Complaint Thread

[redcell]

50 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

That's what this game is all about.  Getting organized and efficient with your time.  Have you looked into getting a pallet scale?

I've looked at pallet jacks with scales built in, but they're pretty expensive and I can generally get the weight just about right by tracking what is going on each pallet.  That's definitely on the wish list, but I haven't gotten to the point where it's something I feel I need.  

And I agree completely on the first point...I'm not sure when it was exactly, but there was a point in the past 3-5 years when running this business became more of an exercise in logistics and workflow than an exercise of buying and selling. 

[raindog]

You guys shipping in different boxes are using one of these, aren't you.  They pay for themselves real quick.

https://www.amazon.com/Cardboard-Box-Carton-Reducer-Sizer/dp/B00OI9RO94/

 

[joch29]

wow I never thought something like this exist! Couldn't think of words to describe it. LOL. I've gotten use to a scissor to perfecting ways to downsize a box to fit a product.

[MrToes16]

8 hours ago, raindog said:

You guys shipping in different boxes are using one of these, aren't you.  They pay for themselves real quick.

https://www.amazon.com/Cardboard-Box-Carton-Reducer-Sizer/dp/B00OI9RO94/

 

I've been using one of these for a couple years now. Definitely has perforated my shipping costs over time.

[redcell]

You guys shipping in different boxes are using one of these, aren't you.  They pay for themselves real quick.

https://www.amazon.com/Cardboard-Box-Carton-Reducer-Sizer/dp/B00OI9RO94/
 

I don’t use one of those. I structure all of my workflows to be as time efficient as possible and have found it is much easier to simply but the right size boxes so all I have to do is set the box up. But that’s just me…I’m always willing to pay more to save time given how much I overall have going on in my life.


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[Sozial]

46 minutes ago, redcell said:

I don’t use one of those. I structure all of my workflows to be as time efficient as possible and have found it is much easier to simply but the right size boxes so all I have to do is set the box up. But that’s just me…I’m always willing to pay more to save time given how much I overall have going on in my life.


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That is very good advice. When you only have a few boxes to send its okay, but If you handle volume, just buy the right boxrs, in the end its about 400-500 more in expenses, but more life quality.

[raindog]

5 hours ago, redcell said:

don’t use one of those. I structure all of my workflows to be as time efficient as possible and have found it is much easier to simply but the right size boxes so all I have to do is set the box up. But that’s just me…I’m always willing to pay more to save time given how much I overall have going on in my life.

That's fine if you ship the same size items over and over.  My thought is that some of you are talking like using the sizer is a time-consuming operation.  Once you get used to it, you can resize a box in a few seconds.  And it is a lot quicker to me to resize a box than have to unpack and repack in a larger box just because what you are shipping is 1/4" too high.  Quality of life?  it's all part of the packaging process and should be no different than the rest of the process.  I suspect that those that make such a big deal out of using a resizer never got beyond the novelty point of trying one out.  Me?  Saving money in both dimensional weight, as well as cardboard weight, is what makes my life enjoyable.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

[gmpirate]

7 minutes ago, raindog said:

That's fine if you ship the same size items over and over.  My thought is that some of you are talking like using the sizer is a time-consuming operation.  Once you get used to it, you can resize a box in a few seconds.  And it is a lot quicker to me to resize a box than have to unpack and repack in a larger box just because what you are shipping is 1/4" too high.  Quality of life?  it's all part of the packaging process and should be no different than the rest of the process.  I suspect that those that make such a big deal out of using a resizer never got beyond the novelty point of trying one out.  Me?  Saving money in both dimensional weight, as well as cardboard weight, is what makes my life enjoyable.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

Depends on the size of your operation.  Eventually it's all speed and efficiency.  There's only so many hours in a day . . .

[MrToes16]

55 minutes ago, raindog said:

Saving money in both dimensional weight, as well as cardboard weight, is what makes my life enjoyable.
 

This is me in a nutshell. I have grown my "hobby business" little by little over the years, but still no where remotely near as a big player. I do ship multiple sized items, but I don't have the space or capital to invest in significant quantities of multi-sized packaging materials. Devices like these help me maximize profit in any way I can.

I also really like the way it sounds when I perforate the box like "frrrrrip".  

[redcell]

That's fine if you ship the same size items over and over.  My thought is that some of you are talking like using the sizer is a time-consuming operation.  Once you get used to it, you can resize a box in a few seconds.  And it is a lot quicker to me to resize a box than have to unpack and repack in a larger box just because what you are shipping is 1/4" too high.  Quality of life?  it's all part of the packaging process and should be no different than the rest of the process.  I suspect that those that make such a big deal out of using a resizer never got beyond the novelty point of trying one out.  Me?  Saving money in both dimensional weight, as well as cardboard weight, is what makes my life enjoyable.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

It sounds like you’re packing everything right before you ship. I was prepacking everything so keeping everything in consistently sized boxes helped me maximize storage space and generally made things easier.


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[raindog]

1 minute ago, redcell said:

It sounds like you’re packing everything right before you ship. I was prepacking everything so keeping everything in consistently sized boxes helped me maximize storage space and generally made things easier.

Impossible to do when Amazon is constantly shifting the warehouse in which to ship your goods.  I'm just not large enough to justify repeatedly sending pallets of the same item.  As stated above, to each their own.

[redcell]

Impossible to do when Amazon is constantly shifting the warehouse in which to ship your goods.  I'm just not large enough to justify repeatedly sending pallets of the same item.  As stated above, to each their own.

Not as impossible as you might think. Until this year, every standard sized item that I shipped 18 or more of at one time went to a single FC so as long as I packed 18 in one box or had 18 spread across multiple boxes, I knew they would all go one place. You can also exercise some control by setting up case pack templates in the new Send to Amazon workflow. That option allows you to send inventory in by the box. It would be a bit of a hassle if you had a bunch of different box sizes, but is great when you’re dealing with standard box sizes.


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[Darth_Raichu]

The joy of reselling in 2022:
1. You picked and bought a few copies of a set (yay!)
2. You have stored them in basement for 2 years
3. When you think it is time to sell, you find out that somebody parks 90+ copies of that set on FBA at a price point that barely covers your costs

(4. And some of you wonder why I mostly post jokes and music videos on this site)

[landphieran]

1 hour ago, Darth_Raichu said:

The joy of reselling in 2022:
1. You picked and bought a few copies of a set (yay!)
2. You have stored them in basement for 2 years
3. When you think it is time to sell, you find out that somebody parks 90+ copies of that set on FBA at a price point that barely covers your costs

(4. And some of you wonder why I mostly post jokes and music videos on this site)

I think people are accustom to COVID era sales numbers. This year will be more in line with pre COVID, maybe slightly worse.

It's still not holiday times yet, though in our mind as sellers it's "started". Thanks to global warming it still feels like summer here. Christmas is a distant thought for most.

I do feel you, in regards to barely covering costs, I have plenty of sets I'm looking at and thinking... wtf am I going to do with you? I have other sets that make me go, obviously that was easy...

I think now more than ever, not getting on the wrong side of some huge overstock, seller heavy set, or continuation is key to success. I started buying early this year and I'm nervous. I could get wrecked if the sets end up being a forever listing, extended or start seeing huge discounts.

 

[Sozial]

14 minutes ago, landphieran said:

I think people are accustom to COVID era sales numbers. This year will be more in line with pre COVID, maybe slightly worse.

It's still not holiday times yet, though in our mind as sellers it's "started". Thanks to global warming it still feels like summer here. Christmas is a distant thought for most.

I do feel you, in regards to barely covering costs, I have plenty of sets I'm looking at and thinking... wtf am I going to do with you? I have other sets that make me go, obviously that was easy...

I think now more than ever, not getting on the wrong side of some huge overstock, seller heavy set, or continuation is key to success. I started buying early this year and I'm nervous. I could get wrecked if the sets end up being a forever listing, extended or start seeing huge discounts.

 

From my observations and notes in my books (i keep notes of my feelings, observation at the time) the first major uptick in sales beginns here (EU) around 3rd of November. Each year at the end of october i think "****, the price hasnt moved, I send in those sets to early" - some of my observations will become true but around 60-75% of my feelings are wrong.

This year might be a bit different because the additional costs for housing has gone up significantly, but I count (hope) on price insensitive people with a lot of disposable income, since that are our/myain customers according to an educated guess by reviewing the delivery addresses from the past years. Many orders from grandpas and mas will be missed this year here.

Lets hope the best!

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Sozial

[carini26]

9 hours ago, Darth_Raichu said:

The joy of reselling in 2022:
1. You picked and bought a few copies of a set (yay!)
2. You have stored them in basement for 2 years
3. When you think it is time to sell, you find out that somebody parks 90+ copies of that set on FBA at a price point that barely covers your costs

(4. And some of you wonder why I mostly post jokes and music videos on this site)

5. AMZN doing everything possible to deter customers from spending $.   Confusion with duplicate listings, standard v. frustration free packaging (something 98% of customers do not understand), and suppressed listings without a buy box.  Suppressed listings are getting killed.  For SKUs that have Std & FF option, whichever one is not featured is going into an abyss.

Ex: 75954 - Despite the higher price, the UK listing is outperforming the US listing simply due to UK listing having a BB.

 

[landphieran]

3 hours ago, carini26 said:

5. AMZN doing everything possible to deter customers from spending $.   Confusion with duplicate listings, standard v. frustration free packaging (something 98% of customers do not understand), and suppressed listings without a buy box.  Suppressed listings are getting killed.  For SKUs that have Std & FF option, whichever one is not featured is going into an abyss.

Ex: 75954 - Despite the higher price, the UK listing is outperforming the US listing simply due to UK listing having a BB.

 

My girlfriend helps me manage business through the holidays and still thinks items without a buybox are "sold out"... its a real problem

[Pseudoty]

And she is in LAN:

 

[Darth_Raichu]

Too many stinkers, not enough winners

[keymomachine]

I've been sick for like 12 days. Started with a little sore throat that I caught from my wife and daughter, had us all test so THEY could go back to work/school and boom, Covid. I thought I'd made it through the worst of it when I had full on body aches LAST tuesday, but had a mighty resurgence on Sunday/Monday with a new sore throat. Worst part is I had JUST gotten my Covid booster and flu shot three weeks ago. I'm convinced I've got FluVid-22, a new mutant virus just for me, developed in a lab in Hawkins, Indiana (I may be hallucinating things).

[TANV]

So yesterday one of the hose lines under the sink burst. I was luckily home at the time but the best part is that the shutoff valves don't work at all. So had to kill the water main and no water at all in the house since 5 Pm. Landlady says a plumber should be on their way this morning to fix this.

Well, at least Notre Dame beat Clemson.

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[keymomachine]

13 hours ago, TANV said:

So yesterday one of the hose lines under the sink burst. I was luckily home at the time but the best part is that the shutoff valves don't work at all. So had to kill the water main and no water at all in the house since 5 Pm. Landlady says a plumber should be on their way this morning to fix this.
 

I wasn't aware those steel jacketed hoses COULD burst like that. Hope all is well now!

[landphieran]

On 11/6/2022 at 7:21 AM, TANV said:

So yesterday one of the hose lines under the sink burst. I was luckily home at the time but the best part is that the shutoff valves don't work at all. So had to kill the water main and no water at all in the house since 5 Pm. Landlady says a plumber should be on their way this morning to fix this.
 

You should get a new faucet out of this. Usually the hoses that connect to the faucet aren't replaceable.

[LegoWalker4]

Getting a $250 traffic citation in the mail for failing to stop for a school bus.  The bus driver put the sign out when I was already side by side with front windshield of the bus in the opposite lane, which I thought was odd and was bad timing on my part which left me in a no win situation.  By the way, there is no way to contest it without paying even more money.

Edited November 18, 2022 by LegoWalker4

[bigboy61]

1 hour ago, LegoWalker4 said:

Getting a $250 traffic citation in the mail for failing to stop for a school bus.  The bus driver put the sign out when I was already side by side with front windshield of the bus in the opposite lane, which I thought was odd and was bad timing on my part which left me in a no win situation.  By the way, there is no way to contest it without paying even more money.

How will they cite you? Cameras on the bus?