Author Topic: Ebay nightmare (Read 7346 times)

gearman · « **on:** July 05, 2015, 02:10:22 PM »

I put my John deere 755 tractor on eBay and my son delisted it after 3 minutes because he had made a mistake. He listed it again and a day later I see that the pictures would not maximize so I tried to change it. ebay said I had to delist it again.My son listed it again with proper pictures and all is great . It quickly reached my reserve but then I find that my son had left off the 755 part of my title so the item did not come up when people typed in 755.It showed about 13 back under others.So I had to relist it again even though one bidder had hit my reserve price.All of this happened in a three day time frame on a ten day auction.So now I have about 80 dollars of listing fees. Ebay really slaps your hand if you make even a small mistake.I mean they would not even let me add three numbers. :sad:This has been an eye opening experience for me.Also, it looks like a seller can pull his auction for no reason and eBay is happy because they still get their fees.This is not like a real auction.

Triple Jim · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:15:44 PM »

That's strange. I recently sold an item on eBay and as of that time, you could edit an auction listing easily. The seller just hits the "edit listing" button while logged in and viewing the auction, and it takes you to the window that you used to enter the listing in the first place. You can add photos, change the wording, etc.. As far as I know, it hasn't changed since then.

rocker59 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:22:00 PM »

Quote from: Triple Jim on July 05, 2015, 02:15:44 PM

That's strange. I recently sold an item on eBay and as of that time, you could edit an auction listing easily. The seller just hits the "edit listing" button while logged in and viewing the auction, and it takes you to the window that you used to enter the listing in the first place. You can add photos, change the wording, etc.. As far as I know, it hasn't changed since then.

That's what I do.

mtiberio · « **Reply #3 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:22:18 PM »

depends... if you have a bid for the minimum (or reserve) you cannot edit some things. also if it is the last day you cannot edit some things.

Triple Jim · « **Reply #4 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:28:52 PM »

Quote from: mtiberio on July 05, 2015, 02:22:18 PM

depends... if you have a bid for the minimum (or reserve) you cannot edit some things. also if it is the last day you cannot edit some things.

OK yes, I do remember that. The last few times I've sold something on eBay it was a fixed price listing, so I could edit it until it sold.

gearman · « **Reply #5 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:30:12 PM »

This was only 1 to 3 days ago. maybe they changed the rules .This was an auction with a reserve. The last time my reserve had been met.Bizarre.

Rough Edge racing · « **Reply #6 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:43:10 PM »

Once the reserve is met you cannot change much of anything to be fair to the bidders.... And it sounds like the nightmare was on you for not proof reading the adds and then not using the "revise" feature in the upper left of the listing.

Triple Jim · « **Reply #7 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:44:29 PM »

Not sure if this will be of any help, but here are the current rules for editing listings:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/revising_restrictions.html#

gearman · « **Reply #8 on:** July 05, 2015, 02:56:35 PM »

I had nine days left geeze.Talked to three robot people at Ebay and they did not know how to do it.

fotoguzzi · « **Reply #9 on:** July 05, 2015, 05:38:00 PM »

I always check pool depth before diving in.

gearman · « **Reply #10 on:** July 06, 2015, 09:06:51 AM »

Quote from: Rough Edge racing on July 05, 2015, 02:43:10 PM

Once the reserve is met you cannot change much of anything to be fair to the bidders.... And it sounds like the nightmare was on you for not proof reading the adds and then not using the "revise" feature in the upper left of the listing.

I hope I made it clear that it would not let mu use the revise feature.It was at only $250 when I tried .I agree about changing once the reserve is met.However eBay did let me relist AFTER it hit my reserve.Oh well.I am forwarned now.

keithl · « **Reply #11 on:** July 06, 2015, 09:26:34 AM »

Call ebay up and tell them what happened, Im sure they will credit back some of the money.

Quote from: gearman on July 05, 2015, 02:10:22 PM

I put my John deere 755 tractor on eBay and my son delisted it after 3 minutes because he had made a mistake. He listed it again and a day later I see that the pictures would not maximize so I tried to change it. ebay said I had to delist it again.My son listed it again with proper pictures and all is great . It quickly reached my reserve but then I find that my son had left off the 755 part of my title so the item did not come up when people typed in 755.It showed about 13 back under others.So I had to relist it again even though one bidder had hit my reserve price.All of this happened in a three day time frame on a ten day auction.So now I have about 80 dollars of listing fees. Ebay really slaps your hand if you make even a small mistake.I mean they would not even let me add three numbers. :sad:This has been an eye opening experience for me.Also, it looks like a seller can pull his auction for no reason and eBay is happy because they still get their fees.This is not like a real auction.

rss29 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 06, 2015, 09:40:39 AM »

I sell quite a bit on eBay. I use the preview feature extensively before posting an auction. Once there is even one opening bid you cannot change the title or delete any pictures. It doesn't matter if your reserve has been met. You can add additional pictures or revise the text more than 12 hours from the auction's end. Those revisions show at the bottom of the item description and are tagged with the date/time. So you can't change anything, but can add to what is there. If you edit the listing before any bids are received the changes don't get tagged as revisions. Think of that first bid as 'locking in' your listing. Even if it's a 99 cent opening bid.

I think the rules make sense if you think about them from the bidder's perspective. The take-away is that you have to take your time and preview your listing before posting it. It can take an hour or more to compose a good auction listing. Far longer for expensive items. The better your listing, the more likely you are to sell your item at a good price. I'll sometimes take days to put together a listing for an expensive item. Pictures are key, too. Take good, high-resolution pictures and don't cheap out on the listing. I assume your tractor runs, so I'd take it out into a field and take a whole series of quality pictures for the listing, then select the best ones for your auction. Buy the picture pack and give bidders clear pictures from all angles. Take close-up pictures of any damaged areas. If you track similar items selling on eBay, the ones with the good postings always outperform the crappy listings that feature low quality cell phone pictures and poor descriptions.

gearman · « **Reply #13 on:** July 06, 2015, 10:08:53 AM »

Quote from: rss29 on July 06, 2015, 09:40:39 AM

I sell quite a bit on eBay. I use the preview feature extensively before posting an auction. Once there is even one opening bid you cannot change the title or delete any pictures. It doesn't matter if your reserve has been met. You can add additional pictures or revise the text more than 12 hours from the auction's end. Those revisions show at the bottom of the item description and are tagged with the date/time. So you can't change anything, but can add to what is there. If you edit the listing before any bids are received the changes don't get tagged as revisions. Think of that first bid as 'locking in' your listing. Even if it's a 99 cent opening bid.

I think the rules make sense if you think about them from the bidder's perspective. The take-away is that you have to take your time and preview your listing before posting it. It can take an hour or more to compose a good auction listing. Far longer for expensive items. The better your listing, the more likely you are to sell your item at a good price. I'll sometimes take days to put together a listing for an expensive item. Pictures are key, too. Take good, high-resolution pictures and don't cheap out on the listing. I assume your tractor runs, so I'd take it out into a field and take a whole series of quality pictures for the listing, then select the best ones for your auction. Buy the picture pack and give bidders clear pictures from all angles. Take close-up pictures of any damaged areas. If you track similar items selling on eBay, the ones with the good postings always outperform the crappy listings that feature low quality cell phone pictures and poor descriptions.

I agree with what you are saying ,but I still don't understand why they let me delist the ad even though it had met my reserve.

rss29 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 06, 2015, 10:31:53 AM »

Right, sorry. You can delist the auction at any point but the penalties vary and it can get complicated. You'll have to cancel any active bids, if there are any. If the auction is close to ending and/or there are winning bidders, you'll have to explain why you are delisting. There are a lot of legit reasons why you would end it early (sold on Craigslist, tree fell on the tractor, etc). If ending early seems like a possibility I'll state it in the item description (also for sale locally, or something to that effect). That's just for the bidder's benefit, so they don't think I'm scamming if I happen to end the auction. eBay doesn't care about your disclaimers, though. Think of those as 'strikes'. Too many of those and you'll find yourself in a high-risk eBay seller category.

Everything with eBay revolves around fees. Their rules are all put into place to discourage people from using eBay as an advertising site then completing the sale outside of their structure, thereby bypassing final valuation fees. If you think of it from that perspective, the rules all make sense. The better your ratings and the higher your volume, the lower your fees. High-volume sellers get better deals on commissions and can leverage eBay's shipping fee discounts.

I don't know how much a tractor like yours sells for, but selling vehicles on eBay isn't all that bad since they use flat fees for the final valuation on the sale of vehicles. Plus you'll probably complete the purchase in person and receive cash or equivalent in payment so you'll avoid PayPal fees. As much as I dislike eBay and its fees, it gives you access to a huge audience of potential buyers that you really won't find anywhere else. Craigslist is an option too, but it's a chaotic mess and you'll be hounded by spammers and people with no intention of actually buying anything.

gearman · « **Reply #15 on:** July 06, 2015, 01:25:17 PM »

Quote from: rss29 on July 06, 2015, 10:31:53 AM

Right, sorry. You can delist the auction at any point but the penalties vary and it can get complicated. You'll have to cancel any active bids, if there are any. If the auction is close to ending and/or there are winning bidders, you'll have to explain why you are delisting. There are a lot of legit reasons why you would end it early (sold on Craigslist, tree fell on the tractor, etc). If ending early seems like a possibility I'll state it in the item description (also for sale locally, or something to that effect). That's just for the bidder's benefit, so they don't think I'm scamming if I happen to end the auction. eBay doesn't care about your disclaimers, though. Think of those as 'strikes'. Too many of those and you'll find yourself in a high-risk eBay seller category.

Everything with eBay revolves around fees. Their rules are all put into place to discourage people from using eBay as an advertising site then completing the sale outside of their structure, thereby bypassing final valuation fees. If you think of it from that perspective, the rules all make sense. The better your ratings and the higher your volume, the lower your fees. High-volume sellers get better deals on commissions and can leverage eBay's shipping fee discounts.

I don't know how much a tractor like yours sells for, but selling vehicles on eBay isn't all that bad since they use flat fees for the final valuation on the sale of vehicles. Plus you'll probably complete the purchase in person and receive cash or equivalent in payment so you'll avoid PayPal fees. As much as I dislike eBay and its fees, it gives you access to a huge audience of potential buyers that you really won't find anywhere else. Craigslist is an option too, but it's a chaotic mess and you'll be hounded by spammers and people with no intention of actually buying anything.

Great and useful reply. Thank You. BTW the tractor should sell for $7000 Plus. Talking about Craigslist I have had a motorcycle for sale on New Orleans Craigslist for a while. The strange thing is it does not show up on a all craigslist or one craigslist search so all I get is the local people .I sold a bike a few years ago to a guy from TN and he found me on All Craigslist.Any ideas?

rss29 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 06, 2015, 02:04:34 PM »

I only use Craigslist for items that are either priced too low or are too awkward to ship for them to be listed on eBay. That said, I have been very successful selling even the most random crap on Craigslist. It helps that I live in a huge metro area though. Just the other day I bought a new monitor for my PC to replace the dual LCDs I used previously. They were old and cheap, and I had lost the bases for them since they were on a single arm stand. I was going to toss them in the trash but then figured I'd take a shot at selling on Craigslist. A guy showed up with cash less than 4 hours later. It was only 150 bucks, but better than tossing them in the trash. When my wife traded in her Lexus a few months ago I took the hitch off and sold it used on Craigslist within a couple of days. I think I sold it for about what a new one cost on Amazon, which makes no sense since it had seen a couple of winters worth of road salt.

Sites like onecraigs, searchcraigs, etc are 3rd party entities that aggregate data and hope to generate clicks and show you some ads. I wouldn't spend much time worrying about why your ads don't show up there since you have no idea how they're compiling data. Whatever they're using, it's some sort of hostile integration with Craigslist. If your Craigslist ads are not showing up on Craigslist searches, then it could be a couple of things- could your ad be expired? They only stay active for a week or 10 days, I believe. Conversely, if you're constantly reposting your ad you'll get flagged as a spammer and will be excluded from search results. What you can do to stay at the top of the list in your category is have two ads for the same bike, with different content. You're allowed to repost the same item every 48 hours. Any sooner and you risk getting flagged and excluded from search results. Post an ad, run it for 48 hours, then cancel it and list your other version. Craigslist is a mess, though. Not a great place to sell something like a bike, in my experience. Cycletrader is an option and has a free basic ad service, but generates almost no traffic and is completely cluttered with dealer ads.

gearman · « **Reply #17 on:** July 06, 2015, 04:22:42 PM »

All good info. Thanks again.

gearman · « **Reply #18 on:** July 08, 2015, 01:27:27 PM »

More eBay hell for me. I lowered the reserve this morning and now my ad is pulled. I called them and after some delay she says my ad will be available after ten pm tonight.I'll be amazed if anyone buys my tractor.They said they were checking my ad.I will have to pay $100 for the reserve feature. :shocked:I don;t know why it takes ten hours to check my ad.

Triple Jim · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2015, 02:07:32 PM »

It almost sounds like you're working with an eBay look-alike scam site.

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Author Topic: Ebay nightmare (Read 7346 times)

Rough Edge racing

keithl