I used to operate similarly with the “trust” business model. Everything was free shipping, and based on trust. I started to change when I sold a PSA 10 1st Edition Dark Raichu to someone in Australia. They said it didn’t arrive, which was odd since the case was opened 8-10 days after payment. I checked this persons listings a week later, sure enough they listed the exact card. I called ebay showing them the matching serial numbers, no luck, still out the money and the card. The individual ended up with 20 negative feedback in a month form not shipping cards.
I think the trust business model works well with low risk items (under $10). I agree that most buyers are honest, and scumbags are the minority. Typically the margins are good enough on cheaper cards that the loss is negligible.
Unfortunately I don’t have the time at this point to do smaller sales. I would have to hire someone to go that route. I would rather bulk sell directly to businesses who can optimize those sales.
Thanks for all the input and advice! I’ll definitely have to think about how I want to move forward at this point. Love to see how everyone operates their stores.
I used to ship cards with no tracking but then I had a guy scam me for only like £40. I know it’s not much but the fact they keep the item and you refund them meaning you are out of pocket twice that is frustrating. Like you I called ebay and they said the guy HD opened a few cases in the recent past and that he was suspected of taking advantage of the system but the best I could get was being told I could report him and that it would be looked into, I never heard any further into the matter. From then on I won’t ship anything without tracking. Thinking about it that is why I stopped listing stuff on ebay really as before I was selling small items to make a bit of money back but because most of the big stuff I own is for my collection there’s no point in me listing because who wants to pay the same shipping cost as the actual card cost…
I’m off of eBay for now, but will be selling stuff this summer again. It sucks to see that people scam like this, right after worlds 2016, I sent out an English champions festival in a regular white envelope. And for the first time, I had the buyer message me about not receiving the item, and I was sure it got to them, as I’ve never had any issues before (probably around 100 sales). I talked with them, ask asked them to wait a bit before anything would happen, and then refunded them with out any case being opened, as I was afraid they might leave negative feedback, which I don’t think can be deleted, or changed.
Overall I will probably continue to have $1 or free shipping on items below $30, because I think it looks more appealing to potential buyers. I’ve sold a few cards for over $50 and sent in normal envelopes without problems, just penny sleeve, toploader, and team bagged for anything over $10.
I do have a question about sending in regular envelopes with toploaders though, do I need to pay more, because the envelope is rigid? I’ve heard there could be problems with them going into the envelope sorter at USPS, but besides the champions festival buyer, never had any issues with people receiving, and I even fold the long (8.5 inch wide) envelopes in half when sending, which makes them a little thicker.
The best way, in my experience, to do plain white envelope shipping is to write “Non-Machinable” in red pen on the front and back noticeably and add a 21 cent (additional ounce) stamp with your forever stamp. I’ve had 0 lost or damaged envelopes since I’ve started doing this. So probably 300-400 envelopes total.
@pieterpie I ship 100+ plain white #6 envelopes a week with orders <$10. I ship up to one toploader (never two as it is too thick), or up to 12 cards in a team bag in it without the extra ounce or anything for non machinable. I never have issues regarding USPS worrying about non machinable or anything of that nature. I have bought from many big eBay sellers and they do the same. The extra 21 cents doesn’t sound like much, but if I did that on every envelope it would cost me well over $1,000 a year and it isn’t necessary.
I have tested the limits in the past just sending cheap cards to friends for science, and 2 toploaders thick gets return to sender over 50% of the time for insufficient postage/non machinable surcharge needed as well as anything over 5 cards in a team bag has similar rates from my small experiment. In literally thousands of transactions, I have never once had a single toploader come back (as they do have some flex to them) nor have I had 12 or less cards in a team bag come back once.
@gottaketchumall Kinda off topic but similar vein of discussion, I have received a few PSA cards from USA (to AUS) WITH tracking and sellers have paid around $4USD and change to about $5 and change, know anything about this shipping method? I have noticed that it says pitney bowes on the label which is the GSP service…
That sounds like First Class International Letter. But I was always under the impression that tracking couldn’t be relied on outside the US. Would love to hear more about that option and the trackability.
I think the only way of doing it that cheap is to bend the rules a bit. I don’t ship international too often, but when I do I describe it as large envelope which is rigid. Coming up with my method I have used:
Only way to get price way down is to describe it as a rigid letter (which when using a padded envelope I do not think is proper, though it may be fine).
As far as international tracking goes I am not too sure which of these options may or may not update tracking all the way to destination.
Here’s what I found on their site in regards to First Class International Letter:
Letter-size mail must be rectangular and must meet the following dimensions:
Not less than 5-1/2 inches long or 3-1/2 inches high or 0.007-inch thick.
Not more than 11-1/2 inches long or 6-1/8 inches high or 1/4-inch thick.
Note: For the purpose of determining mailability or machinability of a letter-sized piece, the length is the dimension parallel to the delivery address as read, and the height is the dimension perpendicular to the length.
This would be shipping label created through PayPal. It has more pocket friendly rates. The USPS website tends to charge more. So, if you do it directly through PayPal, i works this way. Also, the tracking I do believe works for Canada, UK, Germany, Australia and a couple of other countries. Though you can also put the tracking number in lets say the Greek post website and it should pop up (If its going to Greece of course).
Yeah I’m thinking it was through PayPal here is an example of the tracking: link
From memory this one was $5ish and definitely thicker than letter post around 2 - 3 inches thick
