Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?

[getitright1234]

Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?

I recently had an eBay poster attempt to mock me for using my cell phone to conduct some of my eBay business.  I know I have seen other Sellers who proudly use their cell phone as a tool to aid them.  Below is a list of what I do with my cell phone.    Do you do the same and please share if you have more to add.  

1.  Prompt response to buyers’ messages when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

2. Prompt response to buyers offers when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

3. The prompt creation of shipping labels, label that can be emailed to a copier center for print, and only pay 5-ten cents per page for labels, rather than using and paying the high price of ink and/or a printer.  

4.  Immediate Research items while in stores, auctions, estate sales, garage sales to determine should I buy for resale. 

5.  The immediate creation of a listings, all while having breakfast, lunch or dinner when away from your desktop/laptop.

6.  Taking pictures to download to my desktop/laptop.  

So, if you got a Cell phone and you are not using it to do any of the things listed above:  to run or enhance the running your online business, then you are not keeping up with the times.    The efficiency aspect is a WIN WIN! 

[goodluckselling]

Here is the post that the OP is talking about being mocked.

I can help you with the seller hub totals you are requesting but I can not help you with running an eBay business from a cell phone.

Good Luck Selling!

[getitright1234]

I watched a lady in a local thrift store take pictures of her items, list them, and within 20 minutes after listing, the said items sold.   She was very proficient with the use of her cell phone.  Oh, bet we exchanged phone numbers!

[gracieallen01]

What's a 'cell phone'?

[getitright1234]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

What's a 'cell phone'?

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A mini computer that can improve the quality of your life is you know how to use it. 

It can generate income for you.

It can protect you via use of your video record feature. 

It can save you money, via instant coupons and whatnot.  

In response to another poster, ...............................................................you have to be civilized to use one. 

civilized

adjective

1. 1.

   at an advanced stage of social and cultural development.

   "a civilized society"

   synonyms: enlightened, educated, advanced, developed, cultured

   "a civilized society"

[gracieallen01]

Oh, I see.  I sort of prefer to take the expense off of taxes - one can with a landline.  And, I don't have to figure in with the cost of goods the cost of a cell and the 'plan' - helps to keep prices down.  Yes, I suppose 'civilized', nowadays, is throwing money away, needlessly, for convenience.

I can imagine that is why so many drivers are swerving down the road - so excited about getting a sale and having to do all that work while driving.  And, at a restaurant, it is so romantic to hear Ka-ching in the background.  Just think, you can take all of your social media out with you when you go to a movie.

Thanks, I think I will stay an uncivilized dinosaur. 

[getitright1234]

Sorry, that Cell phones are a problem for you.   Remember, the topic of my post:  Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?  

I presume, your reply:  NO

[southern*sweet*tea]

Me personally, no. There are no real seller tools to use in the app, or at least if there are I can't find them.  I just prefer my desktop with a 21 inch monitor so I can actually SEE what I'm doing.  And since I really don't use my phone anyway, it's just not something I think about.  I  turn it on and take it with me when I go out, otherwise it sits on the table in the living room, or on the nightstand so I can listen to music at night - Jackie Gleason is nice to fall asleep to 🙂

If it works for others, that's cool!

My problem is with the people that are so totally absorbed in their phones that they are clueless as to what's going on around them - which seems to be more and more and more and more people.

[parkersparrow]

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@getitright1234 wrote:

Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?

I recently had an eBay poster attempt to mock me for using my cell phone to conduct some of my eBay business.  I know I have seen other Sellers who proudly use their cell phone as a tool to aid them.  Below is a list of what I do with my cell phone.    Do you do the same and please share if you have more to add.  

1.  Prompt response to buyers’ messages when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

2. Prompt response to buyers offers when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

3. The prompt creation of shipping labels, label that can be emailed to a copier center for print, and only pay 5-ten cents per page for labels, rather than using and paying the high price of ink and/or a printer.  

4.  Immediate Research items while in stores, auctions, estate sales, garage sales to determine should I buy for resale. 

5.  The immediate creation of a listings, all while having breakfast, lunch or dinner when away from your desktop/laptop.

6.  Taking pictures to download to my desktop/laptop.  

So, if you got a Cell phone and you are not using it to do any of the things listed above:  to run or enhance the running your online business, then you are not keeping up with the times.    The efficiency aspect is a WIN WIN! 

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This is just a suggestion about number 6.  You can start the listing on you computer/laptop. Then if you need to add a new photo from your cell phone, just save as a draft and continue on the phone app. That way you save some time. 

[luxe_beauty_4_less]

I use mine for 1,2,4, & 6

[this*old*attic]

I pretty much use my phone exclusively.

Why did you let them get under your skin?

[lintbrush*]

I use my phone to do a few of things on your list.

I check things while out scouting items.

I reply to messages from buyers if I'm out for several hours - especially if I cannot answer their question right then and there because, well, I'm out.  I let them know when I'll be able to address their question properly.

I haven't accepted any Best Offers via phone, but that's because I rarely use it.

I like hearing the cha-ching noise.  It lets me know I've got work to do (packing/shipping).  I'm not always in front of my computer.  It's especially helpful at night when I've shut down the laptop but have to get something out the next morning to meet one-day handling. 

I don't use it to list because I use TurboLister.

And no, I don't take my phone out while I'm driving, while out to dinner, while at the movies, and I will not use it if I'm at a checkout (unless it's self-service) or anywhere that I'm in front of a real life human being.  I even garden and mow the lawn without my phone on my person.

[gracieallen01]

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@getitright1234 wrote:

Sorry, that Cell phones are a problem for you.   Remember, the topic of my post:  Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?  

I presume, your reply:  NO

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Oh, please, cells aren't a problem for me.  I was carrying a transportable back in the 90s.  I only use a couple of platforms and my website, so I don't need a smartphone - my flip phone works quite well and, though I could connect to the net with it, I seldom even carry it.

Tech I have no use for, I don't bother with, for a 'civilized society' or social media or whatever.  A line from a favorite movie is "the telephone has no constitutional right to be answered".  Neither does it have a right to be a primary factor in my life.  If it works for you, knock your light out, as they say.  Glad if it does! 

[Anonymous]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

Here is the post that the OP is talking about being mocked.

"I can help you with the seller hub totals you are requesting but I can not help you with running an eBay business from a cell phone."

Good Luck Selling!

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I don't see how that's mocking - but I think that's your point.

The app is (in my opinion) not a functional tool for running a business. That doesn't mean I don't rely on my phone for certain aspects of selling, but I don't use it to run my business - especially the financials.

[gracieallen01]

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@getitright1234 wrote:

Sorry, that Cell phones are a problem for you.   Remember, the topic of my post:  Does Using Your Cell Phone Help You with Your eBay Business?  

I presume, your reply:  NO

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Yes, you are correct - No. 

[gdiesel70]

I am a full-time seller and use my iPhone to run 99% of my online selling business on two platforms. I list exclusively using the eBay iOS app  since 2012. As well, I use my phone to make all of my online purchases which is pretty much everything except groceries because I like to squish the fruit before I buy it.

 IMO, the eBay desktop version is  clunky and difficult to navigate for both listing and buying.  

I am online 24/7.  I am on the ebay app from 11am to 5am and send offers to watchers throughout the day.

I wear my phone on my wrist like a watch, sleep with it under my pillow, and only put it down when driving.

-I do keep it on silent mode so the alerts don’t distract people around me.

My bookkeeping and mileage is managed through an app called Taxbot. I use my phone to research and learn about new niches, stay up to date with trends and browse for buying opportunities. During my “free” time I listen to reseller podcasts, watch how-to videos on YouTube (how to fix, repair, clean, test, photograph, etc.), get immediate alerts when something is listed online that I can buy to resell. 

1.  Prompt response to buyers’ messages when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

Within minutes. I believe a fast response  boosts visibility. 

2. Prompt response to buyers offers when you the Seller are out and about, away from your desktop/laptop.

I don’t use best offer but I do receive offers on things throughout the day. If it’s a reasonable offer then I respond with offer  as quickly as possible and try to get that sale to keep my money moving.  The buyer isn’t going to wait for me to respond because we live in an era of instant gratification and whether I agree with it, that it is how it is and so I adapt. 

3. The prompt creation of shipping labels, label that can be emailed to a copier center for print, and only pay 5-ten cents per page for labels, rather than using and paying the high price of ink and/or a printer.  

I print and pack within minutes of getting a sale when I’m home and print right from my phone “send label to printer”.  (I believe this helps with visibility.) But I prefer using the computer so I can print an invoice. My labels come out the same regardless of the device.  

4.  Immediate Research items while in stores, auctions, estate sales, garage sales to determine should I buy for resale. 

Yes. Not because I don’t know my niche, but because I want to  know what the current selling price is. Lately, I find myself leaving once profitable things behind behind prices have tanked. 

5.  The immediate creation of a listings, all while having breakfast, lunch or dinner when away from your desktop/laptop.

On the bike at the gym, long road trips, in bed, on the toilet, while getting my hair done, etc..

6.  Taking pictures to download to my desktop/laptop.  

Yes. Upload straight to phone, bypass the computer.