maybe I should list with buyer paying shipping and let a $1 shipping fee signal to the buyer that to keep shipping fees reasonable they shouldn't be expecting a bubble envelope with tracking?

I also considered it might be ebay as a selling platform not as popular as it once was -- I have a griffey die cut listed a week at a delivered price cheaper than burbank and it's had like 30 views which seems low for what the griffey supposed player collector universe is. Maybe winter kills card activity and 2019 spring training will pick up interest in the hobby? I suppose considering the number of scammers in the card collecting universe, collectors are conditioned to expect something for nothing rather than purchasing for a fair price for that card.
 
Most experienced buyers will usually look at total cost then compare. They know they’re paying roughly the same price but tend to purchase from the free shipping seller. Just my experience throughout the years.
Maybe if you state the PWE will still have the card protected in top load and such instead of saying paper envelope? I’ve never sent out in PWE but have received several without any issues. Sellers always took the time to at least “secure” it in the PWE.
Not sure winter is effecting baseball sales. If people find what they’re after they’re gonna buy. I tend to browse my baseball needs this time of year. Tends to be a little cheaper (depending on the item)

Hope this answers some of your questions. Just my personal opinion and experiences though.


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AnthonyCorona

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2014
9,600
68
Modesto, CA
If you’re selling PWE may I suggest a second eBay account for only PWE and a PayPal business account with micro payments? Small PayPal fees are nice, any card $12 and under benefit from the micro payment option


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swish54_99

Well-known member
Dec 12, 2012
1,160
221
I was in the same boat as you....mainly a buyer and a couple years ago started selling off areas of my collection. Generally haven't sold anything super rare where I was the only one selling a card, so there is competition (mostly sales under $25). Over those years, my selling strategies have changed and molded over time to what I currently do. I started out doing auctions, and wasn't getting what I thought I should. Auction are the way to go if you're just wanting to be done and need the money now, bin/bo are the best way to get top dollar, but will take longer to sell. So started switching over to bin/bo because I need to maximize and am not in a hurry to sell. I also used to charge $3.00 shipping at first and have since changed and sell with free shipping but with the $3.00 factored into my bin/bo price. I think it looks better to have "free shipping" than to have a little lower selling price plus shipping. I don't have any data to back that up, just my preference, but people do love to get things "for free." Plus you if you offer free shipping, the buyer can't ding your shipping stars...not that anyone looks at that anyways.

I would not sell something and send in a pwe...no matter how cheap the card is. You're just leaving yourself open for someone to leave bad feedback and take advantage of you. There's no tracking so they could easily say they never received and ebay would side with them. Even if you offer pwe for $1 and bubble mailer for $3 and clearly say it in your description, you'll eventually get some idiot who claims they didn't know. I won't go lower than $3.99 with free shipping (figuring .99 card and $3 shipping). If it's something low end that I've had out there for months and get an offer over $3, I'll accept and move on just and cut my losses just to move the card.

As far as your last paragraph, I do think ebay has lost a lot of sellers to other selling platforms and isn't as strong as it was 10-15 years ago. It's still the go-to to get eyeballs on your stuff, but there's been a lot of other companies emerging to try and figure out the next on-line selling platform.
 

AnthonyCorona

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2014
9,600
68
Modesto, CA
I would not sell something and send in a pwe...no matter how cheap the card is. You're just leaving yourself open for someone to leave bad feedback and take advantage of you. There's no tracking so they could easily say they never received and ebay would side with them. Even if you offer pwe for $1 and bubble mailer for $3 and clearly say it in your description, you'll eventually get some idiot who claims they didn't know. I won't go lower than $3.99 with free shipping (figuring .99 card and $3 shipping). If it's something low end that I've had out there for months and get an offer over $3, I'll accept and move on just and cut my losses just to move the card.

Respectfully disagree with this. Earlier this year I talked to a guy at my LCS who only sells PWE on eBay. He gave me tips and convinced me to try it out. Made another account and PayPal and have sold a lot more than I ever have. I’ve passed on a lot of cards because paying $3 to ship a buck card isn’t appealing to me. Tracking helps against a buyer claiming they never got an item but there’s many ways to get scammed. I’ve yet (knock on wood) to have any issues, but I’d just refund, block and move on. Just my 2 cents


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Dec 4, 2008
607
3
If you’re selling PWE may I suggest a second eBay account for only PWE and a PayPal business account with micro payments? Small PayPal fees are nice, any card $12 and under benefit from the micro payment option


I would love to hear this explained too! I like the idea of the separate account setup.

As to selling strategies I think the eBay search algorithm favors listings with free shipping, so definitely go that route and just factor in your costs. I used to be willing to sell the really cheap stuff, but with the eBay push to always ship with tracking and the USPS policy change a few years back trying to make thin bubble envelopes treated as a package (still can use first class postage in most states, a few are sticklers) I now won’t bother trying to sell anything under $5. Sometimes I even cut it off below $10. Just not worth the time or hassle. I do usually ship PWE for flat cards under $20-30. If it gets lost I just comp the buyer or replace it and move on. But agreed it makes for a hassle and opens you up to risk. Still, saving $2 in S&H expense on every cheap card adds up quickly.

Anyone here have experience shipping in thin cardboard style mailers like for DVDs and whether those can be done with postage vs treated as a package?
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
pay pal has some easy-to-understand info on micropayments , but in a nutshell :

basic pay pal accounts are charged 2.9% plus a $.30 transaction fee...

accounts set up to accept micropayments are charged 5% plus a $.05 fee.....

as AC mentioned , a $12 transaction is the exact break-even point....

examples -

a $5 transaction gets charged $.45 ($5.00 * .029 = $.15 + $.30 = $.45) in fees for a basic account....
the same $5 transaction gets charged $.30 ($5.00 - .05 = $.25 + $.05 = $.30) using an account set up for micropayments...

a $12 transaction gets charged $.65 ($12.00 * .029 = $.35 + $.30 = $.65) in fees for a basic account....
the same $12 transaction gets charged $.65 ($12.00 - .05 = $.60 + $.05 = $.65) using an account set up for micropayments...

a $20 transaction gets charged $.88 ($20.00 * .029 = $.58 + $.30 = $.65) in fees for a basic account....
the same $20 transaction gets charged $1.05 ($20.00 - .05 = $1.00 + $.05 = $1.05) using an account set up for micropayments...


in short , the lower the total transaction , the bigger the savings for an account with micropayments and the larger the transaction , the greater the savings with the basic account....

i use only one ebay account but i do have and actively use both type pay pal accounts...right now i sell so few items on ebay that i simply set up my payment address for each individual item based upon my anticipated sale price and have had no issues thus far....it also works just fine for off-ebay sales like here , the bench , facebook , or my personal website since i can always provide my buyer with the payment address of choice based on the total...

i'd recommend going to pay pal and searching their FAQ on micropayments....that should give you all the info needed to set up your account for them...
 
Last edited:

djmilhaus

Member
Sep 8, 2014
142
0
Seattle
Low value items are fine to send with PWE and no tracking. Yes, you open yourself up to being scammed as the buyer just needs to tell eBay they never received it. With no tracking, eBay will automatically rule for the buyer and you will refund the entire transaction. Only sell things this way that you are 100% willing to give away for free so when it happens (and it will at some point), you don't get too worked up about it. If you plan to sell both PWE and items with tracking, I'd recommend two different seller accounts on eBay. That way, any bad feedback received on the PWE account won't carry over to your account of higher value items that you send with tracking.

Yes, there are plenty of ways to scam on eBay, this is one of the easier ways and it's low hanging fruit. It won't happen too often as most sellers aren't selling anything valuable enough this way to warrant a scammer seeing interest in it. As soon as it does happen, be certain to block that buyer from buying from you again or they may continue targeting you.

To answer your original question, bake the price of shipping into your asking price and offer free shipping to increase sales. The caveat to offering free shipping is on the returns, you will eat the cost of shipping on returns whatever the reason they return it. If you had the buyer pay for shipping and they claim an INAD (Item Not As Described), you still pay for shipping back but any other return reason, the buyer would be responsible for return shipping.
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
wow, quite a few things in here in the various responses. Let me see if I can knock off some of my replies without adding like 4 more posts to this thread just in replies. ;)

Giving more detail about how I would ship in a PWE makes sense. Maybe just saying "first class shipping in a paper envelope" leaves the impression that i am one of those who just throw a card in an envelope and ship it without any protection. I should add top loader and team bag to my description. I'll try that with my existing listings and edit my PWE template and see what happens.

Interesting about micropayments. I didn't know that existed and should be fine for most of my needs since I'm mainly trying to sell off serial numbered inserts that are mostly just a few bucks in my guestimated sell value. I don't understand why the need for a separate ebay account for PWE sales in case it's because a seller may face a few feedback dings for "not received" or "card damaged" since PWE isn't trackable.

My PWE listed items are for things I estimate are $1-$3 in value before shipping. I figure with something like that, people don't want to pay bubble mailer shipping rates for each card like that. It does give me an idea while reading all the responses that I might want to make 2-3 card lots based on insert or player or team and charge bubble mailer shipment rates. That might make more sense for a buyer to pay bubble mailer shipping rates if they are getting multiple $1-3/value per cards in a shipment.
[MENTION=11924]AnthonyCorona[/MENTION] I have an interest in a PWE selling thread
 

AnthonyCorona

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2014
9,600
68
Modesto, CA
wow, quite a few things in here in the various responses. Let me see if I can knock off some of my replies without adding like 4 more posts to this thread just in replies. ;)

Giving more detail about how I would ship in a PWE makes sense. Maybe just saying "first class shipping in a paper envelope" leaves the impression that i am one of those who just throw a card in an envelope and ship it without any protection. I should add top loader and team bag to my description. I'll try that with my existing listings and edit my PWE template and see what happens.

Interesting about micropayments. I didn't know that existed and should be fine for most of my needs since I'm mainly trying to sell off serial numbered inserts that are mostly just a few bucks in my guestimated sell value. I don't understand why the need for a separate ebay account for PWE sales in case it's because a seller may face a few feedback dings for "not received" or "card damaged" since PWE isn't trackable.

My PWE listed items are for things I estimate are $1-$3 in value before shipping. I figure with something like that, people don't want to pay bubble mailer shipping rates for each card like that. It does give me an idea while reading all the responses that I might want to make 2-3 card lots based on insert or player or team and charge bubble mailer shipment rates. That might make more sense for a buyer to pay bubble mailer shipping rates if they are getting multiple $1-3/value per cards in a shipment.
[MENTION=11924]AnthonyCorona[/MENTION] I have an interest in a PWE selling thread

I like a different account for low end so I can keep all the listings separate. I just reuse the same description making it clear it’s PWE. Micro payments require a PayPal business account so I have two different PayPal accounts.
Instead of a thread I’ll just post here.
1. As I said already, micro payments require a new PayPal business account. Create one and call PayPal to set that up. It took me about 4 calls before someone finally told me it has to be a PayPal business account.
2. Buy stamps in bulk on eBay, especially if u can catch a coupon. I think my first but was 350 stamps for 135. I also bought like 1000 labels for $6 on eBay.
3. To each their own, I like card saver ones over top loaders. I bought a box of like 100 for $12. They provide a little flexibility with protection.
Any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. People helped me get started and I wanna pay that forward



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