Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
For what it’s worth, I just shipped a 3 lb item from California to New York. USPS Priority was $14.45 and Flat Rate Medium was $12.05. If the weight goes up, the difference get bigger fast. I think SmartPost was just under $11.
If it’s close by, Priority is generally the cheapest (my cost), regardless of weight. I’ll often send it Priority, even though the customer paid for SmartPost. It costs me less and the customer gets it quicker. It’s a win/win.
I agree, generally any item that would benefit from a Flat Rate Box, doesn’t fit.
The Flat Rate Padded Envelopes are another story.
I place a (7 X 5 X 4) inch box inside of the Flat Rate Padded Envelope. This means I can put packing material inside the box and outside the box. It actually creates the effect of being double boxed.
I use them to ship coffee cups, Polaroid cameras or anything that is over a pound and will fit. I use these a lot.
I couldn’t agree more Mike. Yesterday I sent a package in a Flat Rate Medium box. It was just heavy enough and going just far enough that it made sense. I rarely ever use them, and wasn’t even sure I had one on hand. The buyer paid for Smartpost, but I upgraded him, because it cost me less than a dollar more.
When I go to the Post Office, it’s pretty obvious that most retail customers have no idea how to ship and really aren’t that interested. They do whatever the clerk suggests. I imagine a lot of sellers are that way in the beginning. I think the Post Office would love it, if everyone used flat rate boxes. Of course the Flat rate Padded Envelope is another conversation entirely.
I also get items from sellers who don’t print their own shipping labels. To each his own..
JOE
I had a similar machine, just the sewing machine part. There was no motor and it was rusty and a bit of a relic. It was originally mounted to a table and wasn’t meant to be operated by itself.
I still got $50 for it plus shipping, so I think you’ve got some money there, regardless of how you sell it.
Yes, Priority mail is just another service.
Items can ship in a box, or a tube, envelope or a poly mailer. The USPS label is what matters. You can also get Free Priority mail stickers from the post office, in case you ship with your own packaging. They aren’t necessary, but sometimes help.
You can also cut, alter or marry the Priority Mail boxes to suit your needs. Priority Mail Flat rate packaging can only be used for that service and cannot be altered.
11/06/2017 at 11:44 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 333: The Illusion of Keeping Up With Everything #25116For what it’s worth:
I built wooden shelving units (2 feet wide) for all the walls. They pretty much go to the top. In the center I have more shelving and a dedicated shipping area. The shipping area is just an old work bench I converted. At the front, where the door is, I also have more shelving.
I found a great video on Youtube on building wooden shelves. It was made by some teenager.
If I were going to do it all over again, I’d seriously consider building a loft maybe 6 feet high for the last 8 feet or so of the garage. It would be a place to keep stuff I don’t need to see on a regular basis.
I’ve learned that you figure out the right way to do it, once you’ve done it the almost right way. However there’s no other way.. so just do it. It a paradox.
Good Luck.. Garages are cool..
Cool shipping calculator. I haven’t seen that one before. I called Fedex a while back trying to get a Smartpost estimate and it was impossible.
In the Promotions portion of Ebay they have all kinds of options regarding promotions and reduced cost based on multiple purchases. You can create promotions based on your stores categories. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out.
I see, it actually doubled the weight on the 2nd item. Since there’s no way to check SmartPost rates without creating a listing, I gave a combined shipping rate based on USPS. I wonder what it did with the dimensions. It’s shipping close by, so an oversize package may not even cost more.
The mystery of the 2nd item is solved.. Oh Boy.
That’s funny about the $2 bills. A couple of years ago I called my bank regarding $2 bills. I got about 25 of them. They couldn’t wait to get rid of them and told me to call back when I wanted more.
That week I took them with me to the garage sales. I ran into a lot of people who had no idea what they were and actually were very suspicious. In the end I decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
I absolutely agree with not disparaging the seller’s items. In fact I generally will complement them. Most times the sellers are so happy that you also appreciate them, that they’re willing to negotiate. Many times they’re glad you know what they are. Even if you don’t make the deal, it’s still interesting.
11/03/2017 at 8:59 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 332: Share Your Extreme Scavenging Confession #24957When I was growing up, we didn’t have a whole lot of money.
I don’t remember how it actually started. Maybe I found one or someone gave one away, but I started collecting damaged bicycles and building better ones. I found some cool broken or wrecked bikes in the trash and stripped them for parts.
In the northeast, we had those long cold winters and I’d go down in the basement and go to work.
I actually inherited a Schwinn Stingray and eventually turned it into a chopper with extended forks and a small front wheel. I wish I had that bike today.
I found a 10 speed with a trashed rear wheel and put on a single speed with a coaster brake. In the early 80’s it was pretty unique.
At one point, I think I had seven running bicycles.
I didn’t make any money at it, but I did have some cool bikes…
No, a seller cannot ask for a negative to be removed in exchange for a refund. The seller can refund the buyer and then request they remove the negative, but one cannot be a condition of the other.
10/31/2017 at 1:47 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 332: Share Your Extreme Scavenging Confession #24650I’ve never dumpster dived for food.. However, I do love the Manager’s Special (almost expired) food at the grocery store. Last night I got lucky and bought 3 loaves of bread, 12 glazed donuts (bakery), a pint of ice cream and a pound of ham for the sum of $5.65..
Life is good.
10/30/2017 at 6:29 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 332: Share Your Extreme Scavenging Confession #24588I feel your pain. Some months back 3 packages were stolen off my porch. I ended up with a late shipment out of the deal and one of the buyers tried to extort $10 from me to keep from giving a negative feedback.
If you haven’t done so, it’s worth a shot to see if the buyer is willing to reverse the negative feedback.
Congrats on the Donuts. 4 dozen Crispy Cremes… way too much temptation.. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
I once sold a tie and noticed a tiny blemish when packing it. Since the shipping was so cheap, I sent it anyways and then refunded the buyer. It cost me a couple of dollars, but was worth it for the “Goodwill” factor.
I told the buyer “It distresses me to send a less than perfect item. so I’m refunding your cost”.
If you go to account settings then Business policies, you’ll get the page with all your business policies (most of which will be shipping.) On the right side of the page, each policy will have a number, which is the number of listings with that policy.
This page should give you an overview of all the policies for all your listings.
Once you create policies, I believe all your listings are assigned one.
If I remember right, it’s a bit of a mess in the beginning, as you’ll need to consolidate your listings into the right number of policies. As long as the service (first class), the places you ship too, the handling time and the handling charges are the same, they can all be in the same policy.
You can use edit button on the left to merge policies. I remember having a bunch of duplicate policies, when I first set it up.
Once set up, you can just edit each policy as needed, for handling time.
I hope I’m not stating the obvious, but since no one else has replied, I thought I would.
-
AuthorPosts