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Lowest tape price I have seen!

March 26, 2018 by Kari @ She Thrifts 1 Comment

I think this is the lowest price I have ever seen!
I just ordered 6 rolls of Sparco Tape for $8.80.  Score!!

Filed Under: Amazon, eBay, Shipping, Supplies

I have the best postal carrier!

March 22, 2018 by Kari @ She Thrifts 2 Comments

My regular postal carrier is the best.  She always comes to my door with a smile on her face, never complains about my pile of packages, and scans them all for me immediately.  On Wednesdays I volunteer in my 6yo’s classroom, and after I hurry home to make it back in time before my postal carrier arrives.  Yesterday I returned home to find a post-it note on my door letting me know I had missed her.  Darn it!  Not the end of the world, but disappointing.  I have a PO that is only a couple miles away, but because of where it is situated it takes at least 20 minutes to get there, drop off, and get back home.  Between a conference at my boys’ school in the afternoon and theater tickets in the evening (I got to see Hamilton! So good!!) and a dozen other things I wanted to cross off my to do list, I felt like I was running really short on time.  I toyed with the idea of waiting to drop off my packages when I drove by the PO later in the day on the way to pick up my friend for the play.  But, I wouldn’t be driving by the PO until about 45 minutes after the last pick-up time of the day, meaning my packages would be delayed a day.  So, I loaded all of my packages into a big tote and was heading out the door to pick up my boys from school and make our way to the PO when my postal carrier arrived.  She came back!!!  She finished her route and doubled back to pick up my packages.  SO. Darn. Nice.  I thanked her at least a half dozen times.  She is the best.

I always buy her gift cards at Christmastime, but lately I have been wanting to do more, and this was the cherry on top.  Do you do any random nice things for your postal carrier(s)?  What do you do?  Please share!

Filed Under: eBay, Shipping, USPS

eBay Goals, 2018

January 8, 2018 by Kari @ She Thrifts 12 Comments

My word for 2018 is: CONSISTENCY (aka Slow & Steady)

This plays into many areas of my life, including eBay.  I am starting with small, manageable goals, but I am hoping to grow them as the year marches on.

Listing

My small manageable goal is to list 10 new items each weekday and 5 each on Saturday and Sunday.  Ideally I will list 10 each weekday and schedule 2 each day for the weekend (totaling 10), leaving my weekends free from listing.  Somehow this rarely seems to be the reality however.

2600 weekdays + 520 weekends = 3120 new listings in 2018.  Totally doable, one little chunk at a time.

Selling

I would like to gross $60,000 this year.  $60,000 divided by 365 days = $164.38/day.  When I am listing consistently my sales are often in that range.  Again, doable.

Shipping

I ship within one business day.  I will continue to do so.

Sourcing

Part of the reason my listing goals are so low is that I am currently doing almost no sourcing.  Now, that’s not to say that I don’t have items to list.  I definitely do.  Items that have been hanging around unlisted, for I don’t even want to say how long, that I need to get through.  The thing is, there is often a reason I haven’t listed those items yet, that they have been set to the side.  There is a flaw, or it needs new batteries, or needs to be cleaned up a bit, etc.  So it takes me longer to get the items ready, and photographed.  I am finding some really great items in among some low-value items.  But, it’s a process.

Inventorying

At the beginning of every year I go through all of my inventory.  After the first month of being listed most of my listings are set to GTC, so sometimes things hang around quite awhile.  I’m okay with that.  I really believe pretty much everything will sell eventually, and some items take longer (especially plush, which I love to sell).  But I do need to go through it occasionally, ending listings, selling as similar, freshening things up here and there.

Keeping Records Updated

There are a lot of spreadsheets and options out there to keep track of eBay sales.  I have tried a few, and Easy Auctions Tracker is my favorite.  It downloads all of the information for the last three months, I just need to input how much I paid for the items I sold.  The trick is to keep it updated.  And, updated is a loose term, but I’d like to keep my sales spreadsheet current within the last 30 days, so I don’t have a lot of work hanging over my head at the beginning of 2019.

Just for fun

I printed off a list of the 50 states.  I am going to see how far into the year I get before I have shipped a package to all 50 states.  It’s totally just a curiously project.  I’ve been thinking about doing this for several years.

Blogging

I’d like to blog more.  It is something I enjoy doing, but among all of my other goals it often gets shuffled down my list of priorities.

What are your goals for 2018?  I would love to hear about them!  Maybe we can try to hold each other accountable.

Filed Under: blogging, Easy Auctions Tracker, eBay, Goals, Listing, Shipping

My new fave packing tape is on sale on Amazon!

December 29, 2017 by Kari @ She Thrifts 3 Comments

I have used many packing tape brands over the years, but Sparco is my current favorite.  It is a good combination of quality and value.  I purchase it on Amazon where the price can bounce around a bit, so I try to wait until the price drops below $10.  As I type, a 6-pack is currently $9.65.

Happy shipping!

Filed Under: Amazon, eBay, Shipping

Avoiding Negative Feedback

May 10, 2017 by Kari @ She Thrifts 3 Comments

Overall I think I do a really great job providing good customer service to my eBay buyers.  With very few exceptions I only sell items that are new or in nearly new condition, I package items neatly (usually wrapped in tissue, with a packing slip that I write Thanks! 🙂 across), I always ship within one business day, I send a friendly e-mail to the buyer after the item has been dropped off at the PO to let them know the item is on its way.  I know I add in extra steps that aren’t necessary, and they take time, but I like providing that level of service.  And in return my buyers are generally very kind, friendly, gracious, and appreciative.

But every once in awhile, I do make a mistake.  It happens, it sucks.  Usually this takes the form of pulling out a clothing item I have just sold, only to find that it has a flaw.  Like at the end of last week.  I sold a beautiful cashmere sweater, and when I was packaging it up I noticed it had a small hole on the back.  How I could have missed it I have no idea, because I always try to be sooo careful with cashmere sweaters, looking for flaws.  And yet, there it was.

So, what would you do?  Cancel the sale?  E-mail the buyer to let them know, and ask if they still want it?  Send it anyway, and hope they don’t notice?  Or?

Here’s what I did.  I packaged up the sweater, and mailed it.  Then when I went to send the “your package has shipped” e-mail, I sent this instead:

Good morning,

I wanted to let you know that I dropped your package off at the Post Office yesterday (Thurs) morning. When I was packaging up the sweater I noticed a really small hole on the back. It’s not very noticeable, but it is there. The sweater is beautiful, and I hope that you are still able to wear it and get enjoyment out of it. But, I am SUPER picky about what I list on eBay, and I would never have listed this if I saw the hole earlier. I am going to refund your money in just a couple minutes. But I’m not canceling the order, the sweater is already on its way. I hope you still love it!

If you have any questions or concerns about this transaction please let me know.

Best,

Kari

Is it overkill?  Maybe?  Does it save me from getting the occasional negative feedback because I’ve owned up to an honest mistake, and tried to make it right?  It’s certainly possible.

And in addition to saving myself from negative feedback, I also simply want to give the buyer a positive eBay buying experience.  While the buyer probably won’t come back and buy from me again, I have hopefully spun my negative into enough of a positive that the buyer won’t be turned off from buying on eBay in the future.  We’re all in this eBay thing together, and hopefully the good, responsible sellers outnumber the crummy ones.

This particular situation where I’ve missed a flaw on an item that has sold probably only comes up a couple times a year, and this is how I have generally chosen to deal with it.  About a year ago I sold a NWT dress, only to realize that it somehow had a stain on the front.  I had purchased several of the same dress at the same time, and obviously hadn’t looked over every single one closely enough, and of course the one with the stain was the only one I had left.  I shipped the dress, refunded, and sent an e-mail of apology/explanation.  I had looked up the buyer’s feedback history, and she left negative feedback a LOT.  But that time?  Not only did she leave me positive feedback, but she sent my money back to me(!), with a note saying she washed the dress and the stain “mostly” came out.  So that scenario turned out much better than I could have hoped.

And the cashmere sweater I sent out last week?  Here’s the feedback I got today:

Positive feedback rating Best seller on eBay, fast shipping, great communication with seller.

Of course there are no guaranties, but when buyers know we are trying to do our best, they appreciate it and often respond accordingly.

 

Filed Under: eBay, Issues, Shipping

3.1 miles. It’s a small world after all!

November 2, 2016 by Kari @ She Thrifts 4 Comments

I think I feel the need to report it every time this happens, which is silly.  I live in a town of 150K+ people, so two or three times a year I sell something on eBay to someone who lives in the same town as me.  Last night I was shipping items and up popped an address in my town.  Out of curiosity I looked it up, and it is 3.1 miles from where I live.  A tad further away than the Post Office it will be dropped off at, but not by much.  Still curious (and at the risk of sounding like a stalker) I put the buyer’s name in FB and, whaddya know, we have a couple FB friends in common.  It’s a small, small world.

Filed Under: eBay, Facebook, Life, Shipping

New Quarter, New eBay Coupon!

October 1, 2016 by Kari @ She Thrifts 5 Comments

Should I confess that I only used last quarter’s coupon yesterday?  And that I ridiculously missed out on the first one altogether due to procrastination?  Well, it’s not happening this time!  I am looking forward to using my new coupon.

Yesterday I ordered (with Q3’s coupon) 100 8.5×10.75 air mailers and 25 12x10x8 boxes for a grand total of $49.97 (aka, free!).

What have you ordered in the past?  What are you planning to order this time?  I’d love to hear what works well, and what not so great.  I’ve heard, for example, that the tape isn’t the best.  True?

“Free” shipping supplies, hooray!  And Q4, hooray hooray! Bring on the busy season!

Filed Under: eBay, Shipping

Post Office Drama (entirely of my own making)

November 29, 2015 by Kari @ She Thrifts 13 Comments

So, last Saturday I had a bit of Post Office drama.  And I did it entirely to myself.  Uggggghh.

It was a busy day (youngest had basketball, oldest had a cub scout service project), so it was afternoon by the time we were back home and I got around to packaging my sales up for the day.  (I like to ship every day – including Saturdays and Sundays!  Shipping is my least favorite part, and I get cranky about it if I get too far behind.)  I had quite a few sales to package up, and the last pick-up time at my Post Office on Saturdays is 3:45 p.m.   I got everything packaged up, the last sale being from Amazon (merchant fulfilled, something I had listed long ago), and headed to the PO, getting there right at 3:45.   So far, so good.

When we got back home I went back to my computer to respond to a couple Best Offers that I had received but hadn’t had time to look over.  My Amazon seller’s account was still up on my screen, and I noticed it said that I had one item that still needed to be shipped.  That made me pause.  How strange.  Was it possible I had sold something else on Amazon?  Ha, if only.

I looked at the screen some more (I rarely ship from Amazon, and am not very familiar with the layout), and could tell that it was saying that I had not yet shipped the package that I had JUST dropped off at the PO!  How could that be?  And then I realized . . . uh oh . . . dang.it.anyway!  There are two buttons that I could select when getting ready to print a shipping label.  The one on the bottom of the screen that says something like “confirm and purchase shipping” and one on the top that says something like “print test label”.   Wanna guess which one I chose?  Yeah, not the right one.

So of course I was immediately worried.  What will happen? My package doesn’t have actual shipping on it!  What should I do?  The package has already been dropped off at the PO!  Argh.

I pulled up local PO phone numbers on my computer, and every PO in my town listed a local phone number EXCEPT the one I use, which only listed a 1-800 #.  Why???

Feeling a bit desperate I printed out the correct shipping label, loaded my boys back into our car, and head back to the PO.  I could see employees moving around in the back, even though our PO isn’t open to the public on Saturdays.  I banged on the door to their work area several times.  No response.  I tried looking up the local phone number for the PO again.  For some reason on my phone it came right up, so I called!  I was in in the lobby of the Post Office, and could hear the phone ringing on their end in the back somewhere.  Someone answered!  Hooray!  I explained that I had mailed a package and it had the wrong label on it, and the employee said he would be right out.  Double hooray!

The worker came out and opened up the drop bin.  There was only one package in it, and he just handed it to me.  This was a bit disturbing, because it wasn’t my package.  His willingness to assume that it was mine and just hand it over was disconcerting.  But not my focus right now, so I didn’t really dwell on it.  I explained that I dropped off my package earlier right at the final pick-up time, about printing the test label, blah blah blah, he knew just the package I was talking about because he had already set it aside to return to sender.  He got it for me, I took off the test label, put on the real label, and handed it back to the postal worker.  An hour wasted, but other than that all I felt was success!  Problem solved, and I didn’t have to dwell on it the next few days, wondering where oh where the package might be.

Anybody else have any eBay or PO drama that’s come about totally of their own accord?  I could use a chuckle.  (Insert face/palm here!)

Filed Under: eBay, Shipping, USPS

‘Tis the season . . . to avoid the Post Office!

December 2, 2014 by Kari @ She Thrifts 7 Comments

‘Tis the season . . . that I want to avoid the Post Office at all costs.  It’s not too far out of my way, so on a normal day I stop by the Post Office once to drop off packages, usually around 3:15 after picking my oldest up from school.  This gives me an hour of leeway (weekday last call for packages is 4:15 p.m.), and also allows me to get anything purchased in the morning ready and shipped out the same day, which buyers love. 

BUT.

Ugh.  

The Post Office in December is no joke, and it’s already started.  On many December days I *try* to pull into the PO parking lot, but traffic is backed up out of the parking lot and into the road because cars are lined up waiting for a parking space in the too-small lot.  And I not only have to contend with finding parking, all the other customers, and the potentially bulky packages I am transporting, but also have both of my boys in tow. 

So, the obvious answer is ——-> have the PO pick up my packages!

Right?

But.  In the summer it’s stinkin’ hot, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving packages out in the heat.  And right now it’s either (literally) freezing cold, or raining buckets.  So leaving packages outside for pick-up doesn’t seem like an option.

Do you use carrier pick-up?  What do you do?  Keep your packages inside and have the postal person ring your bell?  (I’ve done that a few times and it’s worked okay, but I feel that I hover by the front door afraid I will miss them, and am not as productive with my day as I normally would be.)

Or?  If you have a system you use that works well for you I’d love to hear about it!

Filed Under: Christmas, eBay, Help, Shipping, USPS

Question: What kind of packing tape do you prefer?

November 1, 2014 by Kari @ She Thrifts 23 Comments



I’ve almost run out of packing tape!  Not good in this line of work.  It’s been ages since I’ve even thought about it because I had my favorite Scotch packing tape (as shown above) on “Subscribe & Save” via Amazon, and I would automatically get a box of tape shipped to me each month.  Easy peasy.  I love the Scotch packing tape because it’s nice and thick, the smaller rolls are easy to use and don’t get all tangled up on themselves.  But, the price has been inching up, so I’ve skipped my last two shipments, and the small surplus I had stored up is gone.  I thought I’d take an informal survey and find out what brands other people like.  Maybe it’s time for me to switch things up.  I’ve tried a few other brands (including Duck and the generic Office Depot brands) but they seem thinner and more cheaply made, which makes them more difficult to use, and the extra aggravation isn’t worth the amount saved. 
Please share! 
What is your favorite packing tape? 
What’s your “buy” price? 
And where do you find it? 
Many thanks!
And Happy Halloween!
 

Filed Under: Amazon, eBay, Halloween, Shipping, Supplies

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Welcome! I have committed to spend the next 9 months working from home selling on eBay and Poshmark. What will happen? We can find out together! Read More…

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