Help Please! I'm selling used baby clothes on ebay and a buyer keeps winning...

[HSDR2017]

This person has bid on atleast 10 of my auctions which are mostly clothing lots from my baby girl. I have alot of nice clothing and I listed most like new or new sleepers for $1.50 or so with a $3.75 shipping charge so that I could ensure I would make a profit even if I didn't start my items at $5 or more with "free shipping" but the single item auctions are worth atleast $5/$10 each not including any shipping and handling.

She messaged today after not paying for 2 win items so far and said something along the lines of 'hi, I am bidding on more of your auctions so I am waiting for those to end "so you don't have to ship twice".

Is this person expecting me to ship everything together and only charge her the actual total cost of shipping or does she realize I am charging separate shipping for each auction exactly how they are listed (If I wanted to make no money I would have listed them as an auction of 10 new without tags sleepers for $10 and $7 shipping; I listed them the way I did because I am not giving everything away for free otherwise I would have just donated everythung because it wouldnt even be close to worth the time...

So, would you just send the invoice on Friday with the total shipping charges that were posted on each auction ($3.50 times 8 for example)?

I didn't say in my listings that I would discount or even combine shipping. If she would have messaged me prior to bidding and asked me if I would send additional listing items she wins at a discounted shipping price, I would have either told her no or I would have tried to come to a fair agreement.

What would you do?

 

[HSDR2017]

P.S. I thanked her for letting me know but I didn't express my concern to her about her expecting to get everything for much less than I would make if different people had purchased them. There are no rules on ebay stating you have to basically devalue your product or accept a lower price than something was listed for. It would be like somebody buying 10 shirts and EXPECTING $5 off each just because they won 10 auctions from the same seller rather than a different seller. Am I wrong to feel this way?

 

[Natasha2605]

Personally yes I do think you are in the wrong (if I’m reading right). If you didn’t want to let them go for a low price you should have set a reserve. Making money on the postage is wrong imo and if I was buyer And you wouldn’t combine postage to cover what it would really cost then there’s no way id buy off you at all. There’s absolutely no way I’d pay for 8 lots of shipping( or however much) when it’s all coming from one person at one time.

 

[ClairAye]

Personally yes I do think you are in the wrong (if I’m reading right). If you didn’t want to let them go for a low price you should have set a reserve. Making money on the postage is wrong imo and if I was buyer And you wouldn’t combine postage to cover what it would really cost then there’s no way id buy off you at all. There’s absolutely no way I’d pay for 8 lots of shipping( or however much) when it’s all coming from one person at one time.

This. It's common courtesy on Ebay to combine postage on items going to the same person. There is no way I'd pay that much in postage when it is much more than you would have to pay to post it together.

 

[KatBar]

Have to agree, you should be combining the postage. Obviously it’s going to cost you more to post a bigger bundle of clothes Vs small pieces, so the postage cost should still cover what is being sent. But yeah, I always set my starting bid for the lowest I will accept for each item, that way I am not expecting the postage to make up for anything.
Where I am, when I post something, the postage cost is put on the package, so the buyer can see if you’ve ripped them off or not (& that could lead to bad feedback if you’re not careful).

 

[_Meep_]

You should only charge for postage what the postage will actually cost. A very small amount over is ok, for fuel and packaging costs, but that should be minimal, at most a single £/$. If you're not sure what the final cost will be, you need to either get the items weighed as a bundle and then amend and send an invoice, or charge the full amount and then refund the difference after posting.

People used to try to make more money on eBay by putting extortionate prices for postage and everyone got so annoyed that they introduced estimated amounts for various package sizes. It's the seller's responsibility to adhere to these or risk poor feedback or star ratings.

Maybe you could start your auctions higher, or put a reserve on items, or sell in bundles to ensure you get a decent price? Season-appropriate bundles usually do really well.

Anyway, I do understand where you are coming from, but can guarantee the buyer will be unhappy if she has to pay several different sets of postage.

 

[lau86]

I find eBay a buyers market. I used to try and sell stuff but people want something for nothing. I agree with the others the postage shouldn't be used to bump up your profit. But I do understand your frustrations with it all. The value of second hand things has been lost really with cheap clothing shops like primark

 

[HSDR2017]

Hey everyone, I have a bigger issue though. She hasn't paid and is still bidding on and winning most of my auctions!! She messaged me and told me she will be paid Friday and her house had caught fire and blah blah. If thats the case, why is she bidding when others who have the money and will pay within the 48 hours are losing bids to her and she hasn't even paid for anything! It will be 2 weeks of waiting for payment if I have to keep waiting for her to pay me for all of these auctions and for my hassle there is no way I would ship them and not charge a nice handling fee because she didn't contact me before bidding on anything and she assumed I would combine shipping.

Should I open a UID and hope she doesn't pay and block her as a Buyer? I want buyers who communicate prior to bidding on every item and winning auctions and EXPECTING me both to 1. Wait for payment! and 2. Accept much less money and combine shipping.

Thank you all for your insight! I want to get rid of most of the stuff hence why I started selling on eBay. I dont want to run a warehouse out of my daughter's closer and have stuff everywhere waiting for payment!! Advice Please? Can anyone understand where I am coming from or am I unreasonable??

 

[red_head]

I do think you’re being a bit unreasonable. The price is what is your profit and includes any ‘handling fee’, the shipping isn’t. Why don’t you message her an offer her a buy it now price for the all the stuff she is bidding on, including postage? If you need immediate payment (within the timescales that eBay sets - you can’t just come up with rules yourself) then you need to be really clear about that, but be prepared for her to still pay only one shipping cost (and some negative feedback) and she can wait for you to post the items in one go (which may be more than what you originally charged as it’s a larger package, but I don’t think you should charge a handling fee). People don’t have to contact you before buying and I think you are being a bit unfair.

 

[HSDR2017]

I do think you’re being a bit unreasonable. The price is what is your profit and includes any ‘handling fee’, the shipping isn’t. Why don’t you message her an offer her a buy it now price for the all the stuff she is bidding on, including postage? If you need immediate payment (within the timescales that eBay sets - you can’t just come up with rules yourself) then you need to be really clear about that, but be prepared for her to still pay only one shipping cost (and some negative feedback) and she can wait for you to post the items in one go (which may be more than what you originally charged as it’s a larger package, but I don’t think you should charge a handling fee). People don’t have to contact you before buying and I think you are being a bit unfair.

If they do not contact before they bid, they should pay within 48 hours of winning an auction or they should expect and assume they will need to pay the full amount listed which is $3.50 for each item which is shipping and handling. I have been a buyer also but I always search listings for lowest TOTAL price including any and all shipping and handling so that I wont bid on a $1.00 item only to be hit with a $10 shipping charge. Why is it my responsibility to take even more time and list everything she wants in one listing when she didn't have to common courtesy to message me first?

Another winner of 2 auctions messaged m3 before she bid on anything and explained some sellers will discount shipping multiple items and I told her for SINGLE item lots, one bodysuit, one sleeper, etc., I would gladly only charge $1.25 for each additional auction on single items.

This buyer, though, is bidding on 20 item lots that are ending at $3.50 or $4.00 on top of single item lots! She did not ask or even contact me until over 5 days after she won 2 auctions and had placed bids on almost all of my other auctions. How is that fair to me as a seller??

 

[HSDR2017]

Also, so I am clear, I am shipping multiple item lots in USPS flat rate padded envelopes which are approx. $7 each. I would never have listed them as cheap as I did if I had known some bozo would bid on everything and expect and assume I would wait for payment (2 weeks total from first auction win) and that I would discount the shipping and handling. I would have just sold everything on Craigslist for $150 and been done with it.

 

[HSDR2017]

By the way, thank you to everyone who has and is commenting and giving me insight or advice. I would love to hear from other sellers so I know how other sellers would handle this situation. I am not a business I am only a seller trying to make some profit for practically brand new clothes which would cost much more in stores.

 

[lau86]

She should be bidding on the price set, regardless of whether the postage is too
High or not. Reducing the postage for multiple items is not her right. I think a better way to do it is list the items higher and I usually put on the listing 'I can combine postage for multiple items' or something like that.
I never post in proper envelopes, I just use an old carrier bag! I make sure the item is protected but you don't need a posh envelope to do that.

 

[HSDR2017]

So would you agree I should charge what was listed on each auction and just invoice her and if she says anything I should explain that both the shipping and handling are shown exactly as they are on the auctions and if she isnt or wasnt willing to pay the entire amount of each listing she bid on and won, then she should have never bid in the first place? because realistically if she had won 2 auctions and I only had those 2 posted, she would have had to pay the shipping and handling and the winning bid for each auction. I dont understand how I could be in the wrong if I charge her exactly as the auctions had shown. For example:

Auction End Bid / Shipping and Handling
1.50 / 3.50
2.00 / 3.75
3.00 / 3.75
10.50 / 5.00

and total it to be 4.50, 5.75, 6.75, and 15.50 for each auction won.

I think it is SO unfair to sellers for a buyer to not only expect the seller to hold the items and wait for them to pay over a week (realistically I always paid immediately because why would you bid if you didn't have the money to pay immediately) when I could have sold them to different bidders and shipped them and had my money by now!

I don't understand how anyone could or would assume that a seller is willing to wait for payment and that the seller is going to charge so little for shipping. I made it so that the total of the auction AND the total of shipping and handling for eah post made it worth my time.

If I would have posted each item for $5.00 and free shipping, she would have to pay the same exact amount whether they are shipped together or seperately. She said in her email "so you can just ship all at once" as if it was for MY benefit. If she meant "I am asking you to accept way less than you would get if different buyers would have won your auctions", she is going to be very surprised when I charge her the total price agreed on for each seperate auction. If I have to ship them seperately for her to understand I setup my pricing to include item cost, shipping and handling, gas, supplies suh as tissue paper I bought to make my items presentable for the buyer, and TIME taken to correspond, take photos, list everything and then to act as a storage facility for buyers like this who ASSUME I am willing to just clutter my house in order to make their life easier.

My other HUGE issue with this is if I wait for her to bid on even more auctions and then she doesnt have the money or doesnt pay or if she tries to make an issue out of shipping and handling that was all listed on the posts, I will be forced to take triple the time and RELIST and RESELL to someone who is actually straight forward and pays right away as they should. I am forced to "hope" she ends up having the money to pay for everything and that she pays when she told me she will. I also am obviously not shipping anything to her until payment is cleared.

 

[R_x]

Personally I would combined the shipping. If shipping is $3.75 per item. That would be $30 for shipping alone on the 8 items, which surely it wouldn’t cost to ship them.
Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t charge $3.75 for the lot either.

 

[LoraLoo]

I would combine. I see your point about not making as much money, but the lady probably wouldn't have bought 8 individual items from the same seller had she not expected you to combine the postage. Also, the clothes are only worth what people are willing to pay.

 

[HSDR2017]

Lora that is the issue. There are multiple other bidders on almost all of my items but she seems to bid at the last seconds and they lose out! Aside from that, when I started listing such as lots.. I made the mistake of starting the auctions way too low thanks to ebay for telling me what I should start the auctions at!!

I am going to just file a UID, realist the items and lots at the lowest auction Im willing to accept and I will include $4-$10 for shipping in the price and list as free shipping if need be. In that case, either she will pay up for the auctions within 4 days or I will ask that ebay allow me to repost the items and lots because I don't have time to wait over a week for her to pay.

Can I block her as a buyer after I do all of This? I only want buyers who comprehend that if they aren't sure about something such as me combining shipping costs; then they need to ASK me, OR they should only assume that I will charge exactly what is listed in each separate auction rather than ASSUME I will take that much of a loss on my auctions! :/

I wish she would have contacted me first like the other lady did because I would have done my best to work with her and give us both a fair solution.

 

[Natasha2605]

But at the end of the day you should not be making profit from you postage and packaging costs imo. It’s wrong.

Shipping all at once would typically be for the sellers benefit - of course it’s more beneficial to package and post it all to one location rather than the hassle of making up multiple parcels etc. Not in your case though since you want to make money from the shipping.

To me, it sounds like you are just making the whole experience difficult for everyone involved. Message her and ask when when she intends on paying but absolutely don’t be surprised if she won’t pay all the separate shipping costs cause I wouldn’t either. That way you risk losing the sales but since you don’t seem to want to sell to her ( on account of her being a “bozo”) it may not be a massive loss to you!

 

[red_head]

I don’t know why you’ve bothered asking to be honest - multiple people have said the same thing (that you are being unfair), but you’re going to do what you intended to anyway.

 

[lau86]

I don't think she's being unfair, she's just priced it wrong. She's made the bid lower and covered costs with postage. She's been open and upfront and if someone doesn't want to bid they shouldn't bid. The overall price is the same. If the person thinks it's with it overall they will pay. If I'm buying two items from one seller I expect to pay postage for both and if I'm given a discount that's great (I will ask for one and usually get it).
Honestly though I hate selling on eBay, I will say it again people want something beautiful for practically nothing. I give my stuff away now and try to imagine someone putting their baby in it who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford it