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Can’t help to add to this thread.. haha… Yes, I’ve gotten the occasional “Can you send a picture of you wearing the shoe…” (ah… no thanks) – someone is definitely getting off on that one… also for trashed converse I have been asked “Was this worn (used) by a man or a woman?” (Does it matter? I don’t know.)
One very strange sale… I sold a Barbie doll (unclothed) – not that I recommend sourcing these, but it was something I had grabbed at the bins for my kid and later decided to sell it… and it was purchased from a male buyer – (I could tell he pretty much purchased a Barbie doll every day, basically from looking at his feedback sent and received.) He had it sent to c/o his name to a hotel room… (What is he doing with all those Barbies? I don’t really want to know…)My Store Week Oct 28-Nov 3, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1134
Items Sold: 17
Gross Sales: $336.99
Cost of Items Sold: $46.22
Highest Price Sold: $67 (Vintage Tape Duplicator)
ASP: $19.84
STR: 6.4%
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 16Congrats on the Ouija sale! Yes, packing was slightly annoying – I have 6 things to pack tonight, which is more than normal for me on a Sunday night. It “feels” like Holiday sales are starting to begin… I hope this is a good week for everyone!
Sharyn, interesting, I had no idea…:) Love this blog and always learning 🙂
Hi Antique Frog, Here in the US, we don’t have equivalent categories – we are all just the same ebay and there is no professional vs. hobby delineation (other than owning a store vs. not)… Also, one can always get your direct email address from Paypal after the sale…
Hi bcfol440, I just use a simple excel spreadsheet with the first tab labeled “Inventory” and the second tab labeled “Sales”. Inventory is where I track all my new listings, date listed, COGS, what Bin, etc. It makes it very easy to see all the new listings for the week and also acts as a master inventory backup for where everything is located on my racks and bins (I also use the eBay custom SKU field and I also sell similar everything after 30 days – except for multiple quantity listings, which go GTC, so quantities don’t reset as we discussed elsewhere on here :). Once something sells, I mark it SOLD and copy the entry over to the SALES tab.
10/29/2018 at 8:36 pm in reply to: Trash Elf Twins Challenge 2018 Thread #3 From Week 31 August #50925Hi Vintage Lacy,
Thanks for sharing your video, it sure looks impressive! How many different vendors were there? Hope you are happy with your results! 🙂
Hey Ryanne, Listening to the podcast right now – you are talking about the UPI Assistant – I use it and I love it. I used to send out invoices and personal messages – but I just set the auto UPI up for 4 days and let it do its thing. You mentioned that you don’t use it because you have to wait – but you CAN set it up to auto-kick in after only 2 days (check account settings you will see that option). I used to have 2 days but I like 4 better because occasionally a slow payer will pay on day 3. I stopped sending out invoices because I think in the end the only thing that really motivates them is the UPI strike warning from eBay and then I don’t have to worry about it. Also, the other benefit of using Auto UPI is that the buyer cannot leave feedback if the case auto-closes. (If you manually close it then I believe they can leave feedback – from what I have read online. That may be one less call you need to make to eBay…)
My Store Week Oct 14-20, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1134
Items Sold: 15
Gross Sales: $458.17
Cost of Items Sold: $57.87
Highest Price Sold: $79 (Cowboy Boots)
ASP: $30.41
STR: 5.7%
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: 63
Number of items listed this week: 13Welcome back Jay and Ryanne! This week felt very busy, but kind of like a “sweat shop” as I was basically accepting every (low ball) offer that came my way, running perma sales, and promoting all my items – anything to spur some quick sales. I realized that earlier in the game I was in such a mad rush to get a large number of items in my store that I would list just to list – simply to get volume. I’m anxious to sell off all the early crap and really focus on better quality now – even if it means lower quantity.
I had one obnoxious return – I bought a pair of expensive cole haan shoes (on ebay) two years ago – to flip and I finally sold them. One day after delivery the buyer emails me (with a picture) with a one liner: “Thanks for disclosing that the shoes are falling apart.” (I just refunded the $65, apologized, and told him to keep and go repair the shoes.) What a bummer – I have a little sinking feeling that it *could* possibly be a switch (where he already had a bum pair and bought mine in order to swap and free return) but I gave him the benefit of the doubt… who knows what really happened.. next time I will make him return but didn’t want to waste more money on return shipping. I didn’t notice any damage on these shoes when I bought them. Oh Well.. onto the next sale…
Hope everyone has a great week!
Hi ctebay,
This has happened to me before. My suggestion is to do nothing and leave the ball in the buyer’s court. If/when they open a case you can take it from there and refund the buyer (minus shipping costs) to recoup your eBay fees. You did your part to ship to the address provided – it is not your fault they did not claim the package. If you do end up hearing from them and they still want the item, they can paypal you the shipping amount (at their cost) and you can re-send the item. You did your part as a seller to send the item to the address provided, you are not liable if they did not pick up their package… good luck…I just dealt with this as a buyer (totally frustrating and it really sucks… I tried to file a claim with paypal to see what would happen and as expected, it didn’t work out. The customer ended up sending me a replacement part as a courtesy but I realize they totally didn’t have to do that. I really appreciated their professionalism. They went above and beyond. They item was only $2.00)
Now, I am dealing with this today in fact as a seller.. also, really frustrating.. I feel your pain because I do feel bad for them but I’m getting too many free returns, why should I be out even more money because of an unreliable postal service? There is the feedback consideration as well so I at least want to send a response… They waited 3 weeks to let me know and said that they knew tracking shows delivered but they never received it and was wondering if I had any additional info.
Here is how I responded (in case it helps… I am trying to leave the ball in their court while stressing that this really is a USPS issue…)
Hi <Customer>,
I am getting back to you with all the info on my end.. I am very sorry you didn’t get your package. This happened to us last month with a phone charger we ordered on eBay that tracking showed “Delivered” that we never received, so I understand how frustrating this situation is!Is your paypal address correct?
<INSERT PAYPAL INFORMATION HERE>
Here is my tracking information (probably the same as yours):
<INSERT ALL YOUR TRACKING INFO HERE FROM USPS WEBSITE>Did you have any success contacting your local post office and speaking to the Carrier Supervisor and/or the Post Master? GPS tracking is often used with delivery confirmation so it is something they may be able to double check.
Here is also a link to report missing mail to the US Postal Inspection Service: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/mlntrcvd.aspx#ctl00_mainContent_RadioMNR
This is a great topic! I love reading all of your experiences and sales… I think it is true “anything sells”… I also sometimes have the worst pair of “thrift goggles”…(what a great term – that is hilarious.) It seems I am always thrifting on the fly trying to get home before the bus stops at my house to drop off kids so when in a hurry, I sometimes grab things that have flaws that I don’t discover until I list. This is a great reminder to check everything thoroughly! What I have been doing lately is to throw anything with flaws (minor rips, holes, missing buttons/snaps, etc.) into a mending pile and when it gets full I hand over a bag to my friends daughter (she’s 14 and likes to sew). I pay her $2.00 each to make the minor fix.. which probably only takes her 5 minutes. So she’ll make $20 bucks and then I list everything and disclose “button was replaced” or “minor tear was mended” .. and the items always sell and I still make decent money and I don’t need to list them as damaged or flawed.
I once bought an awesome Hawaiian silk shirt and when I got home I saw both armpits/shoulders had major tears on each side (like the guy who wore it last tried to move a couch or washing machine and just completely ripped the seams out – I totally missed it in the store.) I still listed that darn shirt (disclosed major flaws sold damaged AS/IS) and I STILL made money on it.. 🙂 but I don’t want to make a habit of selling damaged items. These days I try to pass unless it is something truly special/vintage item and I am trying to find new-with-tag-items at the thrifts as they are so much easier to sell.
10/22/2018 at 8:17 am in reply to: Bidder trying to get discount and free shipping after auction ended #50501Just to elaborate on what antique frog is mentioning… if you ever do cancel an order.. always pick “Buyer asked to cancel” (even if it is because YOU want to cancel because they are trying to negotiate after the fact)… that is the only way you will not get a defect… I look at it as technically they DO want to cancel because they are not willing to abide by the original terms of the sale.
You did the polite thing to ask her.. if she really wanted it she would have paid immediately or responded. Now I would just cancel…(but they will still be able to leave feedback) or file the Unpaid Item after 2 days .. (set it up to automatically file and automatically close in your account settings and then the buyer will not be able to leave you negative feedback after it is all said and done if they do not pay.)
10/21/2018 at 10:41 pm in reply to: Bidder trying to get discount and free shipping after auction ended #50487If I were you I would send her a short message telling her you can’t lower the price (which you already did) and that you don’t know the mL left – refer to the pictures in the listing and ask her if she would like you to cancel the sale so she can find a better offer from another seller. (She will probably say yes.)
10/21/2018 at 10:11 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50482My Store Week Oct 14-20, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1140
Items Sold: 16
Gross Sales: $286.30
Cost of Items Sold: $27.26
Highest Price Sold: $42.69 (Women’s Sweater)
ASP: $17.89
STR: 6%
Returns: 1 (GSP sale – so yay, it’s working! Immediately paid and immediately asked to cancel…)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $58
Number of items listed this week: 15Wow, This was painful even reading your story… eBay is NOT supposed to be that stressful… EVER.. 🙂 I hope it all turns out well – nothing broken – buyers and sellers happy – net positive for you.. fingers crossed…
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