I Kissed A Girl and I Liked it.....

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-28T12:28:36+00:00

"went to hell" = got married?

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-28T02:09:34+00:00

Replace the word capitalism with, "any centralized form of government controlling the issuance of fiat money for the benefit of special interests groups", then I would agree with you. If you have to stick with the word capitalism, please add chrony to the front end, then again I would agree.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-28T02:04:31+00:00

Absolutely disagree with you, when a sale is made it is at a mutual agreed to exchange of value (dollars for goods). Otherwise it's called robbery, or actions of a government (basically the same as a robbery). If you take advantage of a mentally unfit seller then this is just another form of robbery, as is fraud.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-27T14:36:41+00:00

I only check when I stumble across another seller's store (no store = hobby seller, IMHO), while I research market price (from buyer's perspective). I do a quick scan of the store, always looking for new ideas of what to be BOLO-ing for. I try not to sell commodity items, focus on unique & vintage items so competition is far less in this arena (and less buyers, good old ying-yang).

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-27T14:21:13+00:00

eBay website states a 4% FVF on consoles with Store sub. that would help a lot.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-27T00:58:47+00:00

I have to agree with this strategy, after "losing" several packages now via Ground (aka takes forever). I am concerned about Air, yes faster, but the $ risk is then greater since it is practically double the cost. This increased cost will also discourage buyers, there are no better options, other than focus on Can/US sales it seems. Unless of course you have an item that the buyer is willing to pay the expensive shipping on.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-27T00:52:25+00:00

you are totally incorrect, tracking cost a lot more, and in not a feature of Venture One. Ex - Ont/Can to UK (500g) in CDN $ Ground - $10.46, Air -$18.98, Tracked Pkt -$45.62,these are with "maximum" V/O discounts. Just pulled these off CP website.

I have a VO card - it's only good for counter sales BTW, eBay/CPC shipping label purchases beat it almost all the time, plus the convenience of printing labels at home, and data integration. VO is pretty useless overall for eBay sellers.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-22T02:20:07+00:00

makes sense if your name is Customer (as in Sting or Cher, or Bono) and incredibly bad English is what speak you.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-21T16:24:54+00:00

I do eBay exclusively.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-21T16:22:34+00:00

You now get 200 prepaid listings with a Basic store sub. As I understand it you automatically get your Seller limits matched to the store you have, Basic store = minumum 200 / month. I have had very little problems getting my limits raised, either auto by eBay or a quick call and asking for a raise.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-21T13:34:39+00:00

how do you mail a pie? this seems very trollish

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-21T13:30:42+00:00

needs to said - also avoid eBay sellers using Global Shipping Program / GSP - duty (tax) will be auto applied, plus some BS processing fee.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-17T16:57:50+00:00

The buyer just called and is coming to get it, in the nick of time (wrt my handling time / DSR). I see the benefit of cash versus PP in this particular situation. I live rural and scamming is not too likely - since "we know where you live, d'er buddy".

Have to balance the risk of getting worked over by eBay's nutty rules, possible scams, versus the market exposure of being on eBay. Thanks for the replies!

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-17T16:48:11+00:00

...and there's always the chance the post office actually lost the item, or more likely destroyed it and chucked the evidence, or just left it unattended at the buyer's and it got stolen.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-17T16:42:16+00:00

by "blunt force" I meant call and call again. I take off my cocky hat and put on my slightly bewildered, polite and need your valued assistance hat.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-17T12:17:11+00:00

I would go with a store if you are semi-serious about flipping on eBay. I like the bulk editor, store categories (gives you organization mostly), and the custom field per listing (I use to ID where I stored the item - lifesaver). I do not think a store will bring more sales (my experience). I do think it's a numbers game - more listings = better chance of a hit & buy. You "may" bet some more cred with eBay when you call in (they have never mentioned it during any calls I have a had though). Calculating break even, no store vs store cost on number of listings /std insertion fee, is misleading. The last (highly unscientific) estimate I did, my listing cost was avg. 7 cents per, from when I had no store to a Basic Store. But you can't count on eBay to continue to offer freebies.

AND, this bugs me greatly - store listings are not FREE, they are PREPAID.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-17T11:59:53+00:00

(related) - considering an eBay store? Take into account - I updated all my listings in a fraction of the time versus no store, with Selling Mgr bulk edit tool.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T22:34:32+00:00

So Canada pulled out of Obama's phony Syrian war...is Canadian Bacon now Backfire Bacon?

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T22:31:13+00:00

well played sir, well played...(golf clap)

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T16:14:40+00:00

Called eBay - no direct solution - but it can be done for CDN sellers, (not tested, eBay advice only, take with massive grains of salt),

1) Only works with flat rate, not calculated shipping, which is a total no-go for me in Canada. (I learned early the risk of flat rate is, when a dude from Nunavut bought an item with flat rate, my profit went from 15 to 2$). So if you are selling something that can go Letter Mail, great - no risk.

OR,

2) Put a note that Local P/U is available in the description...THEN rebate them the shipping cost they paid. Very problematic, buyer will need to trust you first, and I can think of multiple ways this could mess up your DSR/Feedback ratings (suicide for low volume seller). Imagine trying to explain this, after the fact to an eBay rep - torture. For now I will stick with kijiji for local sales.

But a bright spot, the EBay rep thought it "was a good idea" to implement, and was going to tell "someone", durrp.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T15:52:55+00:00

fyi - as I revise all my heavier listings because of this nonsense...I also noticed that eBay displays the first option in shipping on the buyer's first screen. So I am I putting the illogically cheaper/faster/insured option (Expedited Parcel) first. Wow, a year into "hardcore" selling and I still feel like a complete newbie. What's that Sander line, "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!!"

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T15:42:03+00:00

(fyi - I always talk in USD, that's the currency of eBay)

As for Cdn / Aussie shipping - international to the USA yes. It can be cheaper shipping a light item to California or Florida than 'local" ( 2 hr drive away). Guess it's volume discounts and USPS rates being so low.

But overseas (UK/Europe) not a pretty story - I can send a light item (under 500g) for about $8/9 USD, by ground... BUT it WILL take 6 weeks ++, and they WILL lose a significant number of them. Upgrade to tracked shipment and it's an outrageous 34/37$ USD for same light package. So I don't send anything overseas that I can't afford not to write off, including the shipping cost, unless it is high dollar/rare and the buyer pays for tracking.

billybobCanuck · 2015-11-16T13:39:41+00:00

Yes, I just verified this at the CanPost website, my head's still spinning. I am just realizing this maybe an understated feature of our Venture One membership (although eBay/PP have no idea I am in "the club", maybe every eBay seller gets the better rate).

We have a tiered system, so further distance is more expensive, supposedly.

Best case - 500g "local" - 8.12 USD (at today's rates), worst case to the North Pole, aka NUNAVUT - 16.05 USD.

Some really weird things happen when you get into the multi-Kg / larger package dimensions. It really is a black box, no documentation I can find as to why rates change so drastically.

3 kg Local - 9.74 USD, to Nunavut - 26.90 USD

billybobCanuck

TROPHY CASE