The General eBay Rant Thread

[Donut2922]

I received my first neutral feedback this weekend.

I sold a rare book that had some damage. Damage was fully described, including multiple pictures. I had a high but reasonable price for the item. I was the cheapest listing on eBay. It was a BIN OBO. I accepted a best offer $20 under my asking price from someone with 12 feedback. I wrapped the book well, secured it in between cardboard, mailed it out the same day I received payment, and since they buyer was relatively local, it arrived the very next day. I get neutral feedback saying everything is as described, shipping was prompt, and a thank you.

Like what the ? It doesn't even make an ounce of sense. And this person left positives for other sellers. So now I'm going to have that neutral sitting on my account for a year.

One buyer gave me neutral feedback for not anticipating the damage on a DS cart I had sold him. I described it perfectly but I used the stock photo so he didn't really get to see the damage. Oddly, his actual neutral feedback text read that he enjoyed the game with no mention of the damage. It didn't affect my 100% score so I didn't pursue it.

Does neutral feedback qualify for feedback revisions? If so the seller has to initiate the request fyi.

 

[Billytwoshoes]

I received my only neutral feedback a few months ago.  Sold a GB printer without the battery cover, and I clearly stated in the description and pictures that it didn't have the battery cover.  I priced it well below the other listings because of this, even stated in the description that I did price it lower because it was missing the battery cover.

Of course, when he received it, he sent neutral FB saying it was missing the battery cover.  I could of contested the FB, but not as concerned about that compared to negative FB (which thankfully none so far).

 

[jatink129]

I received my only neutral feedback a few months ago. Sold a GB printer without the battery cover, and I clearly stated in the description and pictures that it didn't have the battery cover. I priced it well below the other listings because of this, even stated in the description that I did price it lower because it was missing the battery cover.

Of course, when he received it, he sent neutral FB saying it was missing the battery cover. I could of contested the FB, but not as concerned about that compared to negative FB (which thankfully none so far).

I would have left it alone, if it was obvious that the buyer made a mistake and clicked neutral instead of positive or if there really was some issue with the transaction.

But when the buyer was being a moron, I would wage holy war against the idiot. In your case, I'd challenge it.

eBay should be able to get it removed especially since it's obvious that he didn't read the listing.

 

[DNukem170]

I got two phone calls from eBay today. Both were basically spoken versions of their monthly newsletter. Anybody else get this?

 

[timesplitt]

why is the play arts dark knight joker figure $60 dollars for some ebay sellers and $100+ from hong kong sellers.

i dont get it, and i dont see to many topics about increased hong kong items.

 

[tangytangerine]

why is the play arts dark knight joker figure $60 dollars for some ebay sellers and $100+ from hong kong sellers.

i dont get it, and i dont see to many topics about increased hong kong items.

Because those sellers expect people to pay more money for a counterfeit version from HK.

 

[thecobb8]

I recently got into the habit of Craigslist and pawnshop hunting for laptops and flipping them on eBay, and Ive had decent success doing so.

One thing I've quickly discovered is that it's almost impossible to make a good sale on a laptop using an auction style. There's sooo many damn auctions running at the same time that mine don't get much attention till the end where people want to snipe and I get screwed. Apple laptops however I've had good luck. They seem to hold their value fairly well and sniping seems to benefit me.

Usually I just use buy it now. Seems to sell quicker.

 

[TiKi2]

I recently got into the habit of Craigslist and pawnshop hunting for laptops and flipping them on eBay, and Ive had decent success doing so.

One thing I've quickly discovered is that it's almost impossible to make a good sale on a laptop using an auction style. There's sooo many damn auctions running at the same time that mine don't get much attention till the end where people want to snipe and I get screwed. Apple laptops however I've had good luck. They seem to hold their value fairly well and sniping seems to benefit me.

Usually I just use buy it now. Seems to sell quicker.

I looked into doing that in the past. But just too many scammers look at those high end items for me to risk it. I have sold some on Amazon though, with success.

 

[thecobb8]

I looked into doing that in the past. But just too many scammers look at those high end items for me to risk it. I have sold some on Amazon though, with success.

True. I get messages all the time asking me to ship overseas to some wild location, or they're buying it for something else, or will ask to purchase it for higher than your listed price. I fell for that once, just to have the guy message me his shipping address which was in Nigeria. Sigh.

I havent tried selling on Amazon yet. Might give it a shot

 

[davo1224]

Sold a laptop on Amazon for MSRP. The a same laptop was a nightmare to sell on eBay.

 

[jatink129]

Sold a laptop on Amazon for MSRP. The a same laptop was a nightmare to sell on eBay.

Most people I speak to have had a different experience than mine on Amazon.

Got scammed out of $400 for an iPhone. Buyer filed A-Z claim, Amazon refunded him the money, and buyer never sent me the phone.

Emails upon emails resulted in zero help from Amazon.

Once was enough. I'll take eBay (zero claims/problems so far. Knock on wood), over Amazon any day.

 

[kodave]

Got a message on eBay asking if I'd negotiate on my asking price on a listing. The person wants the items, but not at my price because then the items would have no re-sell value for the buyer after he/she was done with the item. Because apparently their ability to re-sell is somehow my problem, despite the fact that my listing is the cheapest on the entire internet by far.

 

[ferant316]

Most people I speak to have had a different experience than mine on Amazon.

Got scammed out of $400 for an iPhone. Buyer filed A-Z claim, Amazon refunded him the money, and buyer never sent me the phone.
Emails upon emails resulted in zero help from Amazon.

Once was enough. I'll take eBay (zero claims/problems so far. Knock on wood), over Amazon any day.

At least you have a 10% chance on eBay of getting out of a claim unscathed, Amazon is like 0.0001% AND their fees are considerably higher.

 

[jatink129]

At least you have a 10% chance on eBay of getting out of a claim unscathed, Amazon is like 0.0001% AND their fees are considerably higher.

Absolutely.

That and the fact that Amazon can randomly decide to shut down your account.

I've heard countless reports of sellers who had scammers filing A-Z claims against them, Amazon refunding their money and then closing the SELLER'S account, because of the number of claims!!

that.

 

[DNukem170]

Got a message on eBay asking if I'd negotiate on my asking price on a listing. The person wants the items, but not at my price because then the items would have no re-sell value for the buyer after he/she was done with the item. Because apparently their ability to re-sell is somehow my problem, despite the fact that my listing is the cheapest on the entire internet by far.

I have had many people asking, a few hours after the listing ends, if they can buy it for a certain amount, usually for a few dollars less than my asking price. And this is usually on items that have been on there forever

 

[Guimengo]

Most people I speak to have had a different experience than mine on Amazon.

Got scammed out of $400 for an iPhone. Buyer filed A-Z claim, Amazon refunded him the money, and buyer never sent me the phone.

Emails upon emails resulted in zero help from Amazon.

Once was enough. I'll take eBay (zero claims/problems so far. Knock on wood), over Amazon any day.

I had to erase all of my information because a few people were trying to scam me. One person was even trying to get a refund on digitally redeemable content I had no control over, since I sent out the code. I didn't get to "pay back" the money to the scammers but Amazon shut down my account and I cannot open a new one.

 

[GBAstar]

I don't know who does the pre-filled categories for media (i.e. video games) but they ing suck. Half of the new releases don't get categories until weeks after they've been out and it is pointless to create one because it has to be reviewed and approved and that takes more time and effort then its worth as well

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

"Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me with the box are there any bends, creases, rips or tears to it, and the same with the DVD Cases, as I'm buying it for a VERY SERIOUS COLLECTOR, WHO KEEPS HIS DVD BOXES, CASES, AND DVDS IN PRISTINE CONDITION"

I hate crap like this. Sure, if my item was listed as New or Like New, I would understand, but it's not.  Of course, it WAS also the cheapest listing so instead of buying an item graded in the condition you are looking for, why not bother someone with scrutinizing a DVD to fit with your OCD because you don't want to spend the money required to be a VERY SERIOUS COLLECTOR.

I just doubled the price and told the guy he needs to buy New or Like New if that's what he's looking for.

On the Amazon front, I've been selling almost exclusively there for years after a bad eBay experience.

I used to be all eBay because of the fees, but I would ship international and had one guy claim his package never arrived.  I don't necessarily think he was a scammer, but with international post there is no tracking, etc. unless they are willing to pay a crapload for shipping which they usually are not.  Paypal sided with them despite my proof of shipping, which I get, but I was out about 100 bucks for a refund, plus the original shipping I paid, and what I originally paid for the items.

In the time I've been with Amazon I've had one scammer file an A-Z claim and I was able to argue my case with Amazon.  They refunded him, out of their pocket, and let me keep my money as well.  The guy was such a total douche.  He emailed me the instant the CD was delivered complaining it was scratched and unplayable.  I offered him a return shipping label and full refund upon return within like 5 minutes of his message.  He responds an hour later that he doesn't have the CD anymore because he gave it to Goodwill because it was unplayable and no use to him.  Yeah, OK.  He then goes on to complain about Amazon because he's had to file 12 A-Z claims in the last month alone.  I think the fact he was abusing the A-Z claim system is what helped my case. 

Outside of that, I've had a few "item not received, item was smashed in the mail" claims, but items do get smashed in the mail and items do get lost so I don't necessarily think that's an amazon thing. 

 

[TiKi2]

Yes those collector's are numnuts. I block all of them. Had one just message me to pack the game with bubble wrap and blah blah blah. It was the cheapest one there. You want perfect, pay perfect prices. I bet it was someone on NA or CAG.

 

[xtreme_Zr2]

I'm going to be traveling for three days and won't be able to ship within the 1-day window. I do not have an ebay store to turn on vacation settings. Is my only option to end all 18 of these listings early before I leave, then relist when I get back? Sheesh.

 

[jatink129]

I'm going to be traveling for three days and won't be able to ship within the 1-day window. I do not have an ebay store to turn on vacation settings. Is my only option to end all 18 of these listings early before I leave, then relist when I get back? Sheesh.

Assuming they're auctions, then yes, there's nothing you can do.

If they're BIN, then you can change your handling time.

In the rare occasions that I've found myself travelling when my listing is going to end, I just take the item with me. Ofcourse in your case, that's not really a feasible solution.

If it's an auction and you have bidders on all 18 items and you're confident that you'll sell each item at a desirable price, then the only option is to end them. Unless you're willing to print the shipping label from whereever you are, and then ship it when you get back.

 

[pitfallharry219]

A buyer opened a NAD case against me, which was bullshit because the item I sent him worked great as I tested it once more minutes before packaging it. Anyways, I agreed to give him a refund once he returned the item. How long does ebay give him to return it? It's been almost two weeks since he opened the case.

 

[Donut2922]

I'm going to be traveling for three days and won't be able to ship within the 1-day window. I do not have an ebay store to turn on vacation settings. Is my only option to end all 18 of these listings early before I leave, then relist when I get back? Sheesh.

When I was in your similar situation last month, I just edited each individuals listing with the added 3 day handling time and just updated a disclaimer at the top of the listing that I was going to be out of town until XX date. I sold an item and the buyer waited 1 extra week but he still gave me positive feedback.

I rather increase my chances of selling the item by leaving it up than to take the listing down completely.

 

[mcgavin27]

I'm currently selling a camera on ebay. The auction states that I only ship to the us. The current high bidder has 1 feedback and lives in Canada. I messaged him telling him I only ship to the Us. He responds telling me he will pay extra for shipping. Do I have grounds to cancel his bid?

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Definitely.  If you only ship to US you only ship to US.  Did you restrict your listing to US shipping?  I thought they blocked out international bidders that way.  I always hate people like that because they will inevitably make a huge stink about the shipping cost to Canada (it's gone up) and they don't seem to think the rules apply to them.

 

[mcgavin27]

I thought I had it restricted to Us bidders only but apparently posting an auction through the eBay app switched that setting. I did make sure though that the auction states Us only so he can't fuss about me cancelling.

 

[TiKi2]

LMAO copy and paste of message word for word. He didn't even ask me a question.

"I just got a new warriors of rock guitar for ps3 and it didn't come with a dongle so I need to connect my wireless guitar to the playstation 3. If you don't know which guitar I'm talking about, it's the warriors of rock guitar bundle that has detachable wings and headstock. Be sure to reply because I need to connect my new guitar to the playstation 3. Looking forward to your answer. Thanks "

 

[DNukem170]

So, I have this buyer who messages me about shipping. I am selling some Dragon Boxes and have the shipping as $6 Priority Mail. The buyer wants to know if shipping can be lower and I told them no because they are too heavy for First Class. Now they want to know if I could use Media Mail instead. Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

 

[lovepig78]

Stick to your guns. Ship priority... It's the safest, I dont think media offer tracking. Not having tracking could really backfire if you are dealing with a scammer.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

You can add delivery confirmation to Media mail, but it's pointless.  Depending on how many pounds the books weigh it's only 2-3 bucks cheaper.  Just stick to your guns.  Priority is faster, more secure, and handled better than Media Mail.  Media Mail is more likely to get damaged too. 

 

[jatink129]

How long do you guys wait before reminding  a buyer to leave feedback on eBay? 

Writing to them, takes away the chance of 5/5 for communication, there's that.

But after about 40 transactions, I'm missing 8.

And it's already close to a month.

 

[GBAstar]

How long do you guys wait before reminding a buyer to leave feedback?

Writing to them, takes away the chance of 5/5 for communication, there's that.

But after about 40 transactions, I'm missing 8.

And it's already close to a month.

If I run my feedback numbers I get about 4 for every 7 transactions.

I know it sucks when you're starting off and trying to build feedback but trust me when I say no feedback is better then bad feedback. When you contact a buyer unprovoked and ask them about the transaction or ask them to leave feedback you are opening the door for them to get devious.

 

[kodave]

Stick to your guns. Ship priority... It's the safest, I dont think media offer tracking. Not having tracking could really backfire if you are dealing with a scammer.

You can definitely add Delivery Confirmation to Media Mail. There's only a couple shipping methods where you can't get tracking.

You can add delivery confirmation to Media mail, but it's pointless. Depending on how many pounds the books weigh it's only 2-3 bucks cheaper. Just stick to your guns. Priority is faster, more secure, and handled better than Media Mail. Media Mail is more likely to get damaged too.

I don't think adding Delivery Confirmation to Media Mail is pointless. It's as useful as adding it to any other shipping speed. Media mail does take more abuse and is slower, but if you package the items appropriately, you'll have little to no problems.

And there's still a significant price difference between Media Mail and Priority Mail. You can maybe fit one mass market paperback book in a Small Flat Rate Priority Mail Box. I'm not even sure Small Flat Rate boxes fit DVDs, but they might. At any rate, that's $5.15 on the discounted online rate. Media Mail with DC for a mass market paperback or run of the mill DVD is only going to be $2.73 to $3.18 through media mail. Yeah, it's a only a couple of bucks difference, but when you're dealing with whats likely mass market paperbacks or run of the mill DVDs, that $2 matters when it comes to your bottom line, if you care about your bottom line. And if the books or number of books or DVDs are big enough to step up to Medium Flat Rate Priority Mail, that's $11.30. For that amount you can mail well beyond 10 lbs. of books (or DVDs) with Media Mail. So I think there is a very big cost savings in using Media Mail.

As long as the buyer knows it's Media Mail and knows it takes slightly longer, there shouldn't be any issues. I don't know how valuable these "Dragon Boxes" are. Amazon says they're DVD sets and makes them look pretty expensive. I'd say if the cost of the package is over $100, definitely step up to Priority Mail rather than Media Mail and adjust your pricing to cover your ass for that. You might even want to look into insurance too - I think it's only a couple of bucks extra. And again, work it out with your bottom line so the buyer is covering those costs even if you don't advertise it. But for pricey items, Priority Mail is definitely worth the peace of mind.

How long do you guys wait before reminding a buyer to leave feedback?

Writing to them, takes away the chance of 5/5 for communication, there's that.

But after about 40 transactions, I'm missing 8.

And it's already close to a month.

I usually just don't bother contacting buyers about feedback. Buyers have little incentive to leave feedback once their own feedback approaches a level that appears to be solid. They don't leave me feedback, I don't leave them feedback, and that seems to work for the world. Usually you can tell who will leave feedback and who won't based on their "Feedback for sellers" history.

 

[jatink129]

If I run my feedback numbers I get about 4 for every 7 transactions.

I know it sucks when you're starting off and trying to build feedback but trust me when I say no feedback is better then bad feedback. When you contact a buyer unprovoked and ask them about the transaction or ask them to leave feedback you are opening the door for them to get devious.

Well, I'm not exactly starting out...But so far my record has been about 95%... Then I stopped selling for a long time. Now, I've begun again. Received feedback for most though...So that's a good thing.

I usually just don't bother contacting buyers about feedback. Buyers have little incentive to leave feedback once their own feedback approaches a level that appears to be solid. They don't leave me feedback, I don't leave them feedback, and that seems to work for the world. Usually you can tell who will leave feedback and who won't based on their "Feedback for sellers" history.

I do the same. Funny thing is that except for 1-2 buyers, everyone else has been good about leaving feedback and have left feedback for others.

But that's good advice. I won't bother. I didn't leave anyone feedback, I waited till they left me feedback and then I'd respond right away.

For the few that never left feedback, I waited it out.

Then I decided to leave them feedback to see if that would trigger it.

Still nothing.

Guess, I won't bother. I received the bulk of feedback, and I'll be satisfied with that.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

On Amazon, I never prompt anyone to leave feed back.  It's annoying as a buyer and you illicit more potential issues.  Amazon sellers average 1 feedback left for every 10 transactions.  I average about 1.5 to 2 so I do better.  There's little to no incentive for Amazon buyers to leave feedback. 

 

[jatink129]

On Amazon, I never prompt anyone to leave feed back. It's annoying as a buyer and you illicit more potential issues. Amazon sellers average 1 feedback left for every 10 transactions. I average about 1.5 to 2 so I do better. There's little to no incentive for Amazon buyers to leave feedback.

Oh I apologize. I should have been clearer. I was talking about eBay.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Oh I apologize. I should have been clearer. I was talking about eBay.

No need to apologize. I know you meant ebay. I just don't do ebay often. On ebay I still don't prompt personally. I just let the feedback fall when it may. I never liked it as a buyer to be reminded. One, I usually wait like a month and do all feedback at once, and two, its just annoying because I feel sellers do not deserve feedback, you have to earn it. That said, I usually leave positive every time as long as my item arrives with no issues.

 

[GBAstar]

I really don't want to start this debate again but can you please explain what the benefit is of waiting to leave feedback for your buyer? 

You can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore and it is a policy violation to leave anything negative for the buyer (i.e. false positive) and you can't refer to a case or dispute. 

There is a reason that almost all major powersellers on eBay leave feedback for buyers instantly.

 

[kodave]

On Amazon, I never prompt anyone to leave feed back. It's annoying as a buyer and you illicit more potential issues. Amazon sellers average 1 feedback left for every 10 transactions. I average about 1.5 to 2 so I do better. There's little to no incentive for Amazon buyers to leave feedback.

Yeah there's absolutely zero incentive. Usually I only leave negative feedback for this certain group of sellers who don't properly list their book conditions. I've been burned by most of them once over so now I just avoid all of them. Sometimes if an Amazon seller does an exceptionally good job with an item or goes the extra mile I'll leave them positive feedback to try and help them out. This is just my experience, but I've found Amazon sellers to be less accurate with their descriptions or using the correct LN/VG/G/A categories than eBayers. I feel like me not leaving feedback is actually doing them a favor because the feedback I would be inclined to leave wouldn't help their scores.

 

[kodave]

I really don't want to start this debate again but can you please explain what the benefit is of waiting to leave feedback for your buyer?

You can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore and it is a policy violation to leave anything negative for the buyer (i.e. false positive) and you can't refer to a case or dispute.

There is a reason that almost all major powersellers on eBay leave feedback for buyers instantly.

And what is that reason for leaving instant feedback from a bot? Are there statistics showing it makes people more likely to return feedback to the seller? Does eBay reward power sellers with high feedback issuance? I really don't know.

I'm personally never more inclinced to leave a seller positive feedback just because they left me early positive feedback. I always evaluate my purchases after they come in, make sure I got what I paid for, then usually in batches I leave the appropriate feedback for sellers since I know they're hoping for that feedback. From a buying perspective, I don't care whether they leave me feedback before or after I leave them feedback. And actually I feel like I'm more inclined to reward a "regular joe" type seller with positive feedback than I am a power seller that's likely a full fledged company. That's just my personal take on it. Buy.Com doesn't need my positive feedback where it's their job to sell and ship thousands of items a day, but Joe Blow selling me his DVD set trying to make a tiny bit of scratch on the side probably does need that positive feedback.

From a seller's perspective of a guy just selling stuff on the side and not running a full fledged business, I have everything to lose on every transaction I make, so personally, I don't want to give buyers a shred of positive reputation until I know I'm in the clear from my end as a seller. Because I try to do every little thing right to make sure the item gets to the customer as described, so I'm trying to be vigilant of scammers or just nasty buyers. If they don't let me know everything went smoothly with positive feedback, I have no incentive to reward them with positive feedback (regardless of how meaningful it is or isn't) for doing the simple task of paying for an item, which many of them don't even do in a timely manner when it comes to auctions. (Thank God for BIN w/ immediate payment.) So yeah, I could probably leave every buyer positive feedback, but likely nothing would probably change on my end in terms of reciprocation, so why bother? Those precious seconds could be wasted typing up more replies like this on CAG rather than two key stroking to give someone an obnoxious number of pluses to indicate how highly I pretend to value them.

 

[DNukem170]

I thought Media Mail could only be used for certain items, usually educational.

 

[trollape74]

I thought Media Mail could only be used for certain items, usually educational.

I believe all books or guides with limited advertisement qualify. Other media such as DVD's, CD's, Vhs have to be educational. Anything else is prohibited but also depends on how strict your post office may be. I once accidentally shipped a teddy bear through media and he made it through ha.

 

[kodave]

I thought Media Mail could only be used for certain items, usually educational.

No. See below.

I believe all books or guides with limited advertisement qualify. Other media such as DVD's, CD's, Vhs have to be educational. Anything else is prohibited but also depends on how strict your post office may be. I once accidentally shipped a teddy bear through media and he made it through ha.

The "educational" thing doesn't really mean anything. Who is the USPS to determine what book, DVD or CD is "educational" compared to another? Someone can watch something like Prometheus on DVD for entertainment, or they could watch it for an educational film theory class. The USPS has no idea. So it's either all or nothing, and they go with letting all items in those categories through because any other standard is impossible to enforce.

This is straight from the USPS website:

4.0 Content Standards for Media Mail 4.1 Qualified Items
Only these items may be mailed at the Media Mail prices:

a. Books, including books issued to supplement other books, of at least eight printed pages, consisting wholly of reading matter or scholarly bibliography, or reading matter with incidental blank spaces for notations and containing no advertising matter other than incidental announcements of books. Advertising includes paid advertising and the publishers' own advertising in display, classified, or editorial style.

b. 16-millimeter or narrower width films, which must be positive prints in final form for viewing, and catalogs of such films of 24 pages or more (at least 22 of which are printed). Films and film catalogs sent to or from commercial theaters do not qualify for the Media Mail price.

c. Printed music, whether in bound or sheet form.

d. Printed objective test materials and their accessories used by or on behalf of educational institutions to test ability, aptitude, achievement, interests, and other mental and personal qualities with or without answers, test scores, or identifying information recorded thereon in writing or by mark.

e. Sound recordings, including incidental announcements of recordings and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such recordings. Video recordings and player piano rolls are classified as sound recordings.

f. Playscripts and manuscripts for books, periodicals, and music.

g. Printed educational reference charts designed to instruct or train individuals for improving or developing their capabilities. Each chart must be a single printed sheet of information designed for educational reference. The information on the chart, which may be printed on one or both sides of the sheet, must be conveyed primarily by graphs, diagrams, tables, or other nonnarrative matter. An educational reference chart is normally but not necessarily devoted to one subject. A chart on which the information is conveyed primarily by textual matter in a narrative form does not qualify as a printed educational reference chart for mailing at the Media Mail prices even if it includes graphs, diagrams, or tables. Examples of qualifying charts include maps produced primarily for educational reference, tables of mathematical or scientific equations, noun declensions or verb conjugations used in the study of languages, periodic table of elements, botanical or zoological tables, and other tables used in the study of science.

h. Loose-leaf pages and their binders consisting of medical information for distribution to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students.

i. Computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such media.

In short, books 8 pages or more that contain only incidental advertising, like a page in the back saying "You can buy these books from the same great author!" That's why single issue comic books aren't supposed to ship via Media Mail, because of all of the advertising for random stuff in the pages. Printed material allowed also includes stuff like sheet music, educational testing material, plays, manuscripts, educational study charts, and medical binders using loose leaf paper.

You can also send movie film, but not film going to commercial movie theaters. Probably not a problem anymore since theaters have gone digital.

Sound recordings = CDs an the like, but also things like vinyl. For whatever reason, they class video recordings as sound recordings, so DVDs are fine too.

And finally, computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts indicates something like maybe book PDFs on a CD or something, but it doesn't mean general computer software or video games, hence why those are excluded from media mail.

So for the purposes of most CAGs, sending books, DVDs/Blu-rays and audio CDs via Medial Mail is perfectly fine and they don't have to be "educational." Video games have to be shipped via First Class Mail or Parcel Post unless you upgrade to something like Priority Mail.

 

[DNukem170]

Meh, kind of a moot point anyway. The set she was asking about is now at $75. When the hell did Set 4 get as rare as Set 1?

 

[lmz00]

I really don't want to start this debate again but can you please explain what the benefit is of waiting to leave feedback for your buyer?

No "benefit," really, but if someone doesn't feel the need to leave me feedback, why would I leave them feedback?

 

[TiKi2]

So I haven't had any problems buying stuff on ebay for awhile. I bought a psp batt, came from china , doesn't hold charge. I message seller under "item not as described" but ebay just went straight up and opened a case. So I guess If you message a seller for "item not as described"  it automatically opens a case. I didn't want to open a case for a $3.50 battery. If the seller hadn't responded I would have just let it go. I had already left positive feedback.

 

[DNukem170]

One thing that annoys me is when a bunch of auctions end and everybody pays relatively fast except one guy. You get tired of waiting and print out labels for everyone else, and then, about 15 minutes later, the last guy pays.

 

[Squarehard]

It's even worse once you've left for the post office, and then when you get back you see that they paid you 2 minutes after you left the house.

 

[jatink129]

It's even worse once you've left for the post office, and then when you get back you see that they paid you 2 minutes after you left the house.

THIS.

I was just about to say it.

Happened too many times...Especially on Saturdays. Leave for the PO...mail the stuff, and then come back to see two more have finally paid, and it's too late to go back to the PO.

 

[Billytwoshoes]

I pass by two POs on my way to work, so it's never a concern to stop by again if I have a late payer.  Then again I've gone all BIN with immediate payment required, so waiting for someone to pay is a thing of the past for me.

Honestly if you are smart about pricing things I don't see the benefit in auctions anymore (unless the item is rare / one of a kind). Some people are happy to pay more just to get it now than to wait and snipe an auction for the common things, no reason you can't capitalize on their impatience.