Ep 290 || Picking for Passion and Profit (Not Projects!)

[podcast_team]

This week eBay seller Kevin of Commonwealth Picker chats with Griff about his business model and his practices for reaching success. Jessica Vayo talks about the new Iterm Rating feature in Feedback. And this week’s question is: What to do if you send sold items to the wrong buyers.

Episode Links:
Kevin’s eBay Store
Cash for Trash Podcast
Recurring Links:
eBay for Business Podcast
eBay Seller Spotlight Podcast
eBay for Business Podcast Listener Survey
eBay Seller News Announcements
eBay for Business Facebook
Community Chat with eBay Staff
eBay Seller Center
eBay Help
eBay Local Seller Events
Seller Hub
eBay Events

Kayomi: I'm Kayomi Kayoshi.

Griff: I'm Griff and this is the eBay for Business Podcast. Your source for the information and inspiration and everything else we think you might need to help you start, manage and grow a successful business on the world's most powerful marketplace. And this is episode 290. Lots going on this week. We'll talk about some of it in the news, but one of them is you're gonna want to stick around. We have an eBay employee and friend of the podcast, Jessica, coming on in a few moments to talk about a new change to, well it's not a change to feedback, it's more of an add-on and we'll hear more about it in a minute. Normally when I get a guest and we record for more than 30 minutes, I'm thinking, oh, I'm gonna have to edit this down. Problem is our guest this week was so good. I don't think I can edit any of it out. It's all valuable information.

Kayomi: Okay, well Griff, you've really built this up. Do you wanna tell everyone who the guest is this week?

Griff: I'd be happy to. Our guest this week goes by KB or Kevin. He doesn't give his full name and that's okay. Kevin's built a successful business on eBay by sourcing merchandise from various places, but he does it in a specific way and he's really good at it. And we're gonna meet him in a moment and listen to his story. But first let's go to the news. What do you have this week Kayomi?

Kayomi: First up on the list this week is the launch of a new shopping feature called Shop The Look.

Griff: What is Shop The Look ?

Kayomi: Shop. The look is an immersive carousel of looks tailored to our customer shopping history, complete with interactive hotspots that reveal similar items and outfit inspirations that speak to your style preferences based on your fashion shopping habits.

Griff: Hmm. Well as a buyer and I buy a lot of clothing going eBay, I can see how that's gonna benefit me. I have my own particular style, I call it crotchety old Boomer style.

Kayomi: We might have similar styles.

Griff: So I know why it's important to me as a shopper, but why is this important for sellers to know about?

Kayomi: This is important for sellers because this is just one other way to expose your fashion items to a tailored audience of buyers.

Griff: So is this in full release now? Is this out?

Kayomi: So right now Shop The Look is available in iOS for our US and UK customers with Android coming later this year.

Griff: Do we know how Shop the look will show up for buyers?

Kayomi: Buyers who have viewed at least 10 fashion items in the past 180 days, find this feature both on the eBay homepage and Fashion landing page.

Griff: So it sounds like a great feature but it's only available in the fashion category, correct?

Kayomi: Correct. Currently it's only available in fashion, but we are exploring potential expansions into other categories of course. Our goal is to continuously enhance the feature with new personalization elements over the next year. So Griff, who knows, maybe one day you'll be able to find that genre of clothing You like crotchety Old boomer.

Griff: Yeah, it involves a lot of ripped tweed.

Kayomi: We also have news about a recent enhancement to feedback and I believe you have a guest waiting to talk about that.

Griff: I do. In fact, she's the Product Manager for the eBay Feedback Team. Jessica Vayo. Hi Jessica.

Jessica: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Griff: Now, when you were last on, you were on a different team.

Jessica: I was. I used to work in the social area at eBay, but you know, things move around all the time at eBay. And so now I have joined the Feedback Team, which is great.

Griff: What is rolling out?

Jessica: Currently we are testing the ability to leave a product review inside of the normal seller feedback intake form. So that means that for items eligible for product review, buyers will be able to give the item a star rating for the first time and item feedback along with the existing seller feedback already.

Griff: So a product review is different than normal feedback?

Jessica: Yeah, product reviews have been around for a long time. So on eBay, some items that are sold by multiple sellers have a product review page on eBay which collects reviews for that item across all sellers who sell it. These are items like an iPhone or a Dyson vacuum. They're often things that are mass manufactured or have a barcode. And in product reviews buyers also have the ability to leave a star rating for the item as well. So that is why we are bringing it into our feedback form.

Griff: This is something we see on a lot of other marketplaces. Why is eBay adding this to the feedback form?

Jessica: This is a step in the direction we wanna help more buyers discover eBay sellers online. We've had past research show that item specific feedback is something potential buyers are really looking for to make a purchase decision. And we just haven't really highlighted that as much on eBay. What's more item reviews and item star ratings are super important to search engines like Google. So if you google an item, the sites that show the item star rating and item review are the results that are prioritized in search results these days. You'll see like those pop up absolutely at the top.

Griff: That is important.

Jessica: Yes, that's absolutely what buyers are looking for and that's what's driving buyers to those sites the most By encouraging more star ratings for items on eBay. We hope this will help in turn help our eBay sellers get discovered by more potential buyers in the future.

Griff: I look at those every time I'm shopping and I'm on Google shopping or if I'm on another marketplace where it says, you know, you can sort by reviews. I want to know the one that gets the highest review.

Jessica: Yes. We want our eBay sellers to be prioritized in search results. We want them to be found. This is the first step.

Griff: When you say first step, are there other steps coming in the future?

Jessica: We do wanna be able to allow item star ratings for more items across eBay but one step at a time.

Griff: It's probably more relevant if it's something like a barcoded item which or skuable item.

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, that was a a first step.

Griff: I know there'll be a seller news announcement. I've seen the draft. It has some screenshots about what this experience will look like. So if you're interested, if you sell these kind of products and you're interested to know what buyers you're gonna see, keep an eye out on the announcement board and in coming weeks we'll talk more about it and if you have questions, of course you can send them to podcast@ebay.com. Jessica, thank you. It's always a pleasure.

Jessica: Thank you so much.

Kayomi: Thanks for that update Jessica. You can find more about this new item review feature in the seller news announcement that should be live to site tomorrow, Wednesday, April 24th.

Griff: Right. So just check out the announcement board at community.ebay.com. And without any further ado, let's meet this week's seller guest.

Griff: Last October I sat next to our next guest during dinner one night at the Boss Reseller Remix in Las Vegas. And I so wanted to talk to him but there was so much going on at the table that I couldn't and so I've waited until now to bring him on as a guest. I'm very excited we were finally able to connect. His name is Kevin, he's known as Commonwealth Picker. He's got over 29,000 items sold. He's got 20,000 followers on eBay and currently thousands of listings up for sale. Please join me in welcoming Kevin to the show. Commonwealth Picker. Kevin, welcome to the podcast.

Kevin: Wow, I was making to the big time. And Griffin, thanks for having me on. You know, that table was really big over there so it was difficult and it was loud. So I'm glad we got a chance to catch up now.

Griff: I checked out your inventory and it's very much the type of inventory that a lot of our listeners source and list your sell through rate is pretty high and that's what a lot of sellers are going to want to know because they'll have the same sort of merchandise but they'll have a low sell through rate. But first I want to talk a little bit about your history because you seem like you're a born entrepreneur. I'm not sure what your history is. , How'd you get started in business?

Kevin: That is a great, great question. So you speak of history. I was a pretty poor student back in school. I was the smart kid. I just hated, I just absolutely hated it when I loved history and I had a few good history teachers and I played baseball. I went to college playing baseball and I was like, what am I gonna do? I hate everything about school but I liked history. I became a history major. I'm like, well you can't do much with the history. I'm gonna be a teacher and I'm gonna coach baseball. That's what I did. And then I rapidly found out that, I knew this already. I suppose teachers don't get paid a whole lot, especially in rural Virginia. And I got that first paycheck and I'm like, this isn't gonna cut it. There's just no way. I mean I want to have kids, I want to go on vacation. And so this eBay thing that I had been hearing about for a couple years, this is right around 2000 and I was like, well let's see here. So one day I got the job of cleaning out the social studies department, right? That hadn't been cleaned out for 40 years. So I started digging in there and I find this set of books discarded from the library probably 30 years before in the social studies department rise and fall of the Confederate government. We had a few other things in there and just old books. And I was like started looking them up, trying to figure out things and I'm like, I bet I could sell this stuff on eBay. I'm like, you all know this is worth some money, right? And they're like, get it out. I'm like okay. And I found a box of cassette tapes, the Nixon Kennedy debates on cassette tape, tons of 'em in a box. And that was the very first thing I listed on eBay. And I'm like, okay. I think I listed 'em for like 10.97, free shipping. That was back in the days where you could ship stuff super duper cheap. And I'm like, there are tons of them in here. I'm like, I can make six, seven bucks on each one. All said and done. And I got a whole box and I realized, you know what, I could make as much on this box as I'm gonna make as a teacher for the whole week. And I just slowly started getting into it and just grew, just loved it. Started going to garage sales. This was pre-cell phone, you know, pre all that stuff, right? You are out there flying by the seat of your pants, get home and see how you did. Right? It wasn't like you could research stuff out there.

Griff: Did you start in 2000 or before?

Kevin: I think, well I think my current store right now is 2001, but I think I had one first. So it was right around maybe the end of 2000, maybe 2001 early, something like that. So you know, the smartphone wasn't in anybody's hands basically at that point.

Griff: Right. You couldn't, check your rebate listings in 2000 on your cell phone. You could barely send a text.

Kevin: That's right.

Griff: Were you always a generalist or were there things that you specialized in?

Kevin: I've had two part answer to this actually because I think it's interesting and I like to make sure everybody understands the whole picture of what I do because I do social media as well. Basically back then I didn't realize there were ways to source that would probably be more productive and maybe make you more money. But I just loved sourcing the way I sourced so much that didn't matter to me. Right? I wanted to source the way I wanted to source and sell that way because I so enjoyed Saturday morning going to garage sales. It was therapy for my brain. It wasn't necessarily all about the money. I wouldn't have done it without the money, don't get me wrong. But, so I was a jack of all trades, a master of none from the beginning. And I still am, although I slowly over time can kind of expand that lane that I was in. But I did specialize to some degree. That was back in the days you could walk up to a garage sale and there was an NES system in a box and boxes of games and whatever. It wasn't like today, but I've always been a picker who picked my area well and I think that's what a lot of people they see on social media and like all these people picking a list stuff like man. And you get jealous of it. And some people live in rural areas, you know, I live in the middle of nowhere so I became the Tupperware guy 'cause there's Tupperware everywhere and I would sell ashtrays. We lived in the Bible belt so I'd sell bibles and everybody, you know, tobacco fields, so there's everybody smoking. So I was doing ashtrays and I was picking my area and it took me a while to really expand out of my little lanes and I've added things in. I think that's a big part of it because it's a double-edged sword for folks when they're out there sourcing. You want to pick your lane, you want to be a specialist to some degree, but you also want to be dangerous in those things that aren't your lane. And so I've increasingly done that over time. Added jewelry to the equation, which I probably have missed tens of thousands of dollars in years of not picking jewelry. Tools, which I am not a mechanical person whatsoever. But now I know enough to know some brands, some names. I think that's the key. If you're gonna be an everything seller, you can't specialize in everything. You just simply can't. There's always somebody who knows more. But you can figure out the very best items in those other categories that aren't yours. So when the opportunity is there, you can seize that opportunity.

Griff: I know from my own experience that I'm somewhat risk neutral, but it's always the first thing through my mind is if I'm gonna buy this. Do I know anything about this? And you know, eventually I'd think, oh okay, what the hell? I'll learn something if I, even if I lose my money.

Kevin: Exactly right.

Griff: But it's that risk adverse nature that protects us from going outside of our, for example, niche. But there's so much opportunity out there. The kind of general merchandise that you have was a lot easier to do and a lot easier to sell 'cause it wasn't as much competition.

Kevin: Sure, sure. Yeah, I think so. Matter of fact, I remember going to the Goodwill and like I said, days before cell phones and I would literally go in there, there's at the time tons of electronics and whatever. And I would, take a notepad with me and I would write down all the model numbers and all that stuff and then I'd go home and I'd look it all up and then I'd come back and buy the pieces that were good. These days. Well you have a harder time finding stuff in thrift stores depending on where you live I think. Around here it's definitely more difficult, but it has shifted but it's not so monumental that you still with knowledge you can't still do as good or better than you used to. And also kind of focusing on on those other opportunities for sourcing that I ignored for years because you didn't need them. But I think now it's becoming a little bit more necessary to make those connections even if it's just family. I taught for 21 years, I coached and I had a buddy call me up the other day. I coached all three of his boys. I taught two of them in high school and he called me up the other day and he is like, Hey, I'm moving. I'm gonna have a garage sale, but I want you to come over here first and I want you to go through my stuff. And I was like, well shoot. Absolutely. And it's only because he knew what I did. And so telling folks what you do sometimes can really be a huge, huge benefit. There's other things as well. But making those connections, handing out a card with a phone number on it at a garage sale, I had a huge opportunity doing just that. This guy had a few NASCAR things out there and he had good prices on stuff. He was clearly clearing out a house at some other location. I'm like, Hey, you got anything else? He's like, oh boy do I. And I gave him my phone number and I literally went over there and you know, I gave him good prices for his stuff, but he had so much, I mean I maybe spent $500 I mean almost sight unseen. There was so much and we just piled it all in the car, brought it home and there were thousands of dollars in profit. I mean maybe four or 5,000. And it was all because I handed in my card at that yard sale.

Griff: It's being out there not being shy.

Kevin: Yeah. And it's tough for some people. I get that. I've been a teacher, like I said, I'm used to yapping all the time and I'm used to, you know, reading different personalities with my kids and being, not being fake, but being a different personality to different people. If somebody you can tell is reluctant to sell, you gotta treat them in a different way. You don't want to be pushy. If somebody's ready to sell, you need to get them to know that you are the buyer and you're willing to take it all off their hands and those kind of things. They come with time I think.

Griff: I know that I've learned a lot from other sellers. It's one of the benefits of having a podcast. I know you have a podcast.

Kevin: So I do a podcast with ADHDave who also has a lot of sales social media and Terry American arbitrage. And I watched these two guys, they're friends of mine. I'm like, I could watch this all day long. These two are making me laugh. They've throw in a little bit of reselling, you know. So I called 'em up and said, all right guys, I had a little bigger social media following on a couple platforms so I figured I'd throw my weight around. I was like, all right, I'm either joining this podcast or I'm gonna make my own. And they're like, alright, come on. So we joined this podcast and it's just fun. It's a place where you can go in there and you can work and listen to it at the same time and it's just something that's grown and grown over time and we have a bunch of fun doing it. It's all over podcasting platforms but it's also on on YouTube as well.

Griff: Yeah, we'll put the link to the YouTube channel for Trash to Cash podcast and our links for this episode so that you can find it. Running a business, you've got a social media presence. How do you keep those ballots and get through the end of the day and still make sales?

Kevin: I would say on most social media that I see, all the creators, I probably have more viewer sales than just about anybody. And it's still only 20 to 25% of my sales. It is not this nirvana of this is how I'm gonna get sales. And if, listen, if you invest 20 hours a week into social media, it's not necessarily going to translate. Matter of fact, it almost certainly won't translate to a profit margin that makes that time worth it if you're taking the opportunity cost away from sourcing correctly, listing correctly shipping. Having said that, the opportunity is out there and I think I've seen a lot of people do it strategically. So if you only have so much time, the ones I've seen do it very well, they niche down. They niche down into a category in social media and I use this example all the time. There's the daily cabbage on Instagram and all she does is show the cabbage patch she finds, she dresses them up, combs her hair, does all the nice stuff. She's made a business of selling cabbage patch dolls and the social media is driving a ton of that traffic and it's niched down and it's something that's manageable. You know, I spend 40 hours a week on social media and I spend 20 hours a week reselling. That is not a model that most people are gonna be able to to do, especially if you got a job. If you have a passion about something and you don't want to put that time in, but you still want to be on social media to see if you can grow that and really affect your sales, I would highly suggest niching it down into something you absolutely love. Because if you love it, it's not work. You enjoy it.

Griff: I was hoping you might be able from your experience to give us as sellers three to five best practices that can help make us more successful at what we do.

Kevin: Well first that gives me a little PTSD. When I hear best practices and takes me back to that teacher faculty meeting and it just like, oh my gosh. Okay, so I'm gonna start by saying this. You really need to find your way that makes you happy. I know there's a lot of money, for instance in say vacuum cleaner parts or something like that, right? And I'll buy an Electrolux or an Old Rainbow or something like that. But what tends to happen, you know, you gotta know yourself is they end up in my shed over here not listed. So I, I really over the last few years have had this hard and fast rule where if I have two of something, I'm not allowed to buy another one of that something until those other two are listed and or sold depending on what the item is. Because you can get overwhelmed in this business and when you get overwhelmed in it, you cripple yourself and you're gonna make less money. So my thought process is even not buying that good deal over there, even though I want to, well guess what? I'm gonna get home and I'm gonna list those two things so the next time I don't miss that thing. It's a minimal tip, but it is really strategic and it's helped me tremendously. So there's one and I really, for years I heard everybody preached, you know, sell through rate and whatever and I'm just like eh, I got room right? I don't need to pay that much attention to sell through rate. It is becoming more and more of an issue and to be able to buy items that you know you can move quickly unless the ROI on it is ridiculous and you have space, I have become a preacher of sell through rate as well. You know, know what you're buying, buy it at the right price and make sure it's an item that's not gonna sit there for six months or not even six months. It's fine, I, I don't care about that but for six years there's an issue. So I look at the sell through rate, take the time to do it and even if it means, you're at a yard sale, you're certainly at the thrift store, you know, pull out that phone. Don't be afraid to, I've been picking for 20 some years and if I didn't know an item, I'm getting my phone out. I might not do it right in front of somebody if you don't feel comfortable but daggone it I'm gonna go back to my car and do it and it pays off in the end to be very deliberate. I have a buddy picker and he always preaches profits, not projects. And I think that's true for me. Now there are other resellers out there that they like projects, they like digging into stuff and they like, so you really gotta know yourself.

Griff: That's so important for people like me for example is I'm prone to be attracted to projects I half start them or never start them and then they kinda sit there for a long time.

Kevin: There's a time factor. Ask yourself really quick mentally how much time is this item going to take to clean if it needs clean tested, if it needs tested list, obviously it needs listed and ship. And if you calculate that all out, is that worth the $20 profit you're gonna make on it? Where a lot of times if you buy a $1 item that you can sell quickly for 10 or 15 and it takes no time shipping, cleaning, testing or whatever, that's gonna be a better item than an item that you are gonna spend an hour on and sell for 40 because now you have more time to process those higher sell through rate items. So I think that's a small little key that's, that's helpful for people and they learn it over time through having bad experiences.

Griff: Yeah, it is those small little things that you can do that are over time big time savers and allow you to do other things that matter when it comes to running a business. Boy, I could talk with you for hours.

Kevin: That's 'cause I talk a lot. See I enjoyed this podcast 'cause on my podcast those two clowns talk so much I can't get a word in. So this is awesome. This is a professional podcast and I don't know why I wouldn't call it that.

Griff: I still urge you to check it out because there's nothing like three guys talking in, in an entertaining way about any subject. So that's Trash To Cash podcast and we'll put the link to the YouTube channel so you can check it out. And I'll also put a link to Kevin store, it's Commonwealth Picker so you can see what he's buying and selling. I think you might find something to buy and even resell.

Kevin: Yeah.

Griff: Kevin, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and your expertise. I really appreciate it.

Kevin: Well thank you. Appreciate that.

Griff: Kevin, also known as KB, also known as Commonwealth Picker can be found on eBay under the user id Commonwealth Picker. We will put all the relevant links in the transcript and the summary overview for episode 290.

Griff: So much fun recording that interview with Kevin. He's an amazing seller and an amazing guest.

Kayomi: I thought it was great. He had a ton of tips which I think any seller could put into use. But something that he mentioned that I've heard from other sellers that I think speaks volumes is the power of connections. I mean he mentioned that guy who called him up and he had coached I think like three of his kids and he was like, Hey I'm moving. Like do you want some of this stuff? And even just like passing out cards at garage sales and things like that. I think it's very underrated. I don't know how many of our sellers are doing this, but you can hear from Kevin and I've heard from this from other sellers I've met in person. They'll be at FedEx or something and they'll have a little card or like some little thing of eBay merch. They'll say, Hey, check out my store. And that goes miles.

Griff: Things like business cards have kind of seem like passe old fashioned things, but I'm telling you, if you're in that situation where you're in a shop or you're at a shipping station somewhere or you're sourcing and someone comes up to you and says, you know, do you sell on eBay? I've got a lot of stuff, maybe you could buy it from me or sell it for me. Taking out that card and handing it to someone said, you know, here it is, don't lose this. Gimme a call can be a door opening experience to a greater merchandise, more merchandise and who knows more money. So yeah, that's a great tip. We'll have to have Kevin back on.

Kayomi: We'll have to do like part two, part three, part four.

Griff: I'll just give him his own podcast but he kind of has one already. But anyway, let's get to the segment.

Kayomi: You got questions?

Griff: Why we got answers And Kayomi this week's question will touch a nerve with some sellers. I have no doubt. Would you do the honors in reading it?

Kayomi: Oh of course. This was sent to podcast@ebay.com by eBay seller Casey who writes, hi Kayomi and Griff love the podcast and listen to it every week. Why thank you. I just had something happen that was entirely my own fault but I'm still unsure how to handle it. In a nutshell, I sent two purchases to the wrong buyers. Bum bu bum. Both buyers have alerted me and I have already responded with apologies. But how do I resolve this? Do I refund them both? Do I ask them to send the packages to each other or send them back to me? Please help Casey.

Griff: Casey I feel your pain. So don't feel bad. I think every seller, myself included, has at one point made this mistake and it is really alarming because you gotta figure out how am I gonna handle this? Well you do have several options and I think you've touched on a few already that can help resolve this Kayomi tell us option one.

Kayomi: Well Casey option one have both buyers return their items as not as described for a full refund. Then re-list them and alert each buyer that their item is backup for sale. Send them the links to each item in a message.

Griff: That's a good option. But again, it's gonna rely on the cooperation of the buyers who are going to ship the item back. And a little tip here, whenever you ship items, it pays to put something a little collateral in there. If you take return saying hey, save the box, save the packing in case you need to return the item, you can reuse this.

Kayomi: Very important.

Griff: Now option two, and this is where it gets a little complicated. You mentioned this Casey, is to ask both buyers if they'd be willing to ship the item to the other buyer and you of course would provide the shipping labels to each one, the correct ones at your own cost. You should be able to print another label for each of the transactions on eBay. If not too much time has elapsed. And if you aren't able, you can always utilize a service like say stamps.com and there's other ones out there where you can purchase and download labels that you can send as PDFs and then each buyer can print out their label and tape it to their return package or the package they're going to ship to the other buyer. But like I said, there's risks with this option because the success of the resolution depends on each buyer following through and if something goes awry, the responsibility will land on you.

Kayomi: Yeah, Casey, I think you need to do like a Venn diagram and list out all of these options we're giving you and see like the pros and cons. Which one are you willing to risk and go about it that way.

Griff: A flow chart if you will.

Kayomi: Exactly compare contrast ,

Griff: Oh brother.

Kayomi: And so Casey, here's option three. You can refund both and tell them to keep the items or dispose of them. Then if possible, ship the right items to both at your expense. This might be the best option for an expensive items where there is multiple quantity available. If this was a one-off and there aren't multiple quantities that you have in your inventory, then perhaps option one or two.

Griff: Yeah, the one time this did happen to me, it was coincidentally two multiple inexpensive multi quantity items I had. They were shoelaces and they were different types and that was easy to mess up, right? So what I did in this case is I just refunded them and then shipped them the right shoelace because they were like five bucks each. But if it's something that's more expensive and it's single one-off items, then option number three is not gonna work. And there's an effective business habit. I want to remind people that can help prevent this mislabeling of package. And that's to print out packing slips before sealing each box, putting the packing slip on the top of the box unsealed so that the name and address is clearly visible on the packing slip. And then each shipping label that you print out, make sure it's put on the right box based on the name and address. And then you seal each box one at a time, pasting the label from the box on the outside. This is what I do now and I haven't, I don't think I've mislabel a parcel in many years since then.

Kayomi: Okay. Great workaround. So Casey, I also know that some sellers with two or more parcels to label and send out will often print out a pick list or a package list at the point of printing the labels. This can also help a seller make sure that the right label is pasted on the right parcel.

Griff: Coincidentally, I just got an email from one of our product teams that they're working on something at least for mobile that will make it less likely that a seller who's using mobile to print out labels and ship will make this kind of mistake. That's all I'm gonna say at this point. And one more tip, many sellers myself included as an extra fail safe will mark the outside of the packed box. I use a pencil with the name of the buyer and a short title for the item in the box. I hand print it really small and I do this in the place where I'm gonna paste the thermal label over it. And yes, after all these episodes, you finally heard it. I use a thermal label printer and you know you should too. That's all I'll say about that.

Kayomi: Well there you have it. That's this week's question. If you have a question you would like us to address on any upcoming episode, you can call us on (888) 723-4630 or you can email it to us at podcast@ebay.com.

Griff: It is (888) 723-4630 and email to podcast@ebay.com. And it's time in the episode where we give you our three point podcast checklist. Take it away Kayomi.

Kayomi: Check the announcement board at ebay.com/announcements for up-to-Date seller news every day.

Griff: Always double check you're ready to ship parcels and your labels to make absolutely sure you're putting the right label on the right parcel.

Kayomi: Need to review anything in this episode. It's easy. Check the transcript for this and all episodes for follow up on what you've heard and to find the links we reference during the episode.

Griff: And on our next episode, we'll talk about this year's Up And Running Grant program with past grantee and eBay seller Stanley Kvitko. He'll be with Rebecca Michaels, who hasn't been on the podcast for a while, but she's going to lead a discussion with Stanley, so don't miss that.

Kayomi: We'd like to again, thank our guests this week, Kevin of Commonwealth Picker.

Griff: The eBay for Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411. We'll see you next week Kayomi.

Kayomi: See you then. Bye Griff.