Best posts made by mastroadam

As an inauguration for this new site I’d like to contribute in a dedicated thread to everything I know about eBay, as a seller. Ask me any questions that you think aren’t widely available, if I don’t know hopefully someone can comment and fill in the blank or I’ll try to find out.

I’ll start out with my first tip, never refuse a return, it’s easier to deal with a claim with USPS then from a customer and USPS doesn’t affect your feedback. I’ve had a 100% pay out from USPS claims you just need to make sure that you upload proof of value from the PayPal classic detail page (Print screen save as jpeg). There’s no need to ask for pictures from the buyer for proof of damage. Anytime you ship priority mail you automatically get $50 worth of insurance.

• I source boxes from Gordon Food Service (GFS), they have them up front in bins and they’re free. I Used To Source from Binney’s till I found out you aren’t supposed to ship with boxes that reference alcohol in any way.

• I use the eBay app to list, much faster to list pictures with your phone camera. I search the item I’m selling and go to completed sales, hit the button sell similar and it will auto populate the title, category, and item specifics (which you may need to change).

• When selling clothing I focus on men’s size large and up, smaller size do not sell as well or for as much.

• I have lately had good luck with sunglasses and baseball bats (composite and wood) . Quick rule of thumb, sunglasses if it’s made in Italy and in decent condition it’s probably worth something. Stay away from anything that says made in china (with the exception of some cheaper Ray Bans). Baseball bats, look for bats 30" and up with no cracks! Use your hands to feel for cracks. Stay away from little league stuff. I ship exclusively with those priority mailers you can get from USPS for free (you must order on the the site, it’s free) USPS tube The price is reasonable and many flippers stay away from bulky things because they think shipping will be high.

• Order of precedence for shipping (you should always be shipping via eBay labels for commercial base pricing). Ship 1st class for item under 16oz(13 is the highest at the post office, If you buy labels online you can go up to 15.9oz technically). Ship priority via flat rate envelope (Currently $5.95) pro-tip, if its fragile put it in a flat rate box then in the flat rate mailer, you can also order padded mailers from USPS for free padded mailer then fit it in the flat rate envelope for cheaper shipping sometimes (Warning, this may cross an ethical boundary for some) . next size up is a Legal flat rate envelope Legal Flat Rate Envelope This is not much more, it’s still flat rate, and it’s longer but you won’t find them at the post office, you have to order them (free). In general if it’s only a few states away priority will be the best value, if it’s far away and won’t fit into a flat rate you are typically better off with FedEx ground or smartpost (which you can still drop off at the USPS post office).

• 99.9% of buyers are honest, unless you are selling virtual merchandise (gift cards and coupon codes) I have many problems with those categories on eBay so I avoid them.

• I always list buy it now or best offer, auctions are almost never a good idea unless demand is higher than supply(hot Christmas toys), even then you have to wait till the end of the auction. Best sales day would be Sunday night, and remember listing are like real estate, new listing get more attention than old listings.

• You can normally net a couple more bucks buy lowering the price and charging shipping vs free shipping (caveat, if all your competition is doing free shipping you should probably do so as well) supposedly eBay analytics favor free shipping in search results but I’ve never noticed a difference.

• Cowboy hats (larger sizes) sell well and can normally be gotten for a few dollars. Make sure they are a good brand, larger size, wool/felt, made in the USA or Mexico (no china hats)

• Pier One Imports typically have open dumpsters and have lots of bubble wrap and Styrofoam for free.

Card earns at the following rates:

• 2.5% cash back on all purchases if you have a $1,000 monthly direct deposit/ACH push* into your
  USAA checking account
• 1.5% cash back on all purchases if you don’t receive the monthly direct deposit
• No annual fee
• No sign up bonus
• Chip & PIN
• No foreign transaction fees
• You must be a USAA member to apply for the card

• Its still up for debate about which back/credit unions count, mixed answers on this

I just got approved for 25k in IL, got the card number, CCV, and expiration right away even though the card comes later. Credit limit is $1000 till you activate the card.

USAA LINK

This product is currently available to members residing in the following states: AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MD, MI, MN, MT, ND, NM, NV, NY, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX and WA. It will become available in additional states at a later date.

Chase offers the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card with 80,000 Ultimate Rewards Bonus Points after making $5,000 in purchases during the first 3 months from account opening. Thanks drdvls

Card Features:
Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $1,000 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in select categories each account anniversary year
Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases–with no limit to the amount you can earn
Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards
Redeem points for travel, cash back, gift cards and more – your points don’t expire as long as your account is open
No foreign transaction fees
Employee cards at no additional cost
$95 Annual Fee

Apply here

Chase: 800-453-9719 (Business card Recon)

PSA by daydream3r: Try to apply through a referral link [goo.gl] because a lot of DP lately state that you are actually getting the 100k bonus points. it is 20k more than applying through the SD link. YMMV

100K UR points - starting Mar 12 - in Branch only - YMMV

Maximizing value of the rewards:

1. The most optimized way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards is to transfer to airline miles that you happen to have a usage. One example of best redemption is to transfer to United Mileageplus. US to Asia one way business class meeds 80,000 miles. It is over $1500 if pay by cash. There’e lots of other trips and other airline miles Chase Ultimate Rewards can transfer to, making it very possible to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards at 1.5-2 cents per point or even higher. (Waring: airline award tickets may have limited availability. Make sure it’s available before transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to miles).

2. Booking flight at Chase directly (if you happen to travel) makes the rewards 1.25 cents/point

3. Redeem as Gift card when there is promotion. The best promition in the history is 30% for gift card purchase, which is very rare. With more commonly seen 10% off or 20% off, the value of Chase Ultimate Rewards could be more than 1.1/1.2 cents (of gift card value) each point.

4. Sell at brokers for cash. This option is in gray area. Chase doesn’t want you to do it, but Chase wouldn’t know if you do it. One reliable broker is milesp2p.com which has good reputation online and over two thousand facebook likes. As of now (March 2017), price for Chase Ultimate Rewards is 1.35 cents/point.

5. Of course the least option is to cash at Chase (or to pay mortgage) at 1 cent/point. To me this should be the last option.

• Refer a Friend Program:
  You can now get extra points by Referring a Friend [goo.gl].

EARN UP TO 100,000 bonus points PER YEAR

Enjoying the benefits of your Ink Business Card? Invite fellow business owners to apply for Ink Business Preferred and earn 20,000 bonus points for each business owner who gets the card.

@prosperity said in Tips and tricks from an eBay seller:

This is a great thread idea!

I’d like your input on my situation. I’ve had an ebay account for many years. Some time back my wife kind of took it over selling her yarn goods. She has done great with it over the years maintaining 100% feedback from 4893 users to date. She knows how to deal with people in this matter. But yarn is something that can’t break or something that possibly won’t work when the buyer receives it.

I’ve been in this situation in the past and now again. I have an iPod Touch that I want to sell. In the past it was quite a bit of higher end camera equipment. I am so afraid to sell it on eBay and have the possibility of a disgruntled buyer ruining her 100% feedback. The item in question is just like new and hardly used. But I’ve read about the horror stories where a buyer receives an electronic item like this and even though the unit is fine will say that it doesn’t work and demand a refund etc.

I usually end up sending stuff like this to an electronics buyer similar to Gazelle.

Any advise here?

I sell tons of electronics I wouldn’t sweat it. Pack it securely, if there’s a problem issue refund, ship it Priority Mail worst case you can get some money back from USPS if they claim it’s damaged. People don’t normally leave negative feedback for no reason and 99% of buyers are reasonable. I would pack it in a small flat rate box and put it inside a flat rate envelope for the most efficient option.

I have 2 accounts, one is a basic store to save on fees, the other is not a store but I use it for the occasional promos for selling that ebay sends out to non store owners. My non-store account has 364 feedback with one neutral feedback, my store account has 746 with one neutral feedback. I started working a couple hours a week when I was in the military a few years ago and now it’s a part time gap filler job between construction gigs. Between the two stores I make about $35k in sales plus about another $5k off eBay through direct correspondence via paypal emails (ebay can’t monitor private emails and there is almost always an email address when the pay via paypal) I source 75% from my local Goodwill 15% dhgate, 10% local or slickdeals.

Enter offer code AAABONUS when applying.

Note: 1. People have tried to open this account without AAA membership, and it has worked for them. 2. You can apply this account even if you already have a regular discover savings account.

Maximum bonus amount: $200
Availability: Nationwide
Direct deposit required: None
Additional requirements: Deposit $15,000 for $150 bonus or deposit $20,000 for $200 bonus
APY: 1.15%
Initial Deposit: None
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Checking does have Chex inquiry
Credit card funding: None
Monthly fees: None
Early account termination fee: None mentioned
Expiration date: Open account by October 31st, 2017. Must deposit funds by November 15th, 2017
Insured: FDIC

*To get your $150 or $200 Bonus offer: What to do: Apply for your first AAA Online Savings Account from Discover Bank by 10/31/17. Enter Offer Code AAABONUS when applying. Deposit a total of at least $15,000 into your account by 11/15/17 to earn a $150 Bonus or deposit a total of at least $20,000 into your account by 11/15/17 to earn a $200 Bonus. Maximum bonus eligibility is $200 per account. What to know: Offer not valid for existing or prior AAA savings customers. Account must be open when bonus is credited. Bonus will be credited to the account by 11/30/17. Bonus is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. Offer may be modified/withdrawn without notice.

Doctor of Credit

Note: Data so far points to not needing an actual AAA membership to get this deal.

• You can get this bonus even if you have the regular savings account.

Amazon has 176-Count Dixie Ultra Paper Plates (10 1/16") for $15.67 when you clip the Save an extra 15% coupon.
You may also save few more bucks if you checkout via Subscribe & Save.

link

64oz Permatex Fast Orange Pumice Hand Cleaner $3.85 w/ S&S + Free Shipping
Amazon
Free Shipping

Checkout w/ Subscribe & Save

link

I like it.

@ganda said in Tips and tricks from an eBay seller (edit: will update original post till we get a wiki):

I don’t buy on eBay often, but I always cringe when my purchase arrives in a recycled box. I once had a purchase shipped to me in a Froot Loops box - seriously. First impressions count, be professional.

It’s easy enough to get a plain brown box, with all my amazon packages I normally just use those. On the plus side Amazon boxes typically weigh less than any other box of the same size.

This beats topcashback right now and Ebates (maybe not the special categories)

@jaytrader said in Tips and tricks from an eBay seller:

@prosperity just be careful about USPS and batteries. If they ask if there are batteries, you may be obligated to say yes, otherwise the insurance could be void. I know they specifically ask about Lithium batteries, and I’m not sure if that includes Lithium Ion, which is probably in the iPod touch you have. Also, I am not sure if there is a certain capacity that is exempt, such as in small electronics. Just wanted to toss this out there so you don’t get burned.

I believe if it’s installed in a device or in original packaging it’s okay. I’ve never had a problem and I have sold batteries for tools many times.

Listed on eBay for 399.99, no tax. Sold by Buydig (authorized LG dealer)
link

Don’t forget, Ibotta 2.5% back through the app plus 1% ebay bucks back plus cash back credit card.

@jaytrader said in LG SJ9 sound bar 399.99 at eBay at eBay:

Is this any good, and is the price any good? I am in the market, to replace my 5.1 system (too lazy to mount the rears in our new place). It’s kid shows and/or youtube on about 95% of the time these days anyway. Is $400 really worth it, or is a $100 sound bar just as good?

Price is great, check ebay completed sales or google the model number. This will sell out fast. I can’t speak for value in your case, especially if you use it for just the kids.

After further research the reason to get this bar is for the ATMOS which only 2017+ LG tvs are capable.