eBay Don'ts

[peeingas]

When I see an auction that is "USA only" that I really want to bid on, I will send a PM to the seller explaining that I am interested and am willing to cover any extra shipping costs, as a small item usually costs $2 or $3 more to ship to Canada.

 

I've found that if I send a PM to these "USA only" sellers, about 50% of the time they will agree to accept your bid if you have good feedback. They can see that you are a reliable bidder and not out to screw them over.

 

And if the seller isn't willing to take your bid, oh well; it's their loss. Even if you don't win, you could have driven the highest bid up further.

 

In fact, yes, this has worked with me on several occasions... Got an email from international bidder, checked their feedback, and opened the bidding to them, though I do require international bidders to agree that proof of mailing ends my obligation to them if they are unwilling to pay the (sadly exorbitant) fees for delivery confirmation.

 

I feel bad charging someone more for shipping than an item is worth. (Though after one buyers pleas, I shipped an A800 to England, $40 for the system, $60 something shipping!)

Buyers CANNOT have bad feedback, so you saying you've checked to make sure it is good is laughable

[jetset]

When I see an auction that is "USA only" that I really want to bid on, I will send a PM to the seller explaining that I am interested and am willing to cover any extra shipping costs, as a small item usually costs $2 or $3 more to ship to Canada.

 

I've found that if I send a PM to these "USA only" sellers, about 50% of the time they will agree to accept your bid if you have good feedback. They can see that you are a reliable bidder and not out to screw them over.

 

And if the seller isn't willing to take your bid, oh well; it's their loss. Even if you don't win, you could have driven the highest bid up further.

 

In fact, yes, this has worked with me on several occasions... Got an email from international bidder, checked their feedback, and opened the bidding to them, though I do require international bidders to agree that proof of mailing ends my obligation to them if they are unwilling to pay the (sadly exorbitant) fees for delivery confirmation.

 

I feel bad charging someone more for shipping than an item is worth. (Though after one buyers pleas, I shipped an A800 to England, $40 for the system, $60 something shipping!)

Buyers CANNOT have bad feedback, so you saying you've checked to make sure it is good is laughable

 

Um...not really. A buyer can be brand new with very little feedback. Or they can be long established with hundreds. That alone can make a huge difference in how willing you would be to make an exception.

[+poobah]

When I see an auction that is "USA only" that I really want to bid on, I will send a PM to the seller explaining that I am interested and am willing to cover any extra shipping costs, as a small item usually costs $2 or $3 more to ship to Canada.

 

I've found that if I send a PM to these "USA only" sellers, about 50% of the time they will agree to accept your bid if you have good feedback. They can see that you are a reliable bidder and not out to screw them over.

 

And if the seller isn't willing to take your bid, oh well; it's their loss. Even if you don't win, you could have driven the highest bid up further.

 

In fact, yes, this has worked with me on several occasions... Got an email from international bidder, checked their feedback, and opened the bidding to them, though I do require international bidders to agree that proof of mailing ends my obligation to them if they are unwilling to pay the (sadly exorbitant) fees for delivery confirmation.

 

I feel bad charging someone more for shipping than an item is worth. (Though after one buyers pleas, I shipped an A800 to England, $40 for the system, $60 something shipping!)

Buyers CANNOT have bad feedback, so you saying you've checked to make sure it is good is laughable

 

Um...not really. A buyer can be brand new with very little feedback. Or they can be long established with hundreds. That alone can make a huge difference in how willing you would be to make an exception.

Exactly

[ericwierson]

I read all the posts and agree with most of them, especially the third party pay system. That has to be the stupidest thing on buying an item that I have ever experienced. I just do not get it. Why the hell as a seller pay some 3rd party to process your order? Lazy? As far as caps. lock or font size I am O.K. with that. When did those things become annoying? I guess some folks read alot of Maddox' website.

 

What does drive me crazy is that idiot AnGiE ThAt DoEs HeR AuCtIoNs LiKe ThIs. VERY ANNOYING AND HARD TO READ! Especially since she sells alot of the games I need to finish my 2600 collection.

[Carey85]

People who put ULTRA RARE, LQQK, or L@@K in their auction title make the baby Jesus cry.

[coleconut]

Dont expect to get your best price if you wont ship beyond the lower 48. Hello. There is a bigger market out there waiting, wanting, heck BEGGING to bid and sigh a thousand sighs when your item sells for 5 bucks and I've tried to bid $25 but Ebay wont accept the bid 'cause the seller wont ship to you because you are in Canada, Europe, Australia, whatever.... These are not 3rd world countries, people.

As someone who normally only ships CONUS, let me say this...

 

To get any kind of seller protection, you need at a minimum, delivery confirmation, and to be truly safe, signature confirmation.

Those services are prohibitively expensive, and in some cases, unavailable, outside the US.

For a small item, I might take a chance. But there's no way I'm sending a high ticket item to an unknown individual with no protections whatsoever.

 

It's not that sellers think they are "3rd world countries", it is simply that we don't want to get screwed over.

 

Note for all US sellers who seek delivery confirmation when shipping to Canada. If you send by Int'l Priority Post, and whether or not you purchase delivery confirmation, which I have been told you CANT (someone confirm this) for international shipments, we MUST sign for it anyway because our equivalent to Priority Post is something called Express Post and it comes with delivery confirmation FREE. Something to keep in mind and maybe give you that level of confidence you seek.

[Philflound]

I think for the most part, all international orders are covered by insurance. Now, trying to get insurance from the post office is probably next to impossible, but at least the item has to be trackable somehow for someone to collect it.

 

I just sent an item to someone in France late last Tuesday, and he's upset he hasn't gotten it yet. It went priority mail, but give me a break. It went to FRANCE! Some of the biggest problems I've had over the years and my friends have had is with international buyers having no patience. Especially in the old days when they wanted crap mailed surface. That took a good month or more many times, and by then, they had paypal reverse the money and you get screwed out of cash and product, and many times got a negative for it.

 

I agree with the RARE crap for items that aren't. Combat complete in box RARE. Not a chance. I own I think 12-14 complete in box Combats. Despite the fact that they're different variations and such, Combat in box is probably one of the most common games short of all the O'Shea copies out there. Putting a truly rare game, at least an R4 with RARE in the title is justified. The problem is many of us own the majority of the games out there, so we no longer consider some titles rare that actually are pretty hard to find in the wild. You can sort of justify rarity with how often something shows up on Ebay, but not always. If 20 copies of a game show up in a year, that's rare. Even 100 could be rare. We're talking about 6 billion people in the world. Not everyone are buyers, but if you had just 50,000 people collecting, 100 copies is not a lot.

 

Also, many titles complete in box are rare. You can find a good 25 to 1, 50 to 1, 100 to 1, or even rarer ratio versus a loose copy. I consider the majority of Atari games with boxes rare. I threw away the boxes when I was a kid. And I think the majority of people who had original Ataris did the same.

 

I also agree with listing all items you are selling. I hate trying to look with a magnifying glass at 75 loose carts laying on a bed. Since I've been collecting a good 15 years, I know what the majority of games look like. Also, having the photo variation site helps.

But it's so annoying that the person will have 75 games, then have in their description. Titles include Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Combat, Asteroids, and many others! That doesn't tell me crap. So hopefully you ate your carrots and have good eyesight. I also hate the sellers who don't answer the question when you ask what other games are in the lot.

 

I've had crud on games along with dead spiders, roaches, cobwebs, and other dirt. I don't remember too many cigarette smelling games. I have bought several collections of cigarette smelling comic books though. People who smoke don't realize the nastiness of tobacco smelling items. The only stuff that should smell like tobacco are the tobacco cards of the old days. I always give my stock of games a wipe down before testing and storing. I also try and mark the game with a sticker on the back that shows it's been tested and worked. Though dead carts are very rare (I've probably had maybe 10 of 5000 copies), it does happen.

 

Anyway, I'll stop ranting and let someone else take over.

 

Phil

Edited March 23, 2010 by Philflound

[kheffington]

 

 

Note for all US sellers who seek delivery confirmation when shipping to Canada. If you send by Int'l Priority Post, and whether or not you purchase delivery confirmation, which I have been told you CANT (someone confirm this) for international shipments, we MUST sign for it anyway because our equivalent to Priority Post is something called Express Post and it comes with delivery confirmation FREE. Something to keep in mind and maybe give you that level of confidence you seek.

 

Even if you have to sign for it, there is no way to get this proof for the item as it can not be tracked on line, which is all PayPal and most others will accept. Also International priorty mail is not cheap. The small flat rate box is around $12 and holds close to nothing. The medium size flat rate is around $26 and is not that large either. Boxed and shipped by weight, priority mail international is even more expensive. First class parcel is the only reasonably inexpensive method with a not too long delivery time.

 

As far as trackable delivery, I think the only one is International Express (VERY EXPENSIVE) and the tracking is only to the foreign post office it was delivered to, not the individual.

Edited March 23, 2010 by kheffington