Selling for snowbirds

[websight.2020]

I am retired from non-eBay work. We spend some weeks each year on the West Coast. My plan is to take several boxes of stuff with when we travel there -- items that are already up for auction or Buy-It-Now and/or in my store. I will change the address on eBay to the West Coast address so that the shipping is correctly calculated.

So, since I am simply shipping from there, not listing anything new, am I correct that all my sales are associated with my everyday location, and that I am not somehow establishing a business presence on the West Coast?

[wastingtime101]

You'll also need to update the location on your listings (not just your address in account settings) to ensure accurate shipping quotes and estimates - you can do that using the bulk editor or individually at the bottom of the listing page.

[mr_lincoln]

@websight.2020   That is a very good question, eBay has 5 address inputs that Sellers can use and one of them is the "Ship from" address which CAN differ from the account registration address.   If you drop shipped from another country you would NOT be establishing a business presence there.  While I don't know California's laws I would be surprised if they had one that stated anyone visiting their state for an extended period of time and shipped packages from there that were sold on the internet would have to obtain a special license ... they wouldn't know unless eBay told them ...

Mr. L

[katzrul15]

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@websight.2020 wrote:

I am retired from non-eBay work. We spend some weeks each year on the West Coast. My plan is to take several boxes of stuff with when we travel there -- items that are already up for auction or Buy-It-Now and/or in my store. I will change the address on eBay to the West Coast address so that the shipping is correctly calculated.

So, since I am simply shipping from there, not listing anything new, am I correct that all my sales are associated with my everyday location, and that I am not somehow establishing a business presence on the West Coast?

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Different ID?  Did not see anything for sale on this one.

Would take a small amount of shipping/packing materials with you to get you started for when you first settle in.  Might avoid it being hectic if something sells while in transition.

Enjoy your time on the west coast.........I would be tempted to just relax, put my items on Time Away and not sell while away!

[janet9988]

You will need to put your listings on time away during your transfer as you will need the correct ship from/item location to be correct BEFORE a buyer commits to buy the item.

[websight.2020]

Hey Katz.....

Now that I am officially retired, I am restarting my biz after 15 years away from eBay selling. I having listings waiting to go up, but I am trying to consider potential issues & answer all my questions before I start. I go by the saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Obviously, this question is forward-looking, not immediate, but I thought of it today, so I asked.

[reallynicestamps]

While you are in transit, use not only Time Away, but hide the listings because Buyers Don't Read™ and you can end up with a neg because someone got impatient.

[websight.2020]

Janet...I will actually have to start Time Away about a week in advance in order to cover the 4 days buyers have to make their payments for purchases already competed and then to mail the package(s) out. Even so, things could be a little messy if their are any returns in transit and they do not arrive before the mail is held or forwarded. Between then & the arrival on the west coast, I can get the address changes done that were pointed out in the earlier replies. We are driving, so when we are within a couple days, I can reopen the account so we can hit the ground running. We have packing materials &boxes already there.

[wastingtime101]

You'll want to go into your settings here @websight.2020 and enable RMAs. This will give you the opportunity to review the return address before a return shipping label is provided to the buyer. I think this will be essential for you to handle returns while dealing with a dual-residence.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@websight.2020 

You be careful traveling ( west coast here, having a dust storm right now) but anyway, our 

@mr_lincoln brought up a very good point on another post about IP addys, Mr. Lincoln, should the OP be concerned with working on ebay while traveling and the WiFi at say hotels or rest stops? Just curious and thanks.

[mr_lincoln]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@websight.2020 

You be careful traveling ( west coast here, having a dust storm right now) but anyway, our 

@mr_lincoln brought up a very good point on another post about IP addys, Mr. Lincoln, should the OP be concerned with working on ebay while traveling and the WiFi at say hotels or rest stops? Just curious and thanks.

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@silverstatetreasureboxes   I did that for a couple of years at Hotels  while on business trips, I would log in using their internet access without issue.  At the time I did not know about how accounts were "associated".

[websight.2020]

I was just looking over old messages and I thought of something that will make things much easier.

Other than how many days it will take for someone to get a package (if by Priority Mail, it should not be significantly different between CA & OH), if the listings have free shipping, there will be no issues (for the buyers) with the change of shipping address.

As for the "Time Away" option, I have gone into listings that I was considering buying, and occasionally, I can put a listing on my watch list or even send a best offer, and yet it will not allow my to either bid or do a Buy-It-Now. I am assuming that this is NOT the default for the Time Away option, since "reallynicestamps" reply ("...but hide the listings because Buyers Don't Read™ and you can end up with a neg because someone got impatient) would indicate that someone bought something and had to wait extra days for me to ship the stuff once I reached CA. If I set up my Time Away to where they cannot bid or outright buy anything, then I would not have that "impatience issue" (they wouldn't be waiting for a package), and thus no transaction to which they could leave a negative feedback.....I will execute the Time Away the day we leave, AFTER I have made sure that any purchases have been finalized and mailed that day.

[femmefan1946]

Since you have not sold for a year or so, are you signed up for Managed Payments?

Without that, eBay cannot transfer money to your checking account.

You should also be aware that as an occasional or returning seller, your payments will be Held for up to 30 days against your performance.

[inhawaii]

This thread is  over a year old!

[wastingtime101]

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@websight.2020 wrote:

I was just looking over old messages and I thought of something that will make things much easier.

Other than how many days it will take for someone to get a package (if by Priority Mail, it should not be significantly different between CA & OH), if the listings have free shipping, there will be no issues (for the buyers) with the change of shipping address.

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I said above, "You'll also need to update the location on your listings (not just your address in account settings) to ensure accurate shipping quotes and estimates - you can do that using the bulk editor or individually at the bottom of the listing page."

But the other factor is you don't want to get hit for violating eBay's drop-shipping policies if you suddenly start shipping from a different state and didn't first update that location on your listings.

Since you said you'll be using Time Away you won't have to worry about any of that, but should you choose to take items with you, you'll need to update the item location on your listings.