Selling a saddle online - advice please

[nelle]

I want to put my old saddle on ebay, but I'm not sure how to package it if it's sold. Would a cardboard box with polystyrene balls be enough? Also an idea of costs would be useful.

Thanks

[wildponies]

Leather saddles around £20, sometimes as little as £15 to post. I put mine in an old computer box :)

[Joyscarer]

When I sold mine I asked for a box from my local tack shop and they were happy to help. I made sure I had the packaging before I advertised the saddle.

Failing that ask at curry's or PC World.

I used packing peanuts and bubble wrap to make sure it was a good fit and to stop it rattling about in there.

It didn't cost me anything but then I do like my ebay stuff and save packaging to reuse :o

[nelle]

Thanks Wildponies - did you use anything to cushion the saddle or was it loose in the box?

[Joyscarer]

Just mention that you need to keep an eye on how much it all weighs including all the packaging as if you are nowhere near the next pricebreak for sending then you might as well include more packaging :)

Weigh it all before you decide what your p&p would be.

I paid about £18 to send my saddle but you can send for a lot cheaper. It's just that I didn't want to wait in for collection so chose the nearest place to drop it off. It was too big to be posted from a post office.

Do ask about what compensation levels are and if accpeting payment by paypal make sure the carrier is one of their approved ones or you could find yourself on the end of a chargeback via the buyers protection scheme and not be protected by the sellers protection scheme

[wildponies]

I popped bubble wrap underneath the pommel. I couldn't go too overboard because it was a very snug fit, it wouldn't move inside the box. If the box was big enough to allow it to move i would have put in more padding. Depends what kind of box you can get! :)

[nelle]

Thanks both - useful tips there. I will definitely get the postage and packaging organised before advertising it.

By the way Joyscarer, I always read your name as Joy-Scarer and only just realised it probably should be Joys-Carer :o

[Denbenj]

Hiya, Ive sold a Few saddles on ebay now lol!

I wrap in a layer of bubble wrap and put in a snug box.. try your local Spar shop or somewhere for some boxes they gladly give them away.

Then what you need to do is Weigh the box,(Bathroom scales) and then Measure the Dimensions.

I use this company www.interpacel.com

You can get Quotes from various Couriers such as DHL, and because they have large buying powers.. The prices are cheaper then Directly using DHL's website and such like.

I use the site couriers about 5 times a week and never had a problem.

Once you have registered and use them you also get 5% of future bookings

I posted a Leather western Saddle for £13 !
It does help your sales when you can quote a resonable price for postage

[Joyscarer]

Thanks both - useful tips there. I will definitely get the postage and packaging organised before advertising it.

By the way Joyscarer, I always read your name as Joy-Scarer and only just realised it probably should be Joys-Carer :o


A deliberate mix :D

As a first time owner I felt loving and caring towards my horse but couldn't help feeling I was probably doing it all wrong and would make a hash of it. I'm more confident now though but probably still inadvertantly do things wrong to the disdain of my horse :o

[coyote]

ive just sold my saddle on thursday and posted it friday ,it was a 17" leather saddle,it was in a massive walkers crisps cardboard box,it cost me £15 parcel force,with £150 insurance and they have to sign for it so you know they have recieved it.i charged them £18 postage,i wrapped the saddle in thick plastic bags so it didnt get scratched inside the box then padded it out around the saddle with scrunched up paper.i then wrapped the box in black plastic baghs with loads of parcel tape,then put 15 "fragile" stickers over the outside of the box. hope this helps.:D

[poppy 99]

www.interparcel.com is definately the best way to send a saddle, the cheapest option is about £8 and the item is trackable and delivered in 2 days, much safer and more reliable then royal mail

[helenhorse]

yes, we sell saddles on ebay and we package them in cardboard boxes. We ger about 50-80 pounds for old/secong hand tack but in good condition and brand new we got 600 for won :0 very chuffd, and we got 200 for another. Its also very quick:):)
gd luck

[unicornleather]

Another company I use to post saddles is www.parcel2go.com it's quite cheap and reliable.I use a cardboard box and tuck the flaps of the saddle up underneath the panel so it's in a rounded shape and pack it out well with old nespapers and bubble wrap. Stubben and others send their saddles through the postal system using 15" wide round cardboard (very thick) tubing and I find that works well to if you can get the tubing!
Oz :)

[joey_olop]

When I sold my saddle I was lucky enough to sell it to someone who lived fairly local, so just dropped it too them, but I added like a petrol charge to the cost.

You could put that in your ad, that way people might look & think its in the area so you can deliver yourself :)

[redcedar]

I have sold loads of saddles on ebay ( as well as tons of other odd shaped things :) )

My top tips are :

Get a big cardboard box and wrap the saddle in bubble wrap. Secure the flaps together at the bottom ( with out stressing the saddle) put extra on the pommel and cantle.

Make sure the box has 2 inches of space round the saddle for packing, screwed up newspaper works well. ( if it is damaged and you have not packed correctly you won't get any money back from the carrier)

Use a carrier who has a online trackable service. If you don't want to / can't wait in at home all day for it to be collected, take it to the PO and use parcel force 48 ( uk only) Its about £15.00. If you can stay in / someone is in all day then use parcel2go ( DHL) for £7.04.

If they pay by paypal you MUST use a signed for service ( not RM standard parcels ) as you are not covred by paypal protection unles you can track on line and have a sig at the other end.

If you want to offer collection then ONLY take cash and make them sign a copy of the ebay invoice :)

Good luck with your sale :)

[Joyscarer]

If you don't want to / can't wait in at home all day for it to be collected, take it to the PO and use parcel force 48 ( uk only) Its about £15.00.

My local PO wouldn;t take it as it was too big to go through the window. :mad:

[joey_olop]

My local PO wouldn;t take it as it was too big to go through the window. :mad:

My PO was like that as well, Im quite lucky now as I can send my stuff from work :)

[redcedar]

Thats a shame, mine will take hem as long as they are in the size dimentions for PF ( 150x60x60cm i think ). They make you take them to the door outside! You could take to your local hub as well. From feb the 4th you get discount for sending PF from the post office ( between 10 and 20%) of the online price.

[sammyantha]

A filled box should be fine but make sure you put LOTS of tape around it as people can't resist tampering with things that look expensive! My biggest tip would be, under NO circumstances use paypal to accept payment for the saddle!!!!!!!!! Even if you follow their seller protection instructions to the letter, should the buyer decide to put in a chargeback, you WILL lose the money, PLUS postage costs, plus what you originally paid for the saddle! If this then puts your paypal balance into negative, you will also get bailiff visits and demands to pay the outstanding 'debt'. Anyone who choses to pay by paypal can do a chargeback at any point after the sale, even when positive feedback has been left on ebay to say the item has been received, and you cannot do a thing. AVOID like the plague, and only accept cheques or cash on delivery for anything over £50.

[Joyscarer]

A filled box should be fine but make sure you put LOTS of tape around it as people can't resist tampering with things that look expensive! My biggest tip would be, under NO circumstances use paypal to accept payment for the saddle!!!!!!!!! Even if you follow their seller protection instructions to the letter, should the buyer decide to put in a chargeback, you WILL lose the money, PLUS postage costs, plus what you originally paid for the saddle! If this then puts your paypal balance into negative, you will also get bailiff visits and demands to pay the outstanding 'debt'. Anyone who choses to pay by paypal can do a chargeback at any point after the sale, even when positive feedback has been left on ebay to say the item has been received, and you cannot do a thing. AVOID like the plague, and only accept cheques or cash on delivery for anything over £50.


Not true if you know the system :)

If you do qualify for sellers protection then there are certain criteria that you must meet to get that protection.

The most common one that people don't meet is sending by approved paypal carrier that can be tracked online. Many sellers think that proof of postage is sufficient, it isn't.

When I send an item of any value I do this and log into paypal to update the system with the carrier name and assignment number.

When buying on ebay you'll often see sellers popping in a disclaimer saying items lost in post are not their responsability. This is not true and against the law. Although the item has been paid for it doesn't actually becaome the property of the buyer until the receive it.

Sellers protection is essentially an insurance policy and you need to know the conditions to get the most out of it.


Sorry if I have banged on about something that wasn't relevant to your experience but I used to haunt the ebay community help boards and all too often saw sellers getting caught out because they didn't read up on their obligations :(