Hey all,

Just wanting advice from other sellers on here.  I mainly sell cd's on here, and I start my auctions at $1 because, let's face it, a lot of cd's aren't worth much more than that these days.  If they go higher, then yay!  A lot of times, they don't even sell for $1 though.  Anyhow, my concern is that, if I send a cd overseas, and the buyer refuses to pay for tracking, I am not protected if it goes missing, and have to refund the item value and postage cost.

Let's give an example to make it a bit clearer.  If I send the item without tracking, it can go as a large letter, so let's say I sell a $1 cd to USA.  The postage cost is $8.30 for this.  If I want to send it with tracking, it has to go as a parcel, which is $24.  I have yet to find a buyer willing to pay $24 for postage on a $1 cd (and before you say to increase the starting price of the cd, read the paragraph above - it won't sell).

On top of this, there are the ebay and Paypal fees, which would be around $2.75 for untracked or $4.95 for tracked, which is more than the value of the item ... so I guess my questions are these:

1. If you were in my shoes, how would you protect yourself in case of an item going missing?  Since eBay ONLY accepts a tracking number to be able to award in the sellers favour, would you pay the extra $16 out of your own pocket to provide tracking when the item sold for $1?
2. How would you cover the cost of the fees in situations where the value of the item is less than the fees?
3. (this is to prove a point) If you bought a CD from overseas for $1, would you spend 3 times the postage cost just to have tracking?

Leigh