Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Best place to buy petro stuff?

...when I sell on ebay, I charge exact shipping and insurance, nothing more...I don't give a price for s/i until the auction is over, the final bid is known, and I know where the buyer is located...I take the item(s) to the post office or UPS, and get quotes...I have had nothing but success with this, the buyers are happy and I get good feedback...and as I recycle shipping materials (but not like Don!)
it costs me nothing but a little time...

Pablo, I buy and sell both. I have learned that sometimes if ppl don't answer within a week something is usually wrong. I have ran into a few -one person was having health problems -another just found out his old lady was leaving him -and there have been alot of Internet problems -ect. I still have never given a person a negative, I usually request contact info and call them! I am very cautious on my buyers, If they don't answer within 3 e-mails, I am calling them. Back to "just buying", never under estimate people out there, some just are jelous you have a 100%.

allsho80,
I've been on eBay since December 1997, both buying and selling. I know the ropes when it comes to feedback. Heck, in the old days ANYONE could give anyone else negative feedback, even if they were NOT a party to a transaction. The system was based on honesty but vindictive people forced eBay to make many good changes in the process.

I've had my share of deadbeat bidders. Some of your late payers may have had valid excuses but my guess is that half the buyers you had to call after "3 emails" were just feeding you a line of BS. eBay does a very poor job of weeding out the deadbeats and dishonest people. Bottom line, they want the revenue.

gulfiend,
That's fine that you charge only "exact shipping & insurance". I try to fairly estimate the shipping cost but most of the time pad it by a buck or two. I don't know about you but I value my time. Packing materials aren't free and gasoline for the trip to the post office isn't cheap. On the flip side, I don't mind at all paying the seller a little extra when buying. I just won't tolerate extreme gouging.

Paul

The post office sells package scales that can accept a weight up to 15 lbs. , if you tend to ship some heavier items you could possibly find a larger capacity scale at an office supply store. that way you can set up your auction(S) with the weight, and type of shipping.
when you recieve payment you can print a label through paypal, then log onto the usps site and have the package picked up at the front door. you can even print intl. labels, but you have to make the trip to the post office.