Justin has a point about expanding your knowledge on what has value. Everyone and their mom is always asking, "do you have video games? Do you have Jordans?" The reality is, most of the money I make is from things I would never look to buy but I decide to look up regardless. I have sold RV Vent Fans, Vintage Tools, 1980s Computers, Vintage Holiday Decorations, Baby Toys, CDs, and the list goes on! All because I just looked it up. Never miss a chance to just find out and be sure.
I'm so glad you mentioned that you price something up you want to keep. I sell mostly books, and when I find something I want to hold on to personally, I price it at just above it's highest price point. That way, if I keep it I'm happy, and if it sells, it's too much profit to be unhappy. In fact, I've priced something I've wanted to keep at cost + full cost of another one + profit, and they don't sell often, but man, sometimes it does happen, and it's so good. By the way, to comment on the promotional sorting stuff, I default to sort highest on my desktop, and change to lowest to get both sides of the price range. I would actually have to click to goto best match (which sometimes I do!). But I see promoted listings all the time. I notice because I'll see higher priced stuff out of order.
I'm currently on vacation right now and put my store on time away mode (with sales off), Vacation should be a time where you don't have to worry about work (or your ebay sales). It might take a few days, a week or longer for my store to get back to usual but I'd rather enjoy my vacation than worry about the algorithm. Thanks for the tips to get my store back up and running when I get back!
Hey Justin...A lifelong Twin Citian here. It's cool you vacationed in our great state had a good time. The shot of Minnehaha Falls was awesome! Thanks for the shout out on us being a fun destination. You just missed the eBay seller social in Minneapolis on 10/29. It was a really good and informative event. We attended and met eBay's product guy and talked a little with him about the roadmap for upcoming features. You should be proud as he gave you and flipwise an unsolicited plug. Thought you'd appreciate and find that cool. He mentioned you'd chatted with him a few times and he loves what you're offering in terms of COGS management. Anyway, just wanted to share. Keep up the good work!
I just got back from being out of town for a week. Had it in time away accepting sales. Every night I would message buyers of purchases (copy paste from saved statement I created in my notes app) so it didn’t take much time. Just reminded them of my status and they could cancel if preferred. Most responded that they appreciated me reaching out and that they were willing to wait. That seemed to help.
We have stopped using vacation mode. Instead, we extend handling time. Just did that with a trip out west. Set handling time to ten business days. Notified all buyers figuring they didn't read it. Not a single one cancelled. Shipped all my sales on day one once the vacation was done.
@@jamesmaize8641 put yourself on 2 days processing time, or 3 days. If you ever check out major large businesses they all say 3 to 5 days processing in warehouse time. So don’t fret about giving yourself 2 days when you need it.
@@jamesmaize8641 for one day away, you could just change your handling time for everything to 2 or 3 days. I always have mine set to 3 day handling, even though I normally send stuff out next day anyway. That way I have some leeway in case something comes up.
Enjoy your program. Tip regarding mailing in a "hot plate box." I personally don't like re-using a marked box. What I do is break it down and tape it back up with the inside out. Still using and recycling the boxes, but no one knows it was an old "hot plate" box until they open it. Thanks!
Great suggestion on setting a minimum on offers. I too am being hit by low ball offers. All appreciated but seriously when I counter with my best price (with explanation) and they keep on with the low counters.
I'd been doing exactly as you'd shared and was delisting each morning, just before the item was to end and be auto-relisted (you and other 'gurus' are where I learned it when I first began selling in earnest - I spent a LOT of time learning at the feet of the pros...still do) . I'd then wait until the next day to "sell similar". This is something I'd done religiously every. single. day. for WELL over a year. After the summer slowdown, I was surprised that my sales weren't increasing, even into the fourth quarter. I spent a good deal of time on the phone with an eBay rep who consulted other members of the team. The overwhelming consensus was that I was "shooting myself in the foot" by using that method. It's been just a few weeks (he stated it may take up to a couple of months) since I made the change. We'll see what happens. It can be SO frustrating trying to "get it right".
I gotta say as a reseller Ive gone on vacation a few times and decided not to put vacation mode on, Instead just enable auto messaging to reach out to people who buy your items or visit your store. Also just set your time away and if people want to send you a message they can just wait, or learn to read really. Its nice being able to come back after a week of vacay and still having 70-100 items sold in that week
@sharon7767 no, I do not. I have the message that gets sent out to everyone that visits my store and that buys something from my store while I'm gone. So if they don't want to read the messagee then they can shoot me a message asking why it's not shipped and I'll tell them plainly it's because I'm on vacation and if they want to cancel that's totally fine. By increasing the handling time and shipping time, I think that actually would deter people from buying things from your store when they see a longer than normal shipping time. They'll think I don't want to buy from this person. I want it quicker this person's shipping times must be this long for all the items in their store. I'll get it from someone else and that might deter future sales since I do have repeat customers that come back to me often enough.
For the first question. 100% its resellers trying to get a good deal to flip. This happens all the time on facebook marketplace. Resellers are the ones refreshing pages. If you get an offer fast its always a reseller(or bots). Normal people dont sit there and spam refresh.
Yeah it is. I source at least 75% of my inventory from eBay itself, and I have a lot of saved searches so I see things sometimes as soon as they come up and send offers on certain things.
Well that's a new one on me - I know people do it on marketplace but on Ebay too?? Ive had the experience at boot sales of other stall holders buying my stuff and then having the gall to offer it at inflated prices right next to me. Guess I need to do even more research on my prices.
I just recently started watching your channel. Great info, I had no idea eBay had subscriptions.. I’ve been paying 35$ a month after I run out of the 250 free listings. I was puzzled how these large stores could afford that lol. It all make sense now! Thank you, saved me money and I can grow my store without worrying about that. I swear I’ve watched hundreds of videos of big resellers on TH-cam. Not one has mentioned subscriptions. But I should have looked into myself and know about the platform I sell on.
Thanks for another great video! I agree with what you said about how much potential inventory is out there for resell. I'm sitting on a beautiful death pile to get me through the winter months until garage sale and flea market season starts back up in Spring. And I do the same thing as you with some of my decor items and use them around the house until they are sold. I get to love them for a while then share them with someone else to love!
Regarding the first question. Sometimes, it's reassuring to get a quick low-ball offer. It means you listed something in demand and not under market value.
I totally agree about there being an abundance of things to sell out there and it's just a matter of continually expanding your knowledge. I think we all have a tendency to suffer from tunnel vision and stick to the niches we know. it's helpful to have knowledge about specific things but it's good to keep adding to it. I went for a walk over the summer and stopped at a friend's house and mentioned I saw a stove being scrapped on the side of the street and he told me- You know that the knobs and grates and any other removable pieces sell for a lot of money right? I went right back over there and sold quite a few parts for about $300 total on eBay. Learned something that day!
Kevin was talking about Goodwill is affecting our sales and you about recycling very high hopes from your point of view. I heard everything you said all of it. Thanks so much so much help!
Great video, as always, Justin. I have a few things to add. First, I agree with everything you said about vacation mode. Your sales do go down, but they will bounce back fairly quickly once you start listing again and following the ending and relisting procedure. I have seen other sellers jack up their prices to some insane level, then have something in the description that if the price is outrageous, it is because they are on vacation and they don't want any sells. To me, that seems like a lot of unnecessary work, so I've never done that one. I have played around with extending my shipping time. That may work for short trips. I'm not sure how the algorithm handles listings that have shipping set to greater than 2 or 3 days. When you select those long-range options, there is a message that says it is highly unusual. I think they could suppress listings, and you may still have to list as soon as you get back home, too. Either way, when you can list, you should be listing, so I think put it in vacation mode and may take a moment to send buyers a note letting them know the details on when to expect their order to be shipping. I wish eBay would add that option to vacation mode. You can have an automatic email sent, but only if you get a message. I would like to see the option to automatically send an e-mail to a buyer who places an order while you are on vacation mode. This way it ensures if the buyer missed the note at the top of the listing, they will have also received a message. Second, to the seller with the crazy buyer who insisted you sent a hot plate, I am so sorry that happened to you. Sadly, there are buyers out there who do odd things. It isn't always a scam. Sometimes people are dumb, as Justin said, and sometimes they simply are new to eBay and may not have any idea that sellers reuse boxes. If you look at how much feedback they have, that may shed some light on whether that's a possibility. You also have people who are home bound, who may have some understanding issues that they can't help, who may buy from you. That's not really anything you can do about, but it is worth keeping in mind. Unfortunately, I'm not shocked eBay wouldn't remove the feedback. Recently I had a new eBayer make a purchase from me. It was a bulk lot of mostly small items sold on Amazon. It normally sell about $200-$300 MSRP for like $30. My buyers who get that stuff take it flea markets to sell and they make money off it. It is a lot of $10-$15 items of, frankly, cheap junk from China. I generally do not sell it individually, but in lots. I literally have pennies invested in that stuff, so I can sell cheap, cheap, cheap. Unlike others who sell similar lots, I provide a detailed manifest in the listing and, plenty of pictures. Anyway, this person bought one of my lots. A week later I got negative feedback from them. It was my first one. It literally said, "Did not like." Of course, I offer free returns, so I contacted them to try to find out what happened and to let them know they could return it at my expense. They responded, "Thank you so much but I just tossed it." I remembered they had joined the eBay the day they bought from me, so I looked to see if they had bought anything else and left feedback. Sure enough, they had made 10 purchases, all on the same day they registered and bought from me. Everything they bought from other sellers was lots of cheap, new stuff from Amazon. They left the exact same negative feedback for every seller. To me, that seemed like abuse of the feedback system. I did try to get mine removed, but eBay would not remove it. So, I responded with the story I told here, and also noted that the seller abused the feedback system. My 100% positive feedback dropped to 99.5%. If a buyer isn't going to buy from me because I'm a half-point away from 100% positive feedback, I don't want that buyer. They are likely going to be difficult if they find the slightest imperfection in the in their purchase, even if disclosed So, I find the occasional insane negative feedback a blessing. I do think it is worth trying to get the feedback removed and here is why: With a few hours of eBay denying my request, I had 7 positive feedbacks left within an 8-hour period. I've never had that happen. Most, if not all, of that feedback was on items that had sold a while back. I believe if you go through that process to try to get negative feedback removed, if it is denied, eBay pushes buyers with reminders, including e-mail reminders, to leave feedback on their purchase. They do this already, but there is little doubt in my mind that they gave an extra push because I had received a negative and my request for removal was denied. I can't prove this, and this is my only experience, but there was something odd about getting so much feedback in a matter of hours for purchases that were made 40-days after delivery. Sometimes I may go 2 or 3 days without someone leaving any feedback. Third, to the person who had a buyer contact them after shipment about a wrong address, you definitely need to refund the money since you had the item returned to you. I appreciate what eBay told you, but I am somewhat surprised they would tell you that. If they told you that over the phone, I certainly would not count on that holding up, if the buyer should open an item not received case. Rather than go through all of that, refund them and let them know the item came back. IF you truly believe they were a scammer, then I'd also block them so they can't buy from you again after you issue the refund. IMHO, I don't think it was a scammer. The goal with a scam like that would to actually end up with the item and the refund. Here, you got the item back because the address did turn out to be wrong. Maybe it was just a keen postal employee who realized something was awry, I don't know. Do make sure you give them the refund - and deduct the original shipping you paid. Forth, a comment related to the rockets. There are no issues selling those, but if you list anything with an explosive in it, eBay is likely to pull your listing. I bought a couple of boxes of vintage Estes igniters from the Salvation Army. I wasn't sure if I would be able to ship them, but I only paid 50 cents a box. I did the research and determined that those items in small quantities can be shipped FedEx ground. USPS and UPS will not take them, even as ground. They certainly cannot go air. There were a few other similar listings and some had been sold in the past 90 days, so I listed mine. Eight hours later, the eBay bot got me and took them down, informing me I could not list any type of explosive. I always respect when I get a listing taken down. So, I tossed them into my bin of stuff that I can't list online. When my niece, who helps me with the store sometimes, goes to sell some of her things at the flea market, I'll give her the bin and $10 bucks for her table. She gets a free table and (hopefully) sells some of my stuff in the bin so I make the table money back and a little profit. Fifth, yes, that photo looked like a stock photo. There is no shame in being proud of it!
Hey Justin I’m a few months into selling on eBay and your channel has helped me produce more consistent sales. I’m curious if you might do a future video on small items that are readily available that sell for a higher roi. Thanks for all that you do it’s really helpful and your calm vibe is really unique keep it up it’s great!
When I use time away I work ahead to have listings in drafts that I schedule to drop daily when I’m gone. I think that helps feed eBay with listing activity. You can schedule drafts with a store subscription.
Recycling used boxes is always a good thing, but always either put blank stickers over the logo or turn the box inside out . The most fun one I heard about was using used liquor or liquid containing boxes and being sent back as USPS /UPS had no clue what was inside.
Hi Justin, I will be going on vacation after Christmas for a whole month, overseas, in the past I put on the vacation mode on eBay but I also adjusted my handling time to 1 month, because I was afraid I will get ding on eBay, I got some sales while on vacation, messaging the buyers that I'm on overseas vacation. This year I still want to have sales while on vacation. My question is " should I adjust my handling time just in case?" Put on vacation plus the adjustment. I'm clueless. Thank you for all your help. Rain
Hi Justin! Would you do a crash course on Shipping , I would love to see your recommendations. I am a new seller trying to learn all about Shipping before listing. Shipping policies, materials, services, etc. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, I enjoy your channel very much!
I would suggest the seller cancel the order to issue a refund on the item with the incorrect address. Buyers cannot leave feedback for cancelled items. I’m wondering why you didn’t increase handling time instead of putting your store on vacation mode? Thanks for another great video! 😊
Hannah Montana who want to buy an item and see how many times 6 to 10 days... We just move on to the next buyer.... Nobody want to pay and wait a week to two weeks to get the item shipped out
I don't use ebay but for Poshmark and even Market Place when I'm asked to ship, I will tell the buyer what kind of box/mailer I sent the item in since I reuse shipping material. So if I send something in a reused Amazon Prime box, I will tell them. This is in case they live in an apartment building where there can be many deliveries and they might be looking for plain box etc and ignore mine thinking it's for someone else. But now I see that there is another good reason to do this LOL
Hey Justin, love your informative videos, I offer two different shipping options, USPS ground advantage & UPS ground saver. Can I use either one or does the customer need to pick one? UPS is usually the cheaper option. Also, I want to start selling clothes, but how do you get the thrift store smell out? Right now I have 8 shirts hanging up in the garage hoping they'll air out before they sell. I once bought a shirt for myself & I had to wash it several times before I got rid of the smell, I almost donated it back. Thanks!
Hi Justin. We downloaded your Flipwise and just love it. Is there a place that we can enter an item that we just picked up and won't be listing for a few days? That would help us to remember where we bought it and how much we paid. Love your videos! Wes
Hi Justin. Love your channel. Question. What do you do when a buyer pays, you have a one day handling time, but buyer sends you a note that says "Don't ship this for 4 days because I am on vacation."
Hello Justin, I love your videos and have learned a lot. I don't know if I missed it, but I have no idea how to competitively price my items to include shipping when I don't know what the shopping cost will be beforehand. I use USPS Ground Advantage. Please help. Thank you in advance.
I've often Wondered if using vacation mode strategically to avoid holiday returns would work. Let's say you put on vacation mode from December 26th till January 14th, what happens when people try to return items? Would they see that the return will take over 3 weeks to be accepted? Then decide it's not worth the trouble?
1) That is the reason we don't use boxes that have company brands on the outside, especially if we are unable to mark them off with a black marker. Buyers get confused if something comes to their door and they see some logo on outside and especially since there are many spoof scam items being shipped by scammers. 2) Promoted is really eating a lot from many Buyers and most of their items are not even visible in the Ebay search with a high promoted amount. 3) Probably safer to set vacation mode and Delist everything to avoid any issues with Buyers who don't pay attention to the time off period and the delay shipping setting.
Thank you for your content! So helpful. Question: out of over a little 100 sales, I’ve asked several people for feedback, some gave which was good. However I’m wondering if I should even ask for feedback from the buyer. What are your thoughts on that?
I never do because you may just be reminding them of a meh experience and you may not like the feedback you get. Let sleeping dogs lie. EBay does remind them and nobody likes to be nagged.
Question. When we list an auction & the fee is 25 cents, if the item does NOT sell, and we relist it as a buy it now, is the 25 cents refunded? It used to be that way if I am not mistaken, wondering if its still that way. Thanks, love your channel.
That's quite a drive from St. Louis. I live in east central Iowa and traveled down to Troy every month for a year and a half before quitting that job to resell full time. Spent a couple weeks in Alton for training. If you stopped at any Casey's along the way for gas I most likely did their 30 day fuel tank system inspections. Some neat little towns down in that area of MO and Southern IA.
That WAS a nice photo, but I think your Turkey photo was better and why it sold, nice job! :) Just wondering, do you have a link to the LED photo lights you use? I see the link for the larger ones, but I really liked the LED ones you showed in a previous video and I'm unable to find something similar. Thank you for all that you do, it's appreciated!
It's happened to me maybe five times (over several decades). I ask the buyers nicely if they'll forward the item to the correct person, and I send them shipping labels. Never had a problem.
Exactly people just want free shipping, I started factoring shipping cost into my listings and listing with free shipping, Iv noticed Iv been getting a lot more purchases at asking price vs getting low ball offers
Hey Justin love the content as always! Why when I receive offers and accept them does it send it back to the buyer as a counter offer if I accepted it? And does this happen to you?
Super great question from the man regarding promoted listings when sorting them from lowest price and up. I always sort lowest price plus shipping first whether I’m buying or doing comps for my listings. Hmmm, does anyone have anymore info on this? I just started promoting again after about 10 months not because my sales are so bad.
It took me two months from a summer two week vacation to see listing moving again... and it’s usually after listing new items that I see spike. I’m going to list at least 1 a day for the next 2 weeks as a test rather than 7-10 every week in one day.
Question: We have a lot of batteries that we come across while sourcing electronics (AA, AAA etc..). What is the best practice in discarding these so they aren’t just thrown away in the trash? Thanks Justin!
Do you have a local/county recycling center that accepts them? I generally save them in an old container until there is reason to dispose of them there.
Hi, Justin. Could will you please explain to me how the Fixed and Final Value fees are assessed? Thanks do much for you videos. I love and appreciate your content. I'm new to the game.
Hey Justin, I've been a casual ebay user since 2010 and have really been ramping up my sales the last couple years. I'm learning a lot watching your videos but have a question regarding shipping. What is the major difference in shipping cost if I ship an item in a box vs a poly bag or bubble mailer? Is it solely based on dimensions and weight or is the biggest difference the cost of supplies? I have been fortunate to get a lot of nice boxes for free so cost of supplies is less of an issue . If the cost of supplies is not much of a factor does it make more sense to use a box to further protect the item or am I losing savings on shipping by not using a poly bag? Hope you can help.
It's both dimensions & weight that matter., up to a point. If you send a very big box, the shipping price will be the same or similar if it's 1 pound or 4 pounds. But say a Poly mailer or Bubble mailer vs a 6x6 box. USPS ground advantage won't care if it's a box or bag. It's just going to price based off weight & how far the item is going. I'm not Justin, but I just wanted to give you a little info since I seen the comment.
Comment regarding returns due to invalid addresses: it only happened to me once, but in the future, I may consider a restocking fee to cover my costs on that type of return and refund the rest. Thoughts?
if you know you're going on vacation and don't prep prior to leaving then you can't complain about low sales...I went away for a week and had 8 listings scheduled to go live each day I was gone. Didn't have to open my app once it was all done automatically. Came home to 60 sales.
Having a "draft bank" is all well and good. But I think the issue is more not being able to ship out any possible orders in a timely manner. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you're not a "Top Rated" seller, as having same or one day shipping is a prerequisite for that. If you've chosen a seven day handling time for your store, that's totally fine. But for stores that advertise a shorter shipping time to their customers, sometimes "vacation mode" is a necessity.
Love the video Justin. I have a buyer that issued a return for a damaged item and messaged me asking can they keep the item and get a partial return because they Shipped the item to Taiwan. I shipped it to thier listed address in Delaware. Ebay is actually holding my funds till the issue is resolved can you believe this? I reported this and still haven't heard back 3 days later. What would you do? Thanks for any answers.
I ordered a hand blown glass ornament and opened the box. The ornament appeared to be the wrong color. But, it was still wrapped up in clear layers of plastic wrap and a colored layer. I contacted the seller and said that it was the wrong one sent. I opened it further and this color that I saw was a beautiful color of paper that looked exactly like a glass ornament. I took a picture of it before opening it all the way, because I didn’t want them to think that I switched it out. I was surprised that it was the correct ornament under these few layers of plastic wrap that made it look like a blown glass ornament. Outer layers were clear the final layer was colored. I contacted the seller and let them know that it was the correct ornament and left positive feedback.
About lowball offers and setting a minimum offer - UGH we all hate lowballers. I especially despise those who have the nerve to offer 50% or more below the asking price. I want to get to the point where this doesn't make my blood boil (not yet) HOWEVER here's another theory or perspective on that... It is quite possible that the back-and-forth on offers and counter offers gives the item a boost in the algorithm. I now believe this to be true as often the same items ends up selling later that same day. So I do counter the low-ballers, and often at like a dollar off or some price I know they won't grab. I don't care. Then I block them so they cannot bother me again. It's simply my way of using the low-ballers to my advantage. If you set minimum offers, you lose that opportunity to use the lowball offer as an algorithm boost. It won't always result in a sale, of course, but IMO way better than ignoring an offer. Even though algorithm talk is always speculative (I know I know I know) 🙂 so of course this is speculative, however resellers still love finding ways to tilt that wheel.
Hi Justin, on the first place many thanks for all your videos! Im starting being reseller in Uk and just wondering why once my customers received their orders, on my ebay account founds are placed on hold and still showing just dispatched but not delivered (green mark) and then I need to wait like few more days till my founds gonna be released. Many thanks in advance! Greg
Hi again. I hope I don't miss if you do reply to my question. Don't know if you send out some sort of notification that lets me know you've answered? Anyway, may have missed some of your videos lately and trying to catch up....... very curious as to how you handle such volume in selling and getting it all ready to ship. Last week I had incredibly slow sales on eBay and I was kind of and it did not seem like eBay was promoting my items as they curiously lacked views even though I've been keeping up and listening lots. Suddenly Sunday I sold 12 items and two more by Monday morning, go figure! I sell a huge variety including some delicate and somewhat difficult to ship items and since I've learned in the past that things can break in shipping, I'm pretty extreme about packing them well. So, it took me over 2 hours to pack the items today and that didn't even include picking out the shipping supplies which I had done last night. The 2 hours does include most of the processing the packages through eBay and in putting dimensions and printing shipping labels. Basically I'm in awe at all you get done and wonder if you have some advice. My reselling business is growing and I started it a couple of years ago. I guess I'm a bit nervous wondering, as a top rated seller on ebay, if I can handle several shipments each day if this rate of sales continues. Would love any and all advice you have. Thank you! -Kristin
@@kristinnicholson9241 My sales experience mirrors yours. I had to pack 11 parcels (15 items) for mailing on Monday afternoon, and usually I sell 1-3 items daily (I do ebay on a very part-time basis). Fortunately, the most complicated item to ship was an auction which had a bid on the first day, so I had all week to get that packed up. The rest took time, but I was OK about that for the profits!
I sell a lot of shoes and ever since I started selling I get to wear really nice shoes I could never afford. I clean them up and wear them for a couple weeks until I find a pair I like better and then sell them. I get a kick out of wearing top of the line shoes for free.
@@ThrifterPicker I use dawn power wash and great value stain remover. I scrub the soles and lightly on the tops then throw them in wash bags in the laundry. Air dry. They mostly come out looking like new. If they are already in good shape I still scrub the soles and insoles.
I had a buyer say the same thing but she understood and said she didn't want to open it if it was wrong , so be polite and dont asume there all dumb 😅 they could be kind and dont want to break the seal if its not there's
I think the hot plate buyer jumped the gun sending that message and then their pride wouldn't allow them to admit that they screwed up so they just stuck to their story.
Hi Sally from Australia, Belinda from Australia here lol, I leave minimum offer blank now. I got someone low ball me on 4 items, my first thought was "annoying" but essentially the end point of negotiation was we met in the middle in the traditional style of negotiation. If l had minimum offer on their offer would've struck them out in the first instance.
Every lowball offer is a chance to send them a counter offer that you'll accept. Some people send low offers just to see if they can. Sometimes a seller will just let something go for cheap. But if your item is $40, and they offer $5, counter with 35, and they might just take it. Or try to haggle more. Just don't waste a counteroffer oppurtunity. It's lazy business.
@tupacca5136 correct, the buyer in this instance took 2 of my initial counteroffers with my usual 20% discount & we negotiated to a point that l was more than happy with for the other 2.
Sure, why wouldn't they low-ball to see how motivated the seller is to get rid of that item. I say why the heck not, it doesn't hurt to ask. But nobody should be offended by low offers. It's not personal.
Hi Belinda yes I have set myself a goal of not accepting more than a 20% reduction in my original price. I had a buyer today start really low ball I flat refused it, she came back $5 higher I flat refused again and then she came back with an offer only 10% less than the original price. I didnt even bother with a counter offer because I knew the item was good. I guess she really wanted the item but was enjoying the haggling. On another point are you seeing the Q4 boost Justin talks about - Ive not seen it yet.
@sallyedwards4567 well done on holding strong in that situation! I have seen a boost in sales but it may be a fluke as i've also increased my number of listings (though l now wonder if they're all good listings) I love Justin & his advice but I do think we're in a different market. I often look at what he sells & the prices & think no one here would pay that much for the same items. Maybe l price too low? Might make an interesting experiment!
Can someone here help me with a question I have? I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. When I look up my item screen that a buyer would see, the shipping says $7 something, BUT when I made my listing I used my eBay savings amount for the buyer. It's got to be something in my business policy but I can't figure it out. If the buyer sees the $7 something, no wonder they aren't buying!
I personally feel like the low ball offers are a product of WhatNot I feel like suddenly every eBay buyer thinks they can get an item for $5 with free shipping..
I’m getting so sick of the low ball offers. They don’t care that you can’t make any profit all they care about is a deal they can get. So aggravating!!
Hi Justin, First and foremost, All of your videos are very educational and straight to the point(Which I love it). I literally just started my reseller journey about a week ago because of your TH-cam channel. So, I appreciated your consistent uploaded. As a new reseller, What is some advices you can give me as a first time reseller and how do I attract customer to buy and make sales? Thank you!
Go online to usps, then click on missing mail. After 7 days since mailing, you can submit a missing mail form online. Submit the tracking number. Since the mail pieces are tracked through the system, it will go after where it was last scanned moving through distribution centers. This lights a fire under them and it will suddenly start tracking locations and movement of a slow package. Then you can do a screen shot of the info attached to that tracking number. Always have your local post office scan your pkgs & get the scanned receipt. It’s proof you mailed AND you know they did a first scan getting it in the system. Whereas if you just drop it off, they don’t scan it sometimes!
I just had an item take 10 days, it got sent to wrong distribution hub midway through shipping. Filled out the missing form and bam that evening the tracking showed movement and buyer received it 2 days later.
Lowest price isn't always the best deal. Could be a scammer, damaged or even a 0 feedback seller with dubious origins. You don't have to be the lowest to win the sales.
That question with the hot plate box just sounds like another (albeit extremely stupid) fishing attempt for a refund. The buyer probably thought that excuse would be enough to keep the item and get their money back.
Sorting on eBay is more relevant to sponsored item first then they sort the lowest first. Some of my unsponsored item don't always so up anywhere in the list. Now there warning that listing fees will not be free, .31. If you've got something to sell for 4 and shipping, that .31 comes right out of profit and makes your sell a poor one unless you raise your price and it sales. They haven't done that yet so new listings might might stop unless it's going to sell. And your right, keep listing because your old stock has been cherry picked and you need more cherries. Your videos have more commercials, I hope TH-cam pays you some money to put us through that. Question: What about listing fees?
I sent you a voice question but while I’m at it , if I subscribe to Flipwise do my sales and info from previous months (3) get recorded on Flipwise or does it start the day I subscribe to it?
Refresh my memory. I ordered an item off ebay to support a seller instead of buying on Amazon. It was delivered in an Amazon package. Is this legal? Details please.
@@tinarienstra216 As a seller, I often recycle Amazon boxes. They are super light weight. But I usually turn them inside out first. Just pull apart the side tab & use Hot Glue to reglue the tab with the printing on the inside. If a box doesn't have much writing on it, I just cover the writing & logos with Ebay branded tape.
Just recently while I have been ending my items and selling similar, if an item is new with tags and I didn't complete the UPC Code because it wasn't on the tag, when I try to sell similar it won't let me. I have had to change it to Pre-owned. Is this something new, I didn't have a problem listing it without this.
I had this issue recently on a vintage new old stock item that was created before UPC codes existed. If you put "DOES NOT APPLY" IN THE UPC box, you can still list it as new.
People send me offers all of the time through messaging which is annoying because I know they made an offer at the listing that got rejected for not meeting the minimum. But go ahead and contact me anyway, right? I don't even respond anymore.
Justin has a point about expanding your knowledge on what has value. Everyone and their mom is always asking, "do you have video games? Do you have Jordans?"
The reality is, most of the money I make is from things I would never look to buy but I decide to look up regardless. I have sold RV Vent Fans, Vintage Tools, 1980s Computers, Vintage Holiday Decorations, Baby Toys, CDs, and the list goes on! All because I just looked it up. Never miss a chance to just find out and be sure.
I'm so glad you mentioned that you price something up you want to keep. I sell mostly books, and when I find something I want to hold on to personally, I price it at just above it's highest price point. That way, if I keep it I'm happy, and if it sells, it's too much profit to be unhappy. In fact, I've priced something I've wanted to keep at cost + full cost of another one + profit, and they don't sell often, but man, sometimes it does happen, and it's so good.
By the way, to comment on the promotional sorting stuff, I default to sort highest on my desktop, and change to lowest to get both sides of the price range. I would actually have to click to goto best match (which sometimes I do!). But I see promoted listings all the time. I notice because I'll see higher priced stuff out of order.
I'm currently on vacation right now and put my store on time away mode (with sales off), Vacation should be a time where you don't have to worry about work (or your ebay sales). It might take a few days, a week or longer for my store to get back to usual but I'd rather enjoy my vacation than worry about the algorithm. Thanks for the tips to get my store back up and running when I get back!
Hey Justin...A lifelong Twin Citian here. It's cool you vacationed in our great state had a good time. The shot of Minnehaha Falls was awesome! Thanks for the shout out on us being a fun destination. You just missed the eBay seller social in Minneapolis on 10/29. It was a really good and informative event. We attended and met eBay's product guy and talked a little with him about the roadmap for upcoming features. You should be proud as he gave you and flipwise an unsolicited plug. Thought you'd appreciate and find that cool. He mentioned you'd chatted with him a few times and he loves what you're offering in terms of COGS management. Anyway, just wanted to share. Keep up the good work!
I just got back from being out of town for a week. Had it in time away accepting sales. Every night I would message buyers of purchases (copy paste from saved statement I created in my notes app) so it didn’t take much time. Just reminded them of my status and they could cancel if preferred. Most responded that they appreciated me reaching out and that they were willing to wait. That seemed to help.
We have stopped using vacation mode. Instead, we extend handling time. Just did that with a trip out west. Set handling time to ten business days. Notified all buyers figuring they didn't read it. Not a single one cancelled. Shipped all my sales on day one once the vacation was done.
Good point 👍
I've been trying to figure this out. I frequently have to take 1 day trips for work and putting on vaca mode for a day really sucks
@@jamesmaize8641 put yourself on 2 days processing time, or 3 days. If you ever check out major large businesses they all say 3 to 5 days processing in warehouse time. So don’t fret about giving yourself 2 days when you need it.
@@jamesmaize8641 for one day away, you could just change your handling time for everything to 2 or 3 days. I always have mine set to 3 day handling, even though I normally send stuff out next day anyway. That way I have some leeway in case something comes up.
Cute idea. Thanks for the tip
Enjoy your program. Tip regarding mailing in a "hot plate box." I personally don't like re-using a marked box. What I do is break it down and tape it back up with the inside out. Still using and recycling the boxes, but no one knows it was an old "hot plate" box until they open it. Thanks!
Great suggestion on setting a minimum on offers. I too am being hit by low ball offers. All appreciated but seriously when I counter with my best price (with explanation) and they keep on with the low counters.
I'd been doing exactly as you'd shared and was delisting each morning, just before the item was to end and be auto-relisted (you and other 'gurus' are where I learned it when I first began selling in earnest - I spent a LOT of time learning at the feet of the pros...still do) . I'd then wait until the next day to "sell similar". This is something I'd done religiously every. single. day. for WELL over a year. After the summer slowdown, I was surprised that my sales weren't increasing, even into the fourth quarter. I spent a good deal of time on the phone with an eBay rep who consulted other members of the team. The overwhelming consensus was that I was "shooting myself in the foot" by using that method. It's been just a few weeks (he stated it may take up to a couple of months) since I made the change. We'll see what happens. It can be SO frustrating trying to "get it right".
Your weekly sales are similar to my monthly sales. 😉 I'm a newer seller, but I'm getting good reviews and hoping to continue to grow!
I gotta say as a reseller Ive gone on vacation a few times and decided not to put vacation mode on, Instead just enable auto messaging to reach out to people who buy your items or visit your store. Also just set your time away and if people want to send you a message they can just wait, or learn to read really. Its nice being able to come back after a week of vacay and still having 70-100 items sold in that week
Good info; do you just increase your handling time to account for the days you're not able to ship? Thx
@sharon7767 no, I do not. I have the message that gets sent out to everyone that visits my store and that buys something from my store while I'm gone. So if they don't want to read the messagee then they can shoot me a message asking why it's not shipped and I'll tell them plainly it's because I'm on vacation and if they want to cancel that's totally fine.
By increasing the handling time and shipping time, I think that actually would deter people from buying things from your store when they see a longer than normal shipping time. They'll think I don't want to buy from this person. I want it quicker this person's shipping times must be this long for all the items in their store. I'll get it from someone else and that might deter future sales since I do have repeat customers that come back to me often enough.
For the first question. 100% its resellers trying to get a good deal to flip. This happens all the time on facebook marketplace. Resellers are the ones refreshing pages. If you get an offer fast its always a reseller(or bots). Normal people dont sit there and spam refresh.
Yeah it is. I source at least 75% of my inventory from eBay itself, and I have a lot of saved searches so I see things sometimes as soon as they come up and send offers on certain things.
Well that's a new one on me - I know people do it on marketplace but on Ebay too?? Ive had the experience at boot sales of other stall holders buying my stuff and then having the gall to offer it at inflated prices right next to me. Guess I need to do even more research on my prices.
I just recently started watching your channel. Great info, I had no idea eBay had subscriptions.. I’ve been paying 35$ a month after I run out of the 250 free listings. I was puzzled how these large stores could afford that lol. It all make sense now! Thank you, saved me money and I can grow my store without worrying about that. I swear I’ve watched hundreds of videos of big resellers on TH-cam. Not one has mentioned subscriptions. But I should have looked into myself and know about the platform I sell on.
Glad you came to visit our beautiful city and had a great time 😊
Thanks for another great video! I agree with what you said about how much potential inventory is out there for resell. I'm sitting on a beautiful death pile to get me through the winter months until garage sale and flea market season starts back up in Spring. And I do the same thing as you with some of my decor items and use them around the house until they are sold. I get to love them for a while then share them with someone else to love!
Regarding the first question. Sometimes, it's reassuring to get a quick low-ball offer. It means you listed something in demand and not under market value.
good point
I totally agree about there being an abundance of things to sell out there and it's just a matter of continually expanding your knowledge. I think we all have a tendency to suffer from tunnel vision and stick to the niches we know. it's helpful to have knowledge about specific things but it's good to keep adding to it. I went for a walk over the summer and stopped at a friend's house and mentioned I saw a stove being scrapped on the side of the street and he told me- You know that the knobs and grates and any other removable pieces sell for a lot of money right? I went right back over there and sold quite a few parts for about $300 total on eBay. Learned something that day!
Kevin was talking about Goodwill is affecting our sales and you about recycling very high hopes from your point of view. I heard everything you said all of it. Thanks so much so much help!
Great video, as always, Justin. I have a few things to add.
First, I agree with everything you said about vacation mode. Your sales do go down, but they will bounce back fairly quickly once you start listing again and following the ending and relisting procedure. I have seen other sellers jack up their prices to some insane level, then have something in the description that if the price is outrageous, it is because they are on vacation and they don't want any sells. To me, that seems like a lot of unnecessary work, so I've never done that one. I have played around with extending my shipping time. That may work for short trips. I'm not sure how the algorithm handles listings that have shipping set to greater than 2 or 3 days. When you select those long-range options, there is a message that says it is highly unusual. I think they could suppress listings, and you may still have to list as soon as you get back home, too. Either way, when you can list, you should be listing, so I think put it in vacation mode and may take a moment to send buyers a note letting them know the details on when to expect their order to be shipping. I wish eBay would add that option to vacation mode. You can have an automatic email sent, but only if you get a message. I would like to see the option to automatically send an e-mail to a buyer who places an order while you are on vacation mode. This way it ensures if the buyer missed the note at the top of the listing, they will have also received a message.
Second, to the seller with the crazy buyer who insisted you sent a hot plate, I am so sorry that happened to you. Sadly, there are buyers out there who do odd things. It isn't always a scam. Sometimes people are dumb, as Justin said, and sometimes they simply are new to eBay and may not have any idea that sellers reuse boxes. If you look at how much feedback they have, that may shed some light on whether that's a possibility. You also have people who are home bound, who may have some understanding issues that they can't help, who may buy from you. That's not really anything you can do about, but it is worth keeping in mind. Unfortunately, I'm not shocked eBay wouldn't remove the feedback. Recently I had a new eBayer make a purchase from me. It was a bulk lot of mostly small items sold on Amazon. It normally sell about $200-$300 MSRP for like $30. My buyers who get that stuff take it flea markets to sell and they make money off it. It is a lot of $10-$15 items of, frankly, cheap junk from China. I generally do not sell it individually, but in lots. I literally have pennies invested in that stuff, so I can sell cheap, cheap, cheap. Unlike others who sell similar lots, I provide a detailed manifest in the listing and, plenty of pictures. Anyway, this person bought one of my lots. A week later I got negative feedback from them. It was my first one. It literally said, "Did not like." Of course, I offer free returns, so I contacted them to try to find out what happened and to let them know they could return it at my expense. They responded, "Thank you so much but I just tossed it." I remembered they had joined the eBay the day they bought from me, so I looked to see if they had bought anything else and left feedback. Sure enough, they had made 10 purchases, all on the same day they registered and bought from me. Everything they bought from other sellers was lots of cheap, new stuff from Amazon. They left the exact same negative feedback for every seller. To me, that seemed like abuse of the feedback system. I did try to get mine removed, but eBay would not remove it. So, I responded with the story I told here, and also noted that the seller abused the feedback system. My 100% positive feedback dropped to 99.5%. If a buyer isn't going to buy from me because I'm a half-point away from 100% positive feedback, I don't want that buyer. They are likely going to be difficult if they find the slightest imperfection in the in their purchase, even if disclosed So, I find the occasional insane negative feedback a blessing. I do think it is worth trying to get the feedback removed and here is why: With a few hours of eBay denying my request, I had 7 positive feedbacks left within an 8-hour period. I've never had that happen. Most, if not all, of that feedback was on items that had sold a while back. I believe if you go through that process to try to get negative feedback removed, if it is denied, eBay pushes buyers with reminders, including e-mail reminders, to leave feedback on their purchase. They do this already, but there is little doubt in my mind that they gave an extra push because I had received a negative and my request for removal was denied. I can't prove this, and this is my only experience, but there was something odd about getting so much feedback in a matter of hours for purchases that were made 40-days after delivery. Sometimes I may go 2 or 3 days without someone leaving any feedback.
Third, to the person who had a buyer contact them after shipment about a wrong address, you definitely need to refund the money since you had the item returned to you. I appreciate what eBay told you, but I am somewhat surprised they would tell you that. If they told you that over the phone, I certainly would not count on that holding up, if the buyer should open an item not received case. Rather than go through all of that, refund them and let them know the item came back. IF you truly believe they were a scammer, then I'd also block them so they can't buy from you again after you issue the refund. IMHO, I don't think it was a scammer. The goal with a scam like that would to actually end up with the item and the refund. Here, you got the item back because the address did turn out to be wrong. Maybe it was just a keen postal employee who realized something was awry, I don't know. Do make sure you give them the refund - and deduct the original shipping you paid.
Forth, a comment related to the rockets. There are no issues selling those, but if you list anything with an explosive in it, eBay is likely to pull your listing. I bought a couple of boxes of vintage Estes igniters from the Salvation Army. I wasn't sure if I would be able to ship them, but I only paid 50 cents a box. I did the research and determined that those items in small quantities can be shipped FedEx ground. USPS and UPS will not take them, even as ground. They certainly cannot go air. There were a few other similar listings and some had been sold in the past 90 days, so I listed mine. Eight hours later, the eBay bot got me and took them down, informing me I could not list any type of explosive. I always respect when I get a listing taken down. So, I tossed them into my bin of stuff that I can't list online. When my niece, who helps me with the store sometimes, goes to sell some of her things at the flea market, I'll give her the bin and $10 bucks for her table. She gets a free table and (hopefully) sells some of my stuff in the bin so I make the table money back and a little profit.
Fifth, yes, that photo looked like a stock photo. There is no shame in being proud of it!
Thx for answering my audio call!
And anything stained glass sells for premium atm!
Hey Justin I’m a few months into selling on eBay and your channel has helped me produce more consistent sales. I’m curious if you might do a future video on small items that are readily available that sell for a higher roi. Thanks for all that you do it’s really helpful and your calm vibe is really unique keep it up it’s great!
I saw the trailer for that new Buy Now documentary on TikTok. Definitely looking forward to watching that.
When I use time away I work ahead to have listings in drafts that I schedule to drop daily when I’m gone. I think that helps feed eBay with listing activity. You can schedule drafts with a store subscription.
You can schedule without a subscription too. I do it regularly.
Recycling used boxes is always a good thing, but always either put blank stickers over the logo or turn the box inside out . The most fun one I heard about was using used liquor or liquid containing boxes and being sent back as USPS /UPS had no clue what was inside.
Hi Justin, I will be going on vacation after Christmas for a whole month, overseas, in the past I put on the vacation mode on eBay but I also adjusted my handling time to 1 month, because I was afraid I will get ding on eBay, I got some sales while on vacation, messaging the buyers that I'm on overseas vacation. This year I still want to have sales while on vacation. My question is " should I adjust my handling time just in case?" Put on vacation plus the adjustment. I'm clueless. Thank you for all your help.
Rain
Hi Justin! Would you do a crash course on Shipping , I would love to see your recommendations. I am a new seller trying to learn all about Shipping before listing. Shipping policies, materials, services, etc. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, I enjoy your channel very much!
it's kinda old but mostly still relevant. just replace "first class" with "ground advantage" th-cam.com/video/IQKyNdVtFuo/w-d-xo.html
I would suggest the seller cancel the order to issue a refund on the item with the incorrect address. Buyers cannot leave feedback for cancelled items. I’m wondering why you didn’t increase handling time instead of putting your store on vacation mode? Thanks for another great video! 😊
Hannah Montana who want to buy an item and see how many times 6 to 10 days... We just move on to the next buyer.... Nobody want to pay and wait a week to two weeks to get the item shipped out
Another thing to do when you’re back from vacation is send out as many offers as you can. That seems to help as well.
I don't use ebay but for Poshmark and even Market Place when I'm asked to ship, I will tell the buyer what kind of box/mailer I sent the item in since I reuse shipping material. So if I send something in a reused Amazon Prime box, I will tell them. This is in case they live in an apartment building where there can be many deliveries and they might be looking for plain box etc and ignore mine thinking it's for someone else. But now I see that there is another good reason to do this LOL
Hey Justin, love your informative videos,
I offer two different shipping options, USPS ground advantage & UPS ground saver. Can I use either one or does the customer need to pick one? UPS is usually the cheaper option.
Also, I want to start selling clothes, but how do you get the thrift store smell out? Right now I have 8 shirts hanging up in the garage hoping they'll air out before they sell. I once bought a shirt for myself & I had to wash it several times before I got rid of the smell, I almost donated it back. Thanks!
Hi Justin. We downloaded your Flipwise and just love it. Is there a place that we can enter an item that we just picked up and won't be listing for a few days?
That would help us to remember where we bought it and how much we paid.
Love your videos!
Wes
Glad you're enjoying it! Adding your unlisted inventory to Flipwise is coming soon...
Hi Justin. Love your channel. Question. What do you do when a buyer pays, you have a one day handling time, but buyer sends you a note that says "Don't ship this for 4 days because I am on vacation."
Hello Justin, I love your videos and have learned a lot. I don't know if I missed it, but I have no idea how to competitively price my items to include shipping when I don't know what the shopping cost will be beforehand. I use USPS Ground Advantage. Please help. Thank you in advance.
Hi Justin
I was wondering if you could make a video on common packaging materials as you use and recommend be very helpful
I feel the same way about new. I almost hyperventilate when I enter Walmart or any other store with “new”!
Every time you say "sprinkled" it makes me want sprinkles. FYI I'm a sprinkle snob.😂❤
As far as offers from buyers:
1) make sure you’re pricing your item within the range of actual recent sales.
2) do what Justin said.
I've often Wondered if using vacation mode strategically to avoid holiday returns would work. Let's say you put on vacation mode from December 26th till January 14th, what happens when people try to return items? Would they see that the return will take over 3 weeks to be accepted? Then decide it's not worth the trouble?
1) That is the reason we don't use boxes that have company brands on the outside, especially if we are unable to mark them off with a black marker. Buyers get confused if something comes to their door and they see some logo on outside and especially since there are many spoof scam items being shipped by scammers. 2) Promoted is really eating a lot from many Buyers and most of their items are not even visible in the Ebay search with a high promoted amount. 3) Probably safer to set vacation mode and Delist everything to avoid any issues with Buyers who don't pay attention to the time off period and the delay shipping setting.
Thank you for your content! So helpful. Question: out of over a little 100 sales, I’ve asked several people for feedback, some gave which was good. However I’m wondering if I should even ask for feedback from the buyer. What are your thoughts on that?
I never do because you may just be reminding them of a meh experience and you may not like the feedback you get. Let sleeping dogs lie. EBay does remind them and nobody likes to be nagged.
Personally I like to fill in as many item specifics as possible. I use "N/A" to fill in an item specific when it doesn't apply to what I'm listing.
Question. When we list an auction & the fee is 25 cents, if the item does NOT sell, and we relist it as a buy it now, is the 25 cents refunded? It used to be that way if I am not mistaken, wondering if its still that way. Thanks, love your channel.
That's quite a drive from St. Louis. I live in east central Iowa and traveled down to Troy every month for a year and a half before quitting that job to resell full time. Spent a couple weeks in Alton for training. If you stopped at any Casey's along the way for gas I most likely did their 30 day fuel tank system inspections. Some neat little towns down in that area of MO and Southern IA.
we stopped at several Casey's along the way!
I’m glad your trip to the land 10k lakes went well. Did you get the juicy Lucy from Matt’s or The 5-8?
5-8
That WAS a nice photo, but I think your Turkey photo was better and why it sold, nice job! :) Just wondering, do you have a link to the LED photo lights you use? I see the link for the larger ones, but I really liked the LED ones you showed in a previous video and I'm unable to find something similar. Thank you for all that you do, it's appreciated!
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078Z99GQB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Question- what if you mixed up shipping labels and sent the items to the wrong people what would be the best way to handle the situation?
It's happened to me maybe five times (over several decades). I ask the buyers nicely if they'll forward the item to the correct person, and I send them shipping labels. Never had a problem.
I find many offers are the exact amount I’ve listed for shipping off listed price.
Exactly people just want free shipping, I started factoring shipping cost into my listings and listing with free shipping, Iv noticed Iv been getting a lot more purchases at asking price vs getting low ball offers
Hey Justin love the content as always! Why when I receive offers and accept them does it send it back to the buyer as a counter offer if I accepted it? And does this happen to you?
I have found that many low ball offers are from other sellers. They hope that you are a novice or just doing this for some extra pocket change.
Super great question from the man regarding promoted listings when sorting them from lowest price and up. I always sort lowest price plus shipping first whether I’m buying or doing comps for my listings. Hmmm, does anyone have anymore info on this? I just started promoting again after about 10 months not because my sales are so bad.
I found one of those rayban cases at a amazon bins store for $20 and sold on auction for $208!
It took me two months from a summer two week vacation to see listing moving again... and it’s usually after listing new items that I see spike. I’m going to list at least 1 a day for the next 2 weeks as a test rather than 7-10 every week in one day.
Question: We have a lot of batteries that we come across while sourcing electronics (AA, AAA etc..). What is the best practice in discarding these so they aren’t just thrown away in the trash? Thanks Justin!
Do you have a local/county recycling center that accepts them? I generally save them in an old container until there is reason to dispose of them there.
Hi, Justin. Could will you please explain to me how the Fixed and Final Value fees are assessed? Thanks do much for you videos. I love and appreciate your content. I'm new to the game.
You pay fees on the entire sale. The item sold, shipping cost and taxes.
Hey Justin, I've been a casual ebay user since 2010 and have really been ramping up my sales the last couple years. I'm learning a lot watching your videos but have a question regarding shipping. What is the major difference in shipping cost if I ship an item in a box vs a poly bag or bubble mailer? Is it solely based on dimensions and weight or is the biggest difference the cost of supplies? I have been fortunate to get a lot of nice boxes for free so cost of supplies is less of an issue . If the cost of supplies is not much of a factor does it make more sense to use a box to further protect the item or am I losing savings on shipping by not using a poly bag? Hope you can help.
It's both dimensions & weight that matter., up to a point.
If you send a very big box, the shipping price will be the same or similar if it's 1 pound or 4 pounds.
But say a Poly mailer or Bubble mailer vs a 6x6 box.
USPS ground advantage won't care if it's a box or bag.
It's just going to price based off weight & how far the item is going.
I'm not Justin, but I just wanted to give you a little info since I seen the comment.
As far as sort order, the search results show "sponsored" listings, not promoted listings.
those are the same thing
Were the glasses you sold prescription glasses or over the counter glasses?
they were sold as frames only
Comment regarding returns due to invalid addresses: it only happened to me once, but in the future, I may consider a restocking fee to cover my costs on that type of return and refund the rest. Thoughts?
if you know you're going on vacation and don't prep prior to leaving then you can't complain about low sales...I went away for a week and had 8 listings scheduled to go live each day I was gone. Didn't have to open my app once it was all done automatically. Came home to 60 sales.
Having a "draft bank" is all well and good. But I think the issue is more not being able to ship out any possible orders in a timely manner. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you're not a "Top Rated" seller, as having same or one day shipping is a prerequisite for that. If you've chosen a seven day handling time for your store, that's totally fine. But for stores that advertise a shorter shipping time to their customers, sometimes "vacation mode" is a necessity.
Love the video Justin. I have a buyer that issued a return for a damaged item and messaged me asking can they keep the item and get a partial return because they Shipped the item to Taiwan. I shipped it to thier listed address in Delaware. Ebay is actually holding my funds till the issue is resolved can you believe this? I reported this and still haven't heard back 3 days later. What would you do? Thanks for any answers.
Sounds like they used a freight forwarder. When they do that, their buyer protection is gone! Don't refund!!
I ordered a hand blown glass ornament and opened the box. The ornament appeared to be the wrong color. But, it was still wrapped up in clear layers of plastic wrap and a colored layer. I contacted the seller and said that it was the wrong one sent. I opened it further and this color that I saw was a beautiful color of paper that looked exactly like a glass ornament. I took a picture of it before opening it all the way, because I didn’t want them to think that I switched it out. I was surprised that it was the correct ornament under these few layers of plastic wrap that made it look like a blown glass ornament. Outer layers were clear the final layer was colored. I contacted the seller and let them know that it was the correct ornament and left positive feedback.
About lowball offers and setting a minimum offer - UGH we all hate lowballers. I especially despise those who have the nerve to offer 50% or more below the asking price. I want to get to the point where this doesn't make my blood boil (not yet) HOWEVER here's another theory or perspective on that...
It is quite possible that the back-and-forth on offers and counter offers gives the item a boost in the algorithm. I now believe this to be true as often the same items ends up selling later that same day. So I do counter the low-ballers, and often at like a dollar off or some price I know they won't grab. I don't care. Then I block them so they cannot bother me again. It's simply my way of using the low-ballers to my advantage. If you set minimum offers, you lose that opportunity to use the lowball offer as an algorithm boost.
It won't always result in a sale, of course, but IMO way better than ignoring an offer.
Even though algorithm talk is always speculative (I know I know I know) 🙂 so of course this is speculative, however resellers still love finding ways to tilt that wheel.
Hi Justin, on the first place many thanks for all your videos! Im starting being reseller in Uk and just wondering why once my customers received their orders, on my ebay account founds are placed on hold and still showing just dispatched but not delivered (green mark) and then I need to wait like few more days till my founds gonna be released. Many thanks in advance! Greg
I understand the buying new stuff...I get all my clothes when I clean out my ebay at the end of the year of what didn't sell....
Hey Justin! The Buy Now Netflix you spoke of. Bottom of the Doc..is The Netflix Store, hoping you'll buy something. Omg! Ironic 😂
Hi again. I hope I don't miss if you do reply to my question. Don't know if you send out some sort of notification that lets me know you've answered? Anyway, may have missed some of your videos lately and trying to catch up....... very curious as to how you handle such volume in selling and getting it all ready to ship. Last week I had incredibly slow sales on eBay and I was kind of and it did not seem like eBay was promoting my items as they curiously lacked views even though I've been keeping up and listening lots. Suddenly Sunday I sold 12 items and two more by Monday morning, go figure! I sell a huge variety including some delicate and somewhat difficult to ship items and since I've learned in the past that things can break in shipping, I'm pretty extreme about packing them well. So, it took me over 2 hours to pack the items today and that didn't even include picking out the shipping supplies which I had done last night. The 2 hours does include most of the processing the packages through eBay and in putting dimensions and printing shipping labels. Basically I'm in awe at all you get done and wonder if you have some advice. My reselling business is growing and I started it a couple of years ago. I guess I'm a bit nervous wondering, as a top rated seller on ebay, if I can handle several shipments each day if this rate of sales continues. Would love any and all advice you have. Thank you!
-Kristin
Sorry for a couple of autocorrects above. I hope it generally makes sense!
It should have said that I had been discouraged at the curious slow sales last week and that I have been listing lots of items
@@kristinnicholson9241 My sales experience mirrors yours. I had to pack 11 parcels (15 items) for mailing on Monday afternoon, and usually I sell 1-3 items daily (I do ebay on a very part-time basis). Fortunately, the most complicated item to ship was an auction which had a bid on the first day, so I had all week to get that packed up. The rest took time, but I was OK about that for the profits!
How do you track consignment for taxes?
I log the payouts as a general business expense.
What would you recommend if an item is getting loads of views and watches but has been listed for a long time? Stick it out or drop the price?
I sell a lot of shoes and ever since I started selling I get to wear really nice shoes I could never afford. I clean them up and wear them for a couple weeks until I find a pair I like better and then sell them. I get a kick out of wearing top of the line shoes for free.
What do you use to clean the shoes? I just bought four pairs that are already in great condition
@@ThrifterPicker I use dawn power wash and great value stain remover. I scrub the soles and lightly on the tops then throw them in wash bags in the laundry. Air dry.
They mostly come out looking like new. If they are already in good shape I still scrub the soles and insoles.
Iv been doing the same with high end jeans 😅
I had a buyer say the same thing but she understood and said she didn't want to open it if it was wrong , so be polite and dont asume there all dumb 😅 they could be kind and dont want to break the seal if its not there's
I think the hot plate buyer jumped the gun sending that message and then their pride wouldn't allow them to admit that they screwed up so they just stuck to their story.
Just a quick question and I'm not sure if it's ok to ask. Would a deck of cards be as considered media mail?
nope about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121_tech.htm
Justin, I must say that turkey is sweet:) That is why it sold so fast!!!
Did you do any souring while you were here in MN?
a bit!
Hi Sally from Australia, Belinda from Australia here lol, I leave minimum offer blank now. I got someone low ball me on 4 items, my first thought was "annoying" but essentially the end point of negotiation was we met in the middle in the traditional style of negotiation. If l had minimum offer on their offer would've struck them out in the first instance.
Every lowball offer is a chance to send them a counter offer that you'll accept. Some people send low offers just to see if they can. Sometimes a seller will just let something go for cheap. But if your item is $40, and they offer $5, counter with 35, and they might just take it. Or try to haggle more. Just don't waste a counteroffer oppurtunity. It's lazy business.
@tupacca5136 correct, the buyer in this instance took 2 of my initial counteroffers with my usual 20% discount & we negotiated to a point that l was more than happy with for the other 2.
Sure, why wouldn't they low-ball to see how motivated the seller is to get rid of that item. I say why the heck not, it doesn't hurt to ask. But nobody should be offended by low offers. It's not personal.
Hi Belinda yes I have set myself a goal of not accepting more than a 20% reduction in my original price. I had a buyer today start really low ball I flat refused it, she came back $5 higher I flat refused again and then she came back with an offer only 10% less than the original price. I didnt even bother with a counter offer because I knew the item was good. I guess she really wanted the item but was enjoying the haggling. On another point are you seeing the Q4 boost Justin talks about - Ive not seen it yet.
@sallyedwards4567 well done on holding strong in that situation! I have seen a boost in sales but it may be a fluke as i've also increased my number of listings (though l now wonder if they're all good listings) I love Justin & his advice but I do think we're in a different market. I often look at what he sells & the prices & think no one here would pay that much for the same items. Maybe l price too low? Might make an interesting experiment!
Can someone here help me with a question I have? I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. When I look up my item screen that a buyer would see, the shipping says $7 something, BUT when I made my listing I used my eBay savings amount for the buyer. It's got to be something in my business policy but I can't figure it out. If the buyer sees the $7 something, no wonder they aren't buying!
I personally feel like the low ball offers are a product of WhatNot I feel like suddenly every eBay buyer thinks they can get an item for $5 with free shipping..
I’m getting so sick of the low ball offers. They don’t care that you can’t make any profit all they care about is a deal they can get. So aggravating!!
Just say you don’t take offers. Or have a minimum. Done.
Hi Justin,
First and foremost, All of your videos are very educational and straight to the point(Which I love it). I literally just started my reseller journey about a week ago because of your TH-cam channel. So, I appreciated your consistent uploaded.
As a new reseller, What is some advices you can give me as a first time reseller and how do I attract customer to buy and make sales? Thank you!
Welcome! I've got a good video that covers all of that. th-cam.com/video/Gl3BN4cX5ks/w-d-xo.html
Thank You!
I'm 62. Buying brand new things can be scary. You expect perfect things but you run the risk of an out of the box failure.
What do you do when items get lost in the mail and the buyer opens an item not received claim?
If tracking shows the item is lost, you refund the buyer then file an insurance claim with USPS.
Go online to usps, then click on missing mail. After 7 days since mailing, you can submit a missing mail form online. Submit the tracking number. Since the mail pieces are tracked through the system, it will go after where it was last scanned moving through distribution centers. This lights a fire under them and it will suddenly start tracking locations and movement of a slow package. Then you can do a screen shot of the info attached to that tracking number. Always have your local post office scan your pkgs & get the scanned receipt. It’s proof you mailed AND you know they did a first scan getting it in the system. Whereas if you just drop it off, they don’t scan it sometimes!
I just had an item take 10 days, it got sent to wrong distribution hub midway through shipping. Filled out the missing form and bam that evening the tracking showed movement and buyer received it 2 days later.
And I also have noticed I’m bad to buy only things I really like. I have to stop doing this.
Lowest price isn't always the best deal. Could be a scammer, damaged or even a 0 feedback seller with dubious origins. You don't have to be the lowest to win the sales.
That question with the hot plate box just sounds like another (albeit extremely stupid) fishing attempt for a refund. The buyer probably thought that excuse would be enough to keep the item and get their money back.
Sorting on eBay is more relevant to sponsored item first then they sort the lowest first. Some of my unsponsored item don't always so up anywhere in the list. Now there warning that listing fees will not be free, .31. If you've got something to sell for 4 and shipping, that .31 comes right out of profit and makes your sell a poor one unless you raise your price and it sales. They haven't done that yet so new listings might might stop unless it's going to sell. And your right, keep listing because your old stock has been cherry picked and you need more cherries.
Your videos have more commercials, I hope TH-cam pays you some money to put us through that. Question: What about listing fees?
I sent you a voice question but while I’m at it , if I subscribe to Flipwise do my sales and info from previous months (3) get recorded on Flipwise or does it start the day I subscribe to it?
Flipwise will ingest your sales history going back two years from the point you sign up.
Oh awesome ! I will sign up . Thanks
I found a Sitka hunting jacket at the thrift store for $6.99. It sold in 2 days for $215! I
Refresh my memory. I ordered an item off ebay to support a seller instead of buying on Amazon. It was delivered in an Amazon package. Is this legal? Details please.
It's not illegal, but it could go against eBay's terms of service.
@justinresells what would you do? Let it go, or should I report it?
@@tinarienstra216 As a seller, I often recycle Amazon boxes. They are super light weight. But I usually turn them inside out first. Just pull apart the side tab & use Hot Glue to reglue the tab with the printing on the inside. If a box doesn't have much writing on it, I just cover the writing & logos with Ebay branded tape.
Just recently while I have been ending my items and selling similar, if an item is new with tags and I didn't complete the UPC Code because it wasn't on the tag, when I try to sell similar it won't let me. I have had to change it to Pre-owned. Is this something new, I didn't have a problem listing it without this.
I had this issue recently on a vintage new old stock item that was created before UPC codes existed. If you put "DOES NOT APPLY" IN THE UPC box, you can still list it as new.
Do you ever cave on the lowball deals just to keep the sales moving?
People send me offers all of the time through messaging which is annoying because I know they made an offer at the listing that got rejected for not meeting the minimum. But go ahead and contact me anyway, right? I don't even respond anymore.
At the very beginning, I thought I accidentally turned on the “Soft Breeze” podcast… 😂
This neg feedback before contacting me happened. She did not follow ebay policy for returns and buyer and ebay would not remove it.
People send low offers because they are fishing for a counter offer somewhere in the middle, I don't get offended at all
Cool turkey!!
I promote at 2.1%.
I’m having my daughter watch my store for the first time. On my vacation, so I don’t have to turn it off.
lowball offers are simply this... ya can't blame a guy for tryin'. They would'nt keep doing it if it didn't work sometimes.
Let’s just be real. Minneapolis is a hell scape ever since… well you know… not supposed to talk about it
I thought it was quite lovely.