Selling on ebay

[Coyote]

I know these questions come up all the time, but I haven\'t found any recently and had little luck with the search.

Basically, I want to sell a couple things on ebay. The first is the Kroot I have on here.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=27583

The second is a squad of Black Legionaires by I-kore. I painted them for I-kore, but it fell through because they fell through. 10 in all, good wargame quality.



Anyways, does anyone know if I should accept credit cards, or just paypal.

And if I do accept credit cards, how does that work?

Also, any ballparks on what I can get. I\'m selling them because I lost my job recently and need a little cash. I know it\'s probably hard to say, but best guesses would be appreciated.

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by Coyote
... does anyone know if I should accept credit cards, or just paypal.

And if I do accept credit cards, how does that work?...

Coyote,
Unless you are already a business and have a POS (point of sale) and agreements with the CC companies, I would just stick with Paypal. I set up a second checking account just for my paypal stuff. (I know, I am paranoid, but I don\'t want them to have access to my personal checking account. I have seen too many \"computer\" errors in my day.) The setup is rather painless and unless you sell over a certain volume ($ amount or number of sales) you won\'t even have to pay a fee (if I remember right).

Second, be sure you have covered yourself with your shipping charges. Nothing worse than selling a small fig for $2 and $1 shipping only to find out you have to buy a box ($1) and padding ($1) and pay postage ($1) plus take an hour out of your day ($10 to $50) - oh, and the buyer is in Europe - postage is $15 - and Ebay charged you $0.50 for the sale.

 

[Gypsy]

Better not accept credit cards because PayPal charges not the one who pays via cc but you. But then again you could write in your description that the buyer is to pay the additional fee if they really want to use their cc.

 

[t_haye2]

If you cut out paypal, you\'ll lose out on the largest section of serious buyers, since most of them prefer paypal. I use it, and I do pay for the 3% costs myself, as another way of offering customer service to my customers. If you cannot accept credit cards, the only people that will want to bid are people in your own area.
to maximise the group of potential buyers, accept as many payments as possible, consider cheques, cash by registered mail, money transfers and online payment options like Paypal. It makes the difference, trust me.

 

[KatieG]

Gypsy,
What you suggest is both illegal and against paypal policy, at least in the US (it IS legal in the UK though, so if you see UK sellers asking you to cover their costs, that is why - don\'t know what the law in Germany says). Instead what I do is state that auctions totalling less than $10 (before shipping) cannot be paid via paypal if using a credit card, since by that poaint all your fees are already 10% of the auction price (between eBay\'s fees, paypals, etc). But I do think its worth it to accept paypal because nowadays nearly all my customers pay that way. Also no waiting for money orders, everything gets squared away much faster, and often I can just make one trip to the post office to send everything off instead of having to make 5 different ones. I still accept money orders, but almost no one pays that way anymore...
--Katie G.

 

[Mungo Zen]

What I have seen done in Canada, at least in retail stores, is people offering a 2-3% discount for cash purchases over credit cards.

Realistically, bank fees/credit/paypal for any transaction will be charged. The person selling can include those costs into the base price of the auction. If you have a mini you want to sell for 10, make it 11 to cover your costs.

 

[Gypsy]

@Katie
Oh, it\'s illegal? I didn\'t know that; I\'ve seen people do it all the time, even on eBay.com.

Personally though I think those buyers who insist on paying via CC shouldn\'t burden the seller with the extra fee just because they are too lazy to sign up at PayPal. But that\'s just me.

 

[Cerridwyn1st]

Same people, another board

Hey, Coyote, we\'ve talked before on the Confrontation board.

It can take a little while to get things going on ebay. If you don\'t have a reputation already, you\'re prices woun\'t be as good as work from a comperable painter who is known.

Once you get a bit of a rep going, your prices will rise. But it will suck if you\'re out of a job and need money now.

If you\'ve won some prizes or things like that, list it in your ad. If you\'ve had commissions for manufacturers, list that as well.

You might get a good price for the Black Legionaires if you publicize that a cancelled commission for the manufacturer is up for grabs.

I wouldn\'t dream of trying to live off my income as a painter, but then, I\'m not as good a painter as you. Good luck.

 

[KatieG]

Originally posted by Gypsy
@Katie
Oh, it\'s illegal? I didn\'t know that; I\'ve seen people do it all the time, even on eBay.com.

Personally though I think those buyers who insist on paying via CC shouldn\'t burden the seller with the extra fee just because they are too lazy to sign up at PayPal. But that\'s just me.

Yes, law in the US states that you cannot charge a different price for payment via a credit card than you would for other methods of payment (however, you can charge the same across the board - say upping your price a little to cover the expected fees. Many people on eBay do this by increasing their \"shipping and handling\" fee to cover the expected eBay and paypal fees). Paypal\'s fees fall under the same heading since they are providing a service that lets the average joe accept a credit card. It\'s also part of Paypal\'s rules if you ever look at them, they can suspend you for asking for more money specifically on Paypal transactions. I imagine they just don\'t go looking though so lots of people get away with it, and I imagine most people are doing it unknowingly (in fact, I did so on one of my auctions a while back, and someone sent me a message letting me know about this rule - eBay will pull your auction for this, especially since now they own Paypal). So even if it makes sense for the buyer to pay the extra fee, the seller cannot require it. I\'m not sure I get what you\'re saying on the second part. I can\'t accept a credit card payment from anyone, but I can accept them through paypal. My understanding is paypal\'s fees are actually less than what is typically charged to businesses for a credit card machine. How the person funds it doesn\'t matter to me, as I have a personal account for folks that can pay me with cash balance or eCheck via paypal and costs me nothing (and I accept payments less than $10 for that because it costs me nothing). I have a premier account for those folks that can only pay with a credit card. Yeah, I lose a little of my profit that way but I think its made up for by the fact that I get more bids because people LIKE paying with paypal. I do try to encourage people to pay me via the free account if it\'s possible, but if it isn\'t I take the hit on the Paypal fee.

Anyways, hope this helps someone...
--Katie G.

 

[Coyote]

Oh, I\'m not planning on making a living as a painter. I\'m looking to supplement my income while I\'m broke.

I\'m in the process of looking for a job, but even if I get one, it\'ll be much less then what I was making before.

btw, if people want to see the image on cmon, the link is:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/?id=53542

 

[Sturmhalo]

Originally posted by KatieG
Gypsy,
What you suggest is both illegal and against paypal policy --Katie G.

Are you sure? Charging a little extra seems pretty much the norm on 50% or so of auctions. If it were such a terrible crime Ebay would have cracked down on it and posted a warning about that kind of thing (they do own Paypal after all!).

 

[airhead]

Maybe, but you can cover that in shipping costs. add a dollar to your shipping costs to cover your ebay/paypal fees on something you expect to go for about $10-20. If the bidding goes more than that, you can afford to eat the fees (part of cost of doing business). If it goes for less is when you hurt.

 

[Gypsy]

What I meant is that I have a basic PayPal account, sending and receiving money via PayPal is free of charge but if I receive money from a buyer who\'s paying via CC I have extra costs. BUT if people do own a credit card then why don\'t they just sign up for PayPal and send me the money via their account?


But whatever, you\'re right, Katie, the more choices of payment people are given and the more service the seller offers the more people are likely to consider bidding on your item.
And if you get $50 for a mini instead of $35 that should more than cover any costs.

 

[Chrispy]

That\'s what I usually do, I charge $5 shipping on anything smaller than an ogre, which usually comes out to $2.50. My mom complains that it gives me extra profit, then I explained PayPal\'s henious money theivery and the fact I need to buy little cardboard boxes.

 

[t_haye2]

Originally posted by Gypsy
What I meant is that I have a basic PayPal account, sending and receiving money via PayPal is free of charge but if I receive money from a buyer who\'s paying via CC I have extra costs. BUT if people do own a credit card then why don\'t they just sign up for PayPal and send me the money via their account?

simple, it\'s a pain in the backisde to have money lying around in a Paypal account you\'re not using... the main reason why people use Paypal is so they can buy items from all over the world without having to go through the hassle of money transfers. I think it\'s my main way of recieving payments from outside the country, and frankly, i\'m not bothered about the extra cost. Like I said earlier, all part of the customer service... i guess it\'s all up to the amount of items you\'re planning on selling, if we\'re talking just a few items, you can charge your bidders extra, but if you\'re a regular(or want to become one) seller, then people are going to get pee\'ed off with the continuous extra costs, and might refrain from buying. Selling items is all about effort-the least the bidder has to do, the more likely they are to bid and buy.

 

[Gypsy]

@t_haye2
Well, I\'ve got no money on my PayPal account that\'s \"lying around\" there. And one doesn\'t have to, at least not as a buyer.
My butt\'s all smooth and rosy and doesn\'t hurt at all.
:duh: