Posts Tagged ‘store cancellations’

Dear eBay Queen;

I don’t have any experience selling on eBay.  I hope that you can help me.  I would like to start selling stuff right away, but I have no idea what to sell. Which would be better, selling a new product or selling vintage items? Is there an easy way to find product to sell?  If so, could you please tell me what website and what product? I have some friends that sell toys, action figures and comic books.  They won’t help me out at all when it comes to finding stuff to sell. Thank you.

Inessa; Lawrence, KS

Dear Inessa;

I don’t know too many eBayers that will share where they purchase their product from. Don’t take it personal, your friends are just trying to protect their source. Finding the right product to sell is a closely guarded secret with every bricks and mortar store and online retailers.

Before jumping into finding items to sell, I always recommend getting your feet wet by selling something you have laying around the house first. eBay can be a lot of work, and most people do not realize that when they are just starting out.

After you’ve sold 10-15 things, you probably will know if you like photographing, writing up, listing, packaging and shipping eBay items.  After selling that many items, it would be a good time to start looking for a product line to sell. Whichever way you choose, new or vintage, each have a good market share on eBay.  It is up to you to decide which one you are interested in.

 Here are a few things to think about when trying to find what to sell:

1. What are you interested in?  Do you like electronics, jewelry, shoes?

2. How much work is it to pack the product for shipment?

3. How hard will it be to find the product for resale?

4. What will your profit be after paying for the product, eBay and PayPal fees?

There are a lot of websites that carry products for you to sell on eBay. Three of the more popular ones are: http://www.WholesaleBoxLots.com , http://www.alibaba.com, or http://www.worldwidebrands.com . 

I wish I had the right answer for you.  Fortunately there is no right or wrong item to sell.  It takes lots of hard work to find the product that is just right for you to sell.

Dear eBay Queen;

Yesterday, I received an eBay email saying my fixed price listing had ended, (the standard email you get when fixed price listings end).  Thing was, I knew that this listing was not a fixed price listing, but was a store listing that was good till cancelled.  Nothing in the email indicated why it had closed. 

When I went to relist this item, I got a message saying information needed to be changed – and eventually found out that for this particular store listing, I had not specified a handling time.  Do you have any idea what this means? What exactly is a handling time?

Ivan J.

Dear Ivan;

eBay implemented the “handling time” feature in April of 2009 and started enforcing it in late October of 2009.  This feature is to let buyers know how long it will take for you to ship the item off after they pay for it.  I’m not sure why it came across as a Fixed Price listing instead of a Store listing.  I have contacted eBay and they said it was probably a glitch in the system that changed the name from Store to Fixed Price on the email.  Have you updated your other store listings so that those won’t be cancelled also?

Handling time is the number of business days the seller will take to ship the item after receiving your cleared payment. A payment is considered "cleared" after the money from the buyer has been deposited into the seller’s account.  Keep in mind this does not include the number of business days the shipping service will take to deliver the item to you.  For more information on handling time go here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time.html

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 11045036789 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page).  I love old crocks, and I think other people do too! Check out this vintage Rare Red Wing 2 Gallon Advertising Crock. SOLD $3,550.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110450356789      

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? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.