Dear Brenda, We've bought and sold many times on ebay. My husband sells postage stamps to collectors, and I buy bobbin lace supplies! FWIW, here are some thoughts.
Yes, you should open a PayPal account, but you do not need to open a merchant account. Personal accounts are free (while merchant accounts have fees to the seller associated with them). If you open a merchant account, you can accept credit cards. I have only a personal account. In my listings, I state clearly that I will accept personal checks in US funds, money orders including Bidpay, and cash payments through PayPal. I also state that I cannot accept credit cards, debit cards or check cards as payment. Let me explain cash payments through PayPal. Sometimes people have cash balances in their paypal accounts (these may have come to them by selling other items and receiving payment from their buyers). In other cases, people have their PayPal accounts linked to their bank account. So if they make a purchase and don't have the funds to cover it in their PayPal account, they simply select the option in the payment field to have the payment amount withdrawn directly from their bank account. Paypal is wonderful, in that it instantly converts from one currency to another. I've bought many items from vendors in the UK and Europe, and had my US dollars converted to GBP and Euros. I have never been able to figure out whether they charge a fee for this conversion, but I don't think they do. Another good reason for international buyers to pay with a bank transfer rather than a credit card (credit card companies charge the buyer at least 1% of the purchase price for making the currency conversion). BidPay is a service of Western Union, and it is great for people like me. If a purchaser wins an item and they can't pay via any of the other methods listed in the eBay listing, they can pay via BidPay <http://www.bidpay.com/>. With this service, anyone who has a credit card can use it for making payment. The *buyer* pays the fee (usually a couple of dollars), their credit card is charged, and BidPay mails a Western Union money order to the seller. (However, I just checked their web site, and they charge UK sellers $5 per transaction to convert to GBP, so this option might not be reasonable for you--bummer.) Please note that all the above relates to whether you will pay a fee to collect payment. Don't forget that eBay charges the seller--a small insertion fee that you will pay whether the item sells or not, plus a final value fee which is computed based on the final price for which the item sells. As for setting the price, we have never used a reserve price. I think it depresses interest in the item. Rather, we set the opening bid at the lowest price we are willing to sell the item for. Yes, if there's only one bid (which sometimes does happen), you will have to part with the item at that price. In our selling listings, we always say (as everyone else does, too) that we are willing to combine lots in order to save the purchaser postage and packaging costs. But it might still benefit you to group similar items because then you will have only one insertion fee to eBay, rather than an insertion fee for each separate item. I'm a little hesitant about encouraging you to iron the dresses unlaundered. It is my understanding that heat sets soil and stains permanently. Ironing them could thus permanently damage the items. If you are unwilling to launder them first, I would not recommend ironing them. If you have any additional questions you think I could answer, please feel free to send email. Barbara Joyce Snoqualmie, WA USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
