Well, here is a little advice for buying on Ebay that has helped me in the past so I wanted to share this with others.

I have purchased enough items to be a "seasoned" shopper. This works for other companies when buying on-line.

1st and foremost before you bid send a question to the buyer. You will learn really fast if they are on top of things in regards to Ebay. If it takes 3 or 4 days there is a good chance that service carries over to how they ship and handle the transaction. Not in all cases of course!

Also, the response is very important. I recently had been watching some Gene Krupa drum sticks that were being sold in lots of 3. The picture had them sitting on a Slingerland box. I collect things like that if I can find them so I sent this email.

Hello, I noticed your auction for the sticks and wondered if you had more of these and if the box is included.

The response:

What kind of seller do you think I am, I do not re list the same item and the box is not included.

Needless to say I did not bid and just stayed away from the person. Interestingly, a friend bid on the sticks and another item and in fact the seller would not combine shipping and was a tad brash with communication.

Like anything in life it just makes sense to cover your bases and not hope that he still is a good seller. If you get poor service in a restaurant you leave less of a tip and or never go back or just walk out.

It is important also not to retaliate and I have learned to just "kill them with kindness." You would be surprised the return email I get when you are super kind to people.

So, it never hurts to start the dialogue and or build a contact before you enter into a transaction.

I always look at the feedback to see not only how many negative feedbacks, but to read them to see what people are saying. Just because they have a negative history does not mean they are bad sellers. The more selling you do the more chances you will get negatives. It is a law of averages. You should easily be able to figure it out by reading them.

Bidding is a big thing for people and when and how to enter bids is an art form. There are a variety of "Sniping" services that automatically enter a bid on your behalf at set time near the end. Usually the last 10 seconds.

Many people are against sniping, but it really does not make sense, even in an auction house the Auctioneer is giving you a fair warning and you can up until that last gavel hit to change your bid amount.

Even if a sniper has a set dollar amount and you have more, they will not win. If you are putting in a bid that is not your maximum and under what you think the item is worth and you get sniped, then the other person just wanted it more.

I tend to add odd dollar amounts to my bids. If I want to spend $50 I put the bid at $51.75. If another bidder is after the same item, they sometimes will put the $50.50 and not go any higher because they do not want to test the water after that. Odd, but it has worked for me in the past. Of course there are bidders that just go $60!

I have learned to just be patient with people and more then likely they will eventually send the item. I have heard about tragic car accidents, heart attacks, death, etc.. I guess they can be legitimate so I give them the benefit up until a certain point.

After that point I then look for the persons contact information. Click here for the Ebay page. This works and if they have the correct phone number I call them! A phone call goes a long way to get people moving!

On very rare cases if that does not work then I report the item as not received in your My Ebay section under the drop down menu for the item.

Let's say you sent payment and they never sent the item. If you paid with Pay Pal, and they are legitimate you can get your money back. That is if they can't provide tracking data or proof of sending the item.

What I have learned is that the majority of sellers that complain just do not ship correctly and do not get a signature guarantee. That is crucial from a sellers perspective and I ask them to add it to the shipment if they use USPS. I also always ship to my business address so it can be signed for.

Most of the Pay Pal complaints are from poor sellers and or buyers that do not go that extra step to make sure the seller is a good seller. It is not a perfect situation and things do happen. Yes, there are also buyers that do get items and say they don't, but as a seller if we do not get the signature we are just giving buyers a haven to be dishonest.

Also, as a buyer if you are getting a drum, don't be afraid to ask them how they are packing it. Always request that they try and put it in a plastic bag before packing for water damage and or any liquid contamination.

Most importantly is never expect the item to be exactly perfect! Many sellers leave things out or do not go into fine detail about the item. I expect a certain level of issues with any vintage drum and rarely find none unless an item is correctly labeled "MINT" which means not a single imperfection besides a factory one.

If an auction is labeled mint and you do not see close up pictures from every angle and the insides of the drums then they are not MINT!

Ask questions and for more pictures. If they do not respond or will not provide more pictures then do not bid. Another one will pop up some day. If the deal is to good to be true, then more then likely it is and resist the temptation to test the seller.

Document email and do everything through the Ebay system so it is tracked with Ebay and a history is set. When buyers take a seller off of Ebay into private email then it is not as easy to validate the communication.

In the end just be patient and have fun, avoid over spending on a credit card and try and sell items to keep your habit going!!

Group Hug

David

This is a big one for me and I sell regularly on Ebay. I have attained Power Seller Status and that just means you sell over a certain dollar amount for 3 months in a row and then you have to continue that level to keep the status. ( I was at $1,000 a month for 3 months and that is the lowest level)

So it has nothing really to do with the number of auctions, just the ending dollar amount. I also figured out that as a Power Seller they "Check" you more often and things that I had done up until I was a Power Seller were now being caught. It was nothing more then trying to direct people to the web site to learn more about drums.

Let's face it, Ebay is an excellent way to get traffic to a web site, but they are extremely diligent in protecting their traffic.

The biggest thing for new sellers is whether to put a reserve, Buy It Now or a high starting bid. It is also important to determine the best time to start and end an auction, because it does make a potential difference on how your auction will end.

After selling as many items as I have, probably in the 1,000's I have now come to the realization that it is best not to put a reserve, buy it now and I start my item low.

Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. It really depends on the item and the potential number of collectors. I like to list my items to start later in the evening. Ebay never had that option and now of course you can pay more to pick the time you want to start an item.

If you think about it, more poeple are probably online between 6 and 9 A.M. and 7 and 10 P.M. so why not try and have the item end at that time when the chance of finding more people searching is the highest. I have no offficial stats to back this up, it is just the way I do it. So my auctions usually end later in the evening. I also try and end on a Friday evening

I consider a high starting bid as a "Visual Reserve" and that of course costs more money. They will in fact deter people from bidding if the "Visual Reserve" is in place. I rarely bid on that type of auction. Ebay is a more of a mental game then anything else and it is very similar to a true auction in that people get caught up in the moment and once they bid on something it becomes their property and they are more likely to keep bidding because they do not want to be the looser.

I know this because it happens to me and it makes sense that you want people to bid and get excited about your auction. Starting a drum at $200 that is worth $225 does not create any excitement.

In regards to a reserve, I hate them and you might as well just create a higher starting bid. Reserves have a reputation amongst collectors, because people were setting unreasonable reserves just to see what an item was worth and I think that practice keeps people away from reserve auctions. I stay away from them because you just never know what they have it set at. I have in the passed emailed the seller about a reserve and you get mixed responses in regards to if they will tell you or not.

I have used Buy It Now on items that I got for a good price and I just want to unload it quickly and get money in to my Pay Pal account. I would never use them on rare or collectable items unless you know for sure what it is worth. Then again many sellers go higher then it is worth because in some cases if a person really wants it they will pay more to know that they can just Buy It Now.

So, I have started snare drums that were collectable at $9.99 and got more then I expected them to get. Same with drum parts, I start them low and I get more then expected. Now, there are times I did not, and that could be a number of factors. If the item has competing items that are the same and the auctions just ended. There will be less potential buyers that just got the part they have been looking for. Just a bad time to list because of a holiday or event. I'm sure there are more reasons, but these just come to mind.

In the end it has taken me years to get to this comfort zone and many new sellers just do not have the courage to do this. They put a high reserve and or a hight starting bid and a high Buy It Now only to re-list the item again and again reducing any of the top three items in slow increments.

In the end you are the owner of the item and you can stop the auction within 24 hrs of auction end and pull it off of Ebay. As a seller you are in control. So relax, respond to questions even if you think they are the dumbest question ever and have fun.

David

Webmaster

[COLOR=black]Sellers do not be cheap! "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Most ?seller whining? is because they did a poor job packing and or did not require a signature! If you have a tracking number your in the best position to offer customer service and help when problems arise. Avoid the cheap buyer that says ?I don?t care how fast I get it just ship it as cheap as possible?. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Let's face it "Buyers can be Liars", so do not even give them the chance[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]to say something has not been received. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Get a signature confirmation! Ship it UPS or Fed Ex so that you can protect your self.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Insure your item correctly and do not listen when a buyer does not want to pay for the extra insurance that is only going to hurt you in the end when you file a claim.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I have gone as far as taking pictures of the item in the box on high ticket items! I once shipped a marimba and took a bunch of pictures on the pack job and the box so it was documented how it left my shop. I never needed the pictures they were just a precaution to a potential situation. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Pack well, do not skimp on packing material and devise a packing method. I have had more things shipped to me that were damaged because of poor packing and the excuse is that UPS and Fed Ex are the worst. When in many cases poor packing and labeling are to blame.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Yes, I know they do mess up and they do damage items. I have seen it all and in my main business I ship 100's of packages a week with both carriers and rarely ever have a problem. Yes, we had a truck burn up on a highway with some packages![/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Things happen and drivers can be brutal with boxes. The truck packers also do the same thing. If you pack well you are less likely to have problems.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]If they are using Pay Pal you can go to the transaction and add the tracking information and they will get an email from Pay Pal. This goes along way to show your method of being a seller and puts you in a better stance with Pay Pal when a seller says you never shipped the item.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]In regards to International buyers, I stay away! I love when they ask me to lie about the value to customs! Sure I will value my $500 drum for $50. This way when it gets lost I can get my $50 back and I lost a drum![/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Sure Fed Ex will say if it was worth $500 why did you value it at $50? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I tell people to take International at your own risk. That said I have taken International bidders, because many of the higher profile bidders ship to an address in the US to a friend they have in the states. That is perfectly fine with me. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I do understand that many International bidders are excellent buyers and have excellent feedback so that all would play in to my decision. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Let me also say that there are situations and variances that will affect all of the above. People can be rude and people are slow and not attentive to detail that you would probably expect. Life brings us a variety of turns and if a person is a good seller and they are in the middle of a turn as along as they keep you posted it should be o.k., if it takes 5 days to get a response and then they start going into excuses you probably have a potential problem.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Protect yourself and it will pay off later. At times be patient and hold back and the good nature in people should come through. Hopefully it will weed out the ?Lunatics? we all encounter at one time or another.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]David[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][COLOR=black]Taking payments on Ebay has truly evolved into making life easier. Ebay has definitely cornered the market and made life so much better for them.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I would venture to guess that the Pay Pal people are in the majority and the "I will never take Pay Pal" people are shrinking and shrinking.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Pay Pal even has web sites of people that hate them and continue to post all of the horror stories. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Personally I have never had a problem with them in over 1000 transactions. I have a strong feeling that many of the problems are a combination of "poor" buyers and sellers that are less then perfect.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]With that said and not wanting to "offend" any people let me explain. If you sell an item that is accurately described with plenty of pictures, have your payment and shipping prices clearly stated and provide tracking information, insurance and excellent packing then you are less likely to have problems.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]If any of the above items have an issue, then you open yourself up to potential "Buyer" issues and a complaint to Pay Pal and problems with the transaction.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Case in point: I routinely sell items for other people. I was selling a cowboy hat that was part of an old store; it had the original plastic around it and the original box. The box was shelf worn, but the hat was in excellent NOS (New Old Stock) condition.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]5 days after the item was shipped the person emails me stating that the hat had sweat marks and was not brand new. I went back to my auction just to make sure of my description and it never said Brand New but it did say NOS, but I never took a picture of the interior of the hat and never noticed any sweat marks.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]So, I email back, sorry about that the hat is older and been sitting in a store for many years and never noticed any sweat marks. Please send the hat back and I will refund your money.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I waited two weeks for a response and got, "I decided not to return the hat and sold it to my brother thanks for an excellent transaction."[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]If I only took more pictures! Either way the situation worked fine and I gave the customer the next move. Now if I said "Your a nut case, just put the hat on in the sun for 5 minutes and you will see sweat marks..." It would have been a much different outcome.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Needless to say good customer service does go a long way and I believe that most of the horror stories are because of seller issues which leave the door open for buyer complaints. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Yes, please understand that this is not the case for every seller and even the most perfect auction could end in a bad outcome.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]With that said something called "Buyers Remorse" is tossed around a lot and that is if a buyer spends more then they want and feel guilty about it. They try and back out or make excuses as to why they do not want the item. In these cases it is harder to work with buyer like that and it will just have to take its course.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]At any given moment I can have 1 to 30 or so auctions running and I can personally say when I'm running 30 it gets to be a real challenge. When I list auctions in bulk my descriptions and pictures are not the same then if I go and sell one or two items.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]So with that I can also see if you are running a lot of auctions it is very time consuming and like any business things will slip a little in the quality control area.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]I prefer checks and or money orders since in those cases Pay Pal is not taking a cut, but I also understand that the credit card empowers people to spend more money. So they are more likely to bid if I take Pay Pal. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Personally I hate going the USPS because the person only takes Post office money orders. That in itself is time consuming and not worth the effort so I do not bid. Why should I have to do work to be a customer?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]So in the end I take all forms of payment, because buyers are all in different situations. It is very similar to my main business and taking all types of credit cards. Why would I exclude people that only use American Express? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]So until sellers realize they are a "business" offering a product to a customer they might not get the ultimate benefit from accepting all types of payment.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]If your seller attitude is "Screw them, I only take money orders, if they want the item then that is the way it is" I have no problem with that and really do not care! [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]For me it is a business on certain levels and owning a Brick and Mortar for over 9 years gives me a different mentality when selling things to people.[/COLOR]

One small clarification. If you have a nice vintage item that a collector would want then it really does not matter what form of payment you take the serious collector will pay the way you want. On another note however if your auction is not up to par on the above items like pictures, description, feedback etc.. you probably will not have a serious collector bidding on your item. Unless of course they email you and find out what type of seller you are. Every seller has a different perspective, this is just mine based on running a brick and mortar business.

[COLOR=black]I guess I'm just spouting off and if any one takes offense, sorry about that, these are just my personal observations and I'm not calling sellers out or saying all sellers are bad or don't just take one form of payment, or Pay Pal sucks, or all buyers are bed etc... You do it the way you want and I do it the way I want! [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Group Hug [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Thanks[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]

David[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Thanks for this thread! It's very insightful and helpful.

No problem! I sometimes feel like this when opening up on the forum.

Well, not the kiss part but "Tip Toeing" through the tulips.

http://www.counterpoint-music.com/raclips/tiptoe_tulips.mov

flowers2

David

The busiest time I have seen for new listings is Sunday evening. More people are at home putting items up. It is a good time to visit your favorite search and refresh the page to see new listings come up.

With Ebay you just never know when a listing hits that is a good deal.

I still believe there are good deals on certain items. This really depends on the knowledge of the seller. The more researched a new seller is the less likely they will list something for less then it is worth. New sellers are joining Ebay all if the time.

___________________________________________________________

Pay Pal has a nice feature that lets you add the tracking number to your seller transactions. I use this all of the time when people use Pay Pal. It is at the bottom of the listing for that transaction. The system will automatically send the buyer an email with the tracking number so they can track the package.

____________________________________________________________

This one directed at people ex USA (or anyone there who has the knowledge, of course). Am bidding on a couple of items now where they do not ship outside the US. I've contacted the seller, told them I am stateside and they're cool with that. But my bids do not appear to be showing up on the items I'm shooting for.

Any thoughts or input appreciated. Wouldn't surprise me if I'm barred until the seller changes the shipping status on this particular item. Or what? I'm such an Ebay virgin that I have no idea.

Help!!!!

David, what is your ebay seller ID. You seem like a good guy to do business with.