Shipping Costs Makes Sale of Trains Impractical

These rates went up for two reasons. Fuel costs and carrier's calculating weight and size instead of just weight.

Unfortunately, when fuel went down it did not get passed onto US. USPS is high due the fact that mail is down. That being said it is expensive for me too purchase anything from a dealer on the east coast and have it shipped to the West Coast especially when it comes to Tin plate.

My wife bought me a tinplate engine a few years ago that weighed 25 pounds and it cost $30 to ship it to home and shortly after I had to return it to the manufacturer for warranty repair cost me $35 to send it back.

I have also sold on the internet and have found that I need to shop around when I went to the post office to ship something I literally walked out the door it was so ridiculous and drove 20 minutes away to ship it FedEx ground it was definitely worth the ride.

It is a crap shoot when purchasing off of the Internet. I often email the seller because half the time the seller does not know what the shipping calculator is posting on their item and I do contact them when it's ridiculous and most of the time they lower it.

Some dealers shipping his higher than others so it pays to shop around there as well.

Joe Gozzo

In my opinion, the Congress and civil service unions have tied the hands of the USPO management from making cost reduction changes such as closing unnecessary / underutilized post offices. In high density population areas, there is no need for every town / hamlet to have its own post office building.

At trains shows, I can buy what I need / don't need, avoid shipping costs on my purchases, haggle the prices and enjoy the show as entertainment. So this is my preference in lieu of buying where there is a shipping cost.

In my opinion, the Congress and civil service unions have tied the hands of the USPO management from making cost reduction changes such as closing unnecessary / underutilized post offices. In high density population areas, there is no need for every town / hamlet to have its own post office building.

LOL, there are at least three post offices within 5-10 minutes of my house. I don't think the unions have much to do with the excessive number of post offices. I believe it has more to do with politics. Nobody wants their local office closed.  The other issue contributing to high costs is some law congress passed on pension/benefits funding.

For larger/heavier items, I have found Fedex Smartpost to be the least expensive means of shipping. For small items (<16 ounces) first class mail is cheapest and fastest. 

C W Burfle posted:

Many, if not all of the shippers give tremendous discounts to high volume shippers.  I wonder whether they look to the occasional shipper to make up for some of those discounts.

Its been a while since I shipped anything at work, but I believe that our contract rates are about 40% of the retail rate.

---

For me, the best investment has been a postal scale that we bought on clearance.  This gives me the choice to compare USPS and UPS rates.  It also lets me pre-print USPS priority labels at home, saving a little bit.  

eBay has a link with the UPS that will save a few pennies as well. I'm thinking maybe about 10%?  While not a huge commercial discount, it is something.  So, this might help with items sold through eBay.

Personally, I find that with smaller, lighter, packages sometimes USPS Priority is actually cheaper than USPS Ground.  This occurs when the postage is about the same, but the savings come with the $50 insurance included in the Priority rate.

Jim

C W Burfle posted:

In my opinion, the Congress and civil service unions have tied the hands of the USPO management from making cost reduction changes such as closing unnecessary / underutilized post offices. In high density population areas, there is no need for every town / hamlet to have its own post office building.

LOL, there are at least three post offices within 5-10 minutes of my house. I don't think the unions have much to do with the excessive number of post offices. I believe it has more to do with politics. Nobody wants their local office closed.  The other issue contributing to high costs is some law congress passed on pension/benefits funding.

I think C.W. has it right, it is more politics than anything else.

I would also think that the internet also cuts a historical revenue stream from USPS.  The First class mail that we send is pretty much limited to cards to friends and family.  We do all of our bill payment on-line, and haven't regularly mailed in payments is more than 5 years.

Jim

I think the thinking about the cost of shipping is separate from the value of the goods shipped. I hear folks say "I'm not paying $10 to ship a $2 part!". Why not? Do you need the part? Is it cheaper and faster to drive there yourself and pick it up?

It's not about the item, it's about what you are asking the shipper to accomplish for you. A thousand or more miles in a couple days right to your front door. That's worth a lot more than most folks realize. It's an industry worth supporting. Every time I pay $10 or more and ask someone to carry whatever item thousands of miles in a few days and leave it on my front porch, I feel like it is such a bargain.

I am surprised UPS, USPS, or FEDEX have not placed small stores within WalMart.  Not a whole offuce.  Just enough to drop off packages and buy stamps.

C W Burfle posted:

In my opinion, the Congress and civil service unions have tied the hands of the USPO management from making cost reduction changes such as closing unnecessary / underutilized post offices. In high density population areas, there is no need for every town / hamlet to have its own post office building.

LOL, there are at least three post offices within 5-10 minutes of my house. I don't think the unions have much to do with the excessive number of post offices. I believe it has more to do with politics. Nobody wants their local office closed.  The other issue contributing to high costs is some law congress passed on pension/benefits funding.

Unions had nothing to do with it. And it wasn't politics. It was pubic outcry. When it was proposed that hundreds of post offices be closed, there was a public outcry from citizens, and many of the closure plans had to be scrapped. Same happened with proposals to end Saturday mail service.

645 posted:

I used to sell quite a bit on eBay in the past which included many international shipments so I'm more than familiar with shipping cartons out all over the world. If you really want to complicate the shipping process try shipping international as one has to fill out customs forms which need to be completed in full. Some of those international addresses can get confusing as to what and where the postal code goes or if a state/province/whatever they call it is included or not and so forth. More than once I had to request additional information from the buyer in order to fill out the customs form properly and in full. Doing so made life easy when I dropped off my packages as all the required information was present.

The introduction of eBay's Global Shipping Program has vastly simplified overseas sales.

All you do now is ship the item to one of eBay's Shipping Centers - (in my case Kentucky) and they take it from there.

Customs form's are just a single checkbox.

From there - they are the ones on the hook for the overseas delivery.

I recently had a shipment to China - that the buyer claimed never arrived - and left me negative feedback.

I explained to him that he should have opened a case...but only half-heartedly since I knew language was an issue - and that ebay would handle it.

Then I got on the phone with eBay and very quickly had a case opened, negative feedback removed.

eBay refunded the buyers money - but I still got to keep the buyers money!

A win for everyone!

breezinup posted:

Unions had nothing to do with it. And it wasn't politics. It was pubic outcry. When it was proposed that hundreds of post offices be closed, there was a public outcry from citizens, and many of the closure plans had to be scrapped. Same happened with proposals to end Saturday mail service.

I think when 'politics' was used in the earlier reply is wasn't the Rep vs. Dem type of politics, but more 'all politics are local' type.  Whenever there is a proposed change on how the USPS operates, e.g. ending Saturday service, customers complain to their elected officials (whatever party they belong to.)  This would be part of the public outcry.

Jim

I bought 2 Weaver cars on OGR in the last 2 weeks. One was from CT for $30 + $5 Shipping that was about $3 low and the other from the Chicago area for $20 + $10 shipping, just about right on.  I was happy with both deals because I wanted those cars.  I know that on the P&W boxcar that I got from the Chicago area, I would have paid $40 at a show in NH or MA (local Railroads are harder to find).  The other was a new Iroquois Reefer that was very fairly priced with shipping factored in.  As I've said before on OGR, RULE #1 - the buyer is in total control of the transaction. If it's something that you want, you'll pay for it + the freight.  Recently, I gave a local guy $10 off on an $80 purchase because he picked it up at my house.

Rule #2 - See Rule #1.

I enjoy buying and selling here on OGR!

I don't think the online USPS rates are any cheaper anymore; at least the discount doesn't show up when shipping online.

FYI, if you use two shoe boxes in order to accommodate a large car such as an MTH Passenger car or SD90Mac - Be sure to wrap the boxes with plain brown paper. It's the only way to avoid paying the Priority Mail shipping costs with USPS and ship 7 day ground to save money. 

Selling / shipping has been going on for a long time now. In the beginning the once humble auction site was set up right and now has lost all of its integrity and also has looked to fleasing it's sellers. The fact is that it never use to be this way and the only reason that it is is greed. So that site has and will suffer for such until it either sees the light or the light burns out completely.

In regards to the postal and other services, Greed also is a big part of it. Along with just mismanagement on the usps end. The greed being that they used the once nearly 4$ Per gallon fuel to set it off which has been nearly half that cost now for years while never in that time ever reducing such accordingly on the consumer end. 

All of which as I will always proclaim has done more harm to them financially. How, well with all those parcels that used to be shipped now not being shipped is a huge loss to the bottom line. So now they choose to increase postage to try to make up for such & on a basis so frequently it is shameful and more so simply pathetic. All of which is not doing anything more then adding to the problem, not helping it. But try to get the Feds or a corporation to actually understand that and be smart enough to understand that reducing the rates is what would actually help increase their profits.

But anyway so be it. What do what we have do & change the way that we do things. To date I no longer sell on feebay and no longer ship. Haven't done so for a few years now. But the past twelve years plus prior, I use to sell 2000$ a month on feebay and spend as much as 200$ in shipping. "Their loss"

USPS reduced the price of the 1st class stamp by 1 cent at the last price change.

I think when 'politics' was used in the earlier reply is wasn't the Rep vs. Dem type of politics, but more 'all politics are local' type.  Whenever there is a proposed change on how the USPS operates, e.g. ending Saturday service, customers complain to their elected officials (whatever party they belong to.)  This would be part of the public outcry.

Thank you.

SPSF posted:

FYI, if you use two shoe boxes in order to accommodate a large car such as an MTH Passenger car or SD90Mac - Be sure to wrap the boxes with plain brown paper. It's the only way to avoid paying the Priority Mail shipping costs with USPS and ship 7 day ground to save money. 

 

Best to check both Parcel and Priority rates...very often you'll find that Priority is cheaper than Parcel to most locations. And I prefer to have fragile items in transit for as little time as practical/possible

USPS is raising again from 47c to 49c Jan 21st

I gave up on them after the 39c bump up.

What irks me is that they raise the shipping prices in response to fuel spikes, but then when fuel dropped back down a couple of years ago, the shipping prices did not go down.  One the shippers raise their prices, they build in that revenue into their cost of doing business and prices will never go back down again.  Right now the price of fuel is half what it was a few years ago.  And the shipping prices are even higher than they were then.

You had better believe this is killing eBay.  On top of the eBay fees and PayPal feels, the shipping costs are just the final nail in the coffin.  People just sell on Craiglist or send to the thrift store anymore.

towdog posted:

What irks me is that they raise the shipping prices in response to fuel spikes, but then when fuel dropped back down a couple of years ago, the shipping prices did not go down.  One the shippers raise their prices, they build in that revenue into their cost of doing business and prices will never go back down again.  Right now the price of fuel is half what it was a few years ago.  And the shipping prices are even higher than they were then.

You had better believe this is killing eBay.  On top of the eBay fees and PayPal feels, the shipping costs are just the final nail in the coffin.  People just sell on Craiglist or send to the thrift store anymore.

Even with fees and shipping charges you cannot get anywhere the exposure on CL that you do eBay. I do not want the hassle of CL trying to meet up to sell something.  I sell many things on eBay and there is no shortage of buyers. You see what you are paying for shipping before you bid so it is no shocker when you get the invoice you what you are going to ay ahead of time. The problem with eBay is there is too many sellers and not that many true auctions anymore, it is like a big classified list of things for sale. 

Just tonight, I came home to find a Flat Rate box from Lionel's Service dept.  I had to order a coupler for the tender of a PE engine.  Coupler - $8.  Shipping - $10.  Cost of part:  $18.  It ain't rocket science.  I needed the part; it cost me $18 to get it.  I don't get the bellyache over how much of that was retail price and how much was shipping.  The ratio is irrelevant:  the total is the only important number.  the part was worth the $18 to me (of course, I wouldn't want to build an engine that way, but THAT is a different subject altogether).

Mark Mcclung posted:

towdog posted:

You had better believe this is killing eBay.  On top of the eBay fees and PayPal feels, the shipping costs are just the final nail in the coffin.  People just sell on Craiglist or send to the thrift store anymore.

Even with fees and shipping charges you cannot get anywhere the exposure on CL that you do eBay. I do not want the hassle of CL trying to meet up to sell something.  I sell many things on eBay and there is no shortage of buyers. You see what you are paying for shipping before you bid so it is no shocker when you get the invoice you what you are going to ay ahead of time. The problem with eBay is there is too many sellers and not that many true auctions anymore, it is like a big classified list of things for sale. 

Agree...until your last sentence...that's not a problem...some people just don't want to screw around for 10 days just to purchase a used item.

".some people just don't want to screw around for 10 days just to purchase a used item."

Or want to wait that long to sell one. CL is usually faster in my experience.

E.g. I just sold my old mini belt sander on CL. I answered the phone twice within hours, and sold it to caller #1 in under three full days.  I got what I wanted out of it, I never left my home, I never had to box the item(would have been a pita) or arrange a pick-up. No worries about flakey, dissatisfied buyers expecting something new for nothing. No frozen bank accounts or  bowing to a corporate decision based on corp. image. The buyer came, tested it, paid, and left happy, just like the hundreds before them have done,, all within 50 hours of placing the ad, and.with not so much as tick tock worth of pressure to buy.  The longest Ive waited has been three months on a dunebuggy sale; that began in March with snow on the ground.

 50% of my ebay sales have gotten complaints. But not one would take  refund? Because they wanted a hostage negotiation, not a deal.  I've yet to get a super deal there, in two dozen attempts, and Im not including shipping I paid on top of it.

   Only 2 out of hundreds on CL were bad experiences. One was a five finger discount attempt on an extra tackle box, the other, a bad reel still in its box. I took both back, and the dissatisfied buyer bought another from the collection and went fishing. Actually, the sticky fingered fellow likely took his $80 worth of new stuff and did the same too.

   In fact, when was the last time someone from Ebay gave you thier fathers post war Hudson set for free after getting a few good deals   Win, win and and the only shipping I did was on pre war and post war Lionel boxes. And he paid me extra and USPS costs for that up front

  I guess which market you prefer boils down to individual perceptions and prefrences, but the shipping alone makes CL worth first look for me.

Adriatic posted:

  I guess which market you prefer boils down to individual perceptions and prefrences, but the shipping alone makes CL worth first look for me.

It's more complicated than that.  Part of it is location; part of it is what you are trying to sell.  I could sell or buy fishing gear quite easily on CL around--although CL isn't very popular (as the nearest CL lists center 100 miles away).  Trains, however, just aren't found there, and nobody local looks at CL for them.  Not enough interest in this rural area.

James.

I go to England every year and have been to the Telford show a number of times and I am amazed at the price of American O scale in the UK (when you can find it). I really don't know how an ordinary bloke with an average income could afford American items over there the only time I bought any American items was once at Telford an American chap had three Intermountain reefer kits for sale at a reasonable price I bought them and threw them in the suitcase to bring back to Australia I fully understand your dilemma. I'm hurtin but your pain is worse. Roo.

Craig's List can be good but in our more urban area the risks can be higher. The Police Department in the next town has designated an area of their parking lot as a place to meet and transact. Its light and has CCTV into the station.

I ship by USPS and Fedex ground. I only use eBay and ogr to sell items. 

We have been advised never to use Craig's list by the police, too many scam artists and robbery's have occurred. I also never allow people to pick it up at my house unless I know them. 

Be safe.

Depending on what I am selling, I use the For/Sale forum, eBay, or Craigslist.

I have used Craigslist to sell train sets (with track and transformers) when I thought it would be a hassle to ship a set and figured it would also be expensive to do so.  As a Craigslist seller (would also apply to buying, although I have yet to do so), I always meet the other person in a well light parking lot where there are lots of other people.  I currently have some large household items listed on Craigslist, but have moved them to my garage so that buyers do not come into the house itself.

Normally when I have train items to sell, I will first post them here on the For/Sale forum, and if no takers move the item to eBay.

Shipping is often a bummer.  If it is a small part, one is normally paying shipping & handling and most of what one ends up paying is a handling charge.  My wife will sometimes make small purchases of scrapbooking supplies on eBay on items that originate in China.  Her shipping fees are usually only 99 cents on these small envelopes.

Jim

As another alternative, is anyone selling thru Amazon? How do the shipping rates they offer sellers compare to those of eBay?

palallin posted:

Just tonight, I came home to find a Flat Rate box from Lionel's Service dept.  I had to order a coupler for the tender of a PE engine.  Coupler - $8.  Shipping - $10.  Cost of part:  $18.  It ain't rocket science.  I needed the part; it cost me $18 to get it.  I don't get the bellyache over how much of that was retail price and how much was shipping.  The ratio is irrelevant:  the total is the only important number.  the part was worth the $18 to me (of course, I wouldn't want to build an engine that way, but THAT is a different subject altogether).

In this case - that IS worthy of some bellyaching!

No reason they should be using a flat rate box - unless they were shipping lead sinkers or bricks.

For small stuff - Flat Rate is the MOST expensive option.

Shipping for a coupler should be less than 3 bucks...sent First Class.

Just plain laziness on LIONELs end - I guess they save money by not having someone take 30 seconds to weigh an item. (and they probably dont even have to do that - just say less than 1 pound...they arent concerned about ounces.

Just ordered two sets track pins from GarGraves (because I ordered the wrong ones before).

$8.00 shipping on the web site. Got the first class packet opened and found a $5 bill inside as a refund on shipping. Great vendor.

Adriatic posted:

".some people just don't want to screw around for 10 days just to purchase a used item."

Or want to wait that long to sell one. CL is usually faster in my experience.

E.g. I just sold my old mini belt sander on CL. I answered the phone twice within hours, and sold it to caller #1 in under three full days.  I got what I wanted out of it, I never left my home, I never had to box the item(would have been a pita) or arrange a pick-up. No worries about flakey, dissatisfied buyers expecting something new for nothing. No frozen bank accounts or  bowing to a corporate decision based on corp. image. The buyer came, tested it, paid, and left happy, just like the hundreds before them have done,, all within 50 hours of placing the ad, and.with not so much as tick tock worth of pressure to buy.  The longest Ive waited has been three months on a dunebuggy sale; that began in March with snow on the ground.

 50% of my ebay sales have gotten complaints. But not one would take  refund? Because they wanted a hostage negotiation, not a deal.  I've yet to get a super deal there, in two dozen attempts, and Im not including shipping I paid on top of it.

   Only 2 out of hundreds on CL were bad experiences. One was a five finger discount attempt on an extra tackle box, the other, a bad reel still in its box. I took both back, and the dissatisfied buyer bought another from the collection and went fishing. Actually, the sticky fingered fellow likely took his $80 worth of new stuff and did the same too.

   In fact, when was the last time someone from Ebay gave you thier fathers post war Hudson set for free after getting a few good deals   Win, win and and the only shipping I did was on pre war and post war Lionel boxes. And he paid me extra and USPS costs for that up front

  I guess which market you prefer boils down to individual perceptions and prefrences, but the shipping alone makes CL worth first look for me.

Your description of your CraigsList activities does not sound like much of an endorsement...

I routinely maintain over 100 eBay listings - most "Buy It Now/Good til canceled" - it really doesn't matter to me how long something is listed - it's no skin off my back - and requires no action from me.  I don't sit around and "wait for things to sell." The more items you have for sale - the more items you will sell...when they sell is not particularly important.

And seriously - if you have 50% of your ebay sales result in complaints - then I would guess you really have issues with your listing style, use of photos, or honestly describing the item - and calling out the flaws.

On my current account - I have 700 feedbacks as seller - all positive/100%...most glowing - I've had exactly 2 complaints...both resolved without issue...as a seller - all you have to do is be honest, call out flaws, take good pictures, and know what you're doing with shipping.

And the fact is - you can come up with some great deals on eBay! Just have to know how to shop...and where to look.

There are currently 141,000 O gauge listings to choose from!

I just scored a LIONEL New Yorker set (RS-3 + 6 pieces of rolling stock - complete with box - dead mint...$75 + $15 shipping...a comparable specimen of the RS-3 loco from this set recently sold for $189.00 all by itself.

One thing, I kind of like to buy from Charles Ro since they charge $9 for most things and sometimes I think up to $15 for heavy stuff. I know the shipping if more is included in the price, but somehow not having to get the shipping surprise at the checkout is a plus. I have checked around and sometimes the Ro price plus $9 is quite close to the somebody else price and $17 shipping or whatever it is, but  still tend to like the fixed shipping. Stuff I don't want any more that I sell on ebay goes with free shipping. It seems to give the sale a psychological selling advantage.

We started using www.shipandinsure.com to cover insurance.  Last week I paid $18 and change for insurance on a USPS Priority Mail 2 day shipment valued at $4,300.  The insurance alone through USPS was going to be $60.  Insurance has to be purchased immediately after the tracking number has been issued.

Let me clarify, we have not had to make a claim against this insurance yet.  The proof is in the pudding.

I will throw out another one.  When I order a 4 station, 4 stack fitness gym weighing in excess of 1,200 lbs from one of my suppliers, the freight is $15 LTL.  Has to be either built into the cost or the fact that the company, Brunswick, is huge. 

Train Dealer 10 posted:

We started using www.shipandinsure.com to cover insurance.  Last week I paid $18 and change for insurance on a USPS Priority Mail 2 day shipment valued at $4,300.  The insurance alone through USPS was going to be $60.  Insurance has to be purchased immediately after the tracking number has been issued.

Let me clarify, we have not had to make a claim against this insurance yet.  The proof is in the pudding.

I will throw out another one.  When I order a 4 station, 4 stack fitness gym weighing in excess of 1,200 lbs from one of my suppliers, the freight is $15 LTL.  Has to be either built into the cost or the fact that the company, Brunswick, is huge. 

That is very interesting Train Dealer...that might explain a lot. I believe both FedEx and UPS use "outside vendors" for the insurance they offer. last year I had four large expensive items arrive to me damaged in a big way, three were packed by UPS stores but the 4th was packed by an individual and they fought us every step of the way....UPS blamed it on their "outside insurance vendor". But with rates like you're showing there, no wonder they outsource it.

On the package that was packed by an individual, he was in business so he shipped alot but had never had to file a claim up to that point...one of the things he did when packing a small 40# restored woodstove for me was to reinforce the brand new box he had purchased with extra cardboard all the way around. That was all it took for them to deny the claim, they saw his "reinforcing" and even though it was a great idea and had nothing to do with the damage, they called the box "used and adapted" which was not allowed under their rules. 

So be real careful with a vendor offering rates like that, may be a case where if it sounds too good to be true it probably is...

Incidentally, on one of my other shipments that got damaged that was packaged by a UPS store, the UPS Store themselves "forgot" to put insurance on it. It took over two months of fooling around before the UPS Store finally admitted they screwed up. My local UPS terminal couldn't release that info (is what I was told) and the UPS Store lady did not come right out and admit it under I started calling every day to find out why they were giving me such a hard time. Ironically enough, I have had 4 claims in my lifetime and all 4 were last year, all on larger items.  

Roving Sign posted:

Adriatic posted:

".some people just don't want to screw around for 10 days just to purchase a used item."

Or want to wait that long to sell one. CL is usually faster in my experience.

E.g. I just sold my old mini belt sander on CL. I answered the phone twice within hours, and sold it to caller #1 in under three full days.  I got what I wanted out of it, I never left my home, I never had to box the item(would have been a pita) or arrange a pick-up. No worries about flakey, dissatisfied buyers expecting something new for nothing. No frozen bank accounts or  bowing to a corporate decision based on corp. image. The buyer came, tested it, paid, and left happy, just like the hundreds before them have done,, all within 50 hours of placing the ad, and.with not so much as tick tock worth of pressure to buy.  The longest Ive waited has been three months on a dunebuggy sale; that began in March with snow on the ground.

 50% of my ebay sales have gotten complaints. But not one would take  refund? Because they wanted a hostage negotiation, not a deal.  I've yet to get a super deal there, in two dozen attempts, and Im not including shipping I paid on top of it.

   Only 2 out of hundreds on CL were bad experiences. One was a five finger discount attempt on an extra tackle box, the other, a bad reel still in its box. I took both back, and the dissatisfied buyer bought another from the collection and went fishing. Actually, the sticky fingered fellow likely took his $80 worth of new stuff and did the same too.

   In fact, when was the last time someone from Ebay gave you thier fathers post war Hudson set for free after getting a few good deals   Win, win and and the only shipping I did was on pre war and post war Lionel boxes. And he paid me extra and USPS costs for that up front

  I guess which market you prefer boils down to individual perceptions and prefrences, but the shipping alone makes CL worth first look for me.

Your description of your CraigsList activities does not sound like much of an endorsement...

I routinely maintain over 100 eBay listings - most "Buy It Now/Good til canceled" - it really doesn't matter to me how long something is listed - it's no skin off my back - and requires no action from me.  I don't sit around and "wait for things to sell." The more items you have for sale - the more items you will sell...when they sell is not particularly important.

And seriously - if you have 50% of your ebay sales result in complaints - then I would guess you really have issues with your listing style, use of photos, or honestly describing the item - and calling out the flaws.

On my current account - I have 700 feedbacks as seller - all positive/100%...most glowing - I've had exactly 2 complaints...both resolved without issue...as a seller - all you have to do is be honest, call out flaws, take good pictures, and know what you're doing with shipping.

And the fact is - you can come up with some great deals on eBay! Just have to know how to shop...and where to look.

There are currently 141,000 O gauge listings to choose from!

I just scored a LIONEL New Yorker set (RS-3 + 6 pieces of rolling stock - complete with box - dead mint...$75 + $15 shipping...a comparable specimen of the RS-3 loco from this set recently sold for $189.00 all by itself.

Refund was offered. Find it. I wrote it; seriously.

   Isn't that enough for any situation? Not that there was one as implied. E.g. how "new" do you want a three year old unused but bench flowed  carburator to be? Surprise extra manifold and air filters? Won't return it, but wants to complain and barter. Thats where your focus should be even if it was a picture of a bunny, a refund was offered, they tried demanding an obsurd number. Maybe you haven't been doing it long enough to remember frequent auction site scams and account freezing first being implemented, and other mistakes made?

I won. Refund offered.

I wrote of an refund done in person too, a different scenario.

   If the then $500 racing carb hasnt been abused, the $150 refund stands even today if you bought one. $50 doesnt buy two of three racing filters discounted, no deal.

   Im glad you've had better experiences. I wasnt doing it as a businesss, I was purging after injury. Im glad Palallin has access to his coupler. And Im glad my CL is active because I like dealing eye to eye. Im not afriad of the world, or at my home. Im glad my dealings on this forum have good ones too.

   I ran a small package shipping dept. and mail room for a few years, but I wasnt crunching numbers THERE. Maybe 120 boxes a day, & mail with a 3 man team, while still being top of my class in commercial advertising/ graphic design for that 3rd year straight. 

Seriously.

I've not followed this thread.  But I would like to say that shipping costs turn me away from on-line sales at times.  Ebay sellers, of which I am one, post shipping costs all over the map.  Some are justified while others can be outrageous.  Likewise with on-line stores.  If I think the item price is fair, and the shipping cost reasonable, I'll bite.  Otherwise I'd rather wait for a train meet. 

Adriatic posted:

 Maybe you haven't been doing it long enough to remember frequent auction site scams and account freezing first being implemented, and other mistakes made?

Trust me, I've been doing it long enough. I have been selling collectibles on-line since the dawn of the web.

Believe it or not, I was personally invited via email by the founder of eBay to sell on his site when it just a hobby for him. He said he had saw my site called "Ed's Garage Sale" (I'm at a loss to remember what domain I used) - and asked if I would check out, and consider selling a few things on his auction site, called eBay.

I declined.

I didn't start listing on eBay until around the time the KODAK DC-120 Digital Camera came out - once I had that thing, I could make listings look decent.

I'm on my 3rd account - can't even remember why - probably loss of contact with the account due to changing ISPs clumsily.

Adriatic posted:

Refund was offered. Find it. I wrote it; seriously

If the then $500 racing carb hasnt been abused, the $150 refund stands even today if you bought one. $50 doesnt buy two of three racing filters discounted, no deal.

Im glad you've had better experiences. I wasnt doing it as a businesss, I was purging after injury. Im glad Palallin has access to his coupler. And Im glad my CL is active because I like dealing eye to eye. Im not afriad of the world, or at my home. Im glad my dealings on this forum have good ones too.

 I ran a small package shipping dept. and mail room for a few years, but I wasnt crunching numbers THERE. Maybe 120 boxes a day, & mail with a 3 man team, while still being top of my class in commercial advertising/ graphic design for that 3rd year straight. 

Seriously.

This thread is about the selling, and more properly, shipping of trains.

And when it comes to eBay - every market sector is different.

The eBay AUTO sector is no exception - and full of low feedback, inexperienced buyers.

I had nothing but trouble in the AUTO sector- but finally sold a few cars, and old 30 foot 1950s camper - Never really cost me anything but time - but WOW - what a pain in the butt!

Seems like most auto buyers - they want a certain car - or car part. They will register, and make the purchase - and maybe never buy anything again - or won't buy again for a long time.

At first, I got really creeped out by all these newly registered, (0) feedback bidders, bidding up my cars - and I even canceled a few bids...that was a mistake!

These guys buy so infrequently - they just don't have feedback - even though they may be legit buyers.

You really have to ask low feedback bidders to contact you before bidding.

That said - it all other eBay matters - I have a strict policy of NEVER communicating with buyers, in any way, unless it's absolutely necessary. (especially in the case of a dispute)

As it is today - eBay handles all the necessary communications to complete a transaction.

If you have complaint - reply, and suggest that the buyer open a claim with eBay...you'll be surprised how often you never hear from them again.

If they open a complaint - just follow the eBay process - and keep your communications with the buyer within that process.

Just imagine the shipping cost of a real locomotive!