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Hi Everybody, this is my first post. I’m a freelance photographer from NC and a single dad with three kids. I’ve done Ebay since ’99 (I know, Jay is rolling his eyes) but only in the last year have I done it as a serious business. I’m trying to transition out of freelancing and into something I can do for the rest of my life. I specialize in camera equipment, vintage clothes and fine books. So, Hi! This site and podcast has been the huge inspiration I needed to take the big leap, and I’m so glad I did, because if I hadn’t done it I’d be in big trouble right now.
Quick shipping label question: I had been advised to open a second ebay account “just in case”. I did that, it’s not even a store, just an account and I’m using the 50 free listings. Eventually I’d like to Have all clothing on this account and only books and camera gear on my original store. When I sell something on this account and go to print a shipping label it takes up a whole page with the label as the top part and “instructions” as the bottom. I want to get rid of the instructions as it wastes a second label. My store shipping labels show only the label so I get two labels from each sheet. Do the instructions appear because this second account is not a store and ebay thinks they are “helping” me by including the instructions? I really want them to go away.
Thanks,
-yorkographic
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Someone else can better explain your printing quandary. I’m more interested in this:
I had been advised to open a second ebay account “just in case”.
–Who advised this?
–Whats the reasoning?I’m assuming you read some paranoid person warning you about eBay randomly shutting down your account. Then you’ll have a second account as a safety.
Here’s the problem. If eBay were to shut down your account, they’d likely block your entire IP so any account associated with it will be banned. We’ve sold full-time on eBay and never had an unfair suspension. As long as you’re not selling fake items and treating customers right, eBay has no incentive to shut sellers down. If you make money, they make money. People angry at eBay usually have a story they dont want to share where they were consistently lazy to ship on time or tried to sell counterfeit items too often.
There’s also an argument to made that its nice having a separate store for each category of item you sell. The shoe store. The camera store. The sports store. But then you end up paying multiple subscription fees on each store. eBay customers come to your item from a search term. I know I never shop a “store”. I just type in “soccer shoe size 10” and choose the best item from a list of different shoes from different sellers. So having multiple stores is super inefficient. You can always categorize items in your single store by type of item.
Multiple stores just means more busy work and more fee costs. No benefit IMHO.
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Jay, Yes, after I set this second store up I heard you your arguments against it on the podcast, and I agree with your main point about it not being a good hedge against suspension. That was one of the original reasons, the other was that I feel I’ve built a pretty good brand up over the years focusing on vintage cameras and clothes. When I began selling in earnest about six months ago I did not limit myself to just the quality vintage items. I’ll sell anything now, but I really did feel it cheapened the brand, so I wanted to have a separate store to list all the “junk.” I disagree with you a little that people only shop the search. I have saved stores for camera equipment, like Blue Moon in Portland, that I return to again and again and I will just browse their listings and buy a few things at once. I trust them and save on shipping. Same goes for a few trusted book sellers. I think you might be undervaluing the idea of an Ebay store as a brand. But I definitely have come around to your point about it not being a hedge against store suspension, and yes it is a little inefficient to have two. I’ll re-evaluate after this year.
Thanks for the reply.-
Understood. You could be correct that an eBay store has power as an identity. Guess it depends on how you use it.
Most eBay stores are like ours. Just list anything and everything. No identity. Its just a vehicle to qualify for lower listings fees.
But I can see that if you are very niche, certain collectors would come to your store to just buy that one niche item. Like vintage camera equipment.
I can see being active on social media to advertise your niche eBay store that just has one kind of item.
That being said, you say you currently mix clothes, books, and camera equipment and you do well. Buyers dont seem put off that your store has multiple categories. Do you have evidence that people are shopping your particular store vs just buying from a search?
Its all good either way. You’d just need to do then math on how much extra you pay each month in fees running two different eBay stores.
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This thread explains what to do:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/printing-shipping-labels-only-2019/td-p/29708891
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ah yes, there is a setting on the printing page in the bottom left hand corner that says “Change, Preview”, click change and you’ll be able to take off the receipt and instructions on the 8.5″ x 11″ version of the label:
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Thanks Sonia and Ryanne. I seriously wasted about an hour looking for that toady. I don’t think I would have ever found it if you hadn’t pointed me straight to it. Seems like a pretty important option to be so buried. Makes me wonder how many people just say screw it and waste a label every time.
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