Best Paypal account for selling on ebay

[Fat Brian]

I know this isn't about models but I figure there should be someone here who would be able to point me in the right direction. My wife wants to set up an account and begin selling on ebay. Right now I have the basic Paypal account that I use to buy things on ebay and I've paid for some other things with money transfers. Will she need a premium account to be able to receive payments from ebay or can she function as a seller with a basic account?

[mikemodeler]

Brian,

I have no clue but does eBay have anything in their registration info that could explain it? They own PayPal so I would think they would spell out what type of account is necessary in order to conduct business there.

No doubt someone smarter than me will have your answers, and soon!

Interested in finding out as my wife is thinking the same thing, sure hope she isn't looking at my stash and thinking it could be liquidated while I am travelling!

[martinfan5]

I have a basic account as well I believe, and I use it to sell, now here are a few things to keep in mind

When you start selling on ebay , Paypal can and will hold the funds from the buyer up to 21 days, they will let you have access to the shipping charge, this is for new sellers.

As long as your transactions go smoothly and you get positive feed back, you can get the funds sooner then 21 days, also , if you use paypal to print of the postage, and use a tracking number, that will also speed the funds process as well

Just a few things that I have learned, and had to deal with, I dont sell a lot on ebay, so I have to deal with this still

[nboldman]

I have a basic account as well I believe, and I use it to sell, now here are a few things to keep in mind

When you start selling on ebay , Paypal can and will hold the funds from the buyer up to 21 days, they will let you have access to the shipping charge, this is for new sellers.

As long as your transactions go smoothly and you get positive feed back, you can get the funds sooner then 21 days, also , if you use paypal to print of the postage, and use a tracking number, that will also speed the funds process as well

Just a few things that I have learned, and had to deal with, I dont sell a lot on ebay, so I have to deal with this still

X2 On this, ive only sold three things on ebay out of my 35 positive feedback and they still hold my money when i sell on feebay.

[shucky]

In my opinion, you should verify your paypal account by linking it with a bank account. Also have an active credit card on file. It makes transferring money a breeze and helps lift the "hold" they place on new accounts much quicker.

[Fat Brian]

I have my account verified and will do the same for hers, I was just wondering if you can still do things like Buy it Now and take instant payments with a basic account.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've been using ebay / paypal for over 5 years, have over 1000 transactions with a "personal account". It's all you need to do what you want to do. I do buy-it-nows and take instant payments all the time, and it never takes more than 3 or 4 days max to get my money into my linked bank account.

However, you MUST link at least one bank account (two and a credit card is better) to your paypal account to have any kind of timely processing and convenience. If you have linked accounts, you're not limited by what's in your paypal account. I've sold stuff all over the country and to England, France, Germany and Spain with never a problem with currency exchange or lost funds.........

A "premium account" lets you accept payments directly from credit cards, etc. with attached additional fees. If you only accept payments from paypal account holders, which is just about everyone, you don't need premium. There is also an "internet merchant account' which is un-necessary if you're small time. If paypal is holding funds for newbies, it's to cover their backsides, because they and ebay GUARANTEE SATISFACTION to both parties involved in a transaction, and they actually stand behind both buyers and sellers.

All of which still makes me wonder why so many people call it "fee bay" and "evil bay". The truth is, there's NO WAY IN JELL I could have sold a Lamborghini crankshaft to a guy in Spain without ebay / paypal. It works, it's secure, the fees are worth what you get in return....a GLOBAL market.

And the best thing to do is to read the FAQs and instructions on the PAYPAL SITE. They'll tell you the RIGHT ANSWERS.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Casey]

And the best thing to do is to read the FAQs and instructions on the PAYPAL SITE. They'll tell you the RIGHT ANSWERS.

QFT.

[Fat Brian]

Thanks guys, it sounds like I just need to set hers up like mine and that will be enough.

[gtx6970]

REALLY depends on number of transactions and/or dollar amount of sales per year

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Also, go on google and look up PayPal back ground.....

[Mike Kucaba]

"All of which still makes me wonder why so many people call it "fee bay" and "evil bay". The truth is, there's NO WAY IN JELL I could have sold a Lamborghini crankshaft to a guy in Spain without ebay / paypal. It works, it's secure, the fees are worth what you get in return....a GLOBAL market."

I couldn't have said it better!

[martinfan5]

"All of which still makes me wonder why so many people call it "fee bay" and "evil bay". The truth is, there's NO WAY IN JELL I could have sold a Lamborghini crankshaft to a guy in Spain without ebay / paypal. It works, it's secure, the fees are worth what you get in return....a GLOBAL market."

I couldn't have said it better!

I couldnt have said it better either, ebay/paypal have their down faults but, this is a case where I will take the good over the bad, but I am more of a buyer then seller

[Ben]

X2 On this, ive only sold three things on ebay out of my 35 positive feedback and they still hold my money when i sell on feebay.

Can anyone that has gone through this recently tell me how long they actually did have to wait? I was hit with this nice surprise over the past week when some items I had listed on Ebay sold and were payed for through Paypal. Man, was I NOT happpy to find this out being out of work and the bills being due! I wasn't going to pay EVEN MORE money to print a shipping label through Ebay so I sent the items the first day the post office was open and then went to my Ebay and manually entered to tracking numbers for domestic packages and the customs number for the international ones. It showed "items shipped" on Paypal next to each persons transaction history. How do they know if the person recieved the item and if they were happy? It says on Paypal, they don't go by the buyer leaving you good feedback as some buyers do that before even recieving their item.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I wasn't going to pay EVEN MORE money to print a shipping label through Ebay so I sent the items the first day the post office was open and then went to my Ebay and manually entered to tracking numbers for domestic packages and the customs number for the international ones. It showed "items shipped" on Paypal next to each persons transaction history. How do they know if the person recieved the item and if they were happy? It says on Paypal, they don't go by the buyer leaving you good feedback as some buyers do that before even recieving their item.

Every time I've bought shipping through ebay online and printed the labels, it's been CHEAPER than buying it through UPS directly or at the post office. Saves standing in line, too. Of course, you have to weigh and measure your packages, accurately (unless you're using flat-rate boxes, which are free at the P.O.). I've always received my funds in 4 business days, max, on US transactions. Out-of-the-country takes longer. The 'tracking number' is a delivery confirmation number, and once ebay has it, they're notified as to completed delivery also. Their transaction-tracking software is pretty smart.

Shipping items to many other countries can often be a real hassle, and it can tie up money for a while. Depends on the country. Anything South America or Mexico, forget it.

[Ben]

Every time I've bought shipping through ebay online and printed the labels, it's been CHEAPER than buying it through UPS directly or at the post office. Saves standing in line, too. Of course, you have to weigh and measure your packages, accurately (unless you're using flat-rate boxes, which are free at the P.O.). I've always received my funds in 4 business days, max, on US transactions. Out-of-the-country takes longer. The 'tracking number' is a delivery confirmation number, and once ebay has it, they're notified as to completed delivery also. Their transaction-tracking software is pretty smart.

Shipping items to many other countries can often be a real hassle, and it can tie up money for a while. Depends on the country. Anything South America or Mexico, forget it.

Thanks for that info! I thought it was just a printed label that they were charging for. I didn't realize that the postage was part of it. The bad thing is, in order to utilize that feature, I would have to buy ink for my printer, label sheets and a postal scale. I can't afford all that right now! I almost want to state that no international shipping would be available but that would really knock down the amount of bids on my items. This time I sent one package to Italy and one to Canada. The last one was in the US.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Thanks for that info! I thought it was just a printed label that they were charging for. I didn't realize that the postage was part of it. The bad thing is, in order to utilize that feature, I would have to buy ink for my printer, label sheets and a postal scale. I can't afford all that right now! I almost want to state that no international shipping would be available but that would really knock down the amount of bids on my items. This time I sent one package to Italy and one to Canada. The last one was in the US.

Depending on what you're shipping, you might want to look into flat rate boxes. The fee is the same up to 70 pounds, and there are 4 sizes. You can print labels on standard paper and just cut them out. Printer ink is kind of necessary, though. Good luck with Italy, too.

[Ben]

I use the Priority flat rate boxes for domestic shipments but it gets too expensive to send them out of the country! I just sent a small box to Canada yesterday that cost 4.00 in shipping. If I would have used the smallest flat rate box it would have been 12.95 in shipping!

Edited September 5, 2012 by Ben

[Casey]

Flat Rate boxes are only a good value if you're shipping very heavy items, but then you're restricted by the box size. They are designed for people who don't want the hassle of weighing and measuring packages, and don't mind paying a flat rate. I try to avoid sellers who use USPS Flat Rate shipping, as it's usually at least five dollars cheaper to ship in a Priority non-Flat Rate box.

You can get every Priority Mail box USPS.com offers shipped directly to your door, for free, so you will always have multiple Priority Mail boxes to chose from, and the "shoe box" is great for shipping a standard model in, too.

[Ben]

Flat Rate boxes are only a good value if you're shipping very heavy items, but then you're restricted by the box size. They are designed for people who don't want the hassle of weighing and measuring packages, and don't mind paying a flat rate. I try to avoid sellers who use USPS Flat Rate shipping, as it's usually at least five dollars cheaper to ship in a Priority non-Flat Rate box.

You can get every Priority Mail box USPS.com offers shipped directly to your door, for free, so you will always have multiple Priority Mail boxes to chose from, and the "shoe box" is great for shipping a standard model in, too.

By non flat rate box, do you mean the all white box that they have? I ship very small things most of the time like tires or wheels so I try to use the smallest box possible. The smallest box I have seen that USPS has for free is the small 8x5? flat rate box.

[Casey]

By non flat rate box, do you mean the all white box that they have? I ship very small things most of the time like tires or wheels so I try to use the smallest box possible. The smallest box I have seen that USPS has for free is the small 8x5? flat rate box.

If you're talking about the "Post It" labelled boxes they have near the registers, no. The free boxes from USPS.com are ALL Priority, Flat Rate, or Express Mail, so if you want to ship via USPS First Class or Parcel Post, USPS has no free boxes for those last two services. Here are the free boxes from USPS.com:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse/subcategory.jsp?categoryId=subcatMSS_B_Free&categoryNavIds=catGetMailingShippingSupplies%3AsubcatMSS_B%3AsubcatMSS_B_Free

I buy boxes from http://www.uline.com/ and they usually come out to $.50/box with shipping factored in. The 6x4x3 white crush-proof box is great for smaller items, weighs about 2 ounces, and they're very quick to ship. I get mine the day after I order from the Chicago warehouse. They have a ton of box sizes, so you can chose the best size for your needs.

[Ben]

Ah, I see. I have a place called EcoBox not too far from me and they have the same sizes and styles of boxes as Uline. They also sell everything from labels, peanuts and everything else you need for shipping or moving. I've been buying my big boxes there but realy didn't think about the small ones. I had been scraping by with little boxes I save from whenever I get something sent to me. I'm gonna see how much they get for their small boxes.