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Hey Jay:
How about some new photos of you and Ryanne’s new storage building inside now that you have all of your stuff moved over into it? Would like to see how it all worked out with your shelving, how you arranged the rows, new bin system you are going to. Just curious.How does 8k to 10k items stack up inside, how did you finally light it, and / or heat it, how do you off load from your truck in there and so forth?
Do you do any packing and shipping inside the warehouse building or do you pull everything as it is sold and carry it up to the office, up the stairs to pack and ship?
How does the space and distance work out as far as time utilization go and how has the buidling helped in speeding up your overall process besides centralizing everything into one spot instead of all over the local farm?
mike at MDCGFA in Atl
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback. You are now baptized into the group.
Very interesting on the volume of items you still have to list on top of what you have already. If everything was listed over night you would have, what maybe 25,000 ++ items. Just unimaginable from our perspective.
But it is now clearer to how to can post those kinds of numbers. I am surprised Jay didn’t get to you first on those numbers, unless he already did and i missed it.
I also know that SL is wonderful, but if you are very active, then SL can be a time drain if one posts many new topics and reply to lots of other posts. Just think of all the months and months worth of time J and R have put into posting and answering since way back to the Mike and Wendy days.
So thank you again for the insightful details about your business model and how you and your wife run your business. Good job.
mike @ MDCGFA
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Hey Guys: Question to all of the themal printer guys, Zebra, Dynamo, Rollo.. are these all wired printers or Wireless. The Brother Laser printer I use is 22 feet away from the main keyboard we use to send labels and it is wireless, two up on a sheet adhesive backed, kiss-cut on a sheet with 1/4″ rounded corners.
The price ranges I see for wireless units are running from several hundred dollars up to the 800 and 900 range. Must be heavy duty. But the one everybody has mentioned here are they hard wired-cable or wireless.
mike – mdcgfa
Sure thing:
It was Kathy Terrill a YouTuber but she has a good Ebay background, she speaks at some Ebay groups, a former QVC presenter and also knows seemingly many insiders at Ebay. But besides that she covers many good technical and topical thngs with what I feel is good information.
The only BUT is her introduction drives me crazy… “Hello Everybody”, Hi, Hi, Hi, Helloe, Good to see you”, UUgghh. but she has a lot of videos with info. I have used a lot.
Here at about time 8:00 minute mark, digging into the details that is posted online by Ebay and you may be able to get the Ebay URL by zooming in on it in the image she is showing on the screen.
Then at about the 11:00 minute mark she falls upon the Guaranteed delivery part and timing.
Hope this is of some interest and helps us all discover a little more about this program.
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
SmartParts Small Equipment02/10/2020 at 3:04 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 446: Interview with Dan The Diner, Fellow Scavenger! #73840Hey Timo… Man time flies. Yep. Had it booked marked but with so much else going on it dropped down out of sight quickly and sorry, but forgot about it and didn’t double back on it.
It may have been an offline phone call with Troy sometime back, can’t remember exactly.
But when he and i talk on the phone, we cover a bunch of topics at times. But my feelings is that the wrappers are better for run of the mill policies and or snippets that you want on all of your listings. But I prefer most of the data to be localized within the description area.
I write the code in the description area and have everything show up there. Mainly because when we cross post to other sites, the Ebay Description is all inclusive and contains everything we want a buyer to know about the item. Yes, on Ebay, that means some of the description data are the same as the Item Specifics. But on sites that don’t have an Item Specific area, then everything is in the description that is imported and we don’t have to edit or add anything else to it.
An example is Etsy. Etsy doesn’t have Item Specifics like Ebay. But in SB the Description area is imported directly into an Etsy description area and as such, the item specifics data is included.
To get any item specific area, the condition area, title and even custom fields all you have to do is enclose the code in double brackets. Example:Go to the Manage Templates drop down in the SB add area, select Manage Templates, select the template you want to add the auto coding to and do the following… if you want everything you typed in the Item Condition area of SB to automatically show in the description, type [[Condition]] in your template in the place you want it to appear in your template and save it in that template. If you want a bunch of Item Specifics to auto show, do the same for each field. If you go to one of newer-later listings and look at the description, the only thing we type is the Bullit point lines of copy, which is usually 2 to 4 short lines and eveything else populates automatically.
Here is an SB Description area with the code
[[Title]]
* We type these couple of lines in.
*
*Condition: [[condition]]
Brand: [[brand]]
Country: [[country]]
Color: [[color, colors]]
Size A: [[dimension, size]]
Style: [[style]]etc, etc. The reason for two codes in a few is that Ebay uses color or if not our custom field says colors [plural] so we include both terms. SB will pick up and show whatever is entered into either one of those fields.
The reason Troy and I both do this in the Description is that as we create various templates for categories that require a whole set of different item specifics such as limited edition art prints, original abstract acrylic paintings vs. home decor and Hard goods it is easier to add data in the custom IS fields and have them auto populate in that specific template. Troy has a ton of templates. We have much fewer.
Then we don’t have to worry about having to attach a wrapper or if edit something, having to make an edit in the description and then saving and opening up the wrapper. Just double work.
But, BUT… If you have a few sayings at the bottom of standard disclaimers, or snippets used over and over you may want to use a wrapper, but we just build it into the description area along with everything else.
As far as formating goes, when everything is in the description area, you can use the built in editor for basic stuff like to highlight, underline, bold, highlight, change fonts, color and size, etc. And to see how it will look, just click the small Preview tab under the editor window. The Edit and Preview tabs are side by side and we just click back and forth.
Troy and I just find it easier and faster to have everything in the one description area and not have to bounce back and forth between the wrapper and description area AND… If you make a change to a wrapper it will change all listings that use it and there may be times you want to custom it or edit and having in the same area is faster.
And lastly, some platforms will not bring over the wrapper to their platform but if everything you want to describe and or say about an item is in the Description area, you will then have a complete listing description on Etsy, Shopify or any other platform that brings in the description only from Ebay.
Hope that helps a little and I was not too confusing.
good Luck and sorry for the delay.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Hey Mark:
So sorry to hear about your mother. Our thoughts and prayers go out for you and your family.Susan and Mike Collins
MDC Galleries and Fine ArtI was listening yesterday to a YouTube poster who was reading through the whole International agreement document and when she got to the fine print areas toward the bottom, Ebay states this program can average about 6 to 8 weeks or longer to deliver to the buyer.
Follow up questions revolved around was Pitney Bowes being involved in some way, was there some sort of secondary process or inspections taking place, but nobody had any real answers. But right there in the Ebay document was the statement about a long time frame for delivery and it may lead to buyer questions or premature “Item Not Received” complaints.
Not much else about it except, it will be less costly in some cases.
Hey MyCottage: Can I hit the “I told you so” button. Yep I agree 100%. They know what they are doing that is for sure. And when there is a problem, go through the same routine I outlined, contact them and inform them what’s happening and they will correct-fix it and combine with a few other small fixes and issue an update for every SB user.
Glad to hear it. Now a tip in case Clay didn’t tell you. If you are going to cross post at some time in the future using the Duo version, your main rig [the one with the databse on it], will need to stay on 24/7 except for every few days turn off and then restart. The main rig has the SQL Agent on it and it’s the agent that hits all the multiple platforms every 10 minutes and keeps everything in synch. With the main rig-agent turned off you may or will miss a sale and then the multiple platforms can get out of synch, then you may end up selling the same item twice. Once steve Leah told me that and i have been doing as he instructed, no more double sales and both Ebay and Etsy are in perfect synch.
Good luck, glad up guys are up and running and hope everything is smooth sailing for you guys.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
All of us that have been around for a while understand your frustration with “the Vero thing”.
This has been discussed many times here at SL and I will paraphrase Jay’s response he replies with every time.
There are a tremendous number of speeders across the country speeding either a small amount or by a large amount. Only a small percent gets caught, but because it is against the law, they are breaking the law, we have police forces spread all over to try and catch the violators. No, not everyone gets caught, and the average citizen would ask your question, “why aren’t all the violators given a ticket?”. It comes down to manpower.
Just like small cities and large cities have police forces of varying sizes and budgets, same goes for the VERO companies who try to protect their brand name and logo use.
As well all know, Velcro and John Deere are large and have the bigger “police” teams, but not so large that they can “police” the whole internet.
I had the word Velcro on every hat I ever sold, for years then I got my first VERO against me through Ebay. I took down the one they mentioned, they didn’t see the others I still had listed at first. But then about a month later. BAM! comes the second. Well I did my research, bulked edited and everyone was changed to “Hook and Loop” adjustable band, one size fits most.
Then came the John Deere one maybe a year or so later. Same scenario, only this time was through Etsy and on top of that, I got a personal letter mailed to my house from John Deere’s corporate legal eagles’. Well, all good things must come to an end, so I pulled the few John Deere items and took them offline.
But my point is, I was “speeding” or selling their items and the letter stated I used their name and logo in my efforts to try and sell John Deere products of which they got no percentage of the profits and sale. And they were right, of course. So, I was caught / busted, and I did as the letter stated, “Cease and Desist”.
Then I had another issue but with another product. I was a spray foam insulation business owner for several years and decided to have a local machine shop reverse engineer a few small consumable parts used in our spray gun that applied spray foam. I used them just fine in my sprays guns and did not have to pay the price of replacement parts which were 10 times the cost of the OEM parts. After I quit the business I then started to list and sell them on Ebay. It only took about a month or so and BAM! again a VERO, but I talked with Ebay and did more research and now I have been selling them for years. In that case, I used the word “Aftermarket” and this time I did as Old Dad is saying, I also stated it fits and could be used on a [mfg. name here] spray gun. That did it. No more hassles.
So, I would suggest you approach it with words such as can be used to repair John Deere Equipment or Tractors. Any wording to move you away from stating you are reselling an actual JD item specific piece.
The buyers are not blind, they see the logo, they know what you are selling and if they want or need it, they will buy it. But instead of “this is”, I would go with can be used for. Then that’s up to the buyer if he wants to use it on a JD or to try and fix his washing machine with it. Hey, you are saying what it is, just what and on what it may be used.
Pain in the rear that it is, the VERO list lives. I even put a link on SL years ago that takes you directly to Ebay’s VERO list. There are hundreds and hundreds of them, and I read somewhere not too long ago that the list has topped over a thousand companies on it now, but unsure if that’s fact.
But if you read the list and you have products that state any of the names on the list then, essentially one could get a VERO, but I am sure every one of us have and do speed, and some maybe very often, but when was the last time you were caught and given a ticket. We risk that every day and so do millions of Ebay sellers.
Now think of this whole thing in the light of reselling original one of a kind artworks. Don’t you owe the artist a royalty? Haven’t you heard of singers taking “snippets” even a few notes and then getting caught of taking from another song and incorporating it into theirs without permission or paying royalties. Politicians using songs as anthems then the original artist getting them legally for doing so and issue a cease and desist order.
So, there you have it. We printed the Vero list out one-time reference here but there were so many products that the corporations were still active, we would have had to not list a large amount of our inventory. So, we just take a chance.
This day and time try almost any well-known designer, I think someone selling Channel #5 perfume got hit, and designer handbag, all are on the VERO list if I recall.
So just give the JD thing a thought and choose a wording that does the trick and keep your foot off the gas pedal a little bit and you should be fine.
No offense intended, just expressing an Good luck,
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine ArtDon’t want to be the negative one, but make doubly sure you can sell them. John Deere is just as bad as Velcro on having a team scouring the platforms and issusing cease and disist letters or issuing a VERO on Ebay. I have had 4 items pulled because of John Deere. 2 hats on Etsy and 2 die cast metal tractors on Ebay.
Now I know my stuff was merchandise, but those letters all said that we were not auhtorized to sell any John Deere items that contained the official John Deere logo, a copyright tag line and some other items.
I would think this falls into the category of maybe re-selling Chiltons auto repair manuals or something like that. But John Deere and Velcro don’t want any resellers to even mention their name, show their logo, and profit from their name and brand. The serious companies all seem to be funny like that and have full time employees using apps to scour the internet for their employers company name and the such.
It has been mention here on SL several times and Jay and others end up saying it is like rolling the dice, speeding and things like that. No harm as long as you don’t get caught.
So think you may want to research out how intense John Deere is on this topic before investing any time in photos, cleaning or listing. I hope you find they don’t care.
I would even go so far as calling John Deere, get to that dept. of employee guard dogs and ask them. Can I sell printed material with the JOhn Deere name and logo on it if I am not an authorized seller-re-seller.
Just wanted to throw that opinion in, not rain on your parade and or be a dooms sayer. Only be catious by asking a few questions or researching reselling JD property.
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc. in Atlanta
@mycottage. Not to get to confusing, but you will be able to put two ID’s [Ebay accounts] into SixBit but only on one computer. That computer must also contain the main MicroSoft SQL Database.
You only have one [1] SixBit program and one database it created when it was set-up. If you are trying to be able to work on two computers, SixBit will probably have to remote in and do that for you. They will install a second copy of SB on the laptop but it becomes a “slave” unit and runs off the SQL datbase on the first computer it was loaded onto. Steve Leah did mine, if I remember correctly.
What he will do is create a wireless home network for you, unless you already have one, and set-up file sharing. Then he will install SB on her rig leaving the original one on yours. Then when she turns on her computer, her copy of SB will log into your rig, because her rig will not have the database on it.
Don’t forget that SB is not a cloud based program and you are “hosting” your own Dbase. That is what Jay did not like about WonderLister and SixBit. He and Ryanne wanted a “cloud based” set up so they went with Ink Frog. But with SB one computer will have to be the “server”, have it’s own installation of SB and the database stays there. In other words, my desktop is the MASTER Server and the laptop is the “SLAVE”. It has to communicate with the desktop at all times.
Now if what you were saying and i missed it, is that she is getting a new computer and you want to put everything on that one and you both only use that one computer, that is different. But if you envision both of you working on two separate computers at the same time, like maybe you both doing listings, her listing A and you doing listing B, then Tech Support will have to probably get you set up. Steve did a download of SB on our newer laptop, created the office wireless network, established a connection from the laptop to the desktop and then we were able to start using SB at the same time on two computers.
So still a little unclear as to what you are envisioning, so maybe best to get SB tech guys to do it. You can corrupt the database and if you do it’s a tough one to get right if you don’t have a back of the SQL Dbase. OH, MAKE SURE you do a manual backup of that database before you do anything. If you get it screwed up then they or you [if you know how-it’s in the manual] can re-load the Database.
So I apologize if I am confused or confusing you, but like we all do here on SL, just trying to help out.
mike at mdc galleries and fine art
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Hi MyCottage: Instead of trying to explain myself, going to show you how to get all your SixBit Questions answered in the future and from the guys who know all the details.
Go to SixBit [SB in the future] and click on tech support. Sign in with your account. If you have never gone to SB Tech Support and signed in, you should. This will give you great access for your questions straight from the guys that write all the code for SB.
Now forget about anything you see about signing up for any type of “pay support”. If are a subscriber to SB [and you are], then you have access to the team. You then have the option to submit a ticket or do a “Chat”. The live chat feature is not manned all the time, but usually is except if the team is in a scramble to handle some crazy Ebay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify issue, like the major category changes of Ebay and Etsy’s forced Free Shipping change all in the fall last year. They were busy then.
But I find that if I initiate a chat either Dustin Sherborn, Steve Leah or Clay will most likely chime in and respond to your request for a chat.
Then from there just do a chat back and forth and ask your question. Most likely you will have a short wait but someone will answer, unless the Chat Session is turned off. If so, you will see a message that it’s not open.
If it is closed, then create a Ticket with your name, the topic-title and write your question. You will get a “ticket number” and they will answer you usually within 24 hours. If you are a newer SB user [a year or so], they will either reply with your answer or if they think it will require a live remote in and their help to do it for you, they will tell you and set up an appointment usually within hour intervals and they will log in and do it for you.
BUT, BUT, BUT … I suggest you do not abuse the system and ask them multiple questions everyday. That is what the “paid subscriptions” are for. So don’t go to the well too often, but they are a bunch of great guys. Troy [T-Satt] here on the forum meet them out at the Ebay Open in Las Vegas a year or to back and he agrees, very nice and very knowledgable guys.
They want users to try to work through questions using the manual. It is over 600 pages and is searchable by topic. Access to the manual is available through your SB Dashboard or at their website.
Depending on which subscription level you have you should be allowed to have multiple account ID’s. We use two computers at the same time here at MDC Concepts, Inc. and I and our helper can both be listing at the same time and we can both be in Ebay, Etsy or both at the same time. BUT Again, we have the DUO version which runs both Etsy and Shopify along with Ebay.
If you have the Home & Hobby ver. you can have two ID’s on one platform [Ebay in your case]., The Small Business = 5 Selling Accounts, still only on 1 site-platorm, so you should be good to go.
They may have to get boths accounts on the one computer and depends if you guys have been working separately, you then will probably have 2 separate databases that will need to be merged, if that’s even possible. If you have only been working off one computer, then that is the only database you will have, that Db will have to also be moved to the other computer.
This all is definitely a task for Steve or Dustin most likely.
So, I would try a chat just to let them know who you are and what you would like to do. Then explain you are new and not tech savy and would like their help. Also may not hurt to tell them you know Troy Satterfield [T-Sat] and Mike Collins [MDC Galleies] from the SL Forum and SB is mentioned a lot and we suggested you contact them.
So good luck, make sure you get signed up and into your Tech Support account and make contact with those guys. They have sure helped us a lot.
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
SmartParts Equip. Parts
>>>>>>> All coming to you from our home based corporate office in North East Metro Atlanta, GA.
LOL .. 🙂01/27/2020 at 5:52 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 447: 2 Month Free Shipping Experiment #73375Hey Timo: That is just what we call it. But we have created several custom fields into our generic, one of kind hard goods template. The ones that pertain to shipping are item weight:, box size cubic inches, empty box weight, Free shipping add in, DIM Weight over 1,728 cu.” along with 3 others we use for other purposes.
We enter the item weight as we create the listing in that field, then we manually estimate the box size we will use for that item and manually multiply the 3 dim. and enter the cubic inches there, the in the Empty box weight we have a drop down menu I created that has the box weights of every box we use including the dunnage stuffing paper and bubble wrap and we then select the box weight by the cubic inches. [There is a whole other story on how to create the spread sheet we created to calculate the weight per cubic inch.] I explained that a few years back somewhere here in SL.
Now we come to the Free ship Add in., based on the combined item weight total off the scale in our assistants work station with the drop down list we created that gives us the final, packed cubic inch weight we then know what a packed final box is going to weight for that item without ever actually having to pack it up. We have never been off by more than a few ounces in years and 99.9% of the time we fall about 3 to 6 ounces above what it comes out to when we do have to go and pack it. But years of tweaking that chart have aided in it being more accurate than years ago.
So we click the drop down list of the free ship that we also created a while back. The drop down list has the USPS and FedEx shipping rates on it. All we do is click on the wieght we came up with between the item weight and the box-packing-dunnage weight and click on that wieght. The cost for that weight package to Zone 6 fills in.That number in that field will stay with this listing forever. That dollar amount straight from the USPS and FedEx prices we pre-loaded [typed into the drop down] when we created that custom field is what we add onto the item price and it is that combined dollar amount we use as our price.
For items that are over the 1,728 cubic inch mark we use the “DIM weight field. When the Box size cubic inch filed’s manually calculated size shows the dimensions in cubic inches, we have another drop down list we created during initial set-up and customization of SB. That list will contain [this field is still under construction currently] the surcharge tier levels for packages to Zone 6 for the incrental tiers of cubic inches and corresponding weights. That will then tell us we need to change the Free Ship Add In amount from the drop down list in that field. all of this data by the way was derived by working through all scenarios using one of our SL members web site tools called “FlipperTools.com”. Think his name is Josh. Jay may remember because Jay interviewed him years ago as he was building that site.
Also e have the drop down set up to also show us when to jump from USPS Priority to FedEx. Our break is at 5 lbs. Anything lower goes USPS then at 5.00 lbs. we jump to FedEx.
I know this hard to follow and it still involves some manual calculations, the creation of several drop down list that contain current shipping rates [yes the drop downs need to be updated whenever rates change] and the use of the FlipperTools DIMensional Weight calculator but everything does the trick and in only a few seconds as we travel along the SB listing flow path.
Sorry if this all sounds like goobly gook but it is hard to explain in words.
mike at mdcgfa
01/27/2020 at 5:13 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 447: 2 Month Free Shipping Experiment #73372Hey..
#1. Really can’t address that because we have had so few problems with Quicken. The few times we called, they were very knowledgeable and one time even did a remote in to correct something that I messed up.
#2. I think you are right about QuickBooks now that you guys are branching out so much. We used QB for years for several businesses all lumped under one accounting program. Just name your business and create a database for each. Then when you log into the app, you will see a list of your business by name, like JandR Real Estate, JandR Interior Design & Consulting, JandR Air BnB, JandR Main Street Store, etc. Then you click on that business name and QB will open up a full accounting set of books for you. Sort of like having 6 Go Daddy’s all rolled into one app.
From there you can do everything you do in GoDaddy just that you will be dealing only with that database for that one company only and it does not intefere with any of the other businesses books.
You will have separate checking accounts and credit cards, report generation, P&L sheets, expenses, payable and recievables just for that one open business.
Then if you want to go and work on records and booking functions for your next business, you close the current business you were working in and then click to open the next business.Things may have changed somewhat. It was many years ago that I had our several business in QuickBooks.
With you having projects that may span over one calendar year through and into the the Accural system will probably be best for you anyway. That way any WIP [Work In Progress] both paybales, recievables, building materials not yet consumed on your work or job site can be carried over. As QB will doa good job of handling larger equipment purchases and depriciation of those and all of these things keep in your General Ledger.
And of a note, most Accountants-CPA’s do not have the Quicken software but with QuickBooks you can prepare everything within your accounting system [QB] then just use the send to your accountant function and he gets everything he needs for taxes for year end and quarterly from QB. Also most CPA’s do a QB upgrade annually and have the latest tax laws built in. They also can remote into your rig and handle things or make adjustments in your General Ledgers.
As a second choice you can also dump everything onto a thumb drive and just hand it to him when you do your sitdown and discuss ear end meeting. I did that for years.Hope this helps a little, but I think QB would be the better choice for all your enterprises. But and a noteworthy BUT, you or Ryanne will have to learn or already know something about accounting-bookkeeping. things in QB are set up to coinside with the American Standards and Principles of Accounting, actually.. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP or U.S. GAAP). Either you or Ryanne will have to be the bookkeeper or hire a partime once a week person to do it for you.
mike at mdc concepts, inc.
01/27/2020 at 4:11 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 447: 2 Month Free Shipping Experiment #73369But did you think about this. Maybe your sales were down, maybe even a lot, say several hundreds of dollars per week, but because of free shipping your sales didn’t drop. So maybe you did have more sales from free shipping that “offset” your loss of regular calculated sales.
Just a thought and as stated above, really no way to know or be able to test that out.
A hypothetical question: What if, now that you have gone back to calculated shipping, your sales drop a lot per week, would that make you think differently about free shipping? Just wondering.
Now besides that, what about all the people that use the “Show me only Free Shipping sellers”. There is no way to gage who may have come to your web site but didn’t because of that filter. As I have mentioned before, my “mini” local polls at every chance I get socially, I ask about the Free shipping and everybody except for one or too all say they only buy from vendors who offer free shipping. All my in-laws, their older kids, my neighbors, many older antique booth friends we still associate with, our banker and his assistant, people at church, that I have asked about buying on Ebay, most have and almost all say free shipping is the attraction and they especially like it when they filter for free shipping and then see a sale going on.
So, thinking about customer service and providing a “buyer friendly” shopping environment, can only happen if you have a free shipping program in place.
I have also explained in detail our Ebay pricing strategy and how free shipping is added in, even shown some on paper and pen, and they don’t care. They want the hassle free, one price fits all buying environment, even if they end up paying more.
As far as charging more for closer buyers, who cares, it’s usually only a few dollars more and think of this. We buy something for a dollar or less, maybe even $.25 and price it at $49.99. Talk about a huge mark-up. Are we not then getting way too greedy, just because we can research comps. Heck no. Buy for a dollar and sell for ten or more if the market will bear it. That is the American way, that Capitalism at work, so why worry about a percentage of your buyers closer by paying a little more.
If a seller is concerned about a closer buyer paying a few dollars more, then knock off a few percentage points of the sellers 2,000% mark-up and lower the price of the item by $4 and leave the shipping cost built in.
There are two ends to a candle. So, either raise the bridge or lower the water. A $50 item that was gotten in a box lot for $.25 that has a $10 shipping cost built in along with enough mark-up to satisfy you if you sell it with a 20% Sale Discount going on and you took an offer of another 10% off is now different than has plenty of room for you to discount that shipping to a nearby buyer or to anybody.
Your profit is all in your buying costs and your target listing cost. We include a certain amount in our mark-ups for dunnage paper, so many running linear inches of tape, bubble wrap both large and small, a percentage for office supplies, subscriptions, internet, procurement costs, cleaning supplies, part of our mortgage, utility costs, carpet cleaning, generic boxes. Our accounting software shows use all our 50 plus expense categories by Percentages. Those percentages must be built into our prices, regardless of what comps say. If the market doesn’t support that final listing price, then we made a bad buying decision and paid too much.
The reason many buyers complain about shipping costs because that is the one and only thing, they can get a finger hold on that they think they know something about and can leverage it to try to get a discount. Also, could lead to negative feedback. So just take that one thing a buyer thinks he knows about “away from him”. He has no idea about what we paid for something, usually doesn’t know comps or even if he does, if we are truly buying one of a kind items and a buyer can only see 90 days on Ebay or immediate competition, he is in the dark. And we do just as JandR have said, just sit tight and sooner or later you will be the only one listed or through promoted listings we will be seen, and others not seen.
So, if you state as a seller you may lose money, then how dog gone tight are your margins. We build in for Zone 6, if it goes to zone 8 and costs us $4 dollars more, we usually have hundreds of percentages of mark-up in our items so $4 doesn’t matter. Things sell when we don’t have a sale running, we smile all the way to the bank. If we have a 20% off sale, then we still have room. If we run a 30% off Sale and take an offer that’s 20% lower [50% Off the listing price], then that too is built in.
Many comps by the way on Ebay that have Sold are from a lot of sellers who don’t know how to price correctly [Sharyn, notice I didn’t say Clueless] 🙂 and price low. The interesting thing about cross posting is when we price high, and we always do, is when an item sells on one platform at the full listing price, but yet on the other platform it is on a 30% Off Sale and we will take an offer.
So why not use every tool, persuasion tactic, promoted listings, sales event that Ebay has to offer and cover your expenses.
But just a Monday afternoon, wordy, wall of text opinion on free shipping and that as always, combined with $1.50 will get you a partial cup of coffee. 🙂
mike at mdc galleries
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