Sold 7 boxes of stuff on ebay - need shipping advice
1Ok so I used to deal in refurb/modded consoles back in the day. EASY - send the console in the oem box within a box.
I’ve just begun a new job where half my time is spent as a tech and the… F that, 1% is spent on eBay commission - so I wanna do my first order the right way.
Here’s my question then:
I’ve sold 7 of the same item to one gentleman in TN. The auction listed the items new/other (new, opened boxes).
Would it be kosher to:
-
Break the boxes down (being careful not to destroy said boxes in case the guy is a reseller or has a fetish for boxed items), compress the foam into one bundle, bubble wrap the actual contents and neatly fit everything into one package.
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Use either one massive box or two slighly less massive boxes to ship the boxed items as they were seen in the ad photos.
I want to do this right like my job depends on it (it doesn’t but). I also don’t want to waste money, as that’ll cut into my commission.
What say you, my much more brave (and perhaps less ocd) mehtizens?
This needs to go out tomorrow, so any ideas I’ll take but not necessarily use if they’re shit, and no promises on not ridiculing you for said shit ideas.
Thanks, and this is time sensitve assholes, so don’t post up your suggestions 2 days from now thinking that will help.
I love you all!
- 11 comments, 19 replies
- Comment
Images for reflection:
What would the problem be with the second option?
@someRiverNoise
No technical problem, just assume the ship cost will be higher…
Ship intact. Doing otherwise could result in a dispute or questionable feedback. Ebay buyers want that item as shown.
@f00l
Thanks and noted.
But but but… would it not be reasonable to assume that someone could reassemble the box (wouldn’t require tape, just a 1st grade degree of coordination)?
@lysdexia
If it were someone you knew, or someone who agreed to it first, yes, reasonable. If you don’t have agreement from the customer, no. The customer expects what they saw on this listing.
PS you might message the customer and ask. But don’t be surprised if they don’t appreciate the offer. I would presume that if they bought it intact, they want it intact.
@f00l
So what you’re saying in a nicer way is that I fucked up by not putting that in the listing to begin with.
Thanks for the future help.
The boxes and foam are there to protect the products from damage during shipping. If you take them out, and the shipping company manages to damage something, good luck getting money from the shipper. The buyer may also believe you did a “bait and switch” with different products. It’s not worth any savings on shipping.
@lysdexia
Customers on Ebay can get really picky about details. Everything possible needs to go into the original listing. However, the buyer might agree to having the purchases compacted somewhat for shipping. If I were in your shoes, I would just seek buyer agreement first.
You can’t predict buyer reactions. Tiny deviations from what they thought they had a right to expect can really piss them off, or they can be cool with it. You never know.
@f00l
Had I not promised same day shipping, and will be shipping on Monday rather than Saturday, I would indeed shoot him a message.
Not trying to rock this boat more than I’ve already done - while still wanting to be a cheapass.
@lysdexia
For that exact reason I always do three day shipping, and then try to get it out in a day.
That way my ass is covered if there’s some delay tho.
I would avoid the cheapass approach here. Just me.
If you have big items or heavy items to sell, make sure your shipping quote is accurate, or build that into your pricing up front.
@f00l
Thanks - all good things to consider for future sales.
On this one I’m gonna go with the packaging, but leave the last word on that to my boss.
Honestly didn’t even assume these would sell, let alone all 7 to the same person/company.
@lysdexia In future sales you could set two options, original packaging intact at a higher shipping cost, or repackaged at a lower shipping cost. Let the buyer decide when they select. This would only work for “buy it now” items. For auctions you could have the repackaging as a default and include original packaging as an option in the text, with a note to request an invoice reflecting actual shipping cost for items to be shipped in their original packaging.
@moondrake
I guess that’d make the difference between an experienced seller that takes the correct steps, and someone that fails.
Adding to my list of things to do in the future. Added right above forum spamming to promote my items.
Not meh, of course.
@lysdexia I definitely see how you got here, though. If the items had gone to different sellers you’d automatically be sending them in their original packaging. But look at it like this, if it had gone that way you’d have spent a lot more on shipping 7 boxes than sending them all in 1 big box, so you are still ahead. My experience as a vendor on EBay is selling DVDs, paperbacks, game discs, jewelry and other small items. I set my shipping at the price of a small flat rate priority mail box, all items after the first ship free. If the items exceed the smaller box I upgrade to the next size and take the difference out of my profits. It encourages buyers to buy more stuff and if they have bought enough to upgrade the box then I am making enough profit to pay the difference comfortably. Priority mail comes with tracking and delivers in 3 days, which makes the customer happy and keeps my seller rating at 100%. None of that works for your larger items, just sharing my method.
@moondrake
Thanks for understanding this situation. I’ve also been an ebay vendor going way back - only really have had one other hickup, but fortunately the powerseller that bought my figurative box of crap was all talk, other than getting me banned.
I really do need to make notes, it’s just been hard especially these first 2 weeks - not being paid for the tech work and essentially having 1 hour to list. That will change next week.
@lysdexia
A powerseller got you banned?
WTF kinda asshole was that?
@f00l
Eh, long story short - a big wholesaler of returned tech items sold me a box of components. Having only needed one daughter card out of the lot, I relisted it with a bunch of misc I had around.
Turned out the guy that bought from me was friends with the original seller. Both were powersellers, and the new buyer claimed all the cpus had bent pins. I sold as-is, but since at least back then PS had their own eBay reps, he first threatened to sue (lol) then the next day I was off eBay.
Just 2 dicks really, trying to screw with me and I wasn’t having it.
@lysdexia
assholes
@lysdexia
Thanks. Me too.
Offer them 5 bucks off if they’ll accept the boxes broken down. It’ll probably save you more than that in shipping, and you won’t upset them with the offer. If they say no, there’s your answer. If they don’t respond in time, explain that and don’t break them down.
@Pantheist
Thanks for the idea. It’s sound, and in the future if this comes up I’ll do just that.
Option #2. As others mentioned, buyers on eBay are picky and want things as they were shown in photos. If he bought 10 of them, he’s probably a reseller and wants boxes.
What everyone else said. Leave the boxes intact.
The distance you are shipping will be the biggest factor in the price. If it is relatively close, the cost difference might be less than you might think. Have you put the weight and dimensions in a calculator?
I get that anything you save on shipping goes direct to your bottom line as far as commission, and you want to maximize that. But it seems there was a possibility you’d have been shipping seven boxes to seven buyers, except this one guy swooped them all up.
#2 is ok without even asking. You should be able to save some by combining packages, but you’re taking advantage of the factory packing to keep everything in good shape. Next time you list items, if you don’t post photos of the boxes you may grant yourself some flexibility. But breaking down boxes and packing the boxes and foam separately seems like a lot of work.
If the extra effort makes a huge difference in shipping, talk to the buyer and offer some discount like Pantheist said. You can tell him that since they’re all going the same place, he can save on shipping if it’s ok for you to repack the items and go from there. If he is an end user you may not even need all the original packaging and you can ship even more economically, but if he’s a reseller or says no for other reasons, no harm, no foul. You expected to pay for shipping seven boxes when you listed them and hopefully accounted for that.
Without any discussion beforehand, I’d be more weirded out by getting my devices and a bundle of original packaging than by getting my devices all nicely bubble wrapped with no factory packaging. When I order refurb voip handsets they come wrapped up and it’s no problem.
perhaps a bit late to weigh in on this topic, but:
just my 2 cents worth…
I sold an item for hella cheap once. (no bids) I would have lost money in the shipping deal, so I contacted buyer and he said it was ok to break the packaging down. If this is a professional sale, I would keep them intact.
@medz did you just break it down, or did you actually not send part of it by re-packaging it into a different box and not including the original box and inner packing? I agree about your last comment. It would be much more professional.
@chienfou Broke it down and flattened the retail packaging, but still included it in the shipping box. They could have reassembled it on their end with a piece of tape or two.
Edit: I didn’t have large chunks of foam cushion in the retail pack, however.