Selling Issues And Tips

[whotoldya]

One of our members asked for us to create this category.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

Didn't know if everyone saw this or not,  free listing Jan 24th to the 29th for everyone.  10 day auctions too with buy it now! 

http://announcements.ebay.com/2014/01/all-sellers-list-for-free-up-to-5000-listings-auction-style-or...

For some reason I seem to miss the promotion announcements, even though I have it set to email for them. I was looking at announcements for something else and found this one. 

And I thought I was going to have week off:) 

Glad to have more free ones since I blow thru the 50 free with auto relist on unsold items and my new listings. 

Been trying to keep at least 50 items up a time but DARN they keep selling 🙂  

Actually sold about $400 the last two weeks. 

Which is great for us,  usually we are only at about 600 a month total.  But the I think that the cold weather back east has kept people in and buying.   🙂    I hope the cold has helped your sales too!

Jenny   

[Anonymous]

That's great Jenny! You've got some really cool stuff up for sale. 

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

Solonair: Thanks, It's all my collecting crazy husbands toys.   He wants new toys so has to sell old toys, plus two rooms FULL of stuff I have to start somewhere!    There are some new Godzilla figures out that are $$$ .  

Also wanted to mention in case anyone didn't know that they have a message now that says that auto re list 3 times no longer counts against your 50 free a month!     Unless you use selling manager to assign the relist then it DOES count.   

Love how they always contradict themselves, the right hand giveth the left hand taketh away.   🙂

Jenny

[whotoldya]

Jen your listings look great. That's a lot of work taking all the pictures. They really help make the sales.

At one time there was a topic on "Promotions". Musta got lost when Ebay made all those changes.

Going to go start a new topic on that. 

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

Just wanted to see if anyone else had heard about eBay UK making the "Hassle free returns" program mandatory.  

I used to add a few of my really rare items to the eBay UK site but since we are bound that countries policy I am not going to it anymore. 

It's hard enough to keep up with policy changes in ONE country for Ebay! 

Jenny

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

ONE more 🙂   Not sure if this is new or not.....

USPS Priority site states that the international insurance that is included on the boxes that they offer insurance on ( no insurance on small flat rate box or flat rate envelope) is limited to the price based on weight OR value which ever is LESS. 

If you buy extra insurance from them then it's covered at value.  However they don't let you add it to small flat rate boxes or flat rate envelopes, but you CAN add it with Ship-Cover for 1.70.

Personally I always add a 1.70 handling fee and add the ship-cover insurance for international customers.

Of course I always print my labels on ebay so I save more with the commercial plus discount. 

Jenny

[whotoldya]

Have not heard anything about the mandatory return thing. Been shipping international for over 60 years. So far we have never had a return. So it may not be a problem for us....

Stamps.com gives us a discount on shipping. When ebay began the shipping label thing their discount was less than stamps. Not sure which has the better discount now. They have thier own insurance if we want to add it.

One thing I really like about stamps is how it ties in with the outlook program. So every label printed sends out an automatic email from our own shipping center. We created a email letter that goes out automatic when the label prints. Lots of buyers will respond to those. 

At the end of the year we can download a report that breaks down everything we need for our taxes in the shipping section. 

It has worked real well for us. Also nice when you call there they have a real understandable helpful person on the other end. My favorite part of that place.

Another big help is having a pick up scheduled with USPS at our front door. When setting it up we requested they scan every package. Ring the doorbell when getting here. They do it every day. We do leave them cookies and bottles of water now and then. So that may help.

This is a good section to learn about selling issues. Been enjoying reading it all.

DWB

[Anonymous]

Well, as I sit here groaning about how Denver is playing, I went to MY ACCOUNT and found out a whole lot of things. I don't know why some of the things that were checked were checked, but I fixed everything.

Jenny, some of the things you talked about being mandatory can be adjusted if you go to "My Account" and click on the different "Preferences." It's time consuming but I think you'll find you can adjust things more to your liking.

Thanks for pointing it out. I never would have known my items were being excluded from so many countries!

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

Yes I know about "Preferences" what ticked me off was that I suddenly was OPTED INTO the Global Shipping program.  Never agreed to it, of course I opted out again. 

I am never a happy camper when I get signed up for things that are so unnecessary and without my permission. 

[Anonymous]

I agree with you completely! Seems like every time they do an "upgrade" they are trying to slip something by us that's going to make them more money.

[whotoldya]

They are good at trying to add things to our business they know so much more about than we do.

There was an interesting section in the last Power Up Newsletter they sent us. It explains how the Hand Held Market is becoming a big part of selling our products. If you have not read about it .....? It is a very good thing to think about.

People with hand helds do not even read our descriptions. They just look at the pictures.

DEB

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

 Thanks for the tip.  I am aware of smart phone shoppers even though I don't have one. 

I try to take lots of pics, I even use a Facebook page and put extra pictures on it with a link in my listing, it's free!  Plus since it's a public page people don't have to log in. 

I used to use a longer description, although I do try and cover myself against a possible SNAD case and describe flaws more than I see most others doing.  Heck I sold a Lladro recently that had a broken handle on the figurine.  Saw the same one listed by another seller as NEW no broken pieces, the whole broom handle is gone!   I might have mentioned it to the seller but they have done the same thing before and clearly don't care about negative feedback.   

Jenny

[Anonymous]

Years ago ebay offered power sellers a free consultation. Even though my background is in sales and marketing I decided to take them up on their offer. They told me to cut down on the words and to use bullets. Worked like a charm.

One of the things they've done is to add all the detail information on the top of the page. I try to fill it in as completely as possible when I'm doing my listings. If they have a stock photo, I incorporate that too. The one problem is sometimes the information they have doesn't match what I'm selling...even though the part number or the bar code number is the same.

It used to be that people looked at what showed up on their screens. A lot of people didn't even know that there was a way to scroll down the page to see more. The smaller the screen, the smaller the information available. That's why I think filling in all the details on the top is actually the best idea ebay has had in a long time.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

Yep, that's what I do and in my description I say see above and photos for the blind that pass it by.    I do have some older listings that I need to rework and change. 

I know I need to try and shorten my listings basic info too.  I do know that my listings while a little messy sure aren't as bad as a seller I was looking at the other day, every line was a different color, 8 different type faces.  I couldn't read it on my computer, let alone what it must look like on a smart phone! 

Well, off to work on my parents trust estate tax paperwork.  Kicking myself for not keeping better records!  DUH!!  We  "get" to file three tax returns this year!   

Never be an executor! 

Jenny

[tokersexchick]

Has anyone here had problems with buyers misusing the

'hassel free" returns? I had a few people who were telling me about this but I hadn't had one until this AM so I didn't understand & now I can't remember who it was.

I have a person who seems not to want to pay the return shipping so she said the item was defective. She bought fingerless gloves that were an accessory - fashion not a snow or outdoor product. The pattern was called Winter Black. She said the item was defective because it wouldn't keep her hands warm. Sometimes I wonder are people really not that smart? I don't run into alot but when I do I try to figure it out. Part of me feels like if you don't try to figure out if they are scamming you & you let them what are they going to do to the next seller? Now that I got ebay's help with it I'm not sure what to do about the return. She can still return the product but it has to be done correctly or it's a paperwork nightmare for me.