Help? I feel robbed... But it's my fault

[blazywazy110]

Hey guys, I'm pretty bummed about something.

Recently I put my vinyl funko ponies on eBay starting at $0.99 to attract buyers.

The problem?

Some of them actually sold for $0.99. I feel robbed.... However... it would not be fair for me to not ship the ponies. It was my fault, right? What do you suppose I do? Just ship them and accept this as a lesson?

It really is depressing to me because I really really needed the funds from these girls and boys for some dire reasons that I'd rather not get into here.... Now from 6 MIB Funko ponies, I didn't even make $30.

I'm sorry... enough of my complaining. Thoughts?

[Nappercasper]

It was a mistake so when I won on mistakes I always feel sorry for the seller and cancel the transaction in there favour. If they are mean they won't ...

[Mirnyj]

Moving to trader support

[NovelNerd]

Unfortunately it happens and we have all done it at some point. I know I'll no longer sell things under a price I feel is what I'm comfortable with. Sometimes it means they sit longer, but I don't feel bad about my sales.  Sorry to hear your sales didn't go well though.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Why did you not start them at the price that you wanted them to sell at?  Or offer a reserve?  There are so many ways to ensure that you don't *lose* money selling on Ebay... but you have to set your prices higher. 

Those people are probably dancing around in happiness thinking about the AWESOME deal they got.  They certainly did NOT consider that you are a small seller who "can't afford to complete the transaction" - that's just business on Ebay.  Even if you are one person, you have to act like Amazon's shipping team.   

[LadyMoondancer]

Just ship them and learn from the experience.

I feel for you, because I did something similar about a year ago.  It used to be that starting at $0.99 was a good way to attract a lot of watchers, and the ending bid almost always ended up being at least CLOSE to "market price" was for the item.  Well, those days have gone.  I suspect eBay's search setup is partially to blame, I know that it doesn't always show all the auctions for a search term.  Or maybe people just go for BINs instead of auctions now?

Whatever the case, always set your auction starting price to the lowest price you'll actually accept for the item.  I switched over almost totally to BINs, because auctions seem almost pointless now.

For the current items, yeah, you just have to sell them for the price they ended on.  Don't feel robbed by the bidders, though, they might have actually put in a high bid.  But without more than one bidder, the price doesn't go up.

[Taffeta]

Ebay also now has changed its policy about start prices and fees. Used to be free at 0.99, now I think it's free at any start price or BIN and all the fees are on the sale or the add on options like bid and buy it now together.

You are obligated by Ebay's rules to ship the items. As LM and co said, it's the price they ended at. It's just something to take care of in the future, I guess? But you do need to complete the transactions. It's not fair on the buyers otherwise - they didn't do anything wrong.

[bluerose9978]

Ebay also now has changed its policy about start prices and fees. Used to be free at 0.99, now I think it's free at any start price or BIN and all the fees are on the sale or the add on options like bid and buy it now together.

It's only free if it sells or if you're using one of the 50 free listings you are allowed each month.

[blazywazy110]

Thank you everyone.

[Cassie85]

Fair is fair, yy need to ship them. Just learn from your mistake, if you list something for a low starting bid again in the future, always set a reserve price. That way in the end you are covered.

[Mermaid]

I've been on both sides! I've won things well under their value and sold things well under their value. It's part of eBay! Sorry you lost out on needed funds! hopefully next time will be much more successful for you!

[Ringlets]

  I know how disappointing that must be!  unfortunately for you you still have to ship them to your buyers even though they didn't make enough monies. I've been on both sides too ( a buyer who won something super cheap because no-one else bid and it was worth waaay more than I paid, and a seller who lost out because I didn't get the price I needed to cover my costs let alone make a profit.)

I always list an item either as a BIN ( with or without  a "make an offer" option )  or if I'm doing an auction then I set the starting price as the lowest price I'm willing to let the item sell for (in case there is only one bidder) - that way I avoid the situation of being out of pocket now. I suggest you do the same thing in future. Its kindof a quiet time to be selling now so if you do need to sell in the quieter months then don't take risks with lower than value starting prices

Ebay also now has changed its policy about start prices and fees. Used to be free at 0.99, now I think it's free at any start price or BIN and all the fees are on the sale or the add on options like bid and buy it now together.

It's only free if it sells or if you're using one of the 50 free listings you are allowed each month.

Taffeta is referring to ebay UK. in the Uk we don't have the same as Ebay US. We only get 20 free listings a month but we can have an item listed at any value for those without fees until the item sells.  The US ebay is different as you mentioned bluerose. since BlazyWazy is in the US she would need to look at the US ebay policies you mentioned, rather than the UK ones that would apply to myself and Taffeta