Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
“Second question is I have had a few buyers that appear to be shippers to foreign countries buy a lot of my hats”
There are freight forwarders who consolidate orders for a particular International geographic area to save the buyer on shipping costs. For South American these companies are usually in Doral or Miami Florida, for Europe either New York or New Jersey. A few of them might request you write the eBay item ID on the outside of the package, some want no packing slip or anything with the price. I think the different user IDs used might be some kind of sorting system they use, such as the destination country, but I’ve not paid that much attention to even notice the same address.
I have never had a problem but some sellers report they have problems with freight forwarders, such as claiming the item was not received, was damaged, etc. I haven’t seen that at all so I feel like that it must be the minority. Anything valuable I would include signature confirmation, to close the door on INR. The level on that value is whatever you feel comfortable with, but since you have such a low per-item cost you can probably afford a little shrinkage. Think of it like shoplifting if you had a retail store, it sucks but not something to fret over if you can’t control it.
If I were in your situation I would just keep listing the hats singly. If you can group similar style hats prior to listing it might help your efficiency a bit on the description, or maybe even enable your daughter to help with that if you point out the few differences that will need to be made to the description and check here work before posting. You can check with a tax preparer or accountant to find out what the limit is on pay for minors, but I doubt she will reach that while still keeping up her schoolwork and normal childhood activities. It can be a wonderful experience for both of you (patience required).
One thing to think about on new listings is to at least list as many new items each week as what you sold, plus a few if you can. This will keep the task a priority for you instead of slowly becoming inactive, and will keep you whittling down your backlog without seeming like a chore. If you get to the place where you’re sure you want to continue doing this long term, and you see another great deal, buy it if you have the storage space.
One last thing, do not let this take away from family time. If you are married or in a relationship make sure your partner is on board so it doesn’t create and conflict, and the children are not resentful of any lack of attention. Just friendly advice from an old guy who has seen a lot and done some relationship things wrong a few times.
Good luck.
Last week was OK but yesterday only 5 sales and today 3, I average 12 a day. 1 day is an aberration, 2 days slow makes me perk up and start watching. I’m seeing a lower average selling price too.
With the newly announced free insertion fees this becomes even more practical.
That’s usually my first choice with something like this, then delete the site cookies if no luck.
If I’m reading this right, for the biggest benefits you have to be enrolled in or invited to Managed Payments.
My tiny old non-store account has been enrolled, it only has 107 listings.
My primary account, an anchor store with 2935 active listings, has not even been invited yet. Its a slap in the face that they won’t give the discount just because they haven’t got around to inviting me yet. Those insertion fees were $148.25 last month.
A quick comment on your situation of creating a new listing to cover a combined shipment. I’ve done that too, but I always create the listing with Make Offer so some other random buyer doesn’t swoop in to buy it. I tell the expected buyer to make an offer for whatever the agreed amount was and I will accept it right away. Better than having to cancel the unexpected purchase.
I had a damage claim a couple of weeks where the buyer claimed the item arrived with broken pieces. This was a replacement ignition switch, new. I had him send it back and there were indeed broken pieces where the key goes. I submitted an online claim with pictures on a Tuesday and received a $100 check on Saturday. The sale was for $210 and I didn’t add extra insurance, but this at least covered my cost of the item and shipping. My point is, it went through fairly fast using the online claim submission process. Maybe just a lucky event but at least all claims are not slow or difficult to get approved.
I created my own system for this, admittedly not for everyone (or maybe nobody else, lol).
I use an Excel workbook with all the key information on the first tab, information that can be used across channels. Then there are additional sheets for eBay, Amazon, website, inventory service, shipping service, all with data pulled from the main sheet, and formatted with the correct headers for each site then exported to a stand-alone file for upload. All of these locations have some sort of CSV file upload function and I do a semi-automated upload to each. Once the main sheet is created, it takes me about 10 minutes to upload all locations. I make this even more efficient by waiting until I have 5-10 or more items to upload at the same time; the upload time is pretty much the same.
It took a while to get this set up the way I wanted it, I still tweak it now and then, but it’s pretty much just a routine task for the last 7-8 years.
This kind of stuff is my background so it doesn’t take much brainpower to apply the skills I already have. Yeah, I know, it’s very geeky.
It’s been a while since some of us had to apply for a job, but I understand that many companies now request a job applicant’s Facebook and other Social Media IDs and check those as part of the screening process. Some companies monitor those on an ongoing basis I think. Of course, it’s really no big deal to set up a bogus ID for such uses I guess.
If this wasn’t an eBay issued label, and no tracking uploaded, in a case like this (slimy buyer) I would just play dumb and wait to see what heappens. If she shipped it at the post office and didn’t keep the tracking number, well… Let me make it clear, I would only do this with someone who is clearly trying to screw me.
In my experience, the more hostile and threatening a buyer is the more likely they are trying to beat you up for a lower price and will continue to be a problem. If they threatened negative feedback you probably could have it removed, it depends on how they phrased it. I agree with Jay, you haven’t seen the end of the problems from this buyer.
I believe that a few negatives don’t hurt that much unless the total feedback number is so low that it pulls you down to the danger zone. 100% positive feedback is nice for us to see but in my opinion, it makes no difference in sales volume. As long as the seller responds in a businesslike manner, without any snark, those few buyers who do look at feedback will likely just roll their eyes at the crazy buyer and ignore it. I personally believe that most buyers don’t ever look at a seller’s feedback anyhow.
My stock is not bought wholesale, it’s liquidation of parts stores and old stock pulled from dealers since they only go back a certain number of years. While I may get some same parts later,I don’t have any way to just order them when I run out. Sometimes prices errode due to competition, usually I just hope out until the the lowballers run out. I sold a part this weekend I have been selling for over 10 years and still have 9 left now. When they are gone I’m done with that item. My inventory mix is constantly changing, keeps me from getting bored.
