The General eBay Rant Thread

Navex said:
Think I might start using eBay's shipping labels so I'll need a scale. Any recommendations on that? I know the USPS sells their own which I imagine would be the most accurate but I'm sure there are alternatives out there that are probably just as good and for cheaper. If not, I won't mind buying the USPS one, as it's something I definitely need to be accurate so I don't shoot myself in the foot in pricing/shipping.
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I have two fairly expensive ones that I wouldn't trade for the world... but anything that reads to the tenth of an ounce and goes from about 0.1 lb to about 12-20lbs should be fine.

Remember if you get one that only goes to 5lb or 10lbs that's your ceiling... so shipping something like an Xbox one console w/ kinect which is about 17lbs wouldn't work.

But going to the tenth of an ounce is critical since anything over an exact ounce is supposed to round up (i.e. 3.1 ounces to 4.0 ounces is supposed to be billed at the 4.0 ounce rate).

 
Appreciate the responses. I felt maybe they were waiting for me to leave feedback before they left some for me. Feedback standoff! I have emailed people before along the lines of, "hope the item is working out for you. would appreciate feedback when you have the chance. thanks again"...... I might just copy and paste that to all of them one day. It worked when I was trying to get to that Blue Star level awhile back.

 
juangrande386 said:
Appreciate the responses. I felt maybe they were waiting for me to leave feedback before they left some for me. Feedback standoff! I have emailed people before along the lines of, "hope the item is working out for you. would appreciate feedback when you have the chance. thanks again"...... I might just copy and paste that to all of them one day. It worked when I was trying to get to that Blue Star level awhile back.
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I get feedback about 60% of the time. A lot of my sales go internationally and my international buyers almost always leave feedback where as many of my domestics don't.

You're playing with fire though... No feedback is always better the bad/nuetral feedback or positive feedback with low DSR scores. For that reason I have never bothered to contact a buyer regarding feedback because I just don't want to take a risk they leaving something less then perfect.

 
Navex said:
Think I might start using eBay's shipping labels so I'll need a scale. Any recommendations on that? I know the USPS sells their own which I imagine would be the most accurate but I'm sure there are alternatives out there that are probably just as good and for cheaper. If not, I won't mind buying the USPS one, as it's something I definitely need to be accurate so I don't shoot myself in the foot in pricing/shipping.
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Just get a $10 food scale from Target or whatever if you're not shipping anything over 7-ish lbs regularly. That's what I use and it's always been accurate. Even for my rare heavier multi-item orders I just weight out the items and packaging separately then use math.

 
Where do you guys get cardboard boxes to ship stuff that is too big for bubble mailers? I usually use the boxes I get from Amazon, but I've run out and there's still a lot of eBay stuff I need to ship. I know department stores have really big boxes, but I need smaller boxes well under a foot long for each measurement (i.e length, width, height) and I don't think they have it. I refuse to get it from USPS on principle since they price gouge on everything, like the smallest box is $2 just for the box. I thought of asking grocery stores to give me some of the tons of cardboard boxes they empty out with the stuff they put on the shelves, but asking like that is a bit embarrassing.

 
I usually go to this dumpster filled with cardboard boxes that's by an auto-repair place, so they have some big boxes. I got a big stack of 50 new boxes(holiday design, not flat rate) for free from the post office since they were changing out their holiday design.
 
I reuse the boxes and bubble mailers that I get in the mail. I also grab what I need from work. Being a library they get packages in bubble mailers, small boxes, and big boxes! If I see them in the recycle bin and in good shape I just take them home.

 
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Just google "packing stores" "packaging supplies" and enter your zipcode.

It works for me at least. I found a local retail chain that sells boxes and various packaging supplies like packing peanuts and poster tubes for great prices. They also resell their own used boxes which are even cheaper.

For national chains, home depot sells boxes for $1 - $3 each but they have only 3 set sizes.
 
Why don't they let us see a history of all our sales and purchases?  Amazon is great in that respect.  I'm able to go back to my first sale in 2002 on Amazon, but on eBay, they only give you 90 days.  That's pretty ridiculous.

 
encendido5 said:
Why don't they let us see a history of all our sales and purchases? Amazon is great in that respect. I'm able to go back to my first sale in 2002 on Amazon, but on eBay, they only give you 90 days. That's pretty ridiculous.
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Purchases as far as "2013" are available, on my account at least. For sold I can do 60 days back, but don't see 90 days listed.

 
Narukami said:
Where do you guys get cardboard boxes to ship stuff that is too big for bubble mailers? I usually use the boxes I get from Amazon, but I've run out and there's still a lot of eBay stuff I need to ship. I know department stores have really big boxes, but I need smaller boxes well under a foot long for each measurement (i.e length, width, height) and I don't think they have it. I refuse to get it from USPS on principle since they price gouge on everything, like the smallest box is $2 just for the box. I thought of asking grocery stores to give me some of the tons of cardboard boxes they empty out with the stuff they put on the shelves, but asking like that is a bit embarrassing.
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Their priority mailers are free. Can't beat beat that price with a stick.

If you're gonna buy in tiny quantity, then expect to pay a couple bucks per box. Even if you do start buying in quantity (like 50 or more), you're still gonna be looking at .50-1.00 per box most likely, depending on size.

strawyleader997 said:
I usually go to this dumpster filled with cardboard boxes that's by an auto-repair place, so they have some big boxes. I got a big stack of 50 new boxes(holiday design, not flat rate) for free from the post office since they were changing out their holiday design.
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Priority boxes are always free (unless you're talking about the universal boxes that they charge for)

 
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wiggyx said:
Their priority mailers are free. Can't beat beat that price with a stick.

If you're gonna buy in tiny quantity, then expect to pay a couple bucks per box. Even if you do start buying in quantity (like 50 or more), you're still gonna be looking at .50-1.00 per box most likely, depending on size.

Priority boxes are always free (unless you're talking about the universal boxes that they charge for)
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This. For anything heavy, I use those boxes. As an added bonus, any time my lazy-ass mail carrier pisses me off, I order a shitload of boxes from https://store.usps.com/store/. It usually gets the point across when she has to lug several cases of boxes to my porch. Passive aggressive seems to yield better results than a formal complaint, IMHO.

And before anyone asks, yes, I use the boxes. I don't just order them just for the sake of making a point.

And for items that won't fit in a bubble mailer, but are still light enough for first-class, I use a combo of bubble wrap and these. The pouches work out to about .09/ea, even less if you order in bulk.

Bubble wrap is ~$13 at Sam's Club for 240 sq ft (12" x 240'), which is on par, if not cheaper than ordering in bulk online and far cheaper than any other local B&M.

CD's, DVD's and other small items I still use #0 mailers.

 
For my scale I just use one that I bought on eBay like 3 or 4 years ago for 15 or 20 dollars. I've done items up to 25 or so pounds on it before. It also works on batteries too which is a nice added bonus if needed. Last year I brought it will me to San Diego Comic-Con for selling a bunch of exclusives overseas on eBay while I was there (didn't want to bring stuff home to Boston and then do it so I sold it all right from the hotel).

I use mostly bubble mailers - buy them bulk and they are under 20 cents each. For boxes I either use the priority flat rate or I use ones that I find at work or for family. Same with the packing material. I almost never buy packing stuff just grab al the bubble wrap from work (not stealing new wrap, just all the wrap that came in deliveries).

 
Thanks for all the scale tips, I'll see what the stores have since I'll be out later. And as far as boxes go I personally have my own mini-shipping department since I've been saving my Amazon boxes for almost as long as I've been buying from them so I'll never run out.

 
Would it to be a good idea to do signature confirmation for some items I'm selling? I'm selling a few tennis racquets that will be in a box that has the logo on it and some shoes that will be shipped in their original box. The tennis club that is having me do this said they didn't think it was necessary but I'm kind of thinking it is...

 
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Ferrari Racer said:
Would it to be a good idea to do signature confirmation for some items I'm selling? I'm selling a few tennis racquets that will be in a box that has the logo on it and some shoes that will be shipped in their original box. The tennis club that is having me do this said they didn't think it was necessary but I'm kind of thinking it is...
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Well eBay/PayPal upped their requirement for signature confirmation from $250 to $750. I personally don't use SC on anything unless it's more then the requirement (i.e. $750) as it is a waste of $2.35 (it's like $4 for FedEx SC).

You will win any INR as long as the package shows delivered to the zip code on the PayPal invoice. SC is only going to provide YOU peace of mind... it won't help in a dispute. You might hear people tell you otherwise but they are either A) not telling the whole story (a lot of people have shipped items to a different address per the buyer's request and gotten scammed that way) or B) didn't take the time to appeal the decision (sometimes eBay will initially rule against their policies...a phone call always clears this up)

If you're really worried insurance is a better bet then SC. And IIRC if you insure something for over $250 (the amount might have changed) via the post office directly it requires it be signed for anyways so don't double dip and pay for both.

^ This may have changed because I insure using a third party company (U-Pic) and haven't paid for postage or add-ons at the post office in several years.

 
Signature confirmation is a giant waste of time unless you're required to do it. In the times I've used it in the past, if the person had to pick up the box at the post office for whatever reason, 9 out of 10 times the post office didn't even have them frickin' sign for it.

Like GBAstar said, if you need something beyond signature confirmation, just insure it.

And are you really shipping shoes in a shoe box? That sounds like a great way for things to get mangled, especially if the shoe boxes are flimsy. I'd definetly double box the shoes (as in, outer box + the regular shoe box). You don't need to pad it or anything.

 
Hmm where would be a good place to buy a large quantity of boxes for those shoe boxes? I'd prefer a retail store but maybe the tennis club wouldn't mind if I bought some online.

 
Ferrari Racer said:
Hmm where would be a good place to buy a large quantity of boxes for those shoe boxes? I'd prefer a retail store but maybe the tennis club wouldn't mind if I bought some online.
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Walmart in my area (YMMV, prices can change by store) sells the 12x12x10 boxes 14x14x14 boxes and and 16x16x15 boxes for about .60 to .80 cents each.

They may be too big but that's a good price for being able to grab that just about any time of day.

I buy a lot of my boxes at staples.com because they have a wide variety and the prices are almost always better then amazon/ebay and even specialty stores like U-Line if you factor in coupons.

Like this week (ending tonight) they had 25% off office supplies code for purchases greater then $75 and if you spent a little over $100 you could use the 25% off coupon to get the total down to a little over $75 and then purchase a $25 off $75 coupon on eBay (they go for between $5 and $7) to get $100 worth of stuff for just over $50.

Play around with sizes on staples though because sometimes bigger boxes are cheaper (example the 12x10x4 is a few bucks cheaper for a stack of 25 then the 12x10x3).

You can always try and get boxes for free at dumpsters or see if businesses will give them to you but my time is too valuable to be cardboard box hunting all day and it's nice to have various, frequently used sizes, on hand.

 
Ferrari Racer said:
Hmm where would be a good place to buy a large quantity of boxes for those shoe boxes? I'd prefer a retail store but maybe the tennis club wouldn't mind if I bought some online.
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If you plan on shipping shoes priority, USPS has free priority boxes that are made for shipping shoes.

EDIT: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?categoryNavIds=shipping-supplies%3ashipping-boxes&categoryNav=false&navAction=push&navCount=0&productId=P_0_SHOEBOX&categoryId=shipping-boxes

Hopefully the link works.

 
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I used to use signature confirmation for items over $75 even though it wasn't required. Even though I mentioned it in the listing, people still didn't understand they had to be home to sign for the item and I was worried stuff might start getting returned to me because they couldn't sign for it and it would cause problems. I would still use it if I was selling something like a few hundred dollar console.

 
I sold some things today and the funds are immediately available. Is this a new change or did I just finally sell enough things to qualify?

 
elessar123 said:
They're not flat rate though, right?
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No they aren't; and they're not designed for fit shoes and a shoe box. They are made just to throw a loose pair of shoes in.

Just my experience but none of my local P.O. stock anything outside of the very basic mailing supplies like small flat rate box, flat rate envelope, medium flat rate box and large flat rate box. They don't even carry the legal flat rate envelopes.

You're going to have to order most of the supplies but they should arrive in a week or so.

 
I have 3 post offices nearby. Only one of them has a wide selection of boxes available. One of them is always wiped out, and the other two have the boxes in the walk-in service desk/locked area of the post office.

I read somewhere that you could order boxes online, but I must have filed that in the back of my mind. Thanks for the reminder. Just ordered a pack of 10 large priority boxes. I've been buying them at Walmart but they are too damn big and I end up wasting a lot of my packing material (plastic shopping bags, usually) just to make sure the item isn't flying all over the place loose in the box.

 
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So I ordered a N64 bundle on eBay. It came with the system, controllers, games, and the wooden n64 storage drawer. The drawer got damaged during shipping, due to the seller not packing everything right(he had everything in one box, with crumbled newspaper). The drawer broke from the system hitting the plastic during shipping. I contacted the seller about it, and suggested maybe a particle refund, the drawer alone sells on eBay for $40-$60, so I asked for a refund of $30. He said he couldn't do $30, but would do $15-$20.

What should I do? Just take the $15 and say fuck it? Or maybe I should contact eBay?
 
Bleedingwickedly said:
So I ordered a N64 bundle on eBay. It came with the system, controllers, games, and the wooden n64 storage drawer. The drawer got damaged during shipping, due to the seller not packing everything right(he had everything in one box, with crumbled newspaper). The drawer broke from the system hitting the plastic during shipping. I contacted the seller about it, and suggested maybe a particle refund, the drawer alone sells on eBay for $40-$60, so I asked for a refund of $30. He said he couldn't do $30, but would do $15-$20.

What should I do? Just take the $15 and say fuck it? Or maybe I should contact eBay?
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If you contact eBay and a dispute is opened they're going to request you send EVERYTHING back for a FULL REFUND if you and the seller can't reach an agreement on the partial refund.

How much did you spend on the entire bundle?

Not saying you're doing this but from a seller's stand point it is common for a buyer to complain about something random like a manual missing in a game that was new/sealed (many new games don't include manuals anymore) and then want something ridiculous like a 50% refund.

 
GBAstar said:
If you contact eBay and a dispute is opened they're going to request you send EVERYTHING back for a FULL REFUND if you and the seller can't reach an agreement on the partial refund.

How much did you spend on the entire bundle?
Not saying you're doing this but from a seller's stand point it is common for a buyer to complain about something random like a manual missing in a game that was new/sealed (many new games don't include manuals anymore) and then want something ridiculous like a 50% refund.
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I paid $120 for the bundle, and paid an extra $20 for shipping, so $140. He also only lives about 3 hours away. I sent him pictures of the packing of newspaper, and the broken piece. He had the console on one side of the box and the drawer on the other, then put newspaper on top and threw the games and controllers in the newspaper. You can tell where it's broken, it's from the console sliding and hitting the plastic part of the drawer during shipping and breaking it.
 
Bleedingwickedly said:
I paid $120 for the bundle, and paid an extra $20 for shipping, so $140. He also only lives about 3 hours away. I sent him pictures of the packing of newspaper, and the broken piece. He had the console on one side of the box and the drawer on the other, then put newspaper on top and threw the games and controllers in the newspaper. You can tell where it's broken, it's from the console sliding and hitting the plastic part of the drawer during shipping and breaking it.
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Okay. Just curious; $30 definitely sounds reasonable then---especially because if you end up returning it for a full refund he'd get considerably less if he were to resell it and be stuck with shipping charges again.

Just kindly explain the damage, your disappointment, send pictures and let him know what it'd cost if you were to repurchase that same it.

If he won't budge get eBay involved... but know that will most likely result in you have to ship it back.

 
GBAstar said:
Okay. Just curious; $30 definitely sounds reasonable then---especially because if you end up returning it for a full refund he'd get considerably less if he were to resell it and be stuck with shipping charges again.

Just kindly explain the damage, your disappointment, send pictures and let him know what it'd cost if you were to repurchase that same it.

If he won't budge get eBay involved... but know that will most likely result in you have to ship it back.
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I appreciate the advice. Still waiting to hear back from him. I'd prefer not to have to send it back. And I understand it sucks on his end too but really if it would have been packaged a little better, it would have never happened.
 
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Bleedingwickedly said:
I appreciate the advice. Still waiting to hear back from him. I'd prefer not to have to send it back. And I understand it sucks on his end too but really if it would have been packaged a little better, it would have never happened.
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He should at least refund you the money that it is going to cost to replace the system in my opinion.

 
My only eBay complaint is on some days, all the item images appear like normal but on other days, half the images are blank, making the auctions useless because the damn pictures won't show up. 

 
GBAstar said:
If you sell over $20,000 and/or 200 transactions PayPal reports that for you via a 1099-K; so if you don't voluntarily report the income the IRS will come after you.
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Okay I haven't done either of those so I should be fine then. I think I've made around 1k or so from selling on ebay.

 
Asmith906 said:
Okay I haven't done either of those so I should be fine then. I think I've made around 1k or so from selling on ebay.
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Yeah PayPal only generates a 1099-K (online sales revenue) if you sell over $20,000 (gross sales) and/or 2,000 transactions. Some people say its one or the other but it might be both.

You're suppose to pay taxes on any income generated but as of now it's the honor system unless you reach the above thresholds. At that point you have to claim it because the IRS will get a copy of the 1099-K

 
I just checked and I did around 40 sales at $1300. This is the first year i started selling on ebay in a serious manner. But because I only did it sporadically I never bothered to keep any records. Do you guys use quickbooks to keep up with your sales? i plan to sell more this year.

 
GBAstar said:
If you sell over $20,000 and/or 200 transactions PayPal reports that for you via a 1099-K; so if you don't voluntarily report the income the IRS will come after you.
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Asmith906 said:
I just checked and I did around 40 sales at $1300. This is the first year i started selling on ebay in a serious manner. But because I only did it sporadically I never bothered to keep any records. Do you guys use quickbooks to keep up with your sales? i plan to sell more this year.
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You're technically supposed to report any earned income to the IRS, whether it's eBay, your 9 to 5 job, or a garage sale.

Practically, if you're not making waves, the government doesn't give a shit. There's essentially nothing to tax on your actual profits from $1300 in gross sales once you offset your deductions. The odds of getting audited are extremely small. And the IRS is concerned with people not reporting their main incomes, not the online equivalent of a garage sale. If you really step up your business, then at a certain point PayPal might demand your SSN or TIN. Until then, I wouldn't sweat it if you're just a student or doing this on the side after your main job. You'll likely be fine with reporting whatever your main income source is if you're working a "real" job or do "real" independent contracting work that you have to self-report. Now if you're making your income off multiple little side projects like this, it becomes a different story.

 
GBAstar said:
If you sell over $20,000 and/or 200 transactions PayPal reports that for you via a 1099-K; so if you don't voluntarily report the income the IRS will come after you.
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GBAstar said:
Yeah PayPal only generates a 1099-K (online sales revenue) if you sell over $20,000 (gross sales) and/or 2,000 transactions. Some people say its one or the other but it might be both.

You're suppose to pay taxes on any income generated but as of now it's the honor system unless you reach the above thresholds. At that point you have to claim it because the IRS will get a copy of the 1099-K
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So which is it, 200 or 2,000? Because that's a big difference. And is it monthly or yearly?

 
elessar123 said:
No, you don't have to report garage sales to the IRS. Unless you essentially run it like a business, which some jurisdictions won't allow.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Tax-Tips-for-Online-Auction-Sellers
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I was speaking from a technical level. Your gross income is where the fun of taxation begins. The legal definition of gross income in the tax code is "gross income means all income from whatever source derived." Any money derived from a garage sale is income. And of course from there the tax code goes into a myriad of different rules and exemptions and deductions. The link you posted is just a guideline of sorts. GENERALLY the gross income from garage sales wouldn't produce anything actually taxable if you were to go through the formal exemptions and deductions calculations because GENERALLY people are selling old used junk where the seller isn't actually making a net profit. So the IRS is generally saying don't worry about garage sales, it's a waste of your time and their time to bother with reporting it.

But if you had a painting you bought in a thrift store for $1 that you hung in your shitter and after 10 years you've grown tired of it and put it on the driveway next to your couch with a hole through it and the picture turns out to be some famous artwork and two people buying your malfunctioning toasters get into a bidding war over the painting on your driveway and you end up pocketing $10,000 for that painting? Yeah the IRS wants to know about that, in theory, even if they don't give a shit about all of the broken lamps and malfunctioning toasters you sold that day too. But even then that $10k might be under their radar unless you're one of the minisule few who end up being audited.

So like I said before, technically Asmith906 should be reporting his gross income including those eBay sales. But practically it's such a small taxable amount (if any of it would actually end up taxable at all) that he can likely just fly under the radar just fine. The IRS doesn't care about garage sales or even a lot of the flipping that goes on by individuals and that guideline is saying as much. But that doesn't change what the tax code actually says or what an individual might be faced with when audited.

 
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They don't tax garage sales because then they would have to make depreciation of everything you sell tax deductible, which isn't happening. When you report eBay sales, you report depreciation and other costs as deductibles. As for the $10,000 painting, that no longer fits what you would sell at a garage sale. If you want to put out a $10,000 painting and label it as such, good luck not having it go missing.

And I said nothing about eBay not counting as income. I only said garage sales.

 
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elessar123 said:
They don't tax garage sales because then they would have to make depreciation of everything you sell tax deductible, which isn't happening. When you report eBay sales, you report depreciation and other costs as deductibles. As for the $10,000 painting, that no longer fits what you would sell at a garage sale. If you want to put out a $10,000 painting and label it as such, good luck not having it go missing.

And I said nothing about eBay not counting as income. I only said garage sales.
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It's not the act of a "garage sale" that makes something not taxable. It's the fact the IRS is assuming you're selling everything for less than you paid, a loss, so in the end there's nothing to tax. But in the event you do make a few bucks in net profit, they, in theory want to know about it. There are no federal income tax laws or definitions for what constitutes a garage sale or what items can and can't be sold at a garage sale. Garage sales aren't carte blanche un-taxes/un-reported. The government doesn't make distinctions between selling on Craigslist, eBay or your driveway. That's why that guidance page says generally all over it, because for the vast majority of people they have nothing to report in the way of net profits whether it's a garage sale or eBay auction, but in the event you start making even a little bit of net profit off something, the government is retaining their ability to come after taxes on that.

In practice, the government isn't giving a shit about most of that, online or off. They're looking for people ducking big time tax issues like not filing on whatever they earn at their 9 to 5, not Joe Blow not reporting the $100 in net profit he miraculously made off his garage sale one Saturday.

You also totally misread or purposely misconstrued the painting example because I didn't say you're sticking a $10k price tag on it, but whatever.

 
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elessar123 said:
It's 200, and yearly. And it's and, not or.
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Oh, good. I haven't sold 200 items or made $20,000 in a year as of yet, but this year, I'm hoping to break 200 items sold, so as long as I don't sell more than $20,000 dollars, (which, of course, will never happen) I don't have to file anything. Good to know.

 
Narukami said:
Oh, good. I haven't sold 200 items or made $20,000 in a year as of yet, but this year, I'm hoping to break 200 items sold, so as long as I don't sell more than $20,000 dollars, (which, of course, will never happen) I don't have to file anything. Good to know.
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You are still supposed to file... it's just that a 1099-K won't be generated by paypal and sent to the IRS

 
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