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Selling / Sending Speakers on Ebay

Minio

Minio

Kind of Sort of Not really...
I've just sold my Wharfedale 505.2s on Ebay.
I admit to being a bit dumb in accepting the suggested posting price of £10.30 on my listing, as when I came to print postage label, no services were available on the ebay site - too big for them.
Next I try Parcel2go.
When I get to the payment, after feeding in all information, I am told that no services are available. The length and girth are in excess for the service. 53 x 49x 39 cm 16kg is too big? So why they carry on with the suggested carriers I don't know.
I try several different carriers and after spending most of the afternoon feeding in all the info I get to the same nowhere every time.

I've finally got on with the Parcelforce site and it has cost three times the original quote in my listing.

It will be a relief to see the back of them. What a stress!
Any similar experiences out there?
 
Minio said:
I've just sold my Wharfedale 505.2s on Ebay.
I admit to being a bit dumb in accepting the suggested posting price of £10.30 on my listing, as when I came to print postage label, no services were available on the ebay site - too big for them.
Next I try Parcel2go.
When I get to the payment, after feeding in all information, I am told that no services are available. The length and girth are in excess for the service. 53 x 49x 39 cm 16kg is too big? So why they carry on with the suggested carriers I don't know.
I try several different carriers and after spending most of the afternoon feeding in all the info I get to the same nowhere every time.

I've finally got on with the Parcelforce site and it has cost three times the original quote in my listing.

It will be a relief to see the back of them. What a stress!
Any similar experiences out there?
Click to expand...
I used to live in the US and eBay was set up to print UPS or USPS labels directly, and the buyer would then be paying the exact amount. For international buyers they offered the global shipping program. It was easy, and buyers could factor in the cost of shipping when they bid. And if you offered free shipping, the rates eBay offered for UPS/USPS were usually better than what you'd pay through the UPS/USPS website.

Now I live in Spain, and eBay leaves it all up to the seller to come up with prices. No integrated shipping option, and no help with determining prices for different countries. You can manually set prices per country if you want, but it's a lot of effort. I really miss having eBay doing the heavy lifting with pricing and label printing.
 
I have sold speakers once - shiped from UK to Bordeaux. FORTUNATELY, the listing said collection or delivery by arrangement, so I was commited to nothing. The speakers were a long way outside the EPay limits for their international shipping (probably on size and weight), so I costed things up accurately after the buyer enquired and he agreed.
I am not 100% on prices but the speakers went for something like £650 and the total cost to ship them was around £120-130, including the plywood crates that I made - I asked for £150 shipping. I wanted to line the crates with 25mm expanded polystyrene and had almost enough that I had hoarded from numerous projects and deliveries to me - if I hadn't, the polystyrene alone would have cost the best part of £100.
 
Assuming that you're wanting to ship the speakers to a mainland UK destination, www.interparcel.com are quoting £8.82 for the ParcelForce48 drop off service (you take to your local post office), £25.00 insurance included as standard (more available at an additional cost).
 
I live in the US, and shipping anywhere has gone up incredibly. Almost eye wateringly so in some cases. I have not sold on Ebay, mainly a few other of the usual audio buy/sell sites. Thing is, nobody wants to pay for shipping, and think you are always trying to screw them in the deal. Quite a racket. Soon I will be done with both buying and selling, done with the crap!
 
I've had two disasters shipping speakers from ebay - one to me, poorly packaged; and one from me to the States, correctly packaged but damaged by their international shipping hub. Ebay admitted responsibility and refunded the purchaser - who got a usable but damaged pair for free! Took a couple of weeks though, after I'd found the correct channel.

No more posting speakers for me.
 
starbuck said:
Assuming that you're wanting to ship the speakers to a mainland UK destination, www.interparcel.com are quoting £8.82 for the ParcelForce48 drop off service (you take to your local post office), £25.00 insurance included as standard (more available at an additional cost).
Click to expand...

16kg big parcel for £8.82....surely not. Anyway big speakers need either a huge box or better a pallet. Pallets used to £35 each through groupage with a busy account. As a one off....a lot different.

cheaper to put them in the back of a car.
 
I used Overland Express to ship a pair of Monitor Audio PL200s in original packaging to Sweden a couple of years ago. OE are brokers and the speakers went with DHL, but no issues at all. Expensive to ship, around £190 IIRC, however the buyer was happy to pay that.
 
starbuck said:
Assuming that you're wanting to ship the speakers to a mainland UK destination, www.interparcel.com are quoting £8.82 for the ParcelForce48 drop off service (you take to your local post office), £25.00 insurance included as standard (more available at an additional cost).
Click to expand...
That is very interesting Starbuck. It's about a third of the PF direct price. I wish I had spotted that one earlier.
I've got a pair of PMC TB1s to sell shortly, so hopefully I might have learned something here.
Thanks all for the advice.
 
You could try senditnow which is operated by Parcelforce.

I use collection only for bulky items (for buying too). I'd rather sell for less and cut the hassle. But then I am in London.
 
I sold my mint pro-ac tablette 10s to the US via eBay for over £900. They never arrived and the tracking just ended in a US distribution center that never updated any further.

Thankfully they were sent via the global shipping program so onus purely on eBay once they'd arrived at the UK end, so they just refunded the buyer. Still quite sad they were lost though, no doubt someone must have them.
 
UPS seem to accept bigger packages than most. I’ve sent parcels with them in the last 12 months that I struggled to lift on my own and they were way cheaper than most. My experience is UK to UK only though
 
matt j said:
I sold my mint pro-ac tablette 10s to the US via eBay for over £900. They never arrived and the tracking just ended in a US distribution center that never updated any further.

Thankfully they were sent via the global shipping program so onus purely on eBay once they'd arrived at the UK end, so they just refunded the buyer. Still quite sad they were lost though, no doubt someone must have them.
Click to expand...
Chances are someone is enjoying the pro-acs , I'm sure they don't know these speakers ' vanished ' from a distribution centre! So from a hifi perspective, I'm sure they have gone to a good home! From a moral perspective? Not so good!
 
narabdela said:
...and safer also.
Click to expand...
I just keep all my speakers.. on the odd occasion, I listen to them and think..cor these are much better than I remember! Then after a short while I realise they aren't as good as a I thought! And back in the box they go...then I forget about them..and a couple of years later..go through the same old rigmarole! Lol..hifi the gift that just keeps giving!
 
Minio said:
Don't encourage me. I've pulled out of a sale of my Wharfedales once before with cold feet. Now I've actually sold them, it hasn't gone too well.
I'm missing them already.
Click to expand...
See? If you kept your speakers..this never happens! And if you bought another self same pair? Will they sound the same? Of course they won't! This hifi hobby is the gift that gives..either pleasure or annoyance! Hahaha
 
I have sold many pairs of speakers, both in the UK and overseas with virtually no problems.

Firstly, don’t use the lowest priced Couriers.

I pack and weigh speakers before booking a Courier.
It seems some people estimate sizes and weights.

If I know the speaker model well I usually get the final price pretty close for insurance purposes.
Once a pair achieved a much higher price, so I contacted the buyer who understood the rise in
the shipping cost.

I have only had to make one claim on insurance ( Taiwan was the destination ) and that was paid
promptly.

I have used many different Couriers, but find UPS excellent.
I sent some expensive speakers to Canada in full confidence of a safe journey.
No problems at all with UPS.
 
I think the main theme of shipping or even dealing with EBay/PayPal etc., is when the deliveries and the deals work, all is well and one goes on with life. It’s those times when things go sideways and the shite hits the fan. Then it is how much of a pain in the ass it is to fix or make it all right in the end. I’ve been on the end of both sticks, and even when you have done due diligence, sometimes things still end up a loss.
 
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