posted on July 29, 2001 09:03:23 AM
I had my first Half.com sale... The e-mail I received from Half.com says that after I confirm the sale I have to ship the item no later than the next day. I usually only ship on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Do I hold the e-mail until this Tuesday and then ship Wednesday or what?
posted on July 29, 2001 09:12:31 AM
That's the agreement, but no one is going to jump on you if you stick to your shipping schedule.
The bad thing about half.com (owned by ebay) is it takes a month to get paid after they deduct the 15%.
I think ebay would like to make ebay like half.com. Get all the money, keep 15%, don't pay sellers for a month, does not give parties each others email addresses so parties cannot contact each other.
posted on July 29, 2001 09:13:42 AM
Congratulations on your sale. Half gives you a couple of days before you must confirm. If I were you, I would wait until the day before you go to the post office and then confirm. Otherwise, you could get a low score from the buyer about not shipping on time. Good luck with your future sales. Margie
posted on July 29, 2001 05:21:11 PM
Half.com is set up on fairly reasonable time scheduling for confirm or shipment. They really don't expect you to be around or ship on the weekend. However, sellers who won't confirm or ship promptly aren't giving either Half, eBay or any other site a reason to get business. I've always shipped next business day. As a buyer, I appreciate getting a quick response and shipment. We are competing against the buyer's hometown bookseller. If I can pick up the book in an hour, I'm not going to be too happy waiting days for a confirmation...much less a shipment.
Sellers who operate in their own orbit will not do well on any venue. Price alone or the novelty of the Internet are very short-lived attractions for most buyers.
While I certainly don't have the sense of community on half that exists on eBay, I try to operate efficiently so that all sellers on either site can get more business. We can't afford to turn off buyers in a tight economy.
posted on July 29, 2001 06:34:59 PM
Also, they only pay you for Media Mail shipping. No allowance for Priority Mail or insurance or delivery confirmation.
With Media Mail, it usually takes at least 2 weeks for a book to go coast to coast. What's an extra day or so before shipping...
posted on July 29, 2001 07:32:07 PM
Hi WeRule.... I think Mardoc's advice is good. Confirm on Tuesday, ship on your usual shipping day (Wednesday). (Of course, if it is a "big ticket" item, I would confirm right away and make a special trip to the post office tomorroe morning!)
Half.com is not the same as eBay, but Darrell is mistaken about reimbursement. The BUYER has the option to choose Media Mail OR Priority Mail. Reimbursement is according to the shipping method chosen by the buyer.
BUT -- The half reimbursment will not always cover the cost to ship if you are sending a heavy book, so it is well to keep that in mind when pricing heavy books.
I have been very pleased both buying and selling on half. (as well as on eBay) Neither venue is perfect. One is not the same as the other, but each has some virtues.
posted on July 29, 2001 08:14:50 PM
In your situation, I would wait until Monday night to confirm, and ship first thing Wed. AM EARLY--unless it's a big-ticket item, as someone above has said, and then I too would make a special P.O. trip.
I've had limited success selling on Half.com, but I continue to do it. Recently I noticed a problem. I'd gone into my listings and lowered the price on some of the old stock. This was weeks ago. Today, looking at my list, I had some duplicates and had to delete the higher-priced of the two listings on several books. Better be sure to check this.
My one wish is that they would allow more than 70 characters to describe the book. Even 90 would be an improvement. But. . . they haven't asked for my advice.
