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Not a big deal on the percentages.
I hadn’t looked really close at the numbers. Are you basing “winners” on total items listed, or only those from the death piles?
I had thought only death pile stuff counted, but now I see it is total. I guess if we make progress it doesn’t matter from which pile.
I listed 27 items: 18 were from death piles, which is 67%
I tried bidding on some online auctions, but I was outbid on everything. Or, I should say, that I let myself be outbid when I realized the trip wasn’t going to be worth it. Good news for death piles!
Week of Jan 21 – 27
* Total Items in Store: 1202
* Items Sold: 21
* Cost of Items Sold: $25.55 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $473.35
* Highest Price Sold: $108 Vintage Hoffman Sparkling Water sign
* Average Price Sold: $22.54
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 27Actually had a decent week, although, with the first class and Smartpost issues, I had thought it was slow.
I bid in two online auctions this past week, but I was outbid in both. Since I’m still working on my deathpiles/backlog, I’m OK with that.
Before the last word, I just want to make one point. I don’t particularly want to be part of the discussion, but I want one thing to be clear.
The reason that the USPS is weighing and measuring packages is because many sellers short-change the post office by sending items first class or media when they should be sent parcel or priority.
The USPS is supposed to be a semi-private company, but their budget is controlled by Congress. They have been having financial issues for the past 10 or so years because Congress wouldn’t allow them to raise stamp prices to the amount needed, and, at the same time, they had to overfund their pension plan. Not that properly funding a pension plan is a bad thing, but they weren’t making enough money to both fund their pensions and pay their expenses & payroll.
Part of the solution is that the USPS has managed to make their service more efficient with technology and streamline their operations. They have recently added the ability to get back money that they deserve from unscrupulous sellers that try to underpay for postage (or honest sellers that mistakenly pay too little).
While I don’t know exactly how it came that Ebay got into the tangle of this, but the USPS probably said something like “we will continue to give you discounts if you allow us to charge back your sellers any underpayments”. So, Ebay agreed to it.
My point in all this is that Ebay is not working with the USPS to make sellers give money back to buyers when the postage is overcharged. This is all the USPS trying to keep solvent and operate within their financial budgets.
Some buyers have taken advantage of the new USPS technology to get money back. Many buyers do different things to pay less, and this is just a new one.
I remember someone mentioning on the forum that they save brass candlesticks and sell them together as “wedding decor”. I started to save them, but so far I only have one silver plate set and one brass set, so I’m far from ready to list anything. I wonder if I can do something similar with vases.
You got a great price at $295!
I don’t think that I have seen a definite answer on how category will affect searches and the ability to sell an item. You want to be in generally the right area because, if a buyer is surfing or searching within a category, you want your item to come up. We don’t know which category a buyer might be searching in, so we can’t do much except to find the best match.
For the vintage instruction manuals, I have listed them in the Vintage Manuals category you mentioned. I have some general information books on ham radio that aren’t necessarily manuals, so I put them under nonfiction books.
For the GED book you mentioned, you could put it under textbooks, but I don’t think that anyone studying for their GED would want one that old. So, Antiquarian & Collectible books might be the better option.
One method I use to determine the correct category is to check similar listings and see where other sellers put their items. Some items don’t have a clear category, and I will find them scattered in different areas. For other items better aligned with Ebay, all the sellers will have selected the same category.
The only other thing that might affect a category is the “Gallery Plus” option where your listing can come up in a larger box than others. In some categories, the option comes free, and, in others, you have to pay $1. Personally, I don’t see a reason to pay for it, and I’d rather not have my item in a category where someone else’s listing is going to be bigger.
Other than that, I don’t know how the category will or will not help.
I have listed and sold car repair manuals, vintage electronics manuals, and so forth. I don’t list them much differently than books. Do you have a specific question?
I usually photograph the cover for the first photo, then the title page (with date shown), the table of contents, and then a page or two to show (generally) what the text looks like. If there is damage or wear, then a photo or two of that should be added.
The listing title should have the date of publication, manual title, model number if it’s an instruction book, etc.
Then look at solds for similar items to get an idea of pricing.
It does look easy to take apart. I’m thinking I won’t take out the tubes unless they are loose. I’ll try better on the knobs using vinegar. Since it was generally in dirty condition, I wasn’t thinking to do much clean up. If I’m taking it apart, though, I might as well.
Thanks so much for your help and description. You know your stuff!
Steve – I have a question for you.
I have a vintage radio, a Sylvania model 5T12, in working but distressed condition. From what I’ve researched online, it is a tube radio. I haven’t found the exact model, but something close enough.
A few weeks ago, you sold some kind of vintage electronic item, and you pulled out the tubes for safe shipping. I looked online to see recommendations, and one website said to pull out any tube that was loose, and another said it wasn’t necessary.
I think I hear something rattling around, so I think I should open it up and see what is going on. Can you give me some pointers on how I should go about doing this? I’m a bit hesitant to touch anything because I might break it.
Thanks! Here are some photos:
I didn’t have a big week, but I had a two interesting sales worth talking about.
I hear about how desirable sterling is and how expensive it can be, but these cocktail forks took much longer to sell than I thought. They sold for $33, I paid $4.40. They are headed to the UK.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182434750108In Spring last year, I had missed an estate sale. I decided to drive by just in case I got the end time incorrect. It was over, but there was a pile labeled “free” by the side of the road. I picked up two 8-track tape cabinets filled with 8-track tapes and a player. I finally broke out these items in three listings (trying to go through my deathpiles), and I sold 52 untested 8-track tapes for full price of $59, and they are going to Italy!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182998700173Yes, that is kind of what I was saying.. I don’t see how this is just Linda’s store. It’s just another glitch in a large number of software issues that Ebay seems to be having at this moment.
That’s weird. If FedEx wants to charge more money, OK, let them do it. Fewer sellers will use the service and fewer buyers will select it. The issue is the difference in the price paid by the buyer versus what the seller has to pay. That’s an Ebay software issue.
I wonder if I will be able to collect the difference in $5 where I had to go to Parcel because I couldn’t get the correct label out of FedEx Smartpost. Maybe I’ll give them a call once this is all sorted out.
If you have blocked a buyer and you are sure that he has bought them from another account, you might be able to call Ebay, explain the situation, and get them to cancel the sale. I’ve heard of someone else going that route; I’ve never done it myself. I guess depends on how strongly you feel about this buyer and his probably negative feedback.
