Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[QuarterMillionMan]

Hum, that's just like buying something from Walmart but upon arriving home opening up the box and discovering the item is damaged but then taking the item to Target and asking for a refund. I sent the seller this message. If the seller declines to refund then I would ramp it up to see if eBay can assist. If eBay cannot assist then I'll try Facebook. I just noticed the seller only sold 1 item thus 100% positive review (before purchasing I only saw the 100% but overlooked the only 1 item). I might be dealing with a flaky seller, bummers.

[QuarterMillionMan]

That was quick seller apololgized & is processing a refund. Maybe the seller realized his/her mistake.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Someone in Farmington, MO, scored a free frying pan.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Lessons I've learned;
1) look for sellers with less than 5 day shipping, 1 - 3 days are my new max (I ship with 1 day shipping but may change to 3 days)
2) 100% positive reviews with more than 1 item sold preferably 50 or more
3) maybe I'll just go in-person to Target or Walmart to get an ordinary frying pan, sheesh lol.

[disneysteve]

Glad it got taken care of quickly. Definitely sounds scammy. I can’t accidentally send something to the wrong address because the label is automatically generated for me. It goes to the buyer’s address on file.

[disneysteve]

I'll definitely count it as a win that my 1099 from ebay and my own spreadsheet figures are within $200 of each other. Close enough for me. Of course, the 1099 figure is the one I go with and I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to find the discrepancy. I have no doubt that somewhere in the course of the year I neglected to record something so I always expect the 1099 figure to be a little higher.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Listed a T-shirt just now on eBay. Normally for shipping I choose USPS $5 first class envelope shipping but only option I could locate was $5 USPS Ground Advantage. Upon the item selling (if it sells), can I choose USPS first class envelope or am I stuck with USPS Ground Advantage.

Editted and removed the link, didn't want the mods to think I'm trying to sell my items here.

[disneysteve]

Listed this T-shirt just now on eBay. Normally for shipping I choose USPS $5 first class envelope shipping but only option I could locate was $5 USPS Ground Advantage. Upon the item selling (if it sells), can I choose USPS first class envelope or am I stuck with USPS Ground Advantage.

First class large envelope has to be under 3/4” thick, under 13 oz, and uniform thickness. A folded up shirt probably doesn’t qualify. I would send that Ground Advantage.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I see, ground advantage it is then.

[disneysteve]

I see, ground advantage it is then.

Yep. Envelope rates are pretty much for flats. A stack of papers for example. Pretty much anything else goes as a package.

[disneysteve]

January 2024 wrap up

Ebay:
$1,571.20 gross
$1,110.13 net
47 sales

Marketplace:
$68.00 gross
$37.68 net
2 sales

Total:
$1,639.20 gross
$1,147.81 net

January 2024 was better than every month of 2023. I'll let the folks bitching about the "bad economy" just keep on bitching while I'm selling almost 100% totally frivolous purchases.

[disneysteve]

Have I mentioned I love selling things I got for free?

I got a whole carton of MREs also which I haven't listed yet. I've been researching the legality of selling those. It would appear that mine are fine to sell as they are not marked as being government property. I also have all of the MRE heaters which I can sell but can't ship due to FAA regulations so I'll have to sell those locally.

I finally sold the MREs today. I got nearly 50 inquiries to my FBMP listing, several who went as far as planning pickup, and finally got one guy who completed the process. I had listed them for $100 and ended up settling for $60 which I'm fine with. They cost me nothing so it's all good. $0 to $60 cash is fine with me.

The hassle factor of dealing with literally dozens of FB messages before getting one person to actually follow through is so annoying though.

[disneysteve]

I was doing some routine clearing of old photos on my phone yesterday and found something interesting.

On 2/4/2023, my ebay stats showed 222 active listings, 206 sold in the previous 90 days, and $4,044.00 in sales during that period.
On 2/4/2024, my ebay stats showed 336 active listings, 146 sold in the previous 90 days, and $5,303.21 in sales during that period.

I've been somewhat focused on increasing my 90 day sold number but clearly that isn't as important as I thought. I currently have 60 fewer sales than the same period last year but almost $1,300 more in gross sales. The number of sales isn't nearly as important as the average price of those sales. I guess I should be less concerned with the sales number and focus more on the monetary results. Keep looking for items that will elevate my average sale price. Selling 146 items is a lot less work than selling 206 items so If I can consistently make more money with fewer sales, that's ideal.

[disneysteve]

February 2024 wrap up

Ebay:
$419.99 gross
$273.96 net
25 sales

Marketplace:
$60.00 gross
$60.00 net
1 sale

Total:
$479.99 gross
$333.96 net

February was a very slow month for a variety of reasons. Retail sales tend to be lower as everyone is in that post-holiday period and they've already spent their gift money and are waiting for tax refunds. My mom had surgery at the end of January so the first week or so of the month we were spending more time with her helping her around the house. Then we went on vacation toward the end of the month and I was prepping for that and put my store on vacation mode several days before we left. Now that I'm back and we're moving into spring, there should be more estate sales and yard sales will be starting soon.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Sold this 2024 Las Vegas advisor coupon book today by auction for $7.50 + $4.50 shipping. This coupon book comes with a 12 month subscription of the Las Vegas advisor subscription newsletter. I had used most of the gambling coupons which I listed in my eBay auction listing which coupons had been used. Still had lots of other good coupons remaining in the book.