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I did it too, this week, (after swearing I double checked every package going out, too).
I offered to send labels to my buyers for them to forward the items to the correct address. Still waiting to hear back from them. I also offered a hefty refund when tracking confirms the items are on the way. I’m hoping that will make them feel better about the mistake, and not leave negative feedback. :/
Put the word out on local buy-sell-trade groups that you will pick up air pillows, and people will save them for you. Boxes, too.
I sold an old Apple Mac laptop case to one of the big-wigs at Apple. I don’t remember the guy’s name anymore, but it went to Apple’s corporate HQ, addressed to “Ms. So-and-So, Assistant to Mr. Big Important Dude”. His buying history said he buys a lot of vintage Apple stuff. Not sure if it’s for his personal collection, or if he buys for the Apple archive.
Not sure about yours, but I have seen those before, with enameling on the front, made by a company called Smaltotex, from Greece. I actually have one listed right now, made out of bronze.
I have made the mental switch to being a “full time” seller. I listed, (and just sold), my stethoscope. It’s a little bittersweet.
On the bright side, no more working weekends, holidays, and 12 hour overnight shifts! So, yay!
Happy New Year to you and Ryanne, Jay!
Total Items in Store:
Items Sold: 18 (17 ebay, 1 Bonanza)
Total Sales: $428.83
Highest Price Sold: $60 (tie between a set of Duplicate Bridge boards and a set of Homeschool US history textbooks)
Average Price Sold: $23.77
Returns: 0
COGS: $37.13With the coming postal rate changes, I decided to stop offering free shipping on everything, except a few paper ephemera items. Free shipping didn’t seem to impact sales very much.
My new experiment is to move stuff that isn’t selling from “Fixed Price” to “Auction”. It is all stuff that is decent, but low dollar (small kids toys, vintage ceramic miniatures, books). I actually have a few bids on some items, and picked up a lot of watchers on others. The hypothesis is that some buyers perceive auctions as more of a “deal” than fixed price.
Wow, what a weirdo! He is probably a delight at parties.
The only one that I remember was positive, but sort of passive aggressive. “This item is older, but not vintage. 5 stars”. Er, ok. It was 40 years old, so, yeah. Vintage. *shrug*
Christine, that’s horrible that someone would say that to you! I hope you didn’t let it get you down!
Have you checked out VarageSale.com? It is linked to Facebook and there is also a stand-alone app for Android and Apple.
Apologies if I came across as critical. It was not my intention. I like hearing specifics of how other people run their business, to see if it is something I could adopt for my own.
Good luck!
Sonia, do you use facebook? I put the word out on some local fb groups, and got a pile of boxes and air pillows that way. My local post office also saves plain brown boxes for me. I use my ebay coupon for poly and padded mailers. The only supplies I ever have to buy are tape and bubble wrap.
So what would happen if you listed, say, 5 good quality items a day, rather than 20 “filler” items a day?
Twenty items a day is a pretty aggressive pace to keep. Do you worry about burning out? What are your sales like per month? (# of items/gross profits).
Not trying to pick at you; just curious. I have a kid, too, plus animals (young dog, old cat, and 3 chickens), and we homeschool, so I totally understand the time-crunch. I would go nuts if I tried to list 20 items a day, every day. If I get 8 things listed, I feel like a hero!
As for “filler” items, I guess I have a few of those listings. It is usually the stuff that I say “This would probably sell at a yard sale or flea market, but it’s a pain to haul all that stuff outside and wait all day”. Those sort of things get listed as an auction, with one of the freebies I get each month. Sometimes those things sell and sometimes they don’t, and I sort of don’t care one way or the other about them.
I’m confused, (and not trying to pick a fight). Why list things that don’t make you any money? Why not list things that will make you money, instead?
If you get rid of the things that don’t make you any money, you will have more space and time to list the things that *do* make you money.
Used game pieces, I understand.
