by Robert Leavitt
Greetings fellow workaholics! I am back in full swing on eBay and my store is about to burst at the seams! I am very close to reaching my max list limit (which is around 600 items) for the month. I have never actually reached it so I'm not sure what happens then. I know just as I get close to maxing it out, eBay raises my limit, so from experience I can deduce that will happen once again.
I opened a "consignment" shop of sorts. It's just a few friends and family that have me listing stuff for them under my account. There are advantages to doing this as I have established a history of sales within the eBay community and I have managed to maintain my 100% feedback rating. (Knock on wood!)
The feedback rating is huge, not only does it drive people to your listing, it also will allow you to charge a premium for your items. You can compete on price on certain things, especially used items, however if you are listing new in box items for sale, you are going to find that competing with "top-rated-plus" sellers is a very difficult task. They pay the monthly fees to have an eBay store and they also receive discounts on the final listings and are able to undercut you. Even if you have the same supplier and shipping costs.
eBay is addictive, it really is, both as a buyer and a seller. If you plan to sell on eBay, start as a buyer (buy things you need for your business, like tape, bubble wrap, tape guns, boxes, etc...) and learn how the process works first. The best thing is that you get ratings for being a buyer. If you have 10 buying transactions and 3 selling transactions you will have a rating of 13 total transactions. The buyers can see this in the "detailed seller ratings" but many don't know that they are combined, and what they don't know can benefit YOU!
I did say earlier in this post that I have a store, which is a stretch of the truth. I haven't not actually upgraded to a real "Store" yet because of the fees. I will shortly if things maintain this pace, but for now I will keep it the same. I have read that it is a mistake to upgrade to early, and I can see that for certain. If you are only selling a few hundred dollars per month on eBay, a store is not necessary and is in fact a waste of your hard earned money!
The consignment process is easy in principle. It is however a challenge to maintain your inventory (keep it separate, ideally with a catalog system of some sort allowing you to put item numbers on everything so you can remember who things belong to!). But at the very minimum at least keep your groups of boxes separate from each other. I have yet to find an "vendor Item number" in eBay but I'm sure that one exists. I plan to find an inventory solution, perhaps built into a management platform. I will keep you posted on this and let you know should I decide to use one. I'm looking for something that has inventory features and will allow me to "dump" the product to amazon, eBay and a shopping cart all at once. Maybe that's too much to ask!
I will keep you updated on my eBay progress. I really want to write an eBay eBook but I have yet to find the time. It really is a big project that requires a lot of thought and preparation. There are 1000's out there, but the demand is high. Everyone wants to do this, but not everyone can. It is intimidating and unlike other mistakes on a computer that can often be fixed, mistakes on eBay can often mean "losing money" which is a burden few people can bear.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
My Plants, eBay and Returns!
by Robert Leavitt
As you probably already know I sell on eBay. It's my main source of income and I have sold everything from nick-knacks to rare LP albums on vinyl. I can say for certain that eBay is an ADVENTURE! Lately I've been following my sisters lead and I got into the wonderful world of plants. I mostly sell seed online, but I also do ship real live plants.
Shipping plants is difficult at best. I have had some luck with it, but it's not an easy task. I usually ship things bare root, but lately I have been nervous about my tender seedlings arriving alive, so I have been wrapping up the entire starter pot with plastic wrap. It costs more to ship this way, however my customers have seemed pleased to have it arrive in soil. (You can try to explain that bare-root is OK, but it's a HARD sell to someone who is buying plants at a retail level).
If you are planning to sell plants online, I highly suggest that you do some research first. It's hard to do and it requires a good deal of knowledge. I never offer refunds, however I have refunded people anyway because of the USPS damaging the plant.
You really have to weigh your cost and look at it carefully. Most people can come up with plants the "inexpensive" way which is to grow them, but you have to look at containers, potting mixes, water cost, heat if you have to heat the area (like a greenhouse) and packaging and shipping. This doesn't even count your time. You have to "run a tight ship" to make money doing this.
Let me know what you think!
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
As you probably already know I sell on eBay. It's my main source of income and I have sold everything from nick-knacks to rare LP albums on vinyl. I can say for certain that eBay is an ADVENTURE! Lately I've been following my sisters lead and I got into the wonderful world of plants. I mostly sell seed online, but I also do ship real live plants.
Shipping plants is difficult at best. I have had some luck with it, but it's not an easy task. I usually ship things bare root, but lately I have been nervous about my tender seedlings arriving alive, so I have been wrapping up the entire starter pot with plastic wrap. It costs more to ship this way, however my customers have seemed pleased to have it arrive in soil. (You can try to explain that bare-root is OK, but it's a HARD sell to someone who is buying plants at a retail level).
If you are planning to sell plants online, I highly suggest that you do some research first. It's hard to do and it requires a good deal of knowledge. I never offer refunds, however I have refunded people anyway because of the USPS damaging the plant.
You really have to weigh your cost and look at it carefully. Most people can come up with plants the "inexpensive" way which is to grow them, but you have to look at containers, potting mixes, water cost, heat if you have to heat the area (like a greenhouse) and packaging and shipping. This doesn't even count your time. You have to "run a tight ship" to make money doing this.
Let me know what you think!
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
Friday, April 4, 2014
I received negative feedback on eBay! What do I do!?!?
by Robert Leavitt
If you have been selling on eBay for any length of time it's bound to happen sooner or later. Eventually a user will not be satisfied with the product you sent them and leave you a negative feedback. It doesn't matter what you are selling. If you were selling gold bars for a dollar, I guarantee that somewhere along the line there will be a buyer who says something like "My gold bar for 1 dollar wasn't gold enough" or perhaps "My gold bar should be twice this size, I mean after all, I sent you a dollar!"
Well I too received my first negative feedback at eBay today. To make matters worse, the person said that the product was "covered in mud splotches" and "reeked like pot". I find this a little bit comical as no one in my house smokes pot. In fact, no one has EVER smoked pot in this house at any time. So, I did what any other person with an untarnished reputation on eBay would do..... I panicked.
I called customer service to demand that it be removed as there is no basis for these accusations, and I found them to be completely crazy and in no way shape or form substantiated. So they transferred me to the "elite" section of eBay customer service where they have the authority to handle such matters. After a few minutes of being on hold and listening to various advertisements I was connected with a customer service representative. I was promptly informed that they would not take it down, and that it was between me and the buyer and it was not eBay's policy to intervene. I was also informed that I should contact the buyer to see if they would retract the comment and that I also had the option of "responding" to the feedback so my other customers could read that response (have yet to find where that button is).
So I sat back and thought...now I know that negative feedback and unhappy customers are just part of the game. I understand that this is part of doing business. I don't understand how someone could make up whatever they wanted and put it on there and that eBay is not responsible for helping me maintain my "stellar" record of outstanding customer service, products and prices. They sure intervene when it's time for them to take out their seller fees. I am waiting for a response from my disgruntled buyer who obviously just wants to be an ___hole. One can see from his other feedback sent to other people that he's enjoys getting people upset.
Has this happened to you? Leave some comments and tell me about your experiences.
Sigh..
UPDATE:
After a couple of tries with customer eBay customer service, I got an OUTSTANDING rep, who went ahead and got the horrible feedback removed for me! I was very happy. Most of the customer service call center for eBay is outsourced to another country, which can be frustrating and I have not had a great overall experience with the cust. service department. However this was addressed and is proof that it pays to be persistent.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
If you have been selling on eBay for any length of time it's bound to happen sooner or later. Eventually a user will not be satisfied with the product you sent them and leave you a negative feedback. It doesn't matter what you are selling. If you were selling gold bars for a dollar, I guarantee that somewhere along the line there will be a buyer who says something like "My gold bar for 1 dollar wasn't gold enough" or perhaps "My gold bar should be twice this size, I mean after all, I sent you a dollar!"
Well I too received my first negative feedback at eBay today. To make matters worse, the person said that the product was "covered in mud splotches" and "reeked like pot". I find this a little bit comical as no one in my house smokes pot. In fact, no one has EVER smoked pot in this house at any time. So, I did what any other person with an untarnished reputation on eBay would do..... I panicked.
I called customer service to demand that it be removed as there is no basis for these accusations, and I found them to be completely crazy and in no way shape or form substantiated. So they transferred me to the "elite" section of eBay customer service where they have the authority to handle such matters. After a few minutes of being on hold and listening to various advertisements I was connected with a customer service representative. I was promptly informed that they would not take it down, and that it was between me and the buyer and it was not eBay's policy to intervene. I was also informed that I should contact the buyer to see if they would retract the comment and that I also had the option of "responding" to the feedback so my other customers could read that response (have yet to find where that button is).
So I sat back and thought...now I know that negative feedback and unhappy customers are just part of the game. I understand that this is part of doing business. I don't understand how someone could make up whatever they wanted and put it on there and that eBay is not responsible for helping me maintain my "stellar" record of outstanding customer service, products and prices. They sure intervene when it's time for them to take out their seller fees. I am waiting for a response from my disgruntled buyer who obviously just wants to be an ___hole. One can see from his other feedback sent to other people that he's enjoys getting people upset.
Has this happened to you? Leave some comments and tell me about your experiences.
Sigh..
UPDATE:
After a couple of tries with customer eBay customer service, I got an OUTSTANDING rep, who went ahead and got the horrible feedback removed for me! I was very happy. Most of the customer service call center for eBay is outsourced to another country, which can be frustrating and I have not had a great overall experience with the cust. service department. However this was addressed and is proof that it pays to be persistent.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
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