copy/paste from previous post
My advice would be to learn every nook and cranny of eBay’s policies as soon as you possibly can. It will save you a lot of headache and a lot of heartache.
When new sellers learn about the ‘Item Not As Described’ policy, and how it can be used (and sometimes abused) to force a seller into accepting a return, they try to craft their listing to be as vague as possible in the hopes that eBay will somehow magically side with them if a customer were try to use this technique to force a return. This doesn’t work, and when a seller does this to intentionally hide damage via deceptive pics or vague listings, they’re just begging for a return. Be upfront about everything that’s going on with the item - deception is a long-term loser’s game.
Spend more than 5 cents on your packaging, and spend some time learning about the best way to package and ship your items. I’m not sure there’s a good reason why tape should ever be on the inside of a package, unless you’re selling tape. Rubber or plastic bands and cheap ribbon do the job just as well and make your customer’s experience opening whatever they bought 100x easier. Bubble mailers, cardboard, and card savers are staples when it comes to shipping pokemon cards. If you must absolutely use toploaders, wrap the toploader in a piece of printer paper, throw a rubber/plastic band around it to make sure it doesn’t come undone, and wedge it between two pieces of semi-thick cardboard. Toss it in a(n appropriately-sized) bubble mailer and you’re done. If the card you’re shipping is so low value that the cost of the above is too high, look into top-loader sized envelopes and non-machineable stamps.
If you ever send a card, by itself with no other protection, immediately delete your eBay selling account. Cheap is easy, but wrong when it comes to collectibles.
Factor your shipping into your price and offer free shipping.
The world’s full of sharks and scumbags. You will meet both if you sell long enough. Don’t let them get under your skin.
International shipping can be a headache, and international buyers almost universally hate the thing that makes it less of a headache: GSP. I can safely say that all of my international sales would have eventually sold domestically, but at the time I was willing to take the risk of shipping internationally without GSP. Each seller has to figure out what’s best for them when it comes to international buyers.
The buyer’s obligation to you as a seller is to pay for the item. Once they pay, leave the positive feedback. You can’t leave actual negative feedback anyway, and leaving negative comments in a positive feedback is against feedback policy and will be removed by customer support if the buyer requests it.
Contrary to popular belief, sellers do actually receive protection by eBay against fraudulent buyers. Make sure you adhere to the seller protection guidelines when shipping your item, e.g., >$750 items need signature confirmation. I highly recommend purchasing postage through eBay. When a buyer requests a return, accept the return, even if you’re getting scam vibes out the wazoo. Most of the time you will get the item you sent back in the same exact condition you sent it. For the few losers out there that try to pull a scam by sending back a different item, as long as you met all the requirements for seller protection, you will likely get paid out for the item. And the buyer will still likely get their money back as well. This can be a hard pill to swallow. If it’s pokemon-related, you can ask to have them added to the blacklist here on the forum.
Spend some time learning how to take good pictures, and invest in some cheap lights and stands to display your products. Better yet, buy a scanner - picture perfect lighting every single time. The Epson Perfection V550 is perfect. Presentation is big part of making the sale, and good pictures not only give the customer more information about what you’re selling, they also show that you’re a competent seller.
Also spend some time either finding an eBay description template or making your own to make your listing process easier and your listing stand out from the auto-generated description that you’ll find on 90% of eBay listings.
Given enough time, you may become quite sad at how much eBay and PayPal take out of your earnings. You will have to reconcile those feelings with the realization that listing your cards in almost any other medium would result in 99.9% fewer eyeballs on your products and much less money. Both are a necessary evil for selling your stuff.
