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Thanks, I did not know that. In March I processed a return for an item that shipped in a PFRE and it came back in mine, taped back up, and eBay only charged me the same $7.33 for the return label. It was from Minnesota so I think the shipping by weight would have been more, but maybe not. That’s been it for returns for me for probably 12 months or more.
Free returns is my default. I start considering whether to uncheck it at 2 lbs and up, but it depends on the type of item and price. With heavier items I’ll still offer free returns if it fits in a Padded Flat Rate Envelope (or Small FR Box) or if it is high value and low return risk and fits in a Priority Medium Flat Rate Box I’ll consider it. Also I do not offer returns at all on ephemera, books, and media. So I end up with no TRS on a small percentage of my store because my inventory is mostly smaller items.
I don’t find the eBay selling costs page information to be helpful. Like the OP, I find the numbers from various pages on eBay and Paypal don’t match. I use EasyAuctionsTracker and it provides what appears to me to be good numbers, providing gross sales and shipping and handling received separated, and expenses broken down separately (COGS, actual shipping paid, listing fees, FVFs item and shipping, paypal fees, refunds, and a line item expenses that includes store fees) in Monthly, Quarterly, and cumulative P&L statements in addition to a detailed sales spreadsheet with more information than I’ll ever need. It pulls all information automatically from your eBay and Paypal accounts. You still have to enter COGS manually and outside expenses if you want a complete picture.
Hey BigSally. We had a 1980 Scout II for many years and loved it. About every 5 years it needed another round of rust repairs on the body and frame but we loved it.
Good job on the video! And good sales. Vern sure perked up when he heard that tin can sound.
Thanks for the video, Steven. I know lava lamps are popular but the only ones I run across are the cheap ones that are still available. I also have bad luck with small tins so I usually avoid them. Thanks for the tip on the rubber repair tin niche, Winchester38.
This Marbles No. 80 Rear Sight for .22 Rifles went for $17 plus shipping. I had pennies in it as part of an auction lot. There are large lots of gun parts to be had at giveaway prices but usually the parts are uncatalogued and without original packaging which makes it tough to profitably part out the lot unless you’re a gunsmith, which I’m not.
https://imgur.com/a2r9TxV
This 1972 Tiffany Catalog Blue Book is a neat reference, providing a nice picture of what was stylish with the upperclass at the time in jewelry and accessories. It sold for $45 plus shipping. It was a couple bucks at an indy thrift.
https://imgur.com/djA5EoQ
I have had this well-worn sterling ring for many years. I don’t recall what I paid for it but since it’s not the type of military item I used to collect, it had to have been very little for me to have bought it, probably only a couple bucks. It bears the distinctive unit insignia of the 312th Engineer Battalion of the 87th Infantry Division, which was a unit only in existence during WWII. I had to let it sit out there for a while to get $247 plus shipping and it went to Belgium.
https://imgur.com/dwdU6db
Another foreign sale, this time to Italy. This is an OG 107 US Army Utility Sateen Shirt dating from after WWII. An early 1st pattern but it had some condition issues so I put it up for $54 and took $45 plus shipping. (With foreign shipping I made about another $5 profit on it.) Part of a lot, I have about $20 in it which is more than I like but it’s a sure seller.
https://imgur.com/v937ZxV
I was very excited to find this custom handmade knife made by Chubby Hueske with its original numbered sheath for only $100 at a gun show even though it was in rough shape, as it could have been a $500 sale once cleaned up. I got it to about 95% there but there was some corrosion on the blade edge that I was not able to resolve without possibly damaging it so I put it up for $208 plus shipping with full disclosure. It did not take long to sell for full price.
https://imgur.com/Z2YdpLX
This is a set of United Airlines food service tongs. It’s marked “Executive Service” which consisted of specific United flights only offered in the 1950s – 60s. A couple bucks from the flea market, sold for $19 plus shipping.
https://imgur.com/Zyq3u6JIt is indeed fun to be pleasantly surprised; it’s probably one of the primary reasons I have not tired of digging through other people’s stuff for all these years. I’ve been doing it long enough though that I am rarely truly surprised. I found this beat up Jack Daniels trucker wallet at a flea market last year for $3 that did. It was an afterthought; I had asked about something else on a junk table for which the seller gave me a very good price, so I started a little pile and threw this in. I even balked at the $3 but I figured I’d make an easy $20 on it so just kept it in the pile and paid up. I almost listed it for that without further research. Fortunately I thought I’d better dig a little deeper just in case and found out that there is some gold in distressed leather. It took a little while but went for $100 to Germany.
https://imgur.com/IrH7rwcI have to agree with IndySales. I know this can be an issue for returns especially with clothing but I think there is a law of diminishing returns at work here for trying to get accurate color balance. The fact is that about 8% of men and 0.5% of women in the world have some degree of color blindness many of them don’t realize it, not to mention the monitor issues mentioned. You’re not going to make everyone happy no matter what you do.
I take photos in mostly open shade with some incandescent fill and find that my iPhone is pretty close most of the time except for fluorescent colors. Much better than my Nikon D5100. If I see some obvious differences between real and photo for art or clothing I’ll mention something in the listing but otherwise I don’t worry about it.
Good stuff, all! I bought this 1968 contract US Army surplus OG-107 M65 Field Jacket as a teenager at I. Goldberg Army Navy in Center City Philadelphia in the early 1970s. In excellent condition when I bought it – never even had patches sewn on – I wore it to work in the yard and on the cars, and on construction and gas station attendant jobs. Despite the wear, battery acid holes and oil stains it now has, it sold for $115 plus shipping. Maybe to a buyer going for the Travis Bickle / Frank Serpico look? It did take about 2 years to sell.
https://imgur.com/j5R8lLQ
This hat, made by Tilley Endurables in Canada, has a lifetime guarantee. And apparently Tilley has quite a following, judging by the $47 plus shipping I was able to get for this pre-owned one even though they sell new for about that. It was $4 at a Goodwill.
https://imgur.com/4vYpILC
This unmarked brass ice cream scoop was a family item out of the donation box, a housewarming gift from someone a while back. (Who gives an old ice cream scoop for a housewarming gift?) It sold quickly for $35 plus shipping and in researching sold prices before listing it, I was reminded that there are various types and brands of kitchen utensils out there that people will definitely pay up for. Might be worth digging through those boxes of kitchen utensils you always see at the antique malls for sleepers.
https://imgur.com/ZLeriAM
This was something I brought home from my tour as a military advisor in El Salvador in the 1980s and recently rediscovered in an old photo album. It is a psychological operations leaflet, aimed at the FMLN guerilla fighters during the war. It exhorts them to think of God, country, and family and go to the nearest military base to turn in their gun for cash. “The armed forces will protect you” it says. It took a while to sell for $70 plus shipping and went to England.
https://imgur.com/gqWbVAZ
This interesting Topshop brand two-tone blue metallic skater dress is the same model that was worn by Princess Eleanor in an episode of the first season of The Royals, which I had never heard of and would not have known about if an alert fan had not contacted me about it. They were very excited to see it but did not buy it. Fortunately, someone else did, for $30 plus shipping. It was my daughter’s. Her taste in clothing has always been … eclectic.
https://imgur.com/2KeTBIq
After WWII the government auctioned off huge amounts of brand new military surplus to wholesalers, who then retailed it at army navy stores that popped up all over the country and through ubiquitous ads in the back of magazines like Popular Mechanics. Everything from entire jeeps and small boats on down to the smallest parts and pieces. This WWII US Navy Mark 1 utility knife was probably sold to someone for $1 or $2 fresh out of the warehouse after the war in newly manufactured condition and it appears to have spent the ensuing decades in a drawer. It sold in about a week for $69 plus shipping. I have about $10 in it as part of a large auction lot. Probably millions of these were sold after the war so it is not uncommon to find them in pristine condition. I’ve even seen them with the original packing paper and care directions. The government still auctions off its military surplus but the volume and variety of items are not like they were after WWII. No more entire jeeps to be had.
https://imgur.com/t9b2Z4sI’ve been shipping international direct (selectively) for as long as I can recall. (Part time on eBay since 1997.) Over the last several years I’ve averaged 25 – 35 items a year going international and all but one or two of them a year have gone First Class. I’ve never had a non-delivery claim except once in Brazil, and I went on AfterShip to pull up the tracking (was not available on USPS to Brazil even though it was Priority) to confirm the package was waiting for him to pay the customs fees and pick it up. He refused so the package was automatically returned to me (at no cost). I gave him a little of his money back (just for goodwill – he was new to eBay) and resold the item.
I used to ship everywhere it was legal (and had successful shipments to a number of trouble spots such as Russia) but now I use the ShipSaver list of destination countries they don’t insure for my blacklist. The Shipsaver blacklist shrinks over time; they took Mexico off not long ago so I did and had a successful sale there recently. Ebay won’t let a sale to go through to an embargoed country so that’s pretty much automatic.
I use Shipsaver to insure anything over $50 (purchase price and shipping combined) and am willing to eat the loss for anything smaller. It ranges from $.75 to $.95 for a foreign shipment under $100 and they apparently don’t care about tracking. The most I’ve ever paid for insurance was $2.85 to insure a value of $261 (item + postage) to Belgium.
When I ship international I do not automatically use the original listing title that is loaded by default in the customs form in the ebay shipping label printing process but instead write something clear and generic that describes the item and often I will fill in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule number. For certain things like electronics I don’t offer international shipping.
It just occurred to me that maybe they are planning to do Automated Pricing like on Amazon, where Terapeak drops your prices automatically to market.
I also have a basic store, went to sign up and got the same message which gave me pause, and I tried to go down the rabbit hole on just what I was signing up for. It was a week or two ago and my memory is fuzzy on it but I do recall it was difficult to get a clear answer to that, even after reading all the links. All I could make out was that it seems that Terapeak plans to add some kind of “helpful” information or “assistance” to the listing process.
It was not clear what exactly they would be doing to “act on my behalf” on my account so I did not register. I’ve decided to let others be the guinea pigs on that.
