I am currently very interested in making money for my future, therefore I have been interested in selling items on ebay to produce a healthy sum of profit. I am going to start selling things from the video game industry, (consoles, games, accesories). This is due to the fact that my interests lie in this region, however, I would like to know any other profitable things worth selling on ebay.
I wouldn’t suggest anyone to become a seller on eBay. The most important thing you need to know is: 1) eBay does a very poor job to enforce winning bidder to honor their bids. 2) you are always the last person who gets paid. First of all, you need to pay eBay insertion fee and final value fee. FVF only applies if your item is successfully sold. Second of all, you will be charge a PayPal transaction fee for payment processing service. Then you need to pay USPS, UPS, or DHL to deliver the item to the buyer. The left over amount, minus your cost and 15% of government tax, will be the actual amount that goes into your pocket.
Although eBay claims your item might be eligible for an insertion fee credit if your item didn’t sell or the winner didn’t honor the bid. However, you can only use it once. In order to be eligible for the insertion fee credit if your winner didn’t pay, you will need to first of all file an Unpaid Item dispute on the 8th day after the auction ended. Then you’ll have to wait another week for the winner to response. If the winner didn’t response, then you can relist your item and get your insertion fee credit when your item is sold the second time. However, if the Non Paying Bidder reply to eBay says they want to complete the transaction, then you’ll lose the eligibility EVEN THOUGH THEY STILL HAVEN’T PAY YOU.
Remember, never ever use the “Sell Similar” feature even you have like 100 identical items because once you list your item through “Sell Similar”, you’re consider relisting your item and you are automatically not eligible for insertion fee credit. Tricky huh?
The most stressful part is their feedback system. Sometimes, there are sick people out there, they bid on your item just to mess around. Some even leave you a negative feedback just for fun. eBay will not do anything to remove it. Even though you think you’re undeserved, eBay will not remove it unless they are presented with a valid court order stating that the comment is slanderous, libelous, defamatory or otherwise illegal. eBay doesn’t remove Feedback without a court order, even if a member believes it is retaliatory, false, unfair, or harmful to his or her name, character, or reputation.
But these are nothing compares to their new feedback policy starting in May 2008. Sellers are no long able to leave negative feedback for bidder. Sellers can only leave positive feedback. Yup! Even the winner doesn’t pay; you still cannot leave negative feedback to him or her. The seller will have no way to find out the credibility of the bidder.
eBay constantly changes their policy. They always have something new comes up everyday and it is almost impossible for sellers to catch up.
Sometimes if eBay thinks your shipping charge is unreasonable, your listing will be removed without prior notice. They may also suspends your account permenantly and will not let you reinstated no matter how many emails you sent to them.
Also, if you’re new to PayPal, even thought you have shipped your item to your buyer, PayPal will hold your fund for 21 days. That’s right, you won’t get paid for 3 weeks even though you have to pay your vendor, the shipping cost, and all the fees that listed above. Here’s the stupid rule that makes new seller’s life in hell:
PayPal and eBay are working together to make payments for eBay items even safer. Because we want both buyers and sellers to feel confident about sending and receiving payments through PayPal, we may temporarily hold payments for items sold on eBay.
Make sure to ship the item right away, so you’ll have access to the funds sooner. We’ll release the hold in 21 days unless you receive a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal on the transaction subject to the hold. We may release the hold earlier if either of the following occurs:
• The buyer leaves you positive feedback on eBay.
• We confirm that the item was delivered.* We can confirm delivery if you ship the item with USPS, FedEx, or UPS and either use PayPal shipping labels or upload tracking information from the transaction details page. This applies to transactions within the United States.
Additional hold period
If you receive a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal on the transaction subject to the hold, we may hold the payment until the problem is resolved.
Learn more about the PayPal policy for payments holds on eBay items.
eBay is not a safe trading place for sellers. Especially for beginners. The buyer can do whatever they want and PayPal always favor the buyer. For instance, the bidder can file a dispute to Paypal claiming the item is not as described. Paypal will then ask the buyer to return the item to the seller. As long as the buyer can provide a tracking number and shows the item is being delivered. The buyer will instantly get their money back even though they just sent an empty box or a piece of garbage. Paypal is not a bank so they are not regulate by the FDIC. However, they can manipulate your money without your consent.
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