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

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by iNTeNSeBLue98
Things slowed down for me about mid-Sept., but I managed to profit over $80 after all the fees and shipping. I burned myself on a few items by not charging enough for shipping. I probably lost $20 doing so. I really need to buy a scale, of any kind, and a digital camera. Hopefully with Christmas club checks and our Christmas bonuses being distributed in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to get both the scale and the camera so I can go to town listing.
I have lots of clothes that I want to list, but without a (digital) camera it's pointless. Isn't it? Someone I work with was planning to clean her closet this weekend. What she doesn't want she gives to me, to keep what I want and do whatever with what I don't; lots of designer clothes in good condition. Would you buy a lot of clothes, without a picture?
I spent this evening researching- I started at the beginning of this thread and got to page 40, while checking completed auctions for items I plan to list tomorrow, since I found the calendar that says ending Sunday is a good thing. DD even went through her videos and gave me a small stack to sell (she knows where the money earned is going ) I really need to empty her clothes drawers too!
I relisted a few things today that did not sell the first two times I listed them. I lowered the starting bid (all with BIN and NR) with hopes of attracting buyers.

------------------------------------------------------------
Good morning! It's sooooooo cold here!! Looks like winter is just around the corner..

September was definitely not my best month either - although last week was a bit better.. Lots of things up right now (ending tonight) and I'm hoping the bids will start rolling in.. Lots of grumbling on the eBay Discussion Boards though about folks not buying.. Hopefully that will change with Christmas Club checks coming out soon..

You definitely need to get a digital camera and a scale as most people are very reluctant to buy when they can't see a picture.. You don't have to go crazy expense-wise though.. The camera I use only cost $30 (new - on eBay) and I think my scale (digital 5lb.) was $29.95 at Office Max.. Of course even WITH the scale I have still managed to undercharge on postage a time or two but luckily it wasn't a lot of money..

If you can only afford one or the other right now I would get the camera first.. Lots and lots of people will be listing now for the Christmas season and without a picture you probably won't stand a chance against the competition.. Take a look at the sales flyers in your Sunday paper today and maybe you'll get lucky and catch an awesome sale!

Hope things pick up for you - and ME too !!! LOL

 

[mikess]

HI FOLKS!!!!

Where did all the ebayers go? I mean, I am getting NO bids. I've got up some jeans posted (starting at $1) that have been closing at $30 or more and nothing.

Out of my 8 items closing today, 2 have bids and they are opening bids.

What the heck is going on! I've never had to relist so much stuff before!!!!

 

[kilee]

At least I know it's not just me!! Maybe all the buyers went to Disney

 

[dg39]

My sales are also sooooooooooo slow. When I first started just under 2 months ago, I sold everything I listed and made a bit of $$$. Now forget it, things are practically standing still. I just finished listing a few items and I'm hoping the bids will start coming in.

On another note, I made the BIGGEST ERROR on my shipping charges last week. And I have a scale, imagine if I didn't. Anyway,
I sold a heavy item(and weighed it before hand). The last 3 days I wasn't getting any bids, so I revised it. I made my shipping charge less. Well, with my luck, everything that I'm selling has been going to my zone 8, which is the West coast. I charged 9.00 for shipping and the total at the post office came out to 17.00 & change. I know, I should have went with FedEx, it would have been cheaper, but I didn't feel like driving that far. My post office is 5 min. away. But, just before the buyer e-mailed me and noticed that the shipping was way more than she paid and she offered to send me more money. I thought that was the nicest thing in the world for her to do. I refused, naturally, thanking her a thousand times over, explaining that it was my error and I will one day CONQUER this shipping/handling fiasco. Luckily for me, as I posted a few pages ago, I cheat with shipping and use my dh money to send out my packages, so it really doesn't come out of my profits anyway. The buyer who won that auction is a seller also, so she knows the ups and downs of shipping. I just thought that was very nice of her to offer. So when ever any of you think you made an error on shipping and want to kick yourself for going to low, just re-read my error and you'll feel better. LOL....LIVE AND LEARN

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Yay!!!! I listed 14 items this weekend, then went bowling from 5-8pm Sunday (Disney league ) and came home to 2 bids on two auctions! One of them is a book I've listed twice before, without any hits. Looks like you can't attract bidders without sacrificing your opening bid. I have all but one auctioning starting at .99 or 1.00 this time around.

 

[Madi100]

My BIL was a Yamaha District Sales Manager and has TONS of stuff to sell. I'm going to list it all for him (I'm getting paid). Anyway, there are some high end items, and I want to get the most exposure. When is the best day to end Yamaha stuff? It is snow mobile and motorcross stuff. There doesn't seem to be a lot of what I have to sell (which is everything it seems). Does anyone have any experience with Yamaha?

 

[Mommy Poppins]

How can I refund part of a payment? Someone bought two of my items and paid full shipping/handling on both items. Since I sent them together, I want to refund some of the shipping to him. I know I can refund the whole payment thru Paypal, but not sure how to refund part of a payment.

Thanks!

 

[dg39]

Marypoppins I think all you do to refund any amount of money is go to the paypal site and click on "send money", and you type in the persons paypal e-mail adress with the amount you want him to receive. BUT, please don't do this yet until a more experienced person reads your post and says this is the right way.


Intenseblue98 I'm curious on how the .99 or 1.00 starting prices work. I see sooo many auctions starting with such low prices but I don't understand how you make any profit. If the item only gets 1 bid and it goes for .99 or 1.00, then don't you lose out. I understand about that price attracting bidders, but I know that with my luck, I'll list for .99 and only get 1 bid..

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Originally posted by Mommy Poppins
How can I refund part of a payment? Someone bought two of my items and paid full shipping/handling on both items. Since I sent them together, I want to refund some of the shipping to him. I know I can refund the whole payment thru Paypal, but not sure how to refund part of a payment.

Thanks!

When I have done this in the past, I've just packed cash in the box with the item, and the buyers were pleased. I tried to send money as DG39 described once, and had difficulty with PayPal because it wanted an auction number to connect the payment to, and when I used the original, it wanted to refund the whole amount.

This was a while back and perhaps that feature is improved now, so it's worth a try.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Hey - Congratulations to us! We're at 200 pages on this thread.

AMAZING!

 

[Mommy Poppins]

Well, I already sent the package, so I will try to use Paypal.

thanks!!

 

[nelle]

Mommy Poppins, I had to refund part of a payment last night. Here's what you do:
Click on send money enter the persons paypal email, enter the amount that you want to refund and in the next drop down I selected goods(services). On the next page I checked off the do not show my address(or something like that) and sent the money from existing paypal funds. You can also write a memo telling the person what you are doing. When I first tried I got the same thing you did about refunding the whole amount or something like you didn't win this auction so I went back and selected the goods/services and it worked.
Hope this helps.

 

[dg39]

I listed last night for 7 day auctions, forgetting that next week on Monday is Columbus Day. I figure alot of people go away that weekend and sales may be slow, I'm thinking of changing them to 10 day auctions instead. Maybe when they get back from there trips sales will be picking up for all of us...

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Originally posted by dg39
Intenseblue98 I'm curious on how the .99 or 1.00 starting prices work. I see sooo many auctions starting with such low prices but I don't understand how you make any profit. If the item only gets 1 bid and it goes for .99 or 1.00, then don't you lose out. I understand about that price attracting bidders, but I know that with my luck, I'll list for .99 and only get 1 bid..

This is the chance I'm taking, unfortunately. I made sure to research all of my items first (something I'd not done in before) and noted the starting bids and the final bids. I think somewhere back on this thread there is a comment about starting bids, and thow the low openings attract more buyers because they "think" they will get a bargain. So I guess before they realize, they are competing with other bidders and therefore push the final sale up, (crossing my fingers for such luck). since I had opening bids within hours of listing, I'm hoping that means higher fianl bids at the end of the week. I also hope that the upcoming 3-day weekend isn't too much a factor when auctions close Saturday and Sunday.

 

[mikess]

OK, Thats it!

I'm pulling out of ebay for a couple of weeks. Nothing is selling and what little bit of selling there is, is going for hardly anything.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

HELP!

I just received an email from the buyer of my stoneware plates. I packed well, or so I thought, and shipped them UPS from work. I asked the person making my label is she would mark the box fragile and she advised against it, saying that "they" will kick it or otherwise take advantage of the item being fragile. So I left the box blank.
The winning bidder received the shipment today and states that 6 of the 21 pieces broke in transit. He is asking for a full refund plus the cost of shipping the item back to me. He claims I didn't pack the plates well enough- maybe so, I used those foam sheets between each and around the edges for protections and nothing shifted inside the carton. I misjudged the weight and spent $5 extra to ship UPS across the country, on top of what was paid to me per the auction's details.
I replied with my apologies, asking if he'd like to keep the unbroken items if I gave a partial refund. I figured $1 per item broken since the auction amounted to approximately that. I'm waiting for his reply.


Do I recall, when I was getting the estimated charges, that UPS insurance was included? If so, what are my options?

 

[kilee]

mikess--- I am thinking of doing the same. I don't know what the problem is. Things having been going at least steady to well since July. Then the last 8 or 9 days have been a huge slump. I had 5 auctions end today w/o any bids. Then over the weekend most everything ended w/ only the starting bids. I don't get it.

I bought an "orlando entertainment book" off ebay. I even emailed the seller and asked was this the real "entertainment book" from the "entertainment company" and he said yes. The ad said many 2for 1 dining coupons, hotel deals, 2 for 1 attraction coupons ect. It sounded like the real book and I asked if it was the real book. I got it today-- it is a coupon booklet from Orlando. Like the kind you get in the hotel lobbies. This seller has a 1200+ positive feedback. I have emailed him-- I want my money back. So now I'm waiting to see what happens-- this is serious misrepresentation.

 

[lalapodip]

Originally posted by kilee

I bought an "orlando entertainment book" off ebay. I even emailed the seller and asked was this the real "entertainment book" from the "entertainment company" and he said yes. I got it today-- it is a coupon booklet from Orlando. Like the kind you get in the hotel lobbies. This seller has a 1200+ positive feedback. I have emailed him-- I want my money back. So now I'm waiting to see what happens-- this is serious misrepresentation.

Wow, that is bad! I'd want my money back, too!

My week went fairly well - only 3 items didn't sell (I've been selling outgrown children's clothing) - and I've received payment for all but one auction. I have 2 Halloween costumes to list - and our digital camera went kaput. We're searching on eBay for a new camera to get back in the action!!

The good news is that I'll be able to make a payment on our cruise. plus a donation to Target Autism Genome, which is part of my reason for selling. I hope things do pick up, though, because 2 of my items sold for less than I thought they would.

Good luck everyone!

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Here's a thought.....my guess for sales being slow would be that those credit card bills from summer vacation and back to school shopping have found their way to the mailboxes. I work in retail, and until this past week, when it was cooler than normal by about 10 degrees, sales were flat vs. last year. This past week was exceptional- folks needing long sleeves, pants, jackets and pajamas for the cool weather. I'm anticipating that with Christmas Clubs ending in the next few weeks, people will begin their holiday shopping, and turn to ebay to do some of it.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Hey, mikess & kilee,

Sorry you are having such poor results lately. I also had a real slump earlier this month. I was listing 20 items at a time, and only getting 3 or 4 to sell. I tried not to worry , but I did start wondering if my fees were going to outweigh my profits. It was starting to look like it.

BUT... I rotated my merchandise, gave a few things a break for a week or 2, and now several items that didn't sell for 2 listings went well for the 3rd. Plus, it was finally time for some halloween stuff to go on, and it did fairly well.

Step back, take a breather if you need to, think about what the change in seasons might mean if you sell the same types of items, or what the change in seasons means, if you have another source of things to sell. Look around and try to think of things that you had dismissed as not saleable a month or 2 ago, and try to see an angle that you can use. Maybe start weeding through your Christmas boxes to see if there are any treasures to plan to list in a month.

My sales stats are not mirroring yours in turns of time frame - I am looking at an upswing right now. And I am going to finish out the week and take a break during my trip. So, you guys can all have my bidders, 'K???