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I run a small ebay business based around 40K. I buy large misnamed lots of badly put together figures at dirt cheap prices (usually about 20% of RRP) and then put them up for auction at about 60% of RRP, or whatever the current market rate for those items are (whichever is more appropriate). To put it in perspective, I probably turnover a grand and a half's worth a month.

I've had only one buyer out of a few hundred over the last few months do what's just been described by the OP. I had one other who was a wife who boughtthe wrong item for her husband, and one who was switching bank accounts. Both were solved within a few days.

On the buyer end, I've had two people who didn't read the auction properly and complained about what they got, and one person who scammed me by buying and then initiating a refund guarantee with no conversation with me. I'm currently fighting the last one.

So generally? Most people are fine to deal with I find. I wish seller protection was a little better, and the fees a little lower, but that's my only complaint.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
My gf sold something for me recently and warned that she would get masses of questions. I've sold masses of figures and bits and books and barely had a question beyond the cost of combined postage. This time I was selling was a box of magic cards, it was all in the description with details for pick up, I couldn't imagine a question worth asking. Yet she got lots of questions, most were asking something already answered in the three line description. I really wonder if the IQ of eBay users has decreased in the last five years. Before firing off a question, read the auction again. If this is how it always is, I can see eBay being too tedious to bother with as a seller.

ive noticed this too. The number of idiots who just look at pictures and dont read descriptions is staggering. maybe it is just dumb nerds who do this.

And it's been explained in this very thread, so I guess it's not only they who don't read!

 lord_blackfang wrote:
And it's been explained in this very thread, so I guess it's not only they who don't read!

You can still click on the item description in the mobile app to get the full description.

Well, just because it's fun to do so...

This prize winning super duper assembled Razorback. Guaranteed one of a kind. Weathered to give the impression that the left side drove over an land mine. And the right side was hit by a missile launcher.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Warhammer-40k-Space-Marines-Blood-Angels-Razorback-B21-/141762619622?hash=item2101b5e8e6

Pro-painted model. Brilliantly posed to show a bolter being held a moment before it drops to the ground and pops a round into the marine's crotch. The backpack and bolter are also so brilliantly and professionally painted, that you wouldn't even know they were painted at all.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40K-Space-Marine-Space-Wolves-Wolf-Guard-PRO-Paint-Started-Metal-OOP-A-/391221041649?hash=item5b169759f1

These, brand-new on sprue Sternguard! They're worth more because they're finely cast. It even says so on the box; much more valuable.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Space-Marine-Sternguard-x4-/262017381351?hash=item3d0173f3e7

You can have this NIB Long Fangs; with shipping, it will cost you more than buying it from GW. But you have the joy of uh... paying more.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-Space-Wolves-Long-Fangs-NIB-/281671052104?hash=item4194e72b48

How about awesome deals on a Devastator squads? These are classic cast ones, which don't include the new parts that just waste space on the sprue anyways (someone actually bought 1 of the 3 for sale!)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40k-Citadel-Space-Marines-Devastator-Games-Workshop-New-in-Box-/151796692215?hash=item2357c9b4f7

To be fair not everyone likes the new Devastator models.

 Crimson Devil wrote:
To be fair not everyone likes the new Devastator models.

But they're big and punchy. And have Grav Cannons.

Perfect for supplementing any BT army, by launching them out of a Drop Pod into enemy lines on Turn 1.

I usually get paid pretty quickly on ebay. I sometimes have a to wait a day or 2 but now often. I have been trolled by people a couple of times... they literally have troll accounts.. if you look into the feedback you can see other giving positive feedback but saying "This person does not pay, make sure you block." Or something to that extent... not sure where the fun comes in trolling ebay sellers but whatever.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ketara wrote:
I run a small ebay business based around 40K. I buy large misnamed lots of badly put together figures at dirt cheap prices (usually about 20% of RRP) and then put them up for auction at about 60% of RRP, or whatever the current market rate for those items are (whichever is more appropriate). To put it in perspective, I probably turnover a grand and a half's worth a month.

I've had only one buyer out of a few hundred over the last few months do what's just been described by the OP. I had one other who was a wife who boughtthe wrong item for her husband, and one who was switching bank accounts. Both were solved within a few days.

On the buyer end, I've had two people who didn't read the auction properly and complained about what they got, and one person who scammed me by buying and then initiating a refund guarantee with no conversation with me. I'm currently fighting the last one.

So generally? Most people are fine to deal with I find. I wish seller protection was a little better, and the fees a little lower, but that's my only complaint.

Yes seller fees are awfullllllllllllllllllll.....

Seller fees are near invisible...

I'm finding that buyers no longer leave feedback. I have sold over forty listings and received four feedback.
Then people bitch they do not trust low feedback sellers.

Blame lazy buyers.

I have 1 negative from a guy who actually settled with me but didn't know how to retract it (also stole from me and wasted my money on postage), and now it's too late. Due to forty odd people being lazy, that 1 has affected my percentage quite badly.

I've gotten reviews off most of my transactions - 25 positive so far.

I run an experiment sometimes when selling and leave feedback right away for half of my buyers and wait until they leave feedback for the other half. Usually if I leave feedback first, maybe 1 or 2 out of 10 will ever leave feedback. If I wait, about 80% will leave feedback. Part of the nature of the game I guess

 Selym wrote:
I've gotten reviews off most of my transactions - 25 positive so far.

I get about 10% no feedback on my buyers. In regards to people looking at the pictures and not reading the auction listing, a little while back I sold 5x Deff Koptas, but accidentally only had 4 in the photo.
Didn't get a single question about that one.

OP, how long do you usually wait...?

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I would, as a buyer primarily, ask w.t.f. is up with sellers these days.

I've been browsing Leman Russ tanks and people are selling something that retails from GW for $50, so can easily be obtained new for $40 for $30 + 'shipping'... That's just the tank, none of the additional sprue stuffs, painted to someone else's standards and colors, so will need stripping and repainting, and often with badly put together tracks or bits snapped off.

Sellers seem delusional these days on what they are selling and it's worth. These tanks on the auction side usually go for around $15-20 and no more.

And then we have the 'professional' sellers with their raffle ticket lots and prices just short of GW's price, sometimes more expensive than actually buying new from a discounter...

Exalted hard. But my eyes almost fell out of my head when I saw one if those 'raffle ticket' sellers had started listing things with 99p starting bids.

Korinov wrote:The delusional sellers seem to be a strong thing nowadays. Why do some people expect someone else to pay full retail price to them instead of buying the item on a discount in pretty much every single online store or many physical FLGS?

This is something that's actually made me buy new GW models, which surprised me. I've seen one ebay seller write in his description that his second-hand GW lots had high starting bids, because GW was expensive and he didn't think he should be penalised for it after losing interest so quickly.

I'm rather new to selling on eBay. I've been getting rid of older collector item type of things mostly.

One thing that came up recently was someone initiated a "I never got anything" claim with eBay. Thankfully, I sent it via priority mail and the USPS listed it as delivered to his mailbox/doorstep.

After calling them (which was amazingly faster than any other large company I've ever called) they removed the hold on the money and made sure whatever reference he left wouldn't affect me.

I think it helped that I could show that the USPS delivered it, and that his account was brand new and created on the same day that he bought the item from me.

As it is, it was insured for more than it was worth (because of priority mail), so if it really didn't get to him, he can at least get USPS to reimburse him.

I had one model I bought off eBay: picture was in perfect condition, but description said "parts may be broken". Got the model and the staff was snapped clean in half. Guy set it for USPS to pickup and had printed out the postage thing. Took over two weeks to get to me inside continental U.S.

I figured it was better to leave no feedback, as technically the model was as described in writing, but the image showed it perfect. Then terrible shipping. While he didn't technically do anything wrong or lie, it was still a crap experience.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I had one model I bought off eBay: picture was in perfect condition, but description said "parts may be broken". Got the model and the staff was snapped clean in half. Guy set it for USPS to pickup and had printed out the postage thing. Took over two weeks to get to me inside continental U.S.

I figured it was better to leave no feedback, as technically the model was as described in writing, but the image showed it perfect. Then terrible shipping. While he didn't technically do anything wrong or lie, it was still a crap experience.

I'm curious, what model was this?

I have just started selling stuff on ebay and people not paying is a huge issue I have been having.

 PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I had one model I bought off eBay: picture was in perfect condition, but description said "parts may be broken". Got the model and the staff was snapped clean in half. Guy set it for USPS to pickup and had printed out the postage thing. Took over two weeks to get to me inside continental U.S.

I figured it was better to leave no feedback, as technically the model was as described in writing, but the image showed it perfect. Then terrible shipping. While he didn't technically do anything wrong or lie, it was still a crap experience.

I'm curious, what model was this?

It was a sorcerer of Tzeentch. It's the one that's supposed to be on disc, but I bought it on foot in this auction.

And actually, I apologize: slight error on information (late, tired typing and all that). Staff was shown straight and in perfect shape in image. When I received it (VERY well bubble wrapped), the staff was bent at 90 degrees. As soon as I moved it, it snapped in half. Metal model. Meaning the staff must have been bent after the pic and before it was wrapped for shipping.

Ive been selling for a few years now and my major problem is how cheap people are, sometimes I try to bundle things together and get the original items retail price (if its new, most of the stuff I sell is NIB) but you get extra stuff and free shipping. People still try to low ball me with terrible offers. Most of the time Im below retail and your still getting free shipping and I STILL get terrible offers. If I have 35 on something, I get offered 5. If I have 15 on something, I get offered 2, and thats with me offering free shipping.

I have had a few troll accounts buy it now on my stuff and then never paid, eventually they get their accounts shut down but its still annoying.

Any time I've done a best offer, it's been reasonable. Like an old school chaos chariot up for $20+ shipping: I offered $40 total, shipping included, for two of them together. Yes, it was accepted immediately.

You're getting people who are either cheap like you said, or figure you don't know what you're selling.

 Rotgut wrote:
Ive been selling for a few years now and my major problem is how cheap people are, sometimes I try to bundle things together and get the original items retail price (if its new, most of the stuff I sell is NIB) but you get extra stuff and free shipping. People still try to low ball me with terrible offers. Most of the time Im below retail and your still getting free shipping and I STILL get terrible offers. If I have 35 on something, I get offered 5. If I have 15 on something, I get offered 2, and thats with me offering free shipping.

I have had a few troll accounts buy it now on my stuff and then never paid, eventually they get their accounts shut down but its still annoying.

If you don't offer 25% off and free shipping, you're just wasting everybody's time. Maybe they're trying to make that point?

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 Rotgut wrote:
Ive been selling for a few years now and my major problem is how cheap people are, sometimes I try to bundle things together and get the original items retail price (if its new, most of the stuff I sell is NIB) but you get extra stuff and free shipping. People still try to low ball me with terrible offers. Most of the time Im below retail and your still getting free shipping and I STILL get terrible offers. If I have 35 on something, I get offered 5. If I have 15 on something, I get offered 2, and thats with me offering free shipping.

I have had a few troll accounts buy it now on my stuff and then never paid, eventually they get their accounts shut down but its still annoying.

If you don't offer 25% off and free shipping, you're just wasting everybody's time. Maybe they're trying to make that point?

Just no. Why should I give a discount on something that has free shipping and free stuff with it? I'm not a retail store, also I sell mostly collectible toys and stuff so that whole % off retail thing doesn't work here.

Edit: I also had in my original post I'm mostly under retail and offer free shipping, I'm guessing you just skimmed my post so I don't know why I bothered responding.

 Selym wrote:
I've gotten reviews off most of my transactions - 25 positive so far.

I've been selling for 2 years, I probably get feedback about 30% of the time.

Mostly I sell clothing and giftware, I've not moved onto wargaming as of yet. Maybe the crowd is less flaky.

Sellers can be just as irritating as buyers. I won an auction for a Skaven army that had a woeful description - it basically said it was approx 5K points - no unit listing or anything like that. Admittedly, I took a bit of a punt on it and given I was the sole bidder, I'm guessing the description turned others off too.

Army arrived today, 2 weeks after the auction ended and I paid for it (seller said he was 'having wifi problems and didn't realise the auction ended'). So the parcel turns out to be a plastic generic toolbox, wrapped in cardboard. Inside, the guy has literally just flung everything in with no packaging whatsoever. The ominous sound of stuff rattling around when you unwrap something is heartbreaking. So most things are in bits. It's going to take me weeks to sort it out, work out what bit belongs to which model and to glue everything back together again. Very annoyed and left my first ever negative feedback. I expect I will probably get negative feedback in retaliation.

@ Filbert - As a buyer, you can't be given negative feedback. The only issue you'd have as a buyer is if you never paid. But there's no worries there.

I get terrified as a seller. There's little protection if a buyer is being an arse. I always send items as 'signed for' as thats the only way to avoid the classic 'I never received my items' dispute. though I have had a buyer claim that their item was signed for by someone who didn't live at their house. I always keep proof of postage receipts, and make sure that the post office clerk verifies the address I'm sending to. Needless to say I was indemnified as I sent photo's to the Royal Mail and PayPal. You have to make yourself as bullet-proof as possible.
An annoying thing is when the buyer has their PayPal address in lower-case letters. Trying to identify 'i' from 'l' on a tablet is a pain in the backside.
But all in all, it's not too bad selling. Fees are a bastard, 10% from ebay (total selling value and postage included!) and 3.2% + 20pence from PayPal. But the sheer volume of people seeing your items are a fair trade-off.

Bash

Dude deserves it by the sound of it. The mark of a good eBay seller is that the package arrives within a week of the sale, and is just covered in bubblewrap and tape.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Any time I've done a best offer, it's been reasonable. Like an old school chaos chariot up for $20+ shipping: I offered $40 total, shipping included, for two of them together. Yes, it was accepted immediately.

You're getting people who are either cheap like you said, or figure you don't know what you're selling.

The last time I made a "best offer" bid was for a set of the previous resin Harlequins. They were on sale BIN for a couple of quid more than the current plastic box, with shipping on top of that. I offered a price such that, with shipping, it was the same cost as walking into GW and buying the box. Offer accepted, job done.

Been selling on eBay since they went online and don't have any horror stories. Guess I have just been lucky. What I don't like about eBay is how it went from a auction site to a buy it now site.

posted in wrong thread