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Sounds like your having a great time! Paying for your vacation while you are on vacation is awesome. It will be great if you can do that several times a year to treat yourself.
Nice to see two weeks away doesn’t scare buyers as well.
03/19/2019 at 11:02 am in reply to: Promoted Listings Trending Rates – 16.4% for Collectibles!? #58936I agree as well – if PL’s were amazing, eBay would be pushing them with real statistical data.
I read a lot of junk data on PLs – and some of it doesn’t make statistical sense to a math nerd like me. From the data I see on people who increase sales, it looks like they are selling a few items more than usual, which statistically may happen month to month anyway. Also, for the fees they are paying for PL, an extra few sales actually costs money if all your items are PLs.
PLs are impossible to quantify statistically anyways – rarely is anyone selling the exact same items month to month, and demand over a period of time will change on any item.
I think most buyers do there research, look for the best quality/condition/price combo for there needs, and look at things like shipping and item location which are fixed costs. A PL isn’t going to improve your item, improve your photos, improve your shipping costs – it just gets your listing moved up a bit or duplicated.
I’m not sure how these third party shippers operate – they have to make money somewhere, and assume they are charging on top of what they pay USPS or any other shipping company.
Postage/Shipping rate discounts are clearly noted on any shipper’s website. I use Canada Post, and I clearly get discounts based on my last period’s spending and also know what it takes to get to the next level and what the savings will be then. The rates I get currently are better than any 3rd party website. I also get a lot of benefits through them as a regular customer.
It’s something that everyone should research – if you know your annual spend on shipping, they will have pricing on the website, or you can contact for a rate. Shipping is like car insurance to me – you need to check your rates every once and awhile and make sure you are on the best plan for your current needs.
Also, most carriers have a period where you need to build up a reputation or spend – you can skip that. For example, if you spend $10k a year on FedEx, contact UPS with that number and they will put you in automatically at that savings level if you open an account to get your business.
I find that some stores (any store – just not Goodwill) will overprice things, and underprice other things.
At the end of the day, the goal is to buy items you can profit on – and the stores can charge whatever they like – they are there to make money also. I’ve seen many stores go through cycles of being expensive, sales drop, they then lower prices, sales increase, and they get greedy again on price. Happens in every business – not just thrift stores.
Even at stores that have crazy pricing on some items, they don’t catch everything or know every item intimately – I’ve had some of my best finds at these “overpriced” stores as they may slap a $9.99 price on every polo shirt – whether it be George from Walmart, or some high end brand from Saks.
At the end of the day, the stores aren’t doing anything personal – they are just running a business, just like we are, and trying to get top dollar for their stuff. If you don’t like the price, just move on to the next item until you find something that works.
I personally enjoy finding crazy priced things – they give me a chuckle. I also like the “auction” or “display cases” that some stores have — and when I find a “golden” $100+ item in the same store for 99 cents in a junkpile…
For me, it is all just a financial decision.
-if it is worth paying to have the item back, send a return label and relist and take the shipping losses.
-if it is not worth shipping the item back, just refund and move on.
-to challenge an INAD, think about what your time is worth – it may take a lot of time, and is it worth it to you to spend that time and aggravation?I’ve given up on some categories because all my INADs have been electronics. Just not worth my time. I also don’t ship some items internationally to avoid international INADs that are really painful. This has really lowered my returns and INADs.
Just remember at the end of the day, the CSR at eBay you are emailing/talking to doesn’t know you, doesn’t know the buyer, and has a set procedure to follow. Also, your perception of a INAD may differ from that of the buyer.
If you are getting INADs constantly, you may want to re-think what you are selling or how it is presented.
Returns are a part of any business that sells anything – it is something that you need to be prepared to deal with at a certain level.
If you go to ebay.ca – there is a Canadian Flag at the top of the page with English written beside it – if you click on it, and select French, it will translate everything except what the seller has typed in their listing (title, description).
I get questions/requests all the time in French from French-Canadians – it will appear all English except what they type.
Are you on ebay.ca or ebay.com?
I’m in Canada, and the only time I get Canadian dollars showing up is on ebay.ca – if I’m on ebay.com, everything is in U.S. dollars – nothing shows up in Canadian.
Yesterday (Monday) was my second day this year without a sale….I’ve had 6 today so far! Coupon is working out for me…
03/12/2019 at 10:18 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58554If I only kept all my Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Slayer, White Zombie, Megadeth, etc. shirts from the 80’s and 90’s I could get some good money for them today – however, they were WELL worn.
I still crank up my “Stomp 442” or “Sound of White Noise” Anthrax CD’s a couple days a week at work.
Sadly, I haven’t kept up the metal look…gave up my shirts, torn jeans, and my hair. I remember it was when I was 18 I cut my hair, got frosted tips, shaved my beard off, and went to work at the hardware store I was working at. Nobody recognized me (I looked like a boy band guy – in fact I use to get made fun of for looking like Rich from LFO). Before I couldn’t get a girl to go out with me, then that very day one of the girls I worked with asked me out – it was really weird as girls started paying attention to me…guess the metal look wasn’t popular with the ladies in the late 90’s!
03/12/2019 at 10:09 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58553Take the raised roof off, and make the paint solid red, and you have the van I had…even the windows look the same.
03/12/2019 at 9:59 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58551I live right across the river from Buffalo, and it’s undergone a huge transformation in the last 10-15 years. I remember picking up a real estate magazine and you could get a detached house for under $2000 – now, they are at least $15,000…still a great opportunity for someone who has the will. Downtown is actually becoming a destination – lots of neat restaurants and cultural events always going on now in Buffalo.
However, there are parts where the surrounding cities/towns (especially Niagara Falls, NY) is giving away homes to people just to get them to move there.
There is a lot of opportunity around the Great Lakes Rust Belt – there are so many areas around Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Flint, Lansing I have been to for work that have really cool buildings for next to nothing…it just takes a few successes to re-build a community.
03/12/2019 at 9:52 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58549Genesee is the beer I always get when I cross the border to Buffalo, NY – 30 pack of cans is $13.50. A case of beer in Canada (24) is over $40…everyone calls it “Genny” around Western New York.
From time to time I see cans of Genesee and Genny Cream Ale at the liquor stores here in Ontario, but they are over $3 a can.
03/11/2019 at 4:49 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58507I would have loved an Escort…I was in High School in the mid-90s. My ride was a 1984 Dodge Full-Size Van that was customized. Nothing scares fathers more than a greasy teen with long hair, a teen beard, and a Anthrax T-Shirt picking up their daughter with a van that had a bed in the back! The only thing the van was missing was an airbrushed painting on the side of a scantily clad woman in a metallic bikini carrying a laser beam gun with a wolf beside her and an eagle on her shoulder. Probably would have had the airbrushing done if I had the money!
I remember I had a Sony Discman with a cassette adapter for music into a crappy aftermarket (AudioVox?) stereo – the CD would skip almost every 10-20 seconds on a good road, unusable on a bumpy road, and the speakers would cut-out if the bass was too loud. I couldn’t get any good radio stations as someone broke off the antenna at school to whip some other kid with it in an after school melee.
The craziest thing about the van is that I sold it for scrap…then a couple years later my brother moved 3 hours away to a small town, and the van was there parked in front of the pizza place we were going to! Took some photos and said a final goodbye…
03/11/2019 at 4:08 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 402: Can You Build An eBay Business On Repeat Buyers? #58498The only thing you’re missing with me is I’m just overly cautious…I’m sure our sales, etc. will be overly sufficient to cover everything, just want to make sure EVERYTHING is covered to the best of my abilities. I like the comfort level in having a plan, a back-up plan, and a back-up to the back-up plan.
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