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Vintage Lacy, I missed the comment about your dad earlier. A girl and her dad is special and I hope that you enjoy your time with him sharing some good memories.
I need to do some more reorganizing and then take pictures of the piles in the new thread.
Hi Troy, yes I am for sure using the promotion tool. I typically use the max 10 each day and mark it down by the minimum allowed. I have promoted to everyone even if it only has one liker. I can understand why you decided to cross post your higher priced stuff first, but I would keep in mind that Mercari is engineered to create quicker sales. Google likes Mercari but I would say that people are generally looking for a good deal on Mercari. You will definitely get more than a yard sale but less than Ebay and Posh. I recommend pricing a bit higher and using the promo tool. There is no relisting functionality yet, but I know some sellers do remove and relist after a certain point. I remove free shipping when it gets down in price. I also buy on Mercari and have searches out. I get notified of offers on my phone, which is always with me.
Unfortunately so far I would say there is not a lot of chatter about what people are doing well with on Mercari. Here’s what I have heard: skews younger, better brand driven, kids’ stuff, men’s clothing, shoes, books, Rae Dunn dishes, farmhouse, Starbucks, Disney / pop culture, and Pyrex. I’m going to try out more vintage items this coming year and see how that goes.
The nice part is that there is less competition so far. For example, I have a Disney doll up for sale. There are many on Ebay from sellers who are asking less but I suspect I will get a good price on Mercari. It’s on the only one on Mercari and has 20 likers.
Total store items: 373 Ebay, About 45 Mercari
Number of items sold: 9 Ebay, 5 Mercari
Total sales: $758 Ebay, $77 Mercari
Cost of items sold: $411 Ebay, $18 Mercari, $14 shipping included, + a few items ours
Highest price sold: Ebay, new bedding set $355 Ebay (paid $135 spring clearance)
Average price sold: $39 Ebay, $15 Mercari
Returns: 1 (the bedding set above, free returns, immediately sold again thank goodness)
Money spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0Numbers are unusually skewed as I bought some bedding new for my daughter a while back that she did not prefer and I just sold it on Ebay at cost to get my money back. Had it listed higher because I thought maybe an international buyer would spring on it, but no. Now they discontinued the color, so it sold probably because of that. I also was nice and let some guy return a gift after 30 days and then it resold the day after I relisted so happy about that except the free shipping and returns stung a bit. In the past I have not gotten returns on that type of new item.
Enjoyed the podcast despite there being almost zero chance I will go full time Ebay unless one of our dads goes downhill and moves in. I had a couple of days off work recently and did some serious listing. That would be pretty hard to get used to I think doing full time day in and day out and would get kind of lonely. I do enjoy working part-time out of the house while the kids are at school since I am more focused at the office and it is California casual. Both jobs are too much sitting at the computer.
Lots of thoughts about my reselling journey and path forward. A lot of this coming year will be focused on killing the rest of the piles. A serious newb mistake on my part. When I started Ebay was making a lot of changes and glitchy so I would get frustrated with listing plus I was looking to get top dollar and being too precious with my listings. Now I have concluded that it’s mostly about great items at great prices. I find it more satisfying to move items more quickly. Also, I have usually great sourcing here and limited competition so I have learned much about what is not worth picking up.
I was initially fearful about shipping so many coffee mugs are left but there is a variety. I will use Mercari to help plow through those lower dollar items more quickly. There is cool stuff like paintings in the piles too – for Ebay. Those items are much slower to research so I need to get in the mood. They are grouped by type and I also made a seasonal worksheet for myself to tackle the items when it makes sense. My current sales reflect some marked down Christmas stuff that is being liquidated around $10.
Happy New Year trash elves!
@Mark, I missed the original thread but good for you for being nice and I’m really glad Ebay removed those. No doubt that people like your buyer are busy making themselves miserable, but we should try to help people within reason I think. Ebay should reward and highlight sellers like Mark going the extra mile, as it helps make up for the scammer and incompetent resellers.
@Retro, ugh. Sorry you had to go through that experience. I too loathe calling Ebay’s customer service and really I value my time and my seller rating more than being right sometimes. Most buyers are honest, but I’ve had a few email complaints for lower dollar stuff that I just refunded and blocked on the spot despite not having proof. It just wasn’t worth the frustration of calling Ebay.
So, I feel like I need to budget it “shrinkage” for events like this. But it doesn’t help that Ebay is pushing programs that eat into the profits. So one needs to weigh potential issues with items at the sourcing point, and the cost of just eating some problems if your time is limited. I’m definitely considering cutting loose free returns this year and possibly free shipping on the some brand new items I was surprised to get returns on. Also, if I come across death pile items that are damaged, I donate them because I’m lucky to have plentiful sourcing here.
@bcfol440 I think it was first class USPS that made it to Kentucky. The part I don’t like most is the communication I got from Ebay. I know better because of this forum, but if I didn’t it would be crazy to follow what they sent me and it really puts the ball back in my court even though it’s GSP. On top of this I got a big free return. That was over 30 days return, but I took it anyway. The communication again was it was my responsibility to work it out with the buyer. Not a great Christmas day on Ebay for me, but I still love selling. I decided to be nice and take the return because some poor husband bought the wrong size by mistake.
I feel like in the new year, I need to take a look at my current Ebay listings and my fee statements. I’m not really sure I’m buying into the best practices search and buyer payoff. I think promoted listings is more valuable even at 1%.
Thanks – reading my post that was confusing. I definitely won’t be dealing with Ebay France. I just hate calling the main US number because I have a basic store so I get the foreign operators reading the script and I just don’t tolerate it very well. Hopefully I know the magic words and it will be brief!
Ok, so buyer lets me know global shipping item that left Kentucky has fallen out of tracking. I tell her to contact Ebay. Now I get a message from Ebay to consider refunding and reach out to her. If I click on the link, it takes me to Ebay in French. What? I know it’s part of doing business but I loathe calling Ebay overseas as they never seem to help quickly and efficiently.
Hopefully, the rep won’t act clueless. I’ll be sure to mention GSP asap.Happy holidays death pile elves. I only listed 2 items this week and I’m not really feelin’ it. Plus, lots of trouble sleeping. I’m working part of this coming week and I’m taking my daughter to see Wicked in LA next weekend. Sooo…we’ll see.
In the new thread I’ll post new death pile photos. No items spilling out this year. Still a ways to go but I made good progress this year.
Total Items in Store: 372 Ebay, 45 Mercari
Items Sold: 12 Ebay, 4 Mercari
Gross Sales: $263 Ebay, $58 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $52 + $35 shipping included + some items ours
Highest Price Sold: $68 (three new bowls, paid $15 RA)
Average Price Sold: $21 Ebay, $14 Mercari
Returns/Refund: 1 refund- for the first time ever I grabbed the wrong item :0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 2Happy holidays trash elves! R&J I’m happy to hear about your fun vacation and great week selling. Well deserved.
An ok week for me considering shipping cut off week with a low ASP. I was late getting up my Christmas items and I’m very pleased to see some of this stuff still moving out, even at fairly low prices. On Mercari, I sold some premium paper products I bought 90% off that sat on Ebay through last Christmas.
Speaking of Mercari, there are not great Youtube or FB resources about it but I did hear a guy say they rolled out a new feature where after 30 days your listing automatically converts to a best offer listing. I also need to pay attention once I drop the price enough and take off free shipping. All reasons to start out the price a bit higher than you actually want on Mercari or feature items that you don’t need to get top dollar on. BUT, you don’t have to use square photos or share on social media. Plus it’s very fast to list. I do well with children’s book lots on Mercari so far, selling very quickly. After doing Ebay for 3 years, it feels pretty darn good to get results more quickly after listing.
We adopted a rescue doggie for Christmas and have a lot going on so I have no listing mojo. As for 2019, I continue to work through the piles. I’ve got dwindling RA inventory left and Ebay said my sales are down 40% from a year ago. I feel a little funny going to straight vintage and used, but I can’t get the prices at the same retailer I used to get anyway. So in 2018 I really shifted from plowing profits into the business to draining it of the cash I can get out. We’ve had a lot of expenses lately, nothing fun to spend money on in particular. We are also in the minority paying significantly more taxes this year under the new law so we had higher quarterlies. All said, it’s probably going to be a low ASP for my year ahead, but then I’ll be able to hit estate sales. That’s the carrot.
Hard to find a quality video about Mercari but I think this one does an ok job comparing vs. other platforms.
Interestingly, Mercari sent me a survey yesterday and at the end wanted to know if you would be willing to be interviewed by local news or in promotions. Another big difference from established Ebay – they are polling and listening to successful sellers.
If you go in the app to your person head and shoulders icon at the bottom, then click selling, you should see the on sale listings page with photos of your various items. There are buttons to promote or edit under each listing. If you click promote and you are using the most current version you will get a choice of making an “exclusive” offer to likers or just dropping the price for everyone. I think likers requires a slightly deeper discount. Start with $1 off and it will tell you the minimum Mercari will make you do. Mercari will make buyers push up their low ball offers too. They also limit how many items you can promote in one day (10) and how many days before you can drop the price again (3).
If the price gets too low and I have free shipping, I switch to buyer paying shipping and keep promoting. Some people end and relist at some point.
You’re welcome. I can’t emphasize enough how much I prefer listing there vs Ebay, except the prices I’m getting are discounted a bit. It’s a really efficient system and there isn’t much to learn. Just remember to list any condition issues as you are not specifically prompted to do that.
Troy, don’t forget to use the promotion tools. Usually I price a little above what I want to get and then promote.
@ebaymom I’ve heard there seem to be a lot of young moms on Mercari and I have sold clothing. The better brand stuff is selling for me, like Patagonia and Ivivva. I put a few other items on like Gap, Nordstrom brand, Crewcuts, and they are sitting but have likers. I would encourage you to try it out. You can easily browse through solds and see what’s happening. One thing about Mercari though is you need to ask buyers to ask you for bundles beforehand, though maybe not if you are shipping first class Paypal on your own vs. using Mercari labels. You can’t link items without create a bundle for someone. There is not a shopping cart.
