FAQ’s. Answering your questions. We all have them but these are some I hear often.
How can you be contacted?
One of two ways:
Email: Yankeethrifter@gmail.com
Phone voicemail: 413-829-4446
Should I pay for an eBay store?
Should I pay for an eBay store?
YES! Subscribing to an eBay store offers many features that you don’t have with standard listings.
- You can give your store a custom look and feel.
- You get in depth sales summaries with Sales Reports Plus.
- You get a large number of listings free each month and additional listing fees are discounted.
- Your final value fees are lower.
- You get live customer service available by phone.
- You get an enhanced listings manager’s tool.
- You get supply and shipping discounts.
- You can put items on sale with Markdown Manager.
- You can put your store on vacation mode when you travel.
Where do you find the things that you sell?
Sometimes I get lucky and my family gives me things to sell other times I get lucky by finding things on the side of the road. When I am not getting items for free, unfortunately, I have to pay for them. My favorite places to find antique, vintage and one of a kind items are at estate sales, auctions and garage sales. I use thrift stores often as well. I like “mom and pop” thrift stores better than the commercial ones like Goodwill and Salvation Army, however, I do purchase a lot of clothing at Goodwill and Salvation Army especially when they have markdown days.
How do you create a listing on eBay?
Creating a listing involves initial prep work and research. Since my items are used vintage they often come in box lots from auctions. The boxes were recovered from somebody’s attic or basement and often have dust and grime. I typically wash, dust, clean and make small repairs to items as necessary. Then I photograph items. My aim is to use the 12 photos that eBay allows but that doesn’t always happen. After I photograph items, I use a notepad to write down descriptions, detail, size, measurements, weight and any noticeable flaws. I transfer my pictures to the computer and research each item from my notepad on eBay noting the price that I intend to sell it for in the margins. If I find a similar item I use the eBay feature “sell one like this” that pops up under a sold item and save the draft for later. I continue searching this way until I have a saved draft for each item in my notebook. I then edit my photos and begin the process of listing my items by completing the saved drafts.
A side note here; often the drafts I save are created by people who aren’t experienced sellers. I always change titles to use as many relevant keywords as possible and double check that the appropriate category has been chosen for the item that I am selling.
Since I handle all aspects of my business by myself, my listing process may seem tedious and I am sure there might be a faster way to list, however, this works for me and I am able to list pretty quickly.
How much do you pay for items that you sell on eBay?
Nothing or not much. Not a very good answer. A better answer would be that my markup on items is a minimum of four times what I paid. Also, my markup generally averages 10 to 15 times what I paid for an item sometimes more.
How do you determine how to price items on eBay?
Typically, I run a search for similar and like items to the one that I want to sell and click on the box for sold listings and the box for Buy It Now (I do this since I sell all my items at Buy It Now - if you sell with an auction format you may want to compare those sold listings) in the left hand categories navigation bar. I the look for the item that sold for the most and also the one that sold for the least and come up with an average price unless my item is in pristine condition and I will sell it for the highest price possible after researching. That is how I typically price items. There are exceptions of course and you can read more about pricing at “How to Price Ebay Items for Maximum Profit”
Questions, compliments or comments? Contact me via email or voice messaging. The phone number goes directly to voicemail and is not answered by a live person. Leave me an email or voice message and I will respond as quickly as I can.
Email: Yankeethrifter@gmail.com
Phone: 413-829-4446
