Archive for the ‘Product Help’ Category

Dear eBay Queen:

I love eBay!  After reading your blog, I guess you do too, huh?  I’m having a hard time with Turbo-lister and the logistics of getting all my stuff organized, but I’m making lots of money and I get to shop without guilt, which is cool.  I’m really into vintage and unique stuff.  Could you give me a few tips to keep me on track and organized?

I’m thinking I want to do this full time.  It’s such a rush!  Last week, I sold a wicker doll carriage for $100.99 plus shipping that I bought at a garage sale for $5.00.  How cool is that?  A few months back, I sold a silver baby cup with someone’s name already engraved on it for $70.00!  I bought it for .50 cents.  I think I am the garage sale queen!  I also had great luck the one and only storage unit I bought for $140.00.  It wasn’t that great, honestly but it had 6 industrial European hinges that sold for more than I paid for the whole unit!  I’m still selling that stuff.

BTW, It also contained a 1947 WORKING Singer Sewing Machine that’s sitting in my garage.

Since I’m into the vintage stuff, research takes up a lot of time but I’m good at it.  Please give me a tip or two………

Marcella dreamrich on EBAY

Dear Marcella:

Congratulations! eBay is a great way to make extra money, or to earn full time money. Your sales have been phenomenal! You’ve got a great eye. My downfall to selling on eBay is the research. I enjoy researching things, but it takes up so much time for me to do it that I’m just researching and not writing stuff up.

Here are some tips to help you stay organized.

•  Use Turbo-Lister’s Item numbers as your inventory numbers.
• Have a separate place for wrapping packages and photographing your items.
• Have specific times you wrap packages, write up eBay items, research, etc.
• If you are going to do this full time, make sure you allocate the proper space and time for your eBay business.  Both of those things can get out of hand quickly.

Turbo-lister is a great program to keep you organized, plus it’s FREE.  The one drawback to Turbo-lister is that it doesn’t schedule listings for free.

Dear eBay Queen;

Someone who owns a donation thrift store wants me to sell items for them. They are in Colorado, and I am in Western Kansas. I was thinking of having them set up their own eBay ID, and I would use my listing program to list the items for them. They would send me pictures for the listing, I would list the items and then they would ship and take care of everything else. I feel uncomfortable selling out of state like this and with not being able to handle the items and take pictures like I normally do. That is why I think they should use their own eBay ID. I just wonder if you have done anything like this before.

If I decide to use my ID, should I specify in the listing that the item is coming from another state, or do I change the location box. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don’t think the person selling the items has had any experience with eBay, so that is another concern. The store is about 100 miles away.

Lisa, KS

Dear Lisa:

This could be quite a tricky situation. You would be covering yourself by having the seller use their own eBay account, but they still could quite possibly not ship items out as fast as they should, and their photos could be a complete mess. Would there be any way for you to make a trip out there once or twice a month? That way you could have the stuff in hand, and make sure it was packaged correctly and shipped on time.

If this isn’t feasible, I would consider referring them to a Trading Assistant in their area.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 270838009628 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page.) What was your favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon?  Mine was Scooby Doo.  Check out The Mystery Machine, Scooby’s Van.  SOLD $9,900.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649&item=270838009628

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I am a seller but also a buyer.  I bought and paid for 4 different pairs of jeans from a seller and asked for combine shipping.  The seller gave me an invoice for all 4 pairs of jeans, but the invoice did not have a discounted shipping rate. I emailed the seller and asked once again for a combined invoice, and a discounted shipping rate.  She sent me an email back and told me that it is not stated in the listing that she gives a discount.  I wrote her an email back and explained to her that I hope these jeans are shipped individually since she would not give me a discount on the shipping.

The seller shipped the jeans out, and they were of course shipped together in a Tyvek type envelope. I looked the jeans over, and I noticed that one pair had a tiny hole in them. I went and checked out the listing and noticed that it did not say ANY WHERE in it there was a hole in the jeans.  I emailed her to let her know, and she emailed me back saying she did not take returns!

I do not think I should have to pay individually priced shipping rates when a seller ships the items all together.  The seller charged me 34.95 for shipping each of these jeans individually and really paid 14.50 to ship them all together!

This seller has 100% feedback rating, but if I have anything to say about it, she won’t for long.  Do you think I should leave negative feedback for this seller?

Rebecca; Dallas, Texas

Dear Rebecca:

From everything you’ve said, I would be pretty miffed at this seller as well! Negative feedback is probably warranted in this situation, but I believe in giving someone every chance to do the right thing.  Before leaving negative feedback on the jeans I would send her an email similar to this:

I purchased four pairs of jeans from you.  Three pair are as described, but one pair had a small hole in them.  I see from your listing that you do not accept returns, I am hoping in this case you will make an exception as I they were not as you had listed them.  I am also unhappy that you charged me for shipping each one individually, when in fact you shipped them all together.  I requested that you ship them individually to me since your shipping charges reflected that.  I am not as happy with this transaction as I should be, and hope that you will rectify this.  The other 3 pairs of jeans are perfect, and I really like those. 

I hope your seller will do the right thing.  If she does not, you can always open a “not as described case” though eBay.

Dear eBay Queen:

I’m pretty new to selling. My sales have been steady and consistent for the last couple of months, but here lately my sales are in a slump. What can I do about this? Wait it out? Revise my auctions? I know it’s been only a short time, I just need some reassurance, and to see if maybe you have experienced the same thing.

Currently I’m running just auctions.  I don’t have a store yet (sitting on the fence until I learn more).  I try to have at least 20 items listed at any given time.   I’m listing several times a week.  My current inventory is dolls, books, rubber stamps and scrapbooking supplies.  Recently, I added some Christmas ornaments.  I think my listings are pretty diverse, to say the least.  Do you have any advice for me?

Lilly; Ottawa, KS

Dear Lilly:

I’m impressed with your 20 listings each week!  Selling slumps happen no matter what you sell.  It maybe the wrong time of the year, the price may not be right, the photos may not show a good representation of the item, or there may be no discernable reason as to why it hasn’t sold.

An eBay Store is a great way to go if you have the product to put in there. To have a basic store, I would say you need at least 100 items. This is a nice amount of inventory, and will make for a more successful store.  Do you think you have that many items to list?  A basic store is 15.95 a month, plus the listing fee.

If you send me a link to one of your auctions, I would be happy to check out your listings to see if there is something you could do spruce them up.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 220870022893 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page.)  Do you have any Dinosaur fossil in your backyard?  Check out this Hell Creek Dinosaur Fossil Large Ugly Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth SOLD $660.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HELL-CREEK-DINOSAUR-FOSSIL-LARGE-UGLY-TYRANNOSAURUS-T-REX-PREMAXILLARY-TOOTH-/220875219456  

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen;

I’ve sold a few things here and there on eBay. I’m not really a serious seller.  I just buy things when I need them, and sell thing when I want too.  That being said, I have a diamond ring that I would like to sell.  It’s a 1.5 carat solitaire with a total 2 carat weight of diamonds. It’s not really an engagement ring, and not really a cocktail ring. I’m thinking I would like $5,500.00 for the ring. What is the best way to sell this?

I am also a little worried about my protection as a seller.  I see there is protection in place for buyers, but how can I be sure that if I send my ring to someone, they won’t switch the diamonds and then return the ring to me?

John
Dear John:

I’ve been selling for almost 14 years on eBay.  I still believe eBay’s philosophy, “That people are basically good.” If you decide to sell your ring on eBay, I would make sure that the ring has been appraised (recently).  This way if in the unlikely event that a dishonest person purchased your item and wanted to return it, you would have the appraisal with the drawing and photos of the ring.

There is seller protection, but not from what you are concerned about.  There aren’t any guarantees that someone wouldn’t switch your ring. Every sale on eBay involves risk.  Some other options for you might be Craigslist.

Dear eBay Queen:

I was in your eBay class at the beginning of the year.  You told a story about a friend of yours that purchased a childrens boutique store that was going out of business.  I kept thinking that might be the way to accumulate eBay inventory.  I’ve been browsing Craigslist, local newspapers and Freecycle.  I ended up with a couple of different things.  I was wondering if you could help me figure out the best way to sell these items?

We purchased a large quantity of rubber stamps.  I think this was from a serious scrapbooking person or maybe from a store.  I tried to get the story behind them, but when I went to pick them up the guy just said “They are my wife’s, I don’t know much about them. Glad they are leaving here.” The stamps are all different, and range in sizes from 1 inch square to 6 inch stamps.  Most of these are new most new, and I would say that 95% of them are unused.  There are probably 600 rubber stamps total, not including the sets.  I have a variety of themes including Christmas, Valentines, Hanukah, Fourth of July, and the rest are miscellaneous.  This lot cost me a total of $45.

The next lot of items we purchased was a lot of NEW hardback books.  There are 225 books, and each book has no more than 2 duplicates. Most of these are current best sellers, some fiction, and some nonfiction.  I bought these at an auction, and paid $35.00 for the whole lot.

How would you eBay them? Would you sell them in one huge lot with a Buy it Now with Best Offer? Should I separate them out and sell them individually?

Trina; Tonganoxie, KS

Dear Trina:

Those sound like some great buys!  In a situation like this, you need to decide how long you want to mess with these.  If you sell them individually, you will be writing each one up, and they may not sell the 1^st or 2^nd time.  If you sell them in a lot, you may not make all the money on them you would have if you sold them individually.  The best thing to do is check out what some of the ending prices or completed listings of these items are.

I would check into selling the hardbacks on Amazon.com and eBay.  It’s easy to list books on Amazon, and there is no cost to list them for 30 days.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 170700262000 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page.) Do you love Halloween Decorations? Check out this vintage Halloween Screen Stand Up.   SOLD $1525.00 HERE

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? Email: questions@asktheebayqueen.com