Auctionbytes-Update, Number 96 - June 01, 2003 - ISSN 1528-6703 Previous Story | Contents
Letters from Readers
June 01, 2003
Ina, I've just come from the US Post Office, where they told me that they are no longer selling international money orders for Great Britain. They said that they had been losing money because the exchange rate changes frequently, leaving them short. Any suggestions what to do about paying for purchases from auctions with British sellers? Betsy
Ina, Have to agree with Diane in last week's update on the need for eBay to find some way to free up inactive user IDs. I know eBay doesn't want to do that because every one of those inactive IDs is counted in its bogus 40 gazillion users count, but it's getting ridiculous.
I spent a good part of four days a couple weeks ago trying to find a third ID for a special niche we wanted to work on. About 3 out of 4 of the user IDs I found tied up were registered two or more years ago and have never been used. A couple of them dated to 1998. Most of them, I think, were probably tied up by people who thought they'd make money selling them like domain names, but can't because eBay won't let them auction them, and nobody's going to hunt down the owner and pay for an eBay user ID.
EBay does have leverage to do this through its policy requiring up-to-date contact information. A simple policy that an account with a user ID inactive for 6 months or a year which has incorrect or non-responsive contact information will be closed and the ID made available. Not a terribly difficult program to write. Those who do repond will be asked to voluntarily give up the ID, and if they don't want to (like you, probably), fine, but my bet is that most will be no response.
David's story about frauds built around inactive IDshttp://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abn/y03/m05/i15/s01might also sober up eBay's attitude. And it might also help get an accurate count of eBay users, which, if something isn't done, will soon exceed the population of the planet. Dana
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Ina, Thanks for covering the Hidden Postage feature (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y203/m05/abu0095/s03). We have used it for 10 months now with Endicia and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Customers were constantly complaining that the "shipping charge" they paid did not match the postage we paid to the post office, which are two different things.
Like UPS and Fedex, we are the shippers and we make a contract for delivery with USPS. Once the item is delivered, the contract is completed, and the postage amount is of no concern to the recipient, in fact it is none of their business. Complaints have dropped to amazingly low levels since we implemented this feature.
You don't mention however that this feature is available only for USA shipments, not overseas. We switched to Endicia immediately when we were told of this feature. Our labels now have a very professional look, unlike most sellers who hand-write addresses on packaging.
In addition, First Class Delivery Confirmation, at 13 cents each package is one of the best investments we have ever made, confirming delivery and giving us some leverage in the "your package did not arrive" debate with customers. Somehow when they are shown the time and date of delivery, they mysteriously find that the item was picked up by another family member, and then they are oh-so-happy with the item....
These two features make being an auction seller fun again, not to mention the huge cost savings over Priority Mail. In fact, these service have statistics on delivery times for all of your packages, and we have found that the average delivery time for our packages is as follows: First Class: 3 days Priority Mail: 3 days Media Mail: 7 days So as you see, Priority Mail is a scam that draws you in with the free packaging but costs 3 to 5 times more for items 13 oz or less, no bargain. thanks! Brad
Another reader wrote and said there is a difference between the Endicia stealth feature and Stamp.com's Hidden Postage feature. She said Endicia prints the method and weight of the package, so a buyer could go check to see what the seller actually paid for postage. Stamps.com simply reads "Postage and fees paid at (zipcode)." See original story at http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abu/y203/m05/abu0095/s03.
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Hi,
I don't know if this pertains to anything in your field of expertise, but I wonder how you would comment on a situation. I am a dealer with a wholesale company for the express purpose of buying "stuff" at wholesale to auction on ebay and I found out that this wholesale company was also selling this "stuff" on ebay under a fictitious name at way below what I could sell it for, what would you do? What I mean is that if I have to pay $195.00 for an item that I would try to sell for $219, for example, how could I possibly compete against my supplier if they sell the exact same item for $139.00 or even less? *
Is this an issue of fraud if they didn't tell me that I would be competing against them for customers when I couldn't match their prices. Please let me now what you would do.
PS I have notified the company and they have not only disregarded my claims but they have made threats against me, dut they have not denied the accusations.
Hello Ina, I don't think many people who get something for free take the time to thank the giver. I love to receive your newsletter via email and get so much out of them. They are always just PACKED with helpful and useful information. Thank you so much for keeping me on your mailing list. I don't take your hard work for granted and appreciate your newsletter so much. We are PowerSellers on eBay and the tips and tricks are wonderful helpers. Best Regards, Star of India Jewelers
Hi, and thanks for your nice note. Over the years we've gotten some great letters from people and have come to the conclusion that AuctionBytes readers are the nicest people on the Internet!
Thanks,
Ina
