I decided to give eBay another shot, given the new policy of not charging shipping on your first 50 auctions each month. I had some old out of print movies and video games that we didn't play anymore, so I listed them individually last Monday. I researched current and past prices for each one and used both a set auction price and a Buy it Now price.
In each auction, I explained that I shipped three days after the auction ended. Little did I know (or expect) for things to start selling quickly within the first few days. I sold ten items the first day, five the next and three the following day. Given what I explained in the auction, I had until Thursday or later to ship the items, or so I thought...
By Thursday night, I had irate messages from buyers, demanding to know where their packages were and why they hadn't arrived. Are you kidding me? At $3-4 shipping (the maximum now allowed), I can't even afford to ship Priority Mail anymore. Regular mail rarely arrives within three days and Media Mail never ships that fast. On top of that, I didn't even ship items until Thursday! I explained that in the auction, but buyers completely ignored it.
I actually had one buyer respond, telling me they had never waited so long to get a package. Really? The auction ended on Monday and they expected to have it by Thursday? Even if I had time to make it to the post office on Monday, which would involve packaging and printing shipping labels as soon as the auction ended, it wouldn't be there in three days. I had another buyer send me messages Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, despite me sending a message back that I had shipped the item.
It really makes me wonder if eBay is even worth it anymore...
