Need some EBay selling advice?

[AirborneAFOL]

- I use free shipping on everything under 1 lb.  Since I'm on the West Coast I've used calculated shipping for everything else.
I've tested the waters on free shipping and nearly everything over 1 lb (USPS 1st Class) sells to someone in Florida and instead of $7 shipping its $17, eating profit quickly.  My strategy was to focus selling to West Coast buyers by pricing items such that my price + shipping is a bit under the lowest price for the same item.
i.e. The lowest-priced seller is in FL and has an item listed for $77 FS; so I'll list it at $67 + shipping (estimated $8 calculated shipping to wester 1/3 of the US) or $75.  That way I'm the lowest price for a lot of buyers.
(I just read your post on this AirborneAFOL... spot on)
 
- Good point on grading.  Collectors appreciate it but IDK what % of my buyers are collectors.  Probably few until you get into larger tocket items.

You may want to consider account for $12 shipping and set it as free (given your math of being on the coast), and give it a trial run again. Your profits will vary a bit yet based on FL vs CA buyers, and you won’t always be the “cheapest” option for west coast buyers - but you may very well make up for the difference (and then some) based on the sales conversion rate and sales volume lifts.

I’ve always been relatively small scale (~1000 sales for $30k/yr) and have been winding down & getting out of the game this past 6 months, but once I scrapped variable rates for free shipping it made a world of difference (with only a 5-7% hit to my profits).

If I get around to it I’ll post my zone rate / package size / delivery service table. It’s a slick little cheat sheet that shows you exactly how much to expect for shipping costs.

[trstnkn]

My two cents on free shipping.  I had to get rid of some inventory over the holidays as we are moving 1000 miles away this summer.  Also, I am in Massachusetts, so I can get eaten alive with a large, dimensional weight item going to the west coast.

I bundled a lot of sets together by theme this year.  I would often price them about 5-10% collectively less than what you could purchase individually.  Then I would add shipping.  About 75% of my sales were within 300 miles of MA.  But oddly, I still had some people in CA purchase lots with high shipping costs.

I definitely protected my margins and sold through all of my lots (with exception The Lego Batman Movie).

On the flip side, I often benefit from buying items from people nearby that charge shipping.

I do agree with volume plays, free shipping is the way to go, but with unique items that weigh a lot, I've been doing ok with shipping charges.  And even other rare, unique items, shipping charges also hold up.  (I do a lot of business in used Legos.)

Appreciate all of the good feedback to @FM's question.  I definitely need to take better use of the "analyze listing" feature.

Many thanks and hope everyone had a good year.

[trstnkn]

Wanted to double-check...

I know that if 1 buyers buys 2 different items via Global Ship, you must ship them separately.

However, if 1 buyers buys 2 of the same item, you can ship them together?

I'm tired, so maybe this makes complete sense, but I wanted to double-check that 2 of the same item can indeed go in the same package via Global Ship.

[Fenix_2k1]

7 hours ago, trstnkn said:

Wanted to double-check...

I know that if 1 buyers buys 2 different items via Global Ship, you must ship them separately.

However, if 1 buyers buys 2 of the same item, you can ship them together?

I'm tired, so maybe this makes complete sense, but I wanted to double-check that 2 of the same item can indeed go in the same package via Global Ship.

How much will you save shipping the items together to the GSP depot?

Personally I'd want to send seperately to completely cover my ass.

[trstnkn]

A little more of a buying question - but I think this is the most relevant thread?

Bought a 4440 Forest Police.  Pictures and listing showed 100% complete.  Arrived today, and it was 50% complete.  Of course I immediately think scam because I read too many fruitcake thread postings.

Instead it turns out to be miscommunication between husband and wife.  Still not sure how they got the pics.  But they refunded me and told me to just keep what they sent for free.  Went through the pieces, and I could build just the station.  Everything else was missing.  Didn't feel right taking it for free, so I told them I'd give back $10.  (Bought it for $40)

My question - I have not received the shipping label for the SNAD.  eBay indicates it takes up to 5 days.  I don't want to get dinged for not returning it.  But since the seller already returned my money, can I assume I'm good to go?  Oddly, paypal would not let me create a refund transaction off of any of the existing transaction, so I had to send the $10 separately.  I noted the eBay ID number just in case.

And it was a good reminder to always deal with people diplomatically and respectfully.  I approached them that way and they returned the favor and were extremely honest and generous in their apology.

[KShine]

35 minutes ago, trstnkn said:

they refunded me and told me to just keep what they sent for free. 

My question - I have not received the shipping label for the SNAD.  eBay indicates it takes up to 5 days.  I don't want to get dinged for not returning it.  But since the seller already returned my money, can I assume I'm good to go? 

Did they respond to the request with a refund (while also stating that you can keep the item, no need to return)? If so, there shouldn't be a return label. 

[trstnkn]

16 hours ago, KShine said:

Did they respond to the request with a refund (while also stating that you can keep the item, no need to return)? If so, there shouldn't be a return label. 

Yes, refund went through immediately.  Thanks, I should be good to go then.  Appreciate the help @KShine.

[scatttcat]

Quick question.

I have a lot of individual parted our sets / minifigs on eBay. All are free shipping.

3 different eBay accounts just bought a wave of product, like 6 of my listings. They are all shipping to same address and each of the 3 accounts also has only positive feedback (not much but one account has at least 75)

Have people run into this? Why use three different accounts to ship to same location?

And should I just combine them all in one box, or keep them separate per eBay “account” even though they are going to same location?

[brickvoyeur]

7 minutes ago, scatttcat said:

Quick question.

I have a lot of individual parted our sets / minifigs on eBay. All are free shipping.

3 different eBay accounts just bought a wave of product, like 6 of my listings. They are all shipping to same address and each of the 3 accounts also has only positive feedback (not much but one account has at least 75)

Have people run into this? Why use three different accounts to ship to same location?

And should I just combine them all in one box, or keep them separate per eBay “account” even though they are going to same location?

What is your handling time? I'd wait that long so the real owners of these accounts can submit a scam complaint to eBay.

One business day on a Friday gives you until Monday to ship it, since eBay doesn't consider the weekend business days. So that should be adequate time for at least one of the real account owners to complain... then you can call eBay as you'd have proof of a scam.

Edited January 26, 2018 by brickvoyeur

[scatttcat]

What is your handling time? I'd wait that long so the real owners of these accounts can submit a scam complaint to eBay.

Unfortunately 1 day to qualify for fast and free shipping

[Phil B]

8 minutes ago, scatttcat said:

Quick question.

I have a lot of individual parted our sets / minifigs on eBay. All are free shipping.

3 different eBay accounts just bought a wave of product, like 6 of my listings. They are all shipping to same address and each of the 3 accounts also has only positive feedback (not much but one account has at least 75)

Have people run into this? Why use three different accounts to ship to same location?

And should I just combine them all in one box, or keep them separate per eBay “account” even though they are going to same location?

Contact the account holders immediately and ask them to confirm their order somehow. Hopefully this will trigger action should this indeed be a scam.

[AirborneAFOL]

Wow. A scammer with the courtesy to try and buy through the same seller, to save the victims some cash with combined shipping. That’s a new one...

[scatttcat]

Wow. A scammer with the courtesy to try and buy through the same seller, to save the victims some cash with combined shipping. That’s a new one...

No there are multiple accounts! Now 4 accounts in play, all with verified PayPal and all with their own feedback counts.

Like one account has 17, the other has 25, the other has 74, etc etc.

All their feedback says “awesome buyer, quick payment” etc.

They just ALL ship to the same location.... also they are ONLY buying my Nexo Knight stuff, nothing else.

Now 9 transactions have sold to 4 different accounts, all with the address in attached pic



I know I shouldn’t post address, but has anyone dealt with this one before?

Just googled address, it’s some Chinese website....

And they seem to ship stuff from this store too.

Sigh, what to do, what to do

[SpaceFan9]

the receiving address looks like a freight-forwarder.  you can check with Uncle Google to confirm.

never had that situation myself, but its possible they have ebay bucks or coupons expiring soon that would prompt multiple accounts to order at the same time.

Update: never mind. after rereading the thread, the 'hacked accounts' theory sounds more likely. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by SpaceFan9

[scatttcat]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

Contact the account holders immediately and ask them to confirm their order somehow. Hopefully this will trigger action should this indeed be a scam.

I wrote all 4 accounts haha, should I contact eBay too? Or are they useless

[Phil B]

You can do an Ebay CS chat and discuss what to do. At least that way you have it on official record should they tell you to ship and it turns out to be a scam indeed. This will help you get your money back and any negative feedback retracted (no guarantee though).

[scatttcat]

11 minutes ago, Phil B said:

You can do an Ebay CS chat and discuss what to do. At least that way you have it on official record should they tell you to ship and it turns out to be a scam indeed. This will help you get your money back and any negative feedback retracted (no guarantee though).

Is there some secret way to get to the written CS chat?? All I can get to pop up is "Call Us" or "We'll Call you"

[Phil B]

40 minutes ago, scatttcat said:

Is there some secret way to get to the written CS chat?? All I can get to pop up is "Call Us" or "We'll Call you"

Phonecalls are recorded, that's what I meant.

[SLL]

10 hours ago, scatttcat said:

Is there some secret way to get to the written CS chat?? All I can get to pop up is "Call Us" or "We'll Call you"

I googled this address, it appears like a forward warehouse to me. Basically, people make purchase and have you ship to a address registered in tax-free state. This address assigns buyer a weird number as the recipient name, sorta like what's shown in your picture.

I have dealt with a similar situation before, an address in OR tho. Never had problem.

 

[LegoMan1212]

13 hours ago, scatttcat said:

 

They just ALL ship to the same location.... also they are ONLY buying my Nexo Knight stuff, nothing else.
 

I wish they would buy my Nexo stuff.  WTF

[scatttcat]

I googled this address, it appears like a forward warehouse to me. Basically, people make purchase and have you ship to a address registered in tax-free state. This address assigns buyer a weird number as the recipient name, sorta like what's shown in your picture.
I have dealt with a similar situation before, an address in OR tho. Never had problem.
 

Yeah eBay gave me the go ahead so I went forward

Thanks for the help!

[kumas]

I have just sold my sealed 7994 City Harbor to Saint-Petersburg, Russia for quite some money, the buyer's account was created 4 days ago, so obv. question is - Should I ship ?

[Zelgazra]

Yeah eBay gave me the go ahead so I went forward

Thanks for the help!

I suspect what happened there, as you may have deduced already, is that some Asian buyer saw your listings, thought they were a worthy deal to get via their freight-forwarding company, and promptly told a bunch of friends that they knew used the same forwarder about the good deals, and they all ordered some items too. I had this happen with Snowglobes when they first came out. Alternatively, but along similar lines, it may have been one buyer who wanted everything, but knew they’d pay duty import fees on orders over a certain threshold, so they split it up between multiple accounts to circumvent the import charges. Nothing foul at play. I like to support Asian economies buying authentic LEGO!

[Pet-Brick-er]

18 hours ago, kumas said:

I have just sold my sealed 7994 City Harbor to Saint-Petersburg, Russia for quite some money, the buyer's account was created 4 days ago, so obv. question is - Should I ship ?

DHL (or UPS or fedex) registered, that's should be surest way to. I won't ship by a national service as the last russian mile is usually entrusted to the local service and you never know if they will delivery it. Local russian postal service is unreliable. удача!

[kumas]

1 hour ago, Pet-Brick-er said:

DHL (or UPS or fedex) registered, that's should be surest way to. I won't ship by a national service as the last russian mile is usually entrusted to the local service and you never know if they will delivery it. Local russian postal service is unreliable. удача!

I used National Post service for 35$ bcs other couriers dont ship to Russia or shipping is in hundreds $. The package is fully insured against loss so that scenario would be best for me but I am afraid of some type of scam which I cant do anything about.