Ep 204 || A Conversation with Vikki Eagan and Something Extra

[podcast_team]

Seller Vikki Eagan joins us live in the studio to talk about business. We asked our eBay for Business Facebook Group members if they packed something extra in their sold parcels and Griff and Brian read the responses before answering questions.

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Episode Links:
Tax Information Center for eBay Sellers
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Boss Reseller Remix Event Page
eBay For Business Podcast Facebook Group
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Brian: I'm Brian.

Griff: I'm Griff. And this is the eBay for Business Podcast, your source for the information and the inspiration to help you start manage and grow your business on eBay, which is the world's most powerful marketplace. And it's episode 204. Welcome back to the desk.

Brian: The middle of August. Some of our sellers are probably out there starting to plan for their kids going back to school.

Griff: Yeah. And maybe even sourcing back to school inventory. Although it's a little late, you gotta get on it.

Brian: If you haven't, we do know this marketplace, you can buy stuff on.

Griff: And resell. Exactly. Which is I'm doing a lot of, by the way.

Brian: You've been buying to resell?

Griff: I've been buying, specifically fragrances to resell.

Brian: Cause I thought you were just trying to unload some of your, your fragrances.

Griff: Well, I am, but I'm also turning over and then buying inventory because I can't help myself.

Brian: well, if you see a good deal, right? This is where you're an expert.

Griff: No, I wouldn't say an expert, but knowledgeable.

Brian: You're knowledgeable about that, that category. And so you can see when someone else has put something up where there's an opportunity to make some money.

Griff: Yeah. Because there's very little work involved, just an investment of, you know, buying something and putting the money into it. It's actually worth doing, even if your margin of profit is gonna be by 10%. The problem is that if you wanted to do it at a high volume, you'd have to sit on that computer and do these searches for like 12 hours or longer a day. And I don't have that luxury.

Brian: I was gonna say, I think you have a day job, don't you?

Griff: I do. Yes. This podcast isn't gonna do itself. So yes, I do have a day job.

Brian: So you don't get to source for 10 hours a day on eBay?

Griff: Mostly on eBay, but also other marketplaces.

Brian: Those non most powerful marketplaces.

Griff: Yeah.

Brian: Well, do we have any guests this week?

Griff: Oh, we do. Brian. We have somebody returning. Who's just recently been on the show.

Brian: Cool. Who's that?

Griff: Vikki Eagan.

Brian: She's she was just in town.

Griff: And I was worried because we had already had her on that it would be redundant, but it's a completely different interview.

Brian: She was on with her partner, Katie. Was it five weeks ago now?

Griff: It's that long?

Brian: I don't know. Kind of off the top of my head.

Griff: I think it is. So we have that. And then we asked our Facebook fans a question about how they pack their sold items, specifically what they include in the box if anything. You know, sometimes I get a box and there's nothing in it, but the item, sometimes I get things like marketing collateral and a QR code and maybe a little gift, maybe a nice handwritten note. So I asked people what they did and we garnered quite a few interesting responses. So you and I are gonna read the best of them. And of course we always have a few seller questions to answer and a clarification yet another one, but that's for later. First what's in the news this week?

Brian: I think you'll like this one, Griff I think the sellers will like it even more eBay Tax Act a leading do it yourself tax preparation service are partnering to help untangle the impact of the new threshold for form 1099 K and provide information and support you may need to prepare your tax filing with Tax Acts new tax information center for eBay sellers.

Griff: Oh, what a relief. We can finally stop giving tax advice on the show.

Brian: What, I don't think we ever gave tax advice, did we?

Griff: Right. Of course we don't. We never do that. No, no, no.

Griff: Never have never will. Silly me.

Brian: Well to continue whether you're a casual hobbyist or a high volume seller, Tax Act offers the tools and support you need to make filing easy. Tax Act services are used by millions of customers each year and filers can access free online assistance from CPAs and other tax experts through Tax Act Expert Assist. Tax Act works closely with the IRS and state authorities to ensure the security of filers accounts and guarantees that the calculations on their returns are 100% accurate. So check it out today. We'll put the relevant links to this announcement in the transcript for episode 204.

Griff: Oh look, and there's some fine print. May I?

Brian: Uh, knock yourself out?

Griff: eBay and its affiliates, do not provide legal tax or accounting advice. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as, and should not relied upon for legal tax accounting or other professional advice. Please consult your own legal tax and accountings for advice specific to your situation.

Brian: Amen.

Griff: Glad you enjoyed it. It's time to our guest.

Griff: Sometimes we're lucky here at the campus in San Jose, because with things starting to come back to normal, Brian and I...

Brian: More normal.

Griff: More normal. Yes.

Griff: And are lucky on the San Jose campus.

Brian: Yeah, because we can actually host sellers when they stop by.

Griff: And we have a special seller guest today.

Brian: And before we go to that, I just wanted to take a moment to remind you that our first seller guest, since the pandemic was Diane Lassonde (Ep 190). Yes. And a good friend of Diane's is with us today. We've actually had her and her fiancée on the show a couple episodes ago and she's visiting the campus here. We pulled and twisted her arm and she agreed to sit in the guest chair. Welcome Vikki Eagan.

Brian: Welcome.

Vikki: Thank you, gentlemen. Thanks for having me. I don't think you needed to twist my arm that hard. We all know. I love to talk.

Griff: And I'm glad you were able to stop in because I would love to have a seller in studio every week, but it's not really been possible.

Brian: Possible. No, but it's such a blessing to have 'em in studio because it's such a different dynamic than over Zoom or online. It's so much better in person.

Vikki: I think everything's in better in person.

Griff: Except bank audits.

Vikki: Well, okay.

Griff: Those are best done by mail. So what's new with Vikki and Katie, but Vikki.s

Vikki: Well, Katie's back home. So we don't care about her right now.

Brian: OK. So Katie's out of the picture.

Vikki: I'm just kidding, Katie.

Griff: You're gonna catch it when you get back.

Vikki: I am. I'm in trouble. She's not gonna pick me up at the airport. Not a whole heck of a lot. I'm actually just here out in the area to visit my daughter for the weekend. And I was grateful to be able to come and visit eBay campus. This is my first time here. In all the years i've been a seller I have never been out here. And it's exciting to see, even though it's not as hustle and bustle, as I'm sure it was pre COVID, it's still a really fun campus and nice to see some of my faces, the faces to the names of people I haven't met.

Griff: So what kind of input have you been able to give since you've been here today? I know you talked to some folks on the Product Team.

Vikki: I did. I talked to a few people this morning. We talked a lot about Seller Hub and even some things about the dreaded Item Specifics and, uh, all about the seller experience and the Seller Hub and things that they would, you know, maybe sellers would like to see that don't work as well as they could or should. It was nice.

Griff: Like what, gimme an example.

Vikki: Oh, geez. You're gonna put me on the spot.

Griff: I'm sure you have something that's like top of mind.

Vikki: Well, so one of the things that we talked about is making it easier as a seller or as a new seller, just to sell on the platform instead of making it harder. I mean, let's be real. We are one of the most difficult platforms to master

Griff: Thus the podcast.

Vikki: Thus the podcast. So, and the Facebook groups and all the things that we do within the community in order to help sellers overcome those struggles and obstacles and learning how to be the best they can be. I think that having it a little bit easier and having the other issue, maybe having the app match up to the online dashboard experience, making listing easier and making it easier to master so that we can get more of the younger sellers on the platform.

Griff: Good input.

Brian: Really good input.

Griff: And was the team receptive?

Vikki: They are receptive. They really are. I, I mean, I feel like that's the one thing about eBay or one of the many things about eBay, I should say that they are receptive to seller input. They might be slow to make changes, but they do listen. They do listen. They do wanna have the input. It's nice to feel seen and heard, even though I feel as you know, I'm just one person, but I am in connection with the rest of the community or a lot of the community. So I feel like I, I can be a voice for a lot of people that can't be here and have those type of meetings. And it's nice. It's nice to be heard. It's nice for them to, you know, ask me the question. What can we do differently? What's not working right. I think, you know, we have so many different departments that work to make this whole business run as eBay as a whole, that they may not see outside of their own departments and realize exactly how each little piece works for a seller.

Brian: And I know in talking to the Product folks, they always appreciate hearing from the customers because ultimately the sellers are who their clients and customers are and they're designing stuff and they want it to work well for the sellers. So to get seller input is always welcome.

Vikki: It's been interesting. It was nice that hearing their questions too, on how I use something and what I use and what I don't use.

Griff: Like what did they ask you? I'm curious.

Vikki: So they were asking, you know, some of the seller reports on the dashboard, on the Seller Hub, do you use this? What would you use it for? What would you like to see that isn't here? Stuff like that I thought was pretty interesting. And there are other third party software options that you can use to make your selling experience easier in doing that type of thing. But having it integrated on the eBay platform, the longer you can keep a buyer and a seller on the platform is your goal, right? You don't want to have to use multiple products outside of the platform. One of the things that I did say that I thought a lot of sellers have been asking for it for a long time. And it also used to be something that was available is finding out your traffic reports. Where is your traffic coming from specifically? Outside traffic. Are you bringing it in through your own website? Are there certain words that are coming in? Is it coming in through Google? Is it coming in natively through eBay itself? What is bringing traffic to your specific store? Do you have specific items. There are other platforms that shall remain nameless where you can find that traffic information. And I think as a seller, trying to create SEO rich titles and product recognition, you need to have that information to work with to make your store and your business better.

Griff: Especially if you have your own seller initiated campaigns for marketing on those channels.

Vikki: Correct. What is bringing that in exactly.

Griff: That will show you how successful they are.

Vikki: Exactly. And the, the data's there clearly eBay has that data. Let's share it with the individual sellers so that they know for their own edification.

Brian: Right. And then being able to adjust the business accordingly.

Griff: Those are really good suggestions. I'm so glad you decided to visit your daughter.

Vikki: I know, right?

Brian: Does your daughter sell?

Griff: She does not. Strangely enough. I've been selling for almost 25 years. This is my 24th year on eBay and she's 29. So she has never known me not to be an online seller. And she is of that younger generation. She is an older millennial, shall we say, but she is still a millennial. And she doesn't even buy on eBay guys.

Griff: What?

Brian: Well, maybe you can convert her over the weekend.

Vikki: I'm gonna work on it. I'm gonna work on it.

Griff: This is concerning. Your mother sells on eBay.

Vikki: I know. Well, see, she doesn't need to buy, she just shops my inventory. It's not like she needs to buy it from me. She just comes in and takes it.

Griff: So yeah, I'd put an end to that. You want this? it's up for sale on eBay. We were talking before we started the recorder that you changed inventory years ago. And you mentioned that you actually talked about this on the old eBay radio show. What was that change and how did you facilitate?

Vikki: So when I first started on eBay, I lived in Rhode Island and I started out as an antiques and collectible seller, and I sold anything, anything, and everything you can think of a hundred year old items, 200 year old items, civil war items, tools, dolls, anything you can think of that was old. And I learned on the fly. I'm self-taught and that's, this was back when you stepped to buy all of the pricing guides and books and magazines to teach you what something was, because we couldn't Google. Right? There was no Google, right? This is how old I am. Right? And that was how I started. And I moved to Las Vegas in 2013 and realized that there are no antiques in Las Vegas. I mean, I was as close to an antique as I was getting in Las Vegas I had no inventory and my way of buying and selling, I couldn't do there. So I kind of had to reinvent my business. And what I did was I focused more on thrifting. I had never gone thrifting. I had never gone in a thrift store. I used to purchase at auctions and estate sales and where you'd find the old stuff and being in new England, you'd walk out your front door and everything you tripped over is a hundred years old. So being in Las Vegas, I had to figure out how to thrift. I hated selling clothing before. Now that's primarily what I sell because it is what's accessible. So I had to make myself an expert in other things.

Griff: You're making the choice on how to be successful on the platform, not based on what you used to sell, but rather what inventory can I access?

Vikki: What's accessible, what's readily available where you live locally. I think it's a little bit easier now because nothing is out of the way. So to speak, you know, being able to purchase from anywhere in the world and buying, you know, truckloads and pallets from all over the world, all over the country. That's a little bit easier now than it was even nine years ago. So I think that you could be successful no matter where you live. You could live in the Midwest 300 miles from any major city, and you're still going to be able to find inventory if you know how to do so. But yeah, it was, it was a big change. It was a big change.

Griff: About I think it was two or three episodes ago. We had a, a rather controversial topic. It was from a New York times article that says is the golden age of thrifting dead. And the overwhelming consensus was, are you outta your minds? It's not dead. And that got us talking over lunch about the nature of the inventory and the nature of how younger people are buying. You had some really good insights.

Vikki: So I spoke of my daughter who does not shop on eBay much to my shame. She's 29, as I said, and her and her friends almost entirely thrift or purchase things secondhand that generation and the younger generations are very focused on sustainability, both in fashion and in goods that can be used and reused and resold. They're all about having a smaller carbon footprint, making sure that the items that they use are eco-conscious and eco-friendly, and in general buying things, you know, secondhand or pre-owned helps contribute to that smaller carbon footprint helps make sure that it keeps things out of the landfill helps make sure that items that were made as maybe disposable fashion may get one or two more cycles out of them than they would have beforehand. And I think that they're very much socially conscious and environmentally conscious and where they spend their money and how they spend their money.

Griff: So they're the, the new thrift audience, but they're absolutely, they're not necessarily buying to resell.

Vikki: They're buying for themselves. Yeah. And then they'll resell what they've bought for themselves too, or they'll trade it in like the places like Plato's Closet, so to speak or Buffalo Exchange. They'll buy there, but they'll also trade their stuff back in when they want something new for store credits. Uh, hopefully we'll teach them to sell on eBay and not sell back to the stores, but that's the cycle of how they're purchasing and using their buying power and their disposable income.

Griff: This sounds like it could be very impactful for retailers. They want these young buyers, they're not coming into the stores. They're not going to their online retail websites. This must be concerning for them.

Vikki: I mean, I would think so. A little over a year ago, I took part in a study. I can talk about it now. Cause it's been a while from target. Target is actually getting into the secondhand market and they were going to create their own website much like Goodwill just did. They created their own selling secondhand themselves. So they would have their retail website and then they would have their secondhand website where retailers could sell kind of like, um, Walmart's third party, but for used items. And I was part of a study because they sought me out as a seller in general. I think I had been in some publication and asked a lot of questions about it. And it was, it's an avenue that they're definitely were looking into. I don't know if they've scrapped it. I have no idea. I haven't heard anything, anything since that, but that's a very major retailer that clearly is seeing the writing on the wall.

Brian: Well, I do think the younger generation, they are more conscientious about both social and kinda environmental stuff. But one of the things that you also touched on there was just being financially responsible. It's more cost effective to go in and buy something secondhand than buying it brand new. Absolutely. But it's interesting to see like a major player, like a target also evaluating and trying to figure out OK. Cause they must see then some of those customers aren't walking in the door,

Vikki: How do we fit into the future landscape?

Brian: How do they get 'em in? And it's not by selling super cheap stuff, that's gonna fall apart very quickly because that's not resalable, right. That it needs to be more durables.

Griff: You know, who tried this a number of years ago in conjunction with eBay. Do you remember Patagonia?

Brian: That was almost 15 years ago.

Griff: Was it that long? I don't think it was.

Brian: 2005, 2007.

Griff: I think it was not that long ago. Do you remember this?

Vikki: Vaguely. Yeah. It's ringing a bell.

Griff: Patagonia was offering us. Pre-owned gently used merchandise. I don't, I can't remember how they were getting it back, but I remember that if you were a seller and you had something that was pre-owned Patagonia apparel, that it would show up in those searches or in their store. I don't know if it's still going on.

Brian: It's not it's no, we no longer. We don't have that partnership anymore. Not that I'm aware of.

Griff: Well, you know, first tries sometimes aren't as successful, maybe second tries and third,

Vikki: You never know.

Griff: Yeah. You never know.

Brian: It was a really good idea though. I think they enabled people to give credit and to re return items, obviously a, a manufacturer who makes really solid high quality.

Vikki: Well made stuff. Exactly like a Patagonia. Yeah. That type of stuff lasts forever.

Griff: Any changes that you've noticed in the business in the last few months, I know this is a really kind of chaotic time economically what, with rising inflation, rising interest rates, uncertainty wages have not kept up. And I'm always curious to know from eBay, the eBay seller and our eBay sellers faring with this individually is your business noticed anything?

Vikki: I've definitely seen a decrease in business in the last six to nine months as the country itself seems to be a little bit in flux. Yeah. And the economy has been taken a hit here and there. People that sell luxury high-end goods are probably not gonna be affected. The people that have money still have money and will continue have money. And that's kind of the way it's always been. But it's also, you're going to see an increase in used everyday items, used goods, maybe not the niche collector, but you're going to find, you know, the everyday mall brand items might see a little bit more of a sell through right now because people are looking for a bargain and they're looking for items that they're going to use now. And they're not really necessarily a collector of something, but like say Abercrombie for example, or whatever it may be. You may find that selling better now than it did six months ago because people are not willing to pay full retail. Also because of the backlog in stores, a lot of stores are still empty. You walk into a retail store and you're seeing half of the racks are empty and the supply chain really has been disrupted. And it has not caught up.

Griff: That's still ongoing right now.

Vikki: Yeah, it really is.

Griff: I know that it's really currently impacting just as much as it did earlier. For example, the car market.

Vikki: Oh, I bought a new car this year. Yes, absolutely. It was terrible.

Brian: There is no inventory.

Griff: And it's all because chips. I'm not talking about..

Vikki: Not lays potato chips?

Brian: Yeah. not the, not the chips you eat?

Griff: No, the computer chips. This is the consequence of having that entire industry move out of the United States to other countries and getting them here is turning out to be not that easy, which is why used stuff with chips in it is doing well.

Vikki: That's true.

Brian: There are used cars that are one or two years old, but there it costs more than what it cost to drive em off the lot.

Griff: I wonder I can get for my 2008 Smart car?

Vikki: I bet you do really well. Especially now in this economy with the gas prices. Yeah. We sold our, our used vehicle. It was an SUV. It was four years old and we sold it for over 10,000 above Kelly blue book, which, you know, you pretty much had to turn around and put into the new car because they're over market price, but still.

Griff: What'd you get for a new car?

Vikki: A Honda pilot.

Griff: Oh, Those are cool.

Vikki: Has to be big cuz you know, we've gone buying trips and fill that thing.

Griff: You don't have it delivered all the time.

Vikki: No, not all the time.

Griff: Can you have these delivered to my house? Who's that? Are they looking to get in here? We'll just keep the tape rolling.

Brian: It's not a tape anymore. Griff. Those days are gone.

Griff: I know, but I call it a tape.

Vikki: I think it's because Shelly has me scheduled at 2:30.

Griff: What time is it now?

Vikki: 2:29. A few minutes.

Griff: So we'll uh, we'll wrap up.

Brian: Before you wrap up. Do you wanna talk a little bit about a second annual event that you guys are gonna be throwing in October?

Griff: I Can't believe I almost didn't leave space for this. I'm sorry.

Vikki: How dare you?

Griff: How dare me!

Vikki: I love that. We are now saying it's the second annual event because for sure gonna continue. But yes, The Boss Reseller Remix that is a seller led reseller conference. It's a three and a half day reseller conference in Las Vegas that I put on with my fiancée, Katie Silverberg and our third partner, Teresa Cox, who is a pillar in the seller community. Three of us, uh, decided to put together a conference last year. And it was very well received even though it was in the middle of Covid sort of. And this year we're, we're planning on bringing it back even bigger and better. So it's uh, yeah, it's October 10th through the 13th, right in Las Vegas. Tickets are on sale. They are selling out. So there are only a few tickets left.

Brian: And last year it's sold out and I attended last year and highly, highly recommend any listener to attend. You'll learn a lot. You'll meet some wonderful people. It'll be well worth the cost.

Vikki: Yes, it is limited to the ticket sales. We do have a capacity limit on the building and the venue that we use. So it is limited to 400 tickets and what's really nice about it is 400 is just small enough that you still have an intimate setting where you can connect with other resellers leaders in the community. People that are very knowledgeable about certain things and will have lots of vendors there. eBay will be there.

Brian: We will be there.

Vikki: In force really. I mean, it's quite a large eBay contingent coming this year.

Brian: We had a decent number of folks, uh, from eBay co uh, last year, including some of the product folks.

Vikki: Yes. And they're coming back this year.

Griff: And I'm with some trepidations setting my foot back into the travel routine. I may drive. I don't know if I can face getting on a plane. I just know there'll be three or four of those people that disrupt flights.

Brian: So another reason to go, you can come hassle Griff,

Vikki: eBay royalty.

Griff: Excuse me. I'm a very sensitive soul. Don't hassle me, but we'll be recording interviews at the event with sellers hopefully. And we'll be roaming the floor as well. Catching some snippets of interviews.

Vikki: Griff will be in broadcast studio that we're creating, holding court. So you can come and kiss the ring.

Griff: You have no idea. No, I will be a humble eBay employee. Happy to see the people who write my paycheck, which are sellers. I guess buyers help out.

Brian: We need both buyers and seller.

Griff: We do. I keep forgetting it is.

Vikki: We kinda need both. Yeah.

Griff: The website that you can go to check and see if there are any tickets left is ...

Vikki: Resellerremix.com.

Griff: And if you just search on Boss Reseller Remix, it comes right up. It comes at the top.

Vikki: We have a list of all of our speakers and the vendors and the sponsors and the panels and all of the list of the activities that we have some unofficial activities that are for the nighttime and the official schedule for the daytime.

Griff: I love the nightlife. I love to boogie on the disco round. it's my inner Alicia. What's her name coming on.

Brian: Alicia Keys?

Griff: No, not Alicia Keys.

Vikki: That was long before Alicia Keys.

Griff: Her name was Alicia??

Vikki: That was this like the seventies disco there.

Griff: She was a one hit disco., I love the night life, I love to boogie on the disco around... ( singing)

Brian: For your poor intern over here, who has never heard this song. I know for the closing party, you have to find that song.

Vikki: Oh, we I'm gonna dance with Griff to it.

Griff: Well, have a good time. Thank you so much, Vikki for stopping by on your visit here to the campus tonight.

Vikki: Thanks for having me. It was a pleasure, always a pleasure to talk to you Griff.

Griff: Vikki Eagan sells on eBay under the user ID, LVpinkpeacock, that's LVpinkpeacock. And as we do for all our seller guests, we'll include a link to her store and to The Boss Reseller Remix event, where hopefully by the time you hear this, there may be tickets left. If not you snooze you lose.

Griff: Hey Brian.

Brian: Hey Griff.

Griff: So, uh, we asked the 4,300 sellers in our Facebook Group for the podcast, eBay for Business Podcast Facebook Group, if they included anything extra in their shipping parcels. And here are some of the responses I thought we could read them back and forth.

Griff: I just wanna say congratulations. I mean, that was a little daring going out and asking for 4,000 people for their thoughts.

Griff: Well, I do that all the time. Yeah, we do. We post a lot of this on the Facebook group. So why don't you start.

Brian: I'll start with seller. Tanya, who posted? I wrap everything in recycled craft brown tissue paper. And seal it with a sticker. I enclose my business card with a short, thank you message written on the back. Actually. That's a really good idea.

Griff: I don't always include a handwritten note, but I love using those little eBay stickers and I use them like she's doing to hold any sort of wrapping together. I use them for bubble wrap. So if I wrap and I've been wrapping a lot, I've been selling a lot of pottery. So I wrap it. I'm very careful about this. But one of the things as a buyer that drives me nuts is you get bubble wrap. That's been wrapped with so much clear tape that it's like, again, we're, it's like, we're doing, we're practicing Egyptian, mummy. All it needs to hold together is just one little piece of something. And somebody mentioned recently, I forget who it was that they used painters tape, you know, little piece of painters tape, cuz you could see it and peel. I used those little round stickers just to hold the edges together. It works fine. You don't have to wrap it like a mug.

Brian: Yeah. When you, when you use packing tape, the clear packing tape to wrap it up. Oh I, when I get those packages, I just think, oh, Joey Rufflalo who's been on our show once showed everyone here at the San Jose meetup, how to package a mug and you know, the bubble wraps got tear sheets. He had it down to a science. It was you count 1, 2, 3, you take your three tear sheets. One goes inside the mug, the other two wrapped the outside. And when he did it, I was like, that's not a lot of wrapping. He threw the package on the floor and it didn't break. So it tells you that you don't need a lot. I love the sticker idea though.

Griff: Yeah. So thank you for that. Our old good friend, Joseph DeMarco had something to say. He says, I always had a packing slip this way. The person knows what they're getting and who they're getting it from. I agree. I love getting packing slips also says, Joe, I make sure that I seal the box using official eBay tape. He says, fly the flag loud and proud.

Brian: I love it.

Griff: Yeah. Good for you, Joe.

Brian: Definitely. And Julie, Casa Chi, she can be found on Instagram as well. She's got a pretty decent following.

Griff: Oh, she's one of those influencers then. Oh yeah.

Brian: And she's wonderful. She says Nope. As a buyer, I just want the item. All of that extra stuff is stuff that ends up in a landfill.

Griff: Mm-hmm that's kind kinda?

Brian: There is an element of our buyer base that is very environmentally conscious.

Griff: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian: And, and so extra packaging and stuff. I remember there was a VP here and I said, I received a shirt because I used to buy all my button down men's shirts on eBay. They were always used, but someone had packaged it really nice and put like tissue paper, packaging. And it was very, it was like, like I bought it at Macy's or something and I was commenting about it. And he, his attitude was exactly like Julie's. He said, I don't need that tissue paper. It's gonna go in landfill. It's not actually green.

Griff: It doesn't have to go to a landfill. Tissue paper is compostable compostable. So I mean, you know, there's that our next seller is also a frequent podcast, guest Trader Don and Don posted his answer, which is for starters, each of our orders are shipped within eBay packaging bolstered with branding, from our store, which again, his store name is GarbSafari. While I've rarely used a packing slip in our 20 plus years of business, our business card and an eBay, thank you card are included with each parcel. Additionally will intermittently include various swag depending on the size of the order, which ranges from our branded buttons. I've seen his buttons.

Brian: He's got great buttons.

Griff: Coasters stickers, and even small fridge magnets. One thing that's been a huge hit and quite random are the In and Out Burger stickers, which will sometimes accompany an order to the other side of the country and internationally to facilitate this, I get my burger fix on a regular basis, as well as various associates who donate to the cause. And if you don't know what we're talking about In and Out Burger is like a religion here in California and the west. It's a burger franchise. It's okay.

Brian: My kids love it.

Griff: Yeah. But you'll always see lines that go that, you know, the pickup lines for the cars go all into the parking lot, out into the street. People are as crazy here about In and Out Burger as they are about Disneyland .

Brian: Or Dunkin' Donuts.

Griff: Not here though. Dunkin' Donuts. That's east coast, New England thing.

Brian: That's what I'm saying. It's kind like folks are in enamored with Duncan on the east coast. We've got In and Out on the west.

Griff: So smart Don he's sending out In and Out swag along with it. Smart guy, Don says, finally our clothing has always been folded and Ziplock bagged from the moment it gets listed and reaches our inventory. So when it finally reaches customers, it's crisp and dust free giving added legitimacy, even an air of cleanliness to our pre-owned items. I am. So with you on that one, he says a common seller of ours, CDs. Yes. He says compacts discs are still kicking. And in fact, I just watched a program where the collecting interest in CDs is on fire right now. And I just think about all the ones I gave away. Anyway, he says, uh, his CDs are shipped in bubble mailers, along with two halves of an additional empty case, which serve as impact buffers on each side of the outgoing order. That's smart customers often leave positive feedback, highlighting many of these numerous gestures, which have provided delight.

Brian: Surprise and delight.

Griff: Don's a smart guy.

Brian: He is well, eBay seller, Nancy Cunningham Nelson has a buyer perspective. She said, here's something I've experienced as a buyer. I purchased several antique postcards from a seller in Washington state after a recent visit to the San Juan island area. These were a thank you gift to our friends who we visited there. The seller included two tourist brochures from the area. They provided protection for the postcards. And it was a fun reminder of a wonderful trip. Sometimes I will include a second postcard or beer label and I've used the eBay. Thank you cards.

Griff: That's a great idea. Yeah. eBay seller cherry Emerson wrote yes. I pack folding cards with a Colorado mountain scene. She's located in Colorado of course. And do write a personal note and sign it. Also, the note says, hope you have room on your fridge for zigzag, our store image. And I include a nice fridge magnet.

Brian: Oh, another magnet.

Griff: Yeah. Those are popular. I think that's a safe gift. I remember once there was a discussion, this was years ago in the community and I was involved in the discussion as you know, Griff@ebay.com. And I mentioned that somebody had sent a package to me that I was just so excited cuz it had a little tiny box of chocolates in it. I said, what a great idea. I like that seller. And somebody else said, you know, a Debbie downer said, yeah. But what if the buyer has like diabetes and can't eat the chocolate? There's always somebody.

Brian: There's always like for me when I see magnet, I always think, well, it doesn't work for me cuz I have a stainless steel refrigerator.

Griff: Yeah. And some people don't want that sort of clutter, but most people do.

Brian: Most people do my old refrigerator. I had all kinds of magnets on it.

Griff: Tell us about our next seller.

Brian: Gene added this to the discussion. We box all items using bubble wrap or tissue for protection.

Griff: That's what I do.

Brian: Gene continues. We also put all items in clear cello bags for presentation and protection smart. If we use recycled bags, we use the eBay shipping supplies, recycled box stickers.

Griff: That’s a good idea. This, this is a recycled box. Yeah.

Brian: High price items. Get these tamperproof stickers. And she posted a photo of the stickers for anyone who wants to go check it out to protect us against fraudulent returns. For example, if a buyer has a damaged or broken item of their own attempts to purchase hours and swap them and out, I hope that doesn't happen too often to Eugene, the sticker cannot be removed without damage to the sticker itself.

Griff: You know what she's talking about, right?

Brian: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is really cut down on return fraud in this area. Also if the buyer orders a quantity of two or more, the packing slip includes a stamp notating. How many were shipped? Lastly, we add a business card that tells our stores vision and reminds the buyer that a portion of the order profit was donated to help local foster youth aging out of the system.

Griff: What a nice thought. Yes. Yeah. That's cool.

Brian: So another person who includes their business card. Which is really smart.

Griff: Yeah. I know that there are several different perspectives on this and some people made it clear, you know, look, I just want the item. I don't want all that extra stuff. I really like having a packing slip and anything extra. I think that took some time and that took some thought, I think you're better to air on the side of caution and expect that most people do like to get a little something extra. And who is it gonna hurt? I don't think anyone's gonna get upset that you included it.

Brian: In some things, you know, like Jeanie or in others where it's a business card and she's emphasizing that she's giving to foster care. Yeah. On that business card. Not only does it give her branding, but it also re emphasizes where the money's going or where a portion of the money's going.

Griff: And that means a lot to a lot of people.

Brian: It could have been the reason they bought the item from her instead of a competitor.

Griff: That's true. Yeah. Our last response, Brian, to the question that we asked, came from eBay seller, Kurt, he says, it's funny. You should mention this. Looking back over time, decades of selling on the internet and buying stuff. The orders I seem to remember best were ones with some kind of free gift. No discount coupons, no handwritten thanks. But orders where some goofy thing was included for free. I remember an order says Kurt with a can of silly string..

Brian: Oh my Goodness.

Griff: That is a lot. Orders with a handful of candy orders with just some dumb, silly gift. Maybe it's the kid in me. I don't know. But this is a highly recommended thing to do. This works great for U Line too. I have about, and I think he knows that the company, right. You can buy packaging and stuff for your business. I have about 30 flashlights blankets, shirts, chairs, grill tools, knives, CDs from over the years, all put in the order. Pretty cool.

Brian: That's cool. Yeah, we really should. Thank all of the sellers who answered your question of the we so to speak. Thank you, sellers.

Griff: Thank you. And indeed, we'll be asking more questions like this one in the future. And I'll put a link to our eBay for Business Facebook group in the transcript in case you want to go join it.

Brian: You got queries?

Griff: Queries?

Brian: I thought I'd mix it up this week.

Griff: Well we have responses.

Brian: Very good.

Griff: Before we get to the responses, I have to make another clarification.

Brian: Again?

Griff: Yeah. You make it sound like we have a weekly clarification.

Griff: Well not weekly.

Brian: What is it this time?

Brian: Well, it's about the German Packaging Act.

Griff: Ah, now what?

Griff: Well first let me remind everyone about our first clarification regarding the act. So from some of our announcement post wording in the past, it did appear that eBay would block non-compliant listings from the view of buyers located in Germany, which is in fact not true.

Brian: And I remember that clarification.

Griff: Me too. If a seller isn't registered with Lucid or hasn't manually restricted their listings from appearing in front of buyers located in Germany, eBay's not blocking those listings from appearing, which a lot of sellers have noticed because they've done neither and they're making sales.

Brian: I remember that clarification. So what's the issue that needs clarification now?

Griff: Well, apparently we gave the impression on a previous episode that not registering and not restricting, and you're gonna hear those two words a lot in the next hour or the rest of the episode, and then selling an item into Germany again, without registering with Lucid will have no consequences. And we have to make it clear that this is probably not the case. That is a business seller who sells an item to a buyer in Germany without having registered with the Germany Lucid system does face possible consequences. That's not saying they will, but they do risk consequences.

Brian: And you said business seller?

Griff: Yes. Business seller.

Brian: So what are those consequences?

Griff: I did some digging around the Lucid portal and I found this information from there. And I quote" in the event of non fulfillment of the packaging law obligations by their clients, fulfillment service providers and operators of electronic marketplaces may no longer offer their services to the contractual partners. More ever violations are recorded by the central packing register. I'm so tempted to read this in a German accident. I'm not gonna do it, no reported to the competent administrative offense authorities of the federal states and can be punished with fines of up to 200,000 euros." Now they're talking about marketplace and the fulfillment centers, right. But this also could possibly impact a seller.

Brian: But what does all that mean that you just read?

Griff: I'm not absolutely sure to be honest, but , it does appear that for violations either eBay or the seller or both could face fines now exactly how that might play out. I can't say, but my advice whenever there's a risk like this and its advice I'm following is to either register with Lucid as we've talked about in previous episodes or restrict your listings. So either register or restrict. Doing nothing might, and I'm gonna repeat, I say might result in no consequences, but it also might. It just might result in some serious consequences.

Brian: So why risk it.

Griff: Exactly the upshot, whether or not you think the law is ridiculous or without merit, you have two smart choices and only one really dumb choice.

Brian: What are the two smart choices,

Griff: Either register with Lucid or restrict your listings from appearing in front of buyers located in Germany

Brian: Register or restrict R and R.

Griff: R and R.

Brian: And the really dumb choice?

Griff: Do nothing.

Brian: Of course. I wonder if eBay might come up with a better solution.

Griff: You might think that Brian, but I couldn't possibly comment at this point.

Brian: Enough said.

Griff: Exactly.

Brian: So what is our first question this week?

Griff: Our first question is from eBay seller. Shannon. Who's about to head out on the road, lucky Shannon. She sent the following to podcast to ebay.com. Hey guys, love the podcast! I have a question regarding shipping on the go. What I mean by that is I plan on taking a road trip for a few weeks to a month and was planning on sourcing items to list on eBay. As I travel a smart seller, since I usually have set prices for shipping, most items, I'm not too concerned about the cost of shipping. What I'd like to know is what should I use as my shipping address in the situation as in if the customer needs to return the item in bulk shipping, it defaults my home address to calculate the shipping cost. But if my home address is in New York and I'm in Florida, the calculation will be wrong. Please give me some insight. Thanks and keep up the good work. Shannon. Her eBay store is Shaza Collectibles.

Brian: So that sounds actually complicated. And, and she's right, like the system's not gonna calculate based on like where she's driving in her car. It's based on her registration is her information.

Griff: And also if you're have a set shipping price, that's what it's going to cost normally for a return shipping label. It is really complicated. And that's why Shannon's probably asking us for advice, which I don't know if that's ever so smart, but we're gonna do our best. So Shannon, my first question to you would be, what is your historic return rate? If your return rate is one or two items a year?

Brian: Yeah. Don't worry too much about it.

Griff: I wouldn't worry about it.

Brian: But if it let's say 7% or 8% of your sold items...

Griff: You gotta worry a little bit. It is possible that you can have any return shipped to you like a friend or a relative.

Brian: Oh, that's a good, good idea. They could expect it and everything.

Griff: Right. So that could be at your current address or you can enter in a new return address into my eBay and utilize that as your return address for these items that you list. You'd have to do it for all your items because it's not just the items you may source and list while you're on the road, but any items that you currently have up.

Brian: Yeah. And then you'd have to have someone inspected because then you'd have to be able to know whether or not when to refund the buyer.

Griff: And again, that's gonna depend on your historic return rate. What's the likelihood of what percentage you're gonna get of returns while you're gone for say a month. And if it's like maybe one or two returns, I would just make sure that the packages return to a place where there's secure while I'm away and just refund the money and you know, trust, it's all gonna work out. If it doesn't, Hey, it's business, it's a risk. There's no guarantees. And that's what I would do.

Brian: I think that's a really good solution.

Griff: It would be my first choice.

Brian: But of course thinking about it. What if Shannon doesn't have a close friend or re relative that she trusts?

Griff: You mean Shannon has no friends, no family how sad.

Brian: I'm sure she does, but stop projecting Griff.

Griff: Well, in that case, Shannon Boohoo, I would suggest the following, which, by the way, is not without some risk, at least minuscule risk to be sure, but it still has to be acknowledged. If you return address location is secure. Just have any potential return shipped there. And once tracking shows as delivered, as I said before, just issue the refund. That's what I would do.

Brian: And if a return address location is not secure?

Griff: Well, then she should have all her mail held at the PO her local post office while she's gone.

Brian: Which works for us. PS, what about ups and FedEx returns?

Griff: Well, you can make sure that all your returns use USPS. If that is impossible, then consider renting a space at a UPS store where you can rent a mailbox and have all your packages delivered. There. That'll be secure, but I love the friend and family. If you can get them into your house and they can collect your packages, Mazel Tov.

Brian: So she's got a few options. Yeah. And I do like the friends and family option the best.

Griff: I would too. If I had either friends or family,

Brian: Do we need to book an appointment with your therapist again?

Griff: He's on vacation. He's on the road.

Brian: Doesn’t your therapist have some friends and family therapists?

Griff: They don't want to hear from me. Trust me. So Shannon, those are your choices. As we see them, maybe another seller has an even better option. If you do let us and Shannon know.

Brian: Call it in at (888)723-4630. Or email it to podcast@ebay.com and Shannon trying to have fun on your month, long sourcing vacation on the road. And it would be great to give us an update when you get back and tell us how it went.

Griff: Yeah. What'd you find what'd you sell how much you make?

Brian: Who's our next guest?

Griff: This one is three questions that came from one seller and it's a, it's a longtime eBay seller in the UK. Andrew is his name and he sent this to podcast, ebay.com. I'll read them and we'll answer them one at a time. Is that OK? And I think these are more in your wheelhouse. Hi Griff and Brian. Hope you're both well, love listening to the show each week, always full of useful and actionable content. I'm a long time listener and also was on the show a few times back when it was Griffin Lee, eBay radio, I've been selling on eBay since May, 2000 and had loved my journey. My username is Andy JM, 37 and then his shop is LynnFordDirectAuctions.com. My first question is about the seller meetup portal and community. Is it possible to have the UK included in this portal? As I am looking at starting up a meetup group and would find this resource useful. Brian, is it possible?

Brian: Possible? Uh, what he's referencing, I'll start with that is if you go to community.ebay.com on the US site, in the, the menu bar, there is an events link. And if you click on that events link, you can click on seller events and you can see eBay events. Those are ones that we run and then there's seller events and those are seller hosted events. And so that's what Andrew was referencing and actually spoke to our colleagues in the UK. There isn't a plan currently to offer it off the UK site, but they did agree that Andrew, if you like, we can have you set up and you can leverage the service that we use in the us. So that would allow you to actually host an event. It just wouldn't get advertised off on the UK site, but at least gives you the platform. You can start your chapter. You can start to send emails to people who sign up for the chapter. You can schedule both a virtual and an in person event or an in person event. However you wanna do it. And if you're doing the advertising and pushing it via your social channel or through email or however, you're gonna advertise, you'll be able to leverage the tool that we've got as the UK team explores you know, how they wanna support kind of like seller run events, but we can meet your needs in the interim.

Griff: Okay. Here's the second question that Andrew asked it's about eBay branded apparel. Again, this, he says, this seems to be just US based and yes, I can buy from the us site, but the shipping and taxes are almost double the price to get it. I guess he says you use P,OD print on demand. Could it be looked at if you use one of these print facilities in the UK?

Brian: Another great suggestion, Andrew, we don't actually use a POD service. However, we do have dedicated staff on the eBay side that work with the select third party vendors to create eBay, branded apparel and general swag. I have sent this suggestion to our colleague on the eBay US side, Jillian for her consideration. So stay tuned for more on that.

Griff: Yeah. Who knows. We'll see what happens. And lastly, his third question, maybe you should look at including some UK based news in your podcast. And again, thanks for all you do says Andrew, you are all amazing. Andrew Milburn.

Brian: And Andrew, I think this is one we can influence and answer, Griff.

Griff: In fact, as a long time, eBay radio listener, Andrew, and maybe some of our other listeners may recall a certain Chris Dawson who would report from time to time on that show with eBay, UK news? Your email got me wondering though, Andrew, how Chris was faring these days, cuz we've been out of contact since 2018. I contacted him on LinkedIn and we had a meeting over Zoom and he's agreed to come on the podcast every quarter or every month we haven't set the cadence yet and he is gonna share any and all eBay, UK selling news and events.

Brian: Well done Griff.

Griff: Thanks Andrew. For that suggestion, he's the one who came up with that.

Brian: He did, but you did have to reach out to Chris.

Griff: I did. I did. It was, it was very nice. We had a long conversation. I'm looking forward to that. And our last question this week comes from eBay seller, Sammy who wrote this to podcast@ebay.com. Hello again, Griff and Brian, quick question. With postmaster general Louis DeJoy killing off the 30 year old postage reselling program will this discontinue our discounted rates for shipping with eBays print label flow? Thanks again for all you do. Sammy PS says, uh, Sammy, thanks for the mug. Cuz he answered a question a few months ago. Unfortunately the handle broke in shipping. Okay. It happens. Believe me. I know.

Brian: What were you saying about packaging earlier in the show?

Griff: I didn't, I didn't pack them. I didn't pack them. I didn't pack them. Our third party did. Is there any way I can get a replacement? Oh, of course. Sammy. Don't worry. We're happy to send you a replacement. In fact, one of may have already gone up, but I'll double check.

Brian: Just the handle, right?

Griff: Yeah. Those tend to break.

Brian: Just the replacement handle.

Griff: No an entire, yeah. That's how stingy we are. We're just gonna send you a new handle. No, we're gonna send you an entire mug.

Brian: Well, not to worry Sammy, the rates that eBay negotiated with USPS are not part of their reseller rate program and are not impacted at all by the sun setting of that program, eBay will continue to offer the same USPS commercial discount rates they offer today. Or we offer today. Yeah. Well, if you wanna join the fun here on eBay for business and get a mug. Call us on (888) 723-4630.

Griff: For a mug and a handle. That's (888)732-4630, you can call that hotline anytime of the day, any day of the week at your convenience, that's your leisure. Leave a question or a comment and we just might put it on the air.

Brian: And if you're not a call on the phone person, you can always email us at podcast@ebay.com, that's podcast@ebay.com.

Griff: And now your three point podcast checklist.

Brian: 1, check the announcement for at ebay.com/announcements for up to date seller news every day.

Griff: 2. Wondering what you should do about the Germany Packaging Act easy register or restrict. Those are the strongly recommended options.

Brian: 3. Need to review anything in this episode, then check the transcript for this and all episodes for follow upon what you've heard and to find the links we referenced during the episode, you can find the transcripts at www.ebay.com/podcast.

Griff: And on our next episode. Well, who knows?

Brian: Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean? Who knows?

Griff: Well, just before we came into the studio this afternoon, Brian, I learned that our next guest, which was scheduled for 205 had to postpone. So after we, we sign off here, I have to jiggle some stuff around, but don't worry. It'll be fantastic. I guarantee it. I just dunno what it's gonna be yet!

Brian: Mm. Okay. Well, I'm sure that you will do a great job in finding a guest or figuring out, you know, a great show cuz you always do.

Griff: I do my best.

Brian: Fridays are fun.

Griff: Yeah. They are.

Brian: We'd like to, again, thank our guest this week. eBay seller Vikki Eagan

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