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**mm2002** · 03-02-2004, 11:38 AM

Re: eBay Morons

Damn I can relate with your frustration bro. I get tons of those every day. It doesn't seem to happen much on the bigger stuff but when you list the little nickel and dime stuff all the dumb fucks seem to appear out of nowhere! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]
This probably should have been posted in the Efraid section but oh well, it IS feedback! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

**YetAnotherOne** · 03-02-2004, 10:22 PM

Re: eBay Morons

I honestly don't know how you do it Mark, particularly for the small stuff. I'm in the process of dumping some old tab books over there and thus far I've had problems with 5 of the 6 winning bidders. I just got an email from one of them saying that they'd re-read my listing and that it didn't say anything about me not taking credit cards, apparently "no credit cards" isn't clear enough. Maybe now that I've told him to try re-reading the 10th line of the listing he'll catch on. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Doing this for a living would drive me insane.

**charvelguy** · 03-03-2004, 04:32 PM

Re: eBay Morons

You have to put it in the first line or use BOLD PRINT ITALIC WITH CAPS!***NO CREDIT CARDS, PLEASE!*** in the text of the add as well as the payment instructions. But ya, I've had the same where it's clearly stated NO CC, and sure enough, I get a payment by CC. I just ended up accepting them and just adding a small handling fee relative to the dollar amount of the approx sale value.

**charvel750** · 03-03-2004, 04:59 PM

Re: eBay Morons

A listing is not an "add" but rather "ad." [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] If any seller is hesitant about accepting PayPal credit card payments (or those with unconfirmed shipping addresses) PayPal has an option you can select to not allow anyone to send that payment into your account. They will get a response indicating your preferences for payment. This way you're not burdened with having to accept a payment method you don't want.

On that note, and not to slight anyone here in this post, but PayPal is a selling convenience. [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] Sellers should just suck up and take the % hit, especially on small dollar items. It's the cost you pay for the convenience of instant payment. And as a buyer, many folks prefer that for its ease and lowered risk of being lost in the mail. MO's, checks, etc. are so 20th century!

Now, if you're selling a thousand dollar guitar I can see where the $30 hit can be an issue, yet, even then, think about how fast you get that $1000, surely it's worth some fee...

**charvelguy** · 03-03-2004, 06:41 PM

Re: eBay Morons

ad..whoops, *my bad*! Definitely spaced on that one.

**YetAnotherOne** · 03-04-2004, 06:11 AM

Re: eBay Morons

Originally posted by charvel750:
If any seller is hesitant about accepting PayPal credit card payments (or those with unconfirmed shipping addresses) PayPal has an option you can select to not allow anyone to send that payment into your account.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmm, this must only be available to Premiere members because I certainly can't find this sort of option or anything that even remotely resembles it attached to my account. If that's the case this would be in line with PP's strategy: push, annoy, pester, harass persons into upgrading their aco****s so that *all* incoming funds are charged a fee (even those that were previously freely received) then allow those persons to exclude the one form of payment that PP takes a hit on: credit cards. Personally I find their marketing strategy offensive.

Originally posted by charvel750:
Sellers should just suck up and take the % hit, especially on small dollar items. It's the cost you pay for the convenience of instant payment. And as a buyer, many folks prefer that for its ease and lowered risk of being lost in the mail. MO's, checks, etc. are so 20th century!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No offense taken Joe but here's an alternative viewpoint for you: Go to a restaurant or fast food joint that doesn't take credit cards, place an order, hand them a credit card and tell them to "just suck it up and take the % hit, especially on small dollar items." What sort of reaction would you expect? Try the same thing at an estate auction that requires immediate cash payments below a certain $ threshold and certified funds w/in a few days for larger items. Think they'd be receptive to your assertion that sellers should "just suck it up"? Or try writing a personal check at a store that has a posted policy of not accepting personal checks. Think they'd happily accept a form of payment that they've clearly stated that they don't accept? After you've tried each of these, get back to us with your results.

Point being that retail and auction sales are ALWAYS paid for on terms exclusively within the control of the seller. If buyers don't like it they can vote with their dollars and buy elsewhere. If I were a business I'd be sensitive to that but I'm not in the business of selling things on the 'net so I really don't care whether or not requiring terms that are convenient for me prevents my squeezing every last cent out of a given transaction.

I wasn't requiring payment via a money order in any of those auctions, that's a huge pain in the ass. I always state that I prefer PayPal so long as the payment isn't via credit card. As a matter of fact, the buyers above agreed to pay exclusively by non-credit card PayPal. If you have any doubts, there are any number of folks here who can comment on whether I'm a reasonable person to deal with or not, you included.

Originally posted by charvel750:
Now, if you're selling a thousand dollar guitar I can see where the $30 hit can be an issue, yet, even then, think about how fast you get that $1000, surely it's worth some fee...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tip for you (and I mean no offense by this): don't ever start or operate a business. 2.9% + $0.30 on $1000 is 2.93% of your total transaction. 2.9% + $0.30 on $5 is 8.9% of your total transaction. It's not fees on the big sales that will put you in the poorhouse, it's the little ones.

**charvel750** · 03-04-2004, 11:51 AM

Re: eBay Morons

Well of course it is! But come on, I sell a $15 item. My PayPal fees are 2.2% plus .30 cents. So I take in $14.37 and it costs me .63 cents.

Tip for you, sir: don't ever start or operate a business, because if you can't figure out how to make back that .63 cents you lack business savvy. Consider this common business tactic: One needs to make a profit to keep one's business running, or at least break even, right? So, if I know I'm going to take a PayPal hit, I put my price tag a notch higher, yes? So that $15 item is marked as such to make up for the fees. I really only need to sell it for $14.37 but I know there's a possibility of the buyer using PayPal.

But more importantly, I outsell any seller who chooses not to accept PayPal because I have a larger buyer base. There's a lot of people here on the JCF that won't even place a bid on an eBay item if PayPal is unacceptable. I've passed over a few good deals myself because I'm too fat and lazy to get a money order. It's so much easier to PayPal it over electronically, and that's my point, you must pay for the convenience and you can always find a way to pass that fee on to your buyer. It's the way business is done.

I mean only to point this out as I consider myself at least partially accomplished at selling goods. I was ULTRA hesitant to even open a PayPal account, but I quickly realized how many buyers saw the convenience of it and realized if I wanted to remain competitive I needed to upgrade. So, just make the opening bid amount a few bucks over your minimum and that in itself covers your fees. Rock on!

**redmanjj** · 03-05-2004, 04:24 PM

Re: eBay Morons

I am one of those people that will not even consider a bid, unless they take Paypal. Especially since I am in Canada, and getting an international Money Order to pay a US vendor is a grand pain.

**Robotechnology** · 03-09-2004, 07:54 PM

Re: eBay Morons

I had a similar situation 2 months ago. Guy bids and wins. Uses paypal and totally ignores the no credit cards rule that was posted twice in the auction copy. I refuse the payment and ask him to resend via electronic funds transfer, personal check (had good feedback rating), or money order. The guy sends paypal via a credit card AGAIN [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] At that point I was thinking the A-hole was now going to leave neg feedback for me because HE CAN'T READ both the auction and 2 of my expressive emails and not pay for the item after I refuse payment a SECOND time. So I thought about it for a little bit, bit the bullet, and upgraded the account. Even though its costing me money, it is helping with QUICK payments.

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