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Yep that is what we were doing. End the complete listing totally. Then relist the same listing automatically using a RULE on WL and relist it as a brand new listing and get a brand new ID number and use the same listing as in the previous month without any changes at all. We did not have to do anything or even watch it. It worked just as automatically as GTC only it was totally killed and brand new relisted with a new number on Auto-Pilot within WL.But when we heard about the new change were newly listed items would not be allowed to be included in a Sale, then last week we went and changed everything back to all GTC.
But we do have a higher margin built in for those “perma-sales. We ran a Sale that started every Tues. morning and ended the same up coming Sunday night. 5 days on Sale and 2 days off. But with the new change whereby every new listing would have to wait 2 weeks before it could go on Sale, we ended the whole process and bulk edited everything back to GTC, and not with any problems. It took about a week of working out glitches within WonderLister to get everything back to GTC and in synch with all of the account numbers and financial reports.
So now that we are NOT trying to stay FRESH by ending and relisting and that process is out the window. Then what can we do, as sellers of single items to stay FRESH in Ebay eyes and not get dropped from any boosts and includes Ebay has to offer.
So, like you said, if T-Satt can get Ebay to give us the answer. Will doing just one small change to a lising, even just one character, keep us FRESH and included in Ebay benefits and search results or anything else you can benefit from by having a new listing that sells in 30-60-90 days????
i sure hope he comes back and says that Ebay will see a minor, one character change as something they will see as a change worthy of their good gracies and reward us. If not then GTC is the bad child and will be punished if not a multi quantity item and a sale of one of the multiples is not made within a short time.
T-Satt had the Ebay tech team look over his listings. well I knew he would be good as gold because he is automatically ending his listings and relisting every 30 days and is also willing to not worry about any one the ones that are new being able to be included in the first weeks into a Sales events.
I also wonder about single quantity items that are over 90 days, about using “Promoted Listing Promotions”. What is the use of selecting Promoted Listings and paying an extra 4,5,6% to Ebay for extra exposure if they see you as a stale seller with all of your listings over 90 days as 100% stale and ignore you in special offerings, promotions, search results, etc. What is my extra 6% buying me. Or are they saying, if you will give us an extra 6% [other words bribe us], we will over look your 3 year old GTC listing and give you an extra boost. Seems more like extortion [pardon the reference to the you know what forums] to me than extra Promotion juice???
So many things to ponder with these guys, these days.
Since we all really love what we do, I need to ask a favor, will somebody plaese email me and let me know when we are having fun???? I don’t want to miss it!! LOL-Ha 🙂 🙂
mike at MDC Galleries
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This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Got an Email on Etsy today that said they are adding a third state to their sales tax collection and we would not have to do anything. They will handle it just like they do for the first two states they added. So hopefully Ebay will just do the same.
Maybe that is one of the things the new payment vendor and payment system may be gearing up for that PayPal can’t or won’t handle.
mike at MDCG
Jay wrote: Two important questions:
–What’s the point of GTC listings if they push you down in search if you dont sell an item in 60 days?
>>>> MDC Reply.. Well as u have said many times before if you are the only one or one of only a few items of like kind then who cares about search placement. You will be one of the only 3 on a results page. And when the others sell, if no more come on line, then at some point you will be the only one. And at this point you can be stale and be 8 years old, if someone types in the keywords that u have in your title they will find you regardless of what Ebay thinks about your numbers, sell through rates, hot-cold items, etc., You are king by the fact you are the only one in the game regardless of what Cassini or Ebay thinks of you or how you run your business. They surely arent going to not show you if the buyer searches and your key words pop your item up. Think you have stated this in different words before.–Did they confirm that simply re-listing an item every 30 days tricks eBay into thinking its a fresh listing?
>>> MDC Replies.. See my question to T-satt I just osted. If he can differentiate for us what criteria Ebay will use to define stale vs non-stale then we may have the answer. If only doing a small alteration to a title, description, price, etc. will suffice to have Ebay give us the status as “non-stale”. Then something as simple as [in our 3rd party apps] set a rule to bulk increase all listings by 1 or 2%. Then the next month lower the prices back down by 1 or 2%. The big question is what is the answer. Will Ebay see this as being active on your listing even though no slae of the item. Especially when we only have a quntitiy of “ONE”,? This means Ebay can’t use Sales quantity as a benchmark of deciding if you have a stale listing or not. The only one you sell is the only one you got then there won’t be another sale. So in order for your listing of that item to stay “NON-STALE / STAGNANT” then is all ebay asking is you visit all your listings once a month and do some small thing to change it, even by just addoing one character to the end of a title or desciption and is that enough to make our listings stay “FRESH”?This are the essence of what we have all been talking about for several years, ever since that enginner who worked on Cassini mentioned this at that Australian Open a few years back.
So let’s see what T-Satt comes up with as far as a definition or requirement other than a Sale or a complete end and relist to stay “FRESH”!
Mike at MDC Galleries
T-Satt.. This is great reorting. Feel like we have our own roving reporter.
Question On the Stale-Stagnant topic.. for clarification. Are you saying that a listing that just gets a tweak in title, description price etc. will NOT BE seen as stagnant. Just those without anything OR does a listing have to go through the whole process of being ended and then totally relisted? That has been sort of the big back and forth on here. Yes being seen as stgnanet or not is part of the question but the prevention of that is the hard battled question between J&R and the GTC members vs. the totally end and relist to get a new ID no. each month.
If a simple matter of altering the rpices once a month, then using SixBit or WonderLister can use an auto rule to lower all prices 2% on the 26th of every even numbered months and then on every odd numbered months raise the prices back up 2%. That would indeed meet the criteria of just “CHANGING” a listing every 30 days but not having to completely end the listing and then totally relist.
On the same note would not appending the title with “one character” do the same or have a blank field Item specific whereby every 30 days, a new letter A, B, C, D, etc., etc. also do the same thing? And agagin a auto rule created in any of the 3rd party apps can do this and do it in bulk or as each item naturaly ends and then rolls over in the GTC duration status.
If just a tweak to alter the listing will suffice that will be great for the 3rd party app guys.
But ending and re-listing… PLEASE SHOOT ME, I just got through taking all of our listings OFF OF the 30 day auto end and relist, deleted the rule in WL and bulk changed everything back to GTC.
Mike at MDC Galleries
Most likely not porcelain.
Porcelain is made out of special white clay called Kaolin almost all found only in Japan. Even Limoge and Lennox china and any French and English Fine Porcelain china uses the kaolin clay and they have to import it.
Now in most cases but not all, most real porcelain is thin and though it is white, most thin porcelain is also slightly transparent. One of the field tests or at home tests is to hold the item with fingers on both sides, hold the item up to a bright light or open window and you should be able to see a slight shadow of your fingers on the other side. But there are exceptions.
First, I would like to suggest you go to Wikipedia and do a search on porcelain. That will repeat some of what I have just said and also give you a better understanding of the process.
porcelain because of the Kaolin clay can be fired to higher / hotter temperatures and by doing that, it also makes the porcelain harder and less prone to chipping.
There are other interesting facts online, even a specialized site just on porcelain.
Your items are probably just plain white clay ceramic and glazed one side. And dollars to donuts have no transparency for several reason.
As to dating, depends if they are original or reproductions and who made them. You did not say or show the bottom of them in a clsoe up so are there any names or marks of any kinds, symbols, numbers etc.. Many like these were made out of Melamine or Phenolic [plastic resin] but those are light weight, finish is usually dulled down and is fairly easy to tell by tapping with your finger nail and you will hear that typical plastic dull sound.
Hope this helps somewhat. As to type, brand or value u would have to research some more on WorthPoint of Pinterest but there are over 4500 on Worthpoint alone.
Mike at MDC Galleries
Early protoytpe of a “ShurForm” plane.
Yepp we do aucions also or the Estate Sales usually last day. That is why I was asking about startegies for going earlier to the ES but yet trying to get that last day discount in advance. we usualy buy in pretty large qunaitiy when we hit the right sale, so thought if we hit a day earlier and pulled out 50-75 or 100 items could we swing the 75% early.
We hit an auction this weekend. Sort of a favotite haunting ground and found tons of smalls. Bought single items, then later they went to tray lots, then finally to selling the whole table. We made 37 separate buys that filled 8 of our carryall bags and contained 337 individuals pieces [some of course are sets of things] for $583 [that included 13% buyers premium]. We estimate on a quick ball park that we will list most of this for a Total of about $4k to $6k after we do some research. That is why I have not been doing any SL posting or replies this week so far. Way too much to haul in, unpack, spread out and start the tagging-SKUing process. Just now beggining the weigh, measure, tag and Photograph process.
But Auctions and Estate Sales seem to be our better and more main stays for sourcing.
We know several pro estate sellers who know us as well and let us just bag up everything we find as we find it. They know I keep a running list of everything in our bags and the marked price, then I just show them my list and say, I’ll offer $X amount, which is usually 75% less ofF the list I have and most of the time they are good with it. They know we have spent thousands with them and they trust us. I was just curious if any of you guys were successful doing something similiar only doing it earlier in the sale days before they are willing to take “just dump it prices”.
We know a couple of the sellers we are frineds with, have several buyers who can only come the last two hours of the Sale and they negotiate to buy everything that is left at $.10 on the dollar [90 percent off]. But the caveat is that they have to take everything that is left, basically clean out the whole house, trash and all and they have 2 to 3 hours to get it done. We make sure with those Dealer-Sellers we get there about mid day, 4 or 5 hours before the clean out buyers swoop in.
One dealer seller even orders a 20 yard dumpster for the last day. And when they unload the whole remaining contents to those clean out buyers, it includes the use of the dumpster to throw away what those buyers don’t want. Sort of free labor for those buyers. Neat idea if the goal is to have a totally clean house after the sale ends.
07/26/2018 at 11:05 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Wind up car, Tori Richards Hawaiian shirt, TV Repairman's box, Outsider art, Birkies #46178You betcha’… Good luck.
That is hilarious. And T-Satt could put together an A-Team from SL members. LOL 🙂
Sharyn, Mark, Brian and others: Speaking of the Estate Sales topic. Yes we too do the Estate Sales. Most post online and show lots of photos. Then we go on the last day to get the lowest prices. But we are usually so disappointed that so much of the nicer stuff we saw in the photos is gone. sure, there are things left behind, but also some fairly junky or made in China stuff. Great prices but much less selection.
So question on ya’lls procedures. Do any of you go on the first day [usually huge crowds or waiting lines], or late in the second day [usually no lines or waiting], create the “piles” of items you want and then haggle and bargain hard? We have done this before with varied success. If the dealer sellers know us, then usually yes. But then we have just as many, that tell us, we can only do usually 10-15% off on the second day and stick to it. Even if I create a pile of stuff they don’t budge as much as the 50% to 75% we can usually get on the last day. But here is what I tell Susan sometimes, 75% off of junk is still junk.
So what are your methods for working your way through the full price, less price, lowest pricing tiers that come on the aging of days vs. the selection and quality of items that start to diminish the moment the doors open?
Mike at MDC Galleries
07/26/2018 at 9:17 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Wind up car, Tori Richards Hawaiian shirt, TV Repairman's box, Outsider art, Birkies #46166Hey: I saw your post late, been super busy last few days. But thought I would through some cooments in on this item that may help you with the remaining ones.
These are called “cuts”. They are inked “relief” [flat surface] and printed with a letterpress, as you have them listed, or Vandercook press. They do not have anything to do with “silkscreen” at all in any form or fashion. They are made type high, .923 or .937. They are etched plates mounted on wood blocks and printed by way of pressure down on the paper and the block. Same process as old newspaper letterpress hot or cold type. It requires a type setter to “Lock” these “cuts” into place inside of a “chase” and at times depending on the type of product or publication, magazine, newspaper or in this case an individual card.
The screen printing process requires a “stencil” to be made and mounted on mesh [fabric], which in turn is also stretched tight on a wood or metal frame. Very much like the way a canvass painting is stretched. Then ink is “pushed through” the image onto the paper by using a squeegee to pull across the surface and “push” the ink through.
Suggest a quick Wiki lookup of Screen Process [silk hasn’t been used in decades] and then Lino Type, letterpress, gravure, and advertising cuts. Then you will have a whole new list of key words to use to list that may help to sell faster or for higher amount to the specialized collectors. Just a friendly suggestion.
I know you may say well there are a ton of others using the keywords “silkscreen” in their listings. Yep, I see that and everyone of them are incorrect.
So, knowing there are people who collect items from the printing industry, you may have a better chance of selling the specific type of collectors. Some may be artists who will even start using these plates or cuts, start re-inking them and running them through a press again and issuing and selling re-prints, called re-strikes or Remarque’s.
I sold 5 or 6 advertising cuts late last year. They were much smaller than your plate, made for single color printing. Granted they were about advertising which made it a cross collectible, Carnation Malted Milk advertising and got about $40 to $50 each. Listed them separately.
Just thought I would try to help you out with some of this so that you may have a better chance of getting the others sold.
Respectfully submitted…
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art07/22/2018 at 11:04 am in reply to: Worthpoint/Terrapeak Request! Vintage Xerox 400 telecopier #45906RTWV: As far as Worthpoint goes nothing is listed. I thought maybe I had too many keywords to match so I cut the search back to Xerox 400 and nothing. So maybe someone with TerraPeak.
Mike at MDCGFA
Makes this whole process seem interesting if one does participate in the Hassel Free Returns Program, which we do. In the program, we get a notice of the buyers desire for a return, we see the reason, then at that point if we accept it, the label is generated and sent to the Buyers and automatically at our expense, and taken out of our PayPal. Then after we get the return and inspect, it is at that point we can issue a refund. I guess it would be at this point if we disagree we would have to contact the buyer and tell them that we will be issuing a refund LESS the shipping cost so we get reimbursed for the Pre-paid label?
In the last few years it has been getting so wonky, that it gets hard to figure out what is really the best way to do all this stuff. Even J&R don’t state “how it is” any longer, their comments more are along the lines of, “I think this is the way it is suppose to work,” or “yeah, TRY THAT and if not call Ebay”. Hard to set a standard methodology when the process changes rep by rep, case by case and rule change by rule rule.
And not much longer we will be getting our next “Ebay Update”. Joy oh Joy!!!
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Same for us Jay. we use the big Ikea bags for both the packages and for loading items we buy at auction. Our carrier will either take the Ikea bags to the PO and bring back the next day or just unload it into the back out on the road and walk the emtpy back up to the porch. She loves all of the Ebayer’s on her route, because when they do a hard count every few months, the more packages they get and load, the more the route goes up in value. She is rooting for us to get several tho9sand items listed and make multiple sales each day. she is seeing the summer slow down and is asking us what is happening and hopes it will pick up.
Yep!.. Well gonna stop wasting Jay’s band width before he tells me to knock it off.
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