Today I'd like to throw out a few scattered Ebay thoughts.
1) There are some great sellers out there. Three times in the past month or two, I reached out to some sellers to see if they would change a listing for me as I was working on a particular set. Each time they were agreeable and helpful.
2) Some sellers must own shares of 3M the way they use scotch tape on their packages. The cards are wrapped up so tight I'm afraid I might damage the card to get it freed from its tape jail.
3) Many sellers overcharge on shipping as a way of recouping their Ebay fees, even though that is a big Ebay no-no. The postage on a 3 oz. bubble mailer via Paypal is $1.69. Several cards will fit. Add a few cents for the mailer, penny sleeve, and toploader and you should be around $2. Very rarely will you pay $2 for shipping--seems like $3 is the standard cost. Sellers will say that you know the cost and if you don't like it...don't bid. I say, if you charge $3 for shipping, I should get $3 worth of shipping. If you only give me $2 service, your stars may get dinged.
4) Why does the time and auction is listed not show up on many listings anymore? I'll do a couple searches a couple times a day and not having the time listed show up is a real pain. For a while it wasn't showing up on any listings. Now it's on maybe half. I hope Ebay can fix whatever the glitch is so that it shows up on all the listings again.
5) The best offer sale prices are not shown on a completed listings search, but there is a way around that. This site, http://sortsof.com/, will show all completed listings, including best offers. It's also a nice way to compare different items side by side. The only negative is that the completed listings only go back two weeks, which usually isn't far enough back to give me five listings for my monthly set price checks.
Anyone else got any Ebay thoughts to share? Different issues? Same issues? Am I way off base?
The only problem I have with Ebay is that they keep tinkering around with how things work. They always screw with something, people get mad and complain about it, and then they change it back and then go screw with something else. They one thing that has bugged me lately is they always had ending times listed for auctions and buy it nows. Now they only show up on auctions.
ReplyDeleteRyan H.,Concerning the "Buy It Now" ending time.While they don't list the ending time on the ad,if you put the item on your watch list ,it will list the ending time.
DeleteLove ebay. In terms of cardboard purchases, it's right up there with COMC. The only issue I have with them is with their "best offer" option. I wish you could put multiple items into your card from a seller (that utilizes best offer) and make a single best offer on the lot... instead a bunch of individual best offers.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea!
DeleteI agree with you on just about all those. Many sellers use too much tape and in the wrong places. (Sportslot sellers are also very bad with that) usually your #2 goes hand and hand with #3. Often I've been charged $3 for something sent in a PWE. Several times I've gotten stuff in those "card savers" with the opening taped of course and the card often a vintage card nearly damaged because of it. I've been fortunate and very careful that I have not had cards ruined because of this. One or two might have had small flecks of white ink/paint removed from the edge but for the most part no severe damage. My worst case scenario was when I got my 1982 Cal Ripken Jr. RC (the 3 player one with Bob Bonner and Jeff Schneider)
ReplyDeletehttp://captkirk42.blogspot.com/2010/11/white-whale-of-iron-man.html
It was sent in a PWE with a card "saver".
Card sellers need to learn if you "Must" tape something use the blue (or any other color) "painters" tape. But not directly on the edge of a card holder of any kind where a card can come in contact with the tape.
Unfortunately most Ebay sellers either Don't care about protecting anything they ship out, or they specialize in something other than trading cards and don't know trading card basics.