eBay

antiquesbootiquenew · ‎27-09-2024

I'm selling a whole load of small items of jewellery, coins, toys, military etc. Nothing too valuable but I think traffic will be high. Does anyone have advice on what to do with postage charges. At the moment I'm sending everything 48hrs tracked so I can evidence everything. This is sometimes more expensive than the item itself so would like to send normal 1st/2nd class but worry that I'll then get a load of item not received claims. Any thoughts ?.

Cheers

vintagewatchpart · ‎27-09-2024

I think you may struggle to get a reply to help with this as currently you are registered as a private seller but should be a business as you have a business name and a shopify website where you are trading as a business.

There is some help here with how to do this.

rare_treat · ‎29-09-2024

@vintagewatchpart wrote:
I think you may struggle to get a reply to help with this as currently you are registered as a private seller but should be a business as you have a business name and a shopify website where you are trading as a business.

Again, this argument on private vs business.

Nothing I can see suggests it’s obvious they are a business. Private collectors can have thousands of similar items, which they can decide they want to sell on. (Especially when they retire, and have more time than money.) Non-businesses can have websites - especially ones created with Shopify. As far as I can see, the website never says they are trading as a business.

My own listings may look professional. But that’s only because I have previous experience in tech and design. Plus, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it right. And I like the name rare_treat – much better than something like john.smith.7486. Why should that automatically classify me as a business in some peoples mind?

I’m not trying to have a dig at you personally. I just don’t see how anyone but the seller themselves can know for sure they are a business in many cases. So assuming they are just wastes effort.

My question to the OP @antiquesbootiquenew would be why is someone who’s obviously sold a lot of items, suddenly asking a newbie question about postage costs and claims? Plus, if you are genuinely a private seller who has already been forced to change account type by eBay because they thought you were a business, why are you listing over 1000 items? That’s just going to get you unwanted attention again. And why on earth have you listed them all as auctions?

Figure out how much you want to get back for an item, add on appropriate postage, and then finally fees. Add ?% for losses (I assumed 10% personally, but that now seems very high in my experience), then you don’t have to buy unnecessarily high postage, which likely costs you more than any write-offs would. Then you know how much to list an item for (at a BIN price). If it’s less than others are selling similar items for, you can probably list it for closer to their price. If it’s more expensive than most, then you should assume it probably won’t sell anytime soon.

vintagewatchpart · ‎29-09-2024

Sorry but no one sells thousands of jewellery items on a Shopify website or Ebay account without being a business. I kept my reply concise, to the point and civil, but just to clarify:

The new account was registered in June 2024, their old account (new one has "new" at the end of the name) was registered as a business but no longer has any listings.

Their "About" section also states:

Previously Antiques Bootique until 18/06 (over 1k positive feedback) when eBay decided to charge me for every listing every 7 days so have had to create a new account. Great pre-loved items across all manner of areas but especially, Jewellery, Coins, Military. Stay tuned as I have thousands of items to relist. Also on FB and a dedicated website.

Confirming ownership of the previous account, a business account.

So they are a business.

technthread · ‎29-09-2024

The Tracked 48 Large Letter cost is only £2.70 so you don't need to be charging £3.75 for a lot of those coins.

I'd base postage depending on value of the coins, if they are very low value try to send them as a 2nd class letter for 85p if they aren't chunky. Most coin buyers are actually great to deal with and aren't out to scam you if things aren't sent out tracked, they know it is often the best way so they don't have to pay a fortune in postage.

If you really need delivery proof, you could send them as 2nd class large letters for £1.55 to get the delivery scan that you don't get on the 85p letter, also with £20 insurance. There are a few other options, A Signed For 2nd Class Letter is £2.55 for example or just stick with Tracked 48 for £2.70.

Re the jewellery, at a quick glance it looked like you had a lot of large letter suitable items. Don't pay small parcel sizes unless you really have to. A good place to start to get your head around parcel sizes, insurance, weights and cost is the RM price list:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2024-07/online-price-guide-july-2024-v1.pdf

Just a tip on the coins if you are listing multiples, make sure you get a clear image of them all. I couldn't work out which year one of the Dutch ones was (trying to see if it is silver) so I gave up trying to work it out.

rare_treat · ‎29-09-2024

You could well be right. But my point is that you can suspect, but you cannot know for sure.

That can also be read as eBay forced them to be a business, but that didn’t make it true. So they’re back starting again as a genuine private / personal seller.

If you address the facts as you know them, rather than speculate, then you can better answer the original question. And you won’t get annoyed yourself. Not that I’m saying you are annoyed. But from what I can tell, there seems to be a lot of sellers on this forum who just seem to want to accuse private sellers of being a business. All it seems to accomplish is getting themselves worked up.
You kept your reply concise, but it had nothing to do with the question asked.

But that’s just my advise. It’s your life, and it doesn’t affect me none.

And, as i pointed out in my earlier post, the question seems a bit weird for an experienced seller anyway. I was mainly leaving my response for any future genuine newbies who may have a similar query.

vintagewatchpart · ‎29-09-2024

Percentage of me that is annoyed = 0%!

I am not quite sure why you are defending someone who is obviously a business. What I posted I knew when I put up my original response. My reply seemed the nicest way possible of informing them of the facts rather than the all guns blazing illegality spiel that most jump to.

My reply had nothing to do with the question asked because why would I provide business advice to another business selling goods on eBay in a manner that intentionally circumvents and manipulates the system to avoid paying fees and then goes ahead and puts that information in their own "about" section!

rare_treat · ‎29-09-2024

@vintagewatchpart wrote:

I am not quite sure why you are defending someone who is obviously a business. What I posted I knew when I put up my original response. My reply seemed the nicest way possible of informing them of the facts rather than the all guns blazing illegality spiel that most jump to.

I’m not defending them. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like being proven wrong. So I can’t accuse them of being a business, as I know there’s a chance I could be proven wrong. And, anyway, I didn’t come here to debate morals on the private vs business account argument.

@vintagewatchpart wrote:
My reply had nothing to do with the question asked because why would I provide business advice to another business selling goods on eBay in a manner that intentionally circumvents and manipulates the system to avoid paying fees and then goes ahead and puts that information in their own "about" section!

Then why did you reply? You only managed to tell the OP what they obviously already knew. So, to me, your reply seemed to be because you were angry with them. And, as I've pointed out, it seems like that doesn't achieve anything.

I’m currently watching The Big Bang Theory, and that’s making me happy. This conversation isn’t - no offence - and I don't think it is getting anyone anywhere. So I’ll say good night and take care.

Anonymous · ‎30-09-2024

If someone posts a question on this board - why do the threads get hijacked with *bleep*py arguments about if they are a business seller or not.

This question is about posting items - lots of people post items - a helpful answer may also help other sellers, if we just fill threads with pointless arguments then others who may need help will either not bother asking or they'll view a thread and get bored of the *bleep*py off topic replies.

I have an answer for @antiquesbootiquenew and it is an answer that I would give to them regardless of if they are a business seller or a private seller.

Here goes...
I use the Royal Mail website and send items using the 1st / 2nd class large letter service, then I take them to the post office to get them scanned / get proof of postage receipt.

Just above the QR code on the postage label you will see an 11 digit code, it looks similar to this: "11-00A E00 P91"

The code can be typed into the Royal Mail tracking site and after it gets delivered, it will show the time and date it was delivered.

I use that for items under £10

Up until April this year I had only ever used recorded/tracked but then when I realised you could get a partial delivery confirmation for 1st and 2nd class large letters I switched to that and haven't looked back.

rjwilmsi · ‎30-09-2024

On the postage, you've got two choices - I am assuming you need the Large Letter size.

2nd class Large Letter - £1.55 - this should have "Delivery Confirmation" which counts as "Tracking" for eBay purposes. Royal Mail posties are encouraged to scan these but it seems they don't have to (Royal Mail in no way makes that clear), so the actual delivery scan rate is 80-85%. For the 15-20% not scanned, if your buyer says the item didn't arrived then you can't prove otherwise and have to refund them.
Tracked 48 LL - £2.70 - this should be tracked end to end. In my experience the delivery scan rate is 99.9% (around 1 in 1000 don't get the final scan for some reason but do get interim scans). So the buyer won't be able to claim the item didn't arrive.

So for cheaper items you have to decide whether the £1.15 extra cost for near guarantee of delivery scan versus 80-85% chance is worth it to you. (There is a 1st class LL but from October it will cost very nearly as much as Tracked 48 so there is no point in using it in my view).

Bear in mind that a determined fraudulent buyer (scammer) can always make up reasons such as packet arrived empty, so there is always some risk to selling online and you cannot be sure that eBay will cover you for every such scenario.