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Thanks! Not too bad. I’ll probably list it at $16 and make offers if someone is interested.
These are OK because they aren’t used for any kind of procedure or self care. It’s only to look at even if it is used for teaching. The problem is with medical items that require a prescription.
I was given some kind of electrical machine that is supposed to help with pain. Somewhere on the box, it says that it can only be prescribed by a doctor, so I’m not listing it. (Not sure what to do with it either).
The bins of denture stuff also came with partially used bottles of plastic resin and similar chemical that have expired dates. These were used to make dentures or teeth impressions; I’m not sure which. I have to figure out how to dispose of it properly because I sure as hell am not going to sell those.
I did this once a few months ago. I was trying to do 10% off and didn’t notice that the pull down menu changed to an actual amount. I think it was a glitch because it hasn’t done that to me again.
Anyway, two items were offered at $10. The first one that sold was probably a $25 or so item, so I just shipped and took the hit. Thankfully, the more expensive one wasn’t purchased before the first, so I ended that listing as quick as I could and relisted it.
I’m so glad this was cleared up. I couldn’t understand because I knew these new boxes were slightly larger!! Interestingly, they are also difficult to get into a padded flat rate envelope. I tried with one and decided to ship a different way. I’m not sure I have a solution for that anymore.
@Amatino – Do you recall earlier this year I had a challenge where I explained how I put my clearance on continuous auction until I was ready to donate? Well, with eBay’s increase of free listings in the collectables category, I really don’t have a reason to do that anymore. I let all my auctions expire this past weekend. On Saturday, we have a “curbside” freecycling event where I will be getting rid of all that undesirable inventory.
I have a few items that I am constantly putting on 50% sale. Instead of restarting that sale every month, I can just create a clearance section. When I get tired of seeing an item I’ve had for several years pop up, I’ll just add it. Great timing on this post!!!
@Ryanne – Just listened to the podcast. To offer a refund without a case being opened up, go to the Orders page. Click on the pull down menu to the left of the sale (the one that has print shipping label, cancel order, etc.) and select “send refund”. You will find that the process is very similar to PayPal.
I only sold a big box of assorted Lego bricks, but I did research the different ways that they are sold on eBay. From the photos, it seems like you have a group little figures. I know that they are more valuable than just regular Lego bricks. What you have are workers like policeman, chef, doctor, construction guy, etc. You can check out the solds, but I think you probably can sort them into groups.
I don’t think that you have any of the specialty ones that might go for more. My son was really into them when he was young (he is 16 now and currently building a model ship from one of the kits I purchased in an online auction). He has figures from the Simpsons, Ninjago, and so forth that are probably more valuable.
You might want to take all the brick pieces and sell them in one listing. I noticed that one of your guy has no legs, so you might want to put him in with the bricks.
I know that some sellers will group them by color, size, shape, etc. and sell them like that. Some even sell piece by piece. I assume those sellers get more multiple item purchases and work more on volume.
I thought it was 50 items in your store during a month’s period of time. So, if you start the month with 50, sell 10, and list 10, that is actually 60.
I listed 14 items on eBay. One was paper.
@Amatino: I have a question. You can read about my deal with Swap.com in my podcast post. In summary, I shipped in a box of clothing to them at the beginning of March. Due to COVID and a warehouse move on their part, my items didn’t start to get listed until last week. So, they have listed 16 of my items. You can see most of them at this link: https://www.swap.com/shop/?uids=1015704035.You should see 14 because two have sold. If you click and more than 14 show up, it is because they have listed more items this week. If there is less, then more has sold. I will keep track of how many are listed each week. I expect that the rest will be listed this week or next. I have over 30 items left in their queue.
So, the question, do these Swap.com clothing items count as a listing? They don’t require as much effort as an eBay listing, but there is some work involved.
If they do, I listed a total of 30 items.
The journey to my eBay business started with an online thrift store called Swap.com. The website had originally started out as a place for kids to trade DS and similar games, but you can imagine how well that turned out. Many kids never completed their part of the bargain. My daughter (now an adult) had me sign up for it, but she never swapped anything. Years later, someone bought the site address and the email list, so I found out about their new online thrift when they set it up. When I decided to try my hand at being a reseller, I started sending in huge boxes of kids clothing and toys. They listed everything and took just a 20% commission to photograph, list, and sell the items.
Fast forward to this year, and they are very picky with what they choose to list, and their fees are huge. They also get so backed up that sometimes they won’t upfront the cost of the shipping (which comes out of your profit), so you have to ship it at your own expense. They don’t even take toys anymore. However, last year, I ended up with bags of free clothing, mostly modern, and I really wasn’t excited about listing them.
At the beginning of the year, I looked up Swap and found that they were accepting clothes and providing shipping labels again. Per their strict instructions, I washed all the clothing and checked each one for quality and wear. I sent in only the good stuff that would be in season once they were listed.
The box arrived the very beginning of March, and then the shit hit the fan. IN ADDITION, they moved their warehouse from Illinois to South Carolina sometime during the spring. FINALLY, my stuff started to get listed last week, and they rejected about 20% in spite of my careful judgement. Most of the inventory went directly to a 50% off sale because it is now out of season. Two items have already sold, which is going directly to paying for the shipping label. Between the high fees and the low sale prices, I think I won’t get paid anything for a few weeks.
Nevertheless, I am happy to have someone else list and sell this stuff. At this point in time, I would have given the stuff away. I am now one of their “preferred sellers”, so I can continue to send in clothing items that I manage to get for free from downsizing friends and family. It takes some time to wash and box all the items, but it is not that big of a deal. I’ll have to do the numbers at some point to decide whether I want to continue to send items in. If all I get is $100, is it worth it for me to do the few hours to ship the items in? Maybe, I’ll have to think about it.
Week of Oct 4 – 10
Total Items in Store: 1341 eBay, 33 Etsy
Items Sold: 20 eBay, 2 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $21.50 + $66.50 Commission
Total Sales: $384.10 eBay + $78.90 Etsy = $463
Highest Price Sold: $47 Vintage Glenfiddich whiskey pitcher
Average price: $21
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 14 (+16 on Swap.com)Not a bad week. I don’t have much listed on Etsy, but most of it is from my whiskey pitcher haul. I set all my prices for free shipping within the US, which is different than how I do business on eBay. What is a great sale is when someone international buys an item and then has to pay the shipping to their country. This is what happened last week. I sold two Glenfiddich whiskey pitchers to the someone in Spain for $78.90. I get to keep the additional I added for domestic shipping, and I was able to buy international shipping for over $10 less than what he paid.
And Jay started his eBay business with the first thing on the list: Member’s Only jacket!
Considering this is close to 40 years ago, a gallon of gas at $1.27 is pretty expensive. Currently, my average cost is in the $2.35 range. The prices around $4 from about 5 years ago would probably be more in line.
10/08/2020 at 9:09 pm in reply to: Customer Left a Neutral, Saying they ordered something from me that I dont sell #82278You could try the eBay chat function or request removal through seller help (https://www.ebay.com/sellerhelp). You can say that the customer expected something that I didn’t offer. Feedback says I sold them “Votive Candle Holders”, but those words were nowhere in my description. Or something like that. You could add “I contacted buyer but they seem to think that I sold them something other than what is in the description.”.
Belleek is a type of china from Ireland.
10/08/2020 at 8:35 pm in reply to: Vtg Vikings signed pennant, Wall Drug mug, Super Shooter food gun, Vtg Christmas #82277I was wondering the same thing. Often, Bar Mitzvahs have themes, and maybe this one is vintage? Or, maybe it is for a company that offers Bar Mitzvah services, and they wanted this type of decor? Maybe props for a movie or play?
I wouldn’t ask a buyer unless they contacted me; it’s sort of personal and not my business. But, I do wonder!
10/08/2020 at 9:42 am in reply to: Vtg Vikings signed pennant, Wall Drug mug, Super Shooter food gun, Vtg Christmas #82263Steve – In the early 1990s, my sister and I drove across the country and stopped off in South Dakota for spelunking and Mt Rushmore. We were driving from CA towards PA. I recall the name Wall Drug, but I don’t remember stopping there. All I remember is that the AAA book said that the spelunking was very difficult, and we kind of poo poo’d it. However, it ended up being worse than it said. We dragged ourselves to the next hotel to take showers and eventually made it to Mt Rushmore, but we did miss the light show!
Anyway, a few interesting sales from the week:
In September 2019, I went to an auction of liquor advertising items including thousands of whiskey pitchers and bottles. Initially, everything was being sold at pretty high prices, so I stood back and waited. After a few hours and once all the collectors got their fill, the auctioneers were doing everything they could to just get rid of the stuff. I ended up buying about 150 pitchers and bottles for less than $30. Two of them ended up being antique from the late 1800s. This one sold for $91:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184011453557
At that same auction house, but maybe a year or more earlier, I pulled a Bar Mitzvah box from 1960 out of the trash. It was meant to hold the slides from the event. Someone from Sweden bought it and a vintage Bar Mitzvah teddy bear (from my one commission) through the GSP. The box was free and sold for $32, and the teddy bear was $30 with the commission at 50% after fees.
The new size seems wider to me, but I can’t compare. I ran out of the old size before I received the new one.
When I try to fit a 7x5x4 box into a padded flat rate envelope, the corners push into plastic and at least one will cut into it. I can cut the top down an inch or so in order to fit it in, but I’ve been using the 6x4x4 box when I can.
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