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The only place I use newly listed is on my search agents for which I get an email every day. My normal search order is lowest price first, but I will toggle to best match sometimes in checking standings.
I went to GTC many years ago and don’t regret it. Those who think they need to relist must be tiny sellers, they can’t grow because they are spending so much time with this that could be spent on listing new items.
I don’t know at what level sellers get the random free listing offers, whether it is all sellers or what, but these can be a way to temporarily at least increase listings. The thing is, you have to check your eBay messages regularly because they don’t forward these to email and there is a short time to use them.
I received an offer in the past week for 500 free listings. I’m not going to use up the allowance of my Dec anchor store free listings so it is not really anything that saves me any fees. But, just a thought and small advice if you aren’t already using these.
Are selling the book as new? If new, the author could be grumpy about not receiving their royalty on the sale. If used, they already received the royalty on the first sale. Just a thought.
It just hit me wrong. This wasn’t a case of running a sale on the item, that would be more acceptable, but that big of price change just doesn’t sit well. I suppose they just weren’t selling as many as planned and wanted to get more sold before the shopping days ended. Amazon storage fees can really cut into profit and pulling inventory isn’t cheap either. Well, it’s done now, maybe a reminder to think about the buyer’s side of pricing decisions I make. I hope Karma doesn’t slap me around too much.
I’ve never sold anything remotely like this, but the thought that comes to mind when you mention selling them in lots is that dimensional weight shipping charges are likely to come into play.
That and the need to pack in rigid enough boxes to avoid crushing the cans seems to make shipping a bigger issue than for most small items.
Also, if you ship internationally these could run afoul of customs regulations in many countries I think.
If I didn’t get sick of listing so many of these I would for sure get sick of the smell if they haven’t been at least rinsed and dried, lol.
This article is also being discussed on the Amazon seller forums. One of the posters there came up with the term “Garbitrage”. I love it.
I don’t buy individual items for resale but I do have searches running for multi-quantity lots and find a few bargains like that. It was easier when eBay let us use wild cards in searches, never did understand why they killed that option.
Stuff like this is why I rarely buy on eBay any longer. I also had a bad experience recently, it wasn’t as much money as your situation, but still.
I’m 70 and started this side business 10 years ago when retirement was on the horizon and I thought I might want to pad my retirement a little and have something to do after retirement. I’m retired now (from a paycheck) and working about as hard or little as I want to. My life changed completely since when I started 10 years ago and I’m glad I have this to keep me occupied and interested. It’s a good thought you have, you can always decide later not to stay with it but it will be harder to decide to start up later if you don’t now.
With the way I upload new listings using File Excahange it’s only a few minutes to upload all or a few of what I have ready, and I sometimes stretch those out and just upload a few daily. Since this is my slow sales time of year right now I want to get everything up that I can. I’m not likely to keep any extra records, its just not that important to me.
I have noticed that when I stop listing my sales go dead, and pick up again when I start listing regularly. Maybe coincidence, but it’s happened so many times I suspect there may be something to it. (stop rolling your eyes, Jay)
I agree with Sharyn, I think the buyers who do that are fishing to see if there is a very low automatic accept price and probably aren’t interested in a reasonable counteroffer. Even then $1 increments don’t make much sense unless its a very low priced item to start with. To me, this kind of activity indicates a potential problem buyer. If you look at the feedback they have left for sellers there is a good chance you will see lots of negatives left.
I don’t set minimum automatic reject because I want to at least see the offer and make a reasonable counter or just decline if it is a crazy number.
The buyer can only make 3 offers.
A problem with cheap scales is they aren’t always accurate. A free method to check scales is 4 quarters weight 1 ounce. The other potential problem is the max weight of the scales.
This is what I have, https://www.amazon.com/UltraShip-55-Digital-Shipping-Kitchen/dp/B000FSWB9K, max 55 lbs.
Is your crawlspace completely dry? Bins might not seal completely and you don’t want to have to worry about mildew if not.
Overall advice, pace yourself so you don’t burn out by working too many hours for too little results while building the business, and alsways leave time for family and recreation.
