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I’m sorry someone sent an email like that. I never thought of an occasional stutter as a detraction from the podcast, and I’m sure the vast majority don’t either. I learn so much from the podcast each week and get so much motivation. Could care less if you stutter or not. Keep up the great work, it’s very much appreciated!
I echo the sentiment of many on here with the fear that moving to reddit may bring a barrage of newbies who would ruin the supportive community we have here. I like Erol’s suggestion of a private closed FB group. Just curious, why is FB a hard no for you?
Regarding eBay hiding more expensive services, I did learn that it will always keep (and show on the listing) your first shipping option. I was excited when I read the concept, as we’re selling magazine lots, which are not allowed to ship via Media Mail. With Priority, flat rate medium is cheaper going from AZ to NY, but regular priority is cheaper going to CA. I was hoping it would select and only show the cheapest option for each buyer. It does not. Now if they could get that to work, that would be amazing.
Unfortunately our yard sale weekend was a bust. Didn’t find a single thing. We live in the Phoenix area. Most people have moved here in the last 15 years or so, many even more recently than that. So they’re selling newer items: lots of baby items, kitchen containers, home decor from Target and Ross. We do live close to Sun City, a retirement community, but their sales typically start Wednesday or Thursday. Can’t get there with a full time job. Now I’m just complaining…
Jay, about a month ago on the forum, you mentioned having Accept Returns Automatically turned on, except for Items Not As Described, where people are trying to get you to pay return shipping. But it looks like all your items offer Free Returns. Doesn’t that mean you pay shipping for any return, your fault or not?
Ryanne, you mentioned you ship via FexEd SmartPost sometimes. When does it make sense to use that, for larger heavier items? And do you drop off at FedEx, or USPS?
I know what you mean about having kids, a job, and eBaying. That’s the story of my life. I’ve been eBaying part time for over 20 years, with pipe dreams every year of “taking it to the next level”. But with a full-time job and an 8 year old son, I lack the motivation to get eBay going. We do enough to keep TRS, but I know we could ramp it up to a legit part time business. We just lack the dedication to devote the hours required for the in between work.
I love my job and it pays well, which lends to the lack of eBay motivation. We don’t need the money to live on, but extra eBay cash would accelerate our debt-free plan. It seems every week my wife and I plan to get our eBay inventory organized and list, list, list. But every week it doesn’t happen. I listen to this podcast religiously, downloading every Sunday night (or Tuesday lol), which keeps the drive alive. We just have to do something different and turn our plans and ideas into actions!
Thanks, I edited my rules and unchecked any reason that would be my fault. Appreciate it!
Long time weekly listener, I need to post in here more. I was checking my Returns Preferences on eBay, and notice I have “Approve a Return Automatically” turned on. I think my reasoning was that eBay is going to make us accept returns anyway, so why fight it. Is there a benefit to NOT having this turned on?
Total Items In Store: 115 (81 listings)
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $11.50
Total Sales: $ 251.37
Highest Price Sold: $80 (old 1st gen iPad mini that was ours)
Average Price Sold: $20.95
Returns: 0We finally picked up our listing on eBay – mainly some blu-rays and DVDs of ours that we don’t want anymore (uploaded them to our digital library). They’ve been selling pretty well. Our cost of items sold does not include those items, or the iPad we sold, as we paid retail without the intent of selling.
Our odd story of the week is about some toys we found at Target. We like to sell vintage collectible toys, and a popular brand from the 70’s is Mego. I have fond memories playing with my Mego Batman and Robin. Originals in package can go for $300 or more. Well we were in Target this weekend and saw that Mego is back. They had a Wonder Woman and two General Zods (from Superman) for $20 ea. Before I bought them, I checked eBay to see what they’re selling for. Well, none were listed. Upon further research, I found that these were announced at the San Diego Comicon this weekend and will be for sale exclusively at Target starting July 29th. So our Target must have accidentally put them out too soon (We checked other Targets and found nothing).
Being the first person with them for sale, I wasn’t sure what to list them for. I didn’t want to put $100, and have it sell right away. How much would I be leaving on the table? Remember, mine is the only one you could buy before the 29th (there are a few more listed now). So I put $300 Best Offer. Not that I wanted $300, but that was a high enough ceiling to allow for offers to pour in. Or so I thought.
Instead, what I got were lowball offers from collectors berating me for “cheating” and “scamming” and “price gouging”. They couldn’t believe I was charging $300 for a $20 figure. I thought maybe that was a bit high and people were missing the point, so I lowered to $149.99 Best Offer, and the attacks kept coming. I decided to increase the price to $10,000 to troll them, but that just made them madder. I don’t understand why people get so upset. I see inexperienced sellers on eBay with overpriced items all the time, but I just roll my eyes and think “good luck, that’s not gonna sell”. Some of these people said they reported me to eBay for being offensive.
I put it back to $149. I suspect I won’t get a real offer until these start selling on the 29th, and sell out. Come Christmastime when they can’t be found anywhere, I’m sure I’ll make a profit. Just thought it was a funny situation to go through that fellow sellers on here would appreciate. If you want to check it out, here’s the listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/113160378017
Retro, your posts sound as if I had written them. I am just now getting my wife on board with helping with the business. I think having that partnership is the only way to do it, when one of you works full time. Working 50 hours/week at my job, I need her to spend her days at home taking pics and listing. It’s been somewhat of a struggle. She’s been listing more lately, but we’ve got a long way to go if we want to hit our goal of 500 items by the Christmas season. Maybe I’ll try your process of sharing the responsibilities of each listing.
Wow, that is breaking news! Wonder when it takes effect. I tried a sale again, on the same item I tested yesterday, and it shows original price.
Yeah, that’s very misleading. They should state “Yes, if they have been on markdown in the previous 14 days.” I think eBay really missed the mark with this one. I can usually understand eBay’s changes, even if they’re not necessarily beneficial to me as a seller. But as you said on the podcast, a seller should be able to play the permasale game if they want to. Or run a sale every weekend. I don’t understand this one at all.
Griff emailed back and asked if the item I was trying to put on sale had been part of a Markdown in the last 14 days, which mine was. The FAQs state:
After my listing expires, will I have to wait 14 days to mark it down again if I relist?
Yes. You will be required to list your item for 14 days before you can mark it down again.Was that the case with your items as well?
Just tried one as a test, and getting the same result as you. Says the sale is active, but the price shows original. Probably a glitch where the new rule is not omitting GTC. I’ll send Griff an email with my details, and he’s good about sending it to the proper channels.
It was actually on Facebook, link here
He referenced the FAQs found here: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2018-summer/ebay-stores.html#m17-2-tb1
Go to FAQs for Markdowns, and find the question “Does this affect Good ‘Till Cancelled Renewals?”
I was finishing this week’s episode in the car today and heard Jay mention that you can be TRS and not TRS+. I just want to make sure everyone understands that TRS+ is on a per-item basis. It’s not an all or nothing thing. I hear your callers talk about the weight lifted off their shoulders when they decide not to “jump through the hoops” for the TRS+ FVF discount. Why not offer it on items that are cheap to ship and not a high-risk of returns? Might as well get the 10% discount on 60% of your items (guessing), and then not offer it on the heavy or larger items, or not on clothing, which tends to have a higher rate of returns. That’s my strategy anyway.
On a different topic, I’ve noticed the tone of the callers lately has been very negative towards eBay. I hope it’s just a temporary frustration to the slower summer sales and these latest changes. What I love most about you both and this podcast is that you take a logical approach and will address obstacles with the changing landscape and how to succeed in spite of them. I think that is the mark of a successful entrepreneur. That’s why I’m excited to download the new episode every Monday.
And finally, it was mentioned on the podcast that the 14-day rule for markdowns applies to the first 14 days of GTC items too. That is in fact not the case, or at least not supposed to be the case. I confirmed it with Griff, who sent me to the FAQs for this rule. Did you actually see that impact your listings?
