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It sucks to lose the 10% off FVF but I don’t see a problem keeping up with top rated seller status, I have even made sales off having TRS before (customers have said they bought from me because of my feedback/TRS, on a couple of high end items).
I always have 100% uploaded on time tracking and I just do my best to avoid defects by making sure the customer feels like they are getting a fair deal when a problem comes up.
I have a couple of promoted listings but I don’t see that doing much, just not a lot of multiple item listings in the type of stuff I sell. I can see why eBay wants to get away from ad revenue, I’ll be honest I use Adblocker on their page because it just eats up ram on my laptop and makes it hard to do research for items.
All that being said I hope this move helps eBay stay in business and profitable because when it comes down to it they are our business partner and if they say “Hey you’re doing great but to keep the doors open your bonus won’t be as big this year”, I’d say let em keep that bonus so I can keep making a living, I’ll just have a list more to make a little extra each month. Cause honestly I don’t wanna have to start over on another platform from scratch, thats a lot of time invested.
It really depends on your sell price. On items with lower prices like $10-$20 I want to spend as little as possible, at most $1 but if I can get away with 25 cents that would be better.
Higher end items I’m willing to go up to 25% of the end price. The other day as an example I got a print for $25 but it was also framed. I felt I could sell it for at least $100-150, turns out it’s worth a lot more than that but I am willing to pay more for a higher sale amount.
Honestly where I am at now tho I have almost not Cost Per Item because I buy table lots for $2.50-$10 and each table can have 25-100 items worth almost anything (I get lucky and find at least one item worth my whole auction bill sometimes). Makes it hard when I add up my COGS cause a lot of times I paid like 5 to 10 cents for a item. It’s a trade off tho cause I have to put a lot more time into packing all that stuff up, storing it and then sorting out the junk to be donated, where if I was at a yard sale or a higher end auction house I would be buying individual items and not having to deal with all the extra but I like to find the diamonds, it’s a rush!
Week February 19-25, 2017
Total Items in Store: 967
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $27
Total Sales: $622.94
Highest Price Sold: $239.99 (DeNicola Zodiac Brooch)
Average Price Sold: $47.91
International Sales: 1 – US Navy Flight Deck Helmet – $99.99
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $168.20
Number of items listed this week: 43Ok so I know my listing over the last 3 weeks has really paid off with this great week. Highest sales I have ever had on eBay to date. Still not at 1000 listings yet, I only listed a couple of days last week. The Brooch sold overnight, I listed it last Sunday and got a offer at 2am. I got it in a table lot with a lot of other mixed jewelry and almost sold it with the mixed jewelry but I saw it had a makers mark. I did a little bit of research and saw they sold for about $240, I put mine up at $320 and was fine taking the going price.
Anyway about the topic at hand I think we as eBay sellers do have a lot of control over how our business runs. I like numbers and statistic and I do research items and categories on eBay but I know that it only gives me so much info on how my business will perform.
Facts are what we need when it comes to eBay and fact is the more you have listed the more likely someone is to buy something. Its statistics. If you have 1 item on eBay it might sell right away or take 6 months to sell, and that’s what individual items are. They all have a chance to sell between the time you list them and when they sell 1 month or 2 years later. It’s all about getting the item in front of the customer (building that pipeline). And the more listings you have the more potential buyers exist for your store. When I had 200 items in my store I might have sold 1 item a week or 5. With almost 1000 items I sell about 2 item or more a day, some days nothing but other days 6 or 7 items. But I have control over how many items I list and what inventory level I have.
I do remember you guys talking a few months back (might be a year at this point) about “plateauing” when it came to sales. It’s weird that would happen because you would think you could list till you had 10,000 items and your sales would increase at the same rate. But I think at the time you mentioned “Market Saturation” and I think its gotta do with sales dropping off at a certain number of items. Cause you’re saturating your own market. Thats why its good to be diverse in your inventory. eBay also grows every year and with it more people join or quite so you sometimes get new competition or lose competition but it just depends on the market and how those people are enjoying this “job”.
Yeah the three claims in a month thing might be the problem but I wish they would say that, to say “oh this evidence is not right” when it was fine before is annoying. What I don’t like is that the items that got broke where clearly mishandled. First was a very old CD player that the door got broken on, I had it double wrapped in bubble wrap and floated it. The outside box was smashed from the pictures I got from the buyer. Second item was a framed print. It showed up with broken glass. The box had a huge gouge in it. I had triple wrapped it in 1″ bubble wrap so I think you’d have to drop it out of a moving vehicle to do that kinda damage. Last item was a bobble head that was new in box, arrived broken at the ankle, item was in styrofoam in box then bubble wrapped in another box… and got broken.
I mostly just wanted to let other people know about my experience so they can learn from my mistakes. Regardless of how you pack something the post office could always lose it but it’s just so uncommon, and I have to say that I have been shipping for years and this is the first time I have had a broken item so I think my odds are good.
I remember you guys talking about that on the podcast a few months ago, it would be frustrating for have $200 in merch get destroyed by the post office and they just shrug at you. CODB, we just gotta learn from it and move on and cover our behind for when it happens.
I mostly try to sell at yard sale prices on Facebook, only stuff that is just not worth selling on eBay. Like old blenders or wireless routers or crock pots… oh my God the crock pots (I think I get two every auction on table lots). It’s a mix, my area it’s a lot of cars/trucks and good and way too high prices. Lots of Clothes but everyone wants top dollar per item. Lots of video game stuff but they usually want a ton but I do see deals but they sell quick if someone is asking a reasonable price. I just don’t have time for it and it’s not fun so I don’t troll facebook for stuff anymore. I think if Facebook polishes it more over the next year it could be a decent selling platform.
That being said I can’t get people to pick up stuff to save my life, it was the same on craigslist. Someone wants your item but they want you to deliver it 30 miles away or they said “I’ll get it” then never message you again.
If you’re buying a $5 item why do you think I want to spend $10 in gas to get it to you?
Anyway. I think that this rolling out now is a game changer but I don’t see it becoming big for at least a year or so. I’d offer to ship items on facebook but I don’t see anything that tells about seller/buyer protection. I think Facebook is rolling it out and will just troubleshoot as it goes, hell if they get bad press people won’t stop using it. It’s like if Google was involved in drug smuggling and their CEO resigned… they are so big they can’t fail! What you gonna go use Bing??
Ok I have no idea where that tangent came from but I do agree with Stuff My Mom Threw Away, it’s so saturated now. My area has 68 buy/trade/sell groups… in a 15 mile radius and that does not include Savannah (bout 20 miles from me). I’m part of 3 of them and I get updates when someone posts a item on all of them even if it’s the same item.
Item was a bobblehead new in box, I sent them photos of the damage from my buyer and it was priority mail… The only difference was the time line. The other buyers got with me when the item arrived so I filed a claim within a week. This last buyer waited almost 30 days to get back with me (he left me negative feedback but I got it fixed, new ebay buyer) so the item shipped on the 17th of January and I was unable to put the claim in until the 16th of February. Also the amounts are all about the same in the $30 range for a refund from the post office. Funny thing is all my broken its arrived on the same day at the post office, it was after a holiday so a heavy shipping day I guess… Oh God today was a day like that and I just shipped out a painting (cringe).
It says they “sent a letter of explanation” so I should get that in a few days, why they can’t say it on the webpage is beyond me. Hopefully they send me a partial refund or something, I’d be happy with that to break even.
Week February 12-18, 2017
Total Items in Store: 937
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $9.50
Total Sales: $183.64
Highest Price Sold: $25.99 (Quik-Lok Keyboard stand)
Average Price Sold: $14.12
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 84Another slow week, I continue to add more inventory in anticipation of my moving to full time eBay. No auctions this week so I am looking forward to one next weekend, that being said I have made some headway at clearing out the deathpile that has become my storage shed, I’m going box by box, just whatever is closest to the door so no cherry picking. This has lead to some amazing finds of stuff I got in a table lot I did not notice like a bunch of WWII pins, a rare 1960’s brooch (sold overnight I’ll have it on next weeks sales report).
I’m very motivated to do this full time and I am seeing a good stream of inventory moving now that I am almost at 1000 items (I’m filling the pipeline to quote Jay). My goal is 100 items a week till winter, I’m going to steamroll the summer slump if it kills me!
Also I’m having a problem with a USPS insurance claim… I shipped a item and it broke during shipping, last two items I had I got a check very quick, this time around they denied the claim and the appeal. I’m not sure what the difference is I’m just going to try again maybe the squeaky wheel will get greased or it will just be a Cost of Doing Business expense.
FYI – The Gallery Plus problem seems to be fixed. I have been switching back and forth between collectables and other items and I have been able to click the gallery plus check mark off and it and the fee goes away on non collectable items.
This is the ad I have on facebook marketplace (like 3 different local buy/sell/trade groups) as well as two craigslists that I live between.
Paying Cash for Clothes!
I am paying Cash for gently used clothes. I am in search of Women’s, Men’s, Young Adult and even vintage/estate clothes. I pay cash on the spot by the pound. I also buy shoes by the pound that are still in wearable condition. If you have clothes you are going to donate and would rather get some money for them please message me and we can arrange a pickup time/place. I pay 25 cents per pound. I have a luggage scale that reads up to 80 lb so it will be no problem weighing the clothes on the spot. I live in *** but can meet in ****, *** or even off *** and ***.This has gotten me a decent amount of leads, nothing to live off of but it helps, about once a week I can pick up between 2-10 bags of clothes… a normal garbage bag is about 15-20 lb so that’s $5 per bag. I do hand my cards out at yard sales if I am yard selling and at least one person will call me back usually if they are just going to haul it all to Goodwill afterwards might as well get $20 and not have to do any work.
Back to auctions I know my local guy does estates but also has other tables for other people in the mix and sometimes stuff he has, the auction that’s about a hour from me they have a thrift store and will pull items that are not selling to up for auction.
I will say this for people knowing I am a reseller, I have gotten a ton of stuff for free out of it. Sometimes people buy table lots to get two or three things and don’t want the rest. I can’t tell you how many times they see me buying table lots and then want me to take their extra stuff. I never mind because everything has a value and if it is to cheap for eBay I can always do a yard sale or just donate it for a tax receipt from Goodwill or something (that being said I sometimes find $100 items I got for free). Not saying you guys should start telling everyone what you do but like you said, either they think you’re a reseller or a hoarder.
I know at tag estate sales sometimes when they find out I’m a reseller they are happy I am there and I’ve even had them call me to get the left over for a big discount. It’s all about how you feel. I have a sales background and love to talk to people and people always feel comfortable around me (not in a used car salesmen way more like “he’s just a good o’l boy he can’t do no harm”) so I don’t worry if they get offended because I’m buying their Grandma’s painting so I can resell it, they should feel bad because they are selling it in the first place.
I’m gonna try and start doing my numbers every weeks so I can see how my business is growing.
Week February 5-11, 2017
Total Items in Store: 866
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $15
Total Sales: $188.19
Highest Price Sold: $39.99 (my old computer monitor that I just upgraded)
Average Price Sold: $15.68
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 40Had kinda a slow week but I did manage to list all the paintings/prints I got at a auction a few weeks ago. It was a slow week for listing because I just got out of my storage unit and into my new (well it was used but new to me) 12×28 barn shed. I found the shed on Facebook, it is a rent to own but I have plans to pay it off this year with eBay money and it’s only $100 more a month then my storage unit, it’s also at my house and is three times as much space so well worth the investment into my business.
You guys talked about selling your old electronics and I did just that this week with my computer monitor, I think I got it 6 years ago and I sold it for about the same price I paid then.
I’m really excited about getting close to 1000 listings, but I need to be at around 3450 to need to upgrade to a anchor store… I wish there was something in between anchor and premium but I’ll just shoot for tripling my listings in the next 6 months.
My shed looks like one big death pile at the moment. I have 30+ tubs in the back full of listed items and framed prints lining the walls but at the entrance is a huge pile of about 20+ boxes of auction junk to go though, mostly box/table lots I have gathered over the last 3 months. I now know that I will never have a lack of stuff to list. I’m gonna be working though this pile over the next few weeks to get it all listed/donated and hopefully by then my store will be generating more money for I can invest in more inventory!
I know that it does say on the page for changing your payment style that if you change the way your going to pay it won’t take effect until next month. This is the “Gym Membership” style of billing in that unless you cancel by a certain date they “can’t” stop the charge. Like for me I was just having eBay pull from paypal but I wanted to use my paypal debit card for the 1% cash back so I had to wait a month before I changed it otherwise I might have gotten double charged like you did.
I’ve had the same problem with Gallery Plus. I found that it seems to get stuck if I do “sell similar” with an item that has gallery plus already checked (I been listing a lot of art but sometimes it’s not in the art category, like framed cross stitch, so it does not get free gallery plus).
Easy work around is to just start a new draft or use sell similar for an item without Gallery Plus.
I have also found for the past few days on Chrome that I can’t see the picture preview when I’m making a listing. It works on IE and Firefox… and it started working on Chrome again but it’s been here and there.
Also know that you won’t get final value fee’s back unless they open a return. Again you can get final value fees back if you cancel the item but you have to issue a full refund to cancel. This might not be a big deal on cheaper items… Honestly if I sell a shirt and its $10 and All I loose is $2.61 to shipping and like $1 in fees to not have to deal with a customer it’s worth it.
Ok I need to update myself because I just today had to deal with this case. So the buyer did not open a return case but sent back the item anyway (we did talk in messages so at least I got that documented). Great now I want to do the refund but if I try to cancel the order it gives a full refund. So you actually need to message the buyer and ask them to open a case cause there is no way on your end to do it other than to cancel the order but that gives them back full amount plus shipping. I’m only doing this because I went out of my way to give this lady measurements and she still said it did not fit (she said it’s not a Junior XL… nowhere in my listing does it say it’s a Junior item) so I’m not paying for shipping on principle! I do know sometimes it’s easier to just eat the cost but sometimes people gotta pay for making you work.
