My Rant About Selling on Half.com
And Why I Prefer Ebay
Problem #1: Shipping Amounts are Often Inadequate
Unlike Ebay, where you control what the buyer is charged for shipping, on Half.com the shipping amount is out of your control. When I sell items on Ebay, I charge very fair shipping prices. I don't include my time in the shipping charges so basically the buyer is just paying the exact shipping. Sometimes I'll include the price of the box too (if I had to buy it to ship out that item), but sometimes I won't (if I already had the box). On Half.com, I figured the price of the box, packing materials, and the actual shipping would be accounted for. I was very mistaken. I had a few textbooks up for sale because they didn't sell on Ebay. The one textbook wasn't just the book itself, but a bundle. Half.com doesn't take textbook bundles into account apparently. Not only did I have to pay for the box and packing materials, but the shipping cost itself was off by five dollars! What if I had been shipping a paperback? I would have been paying to send this book out. You could actually end up losing money instead of making money on low cost books. I realize that some buyers feel cheated on Ebay because the shipping amounts are sometimes high. However, buyers have a choice. If you don't want to pay $80 shipping on a 99 cent guitar, then don't buy from that seller. Half.com doesn't give sellers a chance to be reimbursed for inadequate shipping amounts.
Problem #2: High Fees for Sellers
While I realize that Half.com isn't providing a free service, I think that taking out 15% of the price of the book as a fee is absolutely insane. You won't always be charged 15%, but Half.com definitely has higher fees than Ebay. A lot of sellers complain about Ebay's fees, but I don't think their fees are all that bad. Ebay's fees will seem like nothing when you see the fees on Half.com. Of course, there is no listing fee which is kind of nice. However, on Ebay the listing fee is often only 20 cents, so that's not a huge loss if your item doesn't sell.
Problem #3: It Can Take a Long Time for Things to Sell
On Ebay you're given the choice of having a 7 day auction (standard) or you can add or subtract a few days if you wish. On Half.com, your item sells when it sells. For most of my items, I made sure to list them at prices lower than others that were currently available. If your item isn't the one offered for the lowest price, you'll probably end up waiting until all the lower priced items sell before yours will even have a chance. If you list your item at too low of a price however, you don't have the chance that people might make the price go up by bidding. There is no bidding on Half.com, so you're out of luck if you listed something at too low of a price. Even with low to reasonable prices, you'll still have a lot of books that will take forever to sell. You never know what they'll sell either. One day you might come home to an email that you've made a sale. The thing I like with Ebay is, I can schedule my selling around my life. With Half.com, I don't have that luxury. If someone buys a book from me and I'm in finals week, I still have to ship it out. Of course, if you'll actually be gone or you think someone might finally buy something at a time when you're really busy, you can say that you're on vacation. That still doesn't make up for the fact that you'll probably end up waiting around quite a bit for things to sell. This is especially bad if you're disorganized and can't find a book that you listed 3 months ago, when it finally sells and needs to be shipped. If you want to sell something fast, go with Ebay instead.
Problem #4: No PayPal on Half.com
It's hard to remember what it was like using Ebay before PayPal. I'll admit I didn't like PayPal at first, but now that I love it I want to be able to use it for all of my online buying and selling needs. However, even though Half.com is a part of Ebay, they don't take PayPal or reimburse you with PayPal. Instead, you receive your payment by direct deposit. I suppose I should be thankful that payment isn't even more archaic. Afterall, at least they don't send a check and make me physically go to the bank.
Problem #5: Receiving Payment Takes Forever
Let's say you're a college student and you are selling your textbooks to get some money to buy your next set of textbooks. Once your textbooks sell, you're probably hoping that you'll receive that money quickly. However, it took me over a month to receive the payment. So you have to be able to front the costs for shipping (not that you'll be completely reimbursed anyway) and you have to be patient about receiving your payment. That just doesn't work for me. On Ebay, I sell an item and then I am paid. After I am paid, I ship the item promptly. On Half.com, I sell an item and then I ship it out promptly. Then I wait forever to be paid for that item. I think I like Ebay's method a whole lot better.
Half.com just really failed to impress me as a seller. I was lured in by being able to list items at no cost, but I was quickly turned off this site. When I sell something, I am usually selling it because I need some money now. I don't want to have upfront costs involved when I'm selling items. When I ship something out, I really like the idea of being fully reimbursed for the shipping. I don't want to pay high fees plus end up paying for a large part of the shipping on my own as well. If you're considering selling on Half.com because you love Ebay, consider this points. Ebay is a much better selling environment in my opinion.
Published by Valerie Hansen
I enjoy a variety of hobbies from playing the harmonica to creating polymer clay creations. I also volunteer my time with both marine mammals and guinea pigs. I guess you could say I have a very wide varie... View profile
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19 Comments
Post a CommentI totally agree! Half.com is probably one of the most unfair websites out there. I would gladly pay a listing fee it it meant that 15% of my money (plus extra shipping expense) wouldn't instantly disappear. I think it's only fair that if half.com gets their cut instantly, i should receive my money instantly too!!!
Part 4...still some left that was cut off from original post...I hope you can see I'm sincere and passionate about my beliefs on this)))) I have made good money on Half.com (and others) and I still am and I think this is important to see both sides of the experience.
In closing...There is money to be made, and in this economy or any economy, "don't leave money on the table", as the internet marketers like to say, by someone else's opinions or bad experiences and not giving Half.com your own efforts.
Part 3...and my finale))))
I hope people are not put off by your comments and that they try Half.com for themselves to be the judge of their own experiences, and for that matter, try the numerous other sites also, each has its value.
I have sold numerous items on eBay, books, etc., and, yes, you can state your own shipping price, but when selling on eBay now, the main thing I look for, and I think most people look for, is free shipping, I know I offer that on 'everything I sell. And in that case, you have to up the price of the book to make your money for shipping, and then you are not competitive with the rest of the sellers on your book/item, and it sits and you pay 'fees' to list on eBay, whereas you do not pay listing fees on the bookselling sites such as Half.com or Amazon.
I've made good money every month, depending on the time and effort I expend each month selling on these book sites, so please, do yourself a favor and give them all a fair try. There is money to be made
My comments were cut off in my first post, so I'll finish here...
To reiterate, there are the advantages to different sites, some disadvantages, and just because you sell the majority of your items on Half.com does not mean it HAS to be a one-stop-shop for all your selling. One needs to understand the limitations of some of the selling sites and simply sell those items in a smarter way.
I have had nothing but good experiences with both Half.com and Amazon, and I could easily refute everything that was said in your rant with my own experiences, but will just focus on the shipping, I'm not going to try to defend the establishment of the Half.com site. These same rants could be said about each selling site, but again, you have to understand the limitations and benefits of each individual site and sell where appropriate for your needs.
I hope people are not put off by your comments and that they try Half.com for themselves to be the judge of their own experiences, and for tha
I have sold on Half.com and Amazon for three years and I LOVE both equally. Both places have their 'good'...and I can't even say they have any 'bad' ... you have to do enough selling to understand what the advantages of each place are. I would say the same about selling on eBay, which I have, and Alibris.
The rant about the shipping on Half.com does not make any sense to me. I nearly always have money left over on the shipping I receive, and I mail out media mail. Maybe you'rs 'shipping' incorrectly and need to talk to the people at the post office for the best method to ship. And, of course, if you are selling Larger Items, like text books, whatever it may be, you will not cover your shipping costs in the postage Half.com or Amazon gives you, so you'll need to add it into the price of the book...or simple do not sell that type of items those sites and try your hand selling text books on eBay where you can charge your your own shipping amount...would be the answer around that o
I was a half.com seller.I sold coupel of cookbooks.They suspended my account and refused to reinstate me as they could not verify my supplier's information.I lost $90 because of half.com
Half.com is horrible.I sold 3 books and they held the payments .It has been more than 2 years.They did not reply to emails
Many folks posted comments about Half.com shipping reiumbursement being for book rate only. The only way to pay book rate is to ship via media mail through the U.S. Post Office, and it always costs more than what Half.com is willing to reimburse. Those book rates refer to rates given to businesses that ship regularly and have shipping accounts.
I HATE HALF.COM. I have sold textbooks a few times and always lose money in the end, particularly because shipping reimbursement is far too low. Recently, I had a buyer voluntarily elect to return a book without my consent. The buyer returned the item to the wrong address. A half.com rep approved a refund for the buyer. Now I am out the cost of not only the item, but also the return shipping (which was reimbursed at 100% of the buyer's cost ironically), AND I don't even have the item to try and resell. It has likely been returned to the buyer so that he/she now has their money back and still has the item. HALF.COM SUCKS!
Thanks for the book swapping link! I will try that with the paperbacks. :) I don't usually read all the books I get anyway, so after awhile I put them on Freecycle. Believe me, I am happy to give stuff away. However, some books are more expensive and I'd rather sell them.