# Any of you try Amazon or Ebay to sell?



## AmberM (Oct 12, 2013)

I realize there are past threads on this but I wanted to get some recent feedback.

With those of you with your own site, do you find popular selling platforms like amazon or ebay useful for exposure? I'm a retailer (women's dresses mainly) and thought that it might be a way to branch out a little. I have a some experience with ebay and am careful about pricing things due to all the fees. I don't have any experience with Amazon.

I looked in the seller information on Amazon and their rules are more rigid than ebay. One of their requirements for clothing that I'm a little baffled about is that all _major brands_ must be listed using the _manufacturer's UPC code_.

What do they mean by 'major brands'?
And do you make UPC codes for your t-shirts to sell? 
In my situation I have no idea since I purchase from a manufacturer...does this mean I have to create UPC codes myself? 


So confuzzzzd


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

This is from personal experience, so I am sure others have had different results. Ebay for us sells the odd item here and there. We average about 20 items a week on Ebay. Price is the main attraction there, people look for a bargain. I found that Ebay has a lot of small home based business that don't seem to understand what their costs are and don't charge enough for what they sell. Nothing against small home based businesses, that's how I started, but you need to understand what your item costs and listing costs are before you set a starting price. We tried Amazon for a few months and sold absolutely nothing. The one thing I don't like about Amazon is that they tell you how much to charge for shipping. So you need to keep your pricing competitive and depending on where you ship, your shipping costs can kill you. I also found Amazon a little confusing to set up and use. Again, my personal experience.


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## strike3sports (Jun 24, 2013)

Ebay works ok. Most people on there are looking for bargains. It's hard to get your retail prices on ebay. At least that is my experience with it. You can price it low and hope for bids to go up, but it can be risky. I have not had any experience with Amazon yet so I will be interested in hearing what others say about Amazon.


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## AmberM (Oct 12, 2013)

Yeah the fees on ebay are a pain but I just try to set prices as fair as possible. I notice bids only do well for well-known brands and antiques. Again amazon seems stricter with their posting standards then on ebay, especially with clothing.

Alrozac - did you have to include UPC codes to post your clothing on Amazon?


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## lewis1987 (Oct 29, 2013)

Is it best to list it as a buy it now price, or go for a low auction and either bid it up/cancel if you dont reach the price you need to be able to sell on ebay?

I haven't tried it yet, but this is something i've debated


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

I always use buy it now with eBay. Playing the auction game is too time consuming. If you price right, you will sell. With amazon we had to create sku s and that was time consuming and then they have all sorts of fees. We sold absolutely nothing on Amazon and with amazon they tell you what to charge for shipping which often doesn't cover your costs. So take teir fees plus the loss on shipping and you might as well sell lemonade in a snow storm. I can think of better ways to lose money. But some people do well on amazon, we didn't.


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## njemtmike (Nov 6, 2013)

I agree with Ebay, it reminds me yard sale prices, there is always someone ready to give their product away. I was thinking about trying Amazon until I read these posts.


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## Preston (Mar 21, 2006)

I have never sold shirts on Ebay or Amazon but I do sell on Ebay and Amazon.

My normal product I sell on Ebay I list with Free Shipping as it is cheap and customers love free shipping. Amazon does not give the option of free shipping but adds the amount of shipping they make the customer pay to what you get.

For my product Amazon's fees are higher but they pay me for standard shipping at a rate higher than it cost me. They also process the payments in house so there are no PayPal fees. It actually works out that I make about $0.50 more selling the same item on Amazon as I do Ebay after all expenses.

The biggest disadvantage of Amazon is how long it takes to get your money. They transfer any money you have coming into your bank account. Even though they say 14 days at max for new sellers it can actually take a lot longer to get your money.

The plus side for Amazon is they are not inundated with cheap customers so you can actually get a better price for your product in a lot of cases.

On Ebay the URL to your listing changes every time you need to re-list it. On Amazon the URL remains the same making it easier to spread that URL around.

Bottom line is that both have their downside and both cost a lot. But then it cost money to be in business.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

Another thing about eBay is the amount of free loaders that take advantage of the PayPal protection policies. We ship our eBay shirts by regular mail to save on shipping. We get more and more people saying that they don't get their shirt and put in a claim with PayPal. Since we ship without a tracking number we have no proof of delivery and the buyer gets a full refund from PayPal. So not only are you out the shirt and transfer and your time and shipping costs but the buyer gets a free shirt and there is nothing you can do about it but smile. 
There are many good buyers, but the bad just tick me off. And they do it often to many people. I had one guy buy a shirt, played the I never got it game, got his money back and then bought another one off of me. When I saw he had done that I cancelled his purchase and told him to take a hike. I hope his shirt gets fleas.


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## odil1372 (Aug 15, 2009)

alrozac said:


> Another thing about eBay is the amount of free loaders that take advantage of the PayPal protection policies. We ship our eBay shirts by regular mail to save on shipping. We get more and more people saying that they don't get their shirt and put in a claim with PayPal. Since we ship without a tracking number we have no proof of delivery and the buyer gets a full refund from PayPal. So not only are you out the shirt and transfer and your time and shipping costs but the buyer gets a free shirt and there is nothing you can do about it but smile.
> There are many good buyers, but the bad just tick me off. And they do it often to many people. I had one guy buy a shirt, played the I never got it game, got his money back and then bought another one off of me. When I saw he had done that I cancelled his purchase and told him to take a hike. I hope his shirt gets fleas.


Why are you not spending the extra few cents to send your items with delivery confirmation? It's pennies, seriously, and PayPal requires it. If you print your labels online, you even get a discount.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

USPS is just a few cents. Canada post is almost $10 more. We can ship a tshirt oversized letter to the States for $3.80. If we ship with delivery confirmation they want $12. USPS wants to work with its customers where as it feels like Canada post wants to gouge us. 
Do any of you have a cheaper way of shipping with delivery confirmation from Canada to the States?


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## Preston (Mar 21, 2006)

alrozac said:


> USPS is just a few cents. Canada post is almost $10 more. We can ship a tshirt oversized letter to the States for $3.80. If we ship with delivery confirmation they want $12. USPS wants to work with its customers where as it feels like Canada post wants to gouge us.
> Do any of you have a cheaper way of shipping with delivery confirmation from Canada to the States?



The rates I just looked up was $1.50 for signature or free if shipping priority. Tracking a Delivery confirmation is included at no extra cost for all parcel services. For Registered LetterMail proof of mailing and delivery confirmation (Tracking) is included free. You can oversize LetterMail up to 500 gram for $3.75 plus the Registered part of $8.50 .

So the question is, in the long run which cost less? Paying the fees to get proof or having the "Free Loaders" rip you off? In either case it is called the cost of doing business. You can either write it off as a loss or roll it in as an expense.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

I know. Like I said, there are a lot if good people on eBay, but there are more and more that figured out that if they cry a bit and say they never got their item they get the item and a refund. Don't get me wrong. I still make good money but it just rubs me the wrong way when you know they got it and are cheating the system. If you got your item and don't like it just tell me and I will work with the buyer to make it right. No need to lie about it. We offer a 100% satisfaction warranty so why lie about it? I would feel better if someone said "you know what, I appreciate you sending me this shirt but it's not what I expected". I would then try and get them what they expected or offer a refund and let them keep the shirt. But when they say I want a refund because you never sent the shirt, that is what bugs me.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

Sorry for ranting on you guys.


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## AmberM (Oct 12, 2013)

Hm never heard of customers trying to rip of sellers that bad on ebay. Sorry you had such bad experiences alrozac. 

As far as ebay goes, I gave it a shot a few times but I think it's something you really have to dedicate yourself to full-time. The people that make a living for themselves on there seem to have gigantic stores and post several items a day. I have my own site and don't think I'd be able to keep up with that. 

Also at the end of the day you really ought to think about how something like posting on ebay would affect your brand. I may just use ebay to liquidate/clearance old season's clothing but that's about it.


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## balboa (Feb 20, 2007)

Chipping in a bit late here, but thought i'd add our pennies worth.
Ebay we don't do a hell of a lot of - people expect to get bargains on eBay, so they want items priced at really low prices.
Amazon however is another story - if you can dedicate some resources to it I would advise it for sure, particularly if you have unique products.
We have increased company turnover by 40% through Amazon. Sure it is more difficult to list, and competition is more fierce but I don't think you can afford not to be on there in the future. Amazon is already the dominant e-comm force, but the plans they have for the next few years is startling. 
5 years ago no one could imagine not having a website to sell on - in 5 years time you shouldn't imagine not being on Amazon. 
They have such power that as soon as your product gets traction within Amazon, and you can maintain good reviews you soon start appearing at the top of their searches, where the real revenue is. They then use Amazons marketing power to get top listings for your products in Google organic search, and Adwords - this alone saves huge amounts of time and money. If you ask me giving 15% (the average that we worked out it costs) to Amazon to produce sales for you is a pretty good deal!
The key thing here is ensuring you have unique products - you can end up with people ripping off your design, then listing against you using Amazons algorithms, just because they are offering it a lower price. As long as you are vigilant you can prevent this.
Then there are all the Amazon locations across the globe: .com, .co.uk .fr .es .it - it grows incrementally from there....


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## codyjoe (May 6, 2013)

I've always been mesmerized by people on these forums stating that they actually can make livings just from selling t-shirts through eBay alone. The people on that site expect to find bargain prices and usually want some fast shipping times. As to how you guys can meet those demands is beyond me.


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## RaptorRay (Oct 6, 2009)

Ask someone that purchases an item from Amazon or eBay who they bought it from. They sure don't say from Joe's Fantastic T-shirt Shop, they say they bought it from Amazon or eBay. All your hard work and fame doesn't stay with you it goes to Amazon or eBay. If you are going online, you need to create a presence for you not for Amazon or eBay.


Ray


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## violette (Nov 15, 2007)

I don't sell t-shirts, but I've been selling online since 2003. I use eBay a lot and recently started selling on Amazon, as well. Both sites have their pros and cons. 

On ebay, things have been going downhill for the vintage stuff I sell there. They've increased fees and don't guarantee that your item will actually be seen by buyers. In addition, as some have mentioned, buyer scams and non-paying-bidders on auctions have dramatically increased. I used to get lots of bidders on auctions, but these days, I'm lucky to get more than one. For fixed price sales, there aren't the number of views that there used to be. Ebay got a reputation for poor-quality sellers, so people are less inclined to shop there vs. higher-regarded brands like Amazon, and they tend to want dirt-cheap pricing.

Amazon has a good reputation among buyers and tends to bring higher prices than eBay. They are strict with their rules, but they don't change them a lot like eBay does. They do have higher fees than eBay, but that is offset with better visibility and better-quality buyers. I've only been selling there a short while, so I can't speak to results yet. 

Most items on Amazon require a UPC code, which is one reason you don't see a lot of used or vintage stuff there like you do on eBay. If what you want to sell doesn't have one, you can purchase UPC codes for your business. I haven't done this yet myself, but I've heard they are not terribly expensive. 

If you're an individual seller on Amazon, you get no real control over shipping charges. If you're a Pro seller who pays the $39.99/month rate, you are able to have free shipping or charge what you want. Amazon still has a set "allowance" for what they reimburse you for shipping, but you get the flexibility to charge what you like or wrap the cost into the price and do free shipping, which buyers seem to love.

The other Amazon option is FBA - Fulfillment By Amazon. This is where you ship a box of items to one of Amazon's warehouses and they handle all the packing/shipping for you. This has its own set of fees and may or may not be cost-effective, depending on what you sell. You still need UPC codes and have to bag or wrap the individual items, but Amazon handles boxing and shipping it for you. This might be a good option if you can't get good shipping costs, since Amazon's volume gets them huge shipping discounts.

So, I don't sell t-shirts, so take what I say here with a grain of salt, since that's a different market. My recommendation is to do a little research on both venues. Ebay lets you see sold items (under advanced search) so you can see what items similar to yours have sold and what kind of prices they get (you can sort by price, too). On Amazon, it's a little trickier. You need to find the category your items sell in and find some close to what yours are, then look at the sales rank. The lower that number, the better. Amazon doesn't like to give out actual sales figures, so it can be hard to determine if your item will sell. 

I'd suggest trying a few items on both platforms. I don't have an eBay store, so I can't say if it's better than just selling individual items or not. eBay has also been having free listing specials frequently and gives you 50 free auctions per month. You can also have a fixed-price "buy it now" price on any auctions, so you get the best of both worlds. On Amazon, start out as an individual seller to get a feel for it and get used to all the rules. That's what I'm doing. If I start to sell a lot, I'll look into the Pro plan, since you get more flexibility with it and have lower fees.

There are a few other sites that may work if you're producing your own items. Etsy has been getting a lot more traction lately and a similar site, ArtFire, has brought me decent results. But, since I don't sell t-shirts, your mileage may vary. Etsy charges $0.20 per listing and that can stay up for 4 months. ArtFire has a monthly fee, but no individual listing charge and no time limit. All of these sites, except for Amazon, use separate payment services like Paypal, Google, or their own direct credit-card acceptance. ArtFire allows Amazon checkout and ProPay merchant accounts, as well. These services have their own fees, so that needs to be taken into account, too.

Hope this data dump is helpful!


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## Preston (Mar 21, 2006)

RaptorRay said:


> Ask someone that purchases an item from Amazon or eBay who they bought it from. They sure don't say from Joe's Fantastic T-shirt Shop, they say they bought it from Amazon or eBay. All your hard work and fame doesn't stay with you it goes to Amazon or eBay. If you are going online, you need to create a presence for you not for Amazon or eBay.
> 
> 
> Ray


I guess you could say the same thing about all the clothing lines and designer stuff sold in department stores and such. Someone will ask "Where did you get that" and the reply may be "Macy's'" but they will still know it is a Ed Hardy. Fame is not indicative of where you sell your product but the product and quality itself.

You need to look at Amazon, Ebay and the like as online outlet stores or online department stores where you would sell your products.


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## violette (Nov 15, 2007)

Branding can be hard on generic sales venues like Amazon and eBay. A lot of sellers use these sites to get their products known and then draw customers to their own branded web sites. You aren't allowed to redirect the customers yourself on those sites, but nothing prevents you from including marketing literature with that info in your shipments. 

Amazon actually has programs for hosting web stores. Big brands like Target have used Amazon to run their web sites for them. They have varying levels of that. You can use just their checkout payment services if you want. I don't know all the details but they have the info on their site.


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## id8media (Oct 19, 2010)

Just a few comments as we sell on both sites.

You can set your shipping to whatever suits you for categories other than DVD or book so that's not a problem for tees and mugs.

We sell far more through Amazon than eBay and that has been a change over the last 18 months. 

i will also comment that Amazon is less effort, we find products to ebay users 'go missing in the post' and they are very quick to complain or leave negative feedback if you refuse to haggle on price.

On Amazon we just don't have the same problems with customers.

We also sell product through our own site, and we find people who initially buy our product from either site will often switch to our own site for future purchases. I understand the issue of driving traffic to Amazon and not owning the customer, but our products are branded and the material people receive relates to us not Amazon.

It is a channel and is the same as selling through a high street retailer. Your own brand and website is important but depending on your market and products it may or may not be that important to you.

One also has to be somewhat realistic about the reach of someone like Amazon, we have certainly found it a profitable and relatively easy place to sell on, and we are not having to spend too much time and money on marketing ourselves.

That said, I wouldn't put our own site on their webstore, I did look and found it quite clunky, and I wouldn't want all my eggs in the same basket!


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

It's nice to see that I am not the only one seeing a raise in bad buyers on eBay. Like everyone else is saying. eBay is not a place to brand yourself. We use eBay for the sales and when we ship we put our own publicity in the package to promote our site. We get people that insist on repeat buying from us through eBay but we get more and more people going to our site for repeat purchases. We will give amazon another go to see if we can get that going. Like I said before, the last time we tried it we had no sales through them. Maybe change our approach. 

Do any of you have suggestions on increasing amazon sales and most of all any suggestions on using their listing system.


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## id8media (Oct 19, 2010)

I wonder if it's just demographics, our products tend to sell to people in their 30's and 40's and Amazon is probably a better fit.

I have a friend who has great success on eBay, and Amazon was so so, but then he is more in the 20's market.

This is just my opinion btw!

As for listing system, I keep a well maintained spreadsheet for frequent uploading, and do keyword refreshes and keep a note of any noticeable impact it has and then, but it is hit and miss.

Main thing is get some sales and reviews, once you have a couple of 4 or 5 star reviews on a product, it's visibility seems to improve a lot!


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## 2Dye4 (Jan 9, 2006)

I"m going to put in my two bits for Artfire.com as another alternative. I learned recently they have a "Commercial" side of the site as well a handmade devision where I sell. Here is the link to the "commercial t-shirt section" for your perusal....ArtFire | Browsing Commercial > Clothing

I sell OK there and it generates a lot of special orders. I only really push it and get new items listed after my outdoor market season is over. (So, my shop is pretty depleted right now...)

Might be worth a look...

Jo


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## tetaganda (Apr 22, 2012)

I've been selling on Amazon for 2 years now and it has been better for me than Ebay. I signed up as a professional seller, paying $39.99 a month but it's very much worth it. I can disburse my parents to my bank account every 24 HOURS and the listing fee is lower. I do have UPCs for all my products. I paid $250 to register 200 UPCs online when I started and that's not a lot in my opinion. It helped me put my products on Google products and shopping too. It was a good investment. 

I also utilize their FBA, Fulfillment By Amazon. It has additional charges to use FBA but the time and effort I save is worth it. Instead of shipping orders individually, I just ship products in bulk to Amazon and they take care of everything from then on. Even the customer service is handled by them. It also increased my exposure in their search results. Also, buyers tend to buy more when they see its fulfilled by Amazon because a lot of Amazon buyers are Prime members. These prime members pay I think $79 a year to have free two day shipping in all their purchases. And it gives buyers more confidence in buying knowing that Amazon is handling the products. 

I am myself a frequent amazon customer and I tend to buy those products that are amazon fulfilled. Even when the price is 2 to 5 dollars more. So as a seller, I factor in the price the cost of FBA fulfillment. It's like paying more for advertising too. 

I agree the process to sell on amazon is more rigid but once you get in settled, it is much easier. It's just the start that gets tedious. Once you have established and is approved to sell in the categories, you can just post your items. They have regular seller evaluations to make sure you are on the right track with their policies. But I think it makes selling more professional. 

I have closed my eBay store because I lose more money than earn. All in all, I recommend trying Amazon and utilize all their tools on being a successful seller. 

Good luck!


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## TMCshirts (Apr 20, 2013)

The problem I see on eBay is people selling items for almost cost which is insane. Example is a shop on eBay who is selling shirts (over 384 different designs) for $7.75 each and they are using transfers (A lot of the designs I can get from Pro World, Xit, etc.). 

They are claiming to be putting them on 50/50 Gildan shirts. 

I don't know how these guys are making any real profit. If you look at a transfer cost of lets say $1.50 each (On the low side), and a Gildan 50/50 White shirt at another $1.60, plus your shipping costs to you. 

Then they sell it for $7.75 and only charge $3.95 for shipping USPS first Class which will barely pay for the postage. 

So let's do the math. $7.75 minus the cost of the transfer $1.50 and the shirt $1.60 and some shipping of those items to you say $1.00 depending how much you order that leaves you with $3.65 gross profit, and we have not even figured in Labor, Electricity, etc. which could bring the cost down to as low as say $1.00 to $1.50 profit. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I am not selling a shirt that I have to make for $1.50 profit. You should be making $10.00 on a shirt. A buddy of mine owns a screen print shop and I was showing him this and he told me no way would he sell something at this low of a margin to a customer.

All comments welcome.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

You need to keep in mind that many people on eBay are students or retired people looking for a hobby. The rest are trying to make a few coins and having to deal with people who are just passing time. That's why we sell on eBay but it's not our number one income. When ever we sell something on eBay it's a bonus.


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## PrintGarments (Jun 6, 2013)

Yeah i've used both extensively and while i see the value in them both, it is only as additional sales channels to your existing business. I wouldn't like to retail 100% of products on these sites as they are extremely price sensitive. Also you could try ASOS.


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## violette (Nov 15, 2007)

Very true. The same problem shows up on other venues like Etsy, as well. There are those of us who sell as businesses and others who are part-time or just looking to make enough to pay for their hobby. The problem comes in with the pricing, since a business has a greater need for profit than someone just funding a hobby or looking to make a few extra dollars. 

What we do is just price to the level we need and try to sell on our professionalism and quality of product and services. A venue like Amazon tends to attract more business-minded folks than Ebay or Etsy, which are aimed more at individuals. What I hear from others in the business is that Amazon can support higher prices because people have greater trust in it and because it simply gets more traffic than other venues. I suspect your own branded web site could support higher pricing, as well, because having a well-done ecommerce web site is viewed as more "legitimate" in terms or a business than just an Ebay or Etsy store. Those of us who do this sort of thing know that's not really true, but it's all about impressions.


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## Jmelwak (Oct 23, 2013)

i found that having something unique on ebay sells alot better. I make some designs or funny shirts and test them out. if they sell then great if not i move on to something else. its alot of trial and error for me but i have a good flow going now and making sales every day for shirts upwards from 15-$20 a pop. 

it can be done on ebay but i guess it depends on your business model as well.


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## Stefano (Aug 5, 2013)

AmberM said:


> Hm never heard of customers trying to rip of sellers that bad on ebay. Sorry you had such bad experiences alrozac ...


Amber, I hope you are kidding and not serious!
eBay is loaded with tricksters, and I often suggested to them they have a SELLER's protection policy because they bend over backwards to please the buyer, no matter how unreasonable the buyer is. They just sucked the money out of your Paypal account and you had to live with it.

At one time (don't know if it's still true) eBay's geniuses wanted sellers to give a satisfaction guarantee, as if all sellers had the resources of Walmart or Target. Garment sellers complained they would send out an item in good faith, people would wear it, send it back stained or otherwise unsellable, and demand their money back. Sellers of vintage electronics equipment would have the radios returned, minus some expensive components that sleezy buyers removed.

Maybe eBay has changed their mentality that everyone was running a big retail store, and gone back to the "yard sale" business model. I don't know because I haven't used them for years.
- Steve


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

No, they still have the same mentality. If the seller complains, ebay will offer you the chance to make it right and if the buyer is still not happy they get their money back and all you can do is say, thanks for ripping me off.

We sell a lot on ebay, but we deal with a lot of crooks also. And what ticks me off is when you know the buyer is full of it, but he has the big end of the stick and will use it against you.

With the profit you make on a t-shirt, it makes me wonder sometimes if its worth it. But on the other hand, we do sell to a lot of good people.


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## emland (Nov 19, 2013)

Just for clarification, if you want to sell shirts on Amazon, you must do the $39 deal, correct?

Selling clothing doesn't seem to be an option for individuals. Or did I read it wrong?


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## violette (Nov 15, 2007)

The clothing category requires pre-approval on Amazon. I don't know if you can sell in that category on the individual plan, but I've heard they're picky about that category and expect to see a solid online presence before they approve you. I suspect being on the pro plan would help. Amazon has a number of categories they restrict **** this.


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

Well, we just pulled all of our listings from EBAY. They said we had too many buyers complain that our shipping took too long to ship to US customers and put our paypal account on a 21 day hold for each item we sell until we can speed up our delivery. I tried to explain that we ship from Canada and it takes the post office a bit more time to ship to the States. They then told me that if I wanted the hold status lifted I had to use overnight shipping. After almost 3 hours of arguing with about 8 different agents and getting the continuous "I understand" and "I'm sorry", I told them where to go and how to get there. We will turn our sales to Amazon and EBAY can go (can't say these words on this site). I guess they don't need the huge fees we paid to them on a monthly basis.


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## violette (Nov 15, 2007)

That is typical Ebay. I don't think the people who work there actually ever try to sell on the platform, otherwise they would have some common sense about these things. They're always trying to get us to ship stuff using expensive shipping services to get there fast, yet tell us to ship for free. Unless you sell big-dollar items, it makes no financial sense to do that. No one wants to pay more for shipping than what the item costs, so they generally opt for the slowest (cheapest) shipping method.


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## VeesTees (Feb 19, 2014)

Just read through all of your comments and experiences, and Wow, as if the setting up of the business is the easy part!
Ive only just got all my equipment together, so havent even made a Tshirt yet, but I do have my Business Ebay and Paypal set up ready to get going. Plus I have purchased my domain and am TRYING to make my own website on Wix, but with my dreadful lack of knowledge its going slooooooowly.. 
You all seem to be in the US or Canada, Im in the UK so been trying to do currency conversions whilst reading. I had worked out that costing of a Tshirt was about £4.36, so selling for £12 Free P&P, would leave me with £6 profit, does this sound OK?

Vee


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

Not quite sure what the conversion rate us, but if you are selling on eBay, keep in mind all of the fees that go with it. Listing fees, selling fees when your item sells and the PayPal fee which is what PayPal takes for handling your buyers payment. And of course you also need to calculate the cost if giving shirts away for free when the buyer says he never got the shirt but you know very well that he did. I had one guy not too long ago tell me that when he got his shirt one side was almost 2 inches higher than the other at the collar. No issue with the design but the shirt was out of whack. Knowing very well that the guy was full if it, I just gave him his money back because eBay would have done so anyways. But not only did he get the shirt for free, it also cost me all if the listing and selling fees.


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## VeesTees (Feb 19, 2014)

Yeah that £6 does include Ebay and Paypal fee's, Plus I can send and have it signed for for £1.83, which may save me 'I never got it' expenses. 

Vee


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

I wish canada post let us have a signature for that cheap. We are getting gouged for shipping here.


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## VeesTees (Feb 19, 2014)

Its all swings and round-a-bouts, I saw the equipment I needed for half the price in America, and you probably have something else cheap in Canada, possibly..maybe lol


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## emland (Nov 19, 2013)

Alrozac: 

Is the majority of what you are sending to the US personalized? If not, can you perhaps set up a fulfillment account up with a pack and ship company on the US side?


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## alrozac (Dec 20, 2012)

About 75% of what we sell is personalized or custom. When we first started in the business we tried using a couple of reputable fulfillment companies and it was a nightmare. Wrong orders being shipped, customers getting publicity for other companies including our supplier, orders not being shipped and the list goes on. Even had one company send us a sample and send our customers something completely different. Then you have the ones that use your mailing lists for their own use even though you have a contract that says they won't. We now print everything in house and I enjoy the complete control of our products and I would not change that.


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