Have eBay sellers gotten bit by the "NICENESS" bug?

topstuf · January 25, 2018 4:34PM

In the past TWO WEEKS, I have had TWO...separate..sellers refund money for no ...real.. reason.
First was a "Best Offer" and they sent me an extra coin as a thank you for making a ....real... offer.
Next was one who ..AFTER... the sale weighed the package and refunded a postage "overage" to "be fair."

Okay by me, but unusual in my experience.

au58 · January 25, 2018 4:52PM

No. Merely coincidental.

bsshog40 · January 25, 2018 5:10PM

I recently bought 2 items from the same seller. Both were Bins with added shipping. Seller refunded me the shipping on the second item on his own. It just reassures us that there are still good sellers on the bay.

blitzdude · January 25, 2018 5:23PM

No overly nice sellers for me but it's certainly been a nice time to be a buyer from a price standpoint. Been finding a lot of slabbed morgans at greysheet bid with free shipping etc. Sellers must be taking a bath at that price plus fees, shipping costs etc. Not talking about high dollar stuff, mostly AU-MS64 no to semi key. Raw Peace dollars frequently are damn near at bullion prices.

ms70 · January 25, 2018 6:21PM

One time I enclosed cash with the item for a postage overage. For whatever reason I was feeling honest that day.

ctf_error_coins · January 25, 2018 7:54PM

Just got a refund for postal overage. Did not expect it. Thx.

BryceM · January 25, 2018 8:02PM

MOST of the people selling on eBay are legitimate. MOST of my transactions there have been wonderful.

However, the headache of a single bad one negates the good vibes from dozens of good ones.

logger7 · January 25, 2018 8:30PM

If I believe I haven't given the buyer a fair shake, sometimes I've given freebies. Business is spotty at times, you want to keep people happy. Last week I had a seller ship a $20 Saint first class! No tracking after the weekend was driving me crazy. I asked on the ebay forums and was brow beat that I had no business wondering about how the seller did their business.

Kkathyl · January 25, 2018 8:48PM

I like to treat customers as I want treated and I alway give away a little something will hand write notes at times. I think it is important for buyers to know you care and are thinking about them.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 5:49AM

I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 5:50AM

@logger7 said:
If I believe I haven't given the buyer a fair shake, sometimes I've given freebies. Business is spotty at times, you want to keep people happy. Last week I had a seller ship a $20 Saint first class! No tracking after the weekend was driving me crazy. I asked on the ebay forums and was brow beat that I had no business wondering about how the seller did their business.

Well, really, that seller is a moron....er, trusting fool...er..... Even if you got the coin, you could file an item not received and get your money back.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 5:53AM

@blitzdude said:
No overly nice sellers for me but it's certainly been a nice time to be a buyer from a price standpoint. Been finding a lot of slabbed morgans at greysheet bid with free shipping etc. Sellers must be taking a bath at that price plus fees, shipping costs etc. Not talking about high dollar stuff, mostly AU-MS64 no to semi key. Raw Peace dollars frequently are damn near at bullion prices.

2 points:

Prices on common stuff is in the dumper.
The person who might have taken a bath is not the seller, but the person they bought the coins from. I'm currently buying proof/mint sets at 30% back of bid. Common date slabbed morgans, ASEs, etc. are 10-20% back of bid. I sell the proof/mint at 10 back and the Morgans, ASEs at bid and I'm making money (very little, frankly) but the person I bought them from is the one who took the loss. Especially if they bought them from HSN, QVC, SmallCity, etc.

thebeav · January 26, 2018 6:29AM

I refund shipping overages quite often. I've never felt that shipping charges should be a way to profit on ebay.
I don't think the customers care that much however. I get a 'thank you' about every 1 out of 20 times....

topstuf · January 26, 2018 7:25AM

@jmlanzaf said:

I'm currently buying proof/mint sets at 30% back of bid. Common date slabbed morgans, ASEs, etc. are 10-20% back of bid. I sell the proof/mint at 10 back and the Morgans, ASEs at bid and I'm making money (very little, frankly) but the person I bought them from is the one who took the loss. Especially if they bought them from HSN, QVC, SmallCity, etc.
+++++++++

Geez I hated proof sets when I had the shop. Sure, there are 10 back layoff buyers every day, but it's a real drag.

logger7 · January 26, 2018 7:26AM

@jmlanzaf said:

@logger7 said:
If I believe I haven't given the buyer a fair shake, sometimes I've given freebies. Business is spotty at times, you want to keep people happy. Last week I had a seller ship a $20 Saint first class! No tracking after the weekend was driving me crazy. I asked on the ebay forums and was brow beat that I had no business wondering about how the seller did their business.

Well, really, that seller is a moron....er, trusting fool...er..... Even if you got the coin, you could file an item not received and get your money back.

And I discussed the issue here: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/High-value-item-shipped-first-class/td-p/28023563/page/2

I got this response from one active poster: "OP, Harry Winston once shipped the Hope diamond first class. Whether or not the seller chose to insure the package is frankly, none of your business. It does not concern you in the slightest."

There is a reason major insurers like Hugh Wood and "Ship and Insure" do not want their customers shipping first class.

ricko · January 26, 2018 7:30AM

Although not a volume buyer on ebay, I have had great transactions... even free shipping when invoiced, while shipping was to be charged per the auction. No complaints.... of course, I am a picky buyer. Cheers, RickO

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 7:48AM

@topstuf said:

@jmlanzaf said:

I'm currently buying proof/mint sets at 30% back of bid. Common date slabbed morgans, ASEs, etc. are 10-20% back of bid. I sell the proof/mint at 10 back and the Morgans, ASEs at bid and I'm making money (very little, frankly) but the person I bought them from is the one who took the loss. Especially if they bought them from HSN, QVC, SmallCity, etc.
+++++++++

Geez I hated proof sets when I had the shop. Sure, there are 10 back layoff buyers every day, but it's a real drag.

Agreed.

I almost put some in the CoinStar at Christmas. In the end, I couldn't quite bring myself to do it. But you've got PROOF sets (and mint sets) that are barely above face value. When you've got a 2006 proof set with almost $3 in change in it that sells for $3.50, you are (sadly) better off just spending it. SMH.

TwoSides2aCoin · January 26, 2018 10:22AM

No. I've been nice way longer than Ebay's been in existence.

Coinlearner · January 26, 2018 10:56AM

It is not unusual. Many times,including some folks here,threw in an extra coin or two for whatever reason,when I'm a buyer. Have done same,for repeat buyers or my price a bit high for the value received.

bsshog40 · January 26, 2018 12:28PM

@jmlanzaf said:

Well, really, that seller is a moron....er, trusting fool...er..... Even if you got the coin, you could file an item not received and get your money back.

This coming from someone who thinks having some fun buying chinese bit coins makes a person unethical??

jwitten · January 26, 2018 12:31PM

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

The problem is, if they pay for the items separately, I believe you have to ship them separate and provide different tracking for each item. You could get someone that knows that rule try to scam you if you aren't careful.

bsshog40 · January 26, 2018 12:38PM

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

This doesn't always work. I recently bought 2 items from the same seller, both had 2.99 shipping charges. I added to my cart and then checked out. The seller wound up refunding 1 of the shipping charges. I didn't know it until I got an email for a refund.

jwitten · January 26, 2018 1:28PM

Ok, this was terrible of me, but oh well. I bought 2 coins from someone, asked him if he could combine shipping for me, he said no, so I paid separate and asked him to ship separate. If he doesn't want to pass on the small savings to me, I wanted to make sure he wasn't profiting off of it, lol.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 1:44PM

@bsshog40 said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

This doesn't always work. I recently bought 2 items from the same seller, both had 2.99 shipping charges. I added to my cart and then checked out. The seller wound up refunding 1 of the shipping charges. I didn't know it until I got an email for a refund.

Interesting. I've seen a couple cases like that, but sometimes there are like 10 minutes between transactions.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 1:46PM

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

The problem is, if they pay for the items separately, I believe you have to ship them separate and provide different tracking for each item. You could get someone that knows that rule try to scam you if you aren't careful.

No, you can enter the same tracking number for different items. I've literally had people pay for 5 different items in 5 different payments and I shipped them all with the same tracking number.

topstuf · January 26, 2018 2:27PM

SOMEHOW..... the proof sets I got laid off into me were almost NEVER the years "grandkid buyers" wanted.

And too.....for a LONG time, it was a daily occurrence to have to tell people that they didn't MAKE any silver dollars after 1935.

And IKES were never satisfactory substitutes.

jwitten · January 26, 2018 3:25PM

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

The problem is, if they pay for the items separately, I believe you have to ship them separate and provide different tracking for each item. You could get someone that knows that rule try to scam you if you aren't careful.

No, you can enter the same tracking number for different items. I've literally had people pay for 5 different items in 5 different payments and I shipped them all with the same tracking number.

Sure, you can do this. BUT if you get a scammer, you will only have one tracking number for 5 items paid for separately. That means only one item will have seller protection. Ebay will want 5 different tracking numbers.

Paradisefound · January 26, 2018 4:01PM

I've sold a few items on eBay and always enclosed nice Thank you note along with a little gift as token of appreciation.

jmlanzaf · January 26, 2018 4:43PM

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

The problem is, if they pay for the items separately, I believe you have to ship them separate and provide different tracking for each item. You could get someone that knows that rule try to scam you if you aren't careful.

No, you can enter the same tracking number for different items. I've literally had people pay for 5 different items in 5 different payments and I shipped them all with the same tracking number.

Sure, you can do this. BUT if you get a scammer, you will only have one tracking number for 5 items paid for separately. That means only one item will have seller protection. Ebay will want 5 different tracking numbers.

That's not true. eBay labels allows you to group the packages for shipping.

mannie gray · January 27, 2018 12:54AM

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:
I am constantly refunding shipping payments to people who don't know how to use the cart to combine orders. Many (most?) eBay sellers who value their businesses try hard to make the customers happy because they want repeat customers. I don' t think "nice" eBay sellers are that rare or unusual.

The problem is, if they pay for the items separately, I believe you have to ship them separate and provide different tracking for each item. You could get someone that knows that rule try to scam you if you aren't careful.

No, you can enter the same tracking number for different items. I've literally had people pay for 5 different items in 5 different payments and I shipped them all with the same tracking number.

Sure, you can do this. BUT if you get a scammer, you will only have one tracking number for 5 items paid for separately. That means only one item will have seller protection. Ebay will want 5 different tracking numbers.

That's not true. eBay labels allows you to group the packages for shipping.

Good to know.... I didn't realize you can do that.

jmlanzaf · January 27, 2018 4:28AM

@mannie gray said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@jwitten said:

g numbers.

That's not true. eBay labels allows you to group the packages for shipping.

Good to know.... I didn't realize you can do that.

To be clear, you have to be using eBay labels

BStrauss3 · January 27, 2018 10:52AM

New Year's resolutions. Don't worry, by March they'll be back to their surly selves...

Azurescens · January 27, 2018 11:26AM

Sometimes the bio sample stuff I sell goes bananas. Someone will just buy all 50 samples and I'll send a few extras as a thank-you. Or someone buys one and I'll throw another in if none are selling at all.

Other times people will ask if I can lower the price as they're buying by the skin of their teeth, so I'll cover the 4 bucks shipping or slip a few bucks in with the samples.

I rarely do this and handle it on a case-by-case basis. I wouldn't do it with coins. Bio sample stuff has no overhead except collecting it via foraging. Coins on the other hand..

Azurescens · January 27, 2018 11:35AM

Or if they mention gel electrophoresis, they might get a smaller extra sample due to margin of error and destruction of DNA from light or heat etc. Serious buyers or those in the hobby get a little something. That's just bio stuff tho, again, not coins.

Have eBay sellers gotten bit by the "NICENESS" bug?

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