How to get the most out of Ebay

[Jak]

So I have been selling a lot on Ebay recently but still feel I am not getting the most I can and not making the auctions as descriptive as they can be. I would like to know from people that sell a lot how they set up the auction. How do you do shipping? How do you handle insurance? Certified? What do you usually say in the description? Anything and everything will help. I really want to become better at auctions. I have 100% feedback but I think my auctions are poorly done and I really don't know how to mail them so I don't lose money or cost the buyer a ton. Help!

[SuckerPunch]

I don't know about selling, I don't sell much on ebay.

But as far as buying is concerned. Gixen.com is absolutely the best way to the most out of ebay possible.

I use Gixen.com every single time I buy any thing on ebay, esp magic cards.

-----------------------------

The handful of times I sold on ebay, I shipped them in a regular postal envelope in a hard loader and put on two stamps instead of just one. They always arrived in perfect condition. The postage is only like .80 cents that way. You save yourself the hassle of driving down to the postoffice, save on gas money. And you can charge a reasonable shipping and handling fee ($1.99 is the maximum). Lower shipping prices encourage sales.

Accept paypal, that's key to getting bids on your items. Register a paypal account.

Use "Magic MTG 4x CARDNAME SETNAME NM" for the title and you should be good. NM stands for Near Mint by the way, dont include it unless your cards are near mint. In the description write the card name, condtion, and the set it's from. That's all you need.

[whienot]

I can't speak for others, but the things I look for when buying is a high seller rating/high feedback, quality photos of the item, and shipping costs. When the seller rating is lower, but still has a high feedback score, I look at the last auctions of the seller to see if there is anything comparable that has been sold.

I haven't focused too much on the actual description, just the basics. Speaking of cards, name, set, quantity & condition are all I need to see. Google auction templates and you can free ways to improve the look of the auction page.

Shipping is usually never more than $3, unless a special service is requested/required. I'm actually a fan of using the buy-it-now function and offering free shipping if buy-it-now is used. Be clear that you only ship to confirmed addresses.

To maximize the selling price, look to have the auction end at a high internet traffic time. Weekends are good, since more people are available to bid. (Likewise, when you're looking for a good deal, check for auctions ending at odd times ex. 2:26 am)

Now, to protect yourself (I should know, I got screwed selling a playset of Mana Drains... and have thus read paypals policies), you only want to ship to confirmed addresses. You really want it to be trackable online and have delivery confirmation. I believe paypal will let you know if there is an unconfirmed address involved. Usually there is no problem and you can actually pay for shipping and print out postage and labels from the paypal site. I shy away from foreign shipping, because the price to adequately protect yourself is higher than a buyer usually wants to pay.

This may be more than you want, or not what you want at all, but I hope it helps some.

[dahcmai]

Well, I sell a lot there, and I mean a lot. I'll tell ya everything I know since I love it when I find people who seem to know what they are doing.

1. I tend to offer guarantees. It means I always get 100% good feedback all the time and you'd be amazed how much of a help that is. Sometimes I'll sell stuff in the store that I offered at a higher price than someone else and mine will sell first because of that rating. Doesn't matter to me if they send it back and I have to give a refund. I'll just sell it again. I do actually try and make everyone happy. It's not easy to do, but if you give people no outs to bitch, you can do well.

2. Accept Paypal if you don't already have it. I don't even bother to bid on stuff that won't accept it unless it's an amazing deal. I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who feels that way. It doesn't take crap to sign up and it's so worth it. There are other services, but people don't ever seem to use them despite how many people bash paypal.

3. Don't bother selling crap that costs less than $2.00. It's so not worth your time. The fees kick the crap out of your profit and make it not worth it.

4. Charge reasonable shipping. Don't be a tard and try and make money off shipping. I tend to ignore people who do that and I'm sure a lot of others do to. .75c to $2.50 is more than enough. $1.00 to $2.00 is pretty fair.

5. Use pictures. I hate buying something if I can't see what I'm getting. I don't list anything unless I have a scan. Even in the case of sets I at least show some cards from it. It just looks better.

6. Try not to start off your starting bid at exactly what you want for it. I like to start them off higher than a penny, but going all the way up to what you expect to get for it scares people off for some reason.

7. Use the Buy it now thingy. It's amazing how often something will sell for more than I thought just because it was obvious they were impatient.

8. If you have a lot of junk to get rid of, use the store. Get one. It's worth that monthly fee if you have a ton of junk to sell off.


Here's one of mine if you want to know how I write it out. It's fairly standard and not fancy, but it works. I'm far from an HTML guru.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Time-Spiral-COMPLETE-SET-Timeshifted-421-cards-M_W0QQitemZ350085659180QQihZ022QQcategoryZ19114QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262


Notice that in the listing I mention exactly what you get. It's unplayed and in good shape. Simple, but easy to read and you get the point. I bothered to list how many cards were in that set in the top. That helps. You'd be surprised how many people try to sell crap that isn't even finished or beat up and don't mention it. Half the people on Ebay right now selling a set of Unhinged don't even include the stupid tokens and that Foil Super Secret Tech. Kinda not a complete set if you ask me if you don't have those.

9. I include the delivery notification if it's in the states and I do that on just about everything. People think it's a nice bonus. I do it so they can't say they never got it and try and screw me. I had that happen a couple of times and I don't want to go there. It's really cheap to get it and sounds good, so why not?

10. I don't combine shipping if I can help it because there's a ton of people out there that will buy up tons of stuff all from you just to cut costs and make off like a bandit. If you don't add it up right, you can screw yourself sometimes. I just make it simple so I don't have to check how much everything is going to cost me everytime. If you enable the combined shipping, make sure it actually covers the costs. I only do it on the 7 day auctions and some store items because I don't like it when people buy up a ton for their store and I'm out a lot of shipping materials. I don't actually include that stuff in my costs too often.

11. Take money orders if you don't mind them. It's one way for foreign people to buy from you. I hate MO's so I don't take it, but that's just me. I'd rather send crap out the day they pay for it. It's just easier and I have too much crap to keep track of if I did take them.

12. I mention Emailing me if there's any problems over and over in the listing and just about every message I send out. I do that on purpose. I don't want those fools saying I didn't offer to help if they aren't happy with something. People are really dumb and hard to deal with so I make every opportunity open. If they can't figure out how to bitch after all the chances I gave them, they will only feel dumb and not bother. Sad but really true.

13. Notice at the bottom of that listing it advertises other shit? I did that on purpose. It's all the expensive crap I would really like to sell. lol Usually the horridly expensive stuff is hard to get rid of so I advertise that first. Nice trick.

14. Don't use the best offer thing if you can help it. A lot of countries think it's proper to haggle over price over and over and for them, that's cool, but I hate answering mails over and over about one stupid thing that only costs a few bucks anyway. Italy will drive you crazy if you offer it.

15. Pay attention to your fees. You don't want to sell something and figure out you just went in the hole. Ebay charges a lot and Paypal takes a chunk also. Add it up and decide on how much you need to cover the fees. Start the bidding off at least a dollar above that much so at least you get that.

16. Don't sell big money items to Spain or Italy. Sorry if you're from those countries, but your post office sucks. They open mail and don't tell me they don't. Some of these guys know what power is worth. You can ship with tracking numbers and such to them, but you're going to UPS to do it and it's like $50 to start. Be warned.

17. Use Toploaders and penny sleeves! OMGplease! I hate it when someone sends me stuff without it. I just got a Moat lately and the guy sent it in a regular envelope with no sleeve? WTF dude! Of course it got a nasty corner bend. Grrrr. Good way to get a negative out of me. Common sense. At least the guy refunded the money, but he took a hit for that condition.

18. Use a regular envelope, penny sleeve, and toploader for one to four card auctions. If you cut the paypal shipping ship in half, it's exactly the weight you need to only use one stamp all-together. Nice thing to know.

19. Make a mention of not allowing people with negative feedback to bid. It gives you an excuse to kick their bids off your stuff. I have no clue why some people will have an account just to bid crap up and then not pay, but they are out there. It's asking for negative feedback if you allow them.

20. If you want the most you can get, you'll have to open up to foreign countries. It sucks, but they have a better exchange rate right now. Americans are naturally cheap, rude, and highly argumentative. Sorry, but it's true. I sell the majority of my stuff to Spain, Italy, France, England, and Germany. Want to know how much stuff I send there? I know the postal code for the USPS's computer for Spain is 282. Scary huh?

Anyway, they typically are great for selling older cards since they never had them printed in some places.

21. And lastly, don't use anything but your Ebay messages to talk to people. Too many people try to scam outside of there so don't use your regular mail to talk to them. Always go through Ebay.


If you ever have the problem of people trying to scam or you have someone who didn't send the stuff to you when you buy, you're welcome to contact me on how to screw them back. I got really good at always getting either my money back or making sure their asses went to jail for frauds. I even know the trick of getting small claims to go all the way to the feds so I can claim on their tax returns. I once even managed to get someone who lived in Kashmir, Pakistan. Laws are pretty harsh there for theft. Mean, but oh well, I hate scammers.

[SuckerPunch]

Yeah, but doing all that stuff takes a ton of time though. What if you dont have a camera handy. And shipping confirmed mail with tracking costs money and time, and gas price etc.

If you're selling a playset of drains, or basically anything costing $30 or more, take the time to ship it confirmed.

But if you're selling small stuff, a regular envelope with .60 cents of postage (or two stamps) and the cards in a simple top loader will do just fine.

I've used that to ship about 20 auctions or so, without a hitch.

[Afro]

If you sell anything via paypal over $50 send it confirmed. If they get it and want it for free Paypal allows this without delivery confirmation.

[dahcmai]

Eh, after you do it a few times, it only takes a few minutes to do it again. Just save a template and use that every time just changing the title and how much you want.

I just listed a few dozen auctions in the last hour. Scan and all still didn't take long.

[jazzykat]

How do you provide the seller with this gurantee:

"Free PayPal Buyer Protection, up to $2,000"

I am a paypal verified member, what else do I need to do?

[Malchar]

I've bought a good amount of cards on Ebay. I've also started selling cards. Generally, I only sell cards when I have more than a playset or if they are way more valuable in T2, T1.X, or any other format that I don't play.

1. To get the best deals from Ebay, always pay attention to format rotations, new decks, and other things like that. This is basically a no-brainer.

2. I wouldn't sell anything that's expected to sell for less than $5 or $10 depending. It's just a waste of time unless you have a ton of cheap cards. Statistically, you might be better off hoping that the card shoots up in price in the future.

3. I would suggest only selling 1x or 4x of a card at a time. After watching auctions of dual lands for a few months, 4x usually sells for at least as much as four 1x's. This is especially true on Ebay because if you bid on 1x's, you might end up winning the wrong number of cards. People are more willing to just shoot for the ideal 4x. This also saves shipping costs.

4. For shipping as a seller, I just charge $1 per auction. For combined shipping, I will generally combine up to 8 or 10 cards into the original $1 before going over. I actually don't use the PayPal labels or whatever they are. I type out the address and print it onto envelopes. I use toploaders and penny sleeves and regular envelopes. I've actually gotten more than enough of these extra from winning auctions, but they are really cheap anyway. For sending toploaders through USPS, I think that you're supposed to add extra postage. Any post office station at a grocery store or drug store should be able to give you accurate postage.

5. It's a lot easier to sell a bunch of things at the same time. The way I sell, I generally get rid of all my T2 stuff at the same time. Doing this just makes sense because you can condense your time. Also, remember to use as many templates as possible to save time.

6. For pictures, I have a really crappy digital camera. The pictures look really bad because the resolution is so low, you can't really see any wear marks at all. Nonetheless, having some visual image of the item is almost a necessity.

7. Whenever possible, I greatly prefer selling cards to other people in real life. Not vendors, of course, because the prices are way off. If I learned anything from selling online, it's that selling in real-life is awesome although generally rare.

[jazzykat]

A few questions as I am about to jump into ebay again hardcore after picking up a collection:

1. I have read that I should only sell 1 or 4 of a card. I have a bunch of 2 and 3 ofs from the purchase and they are nice cards so, should I just sell a bunch of 1 offs?

2. Should I just start all of my auctions at a penny as I have everything from a playset of revised duals to a playset of winter orbs, or should I set a reasonable starting price?

3. I have extra jittes, EE's, and shackles...with cards like that should I sell them in 3's and make sure I get down to that number myself or do people really have a boner for playsets even though no one ever puts more than 3 in a deck?

4. I have sweet foils and non foils, if I can make a mixed playset should I do it or just piece them out as x foils and x non-foils?

5. I have seen a suggestion to not sell anything that will go for less than $5/10 and another that says nothing under $2...how were these guidelines set up?

Thanks!
JK

[dahcmai]

Well, starting prices are really only going to do one of two things.

1. Prevent you from taking too much of a hit from the Ebay fees by starting it low.

2. Prevent you from having to sell something expensive for a penny since people didn't bid on it.


So basically what you want to do is open up a second window for Ebay when you're listing stuff and look up the card you're going to sell and see what it's going for already.

If it has a ton of bids on it like say a Tundra, just start it off at .01c since you know it will get bid up to what you want anyway.

If it's something like a Exalted angel or Pernicious deed that may or may not get bid up high, start off the bid at around what you want. It'll cost you a few more pennies to do this and it has a higher chance of not selling, but at least you won't have to get rid of it for dirt cheap.

Sets of three for a hot card like Jittes don't matter too much if it's in a set of three. Cheaper cards are definitely worth your trouble to list as a set of three instead of separate. Most people don't bid on cheaper cards as singles to avoid a pile of shipping costs. Really expensive stuff like Duals and Force of will are better as singles since you'll get your full price.

As for selling things that are worth around $2.00 or so, don't bother. The fees will eat you up. I used to sell playsets of commons all the time, but the fees made me stop doing it since I wasn't actually making anything after a bit.

[jazzykat]

@dahcmai: Thanks for the response, I totaled up what was feasibly ebayable given your guidelines (using MOTL price) and the return sans fees appears to be ~150% so I'm totally pumped. I'm assuming fees will make it more like 100-125% ( I paid 400 and am looking at about 1000)

A few more questions to you or anyone else:

1. How much is a lot of stuff/junk to open a store. 95% of my stuff is semi playable/not hot right now (i.e. show and tell/living wish) to HOT i.e. Jitte, Thoughtseize, Tundra, Trop. Almost everything is in greater than 1 quantity and any cards that went for <$2 I am only selling multiples/playsets. It looks like I would have quite a bit less than 100 auctions (maybe 75?).

2.Since I am selling more valuable stuff, hopefully minimum selling price of all my auctions is targeted to be ~$4 +/- $1, I feel that combined shipping would be an incentive to bid on multiple auctions. A simple way to calculate it, is to say $2 for the first and $1 for every auction after the first but I imagine I could just make it free for the second item as well? Any suggestion there?

3. I finally got your suggestion about not offering combined shipping on "junk"/commons because they will wipe out your store and ebay will eat your soul in fees.

4. I have received a lot of old extended HOTNESS, deeds, wishes (burning, cunning), vindicate, etc. which are highly desired legacy cards and I notice the price is down quite a bit from even a month ago, do they tend to bounce up again after 6 months to a year as the glut on the market tends to die off?

Thanks again!

[Anusien]

The best day to have your auctions end is on a Sunday afternoon/night, right? What's the second best?

[Poesjuh]

A tip from me, I know from experience.

SELL WORLDWIDE. Or at least, to Europe.

It's so frustating that a lot of sellers don't ship to Europe, and you can see that in the prices. A playset Tarmogoyfs US only sells for apr. $90 or so, if you are willing to ship it to Europe, you get at least $20 more!!!

[cdr]

A tip from me, I know from experience.

SELL WORLDWIDE. Or at least, to Europe.

It's so frustating that a lot of sellers don't ship to Europe, and you can see that in the prices. A playset Tarmogoyfs US only sells for apr. $90 or so, if you are willing to ship it to Europe, you get at least $20 more!!!

Europe is much more problematic for PayPal, though.

You shouldn't be shipping to a non-Confirmed/Verified address anymore, and that's much less prevalent in Europe.

You also shouldn't be shipping with a non-verifiable shipping method, which adds minimum $10 outside of the US.

[Poesjuh]

I don't know how it is from a sellers perspective, but shipping from the US to The Netherlands is for me mostly about 3/4 $. And that is to a non-confirmed address.

The reason that a lot of people have that in Europe is because they don't have a CC, at least, that's the reason for me. I have bought about 80 items the last 2 months, and so far with no problems whatsoever.

But that's just from a buyers perspective, if you think the problems worth it you'll propably get about 10% more if you sell to Europe, depending on what you sell obviously.

[DeathwingZERO]

I've never personally seen Europeans being willing to pay more than domestic customers, and the troubles having to deal with the Europeans that try to get by the taxes and such just make it a royal pain.

On top of that, the shipping is usually worse too. With most domestic orders, I can just print the paperwork right from Paypal's page, drop it off in my outbox, and I'm done. With international, I need to go get the customs forms, write in the price, etc on those little slips, and then pay for whatever choice of like 20 different ways to ship, AT the post office I've stood in line in for probably 30 minutes.

[Jak]

OKay so some questions. I am putting some stuff up but I really want to make it so there are no ways to get scammed by them complaining I haven't shipped. I have read Dahcmai's post and I need some more info.

I would like to make sure they know that I have sent it and that I know they have received it. How can I do this for cheap, Dahcmai (or anyone else that knows.)? So I go to the post office, what do I tell them about how to ship it?

I am also giving them the option of insurance so if it does get lost, I don't get owned. How should I go about this? The auction values don't go over $40.

[Afro]

OKay so some questions. I am putting some stuff up but I really want to make it so there are no ways to get scammed by them complaining I haven't shipped. I have read Dahcmai's post and I need some more info.

I would like to make sure they know that I have sent it and that I know they have received it. How can I do this for cheap, Dahcmai (or anyone else that knows.)? So I go to the post office, what do I tell them about how to ship it?

I am also giving them the option of insurance so if it does get lost, I don't get owned. How should I go about this? The auction values don't go over $40.

If you are shipping inside the United States you can ship with delivery confirmation. This costs roughly 80 cents and the package is scanned when it is delivered to their doorstep. As for outside the United States this is where shit gets expensive. Send it registered and DO NOT LIE on custom forms.

As far as insurance goes just state in the auction that insurance is available if the buyer is interested but at their own cost (usually $2).

[Jak]

I am setting up the insurance and have selected "optional". It now wants a dollar amount. Is this what they pay or how much it covers? If it is how much it covers, what should I do it for? Most items are $10 to $40, so should I do the value?

[Getsickanddie]

I am setting up the insurance and have selected "optional". It now wants a dollar amount. Is this what they pay or how much it covers? If it is how much it covers, what should I do it for? Most items are $10 to $40, so should I do the value?

http://www.usps.com/insurance/welcome.htm

Fee . . . . . . . . . . Insurance Coverage
$1.70 ................ $0.01 to $50
$2.15 ................ $50.01 to $100
$2.60 ................ $100.01 to $200
$4.60 ................ $200.01 to $300
$5.55 ................ $300.01 to $400
$6.50 ................ $400.01 to $500
$7.45 ................ $500.01 to $600
$7.45 plus $0.95 per $100 or fraction thereof over $600 to $5,000.

[Jak]

http://www.usps.com/insurance/welcome.htm

Fee . . . . . . . . . . Insurance Coverage
$1.70 ................ $0.01 to $50
$2.15 ................ $50.01 to $100
$2.60 ................ $100.01 to $200
$4.60 ................ $200.01 to $300
$5.55 ................ $300.01 to $400
$6.50 ................ $400.01 to $500
$7.45 ................ $500.01 to $600
$7.45 plus $0.95 per $100 or fraction thereof over $600 to $5,000.

OKay thanks. I set up an auction basing it a lot on Dahcmai's (yours really looks great). I provided the information on shipping costs, insurance, certification, etc. Hopefully the transactions will go a lot smoother than they have in the past, ie not knowing how to ship and always having the chance to get screwed. It also looks nice and giving more information may cause more bidders. Thanks Dahcmai, Getsickanddie, and Afro!

[dahcmai]

Ok, to make sure they get it is actually pretty simple.

Do one of two things and it's up to you on which one you like.

1. Registered mail - It's slow as shit, I'll warn you now. I once had a large package of 7 sets get tied up in Brazil's Customs for 2 months because not only was it a package and customs people get leary about the whole big box of unknown things, plus it was registered and that means it gets signed by every single mail guy it touches hands to. Ok, that's pretty abnormal, but it goes to show. Most of the time it takes about 3 weeks for even a letter.

Registered mail is the perfect way to make sure something arrives though. They have to sign for it. No saying they didn't get it. You can even find out who signed for it.

If you want to make sure it gets there and there's no disputing it, this is the way to go. I don't send much this way myself, but I will do it for a Black Lotus or Mox or some such for sure if it's a foreign country.

2. Delivery Notification - My personal fav. It's simple enough, but only works in the US. You get a number and you can go to USPS.com and see where that package is. I like to send a message to people and give them the tracking number, it makes them feel all safe and stuff.

Problem of course is it doesn't work for foreign countries and well, face it, the US is hurting for cash so sending stuff overseas is the way to go right now. (I just sent out around 50 auctions worth and 2 were US addresses).

To be honest the mail isn't that bad. I've never had but one item lost and I decided to bite the bullet on it and eat the cost. It was worth it to save face and keep that 100% rating. After all this time and no one had said they didn't get something I figured the guy was telling the truth. It was Spain after all. Spain has a shitty postal system. Sorry if you're from there, but it's true.

Oh and one thing, there's a size requirement on Delivery Notification. So if you want to send one card or so, use a bubble mailer. It has to be bigger than this little card they try to put it through to check size, so stick a bunch of wadded up paper or packing peanuts (preferably) inside so it will be too big for the sizer and you can get Delivery Notification on it. Or use a box like VCR tape size.


I'll write that primer when I have extra time. Luckily I type fast, but I like to proof-read a lot. There's a ton more I can tell you. I have spreadsheets I use to add up costs and fees (makes it really easy for friends cards), pre-made HTML crap I typed up so you don't have to type up junk every time, and a bunch of other stuff I bet people would like to have. Listing something takes me about oh...2 min, 40 seconds. I'll show you how. It's not too hard once you know some of the tricks.

I don't claim to know it all, but at least I can get you a heck of a start. I'm still trying to figure out those weird programs people use to make those fancy pages.



@Jazzycat - Sorry I had to go back and reread some stuff. I don't get on here to often really. In answer to your questions.

1. I forgot how much the store was, but It think it was around $15 a month. I have so much crap go through anymore I totally miss the charge for it and don't care anyway. Keep in mind if you set one up though that they charge you for every single item you have in there each month. So if you have some junk sitting there every month, it's eating you penny by penny.

I check occasionally to make sure I have the lowest price and if I don't I lower it or pull the item off if I can't match what's already out there. I tell ya, I'm amazed Troll and Toad hasn't messaged me about undercutting them by a few pennies every time. I must piss them off. $19.95 to their $19.99. So mean, but hey it works.

2. Combined auctions are all well and good and it really does get more bids, though watch your prices for shipping. People like to scam any amount they can get away with. Don't go free or you'll end up with a guy who will outbid everyone trying to get a deal. I'm still testing different amounts trying to balance it out so people get a decent deal without cutting me deep if they get a lot at once.

4. Hmmm, well that's a tricky one. It's a matter of hitting it when it's hot. I like to wait for extended season for a lot of stuff. Strange how that format affects prices but it does. I swear there are people that literally sell off collections to buy into whatever format is being played at the pro-tour. I am sitting on a pile of Ravnica duals right now waiting for extended to start and then I'll list them. Just pay attention and look them up occationally and when they are hitting what you want, sell, sell sell. I guess it's like stocks.

@ Anusian - Best days Not real sure on that. I have decent luck with stuff ending on Sunday night at around 7-11pm. That's me though. It's weird but Wednesday isn't bad either.


The Europe thing - They pay more. Flat fact anymore. I'm starting to get orders from Japan now and that's new. Scary how the currency is affecting things. If I'm unsure about someone's unconfimed address, I just message them and ask if that address is correct. They don't mind answering that.

The taxes and import fees. Yeah, I know Germany and a few other countries have that. One cute thing you can do is ship stuff in an envelope and it bypasses the fees and taxes. No charge for letters. I sell a lot of sets so there's not much I can do about it. I'm not going to lie about it. I've had plenty of people try and get me to do it, but If I'm filling out some customs form, I'm telling the truth. I have no idea what happens if you lie on it, but I don't want to know what happens if you get caught. Now if it's someone you know or someone you can trust, send it as a "gift", there's a box to check for that and there's no duty fee on that.

[Jak]

Awesome. Someone sticky this?

I need to probably ship overseas, but I am just hesitant because I am still trying to learn about shipping in the US. I may try it soon.

K. - Tre Bardery

[dahcmai]

Oh yeah, here's something I do to buy things to sell.

Try bidding on foreign areas stuff. I'm actually trying to pick up some Ravagers right now, I bet I get them cheap since I hit up the Singapore guys.

I bid occasionally on stuff that looks like a scam on purpose. As long as it's a real card, I'll give it a shot. I got a pile of Arabian Night stuff once for like $12 and it had a Juzam, Ali, and a Library in it because the guy had feedback for crap. Did the same for some betas. Ended up making a 800% payback or so on it. I couldn't beleive some of the stuff people actually sent out to me. I don't expect to get a lot of them and just watch the days before I file with Paypal to get my money back. Occationally I lose some money, but I make way more than I lose. It's a gamble, but it pays off a lot.

Collections are great sometimes if they don't list much of anything important. Add up what you think you could get out of it and take off 30% to be sure. Bid that much. I do it a lot. You won't win many, but the ones you do are gold. That's the key to Ebay, learn to walk away from a deal. I laugh when I see people get into bidding wars.

I don't have a storefront to buy cards so I'm just buying from Ebay.


Oh yeah, spell stuff wrong when searching. It's amazing how many times people will spell things like this. Mox Emereld, Mox Paerl, Beserk, Ancestrall recall, and such. Shaharzad alone is good pickings. You'll be surprised, but I'm not the only one who knows that stunt.

[Bardo]

Thread cleaned up and stickied. Excellent posts, dahcmai.

[Jak]

Okay, so this guy bought a set of Chrome Moxen from me probably around two months ago. I sent them out certified so he would have to sign for them. It protects me so I used it. He messages me about a month ago saying he didn't recieve them. I asked if he got a postcard or anything telling him to pick it up. He said yes so I thought it was over with. Two weeks ago he messages me again saying he hadn't recieved them and told me to help. I asked again if he went to go pick it up. Of course, he says no. Now, I got the package back because he never picked it up. I message him asking me if he would like me to send it again and how much I would need for him to pay me for shipping. He responds by saying he would like me to ship them again. I ask for payment and haven't been answered for four days. What do I do? I really just want to sell these and be done with it but this guy is difficult. Is there a certain time I have to wait until I can relist them?

[Mr. Nipples]

Could someone please tell me how to use the buy it now option? I just got started and for some reason the buy it now option was virtually impossible to find when I created my first listing. I tried to use ebay's help section, but the options they told me to use were completely non-existent.

[dahcmai]

When you get to the section that says at the top in yellow "Choose how you'd like to sell your item" It's right next to the spot where it says to put in the price you want.


As for the guy who didn't pick up the package, send it again. He's a tard. You're going to meet plenty of those. If he still doesn't pick it up, then charge him for the next send and add a little for your trouble. Be clear to them. Some people are serious idiots, you'd be surprised when they get a slip that says they have something at the post office to pick up they seriously don't know what to do. It's truly scary how dumb people can be. I'd message him and tell him he only has so many days to pick it up since the post office isn't going to hold it for him forever.


Thanks Bardo. I'm slowly compiling all of this stuff into one long post that should answer everything you could want to know other than third party programs since I don't use those.

[Jak]

What if he doesn't pay? Not that 3 bucks is a crazy large ammount, but it will still end up being a waste of my time and money. He hasn't contacted me in over a week. If he doesn't contact me, is it bad to not ship?

[dahcmai]

Well, that's up to you really, though expect to get some bad feedback if you don't ever get it to him. He'll remember eventually even if he doesn't post it right away. If he paid through paypal, you kind of have to get it to him or it really is your fault. You could always just send it with a Delivery Notification so you know it arrived and it can sit on his doorstep for as long as he likes then, you don't need to do anything else. It's probably cheaper to send packages that way anyway.

[hi-val]

I just wanted to pass this on, from a teammate of mine who had a bad experience insuring cards with USPS:


They have an awkard run-around policy towards "collectables"

After it happened the guy at the post office told me a couple of things. First off he said that when I first mailed the cards and was told to establish a value for the insurance the person at the time was supposed to notify me that what he called "baseball cards" and other collectables are capped at how much they can be insured for. He went into detail but confused the fuck out of me so it might now make sense to you guys because it didn't to me. He used pokemon cards as an example and said something like they don't cover appreciated valued of collectables and when they reimburse you for something they pay the store front value. He used a pokemon card example and said that like if he had a $50 pokemon card (he said pokemon cards so much after correcitng him i wanted to hit him) and it got lost that the post office won't pay me $50 bucks but the value of actual pokemon card...so like the cost of a pokemon card booster pack. (like under 5 bucks right?) for that edition. I tried explaining him how magic cards work and how they are individual rares from different sets that have their own value (LIKE ALL FUCKING COLLECTABLES). He just repeated whatever robot response he gave me. I started getting agitated and told him it doesn't make sense because they know collectables can gain value, and their value can be established because there are magazines, websites, etc that give you an idea of how much they are worth. I also told him that he's fucking wrong because I know people who lost magic cards and got the office to reimburse their money back. I told him according to his logic all old coins are worth only their printed value and old comic books are only worth the 15 cents that say on the cover. I also told him that it also doesn't make sense because I didn't ship booster packs I shipped lose cards. He kept repeating the same thing and I lost my cool and just flat out said that he was retarded and that no other post office operates like this and he responded about how they all follow the same policies and some other jive. I told my friend the story and he said just go file at a different post office and I went to the one by my school but they sent me back to the one in my town where I mailed the package from.

I'm pretty certain that the whole system doesn't work like that and this guy is an idiot or he was giving me trouble. I kept calling them and going back enough where I got a rep and their responses to me were just worse and worse and more unforgiving. I filed a complaint and figured that this post office was run by people with foam helmets and i would try the internet and find a way to go above them. But when I wanted to do more but my brain couldn't even wrap myself around all the different fucking departments, numbers, and mail addresses at the postal website, then talking to people who kept collecting my personal information and having to retell the same fucking story multiple times over and over and nothing happened I got fed up and felt my sanity is worth more. I hate dealing with huge organizations like that because I can never figure out where to start or how to approach the situation and always get fucked. I felt overwhelmed by how massive they are and figured that I just got ate up in their bullshit system.


I originally didn't make a thread about it or go into detail because I think it HAS to be just the post office in my area because I'm pretty sure the rest of the universe isn't as retarded as them, like it can't be possible like they have to be wrong it doesn't make any sense, and because I felt it was mostly my fault too for not handling the situation. I know that the situation was still salvagable after my cards were lost and I dropped the ball and rolled over instead so I was kind of embarassed about that too (my friends gave me massive amounts of shit for it too)



So you get an idea of what you might have to go through with them. I'd deal with UPS if you're selling anything >$50 or so.

[dahcmai]

It might be just your guys who do that. I had lost a Moat in the mail once and got the money back no problem.

[dahcmai]

Here's a good tip. I'll show you step by step how this works.

Ok, here's one auction for a playset of Phyrexian Dreadnoughts.

Clicky (http://cgi.ebay.com/4x-mtg-PHYREXIAN-DREADNOUGHT-x4-magic-4-card-lot-MIRAGE_W0QQitemZ250323388706QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item250323388706&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318)

Looks like it's going to go for around $120 or so. Maybe more. The guy doing this one knows what he's doing. Free shipping, nice bonus, but not needed really. It looks good I guess. Nice looking page though. Better than I can do. I really need to learn how to use Auctiva (that's the pretty page maker).

Anyway, He has a good rating, a nice set of pictures and spams crap about paypal giving a guarantee. Good job to this guy.


Now I caught this one and I hope it's not one of you. He obviously didn't read this thread. If it does happen to be one of you, well, I hope I teach you something so you get the most for your money next time around.

This particular guy has low feedback so he's going to get less for what he's selling anyway. Goes with the territory. I don't mind bidding on these since I'll just file quick with paypal if he decides to give excuses and not send.

I bid on these and won. Now see if you can see why I got these so cheap. Yeah, I picked up a set of Dreadnoughts for $53.82. Not too shabby. Especially since I just showed you what a decent price is.


Auction 1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320317941345&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=011)

Auction 2 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320317941402&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=011)

Auction 3 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320317941469&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=011)

Auction 4 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320317941529&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=011)


I got them separate, but that's ok since he offered shipping combined for 4 cards for the same price anyway. That's a nice bonus and I actually do read to see if people do that. Nothing worse than paying $2.00 shipping 4 times over.

No flashy page, but that's ok. Not much talk about the card itself. Not too good. Only some stuff about the shipping. He doesn't even mention if that card in the picture is the one you get or some random pic he got off the net.

All of his feedback is from buying on top of it. That's scary to people who read into feedback. At least buy a few things and get your feedback over 20 before selling, it helps a lot. Single digits make people nervous. Most people won't bother to look and see if it was done by selling or buying, but everyone notices how high it is and if it's all good or not.

He does list condition at least, but really needs to give a little more detail if possible. Not a big deal but it helps.

Ok, other than the stuff I listed did you notice why I got it so cheap?






Read that title again.

MTG PHYREXIAN DREADNAUGHT


What's wrong with that?

Dreadnought is spelled with an "O". Ouch. Costly spelling mistake.


I literally have email notices set up to mail me for when people spell things wrong. You'd be amazed at how many people do.

I have bought plenty of Mox Emerelds, Beserks, Bazaar's of Bagdad, and a few choice things that are commonly spelled wrong like I spelled here. Baghdad has an H if you missed it. I get that one a lot. Notice I have two Bazaar's in my store, guess how I got them.

Now Ebay will correct your spelling for the most part when searching, but not when you sell. Spell it bad enough and the search engine will ignore your auction alltogether.


Something to remember.




Quick last note:

I bid twice on these for a reason. I typically bid once to bait in bid schilling. Bid schilling is where you have a separate account and bid on your own items to raise the price up. Ebay frowns on it quite hard, but some people still try it. Anyway, the first bid was the minimum. If I get outbid quickly or a overbid and then retracted, I know I'm getting schilled and avoid it like the frigging plague.

At the last day I raise it up to what I really would pay. Explains why I do that. It's a good practice to be in.

[Jak]

This is just a what if scenario because shipping confirmed costs a lot more and takes a lot more time. I really hate doing it on stuff that costs $50 or less. Anyway, I have perfect feedback (100%) and I offer insurance, what would happen if he says he never got them?

[GrandAdmiral]

I have a question about shipping from the United States to Europe.

I'm selling off a few dual lands and a playset of Force of Wills right now and I've been asked the question "How much to ship to country X" several times (right now the auctions list US shipping only). With US shipping I typically just use toploaders and bubble mailers for < $50 and delivery confirmation for anything > $50.

How do you ship internationally with the equivalent of delivery confirmation? When I ask at the post office, they quote me a price of nearly $30. UPS is even more expensive than that. I'd like to take advantage of whatever selling protection is offered by paypal (to avoid having to pay for insurance) and it looks like I need to be able to confirm shipment and delivery. Is there an inexpensive way to do this? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[dahcmai]

There's no good way to send international. If there is I haven't found it.

Registered is good, but slow.

You can do this like i do and it's kind of cheesy, but it works out in the long run. I charge too much for international shipping. Sad to say, but it's true. It's only about $2 more and sometimes less. I save the money I have left over to account for the times when someone's mail is lost and I just pay it out of my own pocket. At least then I can offer a guarantee on everything to make it and not feel bad about it. Kind of like insuring myself.

I've only had to pay it out once so far on a set, but it's a nice piece of mind to have that little insurance handy to do so. I don't spend the extra I take in until I need it for times like that.

If it's really expensive (like a Lotus or such), I'll go ahead and front the cash for UPS or FED-EX. It's like $50 so keep it in mind if you go that route. Then you get a tracking number.

[jazzykat]

Firstly, I don't have a store.

Is there a way to have a BIN and a regular price, where you charge shipping if someone wins the auction but do free shipping if they use BIN? I can't figure it out and I think it is a nice way to reward people who are willing to pony up.

[dahcmai]

The only way to do it is to not list the shipping in the auction itself where it places it in automatically. You can mention how much it is, but make it so they have to type in the amount they are paying. It's a pain, but it can be done. I just tell people, I'll refund it. It's easier.

[Seriously]

I literally have email notices set up to mail me for when people spell things wrong. You'd be amazed at how many people do.

I have bought plenty of Mox Emerelds, Beserks, Bazaar's of Bagdad, and a few choice things that are commonly spelled wrong like I spelled here. Baghdad has an H if you missed it. I get that one a lot. Notice I have two Bazaar's in my store, guess how I got them.


how do you get notices from ebay for things ?

yeah, I got a playset of bloodstrained mire the other day for pretty cheap.

what store, I dont see a link.

[jazzykat]

The only way to do it is to not list the shipping in the auction itself where it places it in automatically. You can mention how much it is, but make it so they have to type in the amount they are paying. It's a pain, but it can be done. I just tell people, I'll refund it. It's easier.

Does it cost you money to refund shipping or is it so little that it is irrelevant. I am doing free shipping for MTG and non-MTG things and people love free shipping on my non-mtg things. I am actually selling things for what I am asking....I guess I don't ask much...but I'm sort of (pleasantly) surprised!

[pw709]

I've been using ebay for awhile now, but I'll admit I'm still pretty amateurish. I've used ebay to sell off my collection a couple of times now, and I always used to ship only within the U.S. I got screwed by low bids several times, and now that I'm selling again I've made sure to allow international bidders, and it definitely helps.

However, I feel like I'm just waiting to get screwed though. I just sent my first registered item (to Spain) and, yes it makes everyone sure you mailed "something", but can't whoever gets it claim the package was empty, or not the right item, etc?

Since ebay and paypal are so buyer protective, what's stopping someone from doing such a thing? Even when you go to great lengths to make sure you, they, and the post offices know that your item was shipped?

[Jak]

So I had a bad experience on Ebay a few months ago and it really scared me away. Here is a link to the thread and all the info:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12956

I plan to sell some expensive stuff (Dreadnoughts, Volcs, Wastelands, etc) so how can I ensure nothing like that happens?

[cdr]

Did you read the thread? (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12956&p=337897)

Ship with delivery confirmation at minimum, preferably also tracking and maybe insurance. Don't sell outside the US, it's not likely worth the extra risk. Set your Bidder Blocking controls as restrictive as eBay will let you.

But also know that if a buyer really wants to screw you, PayPal will probably let him no matter what you do. Such people are rare, luckily.

[lordofthepit]

I'm thinking of selling some cards for the first time on eBay. I'm not looking at selling anything terribly expensive yet at this point, mostly in the $20-40 range for a playset (say, extra Wastelands and stuff). A few questions about the logistics:

1) I understand it's probably not expensive enough to be worth insuring, but expensive enough to get delivery confirmation for. Am I better served using a PayPal shipping label (which I understand comes with cheaper delivery confirmation), or am I better off just paying 75 cents at the post office?

2) Should I package my items in a bubble mailer? Or can I just use a standard envelope? I'd also be using penny sleeves and toploaders.

3) If I do use a PayPal shipping label, am I required to use a bubble mailer? Would I go to the nearest UPS or USPS to drop it off? Can I leave it in my mailbox to have it picked up by UPS/USPS?

4) If I decide to mail it regularly, am I allowed to send cards and toploaders via first-class (i.e. with a regular 44c "Forever" stamp)? Will one stamp be enough? I know someone mentioned one stamp should cover 4 cards, a penny sleeve, and the toploaders. Can anyone confirm that?

Thank you very much in advance for answering my questions!

[rockout]

I can't comment on the rest of your questions but please god ship your cards in bubble mailers. I die a little on the inside every time I get a set of cards in a regular envelope when I'm paying on the low side 2 bucks and a high side of 5 dollars.

Edit: 600th post

[lordofthepit]

I can't comment on the rest of your questions but please god ship your cards in bubble mailers. I die a little on the inside every time I get a set of cards in a regular envelope when I'm paying on the low side 2 bucks and a high side of 5 dollars.

Edit: 600th post

It's not so much the cost of the bubble mailer that's annoying, but more an unfamiliarity with how it works. Do I ship such packages via USPS? Do I use First-Class or Media Mail? I need to find the weight of my package in ounces? How do I do that without a scale and without waiting in line for 20 minutes at the post office?

[Dan Turner]

It's not so much the cost of the bubble mailer that's annoying, but more an unfamiliarity with how it works. Do I ship such packages via USPS? Do I use First-Class or Media Mail? I need to find the weight of my package in ounces? How do I do that without a scale and without waiting in line for 20 minutes at the post office?

well if you are printing via paypal i always just put in 2 oz on weight as long as it is 3 playsets or less with a standard #000 mailer I ship via USPS with DC and it cost a little under $2 for shipping throw in a packing peanut to make it over 3/4 " thick package or it has to ship via priority.

[pw709]

When I ship 4 cards in a penny sleeve + toploader in a bubble envelope it is about 0.80 ounces. I think it's sometimes considered a large envelope rather than a letter and requires $0.88 within the U.S. now I think.

Personally I just stick 2 stamps on it and mail it from home. Delivery Confirmation and Insurance isn't even worth it within the U.S. in my opinion.

[Sims]

It's not so much the cost of the bubble mailer that's annoying, but more an unfamiliarity with how it works. Do I ship such packages via USPS? Do I use First-Class or Media Mail? I need to find the weight of my package in ounces? How do I do that without a scale and without waiting in line for 20 minutes at the post office?


Fuck shipping media mail. And by that I mean I ordered something off a guy on Amazon who was in New Jersey and he shipped it media mail. I live in Upstate New York and it took a week and a half to get here, and he shipped it the day I ordered it.

Fuck media mail.

[Nemcon]

What I've found best is that the paypal prices for DC seem a lot cheaper, and paypal's shipping labels are better if someone trys to screw you on ebay.
What I do is every time I need them, go out and buy a bulk box of CD size Bubble Mailers, they are the best and cheapest I can find for shipping cards, and from there I put cards in a sleeve, and then a toploader.

Please, never put more than 2-3 cards in a single toploader, I've seen too many cards get stress marks and such from that, as well as getting bent even in a regular envelope with a toploader.

What I usually do is 2 cards -> sleeve->toploader->tape shut ->bubble mailer -> tissues/paper(stuff it to be thick enough for DC) -> tape bubble mailer shut -> add paypal sticker or own mailing label.

[lordofthepit]

Please, never put more than 2-3 cards in a single toploader, I've seen too many cards get stress marks and such from that, as well as getting bent even in a regular envelope with a toploader.

Oops. I did everything right except stuff 4 cards in the toploader.

To my credit, I did warp the toploader before I stuck the cards in so that they would fit more loosely though.

[pw709]

I always stick up to 4 per loader, and sometimes it's tough getting them in, but 2 loaders and I'd have to bump up the shipping. I stay at $1.50, which is usually on the lower end.

[Nemcon]

Its just very bad when I'm risking damaging cards I get because they are stuffed 4-5 into a toploader. I understand that another toploader increases shipping, but if you are using first class packages, its only another $0.19-.20 I believe, more than enough to pay to ensure the buyer doesn't recieve damaged cards. I remember trying to delicately cut a toploader open a few weeks pack for a playset of Figures I got, because not only were they 4 packed, but not sleeved in the toploader....that was a bitch.

[Dan Turner]

I use 75 and 100pt toploaders for shipping there are for the really thick sports cards and you can put 2 playsets in them and they slide right out when you tip them over I usually put 1 playset in sleeves per 75 pt and put that in a team bag very secure and very safe

[cdr]

Bubble mailers are completely unnecessay for cards. I use thick cardboard - free, as opposed to upwards of $1 for a mailer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/may/22/dear-anna-paypal-customer-protection

[dahcmai]

I go up to 3 cards for a regular toploader and they make slightly larger ones than you normally see and I use those for 4-6 cards. I tape two of them together and sleeve the cards in between for more than that. Somewhere along the way if it seems like enough I will include one of those plastic cases for cards and use a bubble mailer. They always get penny sleeves.

I just like the mailers because it looks better to the person who bought from you if you bothered to do the extra mile. I hate it when people are cheap and try and cut corners. I do use a regular envelope if it's only 4 cards or less though since it's a waste to bother with a bubble mailer for so few unless they are expensive ones.

I get a lot of return people coming back to buy from me especially for sets since they are packed extremely well and come in a nice plastic case good enough to keep the set in. It's a little costly and I do pass on some of that, but most people forget how much they paid for shipping when they get it anyway and have nothing but praise later.

I've had batches of auctions go by where I get a bunch of feedback and none of it raises my rating since they were all return customers. I don't mind too much when that happens. I know I did a good job making it look memorable enough to come back when I see the same names again.

[Dan Turner]

When I buy Bubble mailers I get them in bulk on ebay I think 500 come out to .12c each after shipping my shipping supplies for 4 cards is as follows


1-75 pt toploader .15c
1-team bag .05c
4-used sleeves (i buy bulk collections so have hundreds if not thousands of these) .10c for 4 (if I had to buy them)
1-Bubble mailer .12c
1-Delivery confirmation and shipping $1.85

so $2.25 +/- I charge $3 shipping per playset and offer $1 per playset after that in the same envelope. I have never had a complaint and a the extra .75c+ goes towards offsetting the cost of accepting paypal and my ebay fees.

For overseas orders its the same deal but I add in a registered priority envelope for $15 Only way I will ship outside the US.

I have a lot of repeat business , and a lot of new people who there friends have told them to buy from me since I am one of the best shippers they have seen.

Remember when you are packing them cards, what would you think if you were the one receiving them.

A plain envelope is fine if they charged a $1 or free shipping for cards valued at under $10 But i expect at least a top loader unless its a playset of commons. Then I don't care since the stamp cost more then the cards.

[pw709]

It costs me almost exactly $1.50 in postage and supplies for up to 4 cards within the US, so that's what I charge. Up to a certain point, the cost of adding another 1-4 cards is pretty minimal, so I only ask for $0.50 per extra playset.

I know that as a buyer, $3.00+ for shipping within the US is pretty terrible for just First Class. Confirmation and insurance are really a waste of money if you ask me.

[dahcmai]

Here's a good trick for you guys. I just lately had to do this. A guy in a foreign country (Spain) notorious for lost mail claims he didn't receive a box. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I like to check.

I told him I do have a way to verify the arrival of the package, it just takes me around 15 days to do it. (I don't). 5 hours later, he said it showed up. Yeah, that's what I thought. So one, he was just impatient, or two, he was trying to scam and backed out thinking I had a way to prove the package arrived.

What's funny is I have used that stupid trick a number of times and if people wait out the 15 days, I refund the money. It's surprising how many people automatically come back saying they got it. Hard to say if they were trying to say they didn't get it or if the mail was a little slow.

Either way, lot of people have no clue what the post office is capable of and think I can track a package in Spain or wherever. There's no way to do it past Fed Ex actually, but it sure saves a lot of hassle making people think you can.

[Michael Keller]

That's why I only ship to the U.S. and Canada. That's good enough for me.

[Zach Tartell]

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/101908/ebay-trick.gif

[keys]

Dumbfounded each and every time. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Foil-T-Chinese-Desolation-Angel-Apocalypse-Mint-MTG_W0QQitemZ380185402945QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5884d0de41#ht_500wt_993)

Someone knows something I don't.

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

Dumbfounded each and every time. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Foil-T-Chinese-Desolation-Angel-Apocalypse-Mint-MTG_W0QQitemZ380185402945QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5884d0de41#ht_500wt_993)

Someone knows something I don't.

When you're right you're right. Three dollar shipping is way to much.

[MMogg]

Dumbfounded each and every time. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Foil-T-Chinese-Desolation-Angel-Apocalypse-Mint-MTG_W0QQitemZ380185402945QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5884d0de41#ht_500wt_993)

Someone knows something I don't.

Oooooooooooooh! So THAT'S why I can't find anything decent here on the Chinese interwebtubes... they're selling them abroad at ridiculous prices.

Is it just me, since I have minimal ebay experience, or is the bid history (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=380185402945) odd? From a bid of $3.50 to a bid of $65.00 and then four more bids by the same person up to $107.50. Bidding on their own shit (and I do mean shit)? :rolleyes:

[keys]

When I say I am amazed each any every time, I am implying that this is not uncommon. Japanese foil Desolation Angels actually sell for $150-200.

hehe, noobasaur.

[dahcmai]

The bid history makes sense if you read it by date and time.

The top bidder who won made the bid earlier than most. People were bidding against him hard. He must have had it set really high.

I don't really get why a Desolation Angel fetches so high a price though. It's good in EDH and a few oddball formats, but that's it. I guess I don't see the appeal of having one like that. I'd just go with English and save myself a ton of money.

[dahcmai]

Wanted to add this. A sourcer PMed me with this question and it seemed like a good addition to the list of useful junk.



Just thought I'd shoot a question by you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:MEWNX:IT#shId (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160391318718&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#shId)

This morning, I bidded on the above auction, for a card lot worth quite a bit. It was almost seven in the morning, so I thought I'd check to see if I could steal any magic auction's ending around then, and came upon this.

I bidded and won, but my winning price is very very far off the lot's actual worth ($500ish?). This user is a very new user, with no feedback, from the Philippines, and with a couple of other eternal auctions currently going on.

Now, I suppose my question would be, what can I do to increase my chances of receiving the item I bidded for? I've used ebay before, but I'm not as aware of the ins and outs as someone like you might be. It would seem to me however that this person could easily rid themselves of their ebay account, never send the cards, etc, in order to hold on to the lot.

So, what should I do to maximize the chances of actually getting the cards? Does this look legitimate? Should I email the user? Is it even likely I will receive them?

Thank you so much for your time, and your input is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,



Ok, I replied with this.



Well, I went and looked it over and it looks like it's legit except for one thing. The odd payment method. I've never seen Moneybookers before. I'm leary of anyone who uses Western Union or some crap like that. Paypal is too widely used on Ebay nowadays. No other payment method? Bah.

I'd check that company out really well before using it. I typed in "Moneybookers scam" in Google to read what I got. I did it quickly and got quite a bit of stuff about how the site is legit, but it's not hard to do scams over it because it seems it's fairly anonomous in the transfers. I don't like that part.

What says legit on the auction is the fact he actually had pictures that look like they were taken with a camera phone. That's good.

He also seems to live in Binan Laguna which oddly enough I happen to know is one really nice section of the Philippines (ie. richer peoples). That's good also. Kinda says he actually would have money to have bought them in the first place.

So you end up with a guy who sounds legit, but this one's really 50/50 with that payment thing. I'd ask if he takes Paypal and write "purposefully" that you will take a bit longer if you have to use the Moneybookers route and would prefer Paypal so you can get the money to him that day.

If he doesn't agree to that, sign up for this Moneybookers with a credit card that has an internet usage policy on it. Ask the bank about it. Some cards have insurance on internet purchases and will repay you if it turns out to be a scam. If you're quick and already have a credit card you can practically have one with internet insurance within one day if you go to the bank and ask for one. II have one and they even get your money back the same day. Quite handy for bidding on sketchy people.

I don't think I would just blindly pay with any old credit card on that site. Definitely don't use a straight bank account number of course.

I was reading the random articles about Moneybookers and there seems to be an identical site out there so be sure to check the URL at the top of your screen to make sure you're actually at thier site if you sign up.

Tangled web indeed. I think if I had won this one, I would ask about the paypal first unless I already had a card that would refund me the money if he decides he's going to cut and run. I like having back up and I'm not fond of weird shit money sites. I know they are usually legit, but it bothers me. I'd rather send a damned check or money order.

It's a nice deal if it works out for you though. Good luck and I hope I helped some.




I figure there's quite a few people who end up with auctions like that and that might help some. I have won quite a few auctions that seemed like total scammage, but the cards showed up. I remember getting some Berzerks like that for virtually nothing because I took a chance on having to report it to a credit card company. Usually, the companies are quite quick to return the money so I didn't mind trying.

All in all, sometimes you can get a good deal, but sometimes it's a possible scam. This one was hard to tell really, but a little research can tell you a lot.

[Ebinsugewa]

Moneybookers is essentially one of the myriad ewallets on the internet - t used to be one of the methods a lot of people handled poker transfers with, so it definitely was legit then. It's still used by PokerStars, except it doesn't accept US customers anymore, IIRC. However, I don't know anything about recourse through MB or Ebay should the user pay with it. That's about all the extra info I can give.

[MMogg]

Is blatantly lying with the proof right in the picture a good way to get the most out of ebay?

Survival of the Fittest (http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-Magic-the-Gathering-SURVIVAL-OF-THE-FITTEST-Exodus_W0QQitemZ260547063184QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca9d0ad90#ht_636wt_1161). Notice the "MINT/NEAR MINT" followed by "Picture is of Actual Scanned Card" ... and I'm sure you noticed the pic. Wow.

[dahcmai]

Looks like the guy decided to sell a bunch of stuff at once and used a template for the auctions not noticing he needed to change that particular one to reflect that it's not near mint. I'd go by the picture for that one. Notice the rest of his auctions all have the same wording with only the name of the card changed. I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose. It happens a lot and it's an easy mistake to make with a bunch of them going out all at once.

[Nocco]

What do you guys think about posting scans of cards vs. digital camera pictures for cards that you're selling? Is it a big deal? I know that as a buyer, I like scans b/c I can clearly see the card condition, but on the flip side it's easier for sellers to use pix that aren't theirs. When a seller posts a digital camera pic, u can usually tell that they do indeed have the cards, but the conditions aren't as easy to make out.

I'd also appreciate any feedback that you guys have on my current auctions (link in my sig), as I am going to be selling a lot of high value cards over the coming months and want to make sure that I'm doing shit right.

[OurSerratedDust]

This is a little off topic, but does anyone have experience with using craigslist to get old collections and stuff?

[majikal]

This is a little off topic, but does anyone have experience with using craigslist to get old collections and stuff?

Craigslist is great when you can actually meet up with the seller and do a face-to-face transaction. I would never use it for mail purchases though, since there's not much you can do if you get scammed.

[lordofthepit]

What do you guys do when you win an auction at a great price, and the seller is not willing to honor the winning bid at that price? Several times, I've been told that the cards must have been lost in the mail--of course, it's always when the winning bid is well below market value.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Negative feedback, and report them to ebay as a bad seller. There's a form for it.

[dahcmai]

And of course file with Paypal also (if you used it) since for some reason despite being owned by the same people it is separate when it comes to disputes. It's quite easy to get your money back.

[OurSerratedDust]

There seems to be a lot of duals for sale on eBay lately from sellers with few feedback, and all from Malaysia. I picked up two "taiga's" for about 18.00 each, and it turns out they are extremely fake. I'm going to try to get my money back through eBay, but this is just a warning to everyone else to be careful.

[lordofthepit]

There seems to be a lot of duals for sale on eBay lately from sellers with few feedback, and all from Malaysia. I picked up two "taiga's" for about 18.00 each, and it turns out they are extremely fake. I'm going to try to get my money back through eBay, but this is just a warning to everyone else to be careful.

Make sure to leave a negative feedback. I've gotten ripped off on eBay be foreand hesitated to leave a negative feedback because I didn't want a retaliatory negative feedback; it turns out eBay has changed policies so that sellers can no longer leave buyers anything but positive feedback (i.e. they can only leave positive feedback or no feedback, but they can't leave negative or neutral).

When you leave a feedback, eBay will automatically ask you if you had a problem with the transaction, and it should be pretty easy to recover your money. Do this as soon as reasonably possible--do not wait too long, like I had done, or you will miss your 45-day window and will be shit out of luck.

[cdr]

There seems to be a lot of duals for sale on eBay lately from sellers with few feedback, and all from Malaysia. I picked up two "taiga's" for about 18.00 each, and it turns out they are extremely fake. I'm going to try to get my money back through eBay, but this is just a warning to everyone else to be careful.

It'll be trivial to at least get the seller shut down in eBay/PayPal; you'll get your money back too unless they already abandoned their paypal account. Just file a dispute on eBay.

Also notify Wizards, with as much info as possible: http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=115 http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_prods=773

[Yochanan]

I told him I do have a way to verify the arrival of the package, it just takes me around 15 days to do it. (I don't). 5 hours later, he said it showed up. Yeah, that's what I thought. So one, he was just impatient, or two, he was trying to scam and backed out thinking I had a way to prove the package arrived.

I've had two bad experiences shipping to Spain. I've also only shipped to Spain twice and refuse to again. Ended up loosing $300 in cards 4 years ago.

[Sureshot]

There seems to be a lot of duals for sale on eBay lately from sellers with few feedback, and all from Malaysia. I picked up two "taiga's" for about 18.00 each, and it turns out they are extremely fake. I'm going to try to get my money back through eBay, but this is just a warning to everyone else to be careful.

Not to mention the absurd number of fake "foil" Power 9s and Mana Drains. If certain people can fabricate these hot items as foils, I can only imagine how easy it is for them to reproduce fake beta or unlimited powers. I'd rather stay away from the Vintage format than just be plainly victimized and I am simply contended with owning pimp legacy staples.

[dahcmai]

It's usually better to buy from an established store if you are going to buy power or duals anymore. I prefer to buy things like that in person though I will trust an Ebay seller if they have a ton of good feedback (over 1000) with no negatives that seem to refer to stuff not showing or something else that's obviously not a person whining.

If you ever want a decent set of power for less than a store I do sell power there here and there. yawgmoth71 is me on Ebay. Not to be real self promoting, but I'd rather people know they can buy stuff and not get scammed from there. Ebay is good for some things, but I don't think I'd buy the high dollar stuff from overseas unless it's Europe or one of the guys who's obviously good for it. There's a couple good ones out there in Asia though.

[whiteshepherdman]

Hi guys I have a collection full of stuff like natural order, mostly dual lands, metalworkers and other legacy staples from my storm deck that i've priced with starcitygames prices to be worth $2030 but i don't know how to best sell it on ebay cause there's stuff like duress in there as well. Without the commons it would be like 1900ish but do you guys have any advice on how i should best sell my collection? I don't know if selling the binder at Buy it now would get any buyers to buy it as I've only sold a set of fetchlands once on ebay. I'm not sure if people will buy my collection at that amount since i only have 1 feedback even if the cards are all in NM. Would posting pictures gain buyers trust?

[cdr]

You basically trade money for time. The more time you spend selling, the more money you can make - the more time you save, the less money you make. You're not going to get anywhere near "SCG price", unless you're talking SCG buy price.

As far as eBay, selling it playset by playset will likely net you the most money. For higher value stuff like duals, you probably would want to sell card by card. It doesn't sound like you have an eBay rating built up though, so you'd really probably have to have someone with an established rating sell for you.

MOTL is another option, but it can be a huge time sink - at least 75% of the people on there will just try to waste your time, and you probably don't have a MOTL rating anyway.

Your last and quickest option would to be to sell to a dealer, which might be your best option even though you get the least money out of it. If you go to a larger event like a GP you can go around to a few different dealers.

[whiteshepherdman]

ahhh thanks a lot for the tips, so basically if i want to sell everything and the get the most money out of it, i should probably sell by playsets. Probably selling duals with a few others like in a batch will help me get rid of cards that are less likely to get sold alone? I mean the quality of my cards are in the exact condition i bought them from SCG in as I rarely played and sleeved them as soon as i recieved them in the mail, I'd really like to sell them for what they're worth

[TheArchitect]

I'm no veteran seller, but I know as a buyer that unless I'm getting a steal, I won't buy things that are like "bayou and [4 other various rares I'm not really after]". Why would I pay 45$ for a bayou and 4 other cards I dont really need when I could just get a bayou for 40$? The only time I'd buy "batches" like that are if its 40$ for the bayou AND the other random rares I dont really want, in which case your basically just giving away those extra cards and thats bad for you.

Basically if you want to most of your money back sell things either in playsets or individually. It's going to take a lot of time, but it will get you the best return.

When I do sell stuff, to get an idea of what I will actually get for a card I check TCG player to see what stores are selling them for and then check http://www.apathyhouse.com/pricelist/trader.php or just manually search ebay for auctions that have recently sold to get a better idea. Starcity prices are usually pretty far from reality; don't expect to get those values. Quick example, just from scrolling down SCG main page I see Molten-tail masticore for 18$. I quick search on TCG player shows me dozens of other dealers willing to sell them for 12-14$ and they probably go for even less on ebay.

As a seller I've still got a lot to learn but thing I do is I don't waste effort selling anything that will go for less than 6-8$. When trading, I always try to get rid of the 1-5$ rares in exchange for larger money cards. That way I spend less time managing a bunch of small auctions and can instead focus on a few higher value ones.

[cdr]

Probably selling duals with a few others like in a batch will help me get rid of cards that are less likely to get sold alone?

No, that's not going to help. If you have cards you think won't sell for more than $1 alone (or as a playset), you're pretty much left with taking all of those not-valuable cards and putting them all in a lot by themselves.

Again, for something especially valuable and sought-after like a dual land, you don't ideally even sell as a playset - you sell as a single card.

But again, you don't have the eBay rating or eBay knowhow to be selling on eBay anyway.


I mean the quality of my cards are in the exact condition i bought them from SCG in as I rarely played and sleeved them as soon as i recieved them in the mail, I'd really like to sell them for what they're worth

If you want to know "what they're worth", check eBay completed prices or MOTL prices (MOTL gets their prices from eBay completed auctions). You can check SCG's buylist or a site like allmagiccards.com to get an idea of what dealers will buy cards for.

[dahcmai]

Selling is a pain most of the time. People only buy the highly wanted items for a decent price and Ebay eats up the profits so badly due to fees and such that it's not worth selling anything under $5. There's no real good way to do it. i tend to Ebay the larger high money items and them make large lots of the rest or keep it around and trade into things I can sell.

I keep a large list of stuff tournament players don't want that sells good for me on Ebay. Then I trade like a madman giving great deals which makes them happy and makes me happy. It's a win win. Some dealers at GP's and such are great for doing that. they may not give the greatest trade ins, but it's better than what you could sell on Ebay for and they make a profit too. It works out the best doing that.

[whiteshepherdman]

So there isn't really a way to sell the collection for what it's really worth? @ cdr: you mentioned you can check the price of what certain cards sold for on ebay would it be possible if you could give me the link to that? having trouble finding it on the ebay website.

Also isn't it better to sell for example i have 4 volcanic islands, to sell the set as 4 instead of singles since then i wouldn't have to pay 4 separate fees to ebay for 4 different posts? Or in your past experiences is it just more profitable to sell them as 1's. I think I've settled on just selling the staples that i have since they are in really high demand at the moment ie. all my blue duals natural orders, survival and LED

[dahcmai]

I found that playsets are better in a lot of cases just because people are lazy and don't want to buy single cards to make a playset.

Finding the completed auctions is fairly easy. You have to be logged into your account to see them, but when you search for an item theres a small link next to the search bar that says advanced. Just click that and there's a checkbox that says completed and you search again. It will bring up all completed auctions. the green dollar signs are what something sold for and red ones are things that didnt sell.

[cdr]

So there isn't really a way to sell the collection for what it's really worth? @ cdr: you mentioned you can check the price of what certain cards sold for on ebay would it be possible if you could give me the link to that? having trouble finding it on the ebay website.

Depends what you mean by "what it's really worth". The highest possible price you can find someone selling a card for (eg, SCG) is not what most people would call "what it's really worth". A dealer can command a higher price when selling cards than an individual can, that's how things work. The closest you'll be able to find to a market price is eBay completed price, which is what I'd call "what it's really worth". Even then, eBay is going to take 13% in fees.

If you do a search for a card on eBay and then click "completed auctions", you can get a sense of what cards are selling for. I have software that averages completed prices for me (as does MOTL/Apathy House/etc), but you can do fine with just glancing at the results.


Also isn't it better to sell for example i have 4 volcanic islands, to sell the set as 4 instead of singles since then i wouldn't have to pay 4 separate fees to ebay for 4 different posts? Or in your past experiences is it just more profitable to sell them as 1's. I think I've settled on just selling the staples that i have since they are in really high demand at the moment ie. all my blue duals natural orders, survival and LED

For eBay auctions, fees are identical whether you do four separate auctions or one - there's no fee for listing, 100% of the fees are a cut of the final value. Even if there was a fee (like with eBay fixed price), the additional profit would usually be larger than the trivial $0.50 fee.

I've found that for extremely high demand cards like duals (where people will realistically pick them up one at a time) you can get a little more on average selling them singly than as a playset. In some cases people will pay more for the convenience of a playset, so it's not a hard rule.

[dahcmai]

I've probably sold around 8 playsets of each dual and seem to do better if they are in a playset as opposed to singly, but I have a ton of feedback too and that is a world of difference when you get into higher prices I have noticed.


By the way CDR, think you could find it in your heart to show me where you got that averaging software? That would be pretty handy in my line.

[HokusSchmokus]

Even 100% Good Feedback(way over 150 positive feedbacks) and high quality photos do NOT ensure that you are not getting punked.
I'm posting this here to warn people: Some guy named delwing.2008 from Shawinigan, QC, Kanada scams people big time. I bought 4 Candelabras, never received anything. Price was Candelabra-ish high.Never responded.After I looked at his profile again there were 20+ people who had the same problem as me.
BE AWARE OF PAYPAL RESTRICTIONS AND TRADING LAW.
Be careful if you buy sth for 250$ plus via Paypal, then the seller is required to register the Mail for tracking. If he did not do that, be very very careful.

[DTC]

Ebay is usually only good these days for high end items, so what i'll do is sell $10+ cards as singles, then everything $10 or less as a collection. With selling collections you'll get the best prices by listing stuff out or showing some of the best cards in the pictures so players don't confuse it for one of the millions of bulk lots online.

The problem with the bulk lots is they're usually dealers or people who really know the market so you're guaranteed not to get anything better than old draft picks or true bulk cards, so if you want a good price make sure the buyers know it's not bulk and you do have playable cards in the lot. You don't have to list every card, but list most cards worth between $2-10 if applicable. So an example would be:

"In this collection is over 3,000 magic the gathering cards from revised up until current. I'm currently downsizing my collection but don't have the time to list everything individually so my loss is your gain and you can win this whole lot

This collection includes:
2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1 Sol Ring (revised, MP)
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Krosan Grip (FNM Promo)
4 Sterling Grove
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Necropotence
..(and so on)

This is not a lot! You WILL receive all the cards above with no strings attached!"

What will happen then is people go through and tally it up. Rather than pay the $25 you might get for that as a bulk lot you might get closer to 80% of their value because people know there are cards they can use for decks, cubes, whatever else and just trade/sell off the rest on their own. You won't get 100% value, but the time you lose is worth the gain.

You can try to blind auction but your numbers will be lower if you try to fake it and say things like "I bought this at a storage auction and don't know anything about magic cards so these could be worth a lot or nothing." - it simply doesn't work if you sell MTG cards, and even if you don't, your feedback probably won't be high enough to get the high prices either. I avoid these auctions unless they look realistic, and even then i only bid slightly higher than worst case scenario prices (meaning i can make most/all my money back bulking it out to my dealers if there's nothing i need from it).

Just some thoughts though to help improve how much you get per card without being eaten alive by ebay fees. I've only sold a single mtg collection (the way i described) and made $200. I sold yugioh cards and took a picture of every page in the binders and said how much was in bulk, and got nearly $400 for the whole lot. I might have gotten more if i took the time to list as singles, but the collection was around 10,000 cards so the time alone would not have made it worth it, and i had some sellers lined up to buy collections from. The fees probably also would have made it hurt more than the way i just sold it in one go.

[Picc]

When doing collections I normally like to start with a quick scan for the A+ stuff (duals etc) which I either put on the bay individually or hold if Ill be going to an event with dealers soon. Next comes the $5-10 stuff for the most part this goes in my trade binder so I can trade for more A+ stuff but if my goal was to get out I would also look at moving this as play sets for closer to "retail" how close would depend on how fast I wanted out.

When it comes time to move the bulk (read $1 rares + commons/uncommons) I will generally filter out all the dollar rares and put them up as a single EDH bulk rare lot for between 10cents and 20 cents each on craigslist/kijiji depending on weather they have a gold set symbol or not. Then do the same with the commons/uncommons at $10 per thousand.

I find (for me) its the best balance of time/money. Basically the goal is to put effort into maximizing the return on the good stuff and then just move the bulk into the hands of some kitchen table players at fire sale prices.

All in my advise is just to try and avoid the bay as much as possible. Its just not worth micro transacting with the current fee structure anymore.

[joemauer]

Hey guys I have a question about ebaying. I have noticed sellers make delivery confirmation mandatory when selling outside the U.S. to orders over $50. My question is why $50? Does eBay insure under that for the seller or something. Or is more difficult to dispute when under that amount?
I have been selling a fair amount on eBay and have followed suit with the $50 thing, but would really appreciate some more insight here. Thanks guys.

[dahcmai]

The reason is fairly simple. It's a decent amount to start caring if you lose the money or not. $50 isn't such a big deal, going above that starts getting sketchy and by $200 or so, you really don't want to have to refund it. Most sellers calculate losses into the price for scammers and people who just aren't worth dealing with and are easier just to refund and block. Kind of like how Wal Mart raises prices on things that are stolen a lot.


Delivery Confirmation is something I have no idea why anyone wouldn't use. It costs 79 cents and tracks the package. It's cheaper to not use it, but stupid. I guess some sellers still want to save the pennies. It is a lot more for overseas, but still worth it. I don't ship overseas anymore, but I am sure $50 is about where it starts getting too expensive to use the delivery notification on cheaper items.

[NathanS2k]

I've been buying MTG cards on Ebay a lot lately and never had a problem until yesterday. When I received the card, it have creases in several places. The seller sent it in a bubble wrapped envelope BUT the card was in a regular Ultra Pro sleeve and taped it to a cardboard.

I told the guy about the issue and all he could do was refund me "a couple of bucks". Should I take the couple of bucks? I feel like I should deserve a full refund. BTW, it was an Aether Vial.

[cdr]

I've been buying MTG cards on Ebay a lot lately and never had a problem until yesterday. When I received the card, it have creases in several places. The seller sent it in a bubble wrapped envelope BUT the card was in a regular Ultra Pro sleeve and taped it to a cardboard.

I told the guy about the issue and all he could do was refund me "a couple of bucks". Should I take the couple of bucks? I feel like I should deserve a full refund. BTW, it was an Aether Vial.

He's likely trying to rip you off - there's no way a card in a bubble mailer mysteriously developed creases.

At the very least, you can file a dispute as "condition not as described" and send it back to him with tracking, and he'll have to refund you the full price. I've never had to deal with that particular process, but you can look it up on eBay/PayPal.

If you want to keep it (ie, it's still tournament playable or you can use it in Commander), you can tell him to refund the difference between what you paid and what you think the fair value of a card in that condition is or you file a dispute as above.

[joemauer]

The reason is fairly simple. It's a decent amount to start caring if you lose the money or not. $50 isn't such a big deal, going above that starts getting sketchy and by $200 or so, you really don't want to have to refund it.

Thanks dahcmai, I initially thought it was that simple. So many sellers picked $50 as the delivery confirmation tack on that I thought maybe there was something more to it. Guess not.

[android]

Okay so I do a bit of Ebay buying and selling. My feedback is 1295 so I'm not a massive volume seller but I do have 100% positive feedback. I've made some semi-risky transactions before to Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, etc. Never had a real problem; one UK buyer sent back an empty package claiming they received it that way, one seller gave me bad feedback for questioning his shipping charges.

Most recently, I sold a NM Candelabra to a guy in French Polynesia (Tahiti) for $185. Now the guy seems totally legit, he's got a number of purchases for relatively high dollar Magic cards from reputable Ebay sellers so I don't really have an issue with the sale. At any rate, shipping to Tahiti is kind of expensive and I want to send registered mail which has to be First Class. The buyer's in agreement that he would rather spend the whatever it is ($15?) instead of Express Mail which is like $50.

Who knew shipping a card First Class would take over 2 months? Plus it's only tracked to the sorting facility in L.A. at which point it drops off the map. So the 45 day limit to file a complaint approaches and of course the buyer (protecting themselves) files a product not received complaint thus freezing all my Paypal funds (actually in the negative at this point) which consequently prevents me from being able to ship any of my existing auction items which amount to less than the value of the Candelabra.

So I'm furious and I call Ebay. I ask what is to prevent the person from saying they didn't receive the item and doing a charge back? The lady is clueless and goes on about some bs policy. So I resort to calling the post office because of course I had insurance on the item. They tell me that they can open an inquiry to the French Polynesian postal authorities who will then either let us know when the package is delivered or I can request to have it sent back instead. I almost went with having it sent back but I don't want to burn the buyer if it's strictly a matter of slow mail.

So I'm here to ask, how fucking long does it take for a letter to get to Tahiti from the US??

[dahcmai]

I haven't had much experience with Tahiti, but I have had one package take 3 months. That's the longest I ever had anything get tied up in customs. That was Brazil. I figure that has to be about the maximum for anywhere since that country likes to take it's time.


That's one of the problems with sending out stuff to foreign countries. There's no good way to track packages other than that $50 option.

[cdr]

Okay so I do a bit of Ebay buying and selling. My feedback is 1295 so I'm not a massive volume seller but I do have 100% positive feedback. I've made some semi-risky transactions before to Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, etc. Never had a real problem; one UK buyer sent back an empty package claiming they received it that way, one seller gave me bad feedback for questioning his shipping charges.

Most recently, I sold a NM Candelabra to a guy in French Polynesia (Tahiti) for $185. Now the guy seems totally legit, he's got a number of purchases for relatively high dollar Magic cards from reputable Ebay sellers so I don't really have an issue with the sale. At any rate, shipping to Tahiti is kind of expensive and I want to send registered mail which has to be First Class. The buyer's in agreement that he would rather spend the whatever it is ($15?) instead of Express Mail which is like $50.

Who knew shipping a card First Class would take over 2 months? Plus it's only tracked to the sorting facility in L.A. at which point it drops off the map. So the 45 day limit to file a complaint approaches and of course the buyer (protecting themselves) files a product not received complaint thus freezing all my Paypal funds (actually in the negative at this point) which consequently prevents me from being able to ship any of my existing auction items which amount to less than the value of the Candelabra.

So I'm furious and I call Ebay. I ask what is to prevent the person from saying they didn't receive the item and doing a charge back? The lady is clueless and goes on about some bs policy. So I resort to calling the post office because of course I had insurance on the item. They tell me that they can open an inquiry to the French Polynesian postal authorities who will then either let us know when the package is delivered or I can request to have it sent back instead. I almost went with having it sent back but I don't want to burn the buyer if it's strictly a matter of slow mail.

So I'm here to ask, how fucking long does it take for a letter to get to Tahiti from the US??

First: Registered mail is not trackable online, which means it provides zero protection from PayPal disputes. Since it does nothing for you, you shouldn't use it, especially in light of -

Second: Registered mail is, by international treaty, treated separately from normal international post. This separate handling can introduce incredible delays. Two months to get somewhere where the mail route is not very efficient is not at all uncommon with registered.

Express Mail International Envelope (EMS) is $30-35 for pretty much the whole world. Kind of steep, but that's what I offer international buyers on my listings as it's the cheapest way to send safely internationally, and I still get quite a few international buyers.

And yes, if you don't use a shipping method that can be tracked online, the buyer can file a dispute at any time (even minutes after you dropped the package in the mail, long before they could be expected to receive it) and they'll win.

[xfxf]

Guys I'm having trouble getting deals on Ebay. Well, the auctions don't end up cheaper than online stores enough to matter. I know this is not a "how to win auctions on ebay" thread but I just want some opinions on the mindset of the bidders and how people get away with actually desirable ebay purchases.

Last night I was bidding for 4 NM Jaces which was around 230$ at the time and there was another listing for 4 NM jaces with "buy it now" for 250$. So I place my bid at 235 with a couple hours left and start waiting. At the last 30 seconds people start increasing the bid, I increase it to 240 (which was the highest amount I would go) and then watch the auction to end at 252$. Well then I proceed to make my purchase for the other listing at 250$.

The winner of the auction actually didn't profit from waiting and bidding and he/she could have just gone with the "buy it now" option for the other listing if he was willing to spend 250$. I was hoping to get them a little cheaper with the auction so I didn't go any further with bidding above 240$. The winning bid doesn't make any sense while there is already another listing where you can just click purchase and spend the amount of money. What's the point in people pushing the auctions this way?

This happens to me almost all the time. The auction ends up costing as much as a straight-up purchase. How do you guys manage to win auctions with actually good deals? Doesn't make sense to me :)

[oldbsturgeon]

What has happened to me when selling is if I list something buy it now, even if its trending significantly under the going rate, it will hang around for days before selling, but if I list something via auction, it would go for more than the BIN I would have listed it at.
There have been numerous occasions where I have seen a BIN with an auction, someone bids removing the BIN option, and it sells for much more than the asking price.

[xfxf]

True from a seller's perspective. Still looks like mindless purchasing from a buyer's perspective. If the winning bidder didn't push it this hard I could have gotten the cards for 10-15$ cheaper and he would have gotten the same cards for the same price from a different seller the same night :)

[publius_aelius]

@ android

I once had a transaction with a buyer from Tahiti. Is the buyer's name perhaps 'jltahiti'?

He bought a Grim Tutor from me and received the item app. three weeks after I had posted it.
(I'm from Croatia and USPS is probably light years ahead of our postal office concerning infrastructure)

[joemauer]

What has happened to me when selling is if I list something buy it now, even if its trending significantly under the going rate, it will hang around for days before selling, but if I list something via auction, it would go for more than the BIN I would have listed it at.
There have been numerous occasions where I have seen a BIN with an auction, someone bids removing the BIN option, and it sells for much more than the asking price.

This has happened to me too. I list stuff for both buy it now and auction, people go into some bidding frenzy and push the prices higher than what my buy it now was! Go me.

I think the auctions sometimes go higher because of the back and forth competitiveness of the bidding war. Then again sometimes the buy it now rapes people who are lazy/hate bidding wars/or impatient.

[danyul]

This has happened to me too. I list stuff for both buy it now and auction, people go into some bidding frenzy and push the prices higher than what my buy it now was! Go me.

I think the auctions sometimes go higher because of the back and forth competitiveness of the bidding war. Then again sometimes the buy it now rapes people who are lazy/hate bidding wars/or impatient.

This.

I will admit to sometimes buying things over retail or coming damn close to it because of my bidding stubbornness. There is some sick sense of pride that comes from seeing my name as the highest bidder and have those numbers all in green in my watchlist. As soon as I get the notification that I have been outbid, even if the price is pushing my limit, I get a little upset, as if somebody is trying to bully me around. This is irrational, but when I can spend any amount of money with a single button push, sometimes irrational thinking gets the best of me.

By the same token, I have sometimes gone into regret-overdrive and purchased using the buy-it-now price only to watch similar auctions end much lower than I paid.

Anyways, that's my experience.

[Esper3k]

Yeah, simply put - people don't do their research (checking prices or even looking at available BIN prices) and they get into "bidding rage" where they HAVE TO WIN IT!1!!.

[dahcmai]

The secret is to save a page in your watch list of the lowest priced buy it now of the card you want. then bid right under that. When your auction ends, you either get the card you wanted cheaper or just say heck with it and realize the buy it now isn't a bad deal if people are going to bid over those. It happened a lot with Jace. Half the time, you were better off with the buy it nows.

[Fossil4182]

The best practice I can recommend is that if you have other methods available to sell your cards, use them instead of eBay. The only reason eBay is one of the primary places to purchase cards from is because it is one of the older sites for selling Magic cards. Its age has given it large customer base which is why its appealing.

Despite this appeal, eBay disproportionately favors buyers to the point that it is discouraging to use eBay on anything but a large scale as a seller. In nearly all instances of a dispute, buyers are always given the benefit of the doubt. As a seller, this means you are at the whim of eBay's policies. There are buyers who target members selling Magic cards and attempt to game the system. As an example, individuals purchase items and then claim the item was not included in the envelope (even if you put tracking on it) and eBay will always favor the buyer, even if the seller has outstanding feedback (in this example, the buyer had zero transactions). This means they will issue the buyer a refund and you're out the item. This has not happened to me, but it did to someone in my play group recently. This is just one example of the general bias toward buyers and does not include the fees for listing and selling items.

However, if you must use eBay, a few things I would recommend.

First, if you would prefer to ship to only certain areas (for example, domestic buyers only), simply noting that you do not ship international will not cover your liability. If an auction ends and a buyer is in a country you do not wish to ship to, you are obligated to send to them, even if your item description indicated that you will not ship international. To add salt to the wound, the buyer is allowed to leave you negative feed back in such a situation and you cannot leave anything but positive feedback. eBay does not consider this situation as grounds for removing the feedback. The only way to remove feedback from this type event is if "eBay is provided with a valid court order requesting Feedback removal".

In order to remedy this issue, you must take several steps to ensure that your auctions are only available to countries that you want to send to.

1. Go into My eBay/Accounts/Site Preferences/Shipping Preferences/Exclude shipping locations from your listings. This will allow you to select regions and/countries that you would prefer to exclude shipping to. However, you're not done yet.

2. Go into My eBay/Accounts/Site Preferences/Buyers Requirements and update your buyer requirements to "Block buyers whose primary shipping address is in a location I don't ship to".

After you've done this, you're supposedly covered as any person who attempts to bid on an item from you will be required to have an address within your selected shipping region.

Second, when writing your description of an item, never claim a card is in a specific condition. An example would be describing a card as Mint, NM, SP, Excellent, Very Fine, ect. The reality is your interpretation of NM is probably not the same as someone else. If you feel compelled to write something about the condition, write a detailed description but stop short of claiming a condition. Here is an example of how listing a condition can hurt you as a seller.

Say you are selling a "NM" Polluted Delta with a Buy It Now price of $25. A buyer purchases the item, you send it, they receive it. However, a day after they receive it, they send you a message in which they claim the condition of the card is SP in their opinion, not NM. As a result, they are requesting a refund of $5. There are several "choices" that you can make as a seller. You can ignore their request and they will likely leave you negative feedback. This is undesirable because of the effect it has on your reputation as a seller and will likely deter some buyers from purchasing from you in the future. Another option is that a dispute can be opened up. However, as referenced above, eBay favors buyers so you'll end up refunding them. The reason for this is because eBay feels it is the seller's responsibility to provide a detailed description of an item. Your final option is just to refund them. None of this actions end favorable for the seller.

I would recommend that sellers do two things to prevent this from occurring. First, include detailed scans of the front and back of the card. It costs less than 20 cents to include an extra picture and is well worth the investment (you'll understand why below). Second, in the description area, indicate that the scan is of the actual cards the buyer will receive and compel them to make assessments about the condition of the cards using the scans provided. Letting the buyers make their own determinations about condition prevents the aforementioned type of complication. Basically, you're paying 15 cents to prevent anywhere from $5 - $100 dollars being lost due to condition disputes.

Finally, here are some general guides about selling specific types of items.

-Do not sell small items on eBay unless you have access to an eBay store. For example, if you are selling an item for $5 with 99 cent shipping using the Buy it Now feature, you will pay $1.16 in final selling fees. This makes your gross sale $5.99 and your total expenses $2.14. If you subtract shipping, you gross $5 and pay $1.16 in fees. This means you're making less than $4 on an item that you sold for $5. This gets somewhat better on more expensive items, but think of it this way. If you believe your item is worth $5, you're getting less than 80% of what its worth after fees. (This does not include potential PayPal fees)

-Auctions versus Buy it Now. First, do research to see how similar items are selling. Questions you should be asking:

How much are members selling the item for on their Buy it Now option?

What are these items selling for? Use the completed listing option to research.

Are current Buy it Now prices comparable to what has been selling? A lot of times, there is a difference between what people are asking and what cards are selling for.

Do I need cash, or am I willing to wait for an item to sell? Auctions can provide cash within seven days of closing (which can be a pain if they wait seven days to pay). Buy it Now items can sit for months before selling and you pay recurring fees to "relist" the items. However, Buy it Now options can include a "require immediate payment" option which is nice. The Final Value fees can also be very different depending on how much an item sells for with Auction or Buy it Now. Use the fee calculator to figure out what you are looking at paying for those fees.

-Always include tracking on shipping. If you send an item without tracking, you are in a much worse position as a seller if a dispute comes up. Its less than a $1 and can save you hundreds of dollars.

I hope this helps some of you out there who are considering selling on eBay. If I sound jaded, it is because eBay is really terrible and is only desirable because its largest venue to use. Providing a large venue for small scale sellers is the only real benefit to using the site. eBay does nothing to encourage or support sellers when it comes to their policies given that buyers are always favored.

If you can arrange transactions between yourself and a buyer using PayPal, there is better seller protection available. Additionally, creating a strong relationship with local B&R stores can generate some positive results. I've worked hard to develop a good relationship with my local shop and I am able to sell my cards at shows/conventions in their case without paying commission so long as I help during the day. Additionally, I have negotiated a deal now have part of his display case for my cards. I pay him a commission of 5% of the sale price. If you can negotiate anything between 5-10%, you're getting an alright deal imho. As always, if you can negotiate cash deals, that is the best option; just make sure you invest in a fake bill marker to cover yourself.

Good luck and happy selling!!!

[John Cox]

Does anyone here use snipers for ebay?

[oldbsturgeon]

I have used a sniper program in the past, until the 10 or so free auctions were used up. I honestly couldn't tell you which one I used either, just looked around and found the one that had the best reviews, and my friend had used it and recommended it as well.
People that are weired out by sharing information may not want to use them as you have to give your username and password out essentially for the bot to bid for you, but I had no issue on my end.

On another note, I'm a bit confused as to why anyone would still try and rip someone off by not sending the item. I've had no issue in years getting my refunds back for fake sellers, so I'm wondering if this can even still occur.
Many years ago around 2004, I lost out on two different moxen and got money back but not the full amount. I bring it up as a few months ago I bought an underground sea on ebay for a buy it now of 69.99 and the seller had recent positive feedback on many auctions, but never got the card.
On the case resolution, it indicated they were able to recover all the funds, making me believe there can still be instances where they cannot?
Does anyone know?

[Comrade]

The sniper programs are kind of useless. I've lost more auctions using them than I've ever won. The best time you can set them to bid at is somewhere between 30-60 seconds. As while you can set them to bid in the last 5-10 seconds, they always fail in doing so. Either because of program and processor reaction time, or just internet connection lag.

If you're going to be home, you have the best chance to win if you're actually sitting there watching the auction. If you're not going to be home, just put in the maximum amount you're willing to pay before you leave. As that's what you would have paid for the item anyways. If you're going to be asleep and it ends in the middle of the night, there isn't much you can do other than bidding beforehand then either.

---

As for the way Ebay/Paypal words their refund emails. I'm pretty positive it's just stated like that, but not how it actually is. I assume that when you're refunded, it comes out of some master account on their end, and not directly from the other person's account. I've been on both ends, ones where I've received the refunds and ones where I've had to give them.

For example, I lost a case years ago for an item damaged in transit, and Paypal automatically deducted the money from my account. Leaving me with a negative balance for the full cost of the item, since I had taken the money out weeks before. Later that day, I got an email from the buyer thanking me for issuing him the refund. My account remained in the negative for another week or so until I could get up the money. Had I not, I think Paypal would have gone ahead and just taken the money straight out of my bank account, whether I had enough in there or not.

[thegrinningdemon]

Have any of you used eBay to print shipping labels. I recently shipped an item to Italy and the buyer emailed me saying that they were required to pay $25 on a $100 auction. He is complaining that the label listed an invoice for his sale and I should not have done that. He said the invoice goes on the inside. However, the customs form requires you to state the amount. He refused delivery. What are my options as the seller?

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I've just started to tinker with Ebay and MKM. I loathe it.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I've just started to tinker with Ebay and MKM. I loathe it.

So, I needed to finish my deck, and I also needed to sell the rest of my cards. The first goal is nigh ready, the second will take some time yet. I use MKM exclusively, as Ebay is one heck of an annoyance.
What surprises me about the MKM users is how often they seem to be lacking in their intelligence department. I received orders without return address, so if the post can't reach me, there's nowhere to return the envelope. I received cards at excellent conditions at the very best, whom the seller graded as NM+ without any hesitation. I got myself Chronicles cards instead of The Dark ones. Yes, we are humans, and mistakes may happen, but this is beyond ridiculous. Either the person doesn't know anything about the MtG, or maybe it's a low-level scammer, but what I don't get is the fact that there are many ways how to check for correct edition (and manuals for correct grading), so while missing one cheap piece in a 20+ cards order is explainable, other things are not.
I like how MKM helped me in my cause, but for every ten fine orders, there is one that completely ruins my fun.

[Lemnear]

About 15% of uninsured packages (<20€) did not arrive last year via MKM. Suspicious

[Bed Decks Palyer]

About 15% of uninsured packages (<20€) did not arrive last year via MKM. Suspicious

Then I'm one lucky boy. I did not receive two orders from over seventy and one of them was fully compensated. Otoh, I can't tell how many of them were uninsured, but as I don't buy any expensive items too often (I don't need anything special), most of them must have been untracked, yet they still did reach me.
I guess that some of the national post services are simply bad. I'd say Italian post sucks.

[Mister M.]

About 15% of uninsured packages (<20€) did not arrive last year via MKM. Suspicious

Where did you get those figures from? I highly doubt them. I don't know a single user of MKM in person (and I know some) who had issues with lost packages near the realm of 15%. The history of lost packages is visible in each member's profile and and it's below 2% for the majority of people.
Look at Pithing needle form M10 "https://www.magickartenmarkt.de/Pithing_Needle_Magic_2010.c1p21263.prod for example and see whether 15% is close to accurate.

[Lemnear]

Where did you get those figures from? I highly doubt them. I don't know a single user of MKM in person (and I know some) who had issues with lost packages near the realm of 15%. The history of lost packages is visible in each member's profile and and it's below 2% for the majority of people.
Look at Pithing needle form M10 "https://www.magickartenmarkt.de/Pithing_Needle_Magic_2010.c1p21263.prod for example and see whether 15% is close to accurate.

Excuse me? If like 1 out of 7 or 8 orders somehow did not make it, because sellers love to miss additional adress information or miss the postal code (Berlin, like other big cities has a lot of same named streets as you know) is sad. Lost package history is below 2% because a lot of people refund lost and returned shipments resulting in a deal about marking the shipment arrived, which is kinda ok.

In fact, MKM banned me during last year for a couple of weeks because of that issue, which was quite a joke and got fixed after I mailed to them.

[Mister M.]

So, as I understand, you are deriving the 15% rate of lost uninsured letters from your personal experience? Further, you are guessing, the lost package rate which is reported as "below 2%" for most sellers is, in reality, more than 7 fold higher due to non-mandatory refunds. If your extrapolation of your personal experience was appropriate, most people would stop selling because they weren't making any money worth the hassle.
I do not doubt you had bad experiences using MKM, but I dont't think, that is the norm.

[Lemnear]

So, as I understand, you are deriving the 15% rate of lost uninsured letters from your personal experience? Further, you are guessing, the lost package rate which is reported as "below 2%" for most sellers is, in reality, more than 7 fold higher due to non-mandatory refunds. If your extrapolation of your personal experience was appropriate, most people would stop selling because they weren't making any money worth the hassle.
I do not doubt you had bad experiences using MKM, but I dont't think, that is the norm.

Of course it is a personal experience only. Asuming you did not have big issues, despite living in the same city, I can obviously break it down to the beforementioned problems with the adress

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Ok, so while building my brand new EDH - ppl, me playing highlander, wow, that's so 1999 -, I bothered myself with MKM. And, I'm going to share a piece of wisdom, one that many of you know, nut w/e.
Really, there's zero point in pestering with the purchases. I made the mistake of not being good with what Purchase Woizard (or however is the function called) offered me, and manually went throguh the purchases. Well, in fact no, I didn't. I shaved the cards down to thirty, but it was still inhuman task. So I went to some sixteen or so, but this still was too much of a trouble. So I simply listed the ten most expensive cards and went from there. SEveral hours later, and I mean really, several hours later, I finished my set of orders for no more than twelve "money" cards (plus some garbage) turning this into a real deal, cause you know, there's nothing more satisfying than wasting half a day with MtG paperworks and make some three Euros in the end. If I'd be wiser, I'd purchase all the stuff form the offered guys (one of them being not a guy, but a flgs), and went to bed around midnight, not when the birds began to sing.
Now lets not even start about all the inevitable cancelments and lost envelopes. Bah...

tl, dr: MKM is not worth your time, use it for chase rare hunts or some kind of sniper's work, not for bigger purchases.

[jrsthethird]

Stupid international shipping question:

I sold a card on eBay to someone in Singapore. I packed it in a small bubble mailer. I went to the post office and they said I had to mail it as a package for $7.10. I said it should only be a couple dollars for first class but the lady said it was a package, even though it was only an ounce.

I didn't ship it and left. It's been a few years since I mailed anything internationally so I wanted to be informed before I start arguing with her. Anyway I looked it up and my package meets all the qualifications of a letter (rigid, uniformly thick, no more than 3/4" thick, etc.) So I shouldn't have a problem sending it as a letter right?

Aside: There are two clerks at my post office; the guy was always really cool but the lady was always a bit of a bitch. I don't think I'd have had this problem if the guy were there.

[cdr]

Stupid international shipping question:

I sold a card on eBay to someone in Singapore. I packed it in a small bubble mailer. I went to the post office and they said I had to mail it as a package for $7.10. I said it should only be a couple dollars for first class but the lady said it was a package, even though it was only an ounce.

I didn't ship it and left. It's been a few years since I mailed anything internationally so I wanted to be informed before I start arguing with her. Anyway I looked it up and my package meets all the qualifications of a letter (rigid, uniformly thick, no more than 3/4" thick, etc.) So I shouldn't have a problem sending it as a letter right?

Aside: There are two clerks at my post office; the guy was always really cool but the lady was always a bit of a bitch. I don't think I'd have had this problem if the guy were there.

I hope you're prepared to lose the card and the money. Any shipping without web-accessible tracking is an easy way to lose a PayPal dispute. This is why I stopped shipping internationally on eBay more than 10 years ago. International shipping with web tracking, even for something envelope-sized, is $50+. Unless it's a several hundred dollar plus card forget it, no buyer is going to pay that.

As far as your question, I seriously doubt a bubble mailer qualifies for international letter post. You don't want to ship cards letter post anyway, since letter post goes through letter processing machines which can easily mangle cards. The whole point of using bubble mailers is to qualify for package and not letter.

[Julian23]

International shipping with web tracking, even for something envelope-sized, is $50+..

Could it really be that expensive in the US? I can only speak for Germany, but I quite often ship simple letters with online-tracking worldwide and it costs between 3,- and 5,- €, depending on weight.

[cdr]

Could it really be that expensive in the US? I can only speak for Germany, but I quite often ship simple letters with online-tracking worldwide and it costs between 3,- and 5,- €, depending on weight.

Granted my knowledge is a few years out of date, so things may have improved since.

Registered Mail, the grandaddy of international tracking, is useless for PayPal since (last I knew) it doesn't provide web tracking. Because it predates the internet. And phones.

There's USPS Tracking International, but that was useless last I knew because the tracking stopped at the US border. As I google it, it looks like they may have integrated with the tracking of about 30 other countries (pretty much Europe and Australia/NZ) so that might be an option now for the supported countries.

Which leaves Priority Mail Express International, the premium service, which starts at $50 for something the weight of a letter and goes up.

[jrsthethird]

I hope you're prepared to lose the card and the money. Any shipping without web-accessible tracking is an easy way to lose a PayPal dispute. This is why I stopped shipping internationally on eBay more than 10 years ago. International shipping with web tracking, even for something envelope-sized, is $50+. Unless it's a several hundred dollar plus card forget it, no buyer is going to pay that.

As far as your question, I seriously doubt a bubble mailer qualifies for international letter post. You don't want to ship cards letter post anyway, since letter post goes through letter processing machines which can easily mangle cards. The whole point of using bubble mailers is to qualify for package and not letter.

This is a very different experience than I've had in the past. 5 years ago I was doing a lot of online trading via message board. I forget the name of the site, but there were a lot of international people on there. I was looking for German pimp stuff and traded for a decent amount, so I had a lot of packages coming in and out of Europe. Most of my trades were between $25 and $50 worth of cards, and everything worked out fine. I also recall being able to track the customs form number online.

I'm not looking to mail letter post; the maximum thickness for letter post is 1/4", even with a rigid object (where I would avoid the machine by paying the non-machinable surcharge). A bubble mailer actually qualifies as a Large Envelope:


Dimension Minimum* Maximum
Height 6-1/8 inches (15.557 cm) 12 inches (30.480 cm)
Length 11-1/2 inches (29.210 cm) 15 inches (38.100 cm)
Thickness 1/4 inch (0.635 cm) 3/4 inch (1.905 cm)

* Large envelopes exceed at least one of these dimensions.

For example, an envelope 10 inches long x 8 inches high x 1/4 inch thick
(25.400 cm x 20.320 cm x 0.635 cm) is considered a large envelope because it exceeds the minimum height dimension.

Large envelopes that are rigid, nonrectangular, or not uniformly thick pay package prices.

For large envelopes, length is the longest dimension.

For larger items, see package prices.

It's a small bubble mailer, but since it's between 1/4" and 3/4" thick, it's considered a large envelope, not a package. At 1 oz. (the quoted weight at the post office), the price for shipping is a completely reasonable $2.38. This is much more reasonable than $7.10, and what I'm used to in the past.

Well, investigating further, I kind of answered my own question. I have a package to pick up, so I have to go back Monday. I hope the guy's there. If not I'll have this ready on my phone to show the lady.

[cdr]

Just be aware that you're trading extra profit for extra risk. Scammers will specifically seek out listings that are being sent without meeting PayPal's seller guidelines, since it's easy money. Maybe you'll never get burned, but more likely it's just a matter of time.

[JohnGalt]

Just be aware that you're trading extra profit for extra risk. Scammers will specifically seek out listings that are being sent without meeting PayPal's seller guidelines, since it's easy money. Maybe you'll never get burned, but more likely it's just a matter of time.

Don't be so scared. I'm tired of seeing Ebay auctions finishing for 1/2-2/3 the price I'd had bid if it wasn't because the seller didn't want to sell internationally. Scammers are a minority and you are losing lots of potential honest buyers by not sending overseas (or only wanting to send with super expensive shipping methods, or even worse, with the horrible Ebay Global Shipping Program, which forces us to pay custom taxes).

[bondfan]

So I won this auction a while back.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171955400032?euid=e2616b686a134946845528061bd198b4&cp=1&exe=12808&ext=32575&sojTags=exe=exe,ext=ext

And here's what happened.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear jakeshoes0426,

Your negative feedback was worth the extra $150 it sold for when I relisted it. Sorry you're so salty.

- thegrinningdemon


New message from: thegrinningdemon Top Rated Seller(1,271Red Star)
I don't expect a positive feedback since we did not complete a transaction. There was an error in my listing and I refunded your money right away. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Your previous message

We can talk back and forth all day but to save time I'm assuming you're not selling me these? If not, I absolutely cannot give you positive feedback.

thegrinningdemon:
That was my only recourse when eBay would not allow me to change the title. Unfortunately, the description I added is far less searchable than the auction's title. I wish I had noticed the mistake before it was too late.
Your previous message

Then why did you add the description as "This auction includes 4X Japanese Foil Brainstorm from Mercadian Masques. The cards in the picture are the exact ones you will receive."?

thegrinningdemon:
The title did not state that the cards are Japanese. It did not state that the auction was for 4X Foil Brainstorm. Most bidders assumed I was only selling one English foil Brainstorm.
Your previous message

Hello,

I'm not understanding your statement. How does the title affect this sale at all? Please elaborate.

thegrinningdemon:
Hello,

I apologize, but I cannot sell these cards for the sold price because of serious listing errors found in the auction's title. The auction's title did not match the pictures I provided. I don't think the quantity or language was clear for this auction for many bidders. I had several people question what I was selling. Unfortunately, eBay would not let me end the item early so my only recourse is to refund you the purchase price for these cards or work out another solution. Once again, I apologize for the error and hope you will not hold this against me since. I have relisted the cards if you want to bid again.

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Nice to know your reputation is worth $150.

[iamajellydonut]

You seem really, really salty about something that you never owned. It's like being salty that the guy at the yardsale on the corner realized at the last minute that his box of "old junk" is actually worth something.

He's a dick for reposting instead of sucking up the loss, sure, but two wrongs don't make a right. Get over it.

[bondfan]

You seem really, really salty about something that you never owned. It's like being salty that the guy at the yardsale on the corner realized at the last minute that his box of "old junk" is actually worth something.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Get over it.

You're analogy does not apply at all to this situation.

The seller did not like the price so he canceled the transaction. I posted negative feedback and in turn he taunts me with the message.

I highly doubt he "realized his old box of junk is worth something".

[jrsthethird]

You're analogy does not apply at all to this situation.

The seller did not like the price so he canceled the transaction. I posted negative feedback and in turn he taunts me with the message.

I highly doubt he "realized his old box of junk is worth something".

Don't worry, you aren't the first:


After I won the auction for 4 cards, I was refunded, he meant to sell 1 not 4 Buyer: g***a

Reply by thegrinningdemon (Apr-04-15 09:15):
Sometimes you just can't win.

MTG Magic Shadowmoor 4X Cerulean Wisps MINT UNPLAYED (#111483571670) US $0.99

The only salty thing is this motherfucker's tears when he makes a dumb mistake.

[iamajellydonut]

You're analogy does not apply at all to this situation.

The seller did not like the price so he canceled the transaction. I posted negative feedback and in turn he taunts me with the message.

You're fucking vengeful, and you don't see what the other wrong is?

Get over it and yourself.

[maharis]

Wait, he wouldn't sell you 4x Cerulean Wisps for $1???

[thegrinningdemon]

I honestly thought it was settled. Then I get a negative feedback. Yeah I probably deserve it, but still I'm just a guy with a job trying to support his Magic addiction by selling a few cards on eBay. I fucked up now I'm getting shamed on the Internet. What day...I'm too old for this shit.

[danyul]

Your listing error seemed like an honest mistake. Anybody who would try to hold you to that sale is just trying to abuse the system and fleece you, which is gross and wrong. You both fucked up a little bit. And then ego and greed made things stupider. You should just hold e-hands and be wizard bros and put it behind yall. And it *definitely* shouldn't have come up in this forum. I don't post in the pimp thread when I shark little kids for their fetches.

[thegrinningdemon]

Your listing error seemed like an honest mistake. Anybody who would try to hold you to that sale is just trying to abuse the system and fleece you, which is gross and wrong. You both fucked up a little bit. And then ego and greed made things stupider. You should just hold e-hands and be wizard bros and put it behind yall. And it *definitely* shouldn't have come up in this forum. I don't post in the pimp thread when I shark little kids for their fetches.

I like that idea. Let's all hold e-hands.

[jrsthethird]

I'm just going to vent here:

I sold a playset of Yavimaya Coasts for $5, and used an old mailing label with my mom's address. Somehow a stamp wasn't enough to cover 4 cards, a sleeve, toploader, sheet of paper, and a PWE (but every other letter mailed that way was fine, fuck you USPS), so they sent it back asking for more postage. By the time it got to my mom (about 10 days), the buyer was already asking me where his cards were. My mom was going to take care of it for me. I checked in with her on Monday and said she was getting a stamp from a coworker and would send it on Tuesday. Buyer just told me he still never got the cards. My mom had the envelope in her bag all week. Great. Hey dude, here's your 5 bucks back and you'll get the cards sometime (whenever my mom gets to the goddamn post office). Don't hate me, it's everyone else who fucked this up and it makes me look like a shitbag.

Moral - Use up-to-date mailing information.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Somehow a stamp wasn't enough to cover 4 cards, a sleeve, toploader, sheet of paper, and a PWE.



it's everyone else who fucked this up and it makes me look like a shitbag.

I mean... I agree it sucks it happened but blaming everyone but yourself is a funny way to look at it.

[thegrinningdemon]

I'm just going to vent here:

I sold a playset of Yavimaya Coasts for $5, and used an old mailing label with my mom's address. Somehow a stamp wasn't enough to cover 4 cards, a sleeve, toploader, sheet of paper, and a PWE (but every other letter mailed that way was fine, fuck you USPS), so they sent it back asking for more postage. By the time it got to my mom (about 10 days), the buyer was already asking me where his cards were. My mom was going to take care of it for me. I checked in with her on Monday and said she was getting a stamp from a coworker and would send it on Tuesday. Buyer just told me he still never got the cards. My mom had the envelope in her bag all week. Great. Hey dude, here's your 5 bucks back and you'll get the cards sometime (whenever my mom gets to the goddamn post office). Don't hate me, it's everyone else who fucked this up and it makes me look like a shitbag.

Moral - Use up-to-date mailing information.

eBay just isn't the place to sell $5 auctions. You have to send a bubble mailer with tracking.

[jrsthethird]

I mean... I agree it sucks it happened but blaming everyone but yourself is a funny way to look at it.

I package all my cards the same way, and most cards I receive are packaged the same. I genuinely think this was a post office error, but if I wasn't cheap and using old labels, I would've been able to fix it myself. I know my mom and this doesn't surprise me. I should have followed through with her every day until it was sent, and I didn't. I know I'm at fault and I owned up to that.

Just let me vent, god dammit!


eBay just isn't the place to sell $5 auctions. You have to send a bubble mailer with tracking.

No you don't.

[Ace/Homebrew]

If I wasn't cheap and using old labels, I wouldn't have had any trouble.
Fixed that for you! :tongue:




Don't put down your mom on the internet.

it makes me look like a shitbag.

[jrsthethird]

Don't put down your mom on the internet.

If you happen to find this thread, love you mom! <3

[Flaat]

I’ve actually dealt with this in my own family. A few relatives stayed close to the property while the rest of us moved away for work, and over time it felt like they just took over. It wasn’t really intentional on their part, but when you're not there regularly, it’s easy for them to start acting like it's theirs. We've had some awkward conversations about it, and honestly, it would’ve been easier if we’d sorted everything legally early on. I try to check in more now just to keep things balanced.