They pay right away! It’s been a couple weeks since I have had to wait for a payment. (Knock on wood, right?)
I’ve been super busy trying to get our family ready for Christmas while staying on top of my shipping as items sell.
I’m trying to “enjoy” the craziness while it lasts, because I know it will die down in the next day or two. Then it will be time to get back to listing.
Hope your holiday selling is going well!
The Coulda Shoulda Woulda Been Awesome Sale
This summer I came across this costume at a yard sale:
It is a men’s adult talking Eeyore costume. They wanted $5 for it, which made me balk a little bit. I’m cheap, what can I say. But I went ahead and bought it, and I was really glad I did when I got home and looked it up. But then . . . it just sat around, taking up space. It’s hard to tell in this photo, but this costume is gosh darn big. It was hard to come up with enough floor space to be able to photograph it. But, eventually I took the photos, and I finally got around to listing it on October 13th. Really, what was I waiting for?! But, happily, it sold just six days later, for my asking price of $174.95. Yes, almost $170 more than I paid for it! I wish the story ended there.
The buyer and I e-mailed back and forth quite a few times. He was hoping to receive the costume by Wed (10/24). It was late Friday afternoon at this point. I was fairly certain that it would get there without any problems (even though it had to go all the way across the country from OR to MA), but decided for the price he was paying I could put a little extra effort into it, and I packaged it up right away and made an extra trip to the PO. The buyer was very appreciative, and enthusiastic. I don’t know for sure, but I picture him as being a college student. This was one of his messages:
I already have tigger this is gonna be awesome!!
Thank you!!
I was tracking the package as it made its way across the country, and when I woke up to a message from him on Tuesday morning I was expecting another enthusiastic thank you. But instead I got this:
says undeliverable as addressed – can you confirm that you sent to:
xxxxxx
Yeah. Not good. This was his first-ever eBay purchase. Long story short, his zip code was listed incorrectly, which must have caused the problems. At first he wasn’t concerned because it was just one number off, but we both made calls to the USPS and got the same answer – the package had already been returned to sender.
Here’s the interesting thing, at least on my end. I didn’t freak out. I didn’t get stressed. In an odd way it kind of felt like an eBay turning point. It made me realize that I really am in this for the long haul, and one sale is not going to make or break me.
I was disappointed, but really, I was more disappointed for the buyer because I knew how much he was looking forward to getting the costume. I received the costume back today, and refunded him his full purchase price. I’m out the $15 in shipping. Not great, but not the end of the world. I am going to go ahead and get it relisted right away, even though I’ve missed the Halloween window for this year. Who knows when somebody else will be feeling Eeyore-ish.
Quick Tip: Calling the USPS
I had a GREAT sale at the end of last week that I was really looking forward to sharing. But. It’s taken a bad turn. The good news is that the buyer seems really nice, the bad news is that I will eventually be refunding his money. But more about that in a few days.
I needed to get additional info on the package in question. The uploaded tracking information wasn’t cutting it. But, have you ever tried to get a live person on the phone when calling the USPS 1-800 number? It is a time-suck-nightmare. Unless you know a trick, which I figured out accidentally a couple months ago.
Their system is all voice automation. The menu will give you several options and you are supposed to choose one. And, take it from me, you can jump through their hoops and spend the better part of your morning getting nowhere. Or, you can ignore everything the voice automation system is asking, and just repeat “more options customer service more options customer service more options customer service” until the system has no idea what to do with you and dumps you over to a customer service rep. It’s what I tried out of exhausted desperation a couple months ago, and I was surprised when it worked. I tried it again this morning and had a live person on the line in less than a minute. Ta-da! Sometimes it’s the smallest victories that are the sweetest.
And a customer’s thank you
And on the other end of the spectrum (and heartbreaking too) – I just got the following e-mail from a different buyer:
Kari,
Please let me know how I can go about making a payment to you. Tweetie arrived without any noticeable issues. My aunt was ecstatic for the gift, and while she passed away 9/3/12, tweetie was with her the entire time, including at the funeral. It’s exactly as she would’ve wanted. Thank you very much, and please let me know how to make a payment. I sincerely appreciate your fast delivery and great customer care.
xxx
Here’s Tweety:
When I pulled him out to mail him I noticed that he had an odd yellow stain on the hat. I actually think the stain was from Tweety – maybe he got wet at some point and some of the dye from his head transferred to his hat? I tried to clean it up, but felt like I could still see the spot, so I let the buyer know about the issue, refunded his money, and mailed it to him for free.
Is there a way to get paid for it after the fact? I’m not sure. And actually, not at all concerned about it. So sad. But nice to know Tweety made it there in time.
Your procrastination is not my emergency!!!
Oh, but it is. I totally let myself get sucked in here. Argh.
(Warning – I am still in the middle of this issue and I am just venting.)
This morning I was happy to see that the following item had finally sold. I’ve had it listed for ages. It always has multiple watchers, and yet no buyers.
I went to my eBay account and saw that the buyer had left a note when buying. And this is what she had to say:
I am buying these for my daughters third birthday. It so October 1. Please do all you can to make sure they arrive in time! Please Please Please IF you have any problems making this date, please email me at xxx@gmail.com and we can make arrangements to pay for express shipping. Thank you!
Ugh. Oct 1?! It’s Sept 27 today. Okay. I’ve never shipped anything Express mail, but I wanted to do what I could to help her. So I wrote back this:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting me with your questions. There are a couple different options in regards to shipping. I am willing to upgrade to Priority Shipping at no extra cost to you (will cost me approx $8.50). Priority Shipping states that an item should be delivered in 2-3 days. I will mail your package today, and provide you with tracking information. But please note, I have absolutely no control over actual shipping time. Items are generally delivered within the stated time, but there have been exceptions in the past.
If you prefer to go with Express Shipping I can do that. It provides 1-day delivery, and I believe requires a signature upon delivery. The cost for that shipping method would be $30.25. Less the $8.50 I am willing to cover, that would leave $21.75 still due.
Please let me know which shipping method you prefer.
Thank you,
Kari
And then I realize while I’ve been writing the above e-mail I’ve actually gotten another one from her. Which goes like this:
I just purchased the go diego go roller skates. I just noticed that the address on ebay needed updated!!! PLEASE SHIP TO xxx. If you need to contact me, xxx@gmail.com.
Now I am starting to get annoyed. I just went through that whole chargeback thing with Paypal. In fact, am still going through it! I called and talked to someone there a week ago today, and was told that he would resolve the case for me. But, today my account was still showing that I had never responded to the claim! I called Paypal again, was on hold forever, but got a gal who really thinks she has fixed things for me this time. She said it wasn’t resolved the last time because of some “systems updates” that were going on that day. Alright.
So back to today’s buyer. She wants me to update her address. And I don’t want to. She has a feedback of ZERO. I looked, and she’s had her account since 2007. I actually called eBay and asked what I should do. In my year+ in eBaying, it was my first call to them. So easy, fast and nice. The guy suggested that I refund her money, have her update her address, and then pay for it again. I e-mailed her to let her know. Am waiting to hear back. To be continued . . .
Paypal Issue Resolution
It seems that the Paypal/unauthorized transaction situation is going to turn out fine. But it has been kind of annoying. Mostly because when I go into my Paypal account and look at the details of the issue it says:
To respond with additional information, click “Resolve” below.
But – there is NO “Resolve” button!!!! It is maddening. I uploaded a note instead, because that was all I could figure out to do, but two days later my account still said:
Our records indicate that you have not yet responded to this chargeback. If you have evidence to support your case that you have not submitted, please contact us as soon as possible.
What? Why? I gave in and called them. Which was super annoying in its own way, because I was arguing with their automated system, which finally kicked me over to a customer service rep, and I was then transferred THREE times before they were able to connect me to someone who could actually help. But, the third person said I did everything right (shipped right away to the authorized address, and tracking shows it was delivered) and that he would be able to resolve the case for me right away. He said the resolution would reflect in my Paypal account in about 10 minutes, and I would get my money back in around 5 days. So, yay to that.
As a side note – I have actually changed a shipping address three times in the past when buyers asked me to. Two said they bought the item and then realized that their account had their old addresses on it, one was a snowbird who was at his “other” address. All three turned out fine. But, after this, it will give me pause if anyone ever asks me to do it again.
Why eBay sucks. For me. Today.
No sick days. Everyone in my house, myself included, has the flu. Mis-er-a-ble. Waaah.
But, the eBay drum was beating on. Because of the 1-day shipping requirements, I had eight items that sold over the weekend that I needed to get packaged up and shipped out by today.
I got it done. Moving at a turtle’s pace. Exhausted and achy. Made it to the Post Office with about 2 minutes to spare.
Am thinking about “hiding” my store until I am feeling better. But. Do I really want to miss out on sales?
Sigh.
Do you sell collegiate apparel? A possible BOLO.
My husband is a big University of Oregon Ducks fan, as are his parents. We have been gifted with several stinkin’ adorable Ducks outfits over the years for our boys, in a variety of sizes, and all have been worn on game days, to daddy’s delight. But what to do when the outfits have been outgrown by both boys?
When my youngest outgrows his clothes I sort them all into several different categories. Which are: eBayable, consignable, give away or sell on CL dirt cheap in a big lot, and toss. There aren’t a whole lot of items I pull out for eBay, but something I have tried (and have successfully sold) is collegiate apparel. I wasn’t sure at first that it would sell well. There are so many teams out there. Would there be enough demand for this team to make it worth the time and effort? Apparently so!
I’d guess I’ve sold at least 5 or 6 different items now, and I think all sold within the first month. Once I sold the first couple that my boys had outgrown, I started keeping an eye out and picked up more at yard sales as well.
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| Cute, right? |
But what’s even better than finding kid-sized collegiate apparel? Adult sizes, of course. I am painfully aware of how expensive these items can be because my husband usually wants to buy at least one new item every year. It’s hurts in the wallet. Take the following pullover jacket. My husband already has one exactly like it. I would guess it cost at least $60 new. I found this one for $1 at a yard sale.
I listed it at $31.95. I didn’t have an OBO option, but within an hour I had someone e-mail me asking if I would take $20. I politely declined. About a week later it sold for my asking price. Hooray! Interestingly, it went to Illinois. My first Ducks sale that went outside Oregon.
And don’t forget, with clothing items like these, if they are too heavy to send First Class they will very often fit in a Flat Rate Envelope. Save yourself those few extra bucks if it’s going Priority!
If you’ve got some of these items hanging around, now would probably be a great time to get them listed. Football season is upon us! Anybody else have success selling college related items?
First Refund
Of course it was going to happen sometime. I’ve been working at this eBay thing for about a year now. At first just dabbling, but I really dived in back in April when I finally opened a store. At first I did not accept returns, but I updated all of my listings to a 14 day return policy in June when so encouraged by eBay (to be able to receive the 20% discount). Fast forward almost three months. This is the e-mail I got this evening:
Buyer: Hi. I got the package today . The Mickey looks more yellow to glow in the dark fluorescent color. I would like to return it. I thought it was white white. But when I took it out. I just don’t like it at all.
Me: Thank you for contacting me. I do have a 14 day return policy. Feel free to send Mickey back. As soon as I receive him (in the same condition as sent) I will be happy to refund your purchase price.
If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Kari
Buyer: Thank you very much Kari. I will do that Saturday due to work schedule. Have a nice day.
I know. No drama. Barely worth mentioning. Except it feels like a milestone of some kind in the eBay world. Not a great one, but one everyone who sticks it out will have to pass through at some point.
It also brings up a couple questions. I offered free shipping on this item. It was a small plush, so my out of pocket expense was probably around $2.50. I don’t directly address if the shipping costs will or will not be refunded in my listings. In this case I am not even going to bring it up, I will just refund the full purchase amount. It seems like it’s not worth a fight. If the buyer had asked me to pay for the return shipping I was planning to say no, but that hasn’t come up. Yet. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the transaction continues to go smoothly, and that the buyer doesn’t ding my DSRs.
Quick Tip: Flip That Box Inside Out
Does everyone already do this? Most of the items I ship are via First Class mail, and most of those go in polymailers. But sometimes your package needs a little extra protection, and ya just gotta have a box.
I’ve had a few friends save boxes for me in the past, but that’s trickled off . . . and I’ve had to become more inventive in my box-finding. One place I can often find a box is in my kitchen.
I usually “flatten” my boxes when storing them, so the ends are already open. In addition to the ends, there is usually one seam along one side that keeps the box together. I open the box along that seam, flip the box inside out, and then tape it back together.
I took this picture a couple weeks ago — I believe that I was mailing out plastic cookie cutters. I don’t think that they would have gotten damaged if I had just wrapped them and put them in a polymailer, but it is nice to give them just a little added protection (and I believe the buyers appreciate the extra effort too).
No more tacky looking Ritz box,
now it just looks brown.
In this case, I went ahead and just slipped the box into a polymailer. More than once I have had buyers favorably mention how well-packaged an item was when leaving their feedback.
Do you ever request free samples online? Before I started eBaying I would get alerts from blogs I followed on FB, and would order samples all the time. Now I am rarely on FB, so my free samples are few and far between. But, when I do get them, I am just as excited about the free small box as I am the sample!
Looks good, eh?
It works well for the more sturdily made boxes as well.
In this box I was shipping an expensive-ish watch (one of the items I sold for my husband’s friend). Doesn’t the box below look much nicer and more professional than the box above?
Hope this helps!