eBay problems, resolutions, shenanigans, questions and info (not bike finds)

ebay feels like such a waste of time at the moment. I had a few surprisingly decent sales around xmas time but now it's back to the old shit offers and very few sales scenario. I'm not even bothering to list a lot of stuff as I know it'll just be disheartening.
The last two items (Used but 8/10 condition and functionally perfect) I've had offers on:-
One item (RRP £130) listed at £75 ONO got an offer of £50, I countered, no response whatsoever from bidder; they don't even bother to hit the 'decline offer' button. Just nothing.
Then another item (RRP £250) listed at £150 ONO got an an offer of £100, same bullshit.
These are both quite rare items that hardly ever appear on the used market.
Seems like people are basically saying 'I don't care what it would cost me to buy brand new, I obviously can't afford it anyway so I'll just send a shit offer and try my luck'.
This is why i hate the best offer bullshit. Trouble is, whenever I list anything at a fixed price I still get emails asking if I'll sell for a shit price.
Pricks.

If you don't want offers then don't allow them?
Doesn't ebay allow sellers to set an auto-reject threshold?

Worst time of year to be selling on ebay if its not a sought after item. Doesnt really pick up until end Feb when folks get payed.

Seems like people are basically saying 'I don't care what it would cost me to buy brand new, I obviously can't afford it anyway so I'll just send a shit offer and try my luck'.

Yes, this. I just block serious lowballers.

Doesn't ebay allow sellers to set an auto-reject threshold?

Yeah, if you get an instant rejection then chances are your offer was below the threshold, if it takes a while then it was either above the threshold or there wasn't one and the seller has had to respond to it in person. Can be useful for judging a 2nd offer if one is required.

I don't get the thing of offers on items that are on auctions. Like if the starting price is £50 I'm not going to offer £60 coz I could just bid £60 and I might get it for £50. So am I meant to offer less than the starting price and hope the seller wants to take £40 now instead of waiting X days to maybe get £50?

I think it's essentially gambling on different expectations of the final price. You offer something that is lower than what you think the price might go up to if there is a bidding war, but which is high enough to make it worth it to the seller to go "fuck it, I'd rather have this money now for sure than hold out to see whether the price will go higher during the actual auction".

Also, in general, if there is an 'offer' option, I make use of it. But then, I usually offer something vaguely reasonable. I have a suspicion that might still come across as 'lowballing' to some sellers, because some sellers seriously overestimate how much their stuff is worth. Some of those guys eventually realise it, after lowering their 'buy it now' price £20 at a time, over months and months.

I’m sure I’ve made sub starting price offers and had them accepted. Not often but I’m sure it has happened.

BIN or best offer can be a bit wired too. I get it on high value stuff where you might be a bit flexible on price but on stuff at a fiver where I offer £4 and get a counter offer of £4.50, was it really worth the sellers time to-ing and fro-ing over 50p? It’s worth it to me coz I’m only buying one thing but it can be powersellers that are selling huge volumes of stuff. Just lust it at what you want to get surely.

I’m sure I’ve made sub starting price offers and had them accepted

Oh yeah, me too. I think it was usually after the item had been relisted with no bids for a few times, and the seller had lost hope anyone would accidentally put a first bid in.

but on stuff at a fiver where I offer £4 and get a counter offer of £4.50, was it really worth the sellers time to-ing and fro-ing over 50p?

I don't get that either! The only thing I'm thinking of - are there maybe some kind of plugins that do it automatically for larger volume sellers? I could imagine having a 'best offer' button entices more people to buy things, i.e. thinking you negotiated 50p off £5 leaves them happier than just paying £4.50 straight up. But you're right, it can't be worth it if it's all manual.

Anyone know if negative feedback can get wiped by eBay?
Sold a jacket, doesn't fit the purchaser. Said I don't offer returns because I'm not a shop. Got left negative feedback because it doesn't fit and he's disappointed. No actual issue with the listing...

Anyone know if negative feedback can get wiped by eBay?

You can 'officially' ask them to remove their feedback through the feedback forum - go to your profile page, hit the link to see feedback then scroll to the bottom and there's a bunch of suggested next steps.

If they don't revise their feedback, you can reply to it again through the feedback forum.

If you offer them the chance to return the item then they might remove their feedback.

I've read that if you really hammer eBay customer services they may step in in some circumstances.

After my experience selling some shoes I won't be selling clothing or shoes on eBay, ever, because of this 'it doesn't fit' problem.

Thanks Howard.
I did message him and it seems he has already sold it on for 50% of what he payed me for it, so that ship has sailed..
Will maybe give eBay a call in that case. They're generally pretty easy going over the phone from previous experiences.

Effort v reward.

I've had negative feedback at various points* and never felt like it impacted upon my ability to buy or sell.

*For stupid stuff like yours. It does disappear from your feedback 'score' after 12 months.

Can affect eligibility for selling offers and search results positioning, apparently.

But as a private seller it probably doesn’t matter.

Isn’t part of the risk of buying clothes on eBay that they won’t fit? Hence why you should ask for actual dimensions if they haven’t already been provided.

Fuck sake, just bought a dvd for a tenner and gotten this, "Hi my PayPal is having problems could you send payment to my different pay pal please it’s trisha-luvs-u@hotmail.com thank you
".

A. How does that get through the stupid ebay message filter?
B. Has to be a rip off right? But for a tenner? Really?
C. Naw...just naw. How stupid do you think I am?

Can't cancel the sale from my end so will need to wait until office hours tomorrow and try contact ebay otherwise I'll get an unpaid strike eh?

Do people have a preferred bike postage courier service through eBay?
As the companies I find collect between 9am to 5.30pm weekdays so I would have to take a day off work if posting a bike. Not ideal.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated please

I take it you've not actually paid at all yet, as opposed to having paid as usual through Ebay and them now sending this?

Yeah hadn’t paid yet.

Phoned eBay who weren’t very much help in stopping me getting an unpaid item strike but messaged the seller telling them I thought it was dodgy and please cancel the sale so they did.

I wanted to sell for local collection but my hand was forced as a buyer paid within eBay and will settle postage cost directly

Parcel force would probably be my choice.

It'll be upwards of £14 but in the post office you should be able to get a reward card flyer that'll get you 10% or so off.

Book with ipostparcels.com and click depot drop off (most are open till 8pm and Saturday till 12pm). Drop off at the depot using your car (or public transport).

Parcel force is £41 inc vat but could have a look at the depot option.
Ok cool I'll look at ipostparcels depot addresses - thanks!

Parcel force is £41 inc vat

Shit, didn't expect that.

Not bike related but I'm conscious that I'm a petty human and the hive mind might thoughts.

We bought a sofa from a private seller, contacted them before purchase to check if sending an AnyVan would be ok to which they said yes. Everything was arranged and the day before collection was due they messaged to say their partner had taken both sets of keys to their old house, where the sofa is, with them on a work trip and they couldn't get access, so we would have to reschedule.

Due to it being short notice I couldn't do this via the website and after speaking to a Customer Services representative was able to move the collection to their new preferred day for only a 50% surcharge rather than having to make an entirely new booking.

Collection day comes round and I get a call from the driver saying that the seller has told him there is nobody there to help load despite telling me there would be. The driver says he can get someone to help but they'll need paying for their time obviously. This turns out to be £50.

The sofa arrives and it should been split in to three pieces but it's only in two and as a result the latches that hold it together when in use to stop the seats separating are bent - we bend them back. However the headrests have been taken off and there's random box of nuts and bolts that has both too many and not enough. One headrest has no bolts at all included and a nice little hole cut out of the bottom of it. The headrests are supposed to be bolted to the frame inside and the corner section has a zip on the underside to allow access but there is literally no way inside the other pieces without damaging them, so how they managed this is beyond me. The only way to reattach them now is to unstaple the fabric underneath the sofa ed piece nad no idea what to do about the sofabed section.

They've stopped responding to my messages as they clearly don't care, and with hindsight I should have just written it off at the first redflag, but I didn't.

This fair grounds for a dispute right? Should I call Ebay customer services first given the circumstances?

Sounds like they are cunts.

As cunts, who didn't organise the shipping, you can open a dispute saying you didn't receive the item. It's beholden on the seller to prove that you did. To do this, they need a tracking number. Ebay will refund.

Can privately offer them to arrange collection and return of the sofa at their own expense. They may then spit their dummy and threaten police etc. Police won't give a shit.

This is probably what I'd do-doing a 'not as described case' will see you only refunded cost of sofa if you prove you have returned it which again, will cost you money and rely on a tracking number ebay can check-for a man with a van this doesn't work.

Well this is bullshit. Just sold a high value item on eBay. I opted into the Global Shipping Program.

Somehow, and I have no idea why, now the auction is ended and won, GSP is no longer an option and it has allowed somebody from Chile to bid on and win the item.

Quite understandably they are a bit fucked off at the £200 fee for postage to make sure that the item is fully protected.