If I didn't need the money so darn bad, I wouldn't put up with this,,,

[K7NCR]

I just liquidated my SB line station, 401, 303, etc. I didn't get what I thought it was worth, but I just needed it to move ASAP. I sell the SB-303 for $124 plus $40.00 shipping anywhere in the cont. US.
The ham that buys it send me an e-mail, "Please refund any overpayment of freight".
REALLY?
UPS 15 lb box. 18x18x18, declared replacement value $350, to a TX resident. zip. My cost $39.05.
What are buyers thinking? I'm not trying to screw anybody, and in fact often loose a little $$ on shipping.
I know, quit the E-slay, but it is a usefull means to sell fast, to a large audience.
OK, venting done,,, back to work.
Norm

[W2VW]

Send the guy a copy of the receipt and tell him to have a nice day.

Ebay is a zoo anymore.

Gave up on selling there a few years back. Thanks for reminding me why  : )

[W1RKW]

assuming the terms were stipulated in the listing, the buyer doesn't have a tree to bark up. 

[N0WEK]

assuming the terms were stipulated in the listing, the buyer doesn't have a tree to bark up. 

I'd smile nicely, mail him his 95 cents, and tell him to have a nice day; although the sarcasm would probably be wasted!

[Opcom]

I could go on a rant about cheapskates but it is probably appreciated if that doesn't get started.. I never have a shipping cost overpayment situation. It's never happened.

There is no cash fund or time machine here to recover losses due to cheapskates.
I respect their position fully and ask only that they please, please, PLEASE, buy from someone else.

8-p

[Jim/WA2MER]

It's not worth getting your shorts in a knot over this, so why not have some fun with it?  Send him 94 loose US pennies and one Canadian penny, all wrapped in a copy of the receipt.

[flintstone mop]

A lot of buyers have been burned by the rip-offs who charge $15 shipping for something that can be sent first class US Postal. Something that weighs less than a pound.

UNfortunatley I almost always lose out on the shipping. Never charge enough, when I sell something there.
Fred

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I think part of the problem originated from ebay messing with the shipping calculator while trying to figure out more ways to get their hooks into your money. I've contacted several sellers who had what appeared to be non-sensible shipping fees to discover they didn't put that amount in. They quickly sent me a shipping quote to my zip.

Then you have the nitwits who will spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment then try to nickel and dime you by cutting corners on shipping. Never made any sense to me.

But Dave's right: ebay has become its own worst enemy, not that they've noticed yet or will anytime soon. Hadn't sold there for several years until recently, was quickly reminded why. The epitome of a simple task made unnecessarily complex. And I didn't have to deal with shipping since they were large 'pick up only' items.

[K9DXL]

Ebay has become an amusing reading past time for me.  An average looking HQ-100 for $425??  cause it has tooobs, sure!  And at least 2/3 of the sellers claim to have no knowledge of what they're selling.  Uh huh...

[nq5t]

Ebay has become an amusing reading past time for me.  An average looking HQ-100 for $425??  cause it has tooobs, sure!  And at least 2/3 of the sellers claim to have no knowledge of what they're selling.  Uh huh...

There are a lot of schlubs on eBay who do sell stuff they know nothing about.  Especially the guys who have to turn everything on to see if the lights work and blow a power transformer and screen resistors in the process.

The price is whatever a buyer (ignorant or not) wants to pay, but you can't win on shipping.  I recently sold a bunch of stuff on the auction site, and was stunned by the fees.  I didn't realize eBay even took their 9-10% out of shipping -- which is a fixed cost, not a bid price.  I called them and was told that shipping is "part of the customer's 'value' ", so eBay rationalizes turning you upside down and shaking 10% of your shipping cost out of your pocket just because.  So you lose on the cost of boxes, packing materials, sweat, and eBay's cut -- and then some buyer gripes about paying just the straight UPS rate :/

[W2PFY]

I still sell stuff on there. It's very important to go to an on line place to figure your shipping costs and then add about 15 percent to cover the difference between quoted prices and the actual costs. Most of the time shipping is where I lose money.

If you ship something overseas in a box provided by the post office it will cost you more than if you use a plan Jane box for the same service and that can be as much as $20.00. If you want $300.00 for something be sure to add the 10 percent on for the ebay cut and the 10 percent cut on shipping while not forgetting the paypal fee that you should also add to your final selling price. By doing all this you will be getting your price from a person who really wants the item but it will not sell to a flipper!

I also had a problem with buyers overseas who want me to lie on the customs forms so here is what i added. Now I never have a problem with it.

PLEASE NOTE: I WILL NOT LOWER THE PRICE FOR ANY ITEMS SHIPPED OVERSEAS ON THE CUSTOM FORMS. IT IS AGAINST UNITED STATES LAWS. PLEASE DO NOT ASK! THANK YOU.

 

[K7NCR]

Because of issues with the e-bay shipping calculator, I have started just putting a flat shipping charge on my sales. I figure if I on average break even, then OK. I have shipped enough items, both for myself and for my employer, to have a handle on about what USA shipping is.
I had the hardest time with the shipping of the Apache/Mohawk pair. I had to buy new boxes, 1 inner and 1 outer, FOR each, at U-haul, styrofoam sheets at Home Depot, make up the proper spacers for the inner boxing, and get them all sealed up and dropped at UPS. The buyer then freaked out at how much it cost, just passing along the amount I really paid. I do believe they arrived in good shape, though. It would have been cheaper to crate them both up in a foam lined wooden crate and pay truck freight to him.
Norm

[W2PFY]

I have started just putting a flat shipping charge on my sales.

That's what I do on domestic or overseas. It works for me!

[PA4WM]

 Not a topic reaction, but on the eBay issues it turned into...

For me, an overseas buyer for US sellers, eBay is the market place to buy the vintage ham am/cw gear and parts we don't find in Holland or the EU. The collection of QST's, Handbooks, Tubes, a Vibroplex keyer, Ceramic parts, and even an aquired  Johnson Adventurer, were bought on ebay.

The prices are reasonable. If searching carefully, you can even find bargains, but the shipping cost mostly scares me off.
And it looks like it got worse over the last 3 years.
Lately, found a part I was looking for from different sellers in the US. The shipping cost varied between $12 and $35... Same shipping method. So apperantly there is no standard.

Not mentioning the shipping cost when looking for a nice Hammarlund receiver.... For those amount's you could fly over the Atlantic, have a good time and a few beers and take the Hammarlung with you on the way back...

[W2PFY]

Not mentioning the shipping cost when looking for a nice Hammarlund receiver.... For those amount's you could fly over the Atlantic, have a good time and a few beers and take the Hammarlung with you on the way back...

I was in a QSO with a guy running mobile and he said that he was driving a car that he purchased in Germany. He said he could fly over there and buy it cheaper and have it shipped back and still have enough money to vacation a bit while there. I wonder if such bargains still exist?

Nice to hear your take on this, I never gave it much thought but the USA is really the largest supplier of ham gear. Even the used stuff manufactured in other country's, is resold via eBay.

[KB2WIG]

 " He said he could fly over there and buy it cheaper and have it shipped back and still have enough money to vacation '

I wonder about that. Ever see the movie Rain Man?? In the movie, 4 foreign cars are imported into the US, but can't pass customs 'caus they don't meet EPA specks.

I'm sure there are some US Mill types on this bored who have had cars shiped into the US.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Man


klc

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I think that was more an issue of the changing gray market rules, K. Used to be you could bring in Euro-spec cars (cool headlights, no safety bumpers, etc) pretty easily but they tightened up a lot of that.

Not mentioning the shipping cost when looking for a nice Hammarlund receiver.... For those amount's you could fly over the Atlantic, have a good time and a few beers and take the Hammarlung with you on the way back...

Not so sure about that. No doubt, it's gone up considerably since surface shipping pretty much went away (unless you use a freight company that buys/sells partial container space), but I recently shipped a nice R-388 to London via Priority International USPS, double-boxed, for $201 and change. Not cheap, but not the cost of a plane ticket to the UK either.

Air freight seems cheaper coming into than going out of the US.

Now, if you happen to be traveling, paying for an extra bag or parcel when you return would indeed be a better deal. In the range $50-$75 last I knew. 

[ka4koe]

With all the hidden charges, etc., Edismay is really more trouble than its worth. I use swap.qth.net these days.

Philip

[W2PFY]

I use swap.qth.net these days.

If someone puts the "screws" to you on QTH, how do you recover your money?

[ka4koe]

You takes your chances. RadioMart has ripped off many folks on Ebay, for instance. Typically, I buy nickel and dime stuff anyway. No major capital outlays in that manner.

No venue is totally risk free; Swap seems, at least to me, to provide the least amount of headaches.

PAN

[K1JJ]

About 5 years ago I sold my progressive bullet loading system on eBay for $300 and included about 110 pounds of lead bullets. (just lead bullet tips, no gun powder)  I brought it to UPS and told them to pack it up extra well, double boxed. The clerk saw what it was and assured me he wud pack it strong enuff to survive the trip.

Well, a week later I got an email from the buyer saying it arrived in two pieces. The double box ripped in half and most of the bullets were long gone. What a mess...  The density of lead is a killer.

I put in a claim at the UPS office, they looked at it and then offered to pay a full refund of its value if we "sold" it to UPS.  The buyer still wanted to keep the loader since it was FB.  I got UPS to accept $100 to release the package to the guy. IE, I got to keep my $300 and they sent him $200 for damages - so the buyer ended up paying only $100 for it.  He was tickled pink and gave me some FB feedback...  

Other than that, I still use eBay to buy a lot of building parts, both domestic and Asian. I'm amazed how fast the Chinese parts arrive these days. Most charge no shipping. How they do it, I dunno.

T

[W3GMS]

I just liquidated my SB line station, 401, 303, etc. I didn't get what I thought it was worth, but I just needed it to move ASAP. I sell the SB-303 for $124 plus $40.00 shipping anywhere in the cont. US.
The ham that buys it send me an e-mail, "Please refund any overpayment of freight".
REALLY?
UPS 15 lb box. 18x18x18, declared replacement value $350, to a TX resident. zip. My cost $39.05.
What are buyers thinking? I'm not trying to screw anybody, and in fact often loose a little $$ on shipping.
I know, quit the E-slay, but it is a usefull means to sell fast, to a large audience.
OK, venting done,,, back to work.
Norm

I find a lot of buyers just have no clue what it cost to ship  something.  In this guys defense, maybe he is one of them.  Just scan your receipt and sent it to him.  Maybe he is just a little out of touch like a lot of hams! 

I sell very little, but when I have its always more work than I think it is.  For me, I go to the box store  and buy two boxes.  Then I come back home and pack it all up and take pictures should the item get damaged.  Then I take it back and have it weighed and then take it back home and let the buyer know the charge and sometimes at that point, they say forget it!  So there I am with it all double boxed  and ready to go and the buyer either never responds which I hate the most or says he has changed his mind.  Ok now to the good guys that follow through, I get an email saying he will mail the check out and when it arrives then I go back to the store and ship it.  At times its hardly worth the effort so I just in many cases give stuff away!!

Joe, W3GMS     

[W2PFY]

I sell very little, but when I have its always more work than I think it is.

Lets face it, selling stuff is never fun! It might be if we knew we have treasures that everyone else just needs to have and you know that it will bring big bucks and now, you can go out and buy that sailboat that you have been dreaming about for 40 years.


It's like any other job and getting tips from you coworkers on how to do the job with less hassle is what it is all about. I think people like myself who sell on ebay are a bit different than perhaps those who sell on this BB or similar ones out there. People selling on here are pretty much selling from their stash where people like me get 100 percent of the things I'm selling from eBay and resell it there again a few years later and for a profit. Yes it's ok to make a profit. Anything that I trade or that is given to me from a ham that I personally know is never sold on eBay as they are gifts from a special friend in my eyes.

[W2VW]

I have started just putting a flat shipping charge on my sales.

That's what I do on domestic or overseas. It works for me!

Yeah but you sell good stuff instead of run of the mill stuff.

[K7NCR]

I work in retail automotive, (dealer parts dept.) So when I sell on e-bay, I just put a price on something (shipping in this case), and let the buyer make up his mind what he can afford. On a different twist, it would be like me ordering a part for a customer, and then having him try to haggle the price when he comes to pick it up! Ain't gonna happen!
I get people all the time who tell me, "I can get that cheaper on line!", and I just explain that maybe he has to pay shipping, or will get a used or knock-off part, etc. Or I just say, OK, sorry, but my price is what it is. I even get that line from my own sales dept! Just yesterday, they said they could get a hardtop kit for a new Jeep wrangler for $1000, when mine are $2500 +/-. I said, "Show me a printed web shot, and I'll believe it!"