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Shipping from the coastal states is definitely a challenge. I use a compromise strategy: I started sharing my ebay labels’ shipping discount with buyers, UPS and USPS started costing pretty much the same for short distances. However, UPS was much cheaper for cross-country and Global Shipping Program (I’m not using FedEx.)
So I tend to drag the UPS rate to the top in Calculated Shipping, since it is the least scary at long distances, and within a dollar of USPS in the West. Also: The East US is more densely populated, so I prioritize it, and most times I drag the flat rate USPS option above the priority mail option.
Also, slipping a box into a USPS padded flat rate envelope has been a godsend.
I’m getting a lot fewer questions/comments about shipping costs since I shared my discount and prioritized the East Coast.
Good point about the display stand, I hadn’t though of that. The bevel or chamfer of the base is what makes me think it might be a lid or somehow be the “male” piece to something “female.”
WORKAROUND: How to apply carrier discounts to existing listings (without revising one-by-one.)
Since carrier discount shipping preferences only apply to “new or revised listings” I called ebay and found a workaround. Simply bulk-edit your prices up a penny, then down a penny, and it looks like that’ll trigger your preferences on all your previous listings. Whew!
(I tried this by bulk editing my item location, but that didn’t work. Second time’s a charm!)
@Temudgin I hear ya on the competitive advantage issue. That’s my main motivator. I’m using up a lot of storage space on oversize items (vintage lamps/shades, suitcases,) and local pickup isn’t happening for me. I think “shipping shock” is hurting my sales on the big stuff.
My package sizes/weights are all over the place, so handing fees (or adding to the item price) may be the way to go. I’m always hesitant to add more steps to the process, but it might be worth it.
In a perfect world, sellers could offer the carrier discounts, and Calculated Shipping would automatically add a percentage to cover ebay fees.
I’d love to hear how other sellers “ballpark” to cover ebay shipping fees.
Thanks for this, I hadn’t considered a USPS cutoff point based on weight alone. I’ll definitely investigate this.
@sharyn yep, I can turn on the discounts easily, though it only applies to “new or revised listings,” so I’m looking for an inconsequential “revision” that will allow me to bulk edit my existing listings in one fell swoop and trigger ebay to apply the discounts. I am working my way towards understanding business policies, in baby steps!
I’m on the coast, so I definitely get lots of sticker shock messages from the rest of the world.
@retro-treasures-wv you make a good point: I ship 80+ percent USPS Priority so I’ll have to choose to either; 1. build the ebay shipping fees into the price of the item or 2. turn off USPS discounts and get better at puzzling out regional and flat rate shipping for long distances. For oversize packages, UPS discounts are so significant, I reckon the extra sales territory potential would be worthwhile. Being on the coast definitely necessitates some strategery!Question: what are the tax implications of the profit (in miles or cash or points)?
Very helpful, nonetheless! Seems like this version of the mark is rare. Now I want to keep it lol!
Fantastic! Do you know how to decode the code? There are numbers on the base in the second pic
@antique-frog thanks I will look into that on my Mac. Listed some clothes yesterday and oddly the item specific for color was required on some, but not others, so that cuts down my INAD risk by a bit.
@jay @antique-frog Yes I think “catalogue colors” are pretty annoying, and I avoid them on principle lol. I am just hoping another color-blind person on the forum has figured out a workaround to name the basic colors in the items specifics and other keywords. I just want to push “do the best you can” a little further than where I am at right now. Some combination of glasses and apps might get me into a better place, so I will gamble some dollars on those.
To be clear, I regularly mistake brown for green, pink for grey, purple for navy. It’s very binary. That is the crux of the problem/opportunity: I know vintage clothes/textiles/transportation items when I see and touch them. I just want to get the basic description right.
Color-blind people do adapt in other ways: I can usually tell if a Hot Wheels car is “Antifreeze” or a 70s Dodge muscle car is “Plum Crazy” by context and comparison. (e.g. I know the yellow light is the one in the middle of the traffic signal, though it doesn’t look a whole lot different than some streetlights.)
Thanks @IndySales I’m chasing for an app right now. Color Name is sorta working but it’s spitting out a lot of names that seem to be brand names, probably from paint companies. I will keep trying. I figured there had to be an app, I just hadn’t hit on the nomenclature yet!
Well, that would work at a very granular level, but I can’t add that many steps to my process. At the moment, I’m shooting 12 pics with my Iphone, then heading straight to the computer to list. I just need a way to find accurately name colors. Is it olive green? Or Brown? Another commenter mentioned color-picker apps, so I’m chasing that down as we speak.
Thanks, Jay, that’s the cheapest I’ve seen, I was always under the impression it was only sunglasses and/or super-expensive with my regular prescription. I’ve seen color-corrected images and it didn’t cause me to freak out and cry or anything, it’s just a slight shift and separation between colors that wasn’t there before. There are menus in some video games and photoshop so designers can view the screen as a color-blind person. TBH whenever the interwebs is full of videos tied to a product I run the other way!
