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Does anyone know how to search for punctuation in your titles? I put in a quotation mark (“) and an ampersand (&) into the search window, and nothing comes up. I know that I have a few of those in my listings, so there must be something else I have to do. It will be a pain to scroll through all of my listings to find punctuation.
My interesting sales from last week:
I bought an online auction lot of Fiestaware in a vintage 80’s rose color which included service for 8. This is the second setting I’ve sold for $43. The cost per setting is $4, but I’ve already paid for the whole lot with a non-Fiestaware item that sold over a month ago.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182753934267I recently listed several boxes of fine china, which I got for free. China sells slowly, but this set of espresso cups sold in less than 30 minutes for $39. They must have matched his/her set. No brand was listed on the bottom of the cups, just Limoges France.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182961650201I’ve had this Foo Dog for about a year, and it finally sold. The auction house forgot to charge me for it, but I didn’t realize that until I was organizing the items at home. Sold for $28:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182322248498This world globe sold for $70 best offer. It was bought in an online auction for about $7. I miscalculated the box size and ended up paying about $9 extra for FedEx. Still a good return.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182713333010Cats love boxes. Open up some nice toy you bought for them, and they jump in the box and just hang. Forget the toy!
Steve – I’ve got a question on 8-track tape players. I grabbed an 8-track player with stereo receiver from a free pile. The brand is Morse Electro Products; Model is T-450. I understand these are not top quality.
My husband set up the 8-track player to our more modern speakers. He couldn’t get any sound through the speakers, but we were able to hear sound through the headphones.
I’m thinking to sell it as partially working, for parts or repair. Do you have any idea if the connection to the speakers is most likely broken or is there some difference in resistance or connectors that would fix the problem? I was unable to find a manual online.
The player came with about 60 tapes in two separate cabinets. I’ll probably check for any valuable 8-track tapes, and then sell the rest together with the cabinets. We tested a few tapes, and they worked, but I’m not listening to each one through the headphones. I might just test any valuable ones if I find any.
1. Yes, I have signed up for promoted listings on a select few listings.
2. When I set it up, there was a button at the top “Apply trending rates”. When I clicked it, all the items were given a percentage. I believe that Ebay calculated an average percentage used up by other sellers in the item’s category and set it up at that number.
3. The promoted listings page currently tells me that 0 items have sold. However, I started with 19 or 20 items, which means that items have sold the “old fashioned way” where the customer clicked on the normal listing and not the promoted one.
A number of folks here on the forum have used promoted listings with much more success than me. I started mine as an experiment and haven’t seen much action. Perhaps I will be more aggressive after the “glow” from the holidays has died down.
This was covered in a previous forum subject, but I’m only repeating what was written.
The USPO does allow the use of flat rate boxes for non-flat rate use. It may not have allowed it in the past. You will need to cover up anything that states “medium flat rate” or anything similar. Probably good to cover up the USP symbols.
I think that someone had a link to the official policy or announcement.
I use both. I’ve got many standard size new boxes such as the ones Ebay offers with the largest at 18″x14″12″. But then, I’ve got some larger items that need bigger boxes or items that have a different shape like slim but long. So, I pick up boxes here and there, and I save all the boxes from things that are shipped to our house. I also pick up some boxes from Costco where they’ve cut off the top, but I can still cut the sides down to make a cover.
Recently, I’ve bought a number of very long but not so wide items where I’m going to have to buy new boxes in specific sizes, like up to 50″. I don’t care to pay for the expensive boxes and shipping from Uline, so I’m going to have to find a store that I can buy from. One of my goals for the new year.
Absolutely! I recently sold a dishwasher basket:
I had the impression that he had already paid, so your thought process makes a bit more sense. You’ve also been bit before, so I get that. I’m not aware of anything more you could do, but you still can call Ebay first to get their help before you cancel. Who knows, perhaps they will have some insight into your situation.
Good answers all around.
Still, my plastic salad spinner seems so inadequate now ….
These don’t seem like huge red flags to me, but you have to rely on your instincts. The main concern I would have in this situation is whether you would be protected by Ebay if you ship the item. The issue is that shipping was not included in the sale, and now you have to add it. I suggest you call Ebay and ask if you can add shipping and still be protected if you ship to the buyer’s listed address.
The biggest surprise for me in this whole thing is that there exists a contraption that costs over $1000 whose sole purpose is to dry salad!!
I just received a message from a buyer (from the UK) who paid only after I sent a message explaining that the unpaid item assistant was going to kick in tomorrow. Many times a seller here will wonder why someone didn’t pay, and here is one explanation:
Hello there,
Terribly sorry, I had a fundamental misunderstanding of how eBay worked and assumed that if I put an item in my cart but didn’t pay for it, it would still remain on the storefront or the page and wasn’t reserved for me. I went through with the purchase.
Thank you!
I grew up in Upper St. Clair, which is where my sister now lives. I’m familiar with Washington, PA since my dad’s company had a store in the mall there when I was growing up. My grandpa used to live in Monroeville (he is no longer with us).
Brian – Where in Western PA are you headed? We always spend time in Pittsburgh from the day after Christmas through New Years. My sister and her family live in the same town we grew up in near Pittsburgh, but my family and I live in NJ and my parents live in FL. So, we all meet up for the end of the year.
One comment on the podcast – the GoDaddy bookkeeping actually will tell you when you have a repeat customer, but it is a bit hard to notice. When you first go to the opening webpage, on the left hand side there is a box labeled “New This Week”. If you have a repeat customer, it will read “repeat customer” with the number of repeat customers in front. If you have not had any repeats in the past week, it just doesn’t show anything. You can click on “Meet your customers” to get more information.
Week of Dec 10-16
* Total Items in Store: 1192
* Items Sold: 30
* Cost of Items Sold: $71.22 + $4.38 Commission
* Total Sales: $564.83
* Highest Price Sold: $70 Gemstone Yellow Desk Globe
* Average Price Sold: $18.83
* Returns: 0 (1 NPB)
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $3.30
* Number of items listed this week: 16My COGS are a little high because I bought a raincoat new at an outlet shop during the summer, and then found a nicer one at a rummage sale. So, I sold the new one at a slight lower price than what I paid, but was able to use the full sale price as my COGS.
I finished up listing the china I had and decided to take a break. I need to work on another project and do a little bit of organization. I’ll start up again next year.
I’ve TRIED not to do any sourcing, but there were some good online auctions out there. I found one where someone was emptying out a storage unit and didn’t have that many listings. It didn’t get much interest. So, I put minimum bids on a pair of men’s Carolina work boots, men’s Timberland boat shoes, and a set of andirons. With the 10% premium, the total came to $3.30!
It was a silly thing for someone to buy through the GSP, really. It was a vintage cold pack – one of those things that you put water and ice in when you have sore muscles or something like that. It was less than $15; I don’t remember the exact price.
I thought I had tested it with water, but would I have had them ship it back so that I could prove them wrong? Ebay said that they would not be involved with a defective item, so I had a choice to have them ship it back or refund. I decided to refund.
