EBay Auction Sales Down?Summary: Due to the recent hack of eBay, and the requirement that users change their passwords, many buyers are having problems bidding. This means auction results are down. This article contains information about canceling auctions without penalty. I had a bunch of auctions end last night (May 26th, 2014) and was disappointed with the results. A half-dozen items I expected to end in the $25-40 sold for $10-12. A really nice item that I expected close to $100, sold for 40. Another item that I thought would bring about $75 went for $26. A $125 lot went for $50. Overall, I pulled about $400 less than I expected. I told myself that I'd never run auctions that end on a holiday again. This conclusion bothers me because I've always done well on holidays, but things change.
It Wasn't The Holiday.I got up this morning and found out that eBay bidders have been having problems with the new passwords and weren't able to bid. This problem is because eBay was hacked earlier this year and they're requiring users to change their passwords. The problem is so bad eBay is now allowing sellers to cancel transactions EVEN AFTER the buyer has paid:
Now, I already printed shipping labels for most of the items that ended last night, and many of the items are going to repeat buyers. Since I don't want to aggravate my regulars, I'll ship the items and take the loss. I'm willing to take the loss now because I know that overall I do well with auctions. It's averaging, and while this will pull the average down, it will go back up. Another reason is the work involved. I deleted the listings that sold from TurboLister, and already packed each item. I don't want to spend the time unpacking everything and redoing the listings or relisting them from within eBay. Also, I want to sell the next batch of stuff so I can make room for the incoming items. I did cancel two auctions this morning. In this case the buyer paid for the two items, and then tried to renegotiate the shipping charge. My opinion is the shipping is clearly listed in the auction, and if he felt it was too high, he shouldn't have bid. This buyer bought two listings, and I packed them together, and charged only the higher shipping amount because he was close. (Lot A was $10 shipping, Lot B was $13. I charged him $13 for both lots.) Also, I looked at his feedback, and it turns out he sells on eBay and charges similar or HIGHER shipping for his items than I do! I think he bought the items to resell, and wants to lower the shipping costs so he can make a bit of extra profit. Since eBay gave me an out, I refunded the buyer's money and cancelled the sale. EBay seems to be saying that they will remove feedback from unhappy buyers when we cancel transactions during this period. I'll find out if that is true.
Auctions that are still running.EBay is allowing sellers to cancel any auctions that end before June 1st 2014:
Going forward, I have more auctions ending later this week. Most of the listings I just want gone so I'm going to let those auctions sell. However, I have two listings that are better quality items. One has few buyers, but is rare. I'll cancel those listings if they are not at 70% of the expected price 24 hours before the end time. Here's a link to information on eBay about the cancellations, and actions that are open to you.
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