Ask Tony about being a professional eBay & Amazon seller

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
what were your ebay and amazon selling %'s?

and what's the lowest % rated seller you would buy from in both?

[/ QUOTE ]

the amazon account is long closed, so I can't check, but it was generally good (maybe 4.5/5 stars?)

eBay accounts hovered round 99.x%

The lowest rating I would buy from is 98.5% is a seller has <500 FBs and 99.0% if a seller has more than 500 total. Of course, if it was something I really needed, I would make exceptions and take the risk.

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible to be successful selling on ebay (using dropshipping method) CafePress products that you designed?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd say it's not too likely, since Cafe Press is overpriced. In addition, there were rumors a while back that cafe press had a bunch of ebay accounts and was stealing popular desings and undercutting their customers on eBay. I don't know for sure if that was true, or if it is still going on if it was.

It seems like a low initial investment venture though, so if I had designs I thought were really good, I'd give it a shot. Maybe you'll find a nice market for your specific style, and if it doesn't work out, at least you didn't spend a load of money on inventory.

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
The highest profit % on any item?

[/ QUOTE ]


A lot of Disney clothing sold at a 1,000% markup. Once in a while I'd sell books that I bought for a quarter for $40-50, but for every one of those, I had to spend another $20 on the rest of a carton of books that never sold.

[astroglide]

i have shitloads of things that i should sell on ebay, but it sits in an unusable guest bedroom because i don't feel like shipping it.

what is the cheapest and easiest way for a non-volume individual to box and sell things? i don't mind listing at all, but i [censored] hate finding boxes, going to the post office, and waiting in line to get ripped off on shipping.

[livinitup0]

[ QUOTE ]
I was pro seller for 2 1/2 years. Go!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a CRAP-TON of 70's-80's Warner Brothers stuff that was left at my house....figures, ornaments, straws.....basically like most of the stuff you can find at the 6 flags stores....I havent put up anyof this stuff because I didnt knwo whether to do it individually or what...what do you think?....worth my time?? Will take at least about 2 allocated poker sessions to photo everything and list it individually I believe...

[Some Pig]

Do you know of people who have followed a similar strategy? eBay has no problem with it, am I correct?

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
i have [censored] of things that i should sell on ebay, but it sits in an unusable guest bedroom because i don't feel like shipping it.

what is the cheapest and easiest way for a non-volume individual to box and sell things? i don't mind listing at all, but i [censored] hate finding boxes, going to the post office, and waiting in line to get ripped off on shipping.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have a few options. You could ship everything through a place like Mailboxes etc/UPS Store, but they are very overpriced, and you would have to have a huge S&H charge to cover it, which will turn off buyers.

Here is what I think is the best option:
Buy a cheap scale (pelouze scales are the best value, they are very high quality and moderatly priced--but a cheap option is to get a used baby scale on eBay). you can recover the cost of the scale buy just adding 50c onto the handling fee of each item.

Go to the USPS website and you can order a supply of Priority Mail shipping supplies, of which they will deliver as much as you want for free. (If you are selling fragiles and need bubble wrap I can recommend some eBay sellers of bubble wrap by PM if you want.)

USPS has made shipping [censored] easy, and the losers who wait on line at the PO are either ignorant of technology or scared of it. You can just weigh the items, and use USPS Click & Ship to print the postage from your computer. Then schedule a USPS carrier pickup, and they come to your door for free to pick it up (provided you use Priority Mail)

Another option, if you are very lazy and want to get ripped off, you can also use an auction drop-off store like Auctiondrop if they are in your area.

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was pro seller for 2 1/2 years. Go!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a CRAP-TON of 70's-80's Warner Brothers stuff that was left at my house....figures, ornaments, straws.....basically like most of the stuff you can find at the 6 flags stores....I havent put up anyof this stuff because I didnt knwo whether to do it individually or what...what do you think?....worth my time?? Will take at least about 2 allocated poker sessions to photo everything and list it individually I believe...

[/ QUOTE ]

It's up to you if you want to spend the time. You will almost certainly get better prices if you sell individually, but it is a little tedious. eBay has free software called TurboLister that makes selling alot of similar things easy, you can set up templates, edit details for individual actions and then batch upload them to eBay.

Do a completed listing search to see what the kinds of things you have usually sell for. If you're selling fragiles, poke around on the ebay Packaging & Shipping Message Board (click the community link on the top of any eBay page)

[Tony_P]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you know of people who have followed a similar strategy? eBay has no problem with it, am I correct?

[/ QUOTE ]

eBay has no policy against it, but I remember something about being required to mention in the listing that it is being drop-shipped (I don't know how much they enforce that though).

the only issue with drop shippers is that you are responsible for the delivery of the item even if you dropshipper fails to fill the order.

I wouln't worry about this with cafe press, but most good sellers who are using a drop shipper for the first time would order something first to come to them to ensure the shipper delivers.

[KingMedicine]

i used to be really into baseball cards and sold a zillion lots on ebay a couple years ago.

the thing that pissed me off the most was dealing with all the fees.

between ebay posting fees, ebay selling fees (if your listing sold), shipping fees and paypal fees, it got to the point where it would make me sick to see how much i paid out just to sell something. i guess that is part of doing business without leaving your house.

i know one solution that some sellers use is to charge ridiculous shipping and handling fees, but i think a lot of buyers frown on that for obvious reasons.

ive considered starting to sell stuff on ebay again since i play poker for a living and im home all day and i like to take breaks from poker. my thinking is that instead of using my poker break time jerking off or watching day time talk shows, i could be doing ebay stuff just as easily and bringing in more money.

i have a 750 feedback rating without a nuetral or negative, so that aspect is in order. i have a digi camera, scanner, and all the computer equipment ill need, and my girlfriend LOVES to go garage sale shopping (which would be one way to get stuff to sell), but, man, those fees just cut into the money so much.

tony, do you have some tips on how to cut down on all the fees that sellers are charged? ive thought about only taking money orders (thus, erasing the paypal fees), but my feeling is that 90% of potential buyers dont want to deal with sending a money order and waiting the extra time that paying by this process takes.

what are your thoughts as you read my post?
thx!