eBay

kaykakfs · ‎03-01-2019

Welcome to the Scrounge Lounge March 2019 Edition

Our History: The Scrounge Lounge formed on the old Auction Listings board in 2003.

Who are we? Ebay buyers and sellers who love the thrill of the hunt and the thrill of the $ELL.
We find treasures in the usual, and at times, unusual places.
Here in the Lounge we share our finds, talk about sales, share our successes and our mistakes, we ask and answer questions, help identify widgets, and we'd love to hear about all your scrounging adventures!

turquoisetulips · ‎03-22-2019

@sunfarmer wrote:
Yes sales are completely dead. I have not listed anything new so it is probably my fault but wow they just stopped.

Here too - Sales are just not happening . In fact I haven't even gained a single watcher on anything new I've listed in over a week,, which is very odd . I have about 132 listings , most of it is themed jewelry items that I made myself . From my searches there's not a giant amount of competition for what I sell ,, sometimes there's no competition . I've tried all the tricks to boost sales from free shipping , promotions to 30 day free returns but things continue to be bleak . However in keeping with the light hearted theme of this thread I live in southern Ca. where we generally only have one season - warm ,, and Spring has certainly sprung ! 🙂 Tulips

kaykakfs · ‎03-22-2019

Pat, happy birthday to your son.
Nothing makes me feel older than my DD's birthday. Which is a week from Monday.

Sun, you nailed it with your boiling frog anology. That's exactly what it's like. *sigh*

I wondered, with my recent return, how auto return shipping works. Since the item was sent in a disguised PM padded envelope I had to use my own packaging and the weight was different. I looked at the return label and it didn't show a weight. I think it was marked "return shipment" which made me wonder if ebay gets a deal (flat rate) or it goes by weight or the original weight is assumed.

Funny thing is that MOST companies no longer offer FREE returns. Including the river. Unless there is a problem (damage, wrong item, etc) there is a charge for return postage. When you use the label provided automatically the fixed rate cost is subracted from your refund. Sometimes it's more expensive than self-shipping. So returns, yes, I get that it's an important perk of shopping. But free... not so much.

dtexley3 · ‎03-22-2019

re: free returns. Yup, once again eBay is about 2 years behind the curve. Most have learned it just encourages flaky buyers and outright fraud. eBay may figure that out in 5 or 6 years if they are even still around by then.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

kaykakfs · ‎03-22-2019

The site that comes to mind is one that sells shoes. It used to offer free shipping both ways. I have a difficult to fit foot and took advantage of the opportunity to try different shoes without risk. I still buy ny sneakers online. But I stick with what I know and seldom if ever return anything.
I always thought it was crazy. Shoes are heavy. But, when the service was available I used it, guilt free.

hey, tulips, I didn't mean to ignore you. you snuck in without me seeing. Welcome to the Lounge. You have some really nice charms. Maybe some of the Disney ones could be marketed as Easter Basket clip-ons (?) I hope sales pick up.

patd3283 · ‎03-22-2019

Welcome to the Lounge Tulips!

Yes, sales certainly suck. Mine are down 66% from last month and only 1 new watcher since 3/8. Figure I'm on a broken server 😞 No free listings so letting listings go down from about 200. Feel that the bay has sucked the blood out of my efforts and added more work even on my long tail items. Fortunately, we don't need it to survive but a lot of people do.

Pat, if you really want to feel old, our kids will be 55 and 46 this year...

M*M, yep, have a lot of pilots in the family. One neice and her husband are both pilots for Delta. Another nephew is assigned to the Thai AF and flies C130s. He, his wife and 4 kids have enjoyed living in Thailand for the past 3 years. Think they have one more year to go.

The weather has been gorgeous; warm days, cool evenings, cherry tree and redbuds blooming like crazy. Love that it is still light at 7pm.

Sun, the reports don't look rosy for eastern Nebraska and the upper midwest. It has been a while since the area was inundated with so much water and flooding. Looks like the cost of beef and a number of things will be going up. Have you been able to get your early planting done? They are getting ready to harvest the winter wheat here.

Enough rambling.

Patd

tea_for_moosie · ‎03-22-2019

Sounds like it is not a good time for old Moosie (teacups) to get back into selling.

kaykakfs · ‎03-22-2019

Hello Teacups. LTNS. How are you?
Can't sell what you don't list. Quoting Bob, there.
I started back up in November and though sales have dropped off some in March, they continue to trickle in. I say go for it. With 50 free per month you've got nothing to lose.

sunfarmer · ‎03-22-2019

Nope on the early work. Snow on the ground and the ground has been frozen up until now. Right now we are way too muddy and still have some snow. Soon though we can go out and get to work.

Our winter wheat gets planted in September and October so is out there waiting for warmer weather. Last two days have been very warm. 65 yesterday. Summer weather.

HI Teacups. Long time no see. Hope you stay to chat.

Hi Tulips welcome. Hope sales pick up. Soon. Just have to keep trying. I had three sales yesterday and one today so far. Ebay just does not use enough servers and so we are all in hiding most of the time. They are saving on Electricity. Yep really. Stupid but true.

mississippi*mercantile · ‎03-23-2019

Here's to a great crop(s), Sun!

Hi TeaCups! Good to "See" you!

Welcome newcomers! Can't see your ID from here, sorry.

I'm about ready to drive out of here, my second overnight tonight, only a couple people at home, so easy..at least it's sunny, but chilly too, roads suck as usual. I could go on a different blacktop road and miss about half of it, which I think I will do today if I get out of here on time.

gotta run to the PO and check air in tires.

Need oil change. note to self.

I have a little time...

Pat that's very cool about all your family member pilots and some in Thailand too. Interesting family! My uncles were good mechanics, one was an airplane mechanic and designed planes, he was my favorite uncle, Stewy, my mom's brother, she had 3, no sisters.

I think ebay charged me $3. and a few cents to mail a return ship label out.

I don't have a printer, but the whole thing is hand holding to me.

I am going to sell that hankie for more than she paid LOL

add about $50 to it. I think so.

*madison · ‎03-24-2019

I can't take it anymore, I'm so sick of hearing about it, I'm really going insane, so I'm leaving the UK.

Why?

Brexit

dptreasures · ‎03-25-2019

Morning All

Hi Tulips 🙂

Madison, we heard about that on the news yesterday...

Nice sunny day here but on the cool side. Much better than having a dark, grey rainy day or S*** day tho, so won't complain

Have errands to run today after going to the po...

Have to try to find something for MIL who is having her 94th B-day next month.. Very hard to buy for. Doesn't like flowers, doesn't like any of the clothes I buy her & can't really have candy.

I normally figure out something though.

Wish me luck !

xoxoterri · ‎03-25-2019

Good morning everyone. I was wondering if anyone has had their auction listings automatically relist? Well, I had 6 automatically relist last night. Seen it on my phone so I ended them. Had items bagged for donation already. I did not have the box checked for automatically relist up to 8 times either.

kaykakfs · ‎03-25-2019

Madison, I feel for you. But, there are so many words that could be inserted in the place of UK and Brexit... there is just so much to complain about these days.

Terri, I caught wind of that, somewhere, maybe one of the GTC threads (?)
I just checked. Best I can tell, no auto relists. But I don't currently have any auction-style listings running. I wonder how the bay will spin this move.

Pat, based on some of the things you recently mentioned about your MIL, I'd bet that a shopping trip or meal out would be a great birthday gift.

kaykakfs · ‎03-25-2019

Terri, I'm guessing the relists were charged a listing fee (or subtracted from your allowance). Did you contact ebay? Did they credit you?

Unfair charges. That's going to be the next round of nightmare threads.

At first I thought, simple, just manually end the items before they renew. But there probably isn't a column that says "renews in 2 days" like there is a column that states "ends in 2 days." I can still work around it but it will be more time consuming that I originally thought.