Well I've been selling on eBay steadily since the start of September now. Old stuff, mainly vintage toys and collectables I don't need anymore or things I bought in.
The experience, as it used to be, has been largely pleasant and exciting, with lots of winning bids - mostly small potatoes - and the occasional decent sale. It's a good way to sell off excess from the big collection, together with new finds from boot sales and charities to sell on. I adore the finding the most!
I stick to UK selling, purely for simplicity's sake, but I have posted one expensive item to Canada. It hasn't arrived yet, so I'm on pins. The international tracking ended at the UK border! Huh? There's still hope though.
A few curveballs have, as always, come my way as a seller on eBay.
Unwittingly I'd sent items which were incomplete ( such as a page missing from an old toy catalogue) and a damaged item ( a car door had been glued shut). I just hadn't seen these faults. These were small sales so I simply refunded the buyers and gave them the goods gratis to prevent a drawn-out and stressful claims process on eBay in which I'd no doubt lose anyway.
Less easy are the postage issues.
A tracked item I sent via Royal Mail was successfully delivered but to the wrong house! The postie's photograph was of a doorway unknown to the buyer! Both the buyer and myself attempted to contact Royal Mail and eBay - seeking a fellow human - to no avail. Royal Mail's telephone waiting time is 40 minutes and eBay's simplistic virtual assistant is all you get. Both quite useless. The buyer had no choice but to file a missing item claim with eBay, one of their many automatic processes. I'm unsure how this would have ended, as amazingly, the item did indeed turn up a few days later at the buyer's home with a neighbour from several streets away! Phew!
Another postal glitch happened this week with Evri. Somehow an item I hadn't sent yet was registered with Evri and eBay as dispatched and given a reference! I still had it at home! I can only assume that it had gone near the shop's scanner when I'd had it in my bag. I didn't send it because the scanner was offline and an engineer had been called! It must have scanned it anyway! Anyhow, the scanner fixed the next day, I returned to the shop and fortunately eBay provide a 'Print Another Label' option on the sale site for just such a circumstance! Yay! I guess though my item now has two Evri reference numbers and two tracking histories! Yikes! Schrodinger's Tracking! Welcome to the multiverse!
Still, despite the odd gremlin like these showing up, I do enjoy still selling old toys and stuff on eBay. Do you?
I still generally enjoy using ebay as a buyer, although I find selling is a challenge these days, Woodsy. Very much because of the issues you've mentioned. Faceless technology and occasionally careless delivery drivers don't inspire confidence, at least not for me. I've had a couple of bad costly experiences, even though I've sent items through a track/sign service.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your bad experiences Tone. I suppose all massive systems will have glitches. It's just a pain when it involves us!
DeleteYou are a better man than I am, Woodsy! Haven't sold on ebay for many years, for some of the reasons you mention. But buying on ebay is a treat, now that the economy is in a shambles and folks are selling stuff for pennies on the dollar! Its a buyer's market there now, for sure - a good time to pick up anything you've ever wanted. SFZ
ReplyDeleteYes, the UK economy is full of woe too so there's lots of family car boot sales. Luckily for me I love stalls to rummage through SF!
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