Jennifer's Series Books on eBay
Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy
My district scrapped its plan to have all students in the building at the same time for normal school. The plan changed to a blended schedule with just half the students in the building on any given day. The new plan might be doable, but then again it might not. Regardless, this will not be a normal school year, so I must focus only on it as the year begins, which is why the stores will be closed as school starts. How long they are closed depends upon what happens with school and how disruptive it is to my life. My store closure could be from two weeks to two months or even longer.
I want to mention what is going on with eBay.
I want to mention what is going on with eBay.
Offers and Shipping
When I reopened my store in May, I added a message to every listing that stated that I do not accept offers. So far, the message has worked splendidly. I have received no offers. Yay!
I have received a few messages asking about adjusted shipping on multiple items purchased. Most were just people who were concerned about whether they would receive combined shipping. There were a couple that I felt were actually fishing for a discount and knew not to ask because of the message in my listings.
One person who asked about combined shipping was unclear about how many books would be purchased. I notice that these prospective buyers tend to withhold the actual number. It would be helpful to know the actual number or at least an estimate so that I can formulate an answer easier.
In this case, the buyer mentioned that the books are "thin softcover" books, so they obviously felt that my combined shipping rate would grossly overcharge for postage. Since I had no idea how many books this person wanted, I had to write up an explanation of several possibilities. I realize that I could have stated my combined shipping with no explanation, but it's better in a case like this one to give a reassuring reason so that the buyer knows I'm not gouging.
I responded as follows.
When you complete checkout the postage will combine as $3.95 for the first book and $0.60 for each additional book. If the cost of the books before shipping ends up at $35.00 or more (6 books should do it), then you will receive free shipping. As long as you add the books to the shopping cart first and then complete checkout, then postage will be combined.I hadn't figured out my actual shipping costs in a very long time. I have kept shipping for the first book at $3.95 for twelve years. It's hard to know my actual cost per package, since I have never figured out the number of packages that I can pack with one roll of tape. I also don't know how many packing slips and postage labels each printer cartridge will cover. There are other costs involved as well, but I know those amounts, like the cost of each box. I also pay eBay a fee on the postage charge.
About the only way you might be overcharged is if you purchase 4 or 5 books. If you go with 4 or 5 books, then I can refund the difference if there is an overage.
I just did some figuring, taking a guess about the tape and ink. My actual cost for the first book is around $4.90. The next time that a buyer asks about lowering the combined shipping, I will reply that I take a loss on the first few books shipped. With multiple books, I gradually break even. I don't make a profit on shipping.
Managed Payments
I have been switched to eBay's managed payments. This means that eBay now collects payment directly from buyers just like Etsy does. I no longer receive eBay payments to my PayPal account. The payments are sent by eBay to my bank account once every few days.
My workaround for eBay's failure to include tax on its packing slips no longer works for me. I was going to PayPal to print a packing slip. PayPal, at least, does show the tax paid by the buyer. I cannot do that since the payment no longer goes to PayPal.
The reason that a packing slip must be inside the package is in case the shipping label gets ripped off of the package. The buyer's address must be inside the box. I do not wish to take the time to handwrite it, nor do I wish to correct the total by changing it on the paper.
I found an easy solution. I print eBay's packing slip and cut off the part with the total on it. I just put the portion in the package that contains the buyer's address. I then turn the paper around and feed it through the printer again for the shipping label. The result is that I now just use one piece of paper per transaction instead of two. I am saving trees, one piece of paper at a time!
Additional Free Listings
I mentioned in the past that eBay didn't give me enough free listings for my store. I only had 250 fixed price free listings. From April through July, eBay gave each store owner 50,000 additional free listings per month. Okay now, that's way too many, but I was glad this summer not to be limited to just 250. I never did understand eBay's stinginess with free listings. If we list more, then we sell more, causing eBay to collect more fees. Don't we both win?
Apparently, eBay finally figured that out. I couldn't believe it on August 1 when I saw that instead of 250 free listings that I had 350 of them. That's really all I needed. But get this. I then saw that I had another 10,000 free listings for being in the managed payments program
I followed the link on the promotion to see how long I would get the additional free listings. The change is permanent.
Ah, so eBay figured out that they make more of a profit when sellers are able to list more items. It's about time!
2 comments:
Have you had any problems with Media Mail delays? I had a store on eBay that I closed on July 31 this year. I had so many delays with my media mail, first class and priority packages tyat I got scared and decided to end my listings and store. I have had one INR that was fortunately only 15.00. I hope the book eventually gets to her. But I have a $300 priority mail package that has been delayed for 3 weeks. I am so scared that they will file an INR.
The shipping delays were not the only reason. But it was a major one. Until the USPS delays get sorted, I am out for a while.
I am having problems with greatly delayed media mail. I had two INRs filed in June and July, and two others asked about the delay rather than filing an INR. Fortunately, all four packages have now arrived.
I have an incoming media mail package that has stopped updating. Hopefully it will arrive soon. An incoming first class package took over two weeks to get to me.
This isn't a good time to be selling online. With the added problems, I cannot keep my stores open during the first weeks of school. Having to answer questions about delayed packages eats up time, and I suspect that I won't have a lot of time in the coming weeks.
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