eBay and PWE

[RandomH]

I am thinking about listing some low end cards on eBay starting at a penny and shipping them PWE. Has anyone sent PWE on eBay? What are your thoughts?

 

[fordman]

In your listing, offer FREE shipping and let the buyer know that the item will be sent PWE. With that being said, you need to sell your item for at least $0.60 to cover postage, envelope and ebay fees.

Just my $0.02

Fordman

 

[mogansportscards]

For years I have been selling low end cards on Ebay as well as other sites and mailing them in a PWE. I have never had any complaints. I think there are three things to keep in mind when mailing in a PWE: 1. Be very clear in your description that this is how the card will be mailed. 2. Do not charge the buyer 2 or 3 dollars for shipping. If you charge this much and they receive it in a PWE, you likely will get neutral or negative feedback for it. 3. I know this is very much a common sense thing, but be sure to send the card in a toploader. Honestly, I think PWE shipping gets a bad rep in the business. I have sent out more cards than I can ever remember in a penny sleeve, toploader, plastic around the toploader and in a PWE and I have never once had a buyer tell me the card was damaged. I have also purchased many, many cards that were shipped in a PWE and have never had a problem as a buyer either. Obviously, I would never send a valuable card in a PWE, but I think for low end stuff it's the way to go.

 

[AnthonyCorona]

I'm a big pwe guy on low end stuff. I charge .70 for shipping and make sure the description says it's a PWE in all caps.

 

[rsmath]

I am thinking about listing some low end cards on eBay starting at a penny and shipping them PWE. Has anyone sent PWE on eBay? What are your thoughts?

Don't send relic cards (swatches or whatever with diecut windows) or captured paper autos with cutout windows in pwe's. They will frequently get creases going thru USPS processing equipment and result in pissed off buyers like me!

If you are going to do pwe, only do non-relic flat cards or autos that are on-card or stickers.

 

[PeteD]

I'm a big pwe guy on low end stuff. I charge .70 for shipping and make sure the description says it's a PWE in all caps.

Same...only problem was a doofus who didn't read the description and of course gave me a neg on a $1.50 card.

 

[jrinne]

I've been doing this for years, I love this demographic, very easy to deal with. Just make sure you put.

Item will be shipped in a PWE and top loader.

That's If you do a top loader.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[Rabs]

Card Savers work better than Top Loaders since they are more flexible when going through the UPS machines. There is a great PWE guide here that I go by and have never had any issues before with low end standard stock cards. It's a good read:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Shipping-Sp...ight-Way-/10000000178284120/g.html?rmvSB=true

 

[brian26]

In your listing, offer FREE shipping and let the buyer know that the item will be sent PWE. With that being said, you need to sell your item for at least $0.60 to cover postage, envelope and ebay fees.

Just my $0.02

Fordman

Just doing the math here...

A stamp is 49 cents.

If someone pays you with Paypal, isn't 30 cents deducted from the payment plus 2.9% of the total payment?

Then Ebay fees are generally 10% of total.

If you sold a card for 60 cents with free shipping, I'm totaling (0.49 + 0.30 + 0.02 + 0.06) 87 cents in cost, not counting the cost of the envelope.

Corrent me if I'm wrong on that. Looks like you need to sell for at least 99 cents to even make a dime profit.

 

[AnthonyCorona]

I don't list anything for less than a buck. I just use those for trade filler

 

[gamecockfanatic]

Just doing the math here...

A stamp is 49 cents.

If someone pays you with Paypal, isn't 30 cents deducted from the payment plus 2.9% of the total payment?

Then Ebay fees are generally 10% of total.

If you sold a card for 60 cents with free shipping, I'm totaling (0.49 + 0.30 + 0.02 + 0.06) 87 cents in cost, not counting the cost of the envelope.

Corrent me if I'm wrong on that. Looks like you need to sell for at least 99 cents to even make a dime profit.

not that you're actually WRONG , but there are alternate possibilities....

ebay fees - store owners star at 9% instead of 10 and top rated sellers get discounts up to 20% on top of that (even without being a powerseller)....the tracking requirement does mean such a seller would have to have enough items shipped with tracking to maintain the 90% threshold , but for volume sellers it is possible....

a bigger (and far less widely known) area to cut costs is with pay pal....yes , a standard account does charge 2.9% plus a 30-cent transaction fee....but fore sellers whose average sale is less than $12 , there is a nice money-saving option.....convert your pay pal account to a micro-payments accounts and the fee schedule changes to 5% plus a 5-cent transaction charge....on a 1.00 sale with free shipping that translates to a 10-cent pay pal fee instead of the normal 33-cent fee.....on a $5 transaction , the difference comes out to 30-cents vs 45 cents....granted the savings diminish as the total price rises ......$12 is the turning point where the basic pay pal fees become advantageous , but this thread is referring to low-end sales and if you do heavy volume those savings on cheap items can really add up

so to update the total cost on a 60-cent sale using a pay pal account set up for accepting micropayments :

with 10% ebay fees : .49 + .06+ .10 + .01 (stamp , ebay fee , pay pal fee , envelope) = .66

with 9% ebay fees : .49 + .05 + .10 + .01 = .65

with 7.2% ebay fees : .49 + .04 +.10 +.01 = .64

i'd say the bottom line for a break-even (without taking into account your time as well as the need to upgrade to a bubble mailer for thicker cards or multi-item purchases) would be roughly .70.....again that's a pure break-even on the cost to sell it and doesn't take the card itself into account so to make it truly worthwhile your 99-cent range is actually more realistic....

 

[RandomH]

Thanks everyone! I am definitely planning to do them with free shipping. Appreciate the advice!

 

[predatorkj]

Thanks everyone! I am definitely planning to do them with free shipping. Appreciate the advice!

You'll lose money.

And do not use toploaders. Card savers will go through a sorter better. And they should be cheaper to buy as well.

 

[AmishDave]

Write on the PWE: "Do Not Machine Sort". I've gotten three cards, none of them being a used swatch card, though, in PWE's and nothing bent or the envelope torn up. Be sure to write that on the envelope and you should be good to go.

 

[kryslarry]

Write on the PWE: "Do Not Machine Sort". I've gotten three cards, none of them being a used swatch card, though, in PWE's and nothing bent or the envelope torn up. Be sure to write that on the envelope and you should be good to go.

This only works if a human sees the envelope. If you just drop it in a blue collection box or mailbox, it will be sorted on a machine. If you give it to your carrier (and point it out) or a clerk at the counter at a post office, that will work.

 

[nosterbor]

DITTO!

 

[fordman]

Just doing the math here...

A stamp is 49 cents.

If someone pays you with Paypal, isn't 30 cents deducted from the payment plus 2.9% of the total payment?

Then Ebay fees are generally 10% of total.

If you sold a card for 60 cents with free shipping, I'm totaling (0.49 + 0.30 + 0.02 + 0.06) 87 cents in cost, not counting the cost of the envelope.

Corrent me if I'm wrong on that. Looks like you need to sell for at least 99 cents to even make a dime profit.

I didn't do the complete math, just the quick reply while in line ordering food. Sounds like to me the OP just wants cards to get into PC/set collectors hands and out of his boxes. OP, sell for a $1.00 just to cover all of your expenses while making a modest profit as well.

Fordman

 

[Dilferules]

Write on the PWE: "Do Not Machine Sort". I've gotten three cards, none of them being a used swatch card, though, in PWE's and nothing bent or the envelope torn up. Be sure to write that on the envelope and you should be good to go.

If you don't want them machine sorted you'll have to pay the nonmachinable surcharge of 22 cents, also. You might catch somebody nice that sneaks them through if you just write that on there, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Hawk8]

I love PWEs

 

[AnthonyCorona]

I love PWEs

Especially with Dawson 1/1s in them