eBay customer wants bulk price off-line - what would you do? (non-pony)

[buttonso]

OK, hope this is OK to post here since I'm not selling ponies, BUT...

Long story short, I'm in possession of a whole bunch of Disney stuff that my friend consigned to me to sell on ebay when she got divorced and moved away.  So I'm selling this stuff as a favor to her and not particularly enjoying it (I'm not cut out to be an ebay seller!)

Long story short- the Disney Christmas ornaments I've been selling have garnered a lot of interest from people int he UK for some reason. Two different people have messaged me asking if I have more ornaments, and wondering if we could work out a detail for me to sell them all in one fell swoop.

I'm torn on this.  I don't *think* it would be violating ebay rules since the ornaments in question wouldn't be listed yet.... and if I sold them all at once they'd be GONE all at once and out of my hair, which does sound attractive (I still have a lot of other stuff besides ornaments to be rid of too though).

*BUT*.... I kind of want to build reputation as a seller (I'm working very hard at making these auctions nice and being helpful and all that).  Plus on ebay there's records of what all has happened and I don't feel confident about selling to some random person that I don't know (I think if I ever DID get around to selling ponies I'd do it on here rather than ebay..)).

Am I worrying too much? Or would you guys say I'm doing the right thing by just continuing to list the ornaments on ebay? I've been doing them in small lots (grouped by character type) and I do say on my listings I will combine shipping.  ((I also am not making a ton on these things even on ebay, so far average price has been less than $2 per ornament, so I would probably make even less per ornament if I sold them in bulk)).

Just wondering what you veteran ebay sellers thought. 

[goddessofpeep]

You won't get any of ebay's seller protections(as pathetic as they are) if you sell off ebay.  International transactions are even more dangerous for sellers than domestic ones. You also might get caught. It's also harder to do these kinds of transactions now since ebay won't let you send or receive email addresses anymore.

I know some sellers successfully sell off ebay like that, but if you're worried, why not put all the ornaments up as one lot and tell the interested parties about it, and see who gets it?  You could either run a regular auction or a BIN and see if it gets snapped up. All completely legal to ebay, and you'll get the benefits of having a legal ebay transaction(and sadly all the fees too).

[buttonso]

I'm not so worried about what's legal to eBay... In my mind if I haven't listed them yet, it's none of ebays beeswax what I do with them (though I didn't realize they had a way of stopping you from exchanging email addresses.... I do actually already know this person's contact info since they already bought one lot from me, that's beside the point I suppose..)

I did want to use eBay in the first place, though, so everything I sold was documented, since I'm selling this stuff for a friend (and keeping a small portion of the money after fees). She trusts me of course and I would never claim to have sold something for less than I did but I like having records, just how I am.

 I actually didn't want to ship internationally at all, but then people in the UK kept messaging and asking for it so I added it on! 

But if I sent all of the ornaments somewhere at once, that would be a HUGE shipment, shipping would be insane even within the U.S, I can't imagine what it would be overseas...so I've felt I will get more bidders with smaller lots.... Though I guess I could try a large lot with a higher price or a BIN as you suggested and see what happens....

I guess I already know I don't want to sell them all in one go so it's moot ^^*  that and I am still going through the stupid things making sure nothing is wrong with them, I've had to repair two so far and there's a third needing repaired I haven't gotten to. 

[Bergamot]

eBay is the safer way to do it. It gives you records, a clear paper trail, and all that good stuff, plus that feedback you're looking for.

You're also likely to make a lot more money if you sell them one by one and name your auctions right. It's extra work for sure, and eBay/PayPal will take their cuts, but you'll likely still come out ahead. It sounds like you have some really desirable things, and it would be a shame to sell them short!

[buttonso]

eBay is the safer way to do it. It gives you records, a clear paper trail, and all that good stuff, plus that feedback you're looking for.

You're also likely to make a lot more money if you sell them one by one and name your auctions right. It's extra work for sure, and eBay/PayPal will take their cuts, but you'll likely still come out ahead. It sounds like you have some really desirable things, and it would be a shame to sell them short!

Thanks! My husband said I was overthinking it and I think you guys have confirmed it ^^*

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Definitely sell them all on Ebay.  Shipping is crazy expensive for everyone these days, so there won't be any discounts due to buying a lot, combined shipping, etc. 

If these people want them, they are more than welcome to bid on the auctions.  Feel free to send them a friendly message to that effect.    They are likely hoping to get you to go through with an offline transaction that you have little recourse with, as they see your seller's account is so new.  Especially if they sell these items in a domestic UK shop - they are hoping to get a great deal on some products they have to import and pay taxes on and if they buy from a small seller on Ebay, it's less likely they would be hit with the same fees and taxes than if they commercially imported the items from a retailer.  Not that that IS what they are doing, but if these items were not available in the UK, the only way to get them is to have them imported ; the goal then is to get them in such a way that you pay the lowest taxes,  Am I right oh United Kingdom'ers? 

[Taffeta]

I'm not sure, actually. Not from the values Buttonso is mentioning.

A lot of the import duty involved in coming into the UK is actually the delivery people adding extra charges on for handling, not import duty at all. Only a small percentage is VAT. Recently I had one which was £3 import duty and £8 handling (Royal Mail standard charge).

Parcel Force add more for handling than Royal Mail, though, and they deal with the bigger items, so you'd think a bulk buy with a mass total might not be advantageous for a UK buyer in that situation. The threshold for import duty is quite reasonable now, although it is scuppered rather with all the Ebay sellers using Global Shipping - which charges about double the actual import duty cost that UK Borders would charge on a normal package import.

 The UK threshold that triggers VAT plus handling costs is around £18ish value which is around the $25-$30 mark. I generally don't get charged unless it goes up over $50. The most I have ever been charged on import duty was £90 on an item valued at $600. (Part of that was £21 to Parcelforce for handling, which they didn't do very well, almost lost it and it got delayed because they didn't know where it was...grr). So the actual import duty even on that was £70ish, and that was a one off expensive item.

 I can't imagine that these would put a buyer too much at risk, nor that that would be an issue for wanting to bulk buy them. I suspect it's more on combining shipping, rather than paying a few $ per item.

I would agree with what's been said here. Ebay is safer because you have SOME recourse and protection, especially in terms of international shipping.

I'm very much pro international shipping if it's possible to do it. I've had to stop international shipping on certain Jem items because Royal Mail's size changes meant a price hike from £20 to £80ish for the same item at the same weight and no buyer is going to pay that, so it's just not worth having the argument over. In general, though, shipping internationally is a good thing. If you have something sold only in your country, you lose money if you ship it only to your country. In the time before Paypal, when it was all cash exchange, then it was a bit more understandable - but with all the options and protection and tracking now, it's really a lot easier and safer than it used to be.

All of that said,I would not sell anything off-ebay to anyone I didn't know. Here on the Arena, there is a feedback system just like there is one on Ebay. The protection is different, but there are people looking out for you. If you enter into a sale or trade with someone on ebay without knowing anything about them and without protection, you put yourself at risk if the item gets lost or damaged or the person isn't honest.

So I would stick to ebay. Maybe put them up in lots (sets?) instead of individually?

Also, in terms of people harassing you through ebay asking questions - I had this recently with some pokemon stuff. It got so bad that the last lot of auctions I listed, I explicitly stated in the description that I did not close auctions early, take private offers on items or any such thing, and that I would not be responding to any questions in that vein. It worked. I haven't had any questions about closing the auction since. Just normal ones about shipping. I know with you they weren't listed yet - but they are still technically doing the same thing, as they are asking you to sell to them privately rather than on ebay...which means Ebay wouldn't get their cut, which could get you reported and a strike if they found out.

[buttonso]

So far small lots (2-4) seem to do really well, I did sell one big lot of 11 because I had a box they'd all fit in and they were random characters that didn't have similar characters to group with... but I actually made LESS per ornament on that one than on the smaller lots so I'ms ticking to that. I have an auction up right now of two Aristocats ornaments that is going higher than the others so far.

Taffeta, I like the suggestion of adding to the description that I will not sell off-line.. maybe that will nip future questions like these in the bud. :p