You HAVE to try this!! EBAY your way to DISNEY!!

[DMRick]

So who do you use for a pickup-only account? Or do you ship enough weekly with one carrier to get free pickup?

I use UPS (It's called "call for one time pickup" or something similar)..for me it works out cheaper for pickup than driving 8 - 10 miles to drop off. I just call them when I want to schedule a pickup..and it always works out to be the same as what it shows on line. I only use them for items over 4 pounds.

The few times I used airborne, they tacked on an extra fee for pick-up, since I was sending ground, and residential neighborhood (I guess if I was paying for the more expensive air, they wouldn't have?). If you can enlighten me, as to what I was doing wrong, please do...I've had several clients request them and comment they are cheaper, btu they just don't work out that way for me : ( I have an account with Airbourne so I thought it would be cheaper.
Doris

 

[Robinrs]

Hi, everyone, posting from sunny Orlando!

It's beautiful here but we took a break from the parks to lay around the resort on Memorial Day! The parks are jammed!

I am so glad to see that my items are getting bids even though the earliest one ends on Thursday! I have most of them ending Sunday so I can start sending them out Monday when I get back.

For once I have money waiting for me AFTER a vacation!

Hope everyone's having a great holiday!

 

[BWVDenise]

I'm SO jealous! We haven't seen the sun for 2 weeks! So dreary here!

 

[cindala]

STILL having problems listing!!!! It gets to step 3, then there is a problem with uploading the picture.

Can anyone offer any advice? This is making me crazy!!!

 

[susan137]

I am far from being an expert on ebay, but I use Turbo Lister and have never had a problem listing. There is an extra cost to use the their service, but I can't remember what it is off hand. You might want to give them a shot...Susan

 

[minnieandmickey]

Wish me luck just posted a bunch of auctions today. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[susan137]

Does anyone have experience with 5 day auctions? I'd like to list some item this afternoon to end on Sunday. I'm just not sure if this is enough exposure. Any thoughts?

Susan

PS..Good luck MinnieandMickey!

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by susan137
Does anyone have experience with 5 day auctions? I'd like to list some item this afternoon to end on Sunday. I'm just not sure if this is enough exposure. Any thoughts?

Susan

PS..Good luck MinnieandMickey!

-------------------

Hi susan!

I've done a few five-day auctions.. Once just to "try" them out - and another time because I needed them to end on a certain day.. As long as your items are going to end on a Sunday - even with the 5 days as opposed to 7 days - I think you would be okay.. I've had auctions end in the middle of the week and some didn't do so well - others did.. Guess it depends on if your potential customers are people that work all day, or stay-at-home mom's and retirees..

Welcome to the club!!

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by cindala
STILL having problems listing!!!! It gets to step 3, then there is a problem with uploading the picture.

Can anyone offer any advice? This is making me crazy!!!

----------------

I had that same problem about a month and a half ago - and lost around 10 days of being able to list.. I was NOT a happy camper.. After many, many emails to eBay, they finally owned up to the fact that it was a problem on their end - something to do with the hosting feature.. Bottom line though was I just had to "wait it out".. I'm hoping to list a bunch of things today and I'll scream if I have that problem again!!

I'll post back here and let you know.. Meanwhile, you might want to get on the eBay Community Boards under "Discussions" - and then "auctions" - and see if others are having trouble too..

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by minnieandmickey
Wish me luck just posted a bunch of auctions today. Keeping my fingers crossed.

------------------

Fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed!! Best of luck to you!!!

 

[ByJiminy]

As a followup on my buyer who sent a personal check although my auction stated I don't accept them....

I sent a pleasant email last week and haven't heard anything. I sent another email today, as I realize that with the holiday weekend, they may have been away.

How long should I continue to wait for a response? I said I need to know as soon as possible which one of my accepted methods of payment they plan to use. If I don't hear anything by Friday should I send another email with a definate deadline? I'm trying to be pleasant about it, but I don't want this hanging along indefinately. If I never hear anything, should I just send the check back?

I am going to try and list a few more things today. I wanted to do some listing Sunday but I was having computer troubles, so I'll do some five-day auctions today. Then that will probably be the end of it for now. I have spent so much time dealing with issues such as the check-payer that I just don't think it's possible to justify the time I'm spending for the small amounts I'm making. I may try again in the fall when it sounds like my auctions may do a bit better.

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

Cindala, I was having the same problem as you. I posted on their technical board and they emailed me over the weeked. Maybe if you post on the tech board they will help you. I have not responed yet, since I am at work, but I did end up listing my items by using my laptop computer and regular old dial-up! It took a while, but I really wanted my items listed. I plan on emailing them back today. My husband was reading their tech boards and it seems that anyone who is using windows XP is having the problem. Here's the email.

Hello,

My name is Chris and I work for a specialized department of eBay. I noticed your recent board post and would like to get some more information from you about these errors so that we can work to get it corrected.

1) What exactly (step by step) is happening when you try to use eBay?
(If you see an error message, please give us the complete text of the
error message.)

2) What eBay URL (web address) are you at when the trouble starts?

3) What operating system are you using? (Window 98 or Mac OS8)

4) What Internet Service Provider (ISP) do you use?

5) What type of browser and browser version do you use? (Netscape 6.0 or
MSIE 5.5)

6) How do you connect to the internet?(company LAN,dial-up modem, cable)

7) What other programs are running in the background?(These are the
icons next to your clock in the lower right hand corner of your screen.
You can find out what programs these are by holding your mouse over them
for more than 2 seconds)

If you could reply to this message with the answers to these questions
we will work quickly to resolve the issue for you.

Regards,

Chris Sch.
eBay Technical Support

 

[WDWorBUST]

I know this has been asked - but I have went back through the thread several pages and haven't found it - and since I'm at work I don't have time to read it all - Sorry.

If you sell an item and have not heard from the buyer....how long do you give them before taking action? Then what action do you take first? I have sent an invoice and the 3 day reminder and still have not heard anything. It's been right at a week I believe.

Thanks!
Amanda

 

[DMRick]

If you have AOL, you have to hope their ISP doesn't have you blocked...but that's seldom the problem. If you have a cell phone, you can pull their contact info and try calling..but what usually gets their attention, is going to this page (it has to be more than 7 days)

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/npb.html

and filling out and sending number three. This is the same page you come back to 10 days later, if they still don't pay. It's the most important step you can take to rid eBay of non payers bidders. 3-4 of these strikes and they are out. Hope this helps you.

Doris

 

[DMRick]

My husband was reading their tech boards and it seems that anyone who is using windows XP is having the problem. Here's the email.

I'm not having a problem listing either through IE direct (having AOL open, but minimized) or my Road Runner. It is slower re-listing mulitple auctions through Auction Watch while using straight AOL. I have XP.

I have talked with a few who are having trouble listing directly through AOL and MSN.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks so much - The auction ended May 20th and I have not heard a peep from the high bidder. I think I will send him an email today just letting him know that since I have not heard from him I will be completing a non-paying bidder alert form if I have not heard from him by tomorrow. And then if he actually contacts me letting him know that I will give him a week to get me payment now or I will go ahead with the form. I hate it that I'm even having this problem. I had another bidder that I was concerned I was going to have a non-payment issue but she responded immediately when I emailed her and told her that I had not received payment and from her mailing date expected it. She then told me the payment was mailed one day later than she had originally intended and if I did not receive it today to please let her know. My mail hasn't run yet today but I have a good feeling about it. ANYWAY - Thank you so much!

Amanda

 

[C.Ann]

I just listed one item - as well as relisting a few others - and had no problems so far.. Let's hope it STAYS that way because I have lots of auctions I need to get up and running!!

 

[shovelhd]

Doris,

Thanks for the clarification regarding UPS and your account with them. According to the UPS rate guide, UPS charges you $4 per one-time pickup if you are not on a daily pickup schedule, which you said that you are not. I'm sure that you figure it into your S&H charges for your auctions.

I am also in the same situation as you except I live 15-25 miles from a Big Three shipper service center, so I either drop the small packages into their drop box in town or pay for one-time pickup.

This is where Airborne is cheapest of the Big Three. They charge $3 per pickup, per package, up to five packages. If you have six or more packages for one pickup, they waive the pickup fees. I state in my auction listings that shipments are sent out twice a week. This gives me the flexibility to bunch packages if possible (not too often most of the year ) and save on pickup charges.

This is what I meant by Airborne being cheapest for one-time pickup. UPS charges $4/pickup and FedX is either $4 or $5, I can't remember.

Shipping rates are comparable across all three. Pretty much within a buck. So it comes down to the one-time pickup charge being the differentiator. I completely agree with you that Airborne's online software is kludgy and non-intuitive to use. I always get the right numbers out of it, which I have verified by both their online account payment listings as well as what is billed to me, but it needs a major overhaul. The call center is not staffed 24x7 but everyone I have talked to has been helpful and knowledgeable. They use on-call paging for level 2 support after core business hours.

If you know of a cheaper way to do this I'm all ears.



Chris

 

[shovelhd]

Re: no response from winning bidder

I use the NPB as a last resort. I use the Payment Reminder button on the listing line in My Ebay after 3 days if I haven't heard from them. They could be on vacation, have ISP trouble, or are a dealer/broker swamped with trades. I always give the buyer the benefit of the doubt first. Only after three attempts at contact with no response do I send a last, final email with a very clear warning that NPB is going to be filed and NFB is going to be posted to their account. It works 99% of the time.

Another gotcha that has cropped up lately is spam software. The maturity level of this software at the retail/end user level is low. It's just not that smart yet. What it does is identify incoming messages as spam and puts them into your trash bin before you even see them. If the winning bidder has this software configured at high security then they may have never even seen any of your emails to date. They may be wondering why you haven't sent them anything regarding their winning bid. That's why I use several methods of reminders. The ebay 3-day reminder comes from ebay, not your email account. Chances are that the spam software will treat each of them differently.

Good luck, and be careful with those big hammers like NPB and NFB. It can come back to haunt you. Just be reasonable and use your best judgement.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks for the information. I had sent an original invoice....the 3 day reminder and another email already before posting this question. Once I got a response I emailed the bidder one last time letting them know that I had not heard from them and if I did not then I felt like I didn't have a choice but to file the non-paying bidder report. I got a response today saying this was their 4th email - I have no idea why I didn't get any of them....I regularly check my junk mail file just in case...especially since a lot of my ebay correspondence ends up there....so it wasn't that. Anyway - it's all taken care of and I should be getting the money order today since it was mailed last Thursday. Or maybe tomorrow I would think at the latest. Anyway....I agree that this feature could come back to bite you on the butt. I just didn't know what to do. The auction ended a week ago today and until about 10 minutes ago I had heard nothing from the winning bidder. Anyway....I feel better now. I tend to think the best of people and the whole situation was a little frustrating.

thanks!
Amanda