Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[Pronto Merona]

It has occurred to me that I tend to take issues with EBay transactions too personally. Do any of you have any tips or tricks to help you remove the business from your personal life? I have trouble separating my business persona from myself.

I totally get it and can get frustrated as well. I try to treat bad people / experiences as temporary distractions. If I catch myself thinking about them any longer than necessary to deal with the issue, I think about my thoughts* and deliberately choose to move on to something else. Any extra time I spend thinking about a jackass trying to get a something of mine for free is allowing that jackass to potentially take not only my money/clothing/whatever but also my time and thoughts. I could be using that time and those thoughts to sell more things, so that's what i try to do.

By no means am I great at this all the time, but it helps me.

*was not expecting to talk about metacognition on a message board ever in my life.
**nor did i ever expect to sell stuff on ebay... but here we are.
***i'm def not a professional so my theory may be total garbage.

 

[Fueco]

I came across this article the other day on Tenkara Rod Co.'s Facebook page. I think this will allow me to escape more thoroughly, at least when I can get out by myself before my kid is old enough to come with. The concept of going for really long trail runs with fishing gear, food, a water filter, and basic gear appeals to me.

http://trailandultrarunning.com/ultrafishing/

But yeah, escaping the negative thoughts to other projects definitely helps. I was overthinking this crap an hour ago, and started looking at fishing and climbing videos from my local favorite places, and got my mind thinking about my next escape from town.

 

[Sartoriamo]

I've got a huge backlog of stuff to list. What's your best motivational tip, trick, youtube video, song, book, etc. for getting yourself going when you are behind? Prohibit yourself from searching for new items until you sell X amount? Commit to doing X listings per day for a week?

Simple answer: don't go thrifting, or to estate sales, until you're caught up. Otherwise, you'll NEVER catch up. Spend all your time listing until it's done, even though it makes you crazy. You need to fight the heady addiction of the kop, otherwise it's an endless log jam. If you're not able to stay away from the hunt, then you need to raise your kop/do-not-kop threshold to the roof.

Spoiler

The fundamental problem is that the rate of (potential) acquisition is an enormous multiple of the rate of prep, photograph +pp, measure, pack (if you prepack) and list. This is especially true if you attend estate sales: hit a doozie, and your vehicle is full to the roof. Two hours of "shopping" can turn into literally a week of effort, full time, or a month and more part time. And, unless you've hired some help, it's all on you. So even if you have reached some kind of equilibrium, a big estate or thriftening can throw your schedule off for a month or more if you're part time.

With the incoming deluge slowed to a trickle, how you get motivated to lose the backlog will depend on your own psychological makeup. If you're flipping as a business, even a side-business, your primary motivator will be the money that's now tied up in depreciating inventory, rather than working to generate you more. The yield on the money is dependent both on margin and time to sale. So you need to get it moving. And moving fast. If necessary, just sling it all up as BIN/BOs, and edit later. It's not working till it's listed.

If you're a hobbyist, the motivation is harder to come by. If you want to solve it in a blink, send it all to one of the thread members that takes consignments.

As regards methodology, (pre-emptive multiple TWSS) some people do best with the equivalent of an all-nighter, while others prefer doing a few at a time, a certain number a day. Some do well with music, TV or video, while for others, it just distracts and slows them down. You just have to see what works for you. I stream music during the photography, but for listings I need absolute silence, no distractions whatsoever, or they don't get done. Or I make too many mistakes.

 

[HansderHund]

It has occurred to me that I tend to take issues with EBay transactions too personally. Do any of you have any tips or tricks to help you remove the business from your personal life? I have trouble separating my business persona from myself.

Trust me... You are not alone. Being married to a clinical psychologist, I am reminded, almost on a daily basis, that I let my business dictate my sanity.

@Fueco, you're just now realizing this about yourself??

Kidding, of course.

First of all, what @drlivingston said.

Remember "It's not personal Sonny, it's strictly business."

Seriously though, you're in the business of making money. Your customers want to buy something. That's it. You're going to have things that irritate or even anger you. It's never personal and it's likely never going to be an amount that could/should/would ruin you.

Decisions should be made as quickly as possible. When I allow something to get to me personally, I give myself a few minutes to get angry and then move forward. A full refund may cost me, but it will likely end the problem immediately. Once it's solved, it's done.

If I decide that I could live with a full refund, I ask myself whether I could turn it into a partial refund. I was already accepting the fact that I could live with a full refund, so a partial refund now feels like I'm "winning" by keeping a part of the sale.

Something important to know and understand is the fact that you will NEVER "teach" someone something, nor should that be your job. They will always think they're right as will you. Best to make the decision so you can move on.

If you are able to do this with most, you can save your energy to fight things that are truly wrong.

There is an old system that works well. When you're thinking about a problem, ask yourself a simple question:

Can I fix this problem? If the answer is no, then stop thinking about it. It's impossible.

If the answer is yes, ask yourself: can I fix this right now?

If you're in bed, the answer is no and you should address it at the next available time. Don't allow problems that you can't fix to rob you of time.

If the answer is yes, then you can begin implementing the solution.

It's all business.

 

[Fueco]

@HansderHund

Thanks for the suggestions. My wife also pointed it out like this:

How many zero feedback buyers have you dealt with versus the number who have "scammed" you?

The percentage is certainly higher than the number of experienced buyers who have caused problems, but not really by that much. I do have a built in buffer for this, as my shipping charges column shows that I have charged almost $4500 more for shipping than I have paid for shipping labels this year. I shouldn't worry about a few bucks here and there, but it's hard for me to do that, as it stings every time this situation pops up. $15 isn't chump change to me, but compared to $99,000+ in sales this year, it's not that much. So really, I just need to treat my business as if it doesn't affect me directly, which is how I should treat it. If I was working in a retail environment for someone else, I wouldn't think twice about issuing a refund for such a small amount.

 

[double00]

ever read Hesse's Siddhartha? there is a great description of a healthy business mentality (imo) and a fine read besides.

 

[b19pen15]

Just in case anyone starting out runs into the same problem, or maybe someone can even offer some insight-- apparently revising listings counts against your selling limit.

There doesn't seem to be a direct correlation. So if you have something listed for $400 and revise it, it doesn't count as $800 against your selling limit (otherwise I would have had this problem much sooner), but it does seem to weigh against your limit in some way. The ebay representative I spoke with even seemed confused as to how it worked, but said there was nothing they could really do for me. I'm at 20k of my 25k limit, yet I keep get an error that I reached my limit whenever I try to list something.

 

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

I know I'm not alone... It's the same damned problem I used to have being a manager in retail. Not having to deal with customers face to face certainly makes it easier, but I often find myself getting worked up over nothing more than someone opening a SNAD return case.

Pretend your eBay business is Nordstrom. You do a thriving business, and people love you in part because of your kind customer service. Yeah, people take advantage of it sometimes, but you still own an awesome, profitable business.

That really is how I think of it -- though the profitable part may be exaggerating.

 

[Tyrone MacStiophain]

I wasn't considering all that when I opened the boutique, but I get asked that a ton. But the people that all come to the boutique to pick up the purchases are all super cool locals. More often than not they come to try it on first and then bid and ship. in fact someone came yesterday to try on a leather I have up and I sold him two leather jackets in store, including a sick Cifonelli @kbadgley84
(and hes still gonna bid on the jacket)

@SpooPoker - so do you have your auction items up for display on your shop floor, so people can come check them out, even if they can't buy them on the spot?

 

[SpooPoker]

@SpooPoker - so do you have your auction items up for display on your shop floor, so people can come check them out, even if they can't buy them on the spot?

No. The boutique is split into two - the retail facing side is all in-store exclusives that are not online. The back of house is where all the ebay and future ebay stuff lives.

 

[ace13x]

So I have a pair of 7.5EEE AE McAllisters on eBay for 165 + shipping. I get this message:

New message from: tomi-4 (0)
Dude!!! Wow!!!

I've been scouring the internet for Allen Edmonds in 7 3E for my school's event for soooooooo long but to no avail, and now I've finally found them!!! Those out some really snazzy looking shoes you got there.

I'd be very much obliged I can purchase those for $140 plus $10 shipping, total of $150.

Yours,
Tomim
Student in NYC

No other 7.5EEE McA's, but 101 pairs of AE's in EE+ (almost all EEE). Needless to say, "4" is close enough to "0" for me.

 

[drlivingston]

So I have a pair of 7.5EEE AE McAllisters on eBay for 165 + shipping. I get this message:

New message from: tomi-4 (0)
Dude!!! Wow!!!

I've been scouring the internet for Allen Edmonds in 7 3E for my school's event for soooooooo long but to no avail, and now I've finally found them!!! Those out some really snazzy looking shoes you got there.

I'd be very much obliged I can purchase those for $140 plus $10 shipping, total of $150.

Yours,
Tomim
Student in NYC

No other 7.5EEE McA's, but 101 pairs of AE's in EE+ (almost all EEE). Needless to say, "4" is close enough to "0" for me.

I would agree to his offer so fast it would make your head spin.

 

[ace13x]

I would agree to his offer so fast it would make your head spin.

Its not that I didn't think about it, but the pair is unworn, and I did not thrift them. So my cost basis is no where near 10%. I don't mind holding on to them until I get my price.

I don't even have BIN set up on that item, an offer out of the blue by a guy with no feedback got my spider senses tingling.

 

[ace13x]

OK, one more stupid question. I have another pair of shoes I listed with the wrong size. Caught the mistake a bout 10 hrs later, but couldn't figure out how to cancel the auction on my mobile (I wan't going to be near my computer for a while). Instead I edited it to correct the error. They then sold about 12hrs after that.

Would you contact the buyer to make sure he knows the correct size before I ship them out?

 

[Spruce Moose]

OK, one more stupid question. I have another pair of shoes I listed with the wrong size. Caught the mistake a bout 10 hrs later, but couldn't figure out how to cancel the auction on my mobile (I wan't going to be near my computer for a while). Instead I edited it to correct the error. They then sold about 12hrs after that.

Would you contact the buyer to make sure he knows the correct size before I ship them out?

I don't think it would hurt. Was the size visible in the pictures too?