Adventures of newbie to Ebay selling
This tale tells of the exasperations of learning your way around Ebay for the first time and the costly mistakes that can be made especially in regard to postage costs that can often amount to more than the sale item is worth.
I signed up to Ebay about four or five years ago and attempted to use it on odd occasions, but it all proved somewhat overwhelming, what with constantly forgetting whether or not i had an ebay.co.uk or ebay.com account and always forgetting my username and password. That resulted in me accidentally opening more than one account all with similar usernames and different password, you guessed it i used to try and get in with wrong username and password combinations, not helped by using a computer with a broken fan that was cooking my processor and i was unaware of this. So i gave in for a long time, then a few years later with a new fully functional computer and a lot of clutter to clear after a death in the family i decided to try again.
I went to Ebay.com and had lots of login in problems and became very annoyed then i remembered Ebay.co.uk so i submit a forgotten password link and i got a change password email and then i was back into ebay again.
After a lot of trial and error i managed to list my first item for sale and Ebay said "thank you congratulations that was easy (no it wasn't) now you know how to do it you can do it again" so i did eight times. I waited for the bids to arrive they did not come until the following weekend when i sold five items all at the buy it now price and the money went into my paypal account. I then duly thanked the buyers told them i would post the items next day, and the following morning my nightmares began.
I got up early to be at post office queue before 9.00 am and when i got to the counter i put the first item on the scale asked for second class recorded mail and was told it would cost £8.10p i sank metaphorically to the floor, because i had sold the item for £4.99 and quoted only £3.00 postage based upon receiving a similar item myself through the post for £2.500 standard post at an internet shop. It became apparent then that Ebay postage price suggestions were a bit awry and i had forgotten i was a single individual user of the postal service, whereas the internet shop was a business user entitled to some discounts.
I did not want to risk loosing the item in the post so i decided to write it off to experience and learn from it, i then weighed the other items, 3 were significantly more than i had quoted for on Ebay by abuot £2.00 each and one was just a mere ten pence over. So i posted the items except one that i could deliver to myself and calculated that before Ebay and paypal fees i was still a little in front. With more items still for sale on Ebay and more still to be listed i was not put off and decided to find cheaper postage rates. An internet searched lead me to a cheap carrier for Ebay users and i signed up for an internet account, over the next two weeks i sold several more items, but still i was making mistakes on some postage quotes. I posted off 3 items over five days with my new cheaper courier two arrived safe and sound and one arrived mashed up and i got feedback from the buyer although they still gave me positive feedback knowing i packed it well, i sent the buyer instructions on how to make a claim on the net and they thanked me and said they had initiated the claim.
Then i got 3 more sales for slightly heavier items and logged into my new courier account and requested a quote each item was quoted for at more than i quoted by several pounds and i had only sold each item for about a fiver each on average, there were still ebay and paypal fees to take into consideration, i calculated i would loose on the total price of all 3 sales combined, so i reluctantly sent one item off to cornwall at a cost of £3.00 more than i had quoted on Ebay and decided to hand deliver the other two they were each within ten miles of were i live and i could do the deliveries on my motor scooter for about £3.00 to £5.00 in petrol, decided to deliver them in person the next day and went to work. However late that evening i crashed my motor scooter and it had to go the garage for a long time, i wasn't bothered i could buy a zone 1 to 5 one day travel pass and deliver my Ebay sales by London transport to the nearest tube i estimated this would cost about £3.00, i have not purchased a one day travel pass on London underground for a few years. So i look up the addresses on google maps and see they both have a nearby underground station i pack the items into a large carrier bag and walk to my nearest tube station at Old street london E.C.1, upon arrival i check the maps of the underground to confirm i do need a zone 1 to 5 pass and indeed i do. Next i go to the the ticket window and ask for a one day travel pass for zones 1 to 5 "that will be £8.00" said the ticket office clerk, "ouch" !! i had no choice other than pay or be kicked off Ebay, and i still had tons of stuff to sell. I estimated i would be out about 3 hours doing the deliveries, but alas i was wrong, because i forget to check the walking routes from tube stations to ebay buyers addressees. On the first delivery in north west london i got diverted via long diversions around the north circular at brent cross due to sewer renewals in the brent cross and Hampstead garden suburb areas. The second delivery had me stuck on a tube train for ages in the North Harrow area and at 5.30 pm in the evening long after i expected to be back home at Old street i reluctantly had to buy a snack and a cup of tea at Greg's nearby Eastcote station on the Metropolitan line, it's hungry thirsty work lugging 2 external hard drives around in carrier bags on the london underground all day.
There was a very attractive young lady on the train back which cheered me up we did not speak people don't speak on the tube and i arrived home at 6.30pm.
i still have stuff i will sell via Ebay except now i have kitchen scales ready to use before each listing and i am scheduling Ebay sales so i can do a lot of deliveries at once and qualify for some small discount with my new internet couriers. Total for the day was sales net figure £12.00 les £8.00 fares +Ebay fees + paypal fees + £3.00 expenses. Ebay is fun but be careful out there
I went to Ebay.com and had lots of login in problems and became very annoyed then i remembered Ebay.co.uk so i submit a forgotten password link and i got a change password email and then i was back into ebay again.
After a lot of trial and error i managed to list my first item for sale and Ebay said "thank you congratulations that was easy (no it wasn't) now you know how to do it you can do it again" so i did eight times. I waited for the bids to arrive they did not come until the following weekend when i sold five items all at the buy it now price and the money went into my paypal account. I then duly thanked the buyers told them i would post the items next day, and the following morning my nightmares began.
I got up early to be at post office queue before 9.00 am and when i got to the counter i put the first item on the scale asked for second class recorded mail and was told it would cost £8.10p i sank metaphorically to the floor, because i had sold the item for £4.99 and quoted only £3.00 postage based upon receiving a similar item myself through the post for £2.500 standard post at an internet shop. It became apparent then that Ebay postage price suggestions were a bit awry and i had forgotten i was a single individual user of the postal service, whereas the internet shop was a business user entitled to some discounts.
I did not want to risk loosing the item in the post so i decided to write it off to experience and learn from it, i then weighed the other items, 3 were significantly more than i had quoted for on Ebay by abuot £2.00 each and one was just a mere ten pence over. So i posted the items except one that i could deliver to myself and calculated that before Ebay and paypal fees i was still a little in front. With more items still for sale on Ebay and more still to be listed i was not put off and decided to find cheaper postage rates. An internet searched lead me to a cheap carrier for Ebay users and i signed up for an internet account, over the next two weeks i sold several more items, but still i was making mistakes on some postage quotes. I posted off 3 items over five days with my new cheaper courier two arrived safe and sound and one arrived mashed up and i got feedback from the buyer although they still gave me positive feedback knowing i packed it well, i sent the buyer instructions on how to make a claim on the net and they thanked me and said they had initiated the claim.
Then i got 3 more sales for slightly heavier items and logged into my new courier account and requested a quote each item was quoted for at more than i quoted by several pounds and i had only sold each item for about a fiver each on average, there were still ebay and paypal fees to take into consideration, i calculated i would loose on the total price of all 3 sales combined, so i reluctantly sent one item off to cornwall at a cost of £3.00 more than i had quoted on Ebay and decided to hand deliver the other two they were each within ten miles of were i live and i could do the deliveries on my motor scooter for about £3.00 to £5.00 in petrol, decided to deliver them in person the next day and went to work. However late that evening i crashed my motor scooter and it had to go the garage for a long time, i wasn't bothered i could buy a zone 1 to 5 one day travel pass and deliver my Ebay sales by London transport to the nearest tube i estimated this would cost about £3.00, i have not purchased a one day travel pass on London underground for a few years. So i look up the addresses on google maps and see they both have a nearby underground station i pack the items into a large carrier bag and walk to my nearest tube station at Old street london E.C.1, upon arrival i check the maps of the underground to confirm i do need a zone 1 to 5 pass and indeed i do. Next i go to the the ticket window and ask for a one day travel pass for zones 1 to 5 "that will be £8.00" said the ticket office clerk, "ouch" !! i had no choice other than pay or be kicked off Ebay, and i still had tons of stuff to sell. I estimated i would be out about 3 hours doing the deliveries, but alas i was wrong, because i forget to check the walking routes from tube stations to ebay buyers addressees. On the first delivery in north west london i got diverted via long diversions around the north circular at brent cross due to sewer renewals in the brent cross and Hampstead garden suburb areas. The second delivery had me stuck on a tube train for ages in the North Harrow area and at 5.30 pm in the evening long after i expected to be back home at Old street i reluctantly had to buy a snack and a cup of tea at Greg's nearby Eastcote station on the Metropolitan line, it's hungry thirsty work lugging 2 external hard drives around in carrier bags on the london underground all day.
There was a very attractive young lady on the train back which cheered me up we did not speak people don't speak on the tube and i arrived home at 6.30pm.
i still have stuff i will sell via Ebay except now i have kitchen scales ready to use before each listing and i am scheduling Ebay sales so i can do a lot of deliveries at once and qualify for some small discount with my new internet couriers. Total for the day was sales net figure £12.00 les £8.00 fares +Ebay fees + paypal fees + £3.00 expenses. Ebay is fun but be careful out there
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