USPS has an option for a home pickup. If a mailman does not show up due to the weather, you still have an additional proof you did everything you could to make the shipping happened.
My sister and I, years apart, got these return scams. Mine was a watch, hers was a discontinued beauty product. It's definitely disheartening. One of my friends wasn't as lucky. She sold her own shoes, got a return of muddy boots. Giant slap in the face. Sometimes one sale is a make or break for small sellers.
Kansas City suburb here with plenty of snow. Our local post office carriers chose not to work. The Postmaster opened the post office so we ran our packages to him. Im so thankful he cared enough to open and process our packages.
The combined shipping approach I take: I tell a buyer to purchase each item individually and also pay for the shipping individually. I assure them that after I pack a bigger box, I will give them a partial refund on their shipping as much as I can, which is usally very satisfying to them! I inform them what it will be before buying and printing the label!!! Not one time was a buyer angry with their partial refund. I tell them that I have to pay for the bigger box and extra padding (I sell glass items mostly). I also ask them to read my feedbacks a bit to see that I have integrity and can be trusted. If they don't like the price of the combined shipping, I tell them that they can cancel the transactions for a full refund. No one has ever cancelled!
Unfortunately (and maybe this is more of a Canadian thing), combined items in one box rarely cost less to ship than the multiple of items. But I ship a lot of delicate items so have to use a lot of packing material as well.
How do you tell them to purchase them 1 at a time? Normally people buy things and then you found out they bought them... Not sure I follow, even though what you said makes sense. Thanks!
It is quite the pain in the butt up here in Canada. I had someone buy all 15 of something once.....15! I was freaking out. eBay was just, oh well, figure it out. I requested they submit a request to review how that all went down and I was able to provide feedback on the experience. By some magical, divine intervention, I was indeed able to ship all of them within the price that they were charged for shipping. Just. I don't do quantity listings anymore and sell sets now. I find that if a combined shipping request is within Canada, eBay allows for us to choose how many boxes and what weights they will be. If it a buyer from the U.S., it does what they caller said and only does the weight. I will request they cancel the order or I will so they can purchase separately, like the first commenter here. It's easier to give a shipping discount that way, in my opinion. I don't think there is even an option to opt out of the request for the combined shipping either, which is dumb. Then we could at least communicate with the buyer about a shipping discount/adjustment and see if they would like to proceed. I would suggest we all provide feedback to eBay, requesting an option to deny a combined shipping request. I think that would be pretty easy for them to set up.
I'm in St. Louis also and had a pair of shoes that sold on Sunday. I would normally ship it out on Monday morning but with 8-10 inches of show, that's not happening (but I did print the label). Thankfully, I spent part of my day on Monday clearing my driveway and truck. And, thankfully, eBay won't expect me to ship it out until Tuesday. My truck, driveway and local roads should be fine on Tuesday. Thanks Justin!
Great content Justin! I have a theory on ebay traffic and whether it affects sales. I did not list or do anything with my listings the week prior and week of Christmas. I did purchase several items during that time. I had sales immediately following my purchases. As you have mentioned, I think any movement on eBay generates some movement in our stores. Whether you are delisting, listing, running sales, listing low profit items or making purchases, for me, it has a positive effect. Thank you for the help with winter storms! Here in Virginia, we had a huge winter storm. Being from Colorado, I was okay going to the post office, but I wondered about others 😊
Buyer demand is what determines whether your items sell. While it's tempting to infer cause and effect, this is nothing more than coincidence. List high STR items at good prices and you'll be making sales regardless of your daily shopping habits!
USPS will pickup for free. I just schedule a pickup everyday for three months ahead of time. I never have to worry about the weather. When my three months are almost up I add another three months. This can be done on the USPS website.
Is there a minimum amount of packages to qualify for a pick-up? Or do you have to cancel any particular day if you don't have any going out that day? If you feel like answering, thank you. I guess I can probably get this info on the website 😀
@bobbiellison4315 i don't have any minimum but the app is super easy to schedule a pickup. I don't always use it but you don't even have to login. Just go to usps and hit schedule a pickup.
@@bobbiellison4315 There is NO minimum number of packages. USPS even states this on their site when you place your pick-up order. 1 package or 10 - it makes no difference. As far as scheduling a pickup, I only schedule when needed. You can schedule next day pick up as long as you get your order placed early enough.
Truthfully, it’s the easiest way around all of this. I’ve been selling since 2000. “Time away” is an excellent feature. Whether you’re sick someone’s in the hospital, death in the family. It’s not all about a vacation. I always leave inappropriate message and give myself ample time to deal with whatever it is. eBay is great, It’s a wonderful business for me. However, I will not be put in a bind over 24 hour shipping when I literally can’t get to the post office. And in this case they’re not delivering mail or picking up anything I also live in Central Missouri.
Thanks so much for sharing all of this info and knowledge... And also being so transparent with all of your numbers. It helps a lot to not feel alone on this journey! Cheers!
One of the reasons I like to use free shipping...the combined shipping scenario. If I get a multi order I'm in charge of how its shipped. I can decide to combine them or not. Also I can decide the cheaper option after a sale. Such as flat rate vs weighed etc...
Unfortunately, the free and flat-rate shipping scenario doesn't work at all when you're on the coast. At least the coast of Canada. I've tried it a couple of times and it failed horribly. I've watched a lot of RUclips resellers, and the only ones who seem to be content with free or flat rate shipping are the one's living more or less central - where shipping to a coast is the only time they may take a slight hit.
Living in WNY, means an occasional driving ban if we get over 3' (otherwise, it's "hold my beer" 😀) I go from a 1BD to a 2BD handling policy for the winter months. I've only had a few issues with that. The real slow downs seem to occur in the transport process, so we're clear of that as long as there's tracking. This posting covered some interesting topics. Thanks!
I really appreciate your zen attitude Justin....I've been selling for about 16 months and I really enjoy it. I had a few returns in the beginning and it was so ridiculous. I got bent out of shape for days ......lol. Your advice is golden. Thx !
I messaged my buyers and gave them the choice of me cancelling the order or going ahead with printing the shipping label. I did this prior to printing the label. They chose to go ahead with the purchase. I did this so they had ownership.
I’m in GC just east of STL! Thanks for these videos! Started my resell journey 1 month ago! Having fun and already started making a little extra cash 👍
Down here in Iron county, we got very little snow.. but ice is everywhere! Not much happening, almost no one on the roads today. Local inn and restaurant had to close, along with stores, as power was out again.
Here in Kentucky we got tons of snow. I requested a home pickup, mailman didn't come. I braved the weather and drove to the post office anyway... Crazy but didn't want an issue with my account.
I am in St Louis too. I don't know if you deal with a lot of toys and collectables, but this coming weekend is the Toyman Toy show. I often find some great deals there and things that are easy to resell.
There is an eBay employee in 1 of the groups im in, and they said they go off of your ziocode. If you live in an affected area, they stand by you. And apparently, they are pretty generous on the zipcode reach.
This may a duplicate comment, but regarding the mug that was sent back undeliverable by the USPS, the customer should be refunded the price they paid LESS SHIPPING. I don't think i heard that point at the time stamp it played. :) thanks for all the encouragement to be better sellers. Blessings from Cali!
I'm in Los Angeles I ship on various different ecom... platforms... I just request pickup from the house the carriers frequent my neighborhood, tend to do pickups first thing in the morning.... if I haven't requested a pickup I'll usually put a sign on a chair or on the back of my Scion back window... you need to get the carriers to service your location familiar with the fact that you will have packages going out... packing them well distinctively bulletproofing them so you can throw them like a frisbee also helps... I also usually take - print the recipients name - address location on the reverse of the package making it easier for people sorting & delivering.... it also makes them stand out they generally do not get lost.... request home carrier pickup that's the key....Laxvespa--LosAngeles
I'm sure alot of people here would agree with me when I say the single biggest pain in the butt with having an eBay business is shipping. I've had customers message me " where's my item" after they had a tornado in their neighborhood.
Been shipping eBay since 1999 and have had only a handful of shipping problems, I really appreciate the Post Office. They pick up when I schedule, and if there is more packages than scheduled they take them too 😊
@janetgerow7163 I been doing it since 2008. I have more stories than I can tell on here. The craziest one is we were located in California. Someone in Virginia bought an item. Two weeks later she messaged me asking status on her order. I look at the tracking and her package was in Honolulu. She finally got it about two weeks after that, so took her 4 weeks to get the item which traveled a total of about 9,000 miles. True story and I have a bunch more stories 😀
Two, count them two (2) issues I was going to look up, and you got our back. Looking at bad weather this Thursday (DFW) and it wasn't even a thought list Thursday. Also I was thinking about getting boxes and Russian doll stack them until I get more familiar with shipping
As a suggestion... I would recommend determining what size box you need to safely ship each item as you list it. After you have close to 100 items listed, group the sizes more generally (ex: you don't need both a 9x9x9 and a 9x8x8), and place an order for the boxes (via ULine or whoever). Stack them on shelving (with adjustable shelves) to pull as needed. And any used boxes you get, flat fold them, write the size on the end, stack them on the top shelf, and then add them to your inventory program (or spreadsheet or whatever) so you can quickly see if you have a random box that will work when you ship an item.
Thank you Justin!! Great info. I haven’t purchased a printer yet. QR codes for me Only a little stress on worry of mixing up but I write last 4 letters of code on each package. 4 pkgs is most I’ve had in a day. If that were everyday, I’d buy a printer. Love the idea of splitting AirPods. Ooh and thanks for listing box Sz on screen so I could screenshot. I can get boxes at work and neighbors leave for me, but I’ve still had to buy a few. They are pricey. Just sold an ouija board and have been looking for the perfect Box for a month. May have to buy one, board games are awkward . Appreciate you and all the tips . It really helped me mentally prepare for my first return. Received back this weekend . Onto the next!
Regarding somebody switching out an item; lately, I’ve been using an ultraviolet pen. I just make a mark on the item if it ever came back to me, I would use an ultraviolet light to see if it’s the same item. Of course I take pictures of what the mark looks like before I ship it out Also, any electric items that I feel could be compromised by somebody stealing the inside I put a tamperproof label sometimes on the case, sometimes hidden inside the mechanism.
I have a buyer complaining that their order is taking forever. which is to be expected because this is a very busy time of the year for usps and the weather is bad now🤦 (their order was shipped next day) This buyer has only one feedback from a seller saying they are a loser troll that leaves negative feedback for no good reason.
Here’s my my experience with one of my buyers he did buy an October and the item worth over $1000 for my surprise he filed a dispute with his banking account asking him for this $1000 for me. The good thing is I took pictures when I was shipping and I took pictures for the tracking number because if you don’t know, the tracking number can expired after a while and he left a really good review on my eBay store so I took a screenshot of that and then I gave them to eBay and what eBay said like you are under seller protection and that’s a really good thing and now I have to wait two weeks to see how this will go to Work
@ I think this is a type of scam because they waited for too long so they don’t return the item on eBay this method let them keep the item and the money because they are disputing from the bank not from eBay itself
I offer combined calculated shipping which I compute when I ship and refund savings after I complete shipping ( all paid then refund on shipping day) I have done this for years, I just explain it to the customer ahead when they are looking to multiple purchase or after they have purchased.
I offer combined shipping but eBay informed me that, bc I have ‘immediate payment required’ set-up, it does not work (unless I take that off). So I told the buyer to pay, then I refunded discounted combined shipping. He informed me that a few other resellers did it as a refund as well.
I got a late defect last year when my wife was in the hospital and we had a hurricane hit and I just missed the notice of the sale. Since then I have just put 5 days into my handling time and usually ship in one day. But I never know what could happen so I'm not late and buyers get their purchase sooner than I promised.(usually) It's seems to have been working fine so far. Do you see a problem with this plan ?
I know you were asking Justin but yes - people not buying from you as they don't want to wait too long, they don't know you typically ship in a day. Seems seems like you may put a lot of buyers off for something that may happen once a year
16:18 I had someone give me positive feedback a couple of days ago, but their message was mostly negative. They claimed the color of the pants I sold them wasn't accurate. They were gray chino Polo Ralph Lauren pants. By looking at them, there was no way you could think they were anything but a shade of gray, even in the photos. I had multiple people also confirm they're gray. And because of it, had my next positive feedback specifically mention their item was as described when most that leave feedback don't mention accurate description😂 You really cannot please everyone and there will be people who will try to go against the obvious or choose not to read your listing details and blame you for it. I feel bad for these people, must be rough in life when you don't do simple things to make your life easier and less stressful.
Re: Snow storms ... (glad I now live on Vancouver Island, surrounded by rain forests) ... Unless I'm shipping boxes bigger than, say, 14x9x9-ish, if I couldn't drive then I'd just walk across the street and drop them into one of the mailboxes.
Justin. Could you comment on having a store wide markdown sale vs simply promoting your listings for the same amount? For example have a 20 percent store wide sale or promote each item in your store for 20 percent. Thanks. Tom
Ebay did put out an announcement in seller news about protecting seller performance for people impacted by the storm. It doesn't say how to reach out to them about shipping delays, but maybe they're just going to blanket it based on the address something is being shipped to/from? I just shipped a handful of things from the west coast to the east coast so I'm hoping they still make it. Also on the PS2- there are a few games that just refuse to play on a slimline PS2 but will play just fine on the original. The original also supports installation of a hard drive which can reduce loading times for a lot of games.
In regards to Mark from British Columbia’s problem. I recently had two sales from a lot of similar items. As Mark had expressed, eBay did correctly. Multiply the shipping cost, but the size of the box remain the same. I reached out to eBay customer service and explain to them the problem that if I shipped these two items together, my shipping expense would be more than double of what the buyer had paid. eBay suggestion was to ship the items separately and print out two separate shipping labels From that listing so that the shipping cost that the buyer paid would evenly amount to each item. I hope that helps you Mark.
At 25:00 minutes, Don't know of a way to change dimensions. Best solution I could think of would be to only have quantity of 1 and list it again after it sells.
Thanks :) But then I'd lose out on a sale of multiple items for buyers who are looking for a set. Yes, I'm losing money on the shipping, but I'm still making money over all. I'd just like to not be forced to earn notably less than what I had anticipated.
@@marklewis3579 Only other thing I can think of would be have listings for different quantities and mention in the description you have different listings of varying amounts of the item. Obviously it'd be better if you could adjust box size for multiple items bought, but I don't think you can.
On multiple quantities, with calculated shipping, I usually enter 12x12x12 dimensions even if it is a small item. That allows for multiple items to fit in a bigger box without the dimension charge going up.
@@cindyherder5754 Thanks Cindy - I have been toying with that idea of specifying a larger box for items in which I may sell multiples. One big enough to allow 2 or more items, but not too big that it will greatly affect the shipping cost in a way to dicourage the sale. Then it becomes a balance of possibly making a little less on shipping for multiple items, but then making a little more when a customer buys just one item. But this is where another problem can seek in... Depending on the destination, you have to be careful (at least in Canada) as just 1cm increase can (sometimes) raise the shipping cost by $10-15. It depends at where the post office or courier pricing break occurs - and probably the destination as well.
I start off with contacting customer service through online chat, the automated bot. It then gives me a choice to speak to a representative either by phone call or through online chat, but sometimes the phone call option is only available. I hope this helps.
@@mikealberda6435 Can to write what missmonika said chat first, then ask to speak to someone - have only ever waited 3-4 mins for them to call me - great
I have a question about combined shipping (I do calculated shipping on everything). I was excited because I was hoping my question would be answered in this video, but it wasn't. So twice I've had buyers purchase 2 items from my store. I figured eBay would combine those items to 1 order and just give me 1 shipping label with added weight, however it doesn't. So both times I've had print two labels and send both the packages off to the same address. The last one that happened one of the packages arrived a week after the first one (even though I dropped them off the next day together) and had to deal with customer being impatient. If this happens again, I know I can just throw both items into one polymailer/box, input combined dimensions, and ship it into one.. but I feel like that could allow a buyer to say 1 never arrived, or what if the customer wants to return the item that I didn't use the label for. Also I need to print the label once it's made so I don't ding my status. I've searched on my eBay settings, but cannot find how to just set multiple orders to be combined into a single label. It would save the customer money instead of paying 2 different calculated shippings. Or am I missing something after the purchase that I can combine them into one label? Just trying to figure out what to do next time someone purchases 2 or more items at once from my store, there has to be something I'm missing instead of just sending 2 individually packed/labelled items to the same address. Trying to save them money, arrive together, and if I'm doing something wrong in settings I can fix it and encourage multiple orders if I'm somehow blocking that option currently. btw Flipwise is the best thing in the world, anybody who isn't using Flipwise needs to sign up. It's night and day results of having all the numbers and stats that Flipwise provides, and is so much easier and less time consuming than a couple of other platforms I've tried before.
Someone else can address the issue of eBay not combining orders, as I’m uncertain why that’s happening to you. I’ll just address the shipping of multiple items… Process one order as usual. Pack both (or multiple) items from other order(s) in the same box (if practical). Copy the tracking number and paste it into the other order(s) and mark it/them as shipped.
I always use ebay calculated shipping and have always shipped before ebay deadline, but somehow have gotten less than 5 stars on those categories. Can I get it changed to all 5's?
Hi Justin, a question, when you calculate your weekly net sales, you minus the cost of goods of the items sold and the cost of the new inventory? I feel that if I do this, I am deducting double when I sell the items. Thanks!
Will you please elaborate on your time to list metric in Flipwise? How is that calculated? Since flip wise is not an inventory management platform per se (data is coming in after it is listed), I am unclear on how it is calculating time of listing (how does it know when it was purchased? Do you enter this?) Thanks!
Flipwise is definitely an inventory management platform! It lets you define the purchase date, which is used to calculate time-to-list by calculating the time between purchase date and list date.
Hey Justin when using the flip wise app and comparing the total revenue compared to the eBay's new earnings tab they do not match up they are off by a couple hundred dollars. This is when looking from Jan 1-Dec 31. Let me know what you think. Thanks man!
What’s up Justin, I was trying to find the email address to send in a question. Is that still an option or is it only the video messages? Thanks, George
@@marklewis3579 yes, but maybe it is not the same chemical composition. It is like , for example, people that are lactose intolerant only with milk and soft cheeses, but not with hard cheeses, or being allergic to peanuts but not to peanut oil.
I don't know exactly how ShelfTrend was utilizing the eBay API, but there is no impact to Flipwise. We stay current with eBay API changes through their developer program, but I do not think ShelfTrend shutting down was the result of any recent changes. "Due to changes in eBay’s API policies and strategic direction" was the quote from their shutdown note, which suggests it was not a recent technical change with eBay's API. I'm speculating, but many years ago eBay restricted access to certain APIs related to historical sales data, which I would bet ShelfTrend used based on the features of their product. My understanding is that companies with access were allowed to continue to use it but it was not open to any new developers. ShelfTrend has been around for almost a decade, so perhaps they were grandfathered in, and maybe eBay finally started to remove access to those legacy APIs for those clients? Not exactly sure, but that's my best guess!
What is Ebay's phone number? I had a problem with an order that was listed as media mail shipping. I have never used media mail. She paid $3 shipping and the item shipped at $19 shipping. I couldn't find a way to resolve it so I shipped at a huge loss. Ebay's phone number would have been helpful.
I don't know of a phone #, but I just go into Help or Contact and, in the message bot, I type "agent". After a wee bit of back and fourth it will offer you to text an agent or (sometimes) have an agent call you - which, in my experience, is always within a couple of minutes. You may want to just eat the loss and take this as a learning experience, as there's likely nothing that can be done. There's likely also more to learn about Media Mail and its use. Being in Canada, I don't have that option, so can't offer any advice.
As far as scams I used to sell a lot of tool battery chargers and got a lot of returns as not working so I started taking pictures of serial numbers and putting in listing. Well the returns almost stopped. Would recommend the serial numbers in all listing if you can find one. Worked for me.
USPS has an option for a home pickup. If a mailman does not show up due to the weather, you still have an additional proof you did everything you could to make the shipping happened.
My sister and I, years apart, got these return scams. Mine was a watch, hers was a discontinued beauty product. It's definitely disheartening. One of my friends wasn't as lucky. She sold her own shoes, got a return of muddy boots. Giant slap in the face. Sometimes one sale is a make or break for small sellers.
Kansas City suburb here with plenty of snow. Our local post office carriers chose not to work. The Postmaster opened the post office so we ran our packages to him. Im so thankful he cared enough to open and process our packages.
The combined shipping approach I take: I tell a buyer to purchase each item individually and also pay for the shipping individually. I assure them that after I pack a bigger box, I will give them a partial refund on their shipping as much as I can, which is usally very satisfying to them! I inform them what it will be before buying and printing the label!!! Not one time was a buyer angry with their partial refund. I tell them that I have to pay for the bigger box and extra padding (I sell glass items mostly). I also ask them to read my feedbacks a bit to see that I have integrity and can be trusted. If they don't like the price of the combined shipping, I tell them that they can cancel the transactions for a full refund. No one has ever cancelled!
Unfortunately (and maybe this is more of a Canadian thing), combined items in one box rarely cost less to ship than the multiple of items. But I ship a lot of delicate items so have to use a lot of packing material as well.
How do you tell them to purchase them 1 at a time? Normally people buy things and then you found out they bought them... Not sure I follow, even though what you said makes sense. Thanks!
@@Addeatt oh! I forgot to say when they ask before buying! I skipped that first step! Oops!
It is quite the pain in the butt up here in Canada. I had someone buy all 15 of something once.....15! I was freaking out. eBay was just, oh well, figure it out. I requested they submit a request to review how that all went down and I was able to provide feedback on the experience. By some magical, divine intervention, I was indeed able to ship all of them within the price that they were charged for shipping. Just. I don't do quantity listings anymore and sell sets now. I find that if a combined shipping request is within Canada, eBay allows for us to choose how many boxes and what weights they will be. If it a buyer from the U.S., it does what they caller said and only does the weight.
I will request they cancel the order or I will so they can purchase separately, like the first commenter here. It's easier to give a shipping discount that way, in my opinion. I don't think there is even an option to opt out of the request for the combined shipping either, which is dumb. Then we could at least communicate with the buyer about a shipping discount/adjustment and see if they would like to proceed. I would suggest we all provide feedback to eBay, requesting an option to deny a combined shipping request. I think that would be pretty easy for them to set up.
I'm in St. Louis also and had a pair of shoes that sold on Sunday. I would normally ship it out on Monday morning but with 8-10 inches of show, that's not happening (but I did print the label). Thankfully, I spent part of my day on Monday clearing my driveway and truck. And, thankfully, eBay won't expect me to ship it out until Tuesday. My truck, driveway and local roads should be fine on Tuesday. Thanks Justin!
I was in St. Charles saturday and I literally thaught Justin is going to have fun shipping on Monday.............
We get a lot of scams because Ebay has encouraged buyers in several ways to do it.
Great content Justin! I have a theory on ebay traffic and whether it affects sales. I did not list or do anything with my listings the week prior and week of Christmas. I did purchase several items during that time. I had sales immediately following my purchases. As you have mentioned, I think any movement on eBay generates some movement in our stores. Whether you are delisting, listing, running sales, listing low profit items or making purchases, for me, it has a positive effect. Thank you for the help with winter storms! Here in Virginia, we had a huge winter storm. Being from Colorado, I was okay going to the post office, but I wondered about others 😊
Buyer demand is what determines whether your items sell. While it's tempting to infer cause and effect, this is nothing more than coincidence. List high STR items at good prices and you'll be making sales regardless of your daily shopping habits!
I think ebay rewards interaction 😅❤❤ keep listing 🎉🎉
USPS will pickup for free. I just schedule a pickup everyday for three months ahead of time. I never have to worry about the weather. When my three months are almost up I add another three months. This can be done on the USPS website.
If they come by that day. I to am in the STL Region...no mail delivery today 1/6/25 & my USPS Closed early today.
Is there a minimum amount of packages to qualify for a pick-up? Or do you have to cancel any particular day if you don't have any going out that day? If you feel like answering, thank you. I guess I can probably get this info on the website 😀
@bobbiellison4315 i don't have any minimum but the app is super easy to schedule a pickup. I don't always use it but you don't even have to login. Just go to usps and hit schedule a pickup.
@@bobbiellison4315 There is NO minimum number of packages. USPS even states this on their site when you place your pick-up order. 1 package or 10 - it makes no difference. As far as scheduling a pickup, I only schedule when needed. You can schedule next day pick up as long as you get your order placed early enough.
True, but if carrier does not do an acceptance scan sometimes I find no scans at all for up to a week..
I put my store on “ time away “ prior to the storm. With message that if possible I would ship. My concern was power outages.. no power no label.
Same here. One less thing to stress over.
Truthfully, it’s the easiest way around all of this. I’ve been selling since 2000. “Time away” is an excellent feature. Whether you’re sick someone’s in the hospital, death in the family. It’s not all about a vacation. I always leave inappropriate message and give myself ample time to deal with whatever it is. eBay is great, It’s a wonderful business for me. However, I will not be put in a bind over 24 hour shipping when I literally can’t get to the post office. And in this case they’re not delivering mail or picking up anything I also live in Central Missouri.
Thanks so much for sharing all of this info and knowledge... And also being so transparent with all of your numbers. It helps a lot to not feel alone on this journey! Cheers!
One of the reasons I like to use free shipping...the combined shipping scenario. If I get a multi order I'm in charge of how its shipped. I can decide to combine them or not. Also I can decide the cheaper option after a sale. Such as flat rate vs weighed etc...
Unfortunately, the free and flat-rate shipping scenario doesn't work at all when you're on the coast. At least the coast of Canada. I've tried it a couple of times and it failed horribly. I've watched a lot of RUclips resellers, and the only ones who seem to be content with free or flat rate shipping are the one's living more or less central - where shipping to a coast is the only time they may take a slight hit.
Living in WNY, means an occasional driving ban if we get over 3' (otherwise, it's "hold my beer" 😀)
I go from a 1BD to a 2BD handling policy for the winter months. I've only had a few issues with that.
The real slow downs seem to occur in the transport process, so we're clear of that as long as there's tracking.
This posting covered some interesting topics. Thanks!
Great content as usual!! I’ve ran into a couple issues last year!!
I really appreciate your zen attitude Justin....I've been selling for about 16 months and I really enjoy it. I had a few returns in the beginning and it was so ridiculous. I got bent out of shape for days ......lol. Your advice is golden. Thx !
I messaged my buyers and gave them the choice of me cancelling the order or going ahead with printing the shipping label. I did this prior to printing the label. They chose to go ahead with the purchase. I did this so they had ownership.
I’m in GC just east of STL! Thanks for these videos! Started my resell journey 1 month ago! Having fun and already started making a little extra cash 👍
This video was so helpful while being snowed in. Thanks for the tips!
We got almost 13 inches out here in Cottleville in St. Charles County. Everybody stay safe out there!
Down here in Iron county, we got very little snow.. but ice is everywhere! Not much happening, almost no one on
the roads today. Local inn and restaurant had to close, along with stores, as power was out again.
@pamprier4710 Hope you are staying safe and staying warm!
Yes I’m in Cincinnati we got a lot of snow I usually ship weekend sales on Monday I’m waiting until Tuesday
Here in Kentucky we got tons of snow. I requested a home pickup, mailman didn't come. I braved the weather and drove to the post office anyway... Crazy but didn't want an issue with my account.
I am in St Louis too. I don't know if you deal with a lot of toys and collectables, but this coming weekend is the Toyman Toy show. I often find some great deals there and things that are easy to resell.
There is an eBay employee in 1 of the groups im in, and they said they go off of your ziocode. If you live in an affected area, they stand by you. And apparently, they are pretty generous on the zipcode reach.
This may a duplicate comment, but regarding the mug that was sent back undeliverable by the USPS, the customer should be refunded the price they paid LESS SHIPPING. I don't think i heard that point at the time stamp it played. :) thanks for all the encouragement to be better sellers. Blessings from Cali!
I'm in Los Angeles I ship on various different ecom... platforms... I just request pickup from the house the carriers frequent my neighborhood, tend to do pickups first thing in the morning.... if I haven't requested a pickup I'll usually put a sign on a chair or on the back of my Scion back window... you need to get the carriers to service your location familiar with the fact that you will have packages going out... packing them well distinctively bulletproofing them so you can throw them like a frisbee also helps... I also usually take - print the recipients name - address location on the reverse of the package making it easier for people sorting & delivering.... it also makes them stand out they generally do not get lost.... request home carrier pickup that's the key....Laxvespa--LosAngeles
I'm sure alot of people here would agree with me when I say the single biggest pain in the butt with having an eBay business is shipping. I've had customers message me " where's my item" after they had a tornado in their neighborhood.
Been shipping eBay since 1999 and have had only a handful of shipping problems, I really appreciate the Post Office. They pick up when I schedule, and if there is more packages than scheduled they take them too 😊
@janetgerow7163 I been doing it since 2008. I have more stories than I can tell on here. The craziest one is we were located in California. Someone in Virginia bought an item. Two weeks later she messaged me asking status on her order. I look at the tracking and her package was in Honolulu. She finally got it about two weeks after that, so took her 4 weeks to get the item which traveled a total of about 9,000 miles. True story and I have a bunch more stories 😀
@janetgerow7163 yes for the most part it's good but I do a lot of volume so 1% problems is all the time for me. I have more stories than I can count
Two, count them two (2) issues I was going to look up, and you got our back. Looking at bad weather this Thursday (DFW) and it wasn't even a thought list Thursday. Also I was thinking about getting boxes and Russian doll stack them until I get more familiar with shipping
Same here. I’m in DFW also and I was thinking of changing my handling time tomorrow to 4 or 5 days. Then change it back on Friday.
As a suggestion... I would recommend determining what size box you need to safely ship each item as you list it. After you have close to 100 items listed, group the sizes more generally (ex: you don't need both a 9x9x9 and a 9x8x8), and place an order for the boxes (via ULine or whoever). Stack them on shelving (with adjustable shelves) to pull as needed.
And any used boxes you get, flat fold them, write the size on the end, stack them on the top shelf, and then add them to your inventory program (or spreadsheet or whatever) so you can quickly see if you have a random box that will work when you ship an item.
Mark items with an ultraviolet pen. If they are returned you can check to see if its the same item you sent out.
Thank you Justin!! Great info. I haven’t purchased a printer yet. QR codes for me
Only a little stress on worry of mixing up but I write last 4 letters of code on each package. 4 pkgs is most I’ve had in a day. If that were everyday, I’d buy a printer.
Love the idea of splitting AirPods.
Ooh and thanks for listing box Sz on screen so I could screenshot.
I can get boxes at work and neighbors leave for me, but I’ve still had to buy a few. They are pricey.
Just sold an ouija board and have been looking for the perfect Box for a month. May have to buy one, board games are awkward .
Appreciate you and all the tips . It really helped me mentally prepare for my first return. Received back this weekend . Onto the next!
Great council Justin Thank you
Regarding somebody switching out an item; lately, I’ve been using an ultraviolet pen. I just make a mark on the item if it ever came back to me, I would use an ultraviolet light to see if it’s the same item. Of course I take pictures of what the mark looks like before I ship it out Also, any electric items that I feel could be compromised by somebody stealing the inside I put a tamperproof label sometimes on the case, sometimes hidden inside the mechanism.
Great insight on the AirPods….I like that method and may finally list mine.
Yeah - I was thinking this is genius! Makes total sense.
I sent my husband to post office in four wheel drive. Then I changed all of my listings to 3 days so you don’t get defects. 🌻🌻. For a few days
Cha Ching King tackled this issue of combined shipping on one of his videos. It is a little complex for sure.
I have a buyer complaining that their order is taking forever. which is to be expected because this is a very busy time of the year for usps and the weather is bad now🤦 (their order was shipped next day) This buyer has only one feedback from a seller saying they are a loser troll that leaves negative feedback for no good reason.
Here’s my my experience with one of my buyers he did buy an October and the item worth over $1000 for my surprise he filed a dispute with his banking account asking him for this $1000 for me. The good thing is I took pictures when I was shipping and I took pictures for the tracking number because if you don’t know, the tracking number can expired after a while and he left a really good review on my eBay store so I took a screenshot of that and then I gave them to eBay and what eBay said like you are under seller protection and that’s a really good thing and now I have to wait two weeks to see how this will go to Work
I had the same thing and I told the buyer to return for a full refund and eventually got my money. Frustrating!
@ I think this is a type of scam because they waited for too long so they don’t return the item on eBay this method let them keep the item and the money because they are disputing from the bank not from eBay itself
I offer combined calculated shipping which I compute when I ship and refund savings after I complete shipping ( all paid then refund on shipping day)
I have done this for years, I just explain it to the customer ahead when they are looking to multiple purchase or after they have purchased.
It's very rare that a customer will reach out to me before making a purchase of multiple items.
How do you make a change after they have purchased?
I offer combined shipping but eBay informed me that, bc I have ‘immediate payment required’ set-up, it does not work (unless I take that off). So I told the buyer to pay, then I refunded discounted combined shipping. He informed me that a few other resellers did it as a refund as well.
I got a late defect last year when my wife was in the hospital and we had a hurricane hit and I just missed the notice of the sale. Since then I have just put 5 days into my handling time and usually ship in one day. But I never know what could happen so I'm not late and buyers get their purchase sooner than I promised.(usually) It's seems to have been working fine so far. Do you see a problem with this plan ?
I know you were asking Justin but yes - people not buying from you as they don't want to wait too long, they don't know you typically ship in a day. Seems seems like you may put a lot of buyers off for something that may happen once a year
16:18 I had someone give me positive feedback a couple of days ago, but their message was mostly negative. They claimed the color of the pants I sold them wasn't accurate. They were gray chino Polo Ralph Lauren pants. By looking at them, there was no way you could think they were anything but a shade of gray, even in the photos. I had multiple people also confirm they're gray. And because of it, had my next positive feedback specifically mention their item was as described when most that leave feedback don't mention accurate description😂 You really cannot please everyone and there will be people who will try to go against the obvious or choose not to read your listing details and blame you for it. I feel bad for these people, must be rough in life when you don't do simple things to make your life easier and less stressful.
Re: Snow storms ... (glad I now live on Vancouver Island, surrounded by rain forests) ... Unless I'm shipping boxes bigger than, say, 14x9x9-ish, if I couldn't drive then I'd just walk across the street and drop them into one of the mailboxes.
Justin. Could you comment on having a store wide markdown sale vs simply promoting your listings for the same amount? For example have a 20 percent store wide sale or promote each item in your store for 20 percent. Thanks. Tom
Ebay did put out an announcement in seller news about protecting seller performance for people impacted by the storm. It doesn't say how to reach out to them about shipping delays, but maybe they're just going to blanket it based on the address something is being shipped to/from? I just shipped a handful of things from the west coast to the east coast so I'm hoping they still make it.
Also on the PS2- there are a few games that just refuse to play on a slimline PS2 but will play just fine on the original. The original also supports installation of a hard drive which can reduce loading times for a lot of games.
Also when it comes to boxes. I live in a place where i can just take boxes from the neighbors recycling. And i have no shame :) saves me money.
In regards to Mark from British Columbia’s problem. I recently had two sales from a lot of similar items. As Mark had expressed, eBay did correctly. Multiply the shipping cost, but the size of the box remain the same. I reached out to eBay customer service and explain to them the problem that if I shipped these two items together, my shipping expense would be more than double of what the buyer had paid. eBay suggestion was to ship the items separately and print out two separate shipping labels From that listing so that the shipping cost that the buyer paid would evenly amount to each item. I hope that helps you Mark.
Thanks :) I'll look into that the next time I run into this type of situation.
Love your channel ❤
At 25:00 minutes, Don't know of a way to change dimensions. Best solution I could think of would be to only have quantity of 1 and list it again after it sells.
Thanks :) But then I'd lose out on a sale of multiple items for buyers who are looking for a set. Yes, I'm losing money on the shipping, but I'm still making money over all. I'd just like to not be forced to earn notably less than what I had anticipated.
@@marklewis3579 Only other thing I can think of would be have listings for different quantities and mention in the description you have different listings of varying amounts of the item. Obviously it'd be better if you could adjust box size for multiple items bought, but I don't think you can.
On multiple quantities, with calculated shipping, I usually enter 12x12x12 dimensions even if it is a small item. That allows for multiple items to fit in a bigger box without the dimension charge going up.
@@cindyherder5754 Thanks Cindy - I have been toying with that idea of specifying a larger box for items in which I may sell multiples. One big enough to allow 2 or more items, but not too big that it will greatly affect the shipping cost in a way to dicourage the sale. Then it becomes a balance of possibly making a little less on shipping for multiple items, but then making a little more when a customer buys just one item. But this is where another problem can seek in... Depending on the destination, you have to be careful (at least in Canada) as just 1cm increase can (sometimes) raise the shipping cost by $10-15. It depends at where the post office or courier pricing break occurs - and probably the destination as well.
I have tried for hours trying to find a phone number for eBay. Where do you find it?
I start off with contacting customer service through online chat, the automated bot. It then gives me a choice to speak to a representative either by phone call or through online chat, but sometimes the phone call option is only available. I hope this helps.
Thanks
type the word " agent " through the online chat , they will call you within 1 minute.
@@mikealberda6435 Can to write what missmonika said chat first, then ask to speak to someone - have only ever waited 3-4 mins for them to call me - great
If I’m at all suspicious of a scam I make a small dot on the product not seen easily and if it’s on return then I complain. Hasn’t happened…… yet
I have a question about combined shipping (I do calculated shipping on everything). I was excited because I was hoping my question would be answered in this video, but it wasn't.
So twice I've had buyers purchase 2 items from my store. I figured eBay would combine those items to 1 order and just give me 1 shipping label with added weight, however it doesn't. So both times I've had print two labels and send both the packages off to the same address. The last one that happened one of the packages arrived a week after the first one (even though I dropped them off the next day together) and had to deal with customer being impatient.
If this happens again, I know I can just throw both items into one polymailer/box, input combined dimensions, and ship it into one.. but I feel like that could allow a buyer to say 1 never arrived, or what if the customer wants to return the item that I didn't use the label for. Also I need to print the label once it's made so I don't ding my status.
I've searched on my eBay settings, but cannot find how to just set multiple orders to be combined into a single label. It would save the customer money instead of paying 2 different calculated shippings. Or am I missing something after the purchase that I can combine them into one label?
Just trying to figure out what to do next time someone purchases 2 or more items at once from my store, there has to be something I'm missing instead of just sending 2 individually packed/labelled items to the same address. Trying to save them money, arrive together, and if I'm doing something wrong in settings I can fix it and encourage multiple orders if I'm somehow blocking that option currently.
btw Flipwise is the best thing in the world, anybody who isn't using Flipwise needs to sign up. It's night and day results of having all the numbers and stats that Flipwise provides, and is so much easier and less time consuming than a couple of other platforms I've tried before.
Someone else can address the issue of eBay not combining orders, as I’m uncertain why that’s happening to you. I’ll just address the shipping of multiple items…
Process one order as usual. Pack both (or multiple) items from other order(s) in the same box (if practical). Copy the tracking number and paste it into the other order(s) and mark it/them as shipped.
Thank you so much ❤❤❤
I always use ebay calculated shipping and have always shipped before ebay deadline, but somehow have gotten less than 5 stars on those categories. Can I get it changed to all 5's?
I’m lucky I live half a mile from my post office so I’ve walked it in the snow in the past. Could be brutal on the legs but must keep the standard!! 😂
... especially if it's up hill both ways 😆
(old dad joke)
For me the usps is literally less than a mile away
Do you ever require signatures on a shipment?
a lot of my 2024 sales have been profits of 13 to 23 and i do quite enjoy it.
At what point do you think it wise to report quarterly?
My symmetrical AWD stays full of packages to drop off.
Hi Justin, a question, when you calculate your weekly net sales, you minus the cost of goods of the items sold and the cost of the new inventory? I feel that if I do this, I am deducting double when I sell the items. Thanks!
Great question! Net sales only considers cost of goods sold as an inventory expense. Spent on new inventory is not included in that total.
Thanks, love your videos!
Will you please elaborate on your time to list metric in Flipwise? How is that calculated? Since flip wise is not an inventory management platform per se (data is coming in after it is listed), I am unclear on how it is calculating time of listing (how does it know when it was purchased? Do you enter this?) Thanks!
Flipwise is definitely an inventory management platform! It lets you define the purchase date, which is used to calculate time-to-list by calculating the time between purchase date and list date.
@ I see. Thank you! I am still trying to learn the ins and outs.
Hey Justin when using the flip wise app and comparing the total revenue compared to the eBay's new earnings tab they do not match up they are off by a couple hundred dollars. This is when looking from Jan 1-Dec 31. Let me know what you think. Thanks man!
help.flipwise.app/article/11-why-does-flipwise-report-a-different-amount-for-gross-income-than-ebay
What’s up Justin, I was trying to find the email address to send in a question. Is that still an option or is it only the video messages? Thanks, George
you can leave a comment!
Reasons could be they passed away, a death in the family, a medical emergency, the boss sent them unexpectedly to the Amazon Rainforest....
Yup or life is really busy and its not a big deal for them, poor memory and not keeping up with email......
19:20 Gretchen, get a thermal label printer. No ink.
Or laser at least.
@@vaderladyl Laser uses toner, which may create the same issue.
@@marklewis3579 yeah, maybe, maybe not.
@@vaderladyl Actually... Definitely! Toner is just another name for "dry ink".
@@marklewis3579 yes, but maybe it is not the same chemical composition. It is like , for example, people that are lactose intolerant only with milk and soft cheeses, but not with hard cheeses, or being allergic to peanuts but not to peanut oil.
Will you be addressing the ShelfTrend shut down and will that Ebay API change affect Flipwise?
I don't know exactly how ShelfTrend was utilizing the eBay API, but there is no impact to Flipwise. We stay current with eBay API changes through their developer program, but I do not think ShelfTrend shutting down was the result of any recent changes.
"Due to changes in eBay’s API policies and strategic direction" was the quote from their shutdown note, which suggests it was not a recent technical change with eBay's API.
I'm speculating, but many years ago eBay restricted access to certain APIs related to historical sales data, which I would bet ShelfTrend used based on the features of their product. My understanding is that companies with access were allowed to continue to use it but it was not open to any new developers. ShelfTrend has been around for almost a decade, so perhaps they were grandfathered in, and maybe eBay finally started to remove access to those legacy APIs for those clients?
Not exactly sure, but that's my best guess!
I live in Indianapolis
You didn’t go to the post office did you? Shipping out my orders today
nah, I went today
Challenge accepted I keep getting snow on my tape my printer is full of snow as well.
Maplewood here. What a crazy day this was
What is Ebay's phone number? I had a problem with an order that was listed as media mail shipping. I have never used media mail. She paid $3 shipping and the item shipped at $19 shipping. I couldn't find a way to resolve it so I shipped at a huge loss. Ebay's phone number would have been helpful.
I don't know of a phone #, but I just go into Help or Contact and, in the message bot, I type "agent". After a wee bit of back and fourth it will offer you to text an agent or (sometimes) have an agent call you - which, in my experience, is always within a couple of minutes.
You may want to just eat the loss and take this as a learning experience, as there's likely nothing that can be done. There's likely also more to learn about Media Mail and its use. Being in Canada, I don't have that option, so can't offer any advice.
@@marklewis3579 Thanks Mark!
As far as scams I used to sell a lot of tool battery chargers and got a lot of returns as not working so I started taking pictures of serial numbers and putting in listing. Well the returns almost stopped. Would recommend the serial numbers in all listing if you can find one. Worked for me.
eBay's Facebook is the best actually. I have the best luck with them every time.