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Yes, if you contact eBay after shipping the item, they will remove the ding as long as they can see the email from the buyer asking for a late shipment.
The other thing you could possibly do, if the buyer is OK with it, is cancel the order, change the handling time to 3 weeks (or a little more), and then have them re-buy it.
Personally, I would just call eBay once the item has been delivered. You never know if the buyer is willing to go through the steps of cancelling & buying again.
Hey Doublythumbs – Yes, it’s crappy, but I’ll reserve the word “awful” for things like your house being flooded – like what happened to you. Just putting things into perspective.
The thing is that I was making plans. Like getting any damaged uniforms listed first because people might be thinking of Halloween soon. What’s better than a zombie drum major? And thinking about where and how I would store them, how much I’d price them, etc.
On the other hand, I’ve got an auction to go to tomorrow, there’s an online auction close to me ending on Friday, I want to check out a few church & synagogue rummage sales this weekend, etc. So, I’ll move on to other things and someday I’ll actually buy something on GovDeals. I saw 40 new VCR tapes listed for a beginning bid of $5, but the drive would be about an hour. Not worth it.
I use the unpaid item assistant set to four days. If the buyer hasn’t paid for two days, I message with the following:
“Thank-you for your purchase. This is just a friendly reminder that you need to pay for your item so that I can ship it to you. Please message me with any issues.”
After another day has gone by, I send another message (editing for the correct date) with the following:
“Just another reminder to pay for this order. I have eBay’s unpaid item assistant set to automatically open a case after four days of nonpayment (which would be tomorrow, Sunday, July 9). If there is any issue at all including needing more time or deciding to cancel the purchase, please message me right away.”
I don’t do anything more. After the 4th day, eBay opens a case. I think that the buyer then has another four days to pay before eBay cancels the sale and dings the buyer.
I can’t give you a detailed explanation, but I’m pretty sure that she won’t be able to print out a return label until she opens a return request. The return request will also ensure that you get your final value fee credited back.
I am constantly making lists, sometimes several in a day, and I have to consolidate every once in a while. Lists definitely help you organize and remember what needs to be done. I’m one of those persons who will walk into a room and forget why I’m there. Sometimes I remember everything in detail, and sometimes I can hardly remember my kids’ names (or so it seems).
Week of July 23-29
* Total Items in Store: 963
* Items Sold: 26
* Cost of Items Sold: $34.61 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $514.17
* Highest Price Sold: $90 Vampire Tarot Card & Book Set – last one!
* Average Price Sold: $19.78
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 36Absolutely awesome week for me! My average price sold is a bit low mostly because of the books that are selling one at a time. I have listed some lots of 10-15 books, so hopefully I will see more leaving the house.
I had something kind of crappy happen this week. I’m been looking at auctions on GovDeals.com for quite some time, but not bidding on anything. A few weeks ago, I saw a school township that listed a significant number of marching band uniforms. Initially, their price was $300, and I felt it was too high for me, so I passed. Then they re-listed them at $100. I was in a small bidding war against one other person, but I won the auction at $210 + 5% premium. I paid right away and called & emailed the contact first thing Monday morning. I get an email back later in the afternoon that the township decided that the high school still needed the uniforms, so cancelled the sale. This was within the terms of the deal, but I’m pissed. I think that they didn’t like the price they got, and I bet I see it come up in the month or two. I’ll call GovDeals if that happens, but I’m sure they can’t do anything about it.
Linda – I’ve noticed that as well. I’ve been assuming that someone, either at the local office or at the distribution center, has to verify the package against its initial scan before the information gets online. The other possibility is that their software system is slow to update.
I’ve also noticed that the rate at which the information comes up is different for priority, first class, media, etc.
Lastly – I found, even before I started to collect NJ tax, that I really didn’t have too many customers from within my state. I don’t think that the percentage of NJ customers has changed much from before and after I started collecting tax.
I can speak to what I did in my state of NJ. I registered my business in the state, and then registered with the Division of Revenue for resell/tax exempt status. It also gives me the authority to collect taxes. I registered as an LLC, but you could register as a sole proprietor. I registered online, and it was very easy.
Since I buy the majority of my items at auctions within NJ, either live or online, it was in my best interest to not have to pay taxes on my purchases. Then, I have eBay set up to collect NJ taxes only. From what I researched, I only have to collect taxes in the state where I have a “presence”, which, of course, is my NJ house. When I collect tax, I have to collect on the total, which includes shipping.
I don’t know whether you can collect tax without being registered. You would have to look at up. If you buy the majority of your items at garage & rummage sales, then perhaps you don’t need the resale certificate. It’s not a big deal to get one. Paying taxes has been easy as well. I use GoDaddy to find all the NJ tax I collected, and then I look up the prices for those items. I ran into one glitch where NJ had a small decrease in the sales tax at the beginning of the year, and I collected a slightly higher amount of tax for a few months. I know that there will be another one at the begging of next year, so I will be prepared this time.
I’ve thought about buying one of those kits. Is there a reason why the kit comes with CFL bulbs? I would think that LEDs would be better.
Steve – looks like a good week of sales! I had thought that maybe your difficulty listing the draw bars with the GSP had to do with the word “organ”, but I see you didn’t have that in your listing. So, seems weird.
My interesting sales from the past week:
These golf shoes were used once. They were purchased by a relative visiting my parents, but he recently passed away (didn’t put that in the listing). I was contacted by the buyer requesting local pickup. Sold on sale for a bit under $30.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182411480001This vintage carving of Don Quixote always had a number of watchers, but didn’t sell quickly. I listed in the fall. Paid about $2, sold for full price of $29.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182357772086Two more Pantone books sold. The first for best offer of $45, and the second for full price of $35. Paid about $5 each.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182628865147
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182628951052This wasn’t a big sale, but the story is kind of funny. My sister gave me this large size Elvis T-shirt she bought when she was in Nashville years ago. I asked her why she didn’t want it any more, and she said that it didn’t fit her. I asked her if she realized it was a youth size! Anyway, sold for $15 including shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182459797838What camera did you go with?
I have a Panasonic Lumix. It is good quality, but it is several years old. Maybe 5 or more?
DoublyThumbs, I was so dismayed when I saw this post last night. Your more recent posts sound much more upbeat, so I’m sure you will be up and running soon.
My previous house was built on top of marshland, and we had a sump pump that seemed to run all the time. When we bought our second house, one of our requirements was that it had to be situated on top of a hill. Like Brian from Hoboken, I also live in NJ and had to deal with “Superstorm” Sandy (and Hurricane Irene before that). We had no issues except for having to deal with no electricity for 5 days.
I recently purchased a self-install alarm system from SimpliSafe to replace our old ADT system. I purchased a water detector alarm. I’m not too concerned with a flood, but I am concerned about the water heater. Except for a stash that I keep in the office, all of my boxes are in the furnace room. If the water spread beyond that, I would also be dealing with a loss of inventory.
Now, if I can just get off my butt and get the system installed.
Yes, in the beginning of my eBay store, I wasn’t aware of the controls. Every once in a while, when I decide to edit one of my older listings, I will fix those dark photos. I take most of my photos in one of the brighter areas of my home, but my setup isn’t good enough where the photos don’t need a touchup.
I think that the magic wand was added somewhat recently, within the past year maybe. I know that the triangle, which is sharpens up detail, was added even more recently.
During my research today, I came upon a listing where the seller had used a flash for the photos. So, yeh, I think many people aren’t aware of the post-processing that eBay has there for you.
Week of July 16-22
* Total Items in Store: 953
* Items Sold: 16
* Cost of Items Sold: $19.80 + $6.50 Commission
* Total Sales: $347.33
* Highest Price Sold: $75 Vampire Tarot Card & Book Set
* Average Price Sold: $21.71
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $155
* Number of items listed this week: 33The tarot card set that sold this past week was my second to last. The last one sold on Sunday, so I will speak to it next week. Sorry to see this little cash cow go, but I will find new ones!
I finished listing the many, many books that I had to buy in order to get the tarot card sets. I then set up a discount for multiple purchases that I hope will help with getting these out the door quicker. However, I forgot how limited eBay is in offering a discount with invoicing. I had a very nice lady from Alaska buy four books, but I had to adjust the process a couple of times until I came up with something that worked within the confines of eBay software ability (basically a refund through PayPal). I very much appreciated her patience.
I don’t think that many people will bother reading down to where I have the discount explained, so I will also be gathering 10 +/- books in a lot and selling them at a greater discount. I will keep the lots in general subject areas and pick out the books where I have multiple copies. Hopefully, I will start moving them out faster. In the meantime, I have people buying just one book at a time. It will take years to get rid of them that way!
