Episode 152 || Holiday Sourcing & Meet eBay Employee and Seller Stephen Weller

[podcast_team]

This week, we’ll meet Stephen Weller, an eBay employee who also sells full time on eBay. Griff talks with three eBay leaders about the upcoming Holiday season as well as eBay seller Mary Robbins who elaborates on her holiday sourcing strategy.

You got questions? Call us at 888 723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com.
Join the conversation
Take our podcast listener survey

Show Links:
eBay Up and Running Grant Application
eBay Q2 Business Results
Create your customer memento from eBay Open
Mary Robbins eBay Store
eBay Seller David Mitchell’s eBay Store
Daniel’s Fuller’s eBay Store
Daniels Podcast (Reseller Stories Podcast)

Rebecca: This week on the eBay For Business Podcast…

Griff: "Does your role at eBay help inform not only how you list, but actually what we could do to improve the experience?

Stephen: "Absolutely. It is actually vital too, I think my role, I can answer questions of people that you wouldn't know unless you were a seller. And I can speak from that position and so they understand and appreciate that more than just a random person speaking to them from eBay, Not just wearing a suit, but Hey, you're one of us.”

Mary: " I started going out to a local garage sales looking for Christmas things, basically anything I find that I think this would be perfect for eBay.”

Rebecca: I'm Rebecca.

Griff: And I'm Griff and this is the eBay for Business Podcast, your weekly source for the information and inspiration you need to start, run and grow a business on the world's most powerful marketplace. And this is episode 152, and guess who's back? It's Rebecca. Hi.

Rebecca: Hi Griff. I'm so glad to be here. Yeah, me too. How's your life been this last week after eBay Open?

Rebecca: Oh my gosh. eBay Open was so much fun. You know, Griff. This is my first one ever. I've never actually been to one of the live and in-person Opens and I can't imagine how it could possibly be better. I talked to so many sellers. I had the pleasure of watching every single one of the presentations that I could possibly get to. I saw so much learning, so much connection and engagement. It was really incredibly inspiring.

Griff: And also on top of all that you were working behind the scenes cause you were one of the players making everything happen.

Rebecca: I was, I was their fearless host and so many of the sellers got to see me when they first joined the event. I got to do some of the voiceover work, introducing speakers that were coming on. It was really fun. I got a chance to show up in a lot of different places and again, talk to and meet so many sellers that I had never spoken to or met before. It was great. It was really great.

Griff: Well I have to tell you on the air , in public that you did a bang up job. It was so well done. I just was beaming with pride watching you. So I think you did a great job.

Rebecca: Well credit where credit is due. It was certainly not just me. There were so many people on the team that you and I work with every day and people all across eBay who contribute to making a successful open, whether it's in a virtual space like this one or past ones, it truly is a collaborative effort. And everyone is just so excited around Open week here at eBay and want to know how the sellers felt about Open. What did they learn? And we're just so grateful for my team that produces it. We're so grateful for all of the eBay employees that get involved, whether it's speakers like Jamie and Jordan and Andrea or people behind the scenes helping to write the content or the people who are actually helping produce all of the day of experiences and making sure lights look good, things like that. It really takes a village. If you will, an eBay village to make this happen for sellers. And we're super grateful.

Griff: I have a question though. Did you have your own makeup person and your own dressing room and all that?

Rebecca: You are telling all my secrets. I did not have a dressing room, but there were a couple of times when I got a little bit of expert help on the makeup, but that's only because I'm fairly incompetent on makeup all on my own.

Griff: You looked fabulous, darling.

Rebecca: That's what I meant to say. Thank you. Thank you. But yes, it was really great. And actually I think we're going to talk a little bit more about Open later on in our conversation today, right before I head on out of here?

Griff: Well head on out temporarily. Cause you always come back at the end, but everything in its time. So step-by-step then the next step is what's in the eBay news this week?

Rebecca: First of all, I am here to tell everyone a reminder that applications are now open for the latest round of eBay and Up & Running Grants, the Up & Running Grants as a reminder, we grant 50 sellers, $10,000 in business grants to help accelerate their business over the year. We did it in 2020, and now we're excited to do it again this year, everyone out there please submit your application today and you could be selected for one of these grants. We want everyone to apply whether you are a new seller or a long time seller on eBay. Even if you applied last year, like give it a try again. We want to hear from everyone and you can apply at ebay.helloalice.com.

Griff: Yeah. And it doesn't cost anything to apply and you can't be selected if you don't apply. So really what do you got to lose?

Rebecca: We look forward to hearing all of the stories and learning about all of the different sellers who are out there. I remember one that we were very excited about is someone who sells quail eggs. We learned about that through last year's grants and that's something we probably never would have uncovered on our own. So we really look forward to hearing from all our sellers telling us about their business and what $10,000 could do for their business.

Griff: Is this for pets or food?

Rebecca: Um, I don't know. I think it was for pets, but I can't remember the details. I just remember we were like quail eggs, really?

Griff: I can imagine the dinner party."And the quail eggs were delicious darling! Where did you get them? I got them on eBay!"

Rebecca: Yes. And you know, this is a good time to remind that, you know, we do actually look at everyone and make sure that they're, you know, within our various policies and so forth.

Griff: Okay. That's good to know that.

Rebecca: That was one that stood out last year.

Griff: Okay. So there's that? What else is in the news?

Rebecca: Well, Griff, you may have noticed that eBay announced our Q2 business results last week, overall, our Q2 of 2021 results finished ahead of expectations. I'm reading now with total GMV at twenty two.one billion, there was a strong growth in eBay's high value buyer base resulting in a higher quality mix of shoppers with increased value for sellers. eBay also says that we remain committed to the focus category strategy, and that will continue leaning into product and technology investment to build the core business. Griff, one thing that I'd like to comment on on the focus categories, and I'm sure many sellers out there listening, Sneakers, Trading Cards, Handbags, Watches, these are areas where you've seen us really prioritize and focus in. But one of the things that we want sellers to know is we are learning lessons and building strategies in these particular categories that then eventually we'll roll out to many more categories across the marketplace over the coming times. And the other thing that I would say and I don't remember the exact numbers, but I know that we mentioned this during Open and you can go on our YouTube channel to watch many of the Open sessions is that sure, maybe trading cards or sneakers brings a new buyer in the door, but then they stay and they stay with eBay and they spend outside of that category. So we're really thinking strategically about this focus vertical because it unlocks both strategies that we can use to help sellers enable sellers businesses. It also is a really key way to attract those new buyers that we're looking for and keep them with us. I said a lot.

Griff: You did. I got to take a breather there. Thank you so much. And of course you can read more about earnings on the announcement board at ebay.com/announcemnts. Where you can also learn more about eBay Open online we're now post event. What do you have on that?

Rebecca: So this was one of the things that was so fun at eBay Open. And if you attended or not, you can create your very own personalized, social graphic and printable memento that you can share with your world, especially your social world, or print it out and stick it up on your cork board. It's really fun. Like photo with images and overlays and stickers. It's really cute. And so many people got involved doing this during eBay Open we wanted to keep the fun going a little bit longer. The process is really quick and easy and totally free. Of course. Can you put the link to that process in the episode, 152 transcript for us?

Griff: I'd be happy to once again, it's not a very short vanity URL. It's one that goes on and on. So it's better to see it in the transcript. We put all the links in the transcripts so it is a good place to go. Rebecca, will you join me later to help answer a few seller questions?

Rebecca: Yeah, I would be happy to come back. Thanks Griff.

Griff: I don't know what I do if you said no, I'm not coming back.

Rebecca: Well Griff you have all the answers.

Griff: No I don't. This is a myth. People say this to me and I quake in fear because it's not true. I have to look up so much stuff these days.

Rebecca: That's true. Totally fair. It's not that you know all the answers, but you are lucky enough to know the right places to look for the answers and you know what? I'm going to take that as inspiration. I'm going to look over the questions, do a little research and come back with answers at the ready.

Griff: Oh great. I appreciate it. We'll see you then. Thanks Rebecca.

Rebecca: All right. See you later.

Griff: We usually like to start talking about the Holiday and the Holiday shopping and the Holiday sourcing season with our sellers starting in August and joining me today. We have Kristi Diemoz, Senior Manager of Seller Marketing, and she's going to cover seller Holiday resources, Kristi.

Kristi : Thanks so much am excited to be here and now is the time to get planning. So let's chat about it.

Griff: And also joining will be Stuart Reichenbach. He's the Senior Director of Shipping and he's going to cover shipping for the Holiday. Stuart. Welcome back.

Stuart: Thanks Griff. Great to be back, super excited to talk shipping. And what's a little bit more of a stable environment right now as we head into the peak.

Griff: Adam Ireland is the Vice President of Operations here at eBay. And he's going to cover what they've seen so far and what they predict for Holiday trends for this unusual Holiday season. So Adam, from a seller, what are consumer attitudes going to be like in this Holiday season?

Adam: Unfortunately, the reality of this pandemic that we're still living through is it's the only predictable thing about it is that it's pretty unpredictable. But uh, I'm feeling optimistic. It's definitely kind of a positive path heading into the Holidays where we're seeing kind of consumer sentiment bounce back. People even talk about our returns to sort of the roaring twenties from last century and seeing that re-emerge as we kind of come out the backside of this pandemic. And then I think there's a couple of other trends that are going to play out that are sort of been emerging over the last few years and I would expect us to see them sort of continue really. So you think about something like conscious consumerism, which is sort of, you know, people making their purchases based on things like social impact of the seller that they're buying from. Or the environmental impact of the product. I really think that that's something that again is, you know, we see generations and millennial buyers becoming more and more predominant that we'll see more and more of that happening over time. You know, you're also going to continue to see people wanting to shop small business. I think that's been a big piece of what we've seen happen through the pandemic is people are seeing small businesses struggling and it's sort of opened their eyes to the benefits that small businesses bring to all of us. So again, sort of starting to see, not now bounce back, cause the world opens up and people are wanting to support those businesses that have had such a tough time.

Griff: What are we seeing as trends now into the Holidays this year?

Stuart: It's kind of interesting because basically you can sort of take what we had last year, flip it on its head and you start to get to some of those trends, that we are expecting to see right? Last year, obviously we weren't able to meet up the Thanksgiving for Christmas, for whatever, the winter festivals that people would normally be getting together for. And we're expecting, that's going to be a big change this year, right? Like lots of families are going to start wanting to be together again, missed last year. And so I think we should be expecting that entertainment is going to be a really big theme and that people are going to be wanting to be out there, right? Like last year you just needed what you needed for your immediate family. Like this year, it's going to be, I think we're going to have big, big gatherings as people get together and want to celebrate in larger groups. And then I think you're going to see that in the, in the fashion space as well. Athleisure wear very much the thing that we saw peak thru the pandemic, and I don't think that's going away. Cause I think we've all learned to love our nice cozy clothes. But I do think as people are going out celebrating, maybe there's more formal Christmas or Holiday parties going on, you are going to see sort of that more of that formal wear, the jeans will come back. You know, things like purses, handbags, luxury goods that haven't had the chance to use and to spoil themselves with. But there's still some categories as well though Griff that is still kind of impacted by the pandemic. When you look at things like electronics, these are categories that have very complex supply chains and those supply chains are often based in places where the pandemic is still having a real impact, PS5 which was so hard to get hold of all through last Holiday, that's still not easily available. And they're predicting that it still won't be by this Holiday and the new Nintendo Switch is going to be coming out. And again, like if I was a betting, man, I think that's going to be really hard to get your hands on on that. And a number of the other kind of hot electronic items, as we go into the holidays as well.

Griff: Thank you very much, Adam. That's great Information. Let's move on to Kristi. This last year has been transformative on eBay when it comes to the amount of tools and especially the information with Terapeak and reports that the Product Team has brought to market for sellers. How can eBay sellers leverage these tools and services during the Holiday season to boost their sales?

Kristi : Yeah. It's such an important question. And I think all those tools and resources are important and I think too, like not doing anything crazy that you've done all year, I think it's about planning and preparing and being thoughtful about your strategy. Using Terapeak to research supply and demand. I think Adam just gave you a lot of great tips about some hot things, but inevitably there'll be more things that we didn't think of. And there'll be lots of great research out there and Terapeak is a great way to do that. And then once you know what you want to sell and you're ready, like optimizing those listings kind of similar, like we always recommend you can use the Listing Quality Report, see how your listings are looking, see what tips and feedback we might have for you. And then, you know, we always have the four golden rules for the perfect listing, have a great title, have a great description, obviously photos are key and then obviously setting your price in a competitive way.

Griff: I have a fifth one, you left out Item Specifics!

Krist : Item Specifics. How could we forget? So important. We've got to get those items found. And that sort of leads into another one, which is Promoted Listings. And a great time to lean in promoted listings is Holiday. There's going to be more shoppers than ever. You want to make sure your items are being seen in as many places as possible. And we know that it can help boost the listing visibility by 36% in some placements across eBay. It's a great time to try it. If you haven't, you just set the ad rate. Leave it. And then you only pay for it. If it sells, there's really no risk. There's only upside. Definitely recommend giving that one, a try or leaning into that a little bit more on Holiday.

Griff: Where could sellers go to know about all these resources besides emailing me and saying, where do I find these? Where can we send them directly?

Kristi: Well that's always a great option. Of course. Of course. We don't want to overload you too much Griff. Obviously always check the eBay Seller News. If we have any new, exciting information, that'll always be coming up there. Then always Seller Center is still and always a great resource for everyone. We'll be updating seller center regularly with tips and tricks on Holiday and come to the eBay community boards. We have so many people coming there and having a conversation and helping each other and just giving you that community vibe. You can visit us on eBay for Business on Facebook. You can find us on YouTube. And then of course we have the eBay Seller School. eBay Seller School is a great way to get some quick information to help you with your business. We're everywhere and we want to engage with you and chat with you and help you this Holiday season.

Griff: Kristi it is always a pleasure. Thank you for all the great information. Let's move over to shipping. Stuart Reichenbach as you know, from the podcast is in charge of shipping. So Stuart you guys deal with the carriers, all three of them. Do you have any information about what's going on and updating us to the status of their service levels?

Stuart: Sure Griff and Hey,. It's great to be back. We did get a lot of attention last year before I get into what's going on this year. You know, I always like to thank our amazing sellers for everything they do and the complicated world of shipping. It's not easy. I said it last year, a bunch of times, it's not easy in regular times. And certainly with the pandemic and the surge in volume across the networks, it got even more challenging and inconsistent. Thanks everyone for what you do. The networks, right now, I think have relatively good news. We've got some real stability over the last four or five months, really from all three of the carriers. So United States Post Office, I think we all know, had the most challenges last year, even at the beginning of this year, but they're largely back on track with more consistent on-`time service. UPS continues to operate very, very effectively. And we've seen some delays in the FedEx ground network, but really fairly limited and really no long tail deliveries across any of the carriers. So right now we're in the good shape. Acceptance scans, which is something we always talk about as well, also in really good shape across the networks. FedEx and ups stronger in that category then the Post Office is but the Post Office is performing a levels even better than 2019. So right now we're in relatively good shape Griff.

Griff: Are we expecting more high volume post Holiday? This year was incredible, last year you know, it was just before the pandemic, but it didn't seem for a lot of sellers that had ever let up. There was high volume that just continued right after the Holiday.

Stuart: And that's right. And again, this was pandemic related. The peak is always the peak. You put the pandemic on top of it and there was just so much volume in the networks that it took a handful of months into 2021 to get that right sized. You know, look, I think we're going to see a really strong peak again this year and probably an early one. There's been, I guess, a little bit of movement back towards brick and mortar retail, but online e-commerce is very strong. While all three carriers have done some different things with their networks and added capacity, none of them have gone out and invested to the degree nor should we, I think we expect them too. None of them though have put in enough capacity to meet all of the demand that'll be out there. So I think it's going to be a bit of a challenge as we head into this years peak and maybe even into part of 2022. I think it's going to be a challenge still a little bit early to tell, but we're going to be back in the next couple of months to talk more about what we're seeing and certainly a little bit more about our playbook as we head into it.

Griff: What are your list of best practices that sellers should keep top of mind coming into the Holiday season?

Stuart: A couple of things first. Estimated delivery dates. That's on us. And we have a team that works with the carriers on a daily basis, making changes to our delivery window so that we can offer the very best delivery estimates to your buyers. It's not going to be perfect, particularly in peak, but it's going to be good. It's going to be pretty strong. So we'll continue to communicate with you on what we're doing with estimated delivery dates like we did last year. What we need you to do as sellers is handle time. Whatever your stated is, do it. Don't be more, don't be less hit that handle time. And as always communicate with your buyers. And we talked a little bit about what the carriers are doing UPS and FedEx says they capped their volumes so their service remains consistent. If you're shipping on eBay Labels, there is no cap to your volume. You know, your transactions on eBay and labels purchased through UPSand FedEx and put into their retail network are going to move and they're going to be pretty consistent. That's another tip. Consider expedited shipping.

Griff: At least as a paid option. Adam Ireland, Kristi Diemoz and Stuart Reichenbach. I want to thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to talk to us? We all appreciate it.

Griff: One of the expectations of anyone working at eBay is that you as an employee, you really should use the product. So to speak most of us here at the very least buy on eBay and most every employee I know has listed an item or two every now and then, but there are some employees who also sell full time on eBay while juggling a full-time job at eBay. We talked with eBay intern and eBay seller, Sam Strauss last week. This week we have with us, Stephen Weller, Senior Business Development Manager at eBay. Welcome Stephen.

Stephen: Thanks for having me.

Griff: How long have you been with eBay?

Stephen: I've been with eBay a little bit over two years now.

Griff: What do you think?

Stephen: I actually love eBay. I have been a big time fan and a seller for a long time and now I get to work here and get some of that money back.

Griff: As Business Development Manager, do you interface with customers?

Stephen: I do. I interface with sellers every single day.

Griff: And what kind of sellers are these typically?

Stephen: They're sellers coming on the platform. So they're new to platform or need to accelerate what they're already doing on the platform and come on board and start being the best eBay seller possible.

Griff: How long have you been selling on eBay?

Stephen: I've been selling on eBay for 16 years now.

Griff: Oh, so you were selling way before you started with eBay?

Stephen: Absolutely. Way, way before.

Griff: Did that you that help you get the job you think?

Stephen: I probably should have brought that up in the interview, but I don't think I did. Maybe I just mentioned I was a seller, but nothing substantial.

Griff: That would be a big plus. What do you sell on the site?

Stephen: I sold Disneyana. Mostly Disney pens and collectibles and things like that.

Griff: And your eBay ID?

Stephen: It is subliminalsuzie.

Griff: Do you have an eBay store as well?

Stephen: I do. It is under the same name.

Griff: And we'll put a link to that in the transcript for this episode so that you can check out Stephen's store on eBay and Disneyana, how is that market doing right now, especially after the last year?

Stephen: It's actually doing really well because you weren't able to get the Disney merchandise from Disneyland and Disney world, and you couldn't travel into those places and buy anything. So you looked at eBay. And Shop Disney, primarily didn't do a great job or give out all their different types of inventories. eBay was definitely the hotspot for Disneyana and Disney collectibles and stuff. So people kept getting their product from us.

Griff: Without giving away your sources, obviously, how do you source to keep yours store stock?

Stephen: I buy from Disney direct, I do have that. I do buy limited edition launches and things like that from other third-party retailers. I buy Disney pin collections. I mean, I even bought a t-shirt and Funko Pop from Target yesterday. And I'll put that back onto eBay and, you know, make five, $10 from it. That kind of thing.

Griff: Do they sell out at Target?

Stephen: Yeah, they're sold out. It's just a limited edition item that's hard to find. A couple per store, get them and I go and get them and put 'em up on eBay.

Griff: Are you shopping back in the store now or is this all online?

Stephen: I'm completely online, but I do occasionally go in store and do pickups and things like that, or, or go in and see if they have items that are hard to find and get them. So there's some little bit of retail arbitrage there.

Griff: Does your role at eBay help inform not only how you list, but actually what we could do to improve the experience. Absolutely. It's actually vital to I think my role. I can answer questions for people that you wouldn't know unless you were a seller and I can speak from that position. And so they understand and appreciate that more than just a random person speaking to them from eBay, not just wearing a suit, but Hey, you're one of us definitely helps. And then internally we have projects every year where we get to submit ideas and I've submitted for the past two years and won those two awards. And my ideas are actually being put on the site.

Griff: Can we ask what your ideas are?

Stephen: One of them involves shipping and it comes out next year. And then one of them involves collectibles, the space I'm in right now. And it should be coming out very shortly.

Griff: Can we talk about it after it comes out?

Stephen: After it comes out, absolutely. I'd love to talk about it, but definitely really cool stuff coming out. And I think they're both game changers for eBay and I'm very proud of them and I wouldn't be able to come up with those ideas or know that sellers needed or wanted those without being a seller myself.

Griff: What are some of the interesting trends, ups and downs that you have seen in the collectible space?

Stephen: Disney pin collecting has been more popular. Collectibles have been more popular. And then with the pandemic hitting, people were out of work. And so they started going to their closets and selling stuff too, that they no longer needed or wanted. So there became more of a fun aspect in that way. And then people sitting at home who still had their jobs, fortunately we're starting to find those same collections and wanted to complete them or collect more. And so I really think the pandemic brought out the collector in all of us. You can see on the Sports Card trading tend and stuff like that. Collectibles in general are doing well as a whole worldwide for everyone. So I think it actually spiked a lot on, has helped me quite a bit in my store.

Griff: Can you give us an indication Stephen of the volume you do either on a daily, quarterly or yearly basis in transactions, you don't have to give a dollar amount if you're not comfortable doing so.

Stephen: No problem. I would say on average a month is between 300 and 500 transactions.

Griff: Really? It's a lot of sales.

Stephen: Yeah. That's a lot of 5, 10, $20 items. They are not laptops or anything expensive.

Griff: But they still have to be packed. They still have to be labeled. They still have to be shipped. I know you've been working from home like most of us. How do you balance those two?

Stephen: Right now, being at home I do everything myself after I put the kids to bed and my wife goes to bed. I pack everything up and get it done at night. It takes a couple hours and I'll do my listing and photography and all that good stuff and then print out the labels and package it up. And then at lunchtime, I spend 10, 15 minutes running to the Post Office and drop them off everyday.

Stephen: It's a lot of packages. It is a lot of packages. It ends up being somewhere between 10 and 20 packages a day.

Griff: Is there a particular aspect of selling that you'd like to see improved?

Stephen: Nothing in particular right now. I will say that every time there's something I find on the site or find that I deal with, I don't like I do bring it up with the appropriate team and kind of go from there and kind of see what it is. Or an example of my two submissions, I find good things and want to submit them and change the site. eBay is great in that way. They listen to their employees. I think our best ideas come from our sellers and our buyers too, of course, but I really do believe that the sellers are at the heart of eBay and listening to them only makes us better.

Griff: Without them we have empty shelves. Wouldn't be a very exciting place to shop. What's the most common complaint that you hear from the sellers that you talk to every day as a Senior Manager of Business Development?

Stephen: I would say it's returns, I guess. No one likes returns, even if they're legitimate or otherwise. I mean, I guess returns are probably the only one that people really don't enjoy.

Griff: That is understandable.

Stephen: No, it happens and whether it's the Post Office or they shipped the wrong item or the customer has buyer's remorse or whatever, the reason is no one wants to take it and it can be a hassle and can be expensive or time-consuming.

Griff: What do you hear from sellers in your role at eBay that is kind of a common theme of something that they really like, that eBay has done recently?

Stephen: They love having a great site with great buyers. They appreciate all the work we have done. All the changes we continue to make. I do a lot of my business development in the Trading Card space. And we continue to make that a better place to buy and sell from our ability to scan cards, now you can scan a Pokemon card or Magic Gathering card and get it online quickly to the changing return policies. So we know that we're always evolving and always making it better and that selling a laptop versus a trading card versus an article of clothing , a t-shirt is very different. And so I think we're doing a good job now of realizing that you can't throw a blanket policy over everything and we're continuing to work inside of those organizations and verticals to be specific to our buyers and sellers.

Griff: There was that one size fits all for so many years. And it just does not work.

Stephen: I think that's probably the biggest gratitude I've heard is that yeah, you guys now get us, you know, that kind of thing versus before it, that one size fits all.

Griff: What would be your word of advice to someone who is a brand new seller?

Stephen: I would definitely say, sell your first item. Once you get over that fear and that hump of it being a daunting, scary task, it's really not. And then you realize that it's not that hard. And then you start selling more things, whether it's out of your closet or garage, you know, we've all got that big container in the garage we should all probably get rid of anyway. Beyond that obviously it's sourcing inventory. So the question is how do you source inventory? And it's not a matter of being able to buy stuff at wholesale, it's buy stuff that has value and it could be something you like or something you enjoy, or someone, something, you know, really well and just look for an opportunity. And why do it ? Because it's extra income and it's a lot of fun. For me selling is fun. I actually enjoy it too. So it's part of it is buying something for 5 and selling it for 10. You get that kind of mentality. And then during the pandemic for me, for the Disney stuff, I was actually helping people out. They weren't able to buy their collectibles and things like that. They weren't having that magic of Disneyland anymore. And then now me fulfilling it, being able to send them the products. I got a lot of messages saying, thank you. My son is autistic and wasn't able to get this item and stuff like that. And he really wanted this, his favorite character or, oh, thank you. It is gonna make my sister's birthday great. And stuff like that. And so I have a lot of customers who really appreciate what I do and in the area I do it in.

Griff: So just like Disney, you've been making customers happy.

Stephen: Yeah. And, and that's part of it too. I mean, it's, it's a good feeling to know that I'm not just selling a widget to make a buck, but that I'm actually helping people out.

Griff: Let's never underestimate the thrill that never gets old every time your phone goes Ka-Ching.

Stephen: That's my favorite sound. Definitely. My favorite sound, You know, I'll be sitting there watching a movie. Ka-Ching That's good, whatever that is, you know, it doesn't matter if it's $4. 99 cents or $500. It is a good sound.

Griff: One of the things I miss about a social life is having that happen when other people are around and everyone saying what had just happened? And I say, I just sold something.

Stephen: Yeah, exactly. I know it definitely is a, is a fun one. I actually would go over to my friend's house pre pandemic. He's a bigger seller than I am. And his phone just sounded like someone's at the cash register 24- 7. And even then I was like, I wish mine was that big.

Griff: It's an aspiration. Well, Stephen, I want to thank you so much. I know that a it's always busy at eBay and I appreciate that you took some time to talk to us about both your role and your selling on eBay. I think sellers will find it interesting.

Stephen: I appreciate it Griff. Thanks for having me and Yeah. For resellers out there. Just keep on selling. Everything's great right now, having a good time. And it's a lot of fun. And for those of you who haven't sold before, just sell your first item. Just sell the first one, and I promise you you'll enjoy it and you'll keep doing it.

Griff: Words of wisdom. What is your seller ID again?

Stephen: My seller Id is subliminalsuzie. One word.

Griff: And we'll put the link to Stephen's store on eBay in the item transcript for this episode. So look for it there.

Griff: The folks at the eBay for Business Facebook page had been running a series of ongoing sweepstakes where they ask a question and anyone can post a response. As part of their Summer Success Sweepstakes they recently asked the question, how are you starting to prepare for the Holiday season? We here at the podcast, went through some of the responses that were posted. And then we reached out to three sellers who posted their Holiday sourcing tactics to ask them to come on the podcast and talk about their sourcing plans for this Holiday. This week, we're talking to eBay seller, Mary Robbins. Hi, Mary Robbins.

Mary: HI!

Griff: What's your eBay user ID again?

Mary: It's marychick46.

Griff: And we'll put that in the transcript. If you're okay with that, we love to promote our sellers.

Mary: Yeah. Well that sounds good to me.

Griff: The reason why we're calling is because you posted a tip on the Facebook, eBay for Business page about sourcing for the Holidays. And we wanted to talk a little bit about it with you. Have you already started sourcing for the Holidays?

Mary: I have.

Griff: And what is it that you source?

Mary: I source really Christmas items, various Christmas decorations, Christmas ornaments candles, any thing basically that screams Christmas. I look for those kinds of things. Things that I think that would be desirable as gifts for other people.

Griff: And you do this every year I assume?

Mary: Well, I have since I started. I really just do eBay as a part-time business, but ever since I got serious about it, I I've been doing this every year.

Griff: I'm glad you do. Can you elaborate a little bit on the tip that you put up on the Facebook, the sweepstakes?

Mary: I would say that starting now pretty much in the spring, when there's garage sales, I started going out to local garage sales and looking for Christmas things. And actually I have a large family. I have seven grandchildren. I'm out looking for gifts for them in the summertime too, but basically anything. I find that I think this would be perfect for eBay. I have a large closet upstairs, part of my home, and I have large plastic bins and I'd put these items away and know that when the time comes in the all, they're all going to come out and they're all going to go on eBay.

Griff: Were you able to attend many yard sales in say the past year, given the special situation we've been under, which I won't talk about?

Mary: Right. Last summer, not as much. I was kind of cautious about COVID and there really weren't as many sales last summer, but my husband also was looking for things from garage sales for his business. We found that the Spring, when the season started up, that there were sales from the area and we're both out there.

Griff: Yeah. Lots of pent up demand to get rid of stuff. I would imagine.

Mary: I think so. A lot of people were cleaning out closets when they were home.

Griff: Your word to the wise is to always be sourcing for the Holidays, not just in the months leading up to it.

Mary: I would say so. And also I would add to that, that I have a basic store. Like I say I'm a part-time seller and I used to have 250 listings, Buy It Now listings a month. And now that eBay has given us a thousand listings, when these listings go up in September or whenever I get to them, I'll just leave them up because I have plenty of free listings. This is going to be at a very much an advantage for my store to have all these items. I know that Christmas sells all years and anything that doesn't sell, t's just going to stay.

Griff: That is terrific. Now tell everyone your store name again so they can check you out.

Mary: Sure. It's marychick, one word 46.

Griff: marychick46. We'll put the link to Mary's store in our transcript. Well, Mary, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And happy sourcing and I hope you have a profitable year.

Mary: Yeah, I hope so too. Nice talking to you.

Griff: Nice talking to you too. You can find out more about the eBay for Business Sweepstakes on the eBay for Business Facebook page, and we'll post a link to that page so you can subscribe and enter the next round of sweepstakes that they hold. All comments entered into the sweepstakes, have a chance at a $200 gift card, but you can't win. If you don't submit a response, be sure to check it out at facebook.com/ebayforbusiness. All one word.

Rebecca: You have questions.

Griff: We have answers. Are we going to change it every week?

Rebecca: Every single week Griff.

Griff: Okay, I am game. I am up for anything new.

Rebecca: Next time I'll try an Australian accent.

Griff: How many questions do we have this week Rebecca ?

Rebecca: Why Griff. We have two questions this week. One is about a buyer asking to delay shipping after purchase, post-purchase. And the second one is a suggestion about Best Offers. They're both actually interesting suggestions. I think it'll cause some pretty lively debate between us or at least conversation.

Griff: Okay. Well that's what we like. Let's just get right into it. Why don't you read the first one? I think both of these are emails, so we'll have to read them.

Rebecca: eBay seller Daniel sent the following to podcast@ebay.com. Hello. My name is Daniel Fuller and my store name is cavemanresell. I also have a podcast. Hey, how about that? Called the Reseller Stories Podcast about our adventure or misadventures while outsourcing.

Griff: And we'll put a link to Daniel's podcast in the episode 152 transcript.

Rebecca: Daniel continues, I had someone buy a pair of shoes for me, but wanted me to wait to ship them because she was going out of town. I personally had no problem waiting, but that would cause me to go past eBay's three-day shipping policy. I contacted eBay and they very professionally explained my options, which was basically to try to work something out with her or ship them late and appeal any defects to my account. So I explained eBay shipping policy to her and I asked her if it would be okay if I canceled her order, but held the shoes until she got back from her trip. And she was fine with that. Hopefully she really will buy them again. I was just wondering if there's really no work around when the buyer requests an item to be shipped at a later date. In your opinion, did I handle the situation correctly or should I have just appealed a shipping ding? Thanks. Love to podcast and hoping to hear back, Daniel Fuller.

Griff: Interesting. Yeah, I've heard this before.

Rebecca: This was actually a new one to me, Griff and I looked for guidance on it and I couldn't find anything in Help. What should a seller do in this situation?

Griff: A seller could do what Daniel did or they could simply delay shipping. I think those are the two choices.

Rebecca: Those two choices were correct. Okay. But if he did that, if he just delayed shipping, isn't that going to result in hint against his late shipping metric and wouldn't that be a bad thing?

Griff: Not necessarily. And I'll explain why, there's a 3% allowance per evaluation period before that metric, which is called the Late Shipment Metric would actually impact Daniel's status.

Rebecca: And that's 3% of all of Daniel's sales for that period, right?

Griff: Yes. Yes, that's correct.

Rebecca: Okay. So if he sells, like, let's say a hundred items during the evaluation period, he could have three late shipments with no impact on his status.

Griff: Correct. It would be the fourth late shipment in that scenario that would result in a hit against his status. But I think it only fair to point out that although there is this 3% allowance for late shipments, most sellers panic when they have a one late shipment and they'll do anything to avoid that, which is admirable.

Rebecca: Totally understandable. But on the other hand, sellers should be making, buying easy and accommodating their buyer requests. If a buyer asks for a delay and you know, say there's even proof in messages, like shouldn't that kind of not count?

Griff: Yeah. It shouldn't count. It's an example of the seller giving the customer what they asked for. That's the whole ethos behind good customer service.

Rebecca: Right. I think I agree that there should be a way for a buyer to request a delay that clearly is a buyer opt in. And so there's no impact on the sellers late shipment metric. I so agree. And right now, as Daniel says, the choice is you can appeal it. And if it's in the messages, you can have it removed. This is not an efficient way to do this.

Rebecca: Yeah, absolutely. Has a buyer ever asked you personally to delay shipping? Like, is this something that you are familiar with Griff?

Griff: That's happened a few times. I had a buyer ask for a delay about two years ago. It was the first time a buyer had asked for one in a long time though.

Rebecca: Interesting. And how did you approach it? Did you do the, cancel their purchase and wait for them to repurchase? Did you take the ding? What was your plan?

Griff: No, I agreed to hold the item. I think it was for two weeks as well. My memory is shady, although I just said, yeah, I'll hold it.

Rebecca: Did you end up seeing the hit against your metric?

Griff: Yeah, I did, but I had no other late shipments for that period. I was pretty confident that this was an outlier request and it was pretty likely no one else would make this request and assure at the time was not going to put me above the 3% allowance. So I have a risk here. I'm going to accept it.

Rebecca: I have empathy for sellers not wanting even one late shipment because you can never predict the future so control what you can control. Right?

Griff: Yeah. I agree.

Rebecca: I hear that. Do you have a firm recommendation one way or the other? If you have a seller who is faced with these kinds of requests from above?

Griff: I gotta be honest with you. I don't, I would only recommend that a seller consider the options including one of honoring the request, but if a seller can work it out with a buyer to cancel and repurchase later, as inefficient as that is, there's really no harm done. I don't think.

Rebecca: I mean the only potential harm is, well, if the buyer never actually comes back to finish the purchase, like that's a lost sale.

Griff: Yeah. That could happen. And in my mind for my business, at least a lost sale is usually a much bigger hit than one late shipment metrics hit. So again, this decision still has to be made by every seller. I really can't make a recommendation.

Rebecca: Yeah, I see that then sell. It really does have to weigh like either way. There's a little bit level of risk and a little bit of taking something on faith, I suppose. I feel comfortable saying though, like if seller feels like they're pushing that 3% allowance with late shipment, then that may tip the scales a little bit. They really may not want to risk losing their status. Even if they want to have great customer service. So they may not want to agree to that buyer's post purchase request to delay shipping.

Griff: Exactly. And that's again, why I'm not going to make a recommendation or at least not a blanket one, as Daniel mentioned, you know, you can also appeal the metric hit, but a seller could with message proof, say, Hey, I was doing what the customer asked, but let's face it. That sort of action is inefficient for the seller. It's a pain in the neck for the buyer. And it certainly doesn't really help eBay in any way. I don't know, even for sellers who are absolutely customer focused, this type of post-purchase request decision is one that the seller has to make on their own. And I totally understand what any seller wants to do. So yeah.

Rebecca: It really is a business decision or at least it is until there's a way for a buyer to make that request to the seller after they've purchased something, to make that request, to delay shipping in a way that eBay can recognize and record and add into the algorithm or whatever so it doesn't impact the seller.

Griff: Oh from your lips to Product Teams ears.

Rebecca: We have to send this to them, speaking of product. Let's do good idea. And I also know that a few of them actually listened to the podcast now as well. So hint, hint.

Rebecca: Well, hello Product Team. And here's your suggestion for this week. Thanks to Daniel for that question. That was a pretty good one. And it really made us think about how sellers have to make decisions for their own business in their own circumstance even if we can have a point of view. So Daniel a mug is on its way to you in the next two weeks. And anybody else who sends in a question to podcast@ebay.com, be sure that you always include your address so that we can send you a mug as well.

Griff: Absolutely. I have all these mugs to get rid of.

Rebecca: So Griff, how about you read the next one?

Griff: Okay. I'll be happy to. Our next question was sent also to podcast@ebay.com by eBay seller, David who wrote , hi Griff, huge fan of the show. Started listening around episode 110 and find the podcast most informative and entertaining. Very excited to hear at eBay Open about the upcoming enhancements to Best Offers. We sell a large percentage of our items through Best Offers and welcome the new functionality. While currently leveraging seller initiated offers, I noticed that the buyer location does not come through upon receiving a counter offer. We offer free shipment and shipping across the U S and it's more than two times the cost for a west coast versus an east coast buyer. Having insight into the buyer's location is very important to help us protect margins. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place, but does this ability to see the location exist? If not, is this something that might be added to the product roadmap while the Development Team works through Best Offer updates? I love the way he thinks! I run a sneaker resale store called flipsahoy, under the name Mitch Ado. eBay username is flips_ahoy and I will put the link to David's eBay store in the transcript for episode 152. I can't wait for the mug. David Mitchell eBay store flipsahoy. Oh boy!

Rebecca: Those mugs sure are popular. So yes, absolutely. David, we're sending you a mug. Now Griff, this sounds like another suggestion that we can forward to the product team.

Griff: Absolutely. Yeah. In fact, this is a perfect example of seller feedback. And we've heard this one before that we really need to take, to add to all offers. A seller really needs to know how much shipping is going to cost to send a counter offer to a Best Offer buyer before he or she agrees to the offer. As David put it so perfectly, I gotta protect my margins. Of course you do. You're in business! You have to make the decision informed. And if you don't know where the buyer is in this case, it can sometimes be impossible to make that decision. You have to do it in the dark.

Rebecca: Yeah. It sounds like this is really critical information.

Griff: Absolutely. Well, thanks David, for the suggestion, as I mentioned earlier, I think our Product Team is listening in, but we'll make sure they see this. We'll mail it to them and we'll be sure it lands on the right desk at the eBay Product Team for their consideration.

Rebecca: Well, we have really interesting questions/ suggestions this week. Thank you to both David and Daniel for writing in. And if you out there have a question or a suggestion, don't sit on it, call it into us here at the eBay for Business Podcast. By calling us at (888)723-4630.

Griff: We love that voicemail. (888)723-4630. Just leave a question or comment. And if we put it on the air, we'll send you a mug. So leave your shipping address as well.

Rebecca: And of course, if you are not a call on the phone person, you can always email us at podcast@ebay.com. That's podcast@ebay.com.

Griff: Well, we're almost all finished with episode 1 52, but, uh, don't forget. We have one more thing to do. It's called the Daily Podcast To Do List.

Rebecca: Number one, check the Announcement board for Up-to-date Seller News. And I want to add, don't forget to create your very own personalized social graphic and printable eBay Open 2021 Minto. So you can share it on your social media.

Griff: Hmm. Second, it's never too early to start organizing your supplies and inventory for the upcoming 2021 season. And if you're going to add, I'm going to add, get a thermal printer, do it today.

Rebecca: It never fails and third, of course, check out the transcript for this and all episodes for follow up on what you've heard and to see the links that we referenced during the episode.

Griff: Speaking of next episode, or where are we? I don't know. On our next episode we'll welcome back Bob means from the eBay's Trading Card Team to talk about some absolutely cool upgrades to that category.

Rebecca: And of course we'd like to thank again, our guests this week, eBay seller Mary Robbins and eBay seller and employee Stephen Weller.

Griff: The eBay for Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411.

Recurring Links:

eBay for Business Podcast	eBay for Business Podcast Discussion Group
The eBay Community	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