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Totommyto said: “As for free returns, nope, just isn’t right, something fundamentally wrong there, perhaps when the whole big thing completes its turn I’ll jump on board but not now. My feeling currently is, more buyers will look for and shop the Guaranteed 3 day, the TRS badge does matter, even without the plus. And I agree, 10% is a weak incentive”
You hit the nail on the head. This free returns thing shouldn’t be an emotional stressful topic that it’s become. eBay isn’t requiring it to be in good standing or TRS. They’re offering 10% off final value fees for every item sellers offer Free Returns on. If the cost outweighs the 10% fee discount for those items, then don’t do it. Should be a mathematical solution for each of us.
Total Items in Store: 65 listings, 102 quantity
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $57
Total Sales: $153
Highest Price Sold: $30 x 2
Average Price Sold: $22
Returns: 0Travel for work is done for the foreseeable future, so we’re back to building up our store. Goal is to list 500 items by the start of the Christmas season (Sept/Oct-ish). Not to have 500 things in our store, because I’m hoping some will sell in that time frame.
We had a higher than usual COGS this week because we sold off some Disneyland pins we had purchased, and decided we have no reason to collect, that were $18 ea after tax. We were able to sell them for $25, $30, and $30, so no harm.
Inglewood, we do sound very similar. I do imagine myself eBaying during retirement years. I liked what Jay said a while back, that the notion of retiring and just golfing all day is probably more our parents’ and grandparents’ generation. Our generation will probably just find something else to do to bring in income, to supplement our social security/pension/retirement. That made me feel better, because at 43, I’m nowhere near where I need to be for retirement savings. That’s the plan once we get eBay up and running, to be able to kick up 401k contributions a few more %.
Total Items in Store: 53
Items Sold: 3
Cost of Items Sold: $15.32
Total Sales: $110
Highest Price Sold: $50 sealed Lego set (bought 3 at $15 ea)
Average Price Sold: $37
Returns: 0Been a weekly listener for years and long time lurker. I was planning to wait till I had around 500 items in my store before posting weekly numbers, as our numbers are paltry compared to most here. But I thought it may be good to start posting them now, and let everyone witness our growth. And also it will serve as some accountability for us to get listing.
I have a full time job as an engineer and have been hobby selling on eBay since 1996. My wife and I eBay in our spare time and have talked about building the business to something more substantial for years, but never execute on it. Our activity ebbs and flows, and we have been Top Rated until this past year when we kind of put eBaying on the back burner. Our goal is to start listing daily, and build up to 500 items by the end of summer for the Christmas season.
Despite our low volume, I feel like over the last 22 years I’ve figured out how to do this very well. Just need the motivation to turn plans into action, and build the habit of listing daily. Our goal isn’t to turn this into a full time business, but just to make an extra few hundred bucks a week to put towards debts, increase savings, and fun money. My wife left her career 7 years ago when our son was born, and hasn’t returned to work. So this is a perfect business to run from home, if we could ever get off our butts and do it. So I just wanted to introduce ourselves (I did a while back in the Introduce Yourself forum), and start posting our numbers so we could track our growth with the family here.
Good discussion. I didn’t mean to start a conspiracy theory, it just concerned me when I went to leave feedback, and the option was dwarfed by a huge Return This Item button. I do agree philosophically with eBay on what they’re trying to do with returns. I think anything we can do to mitigate the risk of sending strangers your money can only help the marketplace. The question becomes whether it has a net negative impact to your business. I would assume clothing sellers are probably going to ultimately decide not to offer free returns, because it makes it too easy to buy-to-try. My wife buys clothes at retail stores all the time without trying them on, because “I can just return it if it doesn’t fit”. I fear that may be what eBay becomes with free returns.
We don’t sell clothing, and have a very low return rate. I have been VERY part time the last few years, but I would say I haven’t had a single return in my last 200-300 transactions. In fact, the last return I can remember was a t-shirt. So I’m probably a better candidate for offering free returns than a clothing seller. And I probably won’t offer it on items that cost alot to ship.
But back to the original topic, I’m fine with making the process easier for buyers. I don’t think eBay should make it an obstacle to return items, as a deterrent, and force people to keep things they don’t want. I wouldn’t like that as a buyer. Just struck me as odd, as I hadn’t seen that huge button.
The part that I think is so important is that (and this isn’t really news to us) eBay wants returns to be an easy process for buyers. He claims that it’s easy on every other platform (assuming Amazon), and their research has proven that buyers are skittish about buying from eBay because sellers make the return process so difficult.
Sounds like eBay wants opened cases to be a last resort, when we can’t work out a return with the buyer. But it sounds like the advice here is to ignore requests for returns, and always make the buyer get eBay involved through a case.
Did anyone mention yet that Scavenger Life was mentioned on Ask Griff & Lee today? Someone called in to verify if eBay reps no longer get involved with INAD cases, until after the case is closed, and mentioned that he heard it here. Griff said there are no changes to how they manage return cases. He then went on a rant about why eBay wants to make returns easier for buyers, and against making business policies based on fear of what might happen instead of actual data. That’s what I love most about Griff. Keeps me grounded with reminders that the best policy is to do what’s best for my customers, instead of worrying about protecting myself against what MIGHT happen. Who needs the stress?
It was a good segment. If you want to listen, it is segment 2 of episode 504 found here: https://www.voicemarketingradio.com/
I got an email last week that a Lego set was in someone’s cart, recommending I lower the price. I checked it out, and noticed my wife had priced it at $50 plus shipping, which was a bit high for the set. So I lowered it to $40, and it sold the next day. Testimonial that it can work.
Not looking to quit my day job. Just want to supplement my income so I can have enough for fun (hobbies, vacation, etc) and responsible things like saving for retirement and son’s college. Right now, I have to choose one or the other. You can guess which one gets chosen. 🙂
I love to buy in bulk when I can find it. Couple of years ago, someone was selling baseball bat weights for $1 each, and had 2 huge boxes full of them. I asked her how much for both boxes. Mentioned the benefit of getting rid of ALL of them at once. She suggested $25, and I didn’t bother haggling. Got them home and counted 77 of them. Came to about 32¢ ea. Listed them in quantity, and I’ll sell them for $15-$20 ea shipped. Not huge profits, but steady bread and butter. The key is to add several of these to your pipeline.
Interesting about the $500 buyout of a seller. I see eBay sellers advertising that they’re liquidating sometimes, but assume they’re going to want too much for their items. I liked one of Jay and Ryanne’s podcasts a while back about increasing ASP. I’m ready to start shelling out more money for items, to make more per transaction. Paying $100 for an item I can sell for $200 doesn’t have the profit margin percentage of a $1 item sold for $20, but it’s $100 made in one sale. The hard part is finding items like that. 🙂
I used $20 & $5 as an example. I do sell very light items, most ship first class. I don’t factor in shipping to some set price I want. I price at what it appears the market is paying, including shipping. I have some trucker hats, and if a certain one shows a history of selling for $10 + $5 shipping, I just price at $15 free shipping.
I think that just like “free shipping” is a psychological benefit for buyers, seeing shipping separated out is a psychological benefit for sellers. Feels like we’re getting X dollars for our item, and the buyer is paying shipping on top of that. We pay FVF’s on the total amount.
Hope I don’t sound like I’m trying to persuade anyone to use free shipping, just discussing why I use it. It may not generate any more sales, but I figure it doesn’t harm anything either. Some of the benefits to me include:
If actual shipping is less, don’t have an angry customer leaving negative feedback because I overcharged for shipping
Get automatic 5 stars for shipping costs
Get “Free Shipping” added to my listings, and people may filter on that
Maybe increased exposure in Best Match?But you’re absolutely right, it’s not free. Just included in the price. And only works for me when shipping cost is flat across the country.
Was thinking more about my position on free shipping and free returns, and I guess it doesn’t bother me as I don’t sell items that are a high risk for returns. Sounds like clothing and shoes are a different story (doesn’t fit, don’t like the color, etc).
I do charge for shipping on rates that vary by distance. I used to be all in on free shipping, and would get best offers from the other side of the country that I would accept if the buyer was closer. So now I only include shipping on rates that are the same to CA as they are to NY. At the end of the day if someone is sending me $25 for me to ship them my item, I don’t care if my listing was $20 + $5 shipping or $25 with free shipping. But I can see if you get frequent returns, why you wouldn’t want to include shipping. My separating it out, you can refund only the purchase price. Makes sense.
“When you say “free” shipping on fixed price shipping”, do you mean on items that fit in a flat rate envelope/box? I assume you just add the cost of the shipping in the price?”
Yes, anything that is less than 1 lb (1st class) or that ships flat rate priority or media mail, I’ll include the shipping in the price. When researching what my item has sold for recently, I’ll evaluate shipped price, and price mine competitively. If items sell around $20 + $5 shipping, I’ll go $24.99 with best offer. Yes, it’s a game. People like to see “free shipping”. I think they know it’s included, but there’s something psychological about not paying something additional.
I sold my old iPhone 7 Plus this week for $500 with free shipping. I shipped Priority with insurance and signature confirmation. Did not factor that into the price. I’m not going to squabble over $20 on a $500 item.
