eBay

thelabelpalace · ‎10-06-2018

I do a lot of my mailing first class via stamps when shipping to buyers.

Are any of you concerned postage rates may hike up dramatically in 2019? I have started buying postage now at cheaper rates off eBay just in case. Curious to know your thoughts!

futuretomorrow · ‎10-06-2018

@thelabelpalace

Before I used Ebay and PayPal exclusively for postage I was overpaying at the USPS and you might be as well. I don't know what your seller level is but you get discounts for buying postage here vs at a phsyical USPS location. Please don't tell me you're also buying your shipping supplies from the USPS or convenient stores?

The truth has few friends but many enemies.
No one is perfect, though a mirror and the right clothes may make some think otherwise.

futuretomorrow · ‎10-06-2018

As for 2019, I'll adjust my prices accordingly if a. I'm still selling here and b. when it's announced and 2019 is here. Still a few months left in 2018 and there are other things I need to take care of in addition to not worrying about the things I can't control that aren't here yet.

The truth has few friends but many enemies.
No one is perfect, though a mirror and the right clothes may make some think otherwise.

Anonymous · ‎10-06-2018

USPS rates have increased every January for quite a while. We usually find out what the new rates will be by the end of October.

tsme35 · ‎10-06-2018

USPS has increase its rates for the last couple years, get ready for another 20-30% increase. I thought it would be ebay to put me out of business but most likely the post office

bigdeals.etc · ‎10-06-2018

Every seller must raise their prices to cover the global increases. Price wars with other sellers when this happens will only make everyone race to the bottom quicker. Let's stop all this senseless seller on seller violence.

inhawaii · ‎10-06-2018

Am i losing my mind or have rates gone DOWN recently? Or maybe the ebay discount has gone up? I could have swore that some Priority Mail prices have gone down recenty? Could that be?

M*A*S*H theme - Johnny Mandel

lintbrush* · ‎10-06-2018

@inhawaii wrote:
Am i losing my mind or have rates gone DOWN recently? Or maybe the ebay discount has gone up? I could have swore that some Priority Mail prices have gone down recenty? Could that be?

Did you recently get TRS status? TRS get Commercial Plus rates instead of Commercial Base. That's a 3% savings.

dirk12955 · ‎10-06-2018

@thelabelpalace wrote:
I do a lot of my mailing first class via stamps when shipping to buyers.

Are any of you concerned postage rates may hike up dramatically in 2019? I have started buying postage now at cheaper rates off eBay just in case. Curious to know your thoughts!

I also ship the same way as you. I will ship well over 1,000 orders this year using forever stamps. I've been accumulating extra stamps lately since sales have been slow. Not really worrying about a rate increase (Yet) for 1oz or 2oz first class. Haven't seen any news about it and figure it's beyond my control anyway.

Bought 200 forever stamps last week on ebay with that 15% off coupon. Net cost $75.00

Nice to see another seller not drinking the "Must have tracking" Kool-Aid

softersilk · ‎10-06-2018

@dirk12955 wrote:
@thelabelpalace wrote:
I do a lot of my mailing first class via stamps when shipping to buyers.

Are any of you concerned postage rates may hike up dramatically in 2019? I have started buying postage now at cheaper rates off eBay just in case. Curious to know your thoughts!
I also ship the same way as you. I will ship well over 1,000 orders this year using forever stamps. I've been accumulating extra stamps lately since sales have been slow. Not really worrying about a rate increase (Yet) for 1oz or 2oz first class. Haven't seen any news about it and figure it's beyond my control anyway.

Bought 200 forever stamps last week on ebay with that 15% off coupon. Net cost $75.00

Nice to see another seller not drinking the "Must have tracking" Kool-Aid

Having tracking is not "Kool-aid". Tracking is essential for ecommerce.

dirk12955 · ‎10-06-2018

Tracking is an absolute waste of money.

If I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp my cost is $500.00

If I mail 1,000 orders with tracking my cost is $2660.00 plus ink and paper and printer wear

I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp maybe I'll have 3 or 4 buyers claim non delivery

I don't mail any order over $20.00 without tracking.

If I lose 5 orders, worth $19.99 each, I've still made more than $2,000 EXTRA profit.

Apparently I'm one of the few sellers with honest buyers.

div_style · ‎10-06-2018

@dirk12955 wrote:
Tracking is an absolute waste of money.

If I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp my cost is $500.00

If I mail 1,000 orders with tracking my cost is $2660.00 plus ink and paper and printer wear

I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp maybe I'll have 3 or 4 buyers claim non delivery

I don't mail any order over $20.00 without tracking.

If I lose 5 orders, worth $19.99 each, I've still made more than $2,000 EXTRA profit.

Apparently I'm one of the few sellers with honest buyers.

It has a lot to do with categories. I, too, mail a lot of items as letter mail, in a year's time around 3000 letter mailpieces. Mostly lower-priced collectibles that are not scammer magnets. Stamp collectors are the most reliable, honest buyers in the world. Of 1000s of international mailings I have had one claim of non-receipt.

List more, sell more. Goodwill that other, uh, stuff.

Feeling sleepy? There's an app for that.

poppyswag · ‎10-06-2018

@bigdeals.etc wrote:
Let's stop all this senseless seller on seller violence.

dirk12955 · ‎10-06-2018

@div_style wrote:
@dirk12955 wrote:
Tracking is an absolute waste of money.

If I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp my cost is $500.00

If I mail 1,000 orders with tracking my cost is $2660.00 plus ink and paper and printer wear

I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp maybe I'll have 3 or 4 buyers claim non delivery

I don't mail any order over $20.00 without tracking.

If I lose 5 orders, worth $19.99 each, I've still made more than $2,000 EXTRA profit.

Apparently I'm one of the few sellers with honest buyers.
It has a lot to do with categories. I, too, mail a lot of items as letter mail, in a year's time around 3000 letter mailpieces. Mostly lower-priced collectibles that are not scammer magnets. Stamp collectors are the most reliable, honest buyers in the world. Of 1000s of international mailings I have had one claim of non-receipt.

That's great! There are many ways to make money for us sellers. Every dime I save on postge is a cent
I didn't give ebay.

I'm not saying that a seller shipping a Silver dollar for $25.00 should not use tracking. What I'm preaching is that a 10.00 stamp set can go for 50 cents in a plain # 10 envelope and be delivered without a problem
99.95% of the time.

bigdeals.etc · ‎10-06-2018

@dirk12955 wrote:
Tracking is an absolute waste of money.

If I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp my cost is $500.00

If I mail 1,000 orders with tracking my cost is $2660.00 plus ink and paper and printer wear

I mail 1,000 orders with a forever stamp maybe I'll have 3 or 4 buyers claim non delivery

I don't mail any order over $20.00 without tracking.

If I lose 5 orders, worth $19.99 each, I've still made more than $2,000 EXTRA profit.

Apparently I'm one of the few sellers with honest buyers.

I'm going to have to agree with you here. Although your model certainly doesn't work in my selling situation... I'm all for doing totally unorthodox methods if the benefit totally outweighs the effort and risk. More power to you... I wouldn't call it "Kool-aid though. I'd say more like thinking outside of the box. That's how you get an edge compared to others.