There are a million places on the internet to sell a suit, a pair of shoes, or a watch. But the biggest might still, sometimes, be the safest & easiest. Because unlike some other sites, eBay still has some protections against getting scammed, and in terms of the process of selling an item, they kinda have it down. That doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing though. Here are ten annoying (or worse) things that might happen if you try and sell something menswear related on eBay.
#1. Absurd Low Ball Offers that come in with days left on your auction
Offering $50 for something with an opening bid of $299 seems like a funny way to spend your life. Especially when there’s 5 days left in the auction.
#2. The requests for extremely unusual/detailed measurements
“Hey, so, I want to bid on this, but could you please measure the distance between the third cuff button on the left sleeve and the top right corner of the boutonniere hole when hung on a sheep that’s been sacrificed when aquarius is in retrograde?”
#3. Buyers that think they deserve your trust
I don’t care if you’re an Eagle Scout who was raised by the Pope and Big Bird. We have never met and never will. So if any behavior of yours has even the faintest whiff of scam, that’s a you problem, not a me problem. I once had a buyer ask me, after the payment had gone through and the label was printed, to change the delivery address from the address linked to his account, to someone else in another state. Why? Because he had purchased the item “as a gift” for someone. Who the hell buys a used blazer as a gift for someone? I said sorry, no-can-do, and he proceed to tell me I had “no reason not to trust” him. I told him I had no reason to trust him. And while they might sound the same, those two things are very different.
#4. Printers
Toner is a lot like deodorant. You always run out when you need it the most.
#5. Buyers that expect the item shipped the same day the auction ends
“Hey, it says it hasn’t shipped yet. I know it says 3 days of handling time, and the auction ended this morning, but why hasn’t it shipped yet?”
“It’s Sunday.”
#6. The Post office
Abandon all hope ye who enter here. In my experience, it’s not the clerks/employees who make it the fifth circle of hell. It’s us on the other side of the counter who make most visits unbearable.
#7. eBay takes their cut just when you’ve forgotten they still need to take their cut
There’s a certain satisfied feeling one gets when you see that balance go up post payment. But the piper needs to be paid. And the piper always gets paid.