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Ebay questions poll

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rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
More of my ebay research into sports card collector habits as part of another thread about ebay listing things. Just three short questions that I am curious about. I watch listing strategy videos on Youtube and it's all hot women talking about listing clothes so while you might be able to take away some big picture things, it is usually not stuff that necessarily works well at the detail level for selling sports trading cards.


Question 1:

Do you frequently or always use the "Best Offer" button if it exists?



Question 2:

Do you prefer or use the most the Buy-It-Now option or would you rather have auction-style?



Question 3:

If a listing says free shipping and the total price you pay is under $2.50 -- or the listing is a buyer pays shipping and the shipping charge is a buck -- would you be outraged enough for neutral or negative feedback if the card was not shipped in a bubble mailer?

EDIT: Question 4 - do you find red font color in the item description a negative thing or turnoff?
 
Last edited:

Therion

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2008
5,781
389
Looooooosiana!
1. Unless it is an item that I feel will sell while I'm waiting for a response from the seller, I always make an offer if the option is available.

2. This depends on the price of the BIN. If it is slightly above what I was looking to pay, I'd rather hit the BIN than wait out an auction. If the asking price is way over market value, I'm not touching it. Unreasonable pricing makes me assume an unreasonable seller that is going to give me a headache.

3. I expect my free shipping packages to arrive in an envelope. I would only be annoyed enough to leave a neutral or negative if the card was not protected in the envelope.

4. It doesn't bother me, but it also doesn't get my attention.
 

AnthonyCorona

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2014
9,600
68
Modesto, CA
1. I always use BO
2. BINs
3. I'd expect PWE
4. What's an item description? I don’t think anyone reads them except for maybe combined shipping charges


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

gt2590

Super Moderator
Aug 17, 2008
38,660
3,246
Near Philly
1. Unless something is super hot, always use BO. At worst, you can always revise it down.


2. Again, unless super hot item, BIN/BO. Auctions very rarely get as good a price.

3. I'd assume PWE but still should be stated IMO. With option for paying for S/H, especially for multiple items.

4. I use color in my auctions, and more detailed info than most. The color in description actually indicates to me they care more about posting not just listing to get it done. Kind of "mailing it in" which indicates to me a lesser seller.
 

tramers

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
23,287
2,289
hickory nc
i agree with the others . i do try most ways to sell on Ebay , when you're on net many hours a day you experiment
 

banjar

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,540
883
Lafayette, Colorado
1) On the whole, yes. Definitely. But like everything it depends on the price. If something is listed in the ballpark of what I'm willing to pay, I will make an offer. But if something is listed by a hostage holder at 10x its fair value, then I don't bother. The good news is that hostage holders are a small percentage of sellers.

2) Yes, but also depends on the price. If the BIN price is low-to-medium, then I prefer that to waiting out an auction, especially if I get outbid by some dirty rat bastard! But of course I will take an auction over a ridiculous BIN price.

3) Not at all. If shipping is inexpensive, then I don't expect deluxe packaging. Plus, I have never even once had a card damaged due to the cheapness of the shipping medium. What gets me is when shippers gouge their customers for $5 S&H but then send it in a paperboard mailer that costs $0.75, with a buck's worth of postage :-(
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
Feel free to continue answering the 4 questions. Other than curiosity research, here's my thoughts on why I asked...

Question 1:

Do you frequently or always use the "Best Offer" button if it exists?

I've listed 25 items so far, sold 5, so I don't have a huge sample size, but only one of my items has ever received a best offer. I begin to wonder if I should even have a best offer button if noone is going to use it. I welcome someone if they don't like my current BIN to at least try a reasonable offer so that's why I offer the button in my listings.

Question 2:

Do you prefer or use the most the Buy-It-Now option or would you rather have auction-style?

I start to wonder if having BIN listings becomes a turnoff to potential buyers. I did try one auction style listing, duration 1 week - no bids. I did get 2 inquiries within a day of it ending with basically "sorry, I missed it, do you plan to relist?". I relisted it BIN/BO so I would not have to set up an auction style every week on it to get a sale. Someone quickly hit my BIN and it was double what I was asking for the starting bid in my auction style try.

Question 3:

If a listing says free shipping and the total price you pay is under $2.50 -- or the listing is a buyer pays shipping and the shipping charge is a buck -- would you be outraged enough for neutral or negative feedback if the card was not shipped in a bubble mailer?

I want to use paper envelopes on most things to keep shipping costs down for the buyer but I don't realize if people know it costs 2 and a half bucks minimum to ship so I have this thought that if I say first class letter shipping and they get a paper envelope, they are probably going to complain that it was not in a bubble mailer and I would hope they realize that the card got to them undamaged and that you can't use a bubble mailer when you charge a buck for shipping.

I don't know other sellers' $2 free shipping listings work when they sell a card and description says card will be shipped in a bubble mailer. I haven't BIN'ed one to see if it shows up in a paper envelope contrary to the item description or if some noob or uninformed is losing 2-3 bucks selling a card in a listing like that.

My research is finding that people don't seem to pay extra for shipping. The 5 items I've sold were all buyer pays shipping types. Makes me think people care more about card cost than the cost of the card when shipping costs are factored in. I've been doing more "buyer pays shipping" listings because of apparent card cost considered instead of delivered cost.


EDIT: Question 4 - do you find red font color in the item description a negative thing or turnoff?

my description has a few lines in red and I get to wondering if that's a turnoff to buyers. I've heard red is a negative
color - associated with your teachers in school marking up all your mistakes on your homework assignments in red (so red
means failure in a psychology way), red means anger or ire, or red means aggitation like trying to anger a bull in a bull fight to charge at the matador. I don't mind the color redpersonally (I mark up my work documentation using red so changes stand out from the black text I'm marking up) but I wonder if I should remove red from my item descriptions because it has negative connotations to buyers.
 

cardcop05

New member
Nov 15, 2018
64
0
NYC
1) Almost NEVER.

2) Auction Style.

3) No. You have to expect that a trading card will be shipped in a PWE that sells for $5.00 or less and has free shipping. This became the norm a year+ ago 95% of the time.
But then I will explain to the seller that using PWE's is AGAINST POST OFFICE RULES (in their BIG book) because they jam on angled automated sorters usually found at large Postal Hubs. This has been a Rule since 2001. Plus these automated machines CAN'T READ "Non-Machinable" nor do most PO employees. The Postal Service has become AWFUL in so many parts of the United States over the last several years. They fired all HIGH PAY very experienced workers to save money (whenever they could using any means necessary) and replaced them with MORONS who are undertrained. My regular mailman has over 30-years at the Post Office and he teaches me all the behind the scenes facts to lower my lost mail to me & lost items I mailed. I mailed an item on 12/2/18 that my great mailman remembers picking up and handing to the Post Office woman who scans all incoming packages (my Post Office took scanners away from mail carriers a year ago to offset LOST mail by new carriers!!!) & it was NEVER SCANNED until 12/12/18 (TEN DAYS LATER) in Los Angeles, CA??? Even my local politicians ganged up on ALL my local Post Offices for "terrible service all around" last year, but nothing was fixed so far.
THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THE JERKS ON BLOWOUT FORUMS BLAME ME FOR REGARDING ME SCAMMING- WHICH IS ABSURD! First of all: if they sent with TRACKING, this would never happen as if it's scanned into the USPS, eBay NEVER blames the seller.

4) Yes, I do find red color in titles a turn off. Plus: SSP, SUPER RARE, VERY SCARCE, etc. for easily found cards. And a card serial #25/25 IS NOT A 1/1!!!
 

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