Ep 190 || Finding Free Inventory & Seller Meet-up Restart

[podcast_team]

eBay seller Diane Lassonde shares how she finds things to sell and doesn’t pay a penny for them. We’ll also talk about how to restart face-to-face seller meet ups after two years of virtual meetings. And Griff and Brian read your emails!

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Episode Links:
How to issue a refund
eBay Up and Running Grant Application Page
Diane Lassonde’s eBay Store
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Brian: I'm Brian.

Griff: I'm Griff and this is the eBay for Business Podcast, your weekly source for the information and inspiration to start, run and grow a business on the world's most powerful marketplace. And this is episode 190 and Brian you are back in the studio.

Brian: I am, I think for..

Griff: I think you're the permanent host.

Brian: No. I'm not. So normally Griff, I would ask who's on deck, but I won't this week because I know our guest.

Griff: And our guest this week is?

Brian: You and I are waiting for eBay seller. Diane Lassonde to join us here in the podcast studio.

Griff: Tell us a little bit about our guest.

Brian: She actually has been a long time seller on eBay. She runs a meetup group in Massachusetts, passionate eBay seller. Great energy too.

Griff: We'll find out. What's in the news, Brian?

Brian: Well, the first item in the news this week is a reminder about an upcoming change to fees.

Griff: Uh, oh.

Brian: Yeah. Normally it's uh oh, but not this time. This is good news. In our 2022 Winter Seller Update, we announced that starting May 23rd, 2022, when you issue a partial refund to a buyer, it will automatically credit a prorated portion of your final value fee based on the adjusted total amount of the sale.

Griff: Well, that Is good news.

Brian: It is. In addition, we'll automatically credit prorated portions of other applicable fees, including promoted listings, standard and international fees for global sellers.

Griff: Well, that's fantastic.

Brian: One note. There's always a caveat, Isn't there? Other fees, such as the 30 cent per order fee, Promoted Listings Express fee and Promoted Listings Advanced fee will not be refunded.

Griff: All right. So there's that, but it's still good news.

Brian: It is.

Griff: And the start date again?

Brian: The credits will appear in your account, starting May 23rd.

Griff: Yeah and I'm gonna put a link to the help page. That explains how to issue a refund, partial or total to a buyer. We're gonna put that link in the transcript for this episode 190. It's one nine Oh, that's 10 to the big two O. BI Centennial.

Brian: One nine O. Also in the news this week, eBay announced the launch of its third annual Up & Running Grants Program and partnership with Hello Alice, the UNR Grant Program. We love our acronyms.

Griff: I know I love them.

Brian: Was created to encourage and support US small businesses with the resources they need to scale, grow and thrive online.

Griff: Wow. So the Up & Running Grants are in their third year now. I wonder how much money has been awarded to date?

Brian: Well, funny you should ask, cuz I was just about to say that since 2020 eBay's Up & Running Grants have committed 1.5 million in funding to 150 small business sellers across the United States.

Griff: Yikes! I had no idea it was that much money.

Brian: Yeah. This year eBay's 2022 Up & Running Grants will award $10,000 Grants each to 50 active eBay small business sellers in the US for business needs such as physical and digital store improvements, new equipment and inventory technology, hiring and training to support their success. In addition to the $10,000 recipients receive premium access to guided online learning content through the eBay Academy and direct training and coaching from expert sellers and small business growth advocates.

Griff: If I only, I didn't work for eBay, I could apply.

Brian: You could but please don't just yet. All interested in eligible small business owners, so that's you, our listeners, can apply for the grants online starting today through June 10th, 2022. Go to helloalice.com/partners/ebay/and submit your application today. Well, it's not today though, is it?

Griff: No, you can submit your application today, right?

Brian: Um, can apply starting today through June 10th. Yes. It's through June 10th.

Griff: It's through June 10th. After June 10th, you can't apply for this. You'll be locked out. Your chances of winning are now nil. You had a chance up until June 10th, but then you forgot and you didn't submit it. ( using Boston accent) And where's that accent coming from? Is our guest waiting for us? But after June 10th, if you haven't submitted your application, you are clean out of luck!

Brian: So apply..

Griff: Now. And we'll put that link in case you forgot it.

Brian: And for me, I just got a text. Yeah. Our guest Diane is here and waiting downstairs.

Griff: Excellent. You go meet her Brian and I'll get the studio. I'll tidy it up and nice and ready.

Brian: Sounds good.

Griff: Okay.

Griff: Every now and then we get a visitor who actually comes on to the campus and stops by the studio. It's usually an eBay seller and we love to sit and talk with them. And today is no different. We kind of knew that Diane was showing up. Brian's been in communication and so today's the day and joining us for little conversation about her experience on eBay and how much the community means to her is eBay seller. Diane Lassonde, welcome Diane. Thank

Diane: Thank You.

Brian: Welcome.

Griff: Tell everyone your username.

Diane: My username is ShopCreationsUnlimited.

Griff: And you are based in?

Diane: Boston, Massachusetts.

Griff: By the end of this interview, it's already starting. .(speaks with Boston accent).

Diane: It's starting.

Griff: It's already starting with me.

Diane: It's starting grips talking Boston.

Griff: Yeah, I gotta, I gotta try to avoid that. Cuz people think I'm making fun of them, which in a sense I am, but...

Brian: Which is really means you're just making fun of yourself.

Griff: Of course, of course.

Brian: So back to the 13 year old Griff.

Griff: And so Diane, what brings you to California?

Diane: Well, we came here for a wedding in LA and so we decided to make it a coast trip. We went up the Pacific coast highway and we're here now. And then we're gonna end in San Francisco.

Griff: A lot of us are gonna end in San Francisco. (laugh) Who's running the business while you're gone?

Diane: Right now. I have it on vacation.

Griff: Time Away.

Diane: Time Away. Which I like that new setting. I think that's really convenient because you're handling time changes as the days get less. I like that because before, when you would do time away, you could only do like 500 at a time to change your handling time.

Griff: Right. It was hard.

Diane: It was harder. So this is like a piece of cake.

Griff: I agree. It was a great improvement.

Brian: And it was one of the number one or if not the number one ask from sellers for years and years and years to improve that functionality.

Griff: Yeah. And it only took us years and years and years to improve it.

Brian: But we did.

Griff: But we did. And now Diane can enjoy her first visit to California.

Griff: Are You making sales while you're away?

Diane: Yes. Not as many. I have to say probably not as many, and I know myself, I've done the same thing I've looked and if a seller's away, I might need it sooner than that time when they're gonna ship, but I'm still getting sales. So I have over 4,000 items in my store. We list every day.

Griff: That's a lot of items. Are they all one of a kind?

Diane: Pretty much. Yes.

Griff: How did you get them all listed? I'm trying to keep over 100?

Diane: Well, that's funny that you say that because when I was first building this up, cuz I had a brick and mortar store and then I came back to doing eBay. I was on one of the groups and someone had 750 feedback. And I was like, how did they do that? And then someone else had 900 items or something and whatever group I was in. And I thought I have to message them to see how they did that. And the person just said one listing at a time. And that's really all it is. If you are not listing it, it's not there to sell.

Griff: It sits in a death pile.

Diane: Mm-hmm .

Griff: I got death piles. Actually. I was telling someone earlier today they were asking about death piles. And I said, actually I have a whole graveyard. My entire property is nothing but death piles.

Brian: You have a garage pile.

Griff: Why are we bringing this up? I feel terrible now. Like I have to end this interview and go list.

Diane: No, well I have that too. A pile, everyone, I think everyone has a pile. And sometimes I think you need to go through that and say, well, I'm never gonna do this and just give it away or give it to another seller. My thing is always to try to get my items for free.

Griff: Okay. I'm speechless. How do you do that?

Diane: I was wondering, I've never heard you speechless before. It was a little scary.

Brian: I know he went, he did go silent there for a few seconds. He did with a little puzzled look on his face.

Diane: Dead air.

Griff: What am I doing? I could be finding stuff for free.

Brian: This, this is why he likes the podcast though, because he can always cut out the dead air.

Griff: I can't cut that out. Cuz we were talking, but how do you find stuff for free?

Diane: Oh, very easy. There's garage apps that you can pinpoint from your zip code and it tells you all the yard sales are well, all spent like two weeks getting their stuff, ready to get rid of it. They want it gone. So you go on the last day and you say to them, I will get this gone for you. And they can sometimes say, oh well how much? And I say, oh no, no. I was just gonna like get rid of it for you. And then they'll either say yes, or how about 50 bucks or whatever.

Griff: Some low, low price.

Diane: Right. Yeah. Or then you can renegotiate, like you can have all that for free, but I wanna sell this. Okay. But when you come back to pick it up, they may have said, oh, I don't really just take it. And that's the just take it is the more often than not. The other thing that you do, if you're afraid to talk to them..

Griff: I don't think you are though.

Diane: I'm not, but I know people don't wanna go up and say, they're a reseller. I'm not quite sure why. I think that's the first thing you should do because I ran a estate business and I would've loved it. If you said, I will take all your clothes at the end of this, I will take all your hard goods at the end of this. If you make these arrangements with people, you can get tons of stuff for free. And then that's why I say, if you are in your death pile or your money pile or your profit pile or whatever you call it, you can choose. Then I got it free. I know Brian sells sports blankets or whatever sporting goods or?

Griff: Do you?

Diane: I don't know.

Brian: Know. Nancy would more than me. She's the Golden State Warriors fan.

Diane: Yeah. So I would just say, Hey, you want this bag of stuff and pass on the wealth.

Griff: A bag of stuff.

Brian: Hmm. Like when my mother passed and we had stuff and you just need to move stuff out of a house and so you just half it, it needs to get out of the house. It's a really good strategy at the end of the day, that person just needs it moved. Either they're gonna move it or you're gonna do it for them.

Diane: Right. And they're thankful. They really are thankful.

Griff: Yeah. I can imagine myself being in a situation where I have to move deadlines are coming up and I've played with this stuff now and it's the stuff that's left and look, I don't really care. Just take it. And in fact, I did that once I had totally forgotten. I had a yard sale at a house where I was moving into another house here in San Jose. And by midday, I was just saying, you like that, take it home. And people were like ecstatic. I got rid of everything. I didn't make any money, but I got rid of everything.

Diane: And estate sale companies have different arrangements with the person that they're doing the sale for. So some people want the things back. Some people just want it all gone. The people that wanted it gone on the last day I would put on Craigslist, curb alert, C U R B.

Griff: No, we understood you.

Brian: Even I got it. My mother's from Worcester.

Diane: Curb Alert. I wasn't sure if it translated. And everything free from twelve to three. Not a stick was left in the house. People came from everywhere and cleaned the house out. So why wouldn't you want your friends or your reselling community, be the people that are the recipients of your giveaways. So if you're sitting at home right now with profit piles, that you are never gonna sell, join one of the Facebook groups and see if other people want it. Maybe you could trade inventory and then again, you're not paying for it.

Brian: And it removes some stress. Cuz I know that I have, it's not a death pile, but it's just a pile. And every time I look at those 20 plus eBay shirts that I pulled out and said, I'm gonna list these. There's just a little bit of stress around it, right? Like, okay, I should do it. When am I gonna get to it? And I can imagine if you really have a death pile, it's a lot more stress on you.

Griff: Yeah. I have a death pile, but they may cream for it. So it's not so bad right now.

Diane:

Griff: Can't believe I went there before we started the recorder earlier on, we were talking about community and you had some thoughts and I thought it'd be good to share them. Specifically about how Diana in the last two years, a lot of people who relied on meeting with other sellers face to face, haven't been able to do that.

Diane: Right. I'm immune compromised. And I was not able to go out at all during the pandemic. I think you get institutionalized by staying in the, in your house that long. So going out is daunting. My daughter and I team up and we meet every week to go over, you know, the things that we accomplished every week, we do it on Friday and this one week she's like, mom, I gotta pick a word for the year. And I'm like, OK, I don't know what you're talking about. Okay. I just go, uh, okay, that's fine. I'm like, all right. What, what does that mean? She goes, you just think about something that you want to like, if it smile more like so smile or happy or one of those things could be your word. I thought about it. And I said, I think it's fearless. And so that was my word. And I didn't mean I was gonna sky dive and jump out of a plane or any of that.

Brian: Bungee Cord.

Diane: Yeah. No, not that kind, but fear less. All of us, we used to go to our meetup and it was wonderful and we'd have dinner and we'd have Brian come and speak and it was great. And now we're back in our basement again and not going out and fearing still to go out. And I think there's a lot of people that are like that. All the meetup groups, not all but most have not had meetings yet. So I think there's a couple that have, but it's all about rebuilding. And how do you face that fear of getting out of your home and to go and meet other people again. And I think we really need to do that because the most successful people are the people who meet with each other and talk about what they did or what changes were made or how they understood something or how they didn't understand it. And then they get to feel better.

Brian: And improve their business. Earlier you were talking about how, you know, you IM'd someone or sent them a note and said, how did you get there? And those kinds of conversations can happen very easily when you're in person.

Diane: Right.

Griff: We used to have an event here on campus with a local group.

Brian: Yes. I showed Diane where we met.

Griff: Unfortunately we haven't had it for two years. I don't know if we're gonna be having it at all again this year

Brian: Until they really allow non-employees on campus. We got a special, I was gonna say dispensation, but uh, exception for Diane since she was in California.

Diane: Woo .

Griff: It's like, we are the Catholic church.

Brian: Lots of rules.

Griff: Yeah, exactly. I understand this from my own personal perspective, I've gotten very used to being at home alone.

Diane: Yeah. I think that you need to, like, if you're not ready to go out and be at a group meeting or a group function, meet somebody on one of the Facebook groups that's has similar interests. As you get a buddy, get someone who you can challenge. I had Trish Glenn and she helps me run the new England eBay Meetup Group. And for the longest time she wanted to beat me. She would take my phone and look at the sales and go, oh, didn't do it. Oh, she'd get so upset.

Griff: You mean beat you in sales? Not beat you physically. I just want to make that clear.

Diane: No. She probably wanted to beat me physically too after I beat her in sales.

Brian: But Super sale Trish, she's been on a couple panels and talked to some of our new employees as well and super energetic. Super competitive.

Diane: Oh yes. But it helps because guess what? She's beat me and she's kept on beating me for which is amazing. And I'm so happy for her and that's all it's about. You just need someone to give you that push, she needed a little push to get going..

Griff: And now she's unstoppable.

Diane: She wanted to beat me. And that was her goal.

Griff: Well, it's a, it's an admirable goal, but you're still selling.

Diane: Oh yeah. I just can't beat her anymore.

Griff: Is your group gonna start meeting again? Do you think?

Diane: Well, I hope so. I think all the groups need to rebuild now, and this is the time when we all have to trust that we can go out and see each other. If you can't, we may do it both ways. Have it on the Bevy Platform and at the place and see who feels comfortable coming out.

Griff: Like a hybrid event.

Diane: Right.

Brian: And we're starting to see it. I know that the Denver group is having an in-person meeting on May 12th. Then I think Dan Crawford just had an event in Atlanta with 60 plus sellers. So it's it's beginning, but I think Diane you're right. It's almost like everybody's gotta start over. After two years of doing Zoom calls and candidly people got tired of the Zoom calls. I mean, it kind of got a little old after a while.

Griff: I have to disagree only for myself personally. I love Zoom. I've never gotten tired of it. I think it's that Brady Bunch feature that I feel like I'm part of, you know, this, that it's the Hollywood Squares! and I always wish I could be in the middle where Paul used to be. If they have the events back on campus again, I will come.

Brian: I'm sure that as soon as we are permitted to have non-employees back on campus, we'll start again. Sherri and Maria will be reaching out to me saying, okay, when can we schedule one?

Griff: Yeah, cause this group, the local group has changed hands a few times, I think.

Brian: Yes.

Diane: Yeah. Well, I think we also need to recruit people to these groups.

Griff: Oh yes.

Diane: Because they are fabulous and most of them have like a Facebook page also that aligns with the Bevy Platform Meeting. You can go on and click on seller events and go find your area and join a group that's near you

Griff: Or start a group.

Brian: Yeah. If you don't see one in your area, there's a wanna start a group link at the top of the page. And we actually held off sending invites out for a little while because everything was so Zoom. And we saw a lot of people, I jumped on a call for the Chicago group once and there were like four people from the San Jose meeting. And so there were a lot of people kind of going to other groups. And so next week is when we're sending out for starting up groups where people have said, Hey, I wanna lead a group in this location. And my expectation is we'll see more of that.

Diane: Right. And if you're afraid to do that, don't be. It's just like going for coffee. You don't have to know everything. eBay will help support you and answer any questions that you have. It's just about getting out there and doing it.

Brian: And if you go to seller events forward slash eBay, I always get the URL mixed up.

Griff: You should know this.

Brian: ebay.com/sellerevents

Diane: See the comments down below.

Brian: Exactly. We will include a link in the transcript.

Griff: For this episode, which by the way, this is episode 190.

Brian: And the nice thing about the Bey platform is I think sometimes people think, oh, it's gotta be this really formal educational thing. And it doesn't. You could say, I'm gonna meet at the local coffee shop at 11:00 AM on Friday morning and anybody else, who's an eBay seller, come meet me If you want to talk eBay. And it can start as small as that. It doesn't have to be some big formal thing.

Griff: A lot of them start that small. And then they grow over time. Diane, what happens at a typical meeting that you used to have when they were in person?

Diane: So we meet at a restaurant and they would have their own dinner, pay for their own dinner. And we'd have a guest speaker come or we'd have like Brian or Katie and Vicky or Danna came as well doing Worth Point.

Griff: Hi caliber guest.

Brian: Except for that Brian guy.

Griff: So modest.

Diane: So then we'd also, when we didn't have guests, we would do like your photography lesson. We would do a shipping lesson and then afterwards we'd break out and just talk to the speakers. Take pictures, hang out, learn from each other.

Griff: How long would they last normally?

Diane: Probably three hours maybe.

Griff: Three. That's a, yeah, that's pretty good.

Diane: Six O Clock including dinner. So they would eat dinner and then that would be like an hour and then we'd have the meeting and then just hanging out in chit chat.

Griff: What restaurant. And what was the meal?

Diane: Audrey's in West Bridgewater. No, East Bridgewater.

Griff: East Bridgewater. Yeah.

Diane: Water. ( Boston accent sounds like wad duh)

Griff: Water. I know how to pronounce it.

Diane: And the meal was..

Griff: What was your fair?

Diane: I would get the carbonara. Oh, it's amazing. But everyone else got chicken parmesan.

Griff: Parmesan, yeah. One of the benefits of going so there was always dinner.

Diane: Yeah.

Griff: Right. If you feed me, I'll come!

Diane: Well, because if you're home and you're by yourself, maybe you're having crackers. Who knows, like tonight you can have something good.

Brian: And the nice thing about the dinners is like you sitting across from somebody else who's an eBay seller or wants to be an eBay seller or, and you learn just even there as well. Sometimes those casual conversations are as, or more important than any formal presentation.

Griff: Yeah I've learned in the past from things I didn't know. Of course you, if you're from eBay, you get barraged with questions. They're either questions or they're critiques.

Diane: I think you just have to know how to turn people around.

Griff: You do.

Diane: Cause you, there is no job. That is perfect. I, I had a brick and mortar store. I got a month's notice to move like that kinda stunk.

Griff: How did you get all your stuff out in more month?

Diane: Oh, it was not easy. And we had crafters that rented space too. So they also had to get their stuff out. So it was a, an ordeal. That wasn't good, right?

Griff: Why did the landlord do this to you?

Diane: They sold the building and didn't even tell me they were selling the building and they has no signs anywhere. No anything. Yeah. But that happened.

Griff: Would you have considered buying it?

Diane: Maybe..

Griff: They didn't even ask you?

Diane: No. And now it's for sale again, kind of happy about that. because they got all my customers, you know, one month we didn't have time to tell people it was before the age of everybody's phone or you'd had to get a written list of people, names and pen and paper. That kind.

Griff: I miss those days.

Brian: You still have your pen and paper.

Griff: I do. I'm a luddite with that. I I'm not organized unless I have something that's written down, especially at my age where I forget everything. Oh, and wait a minute. No, I'm still only 39.

Brian: I was gonna say.

Griff: Not if I wanna attract a younger demographic. Who's tired of listening to Boomers.

Brian: Sometimes those boomers have something good to say.

Griff: Hard-ly.( Spoke with Boston accent)

Diane: Hardly, Oh.. It's gonna be a long week, Brian.

Griff: It is. It's gonna be a long week.

Griff: Diane. You're on a road trip. Where are you going next?

Diane: We're going to San Francisco for two days.

Griff: Have you been?

Diane: Never, I've never been to California. So this whole trip has been beautiful.

Griff: Have you bought anything while you've been on this trip?

Diane: Oh course I have clothes, jewelry.

Griff: For resale, right?

Diane: Lots. No.

Griff: Oh, for to keep. I'm looking at all this turquoise around your neck. It's very, it's very nice.

Diane: Yeah. I always have to wear my signature color.

Griff: And that's a Tiffany turquoise sweater.

Diane: Sure. We could sell it for that. I don't know.

Griff: Well No. I mean, Tiffany uses that colored turquoise for all their boxes. One thing you picked up that you actually have dropped off here, you want to tell us a little bit about this. Which is now part of the studio I hear.

Diane: Yes, he is. Baby Yoda is here to stay.

Brian: And, and this isn't like a little baby Yoda. This is a big Baby Yoda.

Griff: He's almost as big as I am. .

Diane: He really is.

Griff: So he's now our studio mascot, which means I can't sell him on eBay.

Diane: No, I gave him as a gift. So he has to stay.

Griff: And when we take a picture in a moment, we'll make sure we get him in there.

Diane: Okay.

Griff: What's your plans for your business on moving forward in the next year?

Diane: So I have a helper, well, two, actually. One who does all the things that I don't like to do, which gets that death pile out faster. So she does all the clothing costumes and anything like that. Shoes, hats she'll do for me. And so I pay her depending on the, the items, $3 a piece for clothing, she does the whole listing and saves it as a draft. And then I go in and approve it and list it.

Griff: I never thought of that per listing cost. That's brilliant.

Diane: And then, and that's $3 because she has to measure the items then like I do less for hats and shoes. Cause there's less pictures and you don't have to do all the measuring.

Griff: How many listings can she do an hour?

Diane: She probably brings me back 50 or 75 pieces a week. Doing the math in my head right now.

Brian: Since you're giving her $3 an item and then you've got shipping cost and listing cost and all..

Griff: Figures that in as part of the expense.

Brian: Right. How do you ensure that the clothing items are gonna be valuable enough for her to list? Especially since you're getting all this stuff for free.

Diane: Right. I know what I'm giving her. So I try not to, if it's like a tank top, say I'm not gonna give that alone. I'll give it to her with an over shirt or something else that goes with it.

Brian: Ah, smart.

Diane: So that way it comes up in value. I like to try to keep the clothing at like $29 as the bottom price and then the $3 off that. And then if I take 20, I'm still way ahead, cuz I didn't pay for the item. And then another thing that I also do is consignment.

Brian: And when you do consignment, do you have a flat rate or do you charge a variable rate?

Diane: It's 50% after fees. I tell them, I pay once a quarter. I'm not in this to do math. If anyone knows me, knows I hate math.

Brian: Well, that's why you're married to Rick.

Diane: That's right. I don't know how old I am. Anything that has to do with numbers. I'm sorry. I don't know my numbers, but Trish probably knows my numbers. I don't know my numbers.

Griff: Well, as long as somebody does, she's talking about my old, you're talking about my old course about know your numbers. It doesn't say, YOU know your numbers.

Diane: That's why I said, I'm sorry. I don't know my numbers.

Griff: I think there's a lot of sellers who rely on other people who are better at things like bookkeeping, right? Like your husband and that's fine. As long as it's getting done, who cares, who's doing it.

Brian: You're right. That's another source of free inventory and it's not really your inventory, but it it's another way to increase your revenue.

Diane: They did the easy part. They bought it and wore it or did whatever or didn't wear it. I do the hard part. I have to take the pictures. I have to research it. I have to get it listed. Then I have to ship it once it's sold. So I don't really care that you don't want to pay me 50%. Take it and sell it at your yard sale for $5, right. Or $3 or a dollar.

Griff: Or give it away at the end of the day.

Diane: Give it to me.(laugh)

Griff: When I show up and say, well, how did that work out for you?

Diane: Well, I did that with Trish. We bought a gift store. Remember Brian?

Brian: Oh yes.

Diane: I'm always in the look for a deal. The next deal. So this friend of mine was closing one of her stores. She had two gift stores and there was a lot of clothing and that's what Trish sells. I'm like, come on, we gotta go look, let's just see what she has. So we go in and Trish's looking and I'm like, okay, what do you think? We go back to the car, CAR and I go, do you want it? She's like, well, yeah. I said, how much did you wanna pay? She goes $8,000. I go, what? She goes $8,000. I would pay $8,000. I go, okay, I get out of the car. I go back in and I said, I'll give you $3,000. And she's like, oh, I dunno. I said, well, she's gonna get rid of all the rest of the stuff in the store for you too. You know, you're not gonna have to get rid of any of that stuff. You know, shelving and everything. She's like, well, let me think about it. I said, okay. So we left, I get in the car. She goes, what did you do? I go, well, I mean, you were gonna pay like a dollar, a piece. And then some, she called me, she took the offer. She gave me the lease to her store for two months. We had two sales in the store. We made back every single penny that we spent. And then we brought all the rest of the stuff to my garage and had a big yard sale and made even more. And Trisha's still selling the items today and it's all free.

Brian: It's all profit. Now, if you're ever in the Massachusetts area, make sure you check to see if there's a meetup or a seller meeting and stop by it. And you might learn some really good tips from Diane.

Griff: One thing you'll learn, like she just told us is you can learn how to drive. Wait for it. A hard bargain.

Diane: Exactly. Well, I mean, all they can say is no. If you don't ask, you don't know what their number is. They all have a number. They may not, I don't ever know what my number is, but I might figure it out. If you want everything.

Griff: You feel that a lot of people live their lives in fear of no?

Diane: Yes, absolutely. They're afraid to talk to people. They're afraid to ask for what they want. I don't understand why. . I think it's again, be fearless. If you have a business and you want your business to survive, you need to talk to people. That's how you are gonna get your deals. And if you are not comfortable with that, then you need to get somebody in your corner that is comfortable with it. That can make those deals for you and you can go together. And that's why I say, get a buddy, you know, Trish, wasn't comfortable doing it.

Griff: She would've spent $5,000 more.

Brian: And she might have still made money on it.

Diane: She would've.

Brian: But it would not have been as successful for her.

Diane: Right.

Griff: I actually have a fear of talking to people about business like that. You know, when I'd go into thrift stores or antique stores or any place, I would just pay the price. I wouldn't negotiate. I'd say I don't wanna insult anyone. So I'll just pay this price.

Diane: Well, It came from my dad who was, uh, tried and true yard sale. He had the paper out every Saturday and Sunday morning, circling the ads, cuz that's where you found the yard sales. And then he did his map around to go to them. And he, if he paid more than a quarter for something and I think he was building an ark because we had two blenders, we had two of everything. I dunno!

Brian: In case one broke down. You needed spare.

Griff: For parts.

Diane: But my mom would go Leo, I want that. And she would go get in the car.

Brian: Then he would go negotiate.

Diane: Yeah. Cause she wouldn't do it.

Griff: And get stuff for a quarter.

Diane: A quarter.

Griff: Diane, is there anything else you want to add? Maybe something that you feel our sellers need to hear from you

Diane: Just do it.

Griff: Well, I think it's trademark, but it's good advice.

Diane: It is right. But it's trademarked for a reason, right? Because if you don't list your item, it's not gonna sell. If you don't have an item to list, it's not gonna sell.

Griff: Oh brother. Is that true?

Diane: People wait to be perfect. Why? You don't need to be perfect. Just be fun and real and do stuff and go live your life and be happy.

Griff: And you'll never know what you discover in those death piles. There's things in there you forgot.

Diane: Exactly.

Griff: You'll be pleasantly surprised in a lot of them. Some of them you'll be pleasantly disgusted, but..

Diane: Or get an employee to go through that death pile for you. And you'd be really happy. Right?

Griff: Do do the research. Well, as Diane said, just do it, fearlessly.

Diane: Right.

Brian: I am just so delighted that you and Rick chose to stop by. You know, you're here in California and there's lots to see, and I'm really glad that you decided to spend a little bit of time here

Griff: Of all the things she could have done. She decided to waste two hours here with the likes of us.

Diane: Well, and I have to tell you people that know me, don't think this, but I don't like to speak in public either. I'm not the person who's gonna get up on stage by myself. And, but yet I started at a meetup, right?

Griff: There you go. You were fearless.

Diane: I can do this with you. Like when we're at the restaurant. So I think you find, even though this is not my top 10 thing that I like to do. When you come out of your comfort zone a little bit, you grow and you keep growing and keep blooming and then you become a much better person. And that's all we really need. eBay gives you the opportunity to have a platform where you can sell anywhere in the world. All is you need to do is do it. Don't be perfect. Just go do it.

Griff: I couldn't put it better myself, even though I often try. Diane, I want to thank you for stopping by. And we hope to see you again. I know Brian will be making trips out to Massachusetts.

Brian: I hope so. Yeah. As soon as we're allowed to travel, which seems like is starting to open up for us.

Griff: And who knows? They may actually say that maybe Griff should go.

Brian: Griff should go.

Griff: Well, I don't know. We'll see. If so I'd love to, I'd love to stop by and meet with the group. See you again and enjoy a little time in Massachusetts.

Diane: That would be a pleasure.

Griff: Diane Lassonde sells on eBay under the user ID...

Diane: ShopCreationsUnlimited.

Griff: And we've been talking about her experience with community and her advice about what you should be doing to make yourself more successful and to summarize it's pretty easy. Be fearless and just do it.

Brian: You got questions?

Griff: We might have answers. Well, to be tonally honest though, we don't have actual question questions this week, Brian. Well, we do have three emails to read and I'm dying to read 'em but they're not really questions, but we have comments.

Brian: So do we send mugs when we get comments?

Griff: Yeah, yeah, no, you can still get, if we use you on the air.

Brian: I think that's fair.

Griff: I can't get rid of it now. Cause you know, Diane was just in. And now that even though she's left, I've gotta get rid of this accent.

Brian: You'll have it for weeks.

Griff: No, I won't. I'll get rid of it.

Brian: I'll keep saying "pock the car".

Griff: Don't do that. Why don't you read the first one?

Brian: Sure thing. Hi Griff and Brian, you guys were talking about whether or not sellers were credited overages for shipping. And I confirmed that. I have been refunded for an overage on one or two occasions through eBay using USPS. I've also had money taken out a few times for the weight bill being too low as well. Although I would say my Accutech scale is pretty accurate, so I find it hard to believe Jennifer, the kittyshop.

Griff: Yeah. Cuz we said, in fact I, if I go back and play the tape, you said, cuz I asked the question. I said, I wonder if, USPS actually will pay back money if you overpay. And you said, no.

Brian: Did I actually say no?

Griff: No. And I can, let me, let me . This is how it went back. I wonder if you overpay, if they send you the money.

Brian: No.

Griff: No? You you've asked about this?

Brian: I've never heard about that happening.

Griff: Yes. You said no, you said no. So... I believed you, Brian. I believed you, but apparently..

Brian: Boy, I have to be careful what I say. Everything's recorded. I have to remember that.

Griff: Must remember, but I find it interesting that Kitty says that she has a very accurate Accutech scale and she still has, according to USPS underestimated, you know, one of the things you said last time about this resonated with me is that you are always rounding up.

Brian: Yes.

Griff: I think it's not a bad idea at a round up. Like, for example, if it's under a pound for example, or if it's right on the cusp. And that's where I think get a lot of people get hung up is it's at 2.99 pounds.

Brian: So they go the lower, it didn't hit three.

Griff: So 2.99 would be considered three pounds. Right?

Brian: Right.

Griff: But if it actually on their scale goes to 3.0001. It's now four pounds.

Brian: Oh, you're right.

Griff: So that can be tricky.

Brian: I'm glad that Jennifer sent that in because one, it gives the right information to our listeners. Instead of my no, and it's also in general, good information. I just trust my scale. It's interesting. I have a decent scale, but to her point, well you never know. Maybe the postal services scales off.

Griff: I would love to hear from anyone out there who's had this happen to them on either way where they've got a overage refund or where they were. One of the carriers claimed, Hey, you didn't pay enough. And they took money from you. I'd like to hear from you. If you've, if this has happened to you podcast@ebay.com or (888) 723-4630.

Brian: And Jennifer, it seems like had it happen both ways. She's gotten money back and had to pay extra.

Griff: And you know what I would say to Jennifer, you win some and you lose some.

Brian: Exactly. Although my assumption there is, I bet the US Postal Service continues to refine their process. They'll get better and better at identifying when someone hasn't paid enough or has overpaid.

Griff: Well, they are running a business.

Brian: They are.

Griff: Into the ground. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. They are running a business.

Brian: They are.

Griff: So our next email, Brian, it was sent to podcast. ebay.com is from seller. Matt who wrote: I'd like to hear more about how to interpret our traffic numbers and how promoted listings actually work. Thanks again, Matt Miles of DenDecorDepot. And we'll send you another mug cuz he's already been on the show before. So yeah. Interesting.

Brian: Haven't we had a few segments on both the traffic and promoted listings in past episodes?

Griff: Oh indeed we have. And this got me to thinking, cuz I thought, well, wait a minute. I know we've covered these. And I went back and I did a search in my database cuz I have a spreadsheet with all the show titles and all the content. And I did find four shows recently on promoted listings and three shows on traffic and traffic reports and how to interpret the data. And I thought, I wonder how hard it is to find these, when you go to the podcast library on community and it's not easy.

Brian: Oh it should be easy.

Griff: Well, you can, there is a search function, but if I put in promoted listings...

Brian: Oh you're gonna get all the other...

Griff: I'm gonna get all the, like anyone who's posted anywhere on the community, but there is a way to do it. Do you wanna tell em' how?

Brian: When you search, after you search at the top, underneath the search bar, before you get to your results, you'll see, um, something called location, labels, author, et cetera. And if you click on the location, one, there's a dropdown menu and you'll see podcasts and you can actually go to the eBay for Business podcast library, select that and you only will get the podcast episodes.

Griff: So, If I searched on promoted listings and I filtered that way, I'm just gonna see the episodes.

Brian: Correct. And you can actually do that with any, any search that you do. Once you do a search, if you wanna restrict it to, let's say this, the selling board, cause you don't wanna hear buyers complaints about something you just want. You can use that location filter to sort.

Griff: I just, I'm so glad I I'm involved in this podcast because I just learned something.

Brian: See, normally I learn stuff. So finally I got to like, you know, get you to learn something and hopefully our listeners picked up. It actually makes the community more valuable. Cause you can, you can drill into what you're looking for.

Griff: Excellent.

Brian: So Matt, I encourage you like to take a look at the transcripts or there's a whole bunch of information out there. If you just do a search for promoted listings, eBay, um, there's some really good pages that describe each one of the promoted listings cuz there's different types and you'll be able to understand like how they work.

Griff: And don't forget Seller Center. There's a whole page on, and there's a PDF on how they work at Seller center. So go to, uh, the bottom of most, any eBay page, you'll find a link to Seller Center and then look for the content there for marketing and promoted listings and traffic. And finally this week, Brian, we got an interesting email from a listener and eBay seller named Phil. You remember Phil? He asked the question about the packing slip.

Brian: Yes, I do remember Phil. He wanted to add a full page packing slip to the print label page.

Griff: A great, great suggestion.

Brian: So he wrote to us again?

Griff: Oh he sure did.

Brian: I'm a little nervous now.

Griff: I'll read what he sent to podcast@ebay.com. Hi Griff. Thanks for sending the coffee cup. It's very generous to provide a gift. In addition to all the valuable advice and tips you offer. Now at this point, I think we need to insert tongue to cheek. I think so.

Brian: I think so.

Griff: I hope I don't sound ungrateful. Phil continues, but I must tell you that the design of the coffee cup is a big disappointment. The eBay corporate logo does not have any pop or sparkle. It looks like it was designed by your accounting department. I suggest you change the coffee cup design to add color and boldness that reflects the enthusiasm of Phil. No, of eBayers.. Here's a sample I quickly put together and he indeed included his design as an image. You can see it right there on the script page, Brian, oh my. It's a cup says Phil, that can sit on your desk at work and be the focus of attention and conversation, which immediately got me interested because at work I want to be the focus of conversation and attention, not the coffee mug.

Brian: And you succeed.

Griff: You. Thank you. Thank you so much. I wanna thank my agent. Of course, the logo Phil continues on this cup of his, his design is from past years, more like 13 years ago, the simple solution to offering a cup with the old logo. And I know you're gonna love this is to call it a vintage eBay coffee cup. Oh no! Thanks for listening Phil and he did, he and I don't know. Can we include this in the transcript?

Brian: You can. If he said, if he sent an image, you can, you can put it in there.

Griff: So I'll describe it to you before we, if you haven't looked in the transcript, it is just a white coffee mug and I must say rather boring white coffee mug with the old eBay logo and then a microphone with a thing on top that in case you're not sure what it's for. It says podcast. So there it is.

Brian: So what did you tell Phil?

Griff: Well, I told him that we liked his design and we're gonna send it to our accounting department for their consideration.

Brian: You didn’t.

Griff: No, I didn't. Yeah, I did. However, thank him for the suggestion while pointing out that it would be impossible to please everyone when it comes to design and that like any big company, we have to follow a set of brand design guidelines when we're putting our swag together.

Brian: We do. Yeah. And Phil's design definitely would not pass that test. It uses the older retired eBay logo design.

Griff: That's exactly the point here. And I also said that given the options, we can work with working with our Design Team and they're not accountants by the way.

Brian: No, they are designers.

Griff: They are designers. We came up with the current design and everyone who has received a mug so far seems to like it. I guess Phil yours has been the only complaint.

Brian: Well, we could send, we could send Phil another item, but it wouldn't have podcasts on it. Cuz we could send him just an eBay item.

Griff: Like what?

Brian: I dunno. I I'm thinking to some of the inventory I have.

Griff: you mean old stuff?

Brian: No, just like stuff that I have. Not old stuff. No, he doesn't get the old logo. We don't do the old logo anymore.

Griff: Yeah. But you've got something lying around.

Brian: Oh I could, I could send him an old logo shirt. Good luck.

Griff: does it have coffee and donut stains on the front?

Brian: No. And it doesn't have podcast on it either.

Griff: Yeah. The podcast didn't start until 2018 and by then those guidelines were in place for that.

Brian: Yeah. And I remember when we did the, the logo design,

Griff: It was back when Rochelle Parham was here. Yeah. Yeah. I actually loved the new logo, the four color eBay logo design. And I actually like the one for the podcast. I think it's pretty cool. But yeah, it doesn't jump out at you and go look, look, I'm a piece of eBay swag, but you know..

Brian: Maybe I can find something that is that and send it. We can ask mark. He can pick out anything and send it.

Griff: So Phil in our never ending attempt to please our audience, we'll send you a special mug. Get out your crayons. Really? Yeah. We'll do it ourselves. We'll send you an eBay mug that kind of matches your design and you can make it the focus of attention and conversation at your plays of work. And Phil, you know, we're just joshing you. Right? I hope so.

Brian: Yes. I'm sure he does. Given his email, I'm sure he knows.

Griff: I mean, what is a podcast if it's not fun?

Brian: That is true. And if you wanna join the fun here on eBay for Business,

Griff: Or if you wanna submit your design for a new podcast mug. Good luck.

Brian: Don't encourage it Griff. You know how many designs we're gonna get now. Just call us on (888) 723-4630.

Griff: That's 8 8 8 7 2 3 4 6 3 0. And the best part you can call that hotline any time of the day, any day of the week, just leave a question or a comment or a suggestion or a design and we just might put it on the air, but we're not putting it on a mug.

Brian: You never know. You never know. If you are not a call on the phone person, you can always email us at podcast@ebay.com. That's podcast@ebay.com.

Griff: And now it's time for your regular Podcast ToDo List.

Brian: Check the Announcement board for UpToDate Seller News.

Griff: Yeah. And uh, I was gonna say, go check the eBay Community Pages and talk with other sellers. And that's always a good thing to do, but a listener pointed out that I hadn't done this in a while.

Brian: What haven't you done check out the transcript for this... No?

Griff: No. Think about it for a minute. What have I not mentioned for several episodes?

Brian: Will you listen to the podcast?

Griff: You put labels in and it spits labels out.

Brian: Oh my goodness. What do you mean?

Griff: A thermal printer!

Brian: A thermal printer. We won't name brands. Will we?

Griff: No, we won't say Rolly is everyone's favorite apparently, but listen, I buy a lot on eBay and I gotta tell you the packages that are the most professional are the ones that have the thermal printed label on top. So make that your second item this week. If you haven't done it yet, go find even if it's just a refurbished one, go get a label printer, take your business seriously. Stop taping those paper labels to packages like you're a consumer C to C seller.

Brian: But that means if I, if I'm not doing that Griff then I don't run through the rolls of free eBay tape. I get with my store subscription as quickly.

Griff: Uh, but you have to use clear tape for that to work.

Brian: Well, only if you cover the barcode.

Griff: Just get a thermal printer. That's your number two. Well what's the third thing?

Brian: The third thing is check out the transcript for this and all episodes for follow up on what you've heard and to see the links we referenced during the episode.

Griff: Now on our next episode, eBay seller, Libby Brogi of ConciConsignments will give us the skinny on how to run a successful business on eBay using consignments as a source.

Brian: We'd like to, again, thank our guests this week. Diane Lassonde.

Griff: The eBay for Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411.

Brian: You should try and do that again. But with that Massachusetts accent that you just picked up.

Griff: Picked up? I had it all my life!

Brian: You suppressed it then.

Griff: It's come back.

Brian: Okay, it's come back.

Griff: All right, here we go. The eBay for Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411. Ya got a problem with that? ( spoke in Griffs native Boston Accent)

Brian: That sounded perfect to me.