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Yes, I published it including a tinypic http link to a jpeg image of our Yard sale, thinking the pic would show. When only the link showed, I went into to edit the post to a similar link with a 500px wide version of the yard sale pic thinking that the original pic was too big to fit in a forum post. When published the edited post, the post went blank and could not be found.
while you’re looking into this Jay, the directions you pinned on how to publish a pic on the forum should instruct people to use the img button above the post to insert a link to a pic, rather than just posting a link. Also, if there are pixel limits they should be identified. Thanks.
We don’t sell clothes, but I’m curious what others suggest are the best type words to add, and in which order, in clothes titles. Ebay has stated the first few words are the most relevant in search, and they say it’s best to try matching what a shopper would likely type in.
Brand (ie: Oshkosh)
Size (ie: XL)
Color: (ie: Tan)
Style: (ie: Bib)
Gender: (ie: Mens)If it were me I’d type in ” Mens Oshkosh bib overalls XL tan.”
Would shoppers also type in “used” or “new” when searching, and should those words be used in titles and if-so, where (first?).
Here’s a few! We are having one 5/12 -13.
1. Put many attractive matching weatherproof signs out the Monday before. BIG LETTERING with Address, Dates, and times.
2. Put Craigslist ad out the Monday before covering the period. Add photos once sale is set-up.
3. Place announcements on local Facebook Buy/Sell sites with pics.
4. Price everything.
5. Organize by item type.
6. Try not to have multiple consigners as you want to encourage bundling
7. Have most things on tables and have good traffic flow.
8. Have plentty of room for the check-out area.
9. Have a large table for the checkout area.
10. Have plenty of change to get through the event.
11. Get plenty of help.
12. Bags and Boxes!I’ve noticed that at times. It might be tied to the “click box” reason the shopper chose when asking to “Contact Seller.”
According to ebay rules, if shipping is stated, Best Offer is for the price only. They can’t really ask for Free or reduced Shipping.
“For listings in which the seller has specified shipping costs for the item, the Best Offer price includes only the listed item. For listings in which the shipping costs aren’t specified, the buyer can choose to include shipping costs in their offer.“
It is interesting the variability in processes people develop to accomplish the same thing. Some people work on one item at a time, beginning to end, while others do a group of items for each step. I tend to work on 10 items at a time.
1. Fetch, clean. measure, and make notes on 10 items
2. Photograph the 10
3. Upload photos from the camera to the PC for all 10
4. Research and fully list one at a time for each item in the 10
5. Review all 10 ads and fix errors.
6. Place items in inventoryRinse and repeat.
When it comes to shipping, I do 2 at a time, beginning-to-end, mainly so I don’t screw-up putting the wrong label on things.
If a couple is dividing up tasks, it can be even more interesting. People tend to gravitate to what they do best, what they like doing, and are what they are most efficient at. I wonder if J & R have ever switched roles for a week just for fun. There can be some great value in doing that, in case one or the other is incapacitated or wants to go away for a few days.
Interesting point on International Sales T-Satt. When one offers Free Shipping, eBay doesn’t require the dimensions or weight fields to be filled-in when listing. I have no idea how GSP handles that as far as quoting a shipping charge. I fill those fields in on all of my ads but I’ll admit I am not as accurate with those values on the ones I offer Free Shipping on, especially the ones where I intend to use a Padded Flat Rate envelope or a Regional A box (which can take up to 15 pounds).
Like most sellers, my sales are very chunky. Hot one day, cold the next. The only valid way I would see where a good experiment could be run would be on a mixed series of perhaps 100 duplicate items – list half the set as FREE SHIPPING with shipping built into the price, and the other half with identified flat rate shipping. The actual cost paid by the buyer would have to match; then keep track of how many sold of each type over the course of a year perhaps.
A few complications are combined orders and the impact of running sales.
Unfortunately I don’t have many duplicate item candidates to use, such as 2 identical trucker hats, that ship at the 8 ounce First Class rate. We have 1500 items, vitually all are used and single Qty, and about 500 are listed w/Free Shipping, and of those perhaps 450 are less than 16 ounces.
One observation I have seen is that buyers will tend to buy a group of similar items, such as Cabinet Photos, when they are listed as Free Shipping. I’m not sure they would do that if shipping was identified for each.
I believe many shoppers click the “Free Shipping,” “USA only,” “New/Used,” and “BIN/Auction” Filter boxes prior to or just after an initial search. If you charge shipping, your items won’t show up even if they sort by “Lowest price w/shipping.”
If an item can be shipped for a known cost (1st class or one of the Flat Rate options), then it seems wisest to build that into the price as a general rule.
The one drag on Free Shipping is when we have “% off” sales, like 20% off all fixed goods, the amount padded into the price for shipping will also be cut.
My first thought is they should auction off the estate locally and be done with it. Yes, it would bring less money per item, but it would all be gone. Actually it might be a wash financially, because if you sold things for them on bay at a higher price, and then took your cut, it might be about equal.
My second thought is that a legal consignment agreement should be drawn up, with terms covering many aspects. I’m sure there are agreements “out there” that have proven themselves through time to be equitable and complete.
Thanks. Rather than “Mark as Shipped” I chose “Add Tracking Number” to the other items and use the Tracking number from the 1st item. No issues with that though some say sometimes the “system” doesn’t allow the same tracking number to be used for other orders.
A related issue is multiple paid items from an international buyer that could be sent in one box. I recently sold 12 Cabinet Cards to one buyer in Sweden, with Free Shipping, and it appeared I was going to have to mail 12 things. I was still able to use the method above (“Add Tracking Number”) to ship all 12 orders in one box to Kentucky GSP. I wonder to this day if the buyer had to pay for shipping from Kentucky 12 times. How GSP handles things is a mystery.
It is best to avoid punctuation marks in titles, including apostrophes.
One aspect of search rank is click-thru vs impressions. If your ad has high impressions but low click-thru then search rank is lowered. An example is “Levi style jeans” that might come up when someone searches for Levis. They want Levis, and wont click-thru to your ad.
Here is ebay’s suggestions on titles. It is good to print this out and refine titles accordingly.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/title_desc_ov.htmlI wonder if there is a software tool out there that analyzes all of our ads’ titles and points out problems. That would be very helpful.
I went garage saling this morning and discovered a new trick. A guy had a tall dresser for $45 and a smaller one for $20. I asked what is the lowest he would take on “these” (rather than “the pair.”) He said $35 and $10. I took the one for $10.
Had he said “$45 for the pair” I could then ask “You mean $35 and $10?” If he says Yes, then take the one with the best discount. You could also say “I’ll take this one for $10, but can you do a little better on this other one?”
The trick is to suggest a group but buy the items with the deepest discount from the group, or use it to shrink the group to allow further negotiations on the remaining items.
The page comes up for me.
http://www.sd.ebay.com/subscriberdiscounts/viewOffer/Q2Premium2017I redeemed the Q2 one in early April. No problems.
You can also add this link to your Shortcuts on Seller Hub.
http://www.sd.ebay.com/subscriberdiscountsYes, I think most of us sell a variety of goods, and aim for the big score, selling a $300 item we got for $5 for instance. That said, I scored a lot of 500 NOS Vacuum tubes for $50 at an auction last fall that took a full weekend to list but has really been a big money maker even though most sell from $10 to $20. I only have about 100 left, so it’s been great.
