EBAY Melt Down In Progress

[W2PFY]

n all of my eBay ads I stated that I would bring the piece to UPS and THEY would use their boxes and materials to box it up. I simply brought the stuff in and supplied the name and addresses.  The cost was agreed to be passed on to the buyer.  I didn't have a single complaint. Some of the gear was double boxed which was extra.

You didn't have to lug it down there for an estimate first, then lug it home and let the guy know the price and re lug it back again to be shipped?

[KF1Z]

Profit is not a dirty word.  "All" sellers may be paying VERY SLIGHTLY more, since shipping is SUPPOSED to be a SMALL part of the overall cost.  This increase rewards good sellers (like the ones who include the shipping as "free" shipping because they won't see an increase) and makes the scammers with the expensive shipping pay the commission they actually should pay.

I would much rather see this, than an across the board percentage or listing fee increase.  Such a move WOULD hurt everyone, and the scammers with the expensive "shipping" would still have every reason to continue (in fact, they are rewarded for such behaviour) and the honest folks would pay more.

From what I can see, this move actually does not hurt the "good" guys at all (or very, very little).  As a seller, I wound't be bothered by this at all.

If someone can present a logical, non-emotional agrument in favor of not charging a commission on "shipping" and doing an across the board increase instead, I'd sure like to hear it!!

Regards,

Steve

Fees increase, so does everything else.. that holds true with every business, not just ebay.

However, ebay states they a LOWERING the Final Value Fee percentage, to offset the charge on the shipping, as well as decreasing, or doing away with the insertion fees.

As usual, people see the bad, but overlook the good.

The ones who will pay more are the ones who try to charge too much for shipping.

If,  overall, this ends up being a fee increase across the board, so what, as I said, the cost of doing business doesn't seem to be dropping for other areas...........

Amazon has some 'amazing' plans to put in effect over the next few years...

[KF1Z]

n all of my eBay ads I stated that I would bring the piece to UPS and THEY would use their boxes and materials to box it up. I simply brought the stuff in and supplied the name and addresses.  The cost was agreed to be passed on to the buyer.  I didn't have a single complaint. Some of the gear was double boxed which was extra.

You didn't have to lug it down there for an estimate first, then lug it home and let the guy know the price and re lug it back again to be shipped?

You can get a pretty good estimate over the phone.

OR you can get their rate sheet, and guess high for estimates.

I am very pleased with UPS packing...
As Tom ( i think) said.. if UPS packs it, they will insure it... and they will PAY the claim pretty much instantly, and with no, or few questions.

[K1JJ]

You can get a pretty good estimate over the phone.

OR you can get their rate sheet, and guess high for estimates.

I am very pleased with UPS packing...
As Tom ( i think) said.. if UPS packs it, they will insure it... and they will PAY the claim pretty much instantly, and with no, or few questions.

Yep! What he said.

IIRC, it ran anywhere from $10 to $35 (for more elaborate double boxing) for UPS to do it. It ain't cheap, but a blessing if you have a lot to ship out.  During my selling spree, I had up to 10 items each day to ship. Just pre-fillout the shipping slips and drop the stuff in their lap.

As a side note -  be careful.  I once sent my FT-1000D out for repair. They double boxed it. The repair center said the second box was not big enough and provided little buffer for styro-bits. They shipped it back in a different set of boxes.  If it's critical, insist they pack it and let you inspect the job before sealed. Some UPS stores will let you do this while others will tell you to hit the road.

T

[W2PFY]

Thanks, I'm going to locate a UPS store around here for anything in the future. I hate the packing part

[K5UJ]

If it really matters i.e. damage prevention, the item should go in a crate.  

Something not made anymore whether it is a 1000-D or sx28, getting money for a damage claim is no good.  the rig is smashed, now there is one less of them around.  I don't want a refund, although I'll take it of course, but what I really want is the thing I purchased.  IOW, it has to be packed correctly, and for a lot of vintage gear, that means a lot of money and a lot of work.   I've only shipped one vintage item via FedEx but it took a day to pack it, measuring and cutting slabs of styrofoam lining two big boxes, filling gaps with foam, stuffing the cabinet interior, supporting the front panel knobs--I hope I never go through that again.  All the packing materials set me back around 80 bucks.  

This is why I never buy anything fragile on-line if I can't go get it, or meet the seller somewhere.   The exception might be if I know the seller and can call him up and tell him how to pack it.  The majority of sellers have no clue how to properly pack a vintage rig or are lazy and don't care and would rather throw bubble wrap around it put it in a box and keep their fingers crossed.  Estate sellers are the worst.  They often know nothing about old radio gear--they may not even know what's inside.  Forget about them pulling tubes and packing them separately.   I see a NC300 for sale on the west coast.  Even if I wanted one, I would not buy that one for I do not want to risk having one less NC300 in the world.   the same goes for any gear not made anymore.  OTOH parts, mics, keys, maybe meters, VFOs  (small things like watt meter slugs) are okay.  

[Opcom]

I bought an antique computer on eBay for $3.00. I asked the seller to pack it well and charge what was necessary.  It arrived in a used box with no packing material smashed up and ruined. I got my $3.00 back but not the $18 shipping fee. I would have paid the more likely $50 to have it packed well. All I can imagine is they were stupid or just spiteful over the $3.00 I left negative feedback after this and they replied "what do you want for $3.00?" A classic.

If I sell, do not expect me to ship for free or to go cheap on materials and have the buyer complain to me that it was damaged. Why would I want to do that? The worst thing is when some irreplaceable item is ruined and extra $10 or $15 of shipping expense refused to be paid by the buyer will never make it right. Most of what I have to sell weighs over 40 lbs and I refuse to do a crappy packing job. New cartons and rolls of bubble wrap are an honest cost of shipment. Ask anyone who has bought or traded with me. Unless previously agreed to, those who do not want to pay the expense of shipping their own item are welcome to pick it up or to find it elsewhere and I won't mind a bit because I just don't care about urgently making the sale. That's why I have shelves and nearly infinite patience. People seem more and more to feel entitled to something for nothing.

eBay would likely get a resurge in buyer participation if they'd go back to less of a controlling and greedy policy.

I did very well at the recent Irving hamfest. Everyone was happy and prices were not eBay-high! I hope that is a trend we will all enjoy.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

"All" sellers may be paying VERY SLIGHTLY more, since shipping is SUPPOSED to be a SMALL part of the overall cost. 

('May' being the key word)

Except for the people shipping heavy items instead of one or two resistors or FETs. These people, regardless of how honest they are in their shipping costs, will still end up paying a percentage of a fee they do not profit from in any way - the shipping cost. Ebay will continue to profit from yet another fee added. Slightly lowering final fees that have been raised somewhat rapidly in recent years reminds me of those car ads where they offer cash back on an inflated price. Let's not forget that they also removed the seller's ability to leave negative feedback for deadbeat buyers. They continue to drive sellers away, and now need to find out how to make up for their shortfalls. Yet another plan to impress buyers and make them feel safer, when it's the sellers that bring in the buyers. More regulation and higher fees just haven't worked for them yet, so let's add more. Sound familiar? 

I'm a pretty simple person. I say let the buyer decide what they are comfortable with paying, and let the seller charge what he chooses. I know some will feel more comfortable with ebay 'looking out for them' by keeping those naughty sellers' prices in line, I just think it's easier NOT to buy if I don't like it rather than taking a 'It sure will be nice when ebay makes them charge a price I want to pay instead of one they want to charge' approach, for shipping or otherwise.

Simple personal accountability. I know some claim this went the way of common sense, but I still hold out hope and will continue to use ebay as a buyer, ignoring those sellers who charge ridiculous shipping fees or high opening bids while claiming 'no reserve'. It would be different if they were hiding something and ripping people off behind the scenes, but when they place it right there for everyone to see, well....the simplicity is overwhelming. 

Then again, a lot of people continued to buy from sellers like radio-mart and other questionable sellers with negative feedback and plenty of documentation available, then whined about it afterward. So maybe my hope is misplaced.

[W4EWH]

The problem with Craig's List is for some idiotic reason, the people who run it make it impossible to do a single national search for something.  There are these other web sites that claim to help you with a national search, but they are funky and hard to understand the results,  and I question their accuracy and how up-to-date they are. 

http://www.crazedlist.org/

Bill, W1AC

[K5UJ]

Thanks, interesting.

[W1RKW]

I used to work for a McIntosh audio dealer.  And if anyone is familiar with McIntosh audio products you'll know first hand how they are packed. Their big amps are packed one of 2 ways.  Either bolted to a piece of plywood then multi layers of heavy card board to secure them in the box.  Or they sit on a 5 or 6 layer of heavy card board.  These were routinely shipped from Binghampton, NY by UPS and always arrived in perfect condition even if the outer layer was damaged.

I once shipped a piece of radio equipment (about 50lbs) and used McIntosh's method to send it to the buyer and used a Mac box.  I got an email from the buyer and he was elated at the packing job. 

I too hate packing stuff up but if I'm going to send something I want to make sure it gets there with no problems. Securing an object especially something heavy in a box is key as well as providing plenty of buffer between the item and outer layer.

[WQ9E]

I recently had three relatively scarce receivers (two Bretings and a Patterson) shipped from New Mexico to IL.  I asked the seller to double box them and pack them well and he did a great job of it.  They were properly packed in the inner box and then considerable packing material was used between the inner and outer box.  The result was three very large and heavy packages with expected high FedEx fees but they arrived in perfect shape which made the shipping cost very worthwhile.

On ebay, I check the feedback for info on what other types of items they have sold recently.  I would be very concerned about whether someone who has sold nothing but clothes and quilts in the past would do a good job of packing fragile electronics gear. 

I always ask the sellers to place some bubble wrap inside equipment to minimize damage from anything that comes loose in shipping since one loose part can destroy the rest of the internals of a radio.  You never know whether a previous owner replaced a transformer or choke and decided that one machine screw with no lockwasher is plenty instead of the four used originally.  John Frye, who wrote a lot of different columns in his lifetime, had a great story about a local service tech who got the nickname "screw loose" because he never replaced all of the hardware and what he did replace was never properly tightened.  The story ending was that after being let go by most of the electronic shops he secured the perfect position for himself on a local assembly line.  All he had to do all day was start the lug nuts on vehicles going down the line while another worker was in charge of actually torquing them to spec.

The packing I hate the worst is when a sadistic packer places a piece of gear directly in styrofoam peanuts.  I spent over an hour one time removing peanuts and parts thereof from a Halli receiver.  A plastic garbage bag really doesn't cost that much.

[K6JEK]

I just got a Central Electronics 20A from Brian, NI6Q.  It was packed so well I took it up on the roof and threw it off a few times just to get some good out of all that work he put into packing it.

[KB2WIG]

" It was packed so well I took it up on the roof and threw it off "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvP-7PnN3PQ&feature=related

[longle SWL]

One aspect of this that I wonder about, and have not seen Ebay address, is if they are counting shipping as the total sale price is that the number they will keep a running total of for the IRS? If a seller exceeds a certain dollar amount in sales the info goes to the IRS and must be claimed as income. So, how do you deal with actual shipping costs which are not income but are calculated as such by Ebays accounting?  Nobody is going to want to pay income taxes on expenses. This looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[KA2DZT]

One aspect of this that I wonder about, and have not seen Ebay address, is if they are counting shipping as the total sale price is that the number they will keep a running total of for the IRS? If a seller exceeds a certain dollar amount in sales the info goes to the IRS and must be claimed as income. So, how do you deal with actual shipping costs which are not income but are calculated as such by Ebays accounting?  Nobody is going to want to pay income taxes on expenses. This looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Ebay reports all the money you collected,  that would be your gross income.  It is up to the seller to deduct all expenses (one of which would be shipping cost) to arrive at your net income.  Very simple.

Fred

[KF1Z]

One aspect of this that I wonder about, and have not seen Ebay address, is if they are counting shipping as the total sale price is that the number they will keep a running total of for the IRS? If a seller exceeds a certain dollar amount in sales the info goes to the IRS and must be claimed as income. So, how do you deal with actual shipping costs which are not income but are calculated as such by Ebays accounting?  Nobody is going to want to pay income taxes on expenses. This looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Ebay reports all the money you collected,  that would be your gross income.  It is up to the seller to deduct all expenses (one of which would be shipping cost) to arrive at your net income.  Very simple.

Fred

In 2011 ebay/paypal are required to report seller's income to the IRS if they sell >$20,000. or take in more than 200 payments.

The fees themselves are deduction, shipping, product cost, computer and internet connection, camera, etc etc etc...
If you sell alot online you should definately keep records!

http://www.bnet.com/blog/mobile-internet/ebay-vs-the-irs-in-new-online-tax-scuffle-with-craigslist-in-the-front-row/356