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The new PMG (Post Master General) is trying a ‘new’ thing. No one works more than 8 hours so anything left over, gets left behind and processed the next day. This includes processing plants.
FYI, I always scan accepted and do my best to get them out in that days’ outgoing truck. Your best bet is to get to know your carrier and leave them frozen drinking water in the mailbox on a hot day 😉 . If they are lame, unfortunately, you will have to take them to the PO by 5PM. Let your carrier know you have a business and they should help you, most carriers really want to do a good job and be helpful.
Colleen
Let me reply as a current USPS letter carrier in CA.
1. The USPS is mentioned in the constitution, ‘The Congress shall have Power To establish Post Offices and post Roads’, that’s it, there is nothing about delivery so it is vulnerable in this capitalist society.
2. The USPS is insolvent because in 2006 they passed a law to require them to pre-fund retirement benefits for current employees 75 years into the future. The house recently pass a bill to rescind part of this to only include pensions and not health care costs but it did not pass the senate.
3. We are horribly understaffed in our office, as I see it, due to: a) 7 people out of 25 carriers on disability, some legit and quite a few scammers, b) UPS pays way more than the post office (we start at $20 and max out at $35/hr after 12 years, UPS starts out at $21 and goes up to $40 after 4 years). c) For every 5 people I have seen come in to start work, 4 quit due to pressure to be instantly fast, the job is very physical, too many hours (6 days a week with 10-12 hour days until you become a ‘regular’ which can take 1-3 years).
4. As annoying as all those presort standard or ‘current resident’ flyers are, that is what is keeping our lights on. Post Masters at each office spend a part of each day reaching out to local businesses trying to get them to commit to sending those things out. We hate junk mail too but realize it pays our salary.
5. With Covid, package volume is similar to Christmas and our little LLVs are not designed for that many parcels. Sometime I think Washington has no clue as to what is happening at the local level and only sees the data.
6. The data, every day they tell me how many letters I have and they base the amount of time it should take me to do my route based on that data. It’s a joke, the packages are the most time consuming, letters are easy. Parcels, I have to run up 2-3 flights of stairs (it’s steep and funky here in N Cal. y’all) or else they will get stolen.
The bottom line, write your representative and ask to get rid of pre-funding or you may not get mail delivered to your house. Do you think if they privatize, Amazon won’t find a way to consolidate delivery locations so you don’t get mail at your door? Think of all the medicine, stimulus checks and affordable packages we deliver to the elderly and rural citizens. Please pay attention to the news and vote, (by mail 😉 .
Sorry this is so long but it’s important and affects us as Ebayers,
Colleen
The way I see it, the market is saturated, 43,000 + listed and only 4,000 sold. You got the price you wanted with the profit you wanted very quickly. You sold in the upper 1/3 price range. You crushed it!
Some sets are worth it but with that many legos, it may not be. Unfortunately most of the valuable sets are huge with hundreds, not thousands (star wars ‘death star) has over 3,000) and with no manuals or boxes to include, they have less value. If you have older sets, like the space ones from the early 90s, it can be worth it but what’s your time worth?
If it were me, I would pull the mini figs, check the sets, lot the rest and move on.I also have free returns and haven’t noticed a ‘tsunami’.
I stopped doing free shipping when Ebay decided promoted listings was another way they were going to grab fees. I set it at 1% and make the buyer pay shipping. Otherwise, that 1% if it sells with PM, goes to ebay since they only charge on the item listed not the shipping.As the mother of teenagers, I agree, they do not want stuff and are completely content with pinterest on their phones. My son collects old video game consoles and games but other than that he doesn’t want stuff. My daughters are paring down to just clothing and their phones, maybe some basic art supplies.
My nephew who is a millenial, also has no need for things. I think the iGen has seen all the stuff in houses at their parents and grandparents and it gives them anxiety. They see perfect Houzz pictures all day and they want that, not nostalgia.
There is plenty of stuff but estate sales are selling crappy 70’s and 80’s geese stuff that no one is nostalgic about. I would say vintage clothing, video game stuff and music related items like vinyl and stereo equipment is where it’s at for the next generation.
Just a thought.I started a subscription this year. I like it and use it. One of my criticisms is, the information is not all inclusive if there are multiple items that have sold recently. Also, I am usually listing things in the $40-50 range and Ebay is changing, especially in the last couple of years with the influx of items and sellers. Prices from 3 years ago and longer are not that relevant. Items just aren’t worth what they used to be worth.
I’m not saying I don’t think it’s worth the subscription price, I think it’s a good tool for identifying rare/unusual items, I just don’t think pricing items based on older sales, is always a fair representation of current value.Great thread,
I really think Ebay should try marketing the vintage that is popular. Think about the sets on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon prime show) and Mad Men, the millenials at the time ate it up. What about a vision of someone walking on one of those sets and being able to buy the stuff they see. We all sell to prop warehouses.
The other thing is to capitalize on loss of property events like hurricanes and fires (I know this sounds wrong but hear me out). Ebay promises to donate a percent of sales on ‘replaceable goods’ for the victims, we sell the vintage tea set or old teddy bear, people start thinking of Ebay as the place to go when they want to reconnect with their old Pokemon cards their mom threw away.
Ebay sells 70% new, the problem is, we have all the sellers Amazon rejects and customers are looking to Ebay as the bargain basement. Race to the bottom.
I wish Ebay would just accept their world wide garage sale reputation and embrace it.
ColleenMy brother in law works for Paypal and I asked him this very question. Turns out, ebay is a very small part of their business model. The have a large share in overseas markets and are not going away anytime soon. The most likely scenario is they will be bought up by someone but even that doesn’t look like it will need to happen anymore.
ColleenI’m trying posh as well but haven’t had a sale, I don’t want to cross post because I know I won’t remember to cancel. Haven’t had a sale yet but only have 9 things. jUst started the sharing thing and am already bored.
ColleenI feel sorry for customer service reps right now.
Ebay is definitely trying to show us how to ‘improve’ our business. They probably believe INADs will be eliminated if we offer free returns because the reason most people use this metric is to get their item shipped back for free.
They may also be trying to tackle the China issue because their stuff is junk and they want a way to suppress them. If that is the case they are hurting a lot of smaller volume sellers in the process since return rates are a ratio.
ColleenThe sell through rate is phenomenal! 5,643 active and 14,578 sold. I’d be curious to drill it down and see what category of items sells best.
I have to admit, Jay and Ryanne are my favorite and my Monday morning go to. I think they have had some great discussions and guests that have lead me down the rabbit hole of Financial Independence especially after J. L. Collins interview.
So now I listen to entrepreneurial podcasts and scavenger life, I haven’t found another ebay themed podcast besides ebay radio, I can tolerate.
Here’s what’s on my phone queue:
Scavenger Life
Choose FI
Pod Save America (to help with political anxiety, sorry cat’s out of the bag)
How I Built This
Tim Ferris
Merch Minds Podcast (for Merch by Amazon stuff)
Planet Money
Radio Lab (pure entertainment and education)I like to think up a story in these situations to make me feel better. Maybe the gentleman is on a fixed income and his wife made him sell his golf clubs because they needed the money and he didn’t play much anymore. Now he has a really nice set he will get to keep because they were so affordable. This may be one of the best days of his life.
My getaway story was at a garagesale 2 years ago. I had a dreamcast I just picked up next to a fence and this guy ran over and yelled at me and said it was his. I looked down and sure enough, there was a small pile of things there as well. I wanted to say he needs to put his stuff next to the person collecting money but didn’t. Saw it on Craigslist the next day for way too much. The bummer was my son really really wants one (yes, we are still looking for a deal) and we would have kept it.
It happens.
