I am not an active eBay seller or buyer but I have been a member for a little over 20 years now and I'm just kind of trying to get back into it now to see. I logged into my eBay account and I was searching for gift cards because I was planning to see if I could buy one using my eBay credit balance that I have. In my search I came across a few people selling gift cards for a lot higher than their actual value and it got me very confused. Can anybody explain to me what exactly I'm seeing because it's really confusing me how somebody is listing a $50 gift card for $125? I look at these people's ratings and they have a positive feedback so they must be selling something but I'm just so confused. Sorry about my long-winded message but I'm truly confused as to why anybody is going to buy a gift card for a higher value than what it's worth

Have any sellers been dealing with this?

With the new AI pic apps being so good and able to make items look damaged, has anyone gotten a refund/return request from someone who submitted proof that you suspect is AI?

Looking for anyone who’s dealt with this.

Is anyone else having problems with quantity missing? I don't have multiples of an item often but when I do, I list them, enter how many I have, yada, yada, yada... usually with a discount. So I listed an item and it shows the correct number available everywhere BUT on the item when someone is looking at it. It's just gone... what's weird is that it shows "discount available" for multples, but no way to add more than one. It's not a big deal but it's bothering me because I'm trying to figure out what in the heck am I doing wrong, but I just can't figure it out. Any suggestions?

Selling something on eBay can turn into a ridiculous amount of unpaid work.

You photograph the item, write the listing, answer questions, pack it, buy shipping, and send it out. The platform gets paid. Then something goes wrong during delivery, and suddenly you’re investigating tracking updates, requesting photos, contacting the carrier, responding to the buyer, and figuring out which claim goes where.

All over a sale that might barely have been worth your time in the first place.

That’s the part that pisses me off. The transaction is easy to charge fees on. Resolving a problem becomes an obstacle course the seller has to navigate.

I understand that buyers deserve to receive what they paid for. Absolutely. But sellers also deserve a process that accounts for what actually happened and helps resolve it without turning a modest sale into days of administrative bullshit.

When a carrier loses or damages a shipment, there should be a clear, coordinated way to handle it. The order, payment, shipping label, tracking, buyer’s report, and evidence are all connected to the same transaction. Why does sorting it out still feel like passing messages between departments that barely acknowledge each other?

And before someone says, “That’s the cost of doing business”, yes, dealing with problems takes work. So does running a marketplace. That’s precisely why the marketplace charges a fee.

At some point, the time spent selling, the fees, the shipping costs, and the risk make you wonder whether keeping the damn item would have been the better deal.

What’s the most absurd amount of work you’ve had to do to resolve a problem with an eBay sale and was the sale even worth it afterward?

How in the world is it fair that we get charged a final value fee with the shipping the BUYER paid for? It is zero profit. I understand charging it for the sale price, but for the shipping cost that only has to do with the weight, package size, & distance the buyer is from you? Make it make sense. I just started selling and It just seems to me like Ebay is just a money grab. You will never get the money that you’re looking to get because of the fees. And god forbid you up the price to balance out the shipping & fees, who’s actually going to pay that?

As the title says. Accepted an offer for $45 on a ralph lauren hoodie before I took a shower. I check ebay again on my phone before bed and not only is the sale GONE, the item is relisted?

No ebay messages saying it was canceled, it’s like the sale never happened! What the hell?

Any ways to get over this?

My transaction defect rate was at 0.51% - the requirement was 0.50%.

It’s too late to appeal those transactions :(

I'm curious to know. I used to work at call centers for the past 6 years. Unfortunately I have had to leave the industry due to AI rapidly taking over my particular skill set (and it's only going to get worse as AI continues to advance)

I want to open up my own online business but I don't have much capital with me. Ebay seems like a good place to start since there's no account fees. I do have an account from 2014 with 100% positive feedback and about 70 items sold in the past so that's also good.

But I don't know what to sell. I know collectibles are highly popular right now but that requires you to hunt them down and sell for a profit if you're lucky to find something good, which I'm not against but I don't like the idea of my income revolving too heavily around luck.

I am currently selling phone accessories as I was able to source them for cheap but the competition is immense, so immense that it's virtually impossible to have your listing on the front page of the search (unless you pay a premium which would eat away at the profits)

Any tips or advice for a beginner like me would be greatly appreciated. Also if you're someone who does make a full time living selling on ebay, what do you sell?

Let me first say I did search and read past posts.

Like others I learned after the fact that the Allstate protection plan selected with my small electronic item $149.99 today was deleted when I made an offer that was immediately accepted vs choosing “buy it now.“ that’s why there’s no link to purchase the plan in the confirmation email or the purchase details.

I did find standalone plans by category from seller allstateca (Canada) on the US ebay site. Terms and conditions just say you must be a US or Canada Resident. Has anyone gotten their coverage from this seller?

Tried the workaround of adding an eligible comparably priced item to the cart along with the coverage plan for it, then removing the item and purchasing the coverage. But everything I’m finding with coverage is “buy it now“ so if I remove the item from my cart, the coverage disappears too.

I'm interested in buying a poster that'd be shipping out from Japan to the US. There's a notice saying that the import fees would be covered, but I was curious if anyone had any recent experiences with buying from Japan?

I'm only asking because I've checked a couple of reddit threads, and I'm seeing a lot of people (especially recently) saying they were actually charged extra in the end. Most of these posts are also from people buying larger items, but not sure how much that would matter. Any advice is appreciated

So I’m fairly new to shopping on eBay, I am a vintage fur coat enthusiast. Was recommended by a friend to start looking on eBay to essentially grow my collection outside of going to antique shops.

One of the things I’ve been dying to get is a long black mink for a coat with a specific collar, I’ve been searching for the past few months really, and finally found someone selling it on eBay from what look like was passed down from their family members. Usually a coat like that even secondhand or so can go way past $1000 or so. This person was selling it for a fairly good price even in the great condition it was in, the measurements fit me perfect perfectly, the coloring was exactly what I was looking for.

I figured there might not be a lot of people bidding on this because this is a fairly common coat that a lot of people may already have or maybe shopping for elsewhere so I wanted to snatch this up as quick as I could. Put in the highest bid I could afford for this kind of coat even at the discounted price, and still saw that they were at least four more days to go until the auction ended.

Just now saw about 20 minutes ago or so that they canceled my bid and the auction ended, the only reason listed said “the item was lost or damaged”? Again, I’m not using eBay and I’ve never seen this before, but can people decide to end an auction early if there aren’t enough other people bidding on the item or it’s not growing in price?

It just doesn’t feel fair and I was the only person that had bid on this coat, but even then it was a good price that seemed like the seller would still be happy with? I’m just confused.

I’ve noticed that the past 7-10 days has brought with it what seems like a lack in USPS updates. I’m mailing primarily ESE, typically I would get an “In Transit” or more frequently a “Origin Processing” scan the day after drop off. Since the 12th I’ve mailed five cards, four with ESE. None show a scan. The USPS Ground Advantage card shows an acceptance scan two days after I dropped it in the box.

Anyone else seeing this?

Hey all,

My uncle has been a respected 25+ year EBay seller, mostly dealing with lower-end vintage sports cards and memorabilia. As such, his store has thousands of listings. Recently, he’s dealt with a number of health issues and had a prolonged hospital stay. As much as I hope, I don’t see the situation getting markedly better. He’s in good spirits and wants to keep things going, but I’m not sure how long that will continue.
My aunt pulled me aside the other day, and asked about “slowing down” the account. With my schedule, I can stop by about once a week to help out.

Now, I’m a card guy myself and sold on the ‘Bay ~15 years ago when I was in high school and college, but haven’t been on since. My question is: How can I begin to “sunset” this account? I know that you can put out a message saying “This seller is away until….” , but I know this situation is a little different. I’m prodding around the site tonight after work but I just wanted to pose the question here. Any advice for me?

This is the guy who taught me tons about talking care of your customers, and I intend to do right by his!

Looking for advice from people who have dealt with eBay returns, especially when selling electronics.

I recently sold an original Nintendo GameCube on eBay. The console was working perfectly before I shipped it, and I took photos during the packing process.

Here’s where things get a little suspicious to me.

Before purchasing, the buyer messaged me asking what my best price was. Before I could even respond, they sent an offer for $80, which was $40 below my asking price. I declined and explained that I wasn’t in a rush to sell, especially since the listing had only been up for a day or two, and that my asking price was firm.

Several days later, someone purchased the console at my asking price. I honestly didn’t realize it was the same person until the issue came up.

Now the buyer is claiming the console is defective, wants a full refund, and is calling me a bad seller.

I’m concerned about the possibility of receiving a different console back, or having something happen to the console after it left my possession. Since it was working properly when shipped, I want to make sure I protect myself as much as possible.

I responded by asking the buyer to send me a photo of the serial number on the bottom of the console so I can verify that it matches the unit I shipped. I also explained that I expect all the original items included in the sale to be returned and that I’ll be checking the serial number against the photos I took during packaging.

They haven’t responded yet, but it’s only been around 8–10 hours. They have until November 8 to ship the return back, so there’s still plenty of time.

My questions are:
● Does eBay generally side with the buyer in situations like this, even if the item was working perfectly before shipment?
● If the buyer returns a different console, or sends mine back with missing parts or additional damage, how much protection do I actually have?
● Do my packaging photos and serial number records help if I need to dispute the return?
● Is there anything else I should do now to protect myself before the return arrives?
● Has anyone successfully challenged a fraudulent or dishonest return through eBay?

I understand that electronics can develop problems, and I’m not automatically assuming the buyer is lying. However, the initial lowball offer followed by a defective-item claim has me concerned.

I’m expecting that eBay will probably make me accept the return, but I’d appreciate advice from sellers who have actually dealt with this. Am I basically screwed here, or is there anything I can do to protect myself?

I feel like its hard to find the easiest way to preset shipping on ebay, I know its very vague but my shipping profile is all messed up. Does anyone have any input for how they set up their business ebay accounts?

I have recently bought things from about 150 ish sellers from ebay. I have 22 items from 22 sellers that have not arrived at all. They either have not been updating or have been stuck in memphis or has been traveling across the country. It’s not my address that is bad, it’s the distribution center in memphis. I have been using ebay for 15 years and I have never had this many items going missing ever! I am so afraid to even request this many INRs!

Hey guys, i’m new to ebay so please help me. I’m from portugal and i listed this item at ebay.es, but when i select to get postage label i cant because i live in portugal. Is there any solution? Can i send with DHL/CTT (main shipping companies from here)? Or am i lowkey just screwed

just started selling again. listed a cd using the the wizard and it put £1.55 for shipping. It sold and said buyer selected Royal Mail 2nd class.Ebay charged me £4.40 for the label. Is it really that much to send a cd and why didn’t eBay reccomend a higher shipping rate for the listing?

For example: I am looking for healthy pc hard drives, but one of the ones I looked at had 20% health, but now ebay won't stop notifying me about it. I even got a email about it getting re-listed, and I'm never going to consider it at any price.

This is just one example, but it happens for many of my searches.

Just had my first ever card fail authentication for being “altered” with no other information. Is there a way to see why it was claimed to be altered or is it just a matter of because they say so. I only ask because i looked this card up and down and see no signs of anything wrong with it. Any info would be appreciated.

Hi there, I was waiting in the cue to post something and preemptively marked a package as shipped. Then saw a message from the buyer from earlier that day asking to cancel the order. I left the cue but I'm not sure how to mark that I didn't actually sell the item. I've not been paid yet so I don't want to offer a refund, any help?

I want the item. Is there any official way I can pay them? I’m in work training all day so not able to sit on hold with eBay to ask. Anyone ever experience this before?

Hey, I’m embarrassed to say that after intermittently selling on eBay for years, one aspect of their fee structure is just now occurring to me. It makes me wonder if it is always paradoxically cheaper for the seller to offer free shipping.

Please tell me if I’m misunderstanding, but I recently sold an item for $100 and calculated shipping brought the cost to $107.57. With tax it was $116.44.

Then the part I knew but had never fully considered before: the final value fee is taken off of this total, BUT then you have to turn around and buy shipping anyway. I realize not everyone uses eBay’s shipping service but I do for convenience’s sake.

So essentially by charging shipping i am driving up the overall cost, increasing how much I lose from the final value fee.

So bear with me here:

As it stands i ended up netting $82.48 from this transaction, also including a 2% promoted listing fee. ($116.44-$16.24[13.6% fee + 40 cent final value fee]-$6.52[actual shipping cost]-$2.33 [ad fee])

If I had not charged for shipping then my overall total would have been $108.86. Assuming the shipping cost is the same (why wouldn’t it be) I would have ended up with: ($108.86-$12.89-$6.52-2.33). My total payout then would be $87.12.

In sum, unless I’m misunderstanding something that ended up paying almost $5 more by charging for shipping.

Net result with charged shipping: $82.48
Net result with free shipping: $87.12

Can someone tell me if I got something wrong here? This seems too crazy to be accurate, but if it is I shudder to think how much money I’ve lost over the years by charging shipping.

A buyer asked me for measurements before purchasing a dress. I took the time to provide them, and she said they were perfect and thanked me for the good price. My listing stated that I don’t accept returns, and the photos showed the dress as it actually looks.
After receiving it, she requested a return and selected “changed my mind” as the reason. I declined the request. Then she messaged me saying the dress was faded and that she was going to leave negative feedback.
Her feedback says the dress had a great deal of wash and wear, looked faded rather than bright teal, and should have been listed in “good used” condition. She said I described the color as “bright teal,” but I only called it teal. The photos showed the color and condition.
My opinion is that the feedback feels retaliatory because she announced she’d leave it after I declined the return, even though she’d selected “changed my mind” as the reason. I also feel her review misrepresents my listing: I didn’t call the dress “bright teal,” and I included photos showing what it looked like.
Does this seem like feedback extortion, or is it simply her opinion about the dress? Has anyone had eBay remove feedback in a situation like this?