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OK, a travel MUG with gold highlights came up with (only the crazies copied)
We recommend these item specifics:
Door Hinge: Top
Style: Tops & Shirts
Surface/Appliance: Metal
Stand Material: Metal
Blade Material: Ceramic
Hat Color: Gold
Pattern: Spotted
Conductor Material: GoldHave half a mind to just accept all of these and see if some fresh buyers come out of the woodwork. Sorry, I mean metal work. ummm…
Yeah, don’t even get me started on the underperforming messages – one of a kind items worth $20 with no competition basically suggested to sell for 99 cents with free shipping. NO!
Thanks gang. I am officially thinking of my world as “Before Scavenger Life” and “After Scavenger Life. Have learned so much from the podcasts and the forums, have shed old habits and acquired new mindsets.
Buyer behavior is unpredictable, often hilarious, and impossible to predict.
Have always used calculated shipping, have never marked it up, and used to offer a variety of options in the attempt to save people money by being “fair,” and only 1 out of 100 even seemed aware of the options. Example – Heavy, large boxes, almost always Fedex ground is a better option, but it is hard to explain or change once someone just clicks through.
Last year, thought I was being clever by offering Parcel Post first then “upgrading” to Priority because the eBay discount made Priority cheaper until I realized that it was costing me since seller fees come off the shipping charge!
Almost no one reads the instructions or offers in the descriptions, no matter how kind “feel free to choose the shipping method that works for you, contact me if you have any questions…. nothing except the occasional super annoying override GSP for nothing request,
So edited the business policies to only these 4 and select which listing gets which.
First Class with Priority upgrade option
Priority
Moderate Weight Parcel with Priority Option small handling upcharge
Large Heavy Priority with FedEx option and handling upchargeoh, and by the way, believe it, “free freight is a lie” (quote attributed to Jay & Ryanne)
A thousand thanks – y’all are great.
It is so good to know you’re not alone!
Good advice from all, my boxing set up is a large cloth cutting board with grid from Joanne fabrics, metal carpenters square ( 24″ x 16″), 3′ metal straightedge yardstick, utility knives, tape measures, markers and the almighty hot glue gun!Should probably get a franchise for a FedEx or ups store for elegant storage of all these supplies!
And of course today have to pack a very large building set and had 2 saved boxes that were about 1/2″ off in every dimension. Off to the cutting board.
PS Sam’s club has sheets of flat cardboard from between product and they encourage people to take any extra boxes.
Still hard to store!Sincere thanks to the Scavenger Life forum!
Hey – first, if I told has a case, that makes it a little more secure – either way have found that most music stores will happily give you a triangular cardboard guitar shipping box.
General practice is to loosen the the tension on the strings, make them slack, and stuff wadded up newspaper all around – and make sure you support the neck , especially underneath near
the headstock where the tuners are, even if you have a case, be certain the guitar is secure!
Usually use FedEx ground for this kind of shipment, but make sure you have accurate measurements sense you can’t be faced with dimensional weight.
I have successfully shipped both electric and acoustic guitars toplaces as far away as Finland!
And one of my best “you have to be kidding me” stories involved buying a vintage guitar on eBay with the most careless packaging ever!”
Good luck!At my last company weight of items was a standard way to dispute shortage claims. Sounds like 4 1 lb items plus packaging matches your weight… standard business practice… ebay? good luck
Managing offers has been mostly hilarious. Had one book that had several steady offers for ~75% less than asking price – which I declined – then a couple of people came back at ~60% off, countered at 10% off… which the buyers declined – then someone else bought it at full price!
Or the buyers that make an offer and then just pay full price 10 minutes later … Too nervous I guess, this has happened regularly.
I also agree, if you get a number of fast lowball offers, you may have something with more appeal. raise your price and wait it out, there’s something special there.!
(everything in my store is Make an offer, no limit. It’s entertaining.
Had a similar situation that was complicated by giving my phone contact info to the buyer – so we had a few conversations. EBay also sent the buyer warnings about doing any transactions directly – which freaked him out and he wasn’t willing to send more $ because if that. While tempted to cancel, decided to eat the $5 and just sent it to him again – including a nice note telling him that he could mail me the difference if he wanted to. Several days later, received a money order in the mail for the difference.
No harm no foul – just strange.
Hearkens back to eBay of old !
Would suggest sending an add’l invoice though –Jay, thanks, you’ve got it- have been listing from the phone almost exclusively. Pictures, dictate descriptions, etc.
Probably good to include the cmputer in the equation unless / until eBay ads that functionality to the app!
Since I started back when auctions were the only eBay option, still love them. Did a spate early February, best example I remember now were a set of train engines that at least quadrupled my expected price. Two people “went at it,” and it is fun to watch them close – last minute action!
Have to fall back on some old axioms, like choosing good closing times (watch an auction die on Sunday morning), and it does seem like more work than list and forget, but for items that aren’t common, there can be real upside.
Fascinating details on the frying pans… had no idea there were variations like that, being able to call them out will connect with collectors.
Struggling to list more, need to pump in some April auctions and see what flies.
GSPhas been great, many fewer issues – but you’re right, I don’t have a chance to see what eBay is telling the customer. In the old days you had to always say ” your country’s customs, duties, taxes are the buyers responsibility etc. ” and the biggest problems came when buyers wouldn’t pay at delivery. Sad to hear that eBay isn’t clear about what’s included – certain this could have been avoided if they were more open or clear.
I also pack things very carefully, I think eBay just slaps a new label on the package but… Don’t really know,End of story, blocked bidder, no issues, and the items sold for well beyond expectations. Happy happy!
Thanks again for having a place to bounce stuff around – had not used a block for years. The best theme is, why waste time!
Locked the door on this cat, but of course looked at some items he had up for sale – laughed uproariously when the large rude vegetable listing appeared.
Back to listing and packing and THANKSYep, looking for a little backbone I guess – the customer is always right unless… Haha.
Kind of thrilled to have this forum, Feels like I’ve seen it all then realize I haven’t! many thanksThe Goldbergs is a very fun show, started watching it for Jeff Garlin and then loved it for the silliness and 80’s references. Every week there seems to be something new in the background, often watch it as much for the set decoration as anything else!
Though it can sometimes get like a trip to the antique store ( with a non-scavenger, ya know, ” my grandpa had that” ) there’s always something to see – I had recently scored big with the sale of a vintage “Dark Castle” game, and the next week the Goldbergs opened with the kids playing the game under the opening. (Clearly not my copy, but close enough. )
I would flip if one of my items went to a production!!!! Have even thought of adding “Please buy this for a 70s prop,” to my titles!
Oh, and True Detective – great 1st season, the second a muddled slog – but will watch season 3!
