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Greetings, fellow scavengers! I’m Bridget in Missouri. You’ll find me at bluebird50 on Ebay, chaoticgood on Poshmark, and MyLovelyThings on Etsy, if I ever reactivate that. I don’t have a Ebay “store” and need to research when it would make sense to make the switch. Right now, I’m just going with the free monthly listings.
I’ve been selling on and off on Ebay and Esty for many years (maybe 2000)? I’ve started on Poshmark this summer. My big challenges right now are:
– Too much stuff to list and not enough space to store it.
– Shipping costs. I just have a mental block on that.I enjoy researching items, but can also get bogged down in that.
I like to source super cheap, which may be why I have so many items to get rid of. After shopping my neighborhood garage sale, I when around and “shopped” the free items off the curb. I also have a couple favorite local online auctions places where I source weird lots. I’ll also hit a few local thrift stores that work for family clothes shopping, as well as sourcing.
I love vintage costume jewelry and have been trying to list lots of that. I’m hoping some of it will become someone else’s Christmas presents.
Nice to meet everyone!
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Jay, I’ve sold on Ebay as very small supplemental income, mostly books and craft supplies, and then weird vintage items.
I think my mental block with shipping is that I have made mistakes in estimating shipping costs (not particularly expensive ones, but still they are mistakes). I tend to beat myself up over it, and wonder if it’s worth it. Since posting, I’ve been thinking that I should really just focus a could of hours on reading and watching YouTube videos about shipping, and get up to speed. My apprehension about shipping is why I’ve gravitated to Poshmark most recently – it’s a flat amount.
I have SO much inventory to post, and just came home with another auction haul. I guess it’s time to get serious about it.
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From an older post:
Shipping is a major part of selling on Ebay. If you can ship efficiently, you can keep more of the money an item sells for. Also, I believe, if an item is packed well and shipped quickly, customers are much more likely to give positive feedback. These are a few brief rules I go by.
1. Ship on time.
2. Pack it well.
3. Consider alternate carriers based on the item shipped and destination.
4. Print your own shipping labels. The online discounts are too big to ignore.
5. Get an accurate digital scale. Guessing on the weight is risky and not cost effective. The last thing I do, before printing the shipping label is weigh the package.Regarding weight:
Is it 1 pound or less? If yes, then it can go USPS First Class Mail.
After that the postage due increases with each pound.
Using poly mailers, light boxes and light packing materials all help to keep the weight down.
Regarding size:
Is it oversize for USPS?
Length X Width X Height must be 1728 cubic inches or less.
12x12x12=1728 or 16X12X9=1728
It’s that simple.
Books can go Media Mail, consider Fedex Ground for larger items and I love the USPS Flat Rate padded envelopes.
Anyway those are the very basics.
Welcome to the group..
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@Jay, I AM listing on Poshmark. That’s my best defense, LOL. I’ve started back on Ebay, I’ve just got to get moving on it.
@So Cal Joe, thank you. I should probably focus on the small items (under 1 LB items) to build up some success. And I was glad to see there is a whole section on shipping.
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The key to not losing money on shipping is to estimate on the high side, when creating the listing. You always have the option of refunding the difference, but you’ve still got other costs for shipping, besides the postage. Boxes, bubblewrap and the Ebay fees come to mind.
Keeping things as simple as possible makes a lot of sense in the beginning.
Good Luck
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