Selling part of your listed item to a buyer

[gfd_622]

Hi all,

So I have done this many times with no regrets, but I’m sometimes wondering if this is an allowed practice by eBay and if this is something I should avoid doing. Many times I have lots of items for sale, say a lot of 10 different video games. People message me and say that they are just interested in one of the games. I tell them to make me a specific offer for that game and I will send it to them.

I used to make a new listing when people would make this request, but then many times they ended up not purchasing the item, and I was stuck with new listings that weren’t really what I wanted to sell. Since I’ve started this practice, I’ve sold many things this way with no regrets, but I’m worried that if something does go wrong that it may be difficult to get support or help from eBay since the item is not really how it was originally described. Do they consider email logs as modified descriptions in such cases?

Just curious, no worries. I always complete things through eBay, that’s never an issue, but I just want to make sure things are handled right in the event of something happening. Including I guess if I ever did this for an international sale and it goes through global shipping.

Thanks

[Sharyn]

I’m not aware of eBay having an issue with selling only part of a listing. They do have access to your messages and will consider them for dispute resolution. I see no reason why they wouldn’t look at them as part of a sale.

In the past, I would modify the listing for a request forgetting to make a copy, and then I would be screwed when I created a listing for the stuff that wasn’t sold. When I made a copy, I would then modify the original, and then the customer could purchase it and all was good. But, as you said, occasionally, the listing would end up being unsold.

What I do these days, and perhaps it’s not the best method, is I make an offer in the reply to their request. In the comment field, I’ll specify that the offer is only for the items that they requested and that I’ll refund them any overage on the shipping. So, if they don’t buy, then the listing hasn’t been modified.

In many cases, the buyer believes (or, at least, I think they do) that if I am selling three items for $30, then I will sell them one for $10. But, I take into consideration that I have to create a new listing and potentially take more photos, so I’ll only sell for higher than the $10. So, whatever, they don’t buy, and I’m not out any extra work. At least I gave them the opportunity.

[Sharyn]

Yes, I can see global shipping could be an issue. If you see that the buyer is in another country, then modifying the listing would be the better solution. It doesn’t happen that often (at least, not to me), so the few times you might end up with a potential non-sale is no big deal. Just remember to make that copy and keep it in draft!

[Jay]

So what happens to the original listing now that you’ve sold one of the ten games?
–Do you take photos of the new “nine game” listing?
–Or do you just say in the description “one game is missing”?

[gfd_622]

So when a person does eventually purchase an item this way, Once they pay and I ship it off, I relist the original item and change description if necessary and retake photos to reflect exactly what is for sale. I try to make sure my listings do show what they will be getting without confusion (hopefully).

[Jay]

Here’s our issue:
–We list items in lots because they aren’t worth much by themselves.
–For instance, we’ll list 10 ties for $40.
–If a buyer wants just the blue tie, he wants to pay $4.
–If we sell the one tie for $4, we the have to get all the ties, take a photo of them all, and then relist the lot.

Is this worth $4 to you? Whats the math that motivates you to take new photos?

[Sharyn]

I also will retake photos. Often, all I need is a new main photo. I’ll just delete or cutout anything with the old item. Sometimes I have to take more.

[gfd_622]

So I don’t do this a lot, but at times it happens as I’m selling collectibles. One time I was selling 4 cast iron wall plaques depicting a butter churn, and 3 other things I can’t remember right now. I had them as a set for $40. A guy offered me $20 for one of them, I sold that, and then re-listed the 3 for $35.

Prior to that people would ask me to split things up, I would and then they would never follow through, so I stopped that practice as that was not worth it at all.

I prob won’t do this much anymore, as I just upgraded my store, but when I was limited in listings I would sometimes combine things instead of using 4 separate listings for that set. So it’s a very situational thing, really doesn’t happen a lot, but sometimes people see a piece of what I’m selling and really are just interested in that. If it’s a decent return, I’ll do it.

I agree with you Jay, if I was breaking out a $4 tie from a set I wouldn’t do it. But if the offer is good, I’ll do it every time.

[Jay]

These days, if someone says “can I just buy the blue one”, we say “sure, pay full price for the lot item and we’ll just ship the one item”.

[Author]

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