Opted In to Managed Returns

Today I opted in to managed returns on ebay. I just wanted to make a record of that on my blog so I can kind of track how it goes. I'm hoping that doing what ebay wants me to do...will result in better sales. Yes, I'm feeling desperate lately. My sales have tanked this week.

Have you opted in to managed returns? How is it going? Any problems?

Scottish Kilts and Sales

Recently I wrote a blogpost about flannel shirts. The day after writing that post, I was eager to go on a flannel hunt. I went to two thrifts looking for some good flannel shirts. I did find a lot of flannel shirts and learned one brand that isn't worth much at all. You will see a bunch of this brand when you hunt flannels. That brand is Consensus, and no I didn't bring home any! They sell for about $5 on ebay. I didn't find any of the brands I was looking for but while sniffing out soft plaid items I did find two cool things that I wasn't looking for. What were they? I found a kilt and a vintage plaid wool jacket pictured below. I'm asking $29.99 for the jacket. I would ask $39.99 but I did find a small hole after I got it home.

 

I'm asking $120 or best offer for the kilt. It's ambitious but I'm starting high. I learned some interesting things while researching kilts. For instance the kilt pin which you see down near the bottom is not meant to go through multiple layers of fabric and hold them together it is just supposed to go through the top layer and weigh down that layer which is called the 'apron'. Some sellers have the name of the clan listed that the tartan represents. I learned there are thousands of possible combinations when looking at different tartans. Most are a combination of Red, Green, and Blue which mine is. This kilt is made in Scotland. Did you know ebay doesn't list Scotland in the pull down menu for country? I guess you have to use United Kingdom.

My sales have been really sparse the last few days. I've had three days with zero sales. I usually have at least one sale a day and never multiple days with no sales. It's disheartening but I continue to list and am tweaking listings as well to inspire some hope each day. I hate when my sales are so slow. I always imagine everyone else is selling lots of stuff and it's just me. So let me know in the comments if the last few days have been bad for you too!

BOLO Flannel Shirts

 

image courtesy of Wikimedia

I was browsing through Urban Outfitters Fall online catalog looking for trends and noticed a ton of flannel shirts, women's and mens's. Popped on over to Ebay to look at the completeds and saw that you can make some good money on the right brands of flannels. I'll definitely be looking through the shirts for these next time I'm at the thrift store. The more common brands that garner the best money are......

J. Crew
Ralph Lauren
Patagonia
L.L. Bean
Hollister
Lands End
Woolrich

I saw a lot of J. Crew and L.L. Bean going for $30+ dollars.

There are other brands that go for even more but I don't normally come across them very often. Those were:

True Religion
Free People
Anthropologie
Burberry

I love a nice flannel shirt myself. Maybe I'll pick up some for my own!

Best Sales This Week

Framed Crewel Piece. Free to me. Sold for 37.99 with Free Shipping. This was in the basement of a home I moved into about 30 years ago left there by the previous owners. I didn't really like it but kept it all this time (in my basement). Isn't it weird how we have stuff that is worth something to other people just laying around and we don't even know it. This could have easily ended up in a garage sale pile or a donate pile. 

Needlepoint Pillow. Again Free. A thrift shop that was going out of business was giving away a pillow with every purchase! This is the one I chose. Sold for 28.99 plus shipping. 

Mary Englebreit Cross Stitch Kit. Paid 2.00. Sold for 29.99 plus shipping. I just noticed a theme here. My best sales were all needlework related items. I would BOLO Mary Englebreit cross stitch kits. Check out completeds.

Some good sales but overall sales have been kind of slow this week compared to prior weeks. I've been listing every day but kind of lazy about it. Not really listing as much as I know I should be. Ebay was down for at least a couple of hours this week for me and other people. Were you affected by the outage?

One of My Pet Peeves

Why is this still allowed?

Do you see what I see or rather what I don't see? I know it isn't a huge thing in the scheme of all things but as a bookseller I see a lot of this. I thought ebay no longer allowed a listing to be completed without at least one picture. For many book titles they even provide a catalog picture. So this irks me. When I list something if I forget to load the pictures and hit submit I get a message saying I have to load at least one picture. There are only 3 listings in my picture, but out of 33 sellers selling this book 8 didn't have a picture!! What? So are these old listings that are good till canceled? Are these preferred sellers? I don't know if this just happens in books but that is where I see it. Have you noticed this? What are your pet peeves about other sellers 'practices'? Ah. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Now I can go list :) After seeing what it sells for I won't be listing THIS book.

Extended Holiday Returns

This week I signed up for Extended Holiday Returns on Ebay. This means for anything bought after November 1st and before December 31st a buyer can return the item through January 31st. 

There is a lot of grumbling around the net about the new policy. In order to retain Top Rated Seller Plus you must opt in. I decided to opt in because I want to keep my discounts as a Top Rated Seller and I don't normally get a lot of returns anyway. I'm hoping the policy won't be abused. I don't really see why it would be abused any more than a 30 day return policy. 

The other thing that cemented my decision is that Amazon has the same return policy. This isn't just some crazy ebay idea. Amazon's Holiday Return Policy States

"The Amazon extended holiday return policy requires that orders shipped between November 1 and December 31 be returnable through January 31 of the following year.

This policy includes orders that are shipped by you and orders that are shipped by Amazon."

So yeah. There was a link to opt in immediately in a message I recently received from ebay so I went ahead and did it right away. It won't show up in my listings until November 1st but I'm hoping that ebay will give a boost in Best Match to people who opt in (you can always hope). Another reason I decided to do it. 

What are your thoughts on Extended Holiday Returns? Have you are are you planning to opt in?

Bonanzaaa!

I uploaded all of my ebay listings to Bonanza about 3 weeks ago and had my first sale today. Woohoo! I paid $1 for this tie and it sold for 29.99 with free shipping. It's a Ralph Marlin tie. They make a lot of novelty ties. You've probably seen some around. Some of them are hard to find and go for a bit of coin. See the completeds. Mine is Halloweenish (Dracula) so a great time of year for it. I like ties because they are easy to store and ship (very cheap to ship as well). I don't really have a good source but once in a while I find one or two worth taking a chance on. I see other bloggers who find very upscale ties to sell. I never find those. For me I either find vintage 'wide' 70s ties or vintage 'skinny' ties. I also sold a psychedelic wide tie recently. It sold for 17.99 plus shipping.

Have you joined Bonanza? If you have how has it gone for you? I have been a member for a couple of years but just recently (3 weeks ago) attempted to sell on it. I've also uploaded several listings to etsy. I'm diversifying as I know many other resellers are doing what with all the changes and uncertainty that being a reseller brings. I have also sent in a couple of boxes of books to Amazon for FBA. Previously I'd only sold books through Amazon as a merchant. I like the idea of sending the books in and having more room for inventory, even if it' means a smaller slice of the pie when something sells.