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Hi Simon,
Too bad about the power outages. I’m glad you’re not getting directly affected by the fire.
Some are getting the blackouts down here too, but it’s nothing like up there. Fortunately, I live a little too far away from the fire areas to be affected.
If you’re thinking about getting a generator. I highly recommend the Honda EU2200. It’s about $1200, small, portable, reliable, quiet and very efficient. The only drawback is that the fuel tank is small, but you can easily attach a 3 to 5 gallon boat tank (gas can) to it and it will run for days.
It’s limited in power 1800 watts (2200 peak), which is like having one outlet. It will power a refrigerator.
I guess tonight is supposed to be extra windy, at least in the south.
I hope you get your power back soon.
I just ordered a fairly inexpensive new bicycle part on Ebay. The item cost between $5 and $10, with free shipping.
The first thing I do is filter for items located in the US only.
There is no way I’m aware of, to filter by feedback rating.
The first promoted listing came from a seller with 94% feedback rating. The biggest negative feedbacks concerned very late shipping or no delivery, no contact. Moving down the list the feedback ranged from 94% to about 98%. The shipping estimates were 9 to 20 days.
Eventually I found a seller who could deliver within 10 days and had a feedback rating above 99%.
Even though the item is located about 100 miles from me, I do not anticipate it arriving early.
I don’t require next day delivery, but it would be nice if it was by next week.
Since it appears these high volume sellers are a big part of Ebay, it makes sense for them to start a fullfilled by Ebay program.
Hopefully, it won’t drive up the prices of everything.
A while back, I was having an issue with tracking not showing up. It was strange, but due to a software glitch, the Post Office showed the tracking on their internal servers, but it was not accessible to me. I was also having shipments delayed.
As others have stated, you probably want to start with the Post Office and take it from there.
Good Luck.
I’ve been having these issues too, as a a buyer. The last item I bought, said they ship the next day. Somewhere in the listing it also said, there was a 5 day handling time. When it hadn’t shipped, I contacted them and found out, the items with a 5 day handling time are not in their inventory. (some form of drop shipping). I cancelled and ordered from someone else.
I wish we could filter our search by feedback percentage, but that doesn’t always tell the story. These high volume sellers word the listing vague enough to make you buy, but with enough wiggle room that they don’t get defects, when you are disappointed.
Maybe the new Ebay fullfilment center will take care of these issues.
Wow, this inventory thing has become a hot topic.
I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer. But I do feel that the wrong inventory system is the one that is so complicated that one suffers paralysis from analysis and never gets it started.
That being said, mine is very basic. The item location is very simple and means nothing except for the item location. B10 is a great example. I also try to include a letter in the location, so it is easy to search for in the computer, if I need to.
If I want to see what’s in a bin, I merely search my items by description field and enter the storage location code. I end up with a list of all the items in that bin.
I have items in bins, on book shelves and in individual drawers. Each of those is labeled and every item has a location code.
I simply place the location code in the item description. I have no other backup, so if Ebay ever erases my descriptions, I’m in trouble.
I have a roll of wide masking tape and a sharpie I use for labeling the bins. Sometimes I’ll put a piece of clear packing tape over the label to help secure it.
Any item can be in any location, so I am vigilant in making sure the inventory system is properly maintained. If I remove an item and forget where it came from, I look it up, before putting it back.
If a bin, starts to get empty, I put a small piece of masking tape on the outside, so I can fill it later.
Before I moved, I had an entire bookcase as an item location. That was not too smart. Now I have a location code for no more than one shelf, and sometimes two on a shelf.
Before I moved, I consolidated my storage and temporarily moved it into a paid storage locker. Later, I moved it into my new house. Along the way, I got lucky, lost nothing and every item shipped on time.
The key is to come up with a system and try not to make it so complicated that you don’t get started. Then start an inventory system with your new items, as you list them. Over time the other items can be put in inventory bin by bin etc.
My hat’s off to Mike and others who have complex SKU systems with multiple redundancy built in. I imagine this becomes more important as you have more people involved with your business and it continues to grow.
I’ll be curious to see what you guys decide on.
Do you really want the broken lamp back, enough to pay the shipping?
As long as you believe the damage is legitimate, Id pay her and move on.
Believe me, the minute you do and the case is closed and you will be happier and will forget about it.
We’ve all been there before. It’s not fun.. not at all.
Good luck.
Sometimes, if I get some type of weird error or systems error when revising, I just change the price by a penny and it resolves.
I was just revising a used cassette tape and has a bunch of required item specifics to fill in regarding the condition of the cassette, the case, the inlay etc etc etc.
I’m sure glad these are the changes we asked for.
Congratulations on the weight loss.
I bet your knees and ankles are feeling much better too.
Way to go…!
Hi Sharyn,
Those new boxes look like the ones made to ship record albums. I use them all the time for books and will most likely pick some up with my next coupon.. nice catch.
Thanks
As far as the poly mailers are concerned, Sharon is correct. Just guesstimate a size and weight in the listing. It does not have to match what you enter, when you ship it.
I would keep the guesstimate on the smaller size, in case you sell multiples and want to combine is a flat rate padded envelope. The shipping “helper” may limit your options if it thinks the item is too big.
Advice from an older post:
Shipping is a major part of selling on Ebay. If you can ship efficiently, you can keep more of the money an item sells for. Also, I believe, if an item is packed well and shipped quickly, customers are much more likely to give positive feedback. These are a few brief rules I go by.
1. Ship on time.
2. Pack it well.
3. Consider alternate carriers based on the item shipped and destination.
4. Print your own shipping labels. The online discounts are too big to ignore.
5. Get an accurate digital scale. Guessing on the weight is risky and not cost effective. The last thing I do, before printing the shipping label is reweigh the package.Regarding weight:
Is it 1 pound or less? If yes, then it can go USPS First Class Mail.
After that the postage due increases with each pound.
Using poly mailers, light boxes and light packing materials all help to keep the weight down.
Regarding size:
Is it oversize for USPS?
Length X Width X Height must be 1728 cubic inches or less.
12x12x12=1728 or 16X12X9=1728
It’s that simple.
Books can go Media Mail, consider Fedex Ground for larger items and I love the USPS Flat Rate padded envelopes.
Anyway those are the very basics.
Welcome to the group.
For scavenging, you can go to Craigslist- Garage sales and search: Church or Rummage and also community.
The church sales are generally on Saturdays, but the ones on Thursday or Friday can be real scores. Sometimes, they don’t get posted until the night before.
Frequently, the local real estate agents will sponsor community yard sales and entire neighborhoods will have yard sales.
Don’t forget “Estate sales.com” for all the local estate sales.
I lived in that area for a long time. There are lots and lots to scavenge. Lots of free stuff too.
That makes sense. It also benefits the businesses, because the property and operating costs will be less. Also, the workers can probably be paid less, because they don’t have to make as much, as they would in the big metro areas, like Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area.
This is one of the many articles on home affordability.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/10-best-cities-for-millennial-homebuyers.htmlThe nice thing about these size cities, is that you have the population base and hopefully an educated populace to hire from.
Many of the new occupations are mobile or internet based, so it’s less important to live in the big expensive city.
Vermont is actually paying people to move there, due to an aging population.
Lower interest rates may help with mortgage payments, but you still need money to make a down payment and to pay property taxes etc. Between that, student loans and car payments, there’s not a lot left over to enjoy life.
Wow.. maybe it’s intent is to be the alternative to Ebay/Amazon and the constantly changing rules and regulations.
It looks like they can handle payments, but it’s not required.
Does being associated with Shopify give the seller increased credibility in the market place?
What an interesting niche.
