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I have thought about becoming an ebay seller, but I have some concerns.
1) the seller fees. I know you have to pay for everything that you list. Even if it doesn't sell.
2) the potential for negative feedback from buyers, or even buyers who won't pay for the item, or try to claim the item was damaged or not received.
Has anyone else sold on ebay as a part time career?
Actually, you don't have to pay a listing fee unless you list more than 50 items a month. You can list up to 250 a month if you subscribe as an ebay store. They have different tiers of store membership that give you more free listings. If you have the seller account then you pay a lower fee on your final selling price.
I happened to be looking at this earlier today as I've just listed a bunch of stuff I want to get rid of. The final value fees on ebay are pretty high, unfortunately (10% if you don't have a seller account).
I have never used ebay as a real source of income; I only list things I want out of my house that have some value. However, I have sold quite a few things and I've never had a buyer complain so long as I was clear in my listing. If there's a defect, I am up front about it. I post a lot of pictures. I answer questions quickly. If you are up front about things I don't think negative feedback from buyers is anything to worry about.
About 20-25% of the time the winning bidder didn't pay, but I only sold about 50 items in total, all items where different (i.e. I wasn't selling an inventory of the same item 50 times) and most of what I sold cost around $150-250.
For example, most of the problems were someone would win the bid then I would get a message how they have to wait until payday before they can pay and it would never happen. Lots of messaging, waiting, broken promises over and over etc....
If you sold a high volume of a smaller group of items it would help tremendously.
Selling a variety of stuff is a good way to make a little money, but not a good way to make a living IMO.
...is not a career. It is a way to get rid of things and/or make a few bucks on the side.
Some people do have ebay businesses and it's a career for them. They sell large volumes of merchandise that usually they have drop-shipped from a company that manufacturers those items.
Of course, like any business, it can succeed or fail.
Some people do have ebay businesses and it's a career for them. They sell large volumes of merchandise that usually they have drop-shipped from a company that manufacturers those items.
If that is what you are looking to do, you need to be lining up your companies and creating your business plan, not worrying about possible feedback.
I have been selling off/on ebay since 1999. Last time I sold was 2014 I think. Or maybe early 2015. Anyway, depending on the account, the first listings are free. The number of listings you can list depends upon various things. Some of my accounts only allow me to have 10 while others are unlimited.
Buyers can leave negative feedback. However, if the buyer doesn't pay then you start the unpaid buyer process. Years ago the buyer could leave negative feedback whether he/she paid or not. Now, so long as you do the unpaid buyer process correctly then the system will either not allow negative feedback to be left, or if the nonpayer already left negative feedback, then the feedback will be removed by the system and your feedback will be restored.
The biggest problem with being a seller on ebay right now is that a buyer can now claim nonreceipt with paypal 6 months after purchase. Delivery confirmation is only kept in usps system for up to 4 months. In order to win a claim for not receiving the item there must be prove of delivery that is viewable online. Last year there were multiple threads started on the ebay selling forums from sellers who had claims filed against them 4 to 6 months after purchase right after the scammer saw that the d/c no longer showed online. Ebay now deletes such threads promptly to keep sellers from seeing what is going on. The seller has no recourse to this fraud.
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