You HAVE to try this!! EBAY your way to DISNEY!!

[jk1]

To get a chart listing all the postal zones from your zipcode:

http://postcalc.usps.gov/zonecharts/

Type in the first three digits of your zip. You will get a Postal Zone Chart and you can print it out for future reference.


http://www.usps.com/tools/calculatepostage/welcome.htm?from=global&page=0061calculatepostage

This page allows you to calculate domestic and international postage rates.
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I have been following and enjoying the many tips in this thread for some time now. I would like to thank Carol Ann for starting this thread, her helpful advice, and encouraging so many people to start eBaying. And thanks goes out to DMRick and the others who have graciously stayed with this thread giving their expertise advice to the eBay newbiew. I am on my way to eBaying with your help.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Hi there! Doesn't it feel good when you finally get through all 120+ pages?

Thanks for the zonechart link. Being in the northeast, I just tend to calculate postage to "90210" for a flat rate on most auctions. But the Zone info is good to have, too.

Look forward to hearing your success stories, too!

 

[C.Ann]

I see that a lot of you Mom's are currently selling your children's clothing (for the back-to-school shoppers) and are having great success with it..

Sooooo..

For all the Mom's just getting started, won't you others share your tips with them? Of course you don't have to give away any of your "trade" secrets but if you could post general guidelines for them I'm sure it would help tremendously..

Some things you might care to post:

Selling in lots - or individually?

Pricing?

How you package them?

What the shipping usually costs?

and anything else that might be of help to these Mom's....

---------------------------

I don't sell clothing, so I'm no help - but I know that all of you want to help each other get to Disney, so how about it? Care to share?

Thanks all!!!

 

[disneychrista]

Now, if I can only find out on the USPS site which postal zone I'm in

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the seller always "Zone 1" and then the different zones change depending on where the seller lives? So for me to send to say NY City is zone 9 but someone in NY City it would be Zone 1. However for me to send to San Fransisco is Zone 1 but that NY City person it would likely be Zone 9.

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by C.Ann
selling your children's clothing (for the back-to-school shoppers)
Some things you might care to post:

I sold summer clothes back in July and they did okay.

Selling in lots - or individually? - I did both. Lots did better.

Pricing? - vaies. For outfits I put them at $2.50 for nearly new. Lots I did at about $.75 per item in the lot, more if it was a very good/ nearly new item, less if it had any flaw.

How you package them? - single items went priority in the paper priority bag/envelope. A large box for the lots.

What the shipping usually costs? $3.95 for the single pieces/outfits Priority Mail. The boxes cost between $7.95 - $9.95, parcel post.

and anything else that might be of help to these Mom's - I broke down each lot into sizes. I also seperated out the summer clothes from the fall (which I will be putting on this weekend). I did not put anything on that had any major flaws, stains,etc.

 

[mikess]

Hi gang!

I have just start back selling and have a trick i thought a would share. It seems that if I add some **** or ~~~ to my titles, my items stand out and sell better (That is, if you can spare the room).

EXAMPLE:

****LOT OF 7 BOOKS****

~~~24 Gaint Jumping Beans~~~


Hope it helps!!!






Mike the Parrothead

 

[kilee]

I just recently had quite a few clothing auctions end. All of them sold too!

Here is what I found:

If something is new, with the tags, it seemed to sell really well on it's own. In some cases it sold for almost the original cost. In a few, where I had gotten items on clearance, they sold for more than I paid. This was really true of name brand jeans that were new with tags.

Shipping was quite a bit. For the lots of clothes (about 8-10 items). Parcel Post was running me about $8.50-10.00. I packaged everything in boxes.

Name brand clothes seemed to move much, much better than non-name brand items. I put some clothes into groups of 6-10 items, not all outfits either. They did well. I got no less than $25.00 for any group of clothes. I actually made sure each auction had at least 1/2 name brand items. Hot items are Gap and Gymboree. I personally didn't find Old Navy to really make an impression (I think because they are so reasonable to begin with brand new). I did do well with some Land's End items too. I also sold some of my own clothes and Fashion Bug labeled items actually did pretty decent.

Also, shoes did well. I sold a pair of Nike sneakers that DS (10) had last year, he only wore them a handful of times. They had some scuff marks. I noted this on the auction and posted very clear pics of the shoes. I really honestly didn't think they'd sell. I started them at $.99. They went for $26.00!!! So, don't overlook the shoes. I sold several other pairs of sandals that were barely worn in the last 2 weeks too.

The listing fee's add up quick because of the extra pictures you need to add. To kind of make sure you make the sale, carefully look everything over and make sure it's in almost new condition.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

It seems that if I add some **** or ~~~ to my titles, my items stand out and sell better

Wow, interesting.... I wonder why that is???

I like to try to include mulitple possible spellings of an item - like BBQ and Barbeque, also both singular and plural if possible. Try to think of how people might search for a popular item, and if there are multiple possibilities, try to include all.

Prior to July 4th I had some patriotic Disney pins listed. After the first week and poor results, it occurred to me to include the word "flag" in the title for all pins that had a US flag on them. That really did the trick for me!

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by mikess
It seems that if I add some **** or ~~~ to my titles, my items stand out and sell better

Interesting but this (**) seems to be against Ebay rules. "No HTML, asterisks, or quotes. 45 characters maximum" is write under where you place your title.

 

[dkostel]

I just read in another post that it is ok to give your Ebay name & mention your auctions. I have a bunch of Disney beanies that i'm trying to get rid of for my mom (she collected them for my niece who's shown no interest in most of them & moved to a smaller house so can't have them anyway). Anyway my ebay name is also DKOSTEL (I know I totally lack imagination ).

Feel free to delete or edit this if I broke any rules - if not thanks for reading.

Donna

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Last week at my nearby Sunday morning Flea Market, I encountered a BEAUTIFUL Sully halloween costume. It was the complete head-to-toe beast, with the head attached, the feet just covers that rest on top of the wearer's shoes, zippers to get in and out. The seller wanted $20. I tried to negotiate and offered $10, but she seemed annoyed and did not counter-offer, so I moved on. It was a child's size 6, I think, and was in very good condition - just a little soiled around the bottoms of the feet. She said it was $65 from the Disney Store last year.

I knew I could have made a profit buying for $10 and listing on ebay... but $20 seemed too risky. Do any of you recall how something like that might have sold in season last year? I'm thinking I may just get it if it is still there this weekend. Not too likely, probably!

What do you all think?

 

[DMRick]

I just read in another post that it is ok to give your Ebay name & mention your auctions.

I think not too many pages ago, a mod asked us to tell people they could PM us if they wanted our eBay name, not to list it. You may have seen that on an earlier board (to list it here).

 

[mikess]

Originally posted by disneychrista
Interesting but this (**) seems to be against Ebay rules. "No HTML, asterisks, or quotes. 45 characters maximum" is write under where you place your title.

I have been doing this trick for years and ebay has said nothing, so if it is they are not inforcing it.

 

[obnurse2003]

You don't have to worry about the singular or plurals in your auction listing anymore. Ebay has a new search that will give the "seracher" both the plural and the singular unless the "searcher" puts the work in quotation marks, then it will search for ONLY that word.

Such as the word mystery books. All mystery book titles will appear also. This has helped a lot for both sellers and buyers!

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Originally posted by obnurse2003
You don't have to worry about the singular or plurals in your auction listing anymore. Ebay has a new search that will give the "seracher" both the plural and the singular unless the "searcher" puts the work in quotation marks, then it will search for ONLY that word.

Such as the word mystery books. All mystery book titles will appear also. This has helped a lot for both sellers and buyers!

Oh, that's great to know! Thanks!

 

[Robinrs]

Originally posted by Kay1
I just had two eBay firsts today. I left my first negative feedback and later got an e-mail from eBay congratulating me on my first year anniversary. When I left the neg I noticed that the bidder no longer had a zero next to her name, but a negative one. Now she or he has a negative two.
When the bidder won my auction I noticed the zero but realized we all have to start somewhere, but this person never completed checkout, never responded to me or eBay and, from what I can tell, did the same thing to other seller who negged her.
Why on Earth would someone go to all the trouble of signing up with eBay, bid on auctions, then stiff the seller?:

The SAME EXACT thing happened to me this week!!

I had this guy buy TWO of my clothing items on Buy It Now. He had a 0 feedback but like you I thought, heck I had a zero not too long ago too!

Well, now he has a negative one and the guy who left the feedback was LIVID!

I sent a warning letter, now I'm giving him a few days until I can dump him and relist. I'm trying to get my clothing stuff sold during the back to school time!

What in the world makes people do that???

 

[disneychrista]

PLEASE if you have a buyer not pay for an item, take the time to go through the NPB process. This is the only way that Ebay knows that the buyer didn't pay for the item.

 

[Robinrs]

I always go through the process, even when it takes much longer than I want it to. I don't think this little boy will be on the site much longer. I'll be his 2nd and 3rd strike.

 

[gm]

you know, I have just about had it with this non paying bidders. I had one who still hasnt paid or responded and raising the price high up for my auction. It looks like they compete with other bidders to see who wins(its like a game for them) and I have to pay the fees for the final price.

The auction was for $9 and went up to $35 but she just totally ignored all emails or contact even though I list contact needs to be made within 3 days of auction close. I have about 4 deadbeat bidders right now who have not paid.

This is a means of living for me so I just let it go because the more the negs the less the customers. But the final value fees from these deadbeat bidders sure adds up. So far I have no negatives and I know I will get one someday but it is better than a lot of negatives from unfair non paying bidders retaliating. This Ebay system is so so unfair but the reason they do not change it is because of their own agenda keep the profits from our auctions instead of giving it back to the sellers without getting a retaliatory neg.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

gm, that really stinks! You mention that you have to pay high final value fees - are you filing the NPB alerts with ebay? You can request your FVF refund as part of that process. This will let ebay know that bidders are not paying, and saves you that unfair expense.

Hope it improves for you soon!