Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
People are collecting them – the “shoe heads” are starting to expand past the huge Nike/Adidas collectors into the more niche brands that are more affordable. Essentially, any old running shoe with a name on it is starting to be collectable.
I saw on our local news a “Brooks” collector, and he was going on about the different eras of the Brooks running shoes and how they have gone high-end for the last few years but now signed a deal with Walmart. Couldn’t believe that someone cared that much about the brand!
My favorite item I’ve had removed in the last few years was a Transformers toy. It was Megatron action figure, who transforms into a gun.
I was told it was removed (even though clearly a toy Transformer and listed in that category with 1000’s of other Megatron toys) because it was a firearm.
I just took out the photo showing it transformed into a gun, and it sold with no issues.
I’m not sure how they decide to remove listings – is it just someone in the community complaining, or do they actual review items? It seems very random based on my experience.
PayPal is accepted at most major retailers in Canada – I use it often at Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, and many other big international and Canadian retailers and restaurants. The only place I know that doesn’t accept PayPal at this time is Walmart. I like it because almost every retailer has had a credit breach at one point or another – and to have my info in one spot allows me to control it and know I only have one place to worry about it being compromised.
I think the big positive with PayPal is that they are a 3rd party for dispute resolution – a lot of the other payment services, once you pay, your money could be gone and you have no recourse if the items isn’t as described or you are a victim of outright fraud.
eBay isn’t going to kill Paypal – they are just going to add options for buyers to choose other methods. I’m sure for awhile, seasoned eBayers will continue to use PayPal to make purchases – however, we need to adapt as sellers to alternate payment methods to increase sales.
08/15/2018 at 4:28 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 373: Should Running A Business Be Complicated? #47543I don’t have kids – my wife and I are in our early 40’s and we still get bugged when we will have them several times a week!
I’ve been mean a few times – telling people that not everyone is “blessed with the ability to have kids” even though it isn’t the case with us. I feel bad sometimes saying it, but it does quiet them down immediately.
Tax where I live in Ontario Canada is 13% on almost everything – even bought locally…including shipping costs…10% sounds low to me!
08/15/2018 at 3:44 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 373: Should Running A Business Be Complicated? #47536In one of the communities I use to live in, they would have a week every year that people could put out anything on the curb, and anyone could pick it up to “freecycle”. This had multiple benefits, including the town saving cash by not having to haul all this stuff to a landfill.
The problem was people abused it – they would look past the curb, and start stealing chairs, plants, and anything not bolted down off of people’s front yards, porches, gardens, etc. and it got cancelled.
What was a great idea for scavengers, and people looking to get rid of stuff turned into a free for all for a few thieves.
1) Would you sell or donate?
Donate all day long – ceramics are a pain, especially to ship – and with minor defects ceramics may have, buyers complain often about the condition – even at $10.
2) If sell, how would you price it?
$8 – get it out as soon as possible. No use competing with the others.
3) What do you think the seller who has priced at $32 is thinking?
I’m not sure in the seller’s circumstance, however, being a seller in Canada, if I am the only seller of an item in Canada, I usually charge more then a seller in the U.S. as I can grab the $ on the table that a Canadian buyer would pay in duties/taxes/extra shipping for myself. I would just need to make sure the total price is cheaper in Canada then a foreign competitor selling the same item. That’s the only time I price things “high” – I generally go low to sell before someone else.
There are also a lot of amateurs who think their junk is worth a lot more then the market is willing to pay. I get it all the time from relatives/friends who want me to sell there “priceless” heirlooms or collector items that are worthless. Some of these people figure out how to list an item, and probably wonder why it never sells.
As a Canadian buyer, when you see an American seller’s listing using GSP, the taxes, duties, and shipping costs are extremely clear. I posted a screenshot on the forum a few months ago – will post the link if I can find it. However, it is VERY clear to the total costs.
There is this weird mentality in Canada that some people have when they can’t get things for the same price as Americans they get upset. If I personally want something, I know I have to pay more for it if it comes from the U.S. or find a local alternative (which may be more, and have less selection). The same people don’t seem to complain or have issues when items are cheaper here (such as free healthcare).
Taxes are charged arbitrarily if you ship by USPS – any other shipper (UPS, FedEx, etc) will charge taxes, duty, and a fee (usually $20 – no matter what the price is) for brokerage. The GSP program is up front, and only charges what exactly should be charged. I personally like it.
You can avoid these issues by having the buyers pay immediately…
eBay Canada’s seller update had something interesting not available in the U.S. yet on eBay.com:
The “Shipping Rate Tables” is something I’m looking forward to. I’ve been wanting to offer Free Shipping locally in my region of Canada, but I can’t at the moment. When this is introduced, I can. The map is pretty accurate to my situation – where the single $ is an area I can ship almost anything, any size, any weight, for under $10. However, the $$$ areas are where I would get burned as it costs a minimum of $20 to send a small item, and well over $100 for very large/heavy items.
Really nice option to have – I can focus my business more locally, but still allow buyers to pay for appropriate shipping increases that I don’t want to cover outside my region.
I would really enjoy this on eBay.com, as I have to choose a flat rate for shipping from Canada – I win some, I lose some, depending on the location of the buyer.
@Doublythumbs – I’m in the same boat as you – working for a company that is blowing through money at the moment, not paying there bills, and all the good employees are leaving for other jobs. I assume that my time will be up soon! I’m just riding things out for government benefits – I’m in line for about 5 months of severance and 48 weeks of unemployment – so I’m riding things out to get that money and safety net. My wife and I are planning well ahead – we have everything figured out when the day arrives to move on to the next stage of our lives. We are not going to count on eBay entirely, but it will be a good part of our future financial needs.
We found a good exercise was to determine out current expenses – those that are completely necessary – and how to minimize them. We are planning on moving to a cheaper community, downsizing, and living off a combination of savings, eBay, random gigs that we have skills to do, and part-time work (if necessary – I’m perfectly content working at McD’s or Walmart to pay the bills and get some basic benefits). We have everything planned out to what items we are going to sell before we move, moving expenses, how to invest the equity in our current house when we downsize, etc. Just waiting for someone from HR where I work to come by and tell me I’m free!
I have a “workbench” that I do all my photos and cleaning on. Some of the main items I have are already mentioned for testing/cleaning, but some unique items I have are:
-various Minwax stain markers and crayons – for vintage woodgrain electronic cabinets, you can make any dings/dents/scratches disappear with the right color stain.
-easy to get to wires with multiple attachments for testing electronic audio outputs, video outputs, and variable power adapter with various connectors to test electronics, phones, etc. I just need to grab the right wire, and it makes testing quick and easy.
-a tootbrush – gets things clean quick and easy in cracks, speaker covers, etc. Spray some Windex on it for harder stains
-a Shop Vac with various small cleaning nozzles (I think I bought a kit for electronics at one point, but you can make your own). Using a vacuum I find is cleaner than compressed air as it doesn’t spread the dirt/dust or whatever it may be (who knows what the “dust” is!) around the room and in my lungs!
-various screwdrivers/tools to repair items that NEVER leave the desk
08/02/2018 at 9:29 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 371: T-Satt (Troy) Reports on eBay Open #46681Just listened to the episode – great work Troy/T-Satt for providing all the information you did! And some excellent in-depth questioning by Jay.
I think the point that eBay isn’t an evil empire sometimes needs to be taken into context when we have complaints. We all are on a triangle of dependency where as sellers we depend on eBay and buyers, and each of them depend on the other two points of the triangle. Without each other, we all wouldn’t exist in this business.
07/31/2018 at 3:43 pm in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46531I agree with Jay – anything that doesn’t fit in the title isn’t that important to fill out.
I feel that many fields, even the recommended ones are very redundant. If someone needs that level of detail, they will ask.
I personally do not fill out many of the fields – they waste time. For example, a Sony AM/FM Cassette Walkman will ask me if it has a radio, cassette playback, uses batteries, brand name, and a bunch of other obvious stuff. I would think the title would bring in a buyer for this example, and just the fact they are looking for a “Walkman” would be enough that they understand what they are buying.
07/26/2018 at 4:57 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Mouse Trap Instructions, Weed puller, Mailbox, Super Soaker, Platter Pak #46201I install OTA TV Antennas on the side – I hate that my customers buy the stupid “HD Digital” antennas and call me to install or “fix” the garbage they bought. A paperclip just works as well as any junk antenna for strong local stations. A good antenna from the 70’s will work on any VHF station and local UHF still, and those on the distant UHF stations just need a good bow-tie antenna like the CM 4228.
I don’t understand how these TV antenna scammers can advertise falsely – just disappointing that they are not prosecuted. My competition for installing antennas tells his customers the same lies that the antenna can pick up 100’s of channels from far off cities – then they call me when they are getting a fraction of that and I have to give them to truth.
My wife and I have our weekly cheap date night.
1. we go to a fast food place with a coupon, try to keep it $10 or less…we bring the food in the warmer months to local parks/beaches to eat at a picnic table. Usually bring our own drinks from home.
2. go to a Goodwill store in the parking lot of our discount grocery store
3. go get our groceries at the discount grocery store
4. SPLURGE on a Dairy Queen cone at full retail price…I will even go crazy and get a sundae if I found something good at the thrift store…We were trying to remember the last time we went to a restaurant with a server/waiter/waitress this weekend – the closest we could think of was almost 3 years ago!
We just spent a extra-long 4 day weekend travelling the area together for our summer vacation. Except for Sunday when most thrift stores were closed, we spent 8-10 hours a day going scavenging at stores, garage sales, antique markets, flea markets, etc. for the entire vacation. The only time we were not scavenging we were looking at various towns/villages that are much cheaper than where we currently live to start researching where our next move is. We had a complete blast all weekend, have my first super death pile, and made lots of positive plans for our future – all while making an effort to make some good money 🙂
-
AuthorPosts