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Previously with the Global Shipping Program I had only 1 or 2 international sales a month. Now it is about 2-3 international sales a week. You are right in that the buyer has no idea which shipping option I am using but they do see the shipping I charge and it is always a lot cheaper than the GSP rate and usually cheaper than the eBay calculated International First Class Package rate. I use a table for what I charge which is basically
- under 8 oz. $12.99 Canada/$15.99 all other countries
- 8 oz. to 2 pounds $17.99 Canada/$24.99 all other counties
- 2-3 pounds $24.99 Canada/34.99 all other countries
- 3-4 pounds $36.99 Canada/$54.99 all other countires
This matches up nicely with what Pirate Ship charges and it does leave me a few dollars padding. The shipping time for eBay, USPS, and Pirate Ship International First Class Package are all the same since they are all USPS labels and shipped by USPS. Where the time savings comes in is that GSP packages first have to go to the GSP center and be processed, which seemed to have taken an extra 2-4 days when I was using it, the USPS International FCP go direct, and for me that is San Francisco International Airport which is close. I’m not sure if it is just luck or the shipping gods but I’ve had packages take only 4-5 days sometimes to get to Europe.
Having no trouble shipping with Pirate Ship is probably just luck and I admit that eBay and USPS International FCP would have the same results. I did have trouble once with GSP. A buyer in Australia waited about 75 days after buying a $450 item with about $50 shipping and filed a claim with PayPal. eBay would not help me as they said it was past the 60 day limit on GSP claims, PayPal wasn’t much help either until a service rep explained that it was the buyers responsibility to pay to ship it back which they never bothered to do. So I came out okay on that one.
I apologize for taking a while to reply, as I just got home from doing errands all day and also for the wall of text. Now I get to go listen to the podcast.
Thanks Again Jay and Ryanne for all of the great content and information.
Hello, Jay, I posted an answer to your question about Pirate Ship earlier, but it disappeared into the ethernet as soon as I hit submit. Pirate Ship lets you print USPS labels. For USPS International First Class Package, even with my top-rated discount, Pirate Ship is cheaper than eBay by $1-$2 on lighter packages, and for heavier ones, I’ve saved as much as $5-$8 per label. Today, I sent a 4 oz. package to Toronto, Canada, Pirate Ship was $8.95, eBay USPS First Class would have been $11.08 and eBay Standard would have been $10. It may be a small saving, but it adds up quickly. I have no idea how they make money off of the deal as they only charge my credit card the amount of the postage. If anybody signs up with them, be sure to use the chat option to request the simple export rate which has the best prices. Note that I do not have any connection to Pirate Ship other than using their service.
Numbers for September 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1192
Items sold: 65
Sales: $1440.25
Highest Price sold: $100 – Chill, Adventures Into the Unknown Game
Average Price Sold: $22.15
Cost of Items sold: $134.33 / average cost: 2.06
Spent on new inventory: $170
Number of items listed: 59
My numbers this month are very close to last month, $1440 vs $1446 total sales which I am very happy to have.
R&J, last week you mentioned changing everything back to global shipping, I was just wondering if you ever have had problems with pirateship.com? I’ve been using it ever since I learned about it in your forums a while back and so far haven’t had any problems. I’ve been getting more and more sales using it and now get 2 or 3 international sales a week. Just wondering.
Thank You both for all of the interesting stories and information on how to sell on eBay and live life.
Aperture, Thank You for the research. Once Ryanne and Jay identified the maker, I also checked Worthpoint. I think the seller of the $123.99 shoe might have been mistaken due to the heavy weight. When I spent a buck for the one I have, I thought it might be metal also, but after using a magnet, tapping it several times, and the way the entire inside is solid from under the laces to the toe, I’m pretty sure it is resin. I think a solid ceramic section as large as the front of the entire shoe would be likely to crack when fired. I think I’ll list it for around $50 with make offer, the other one on eBay is listed at $44.95. Thanks again everyone for the help and research on this.
THANKS, Jay and Ryanne, that was fast and I appreciate it. Seeing the same shoe up for sale for $44.95 gives me a fair idea of value too.
Thanks Again and Have a Great Weekend
-Steve
I forgot to update my number of items listed, it is 119, not 49. Also, I may have a return on the way. They opened a case to return it and printed the label but haven’t shipped it yet.
Numbers for August 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1191
Items sold: 63
Sales: $1,446.50
Highest Price sold: $175.00 7 old stock certificates to the same buyer
Highest Price Sold, single item: $45 Wells Fargo Bank Medallion
Average Price Sold: $22.96
Cost of Items sold: $118.20 / average cost: 1.88
Spent on new inventory: $78
Number of items listed: 49
Returns: 3 refunds of not received low-cost media mail itemsToday I received an email from eBay: “A special $25 coupon just for our first members” which was a nice surprise. According to the email, I signed up with eBay on 2-5-1998 and had my first sale on 4-2-2002, which was a San Francisco Zoo Elephant Storybook Key. I paid $0.25 for it and sold it at auction for $22.50. Postage was $0.57 and I added insurance for $1.10. I still have a copy of the eBay sales page and the letter that the buyer sent me with their check.
Back in June on the 3rd day of an estate sale, I rechecked a small bunch of folders in a closet, I’m glad I did. Most of them had random paperwork, but hidden in one was about 20 old stock certificates. I may have priced some of them too low as the first night they were listed I sold 9 of them for $225 to 3 different buyers. So far I have made $390 in sales from them and still have 10 more to go, not bad for something that I and everybody else missed the two previous days of the estate sale. My cost was about $1 for the folder.
The housing community I live in (450 units) had an area-wide sale two weeks ago. I made the decision to buy stuff instead of selling it. It was a great day for scavenging as it turned out two of the units were actually doing family-run estate sales. I spent a total of $65 the whole day but came away with some great items. I’m not sure what is more valuable among the best two finds, a 3′ long July 1940 panoramic photograph of a restaurant and gas station in Salinas, California (cost $5), or a restaurant ware banana Leaf/palm leaf ball pitcher (cost $3). The last 4 sales of the same brand and type of pitcher were between $202 and $338 according to WorthPoint.
Now I plan to go listen to the recast podcast episode while I list.
I would pack them between at least 2 sheets (and maybe 4) of durable cardboard. Another option, if there is a U-Haul store near you is that they sell special boxes for art in 3 or 4 different sizes. The boxes are actually inexpensive, $5-$10 if I remember correctly. Since it is a famous artist, I think I would go with the box and possibly additional insurance to be safe. The cheapest way to ship may be FedEx Home delivery.
You could cherry pick the higher priced items to sell on eBay and possibly take the rest to a consignment store if there is one in your area. They will try and get a higher price for the stuff but they also tend to take 40 to 50% of the selling price. 10 bins sounds like a lot of stuff but I think most estate sellers wouldn’t be very interested because to them it is too small of an amount to make it worth their time to do a sale. Sets of china haven’t been doing very well for a few years now because many of the younger buyers have very little interest. If you do sell the items, first look at sold comps on eBay as you may do a lot better by splitting the sets up and selling individual pieces – but you are right, it could take a few years to sell it all.
The long USPS Large flat rate boxes also work great if you are sending 3-4 rolls of wall paper. Doesn’t happen very often, but for me twice in the last year it saved me quite a lot in shipping cost.
Numbers for July 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1128
Items sold: 58
Sales: $1,544.60
Cost of Items sold: $131.35
Highest Price sold: $300 (100 small Hamm’s beer patches / $98 Book reprint
Average Price Sold: $26.63 – Average Cost: $2.26 (I counted the patches as one sale)
Spent on new inventory: $253
Number of items listed: 49
The beer patch sale and a few high value books and games made July one of my best months ever.
As for packing peanuts, if you have a health food store near you, ask them if they have any peanuts. Many vitamins and supplements are packed with them, the store I go to is happy for me to take as many as I want. They may also have small boxes available.
A handy tool I bought a few weeks ago is an electric Styrofoam knife. I would avoid the cheap Chinese ones and get a US made one. I bought mine form the Foam Factory in Lompoc, California. I’ve used it quite a few times in the short weeks that I have had it and found it to be very useful for packing large and heavier items. I purchased the 4″ one but I think the 3″ one may be just as useful. They are on eBay and are also easy to Google for their online store. Note that I do not have any relationship with them other than liking their products. J&R, maybe if you contact them about an affiliate link they would send you some to try out for free.
Yes junque redux and Sharyn, I do have USPS tracking on both packages where anytime the package is scanned I am supposed to receive an email. I also did a trace on one of the packages. A USPS clerk actually called me and informed me that media mail was taking longer than normal (which I think everybody except buyers know). Then about an hour later I received an email stating my trace case was closed and asking how did they do. I was finally able to open missing mail cases this morning – before the USPS system locks up with too much traffic as it has done the past few days when I tried.
As to the other issue I have, I started to fill out the eBay vero form (you have to download a PDF – apparently not available to fill out on line) but after I starting to fill it out I didn’t think it was worth the hassle so I just emailed eBay support. I’m not too concerned, the seller has 14 total items for sale, all of the others are $7.99 and digital delivery. A couple of the other items I checked out also appear to be copies of other people’s listings.
Numbers for June 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1131
Items sold: 56
Gross Sales: $1,115.55
Cost of Items sold: $81.10
Highest Price Sold: $90 – AD&D Spelljammer Game – PirateShip to England
Average Price Sold: $19.92 – Average Cost: $1.45
Spent on new inventory: $104
Number of items listed: 61Quite a few by appointment only estate sales are happening in my area now. The one I went to, mask and gloves required, I was able to get an appointment the morning of the first day of the sale. As far as I can tell, very few people are attending due to the Covid-19.
Two issues from June, items shipped on June 15 and 19th via media mail getting stuck someplace in L.A. with no scanning updates since June 21st and 26th respectively – just notices saying that they are in transit.
One issue from July, somebody had copied one of my listings and used my photos and exact description text in the body of the listing. I didn’t find out until after I sold the item and after giving the buyer feedback, I saw an add at the bottom of the page for the exact same art piece, dented frame and all. I spent over an hour going through eBay links, calling eBay twice and not getting anyplace. The only thing I could do was to email eBay support. It is only a $12 dried leaf wall art piece. The lister has 0 feedback and is selling the item via auction with local pickup only. It appears they listed the item a day or so before I sold the piece and they are located quite a distance from the actual buyer.
If anybody is interested:
Thanks to everybody that responded, I guess I’ll have to wait for my coupon in July to order them.
Just saw this in eBay announcements: And, as an extra thank you, for those of you who already receive shipping supplies coupons as part of your store subscription, we will send you an extra one next week. We know you are shipping record volumes so we wanted to give you the supplies to be successful.
