No Sales Since January 28th. Doing Everything I Can With No Change
Summary: xoticcc initiated a discussion expressing concern about not making any sales since January 28th despite trying various strategies. Several participants, including ricarmic, john_koenig99, and transtraders, engaged in the conversation, offering potential solutions and sharing similar experiences. xoticcc interacted with multiple participants to explore suggestions and reflect on what else could be improved. Overall, the discussion centers around sharing advice and support for improving sales strategies.
I Currently Have 501 Listings, I List 20-50 Items Everyday Either Being Cheap Sports Cards Or Higher End Items I End And Relist Items Over About 60 Days, I Have EIS Activated To Attemp Reaching International Buyer Groups, I Offer Combined Shipping And Primarily Sell Items Eligble For Expedited Lite, I Even Post On Social Media With No Luck Passing 300 Views. And I Am Currently Running 15% Off Sale And Introduced A Buy 2 Get 1 25% Off That I Plan On Keeping Permanently... Havent Had One Sale Since January 28th... I Dont Even Know What Else I Could Attempt To Try And Make A Change, Is Anyone Else Experiencing A Situation Similar To Mine?
It Really Sucks As I Have Disabilities Limiting My Capabilities Of Working A Job, So eBay Is My Only Income Other Than The Small Amounts The Government Gives Me, And In Recent Months I Have Been Struggling To Pay My Bills.
I Once Had Success On eBay, At One Point Making Multiple Thousands A Month, Then It All Went Downhill At The Very End Of 2022-2023 Until It Has Reached Rock Bottom These Days.
reallynicestamps
·5 months agoI disagree with the idea that Lettermail is risky.
In part the risk comes down to your customer demographic.
The "criminal class" is males from 15-35, and if your product appeals to that group, there is more risk than with mine.
Stamps appeal to men 40-90, sewing patterns to women 40-60.
However besides that there is a Big Picture.
If shipping a $10 item costs $8 tracked (domestic Expedited Lite) but Lettermail costs $1.24, then using letter rates means :
-- more customers will be willing to pay shipping and you just made $10
-- most customers are honest , if you sell 25 cards and one is INR, you made $250 and lost $11.24 to a possible scammer.
Focussing on the occasional Failed Transaction is a mug's game.
By the way, about damage in transit.
I ship stamps that sell for much more than $10, and my packaging is simple.
The stamp is in a 102 card, a paper card with a celluloid pocket.
The 102 is taped to corrugated cardboard , stamp side down.
The cardboard is wrapped in the packing slip, then goes in an envelope with the cardboard side to the front. The back where the stamp is, is protected by the packing slip which, folded, is now four or five sheets thick.
Add a P stamp and Robert is your mother's brother.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoLettermail isn't practical for me but I appreciate that it works for you and for taking the time to explain your process! Do you think any of the impending CP changes to lettermail will affect your success?
Thanks!
reallynicestamps
·5 months ago@intimewithmusic
Lettermail is for domestic use only of course.
For the USA I have been using UPS or eIS , with a $10 handling charge.
What impending changes has Canada Post announced?
@ricarmic
I agree that PL has been more useful to me than Best Offers aimed at Viewers or Watchers.
I agree that it is difficult to give the profit to eBay and not the customer.
I have dropped all my PL until I see more reports on the Halo effect.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoI listed the ones I'm aware of down below on the 17th but I think the only ones that may be a detriment to lettermail sellers unless plastic packaging is important is the morph to delivery frequency and higher postage rates.
With respect to PL I don't apply it to new listings unless the market is saturated. My max is 3.5.
RE: EIS I was surprised (and naive) to learn EIS in the USA is quite a cash cow for eBay... profitting from a large excess of shipping revenue collected from buyers. That kind of greed built into a Canadian export won't be sustainable. Outside of a reasonable handling charge the US buyer's shipping cost on a lower value item is the determining factor for a Canada to USA sale or no-sale.
I support your $10 handling on the UPS. It won't fly on EIS added to the unseen delivery charge eBay is charging a buyer unless the widget is valuable.
dinomitesales
·5 months agoThe "plastic packaging" rule you mentioned is only applicable to "Neighbourhood Mail" - a class of commercial admail that no online seller is using to deliver goods (also, the aforementioned rule went into affect in June of 2025).
There has been no announcement from Canada Post that the delivery frequency of Lettermail will be changing in any way. While this has been discussed as a potential cost-cutting measure for the corporation, there is nothing in the recent contract given to CUPW that would suggest such changes are coming anytime soon.
uwantuneedgiftsandgoods
·5 months agoSounds like my current story as well. Eerily similar to be honest. The economy is very slow and I think people are running out of money. Also higher costs of shipping with EIS mixed with Tariffs/Duties don't really appeal to American buyers. I sell a lot of collectibles as well and for instant 1 Comic would cost about $8.12/CAD to ship anywhere in the USA where as it is rougly $24/CAD through EIS and that is Tarrif Free so it is really unappealing to Americans I figure. If your items have Tarrifs on top it obviously becomes more unappealing. The Removal of the DeMinimus Exemption has taken it's toll on many of us. I can say from expirience that everytime we change shipping policies, change promotions, revise listings, run markdowns, coupons, sales, etc it causes most listings to reindex and in some cases this can take time. We have had to make many constant changes due to the strikes, Canada Post Site Updates, Labels on then off then back on again, the tariffs, new fees, and having to adapt a lot this last year. All of these changes cause reindexing and I think some listings can get lost. I actually had to stop revising all together for a good Month then things picked up. I did a major store overhaul, making listings Mobile friendly, and description changes, I am starting to get more views again. I'm now trying not to touch it too much as I had to reupdate shipping policies again when i ran out of money that I was usuing to prepay shipping services. I also am on dissability to so I understand how it can be, barely eating but trying to stay a float. I'm not sure exactly what it is as we have just come out of the Christmas and Valentines season, the economy is struggling in Canada, but if there is any help I could offer is to just let your store cook for awihle. I was making so many changes that it actually was harming my store. I meant well and was trying relentlessy to make things work but it actually had the opposite effect as most changes make a lisiting to reindex and can push it further from view. I may suggest looking up some of how the algorithm works through A.I and ask questions of it. It will give you some good answers on to what things cause reindexing. Sales, Shipping Policies, Price adjustments, Coupons, Best Offers not being Accepted, Title Structure, Revisions, Changing Categories, Updating, Item Specifics, and Promotions all have different affects in regards to reindexing. Lots of these tools are great to use but they have to be used very systematically and sparingly or they can actually work against us. It has happened to me also. Like I said earlier you are telling my story and it sounds similar to how many different things I was doing to almost force things to work but it was having the opposite effect even though I meant well. The Number 1 Reseller told me I needed to stop revising entirely as I was literally k1lling my store, it took almost two weeks but then things started to be ok, until we hit the second Postal Strike (Mass Revisions). Then good again till the Tarrifs (Mass Revisions) and then Summer was good until the Deminimus went bye bye (Mass Revisions), then good until the Rotating Strikes (Mass Revisions), then eBay international shipping lull (Adjusted all my listings to Display My International Policies (Mass Revisions) then back up before Christmas and then quieter,and now we have new Tarrif changes coming again as of the Feb 20th lol Thank fully I no longer need to make new revisions as I set my store up and descriptions to take all factors into account. (Example I no longer put shipping prices or specific carries, or specific deals, or promises that can change do to a Postal Strike or the Signature of one man with a Sharpie lol. Im sure its a it's been a year most Canadian resellers could wish to forget lol. Even though it's not funny, as things have been tough finacially for many of us. Id just say keep listing, maybe learn a bit more about how reindexing works and what causes it, and be careful not to do Mass Bulk editing or Mass End and relist. Also End and relist is different than End and Sell Similar. Also when ending and selling similar it's advised to wait 48 to 72 Hours before listing the item again. You will still get a new listing Tag but sometimes almost right away but apparently the Meta Data lingers in Cassini and Google if you don't give much time to reset. It's also suggested that if you do end and sell similar that you do make adjsutments to your lisiting, maybe that looks like adding some extra item specifics, or new pictures and Title Structure. Lets say you Bulk delist 50 items and then relist them them same way with no changes the algorithim will see it as the same listing and it's like to reindex in the same spot and in some case lower if it's done too often. Just some things to think about. As someone that has done many changes and revisions sometimes we have to let things be a bit. I know it's hard because we want the results right away but somethings just take daily refinement and learning and trying to get better. All I can say is don't give up, maybe learn a bit more about the algortithim and be careful with too many sweeping mass bulk edits and changes. By the way this is coming from someone who did plenty lol If you only knew lol. Keep heart my friend and lets hope this Spring and Summer things turn around for the better. Take care and if you need help with something please don't hesitate to reach out, and maybe I can help even if it's with what not to do lol. Sometimes we just got to keep going even if the path isn't completely clear in time it will be, as long as we keep trying to do and get better as resellers 🙂
easoss
·5 months agoMy advice is to take your items that are under $5 and delete them. They won't sell. You can lot them at a higher price and that may attract buyers. But it's hard to sell right now. Uncertainty is a business killer.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·5 months ago@easoss
@transtraders
I'm curious to know if ANY changes eBay has ever made have caused a spike in sales for sellers? Removing tools etc is not really an improvement in scheme of things so going with none for me personally. Your milage may vary.
As for lotting eBay has made that an extremely challenging endeaver going forward. For many categories they have gradually been removing the sub category lots that was in most main categories. There used to be a item specific included where you could describe what the lot contained. Several years ago they reduced the number of characters from 80 +- down to 30 corrupting any listings that had that inclusion. From my testing it has been removed as an option so anyone selling a "what one would define as a mixed lot" have to get very creative to describe accurately especially if the lot is made up of items with several Coo's. Something eIS would choke over very quickly and makes them very challenging for a user to find when in the past, not so much. I routinely find mixed lots doing research in what should be called the wrong category. Unfortunately the seller was doing the best they could with what they now have to work with, so can definitely understand anyones frustration involved with this task (dumpster fire).
>Lotzofuniquegoodies ---- Has been in the lot game for a number of years so I've had to work around these so called *eBay improvements", their words not mine, daily.
easoss
·5 months agoThe only thing I can think of was the transfer from the money order/cash in the mail system to PayPal payments. It made the paying for items side way easier and did boost sales. Otherwise sales are driven by strength of the economy not whatever gimmick or idea eBay comes up with. For me Covid produced amazing sales because of a captive bored audience of buyers.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·5 months ago@easoss
That one was a non-starter for me. In my 20 years of selling on eBay I may have had 2 that wanted to pay with a money order. Fortunately they were both very patient. Only one + I can think of was access to Shippo. Majority of eBay's idea of improvements have been downgrades or adding new tools after the USA's were released with stripped down features for Canadian sellers.
Top 5 downgrades from quick scan of fading memory bank are:
easoss
·5 months agoIn the early 2000's money orders were very common way to receive payments. I can remember going to the bank cashing in 25+ of them at a time. I even had a repeat higher end customer from Brooklyn who would send me $50 & $100 dollar US bills wrapped in foil. That was a golden age for me as the Canadian dollar was low and the exchange rate was amazing. The little guy was the dominant force in those days. Today is more catered to the large sellers.
transtraders
·5 months agoYes, money orders and personal checks. So you wait for 1 to 2 weeks for the check to come in the mail from the buyer, then go to cash it and sometimes it bounced. What a mess.
Yeah the exchange rate back then was awesome! I lived right on the border to Maine (I am in NB) back then so would actually get USD money and spend it back in the USA at the time.
transtraders
·5 months agoYou forgot about Promoted listings. 😉
lotzofuniquegoodies
·5 months agoPromoted listings is mostly about the categories you list in and your competition. From there it just is all about chasing your tail as the "ebay suggested rates" keep going higher and higher. One of those features where it's darned if you do or darned if you don't.
reallynicestamps
·5 months ago@easoss
@lotzofuniquegoodies
EBay instituted Bidpay payment processing in 1999 and ended it in 2005. They bought Paypal in 2002 and ended acceptance of cheques, money orders and cash by 2008.
Of course, all three of those are still used in Local Pickup and there is now Proof of Payment via QR code
And I agree with the loss of listing in USD on dotCA.
That drove me to listing almost exclusively on dotCOM until the Trump Tariff and the introduction of eIS.
reallynicestamps
·5 months agoThere used to be a item specific included where you could describe what the lot contained.
I understood that while IS is visible to buyers it was designed for search engines.
From my testing it has been removed as an option so anyone selling a "what one would define as a mixed lot" have to get very creative to describe accurately
We have a section called Description.
That is where I put detail for buyers.
I don't think Description is used by SEO's, but it is available to buyers.
We can even put more pictures in that section, and a huge number of keystrokes.
I also add some HTML coding to make my Descriptions stand out on the page, instead of fading into the mass of black and white.
especially if the lot is made up of items with several Coo's
Which is yet another question, and one which we can only hope today's Supreme Court descision will help with.
transtraders
·5 months ago"I No Longer Use That Account For Unspecified Reasons.I Know What I Am Doing! "
This could be a red flag for some buyers.
xoticcc
OP5 months agoshould i put the true reason then? it was an account opened by a parent while i was 16 and was used until i turned 18 and opened an account with my info.
ricarmic
·5 months ago@xoticcc I think you have overly optimistic belief that folks are going to find/read what's in your description. I'm in a relatively happy/safe category (stamps) and I have problems getting folks to even read the whole title sometimes...
If a keen to find out information reader does peruse it, what does it matter to them about your old ID, really anybody could put anything in their listing saying they were "great before", and generally buyers don't care so much about helping you, they're more interested in "helping themselves" so to speak. Especially since you've been building up your new reputation for a couple years now.
Personally about a decade ago I began to put as much as I could in the title, and generally only very minimal information in the description, it doesn't seem to have hurt me anyhow and takes a lot less time to list each item.
Note though like all advice given on these boards, what works for me might not work for you in different categories or even others in my own category, there is a very large amount of variables at work here. I've always suggested experimentation.
An experiment suggestion is to convert your sales "loss" to promotions "loss". In my world at least sales never worked for me, however if I took something that I was going to put 15% off and made the promoted rate 15% (so I got the same amountish), it increased sales of the promoted items as well as not promoted items. With the latest promoted changes in January one has to be more careful about how one uses promotions to not let them get out of hand, and sadly for the buyers it means that ebay gets the benefit instead of the buyer but that's how the world works at the moment.
xoticcc
OP5 months agoi will give this a try! i use 2% promoted just to have it, aswell as the description i just copy paste that onto most listings just to fill it up, as a buyer aswell i like to atleast see a full description rather than just the items title
transtraders
·5 months agoNo, I would suggest to leave that information out totally. Buyers might get the wrong idea.
dinomitesales
·5 months agoYour listings aren't competitive.
No one's going to pay Expedited Lite shipping charges on low-value Pokemon/sports cards. I'm seeing $7.24 shipping to send me a $2 card. You need to be sending things like these via Lettermail with a stamp - it's what your competition is doing.
I also chose 5 of your video games at random and looked at the comps. In every case there were many offerings that were chaper than yours. When you're selling in competitive categories with hundreds of identical items you need to do everything you can to make the listing as enticing as possible. Assume everyone is just going to sort the available options by "lowest price + shipping" - if I have to scroll through dozens of listings before I come to yours it's unlikely I'm going to buy it unless it's in significantly better condition than the other options available. Also note that the vast majority of your competition in this category is using free/flat rate Lettermail shipping within Canada.
john_koenig99
·5 months agoYou also have one listing with a shipping price tag of $340. You are in Ontario, so am I. That sounds awfully expensive. Maybe because you have FedEx as shipping option.
xoticcc
OP5 months agoyeah, that one listing is using fedex, its a large item, they didnt give me an option for a canada post service.
I dont like using lettermail, have had plenty of people claim items didnt arrive and opened cases/negative feedbacks on items cheaper than 5 dollars. would rather know my items are delivered than not know, i dont make enough sales to risk losing out due to buyers that do that stuff, ebay already takes enough from me.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoHi @xoticcc Sorry to hear that. I think that's what many of us are also going through. With respect to the sell similar strategy I discontinued the practise last fall. I found revising the listings and listing more regularily helped so I still do that. eBay dot com announced back in the fall they may even penalize those who keep on relisting the same widgets so I stopped.
I don't recommend modelling after either EIS or lettermail because of 2026 changes to consider;
1. EIS in the USA market makes low value items non competitive:
2. Pending Lettermail Changes according to Canada Post;
These measures are designed to address a steep drop in letter volume—from 5.5 billion in 2006 to 2.2 billion in 2023—and to lower overhead costs. "
If you build your model around lettermail, according to Canada Post, your service will be compromised this year or next. You have to decide whether you want to roll with those punches.
Canada Post prices are going to go up. eBay Canada fees will likely follow suit if they lose ground in Canada. Tr Pkt Lite at $6-$9 is a pretty good deal with the insurance and tracking. I get 2 cassette tapes out for under 200 grams and now we have an extra 50 grams to play with.
If you need to follow the US market I would limit your minimum bin price to the USA at $40 or $50 dollars. Keep your shipping and import fee total to half of that. After a $40 sale youre gross profit will only be $30 or less for youre time and effort spent. Then you have inventory and admin costs to come out of that.
Two ways to do this would be
1. Sell higher value items where the shipping cost isn't a problem
or
2. Lot up your lower value ones into 250 gram lots to fly under the radar of TrkPkt Lite and make you a minimum $10 profit
I would stick with Tracked Packet Lite. I would limit your domestic bin prices to what is worth your time and effort after fees. Maybe limit your lowest bin to $13 to make $10? or $15 to make 12? Fewer sales doesn't mean fewer groceries in the cupboard if they each net 3 or 4 times the profit.
Another suggestion is watch the international markets like Mexico, Europe, Australia New Zealand and South america for widgets below the $200 bin mark so you can supplement lost USA sales. If you're in EIS you're protected although I'd limit the bin price to whatch you can afford to lose in case something goes wrong IE A problem with the listing or a customer charge back.
Given these changes to online selling and what folks are used now to with Amazon and other low to no cost shipping (Canadian Tire just announced same day delivery) I don't think it's worth the trouble, if one can't make 10 bucks on a widget, to sell low value any more.
A tip. In 1975 I set up a vehicle salvage lot for ICBC. The written off cars came in on a flat bed trailer. They sat on the lot until they were auctioned off in threes. Why threes? Always a good car, a so so car and a dog car (OK Volkswagaon Rabbit in those days). No one could by a good car without buying the dog at the same time...
Results may vary. ;>}
dinomitesales
·5 months agoJust a point of correction to avoid confusion for anyone coming across this thread - you're saying "Tracked Packet Lite" but I think you mean "Expedited Lite". Tracked Packet is an international service, while Expedited Lite is a domestic service unique to eBay that allows you to ship parcels under 250g for a reduced rate. We used to get fantastic rates thorugh eBay on Tracked Packet-USA service, but it's a moot point now that we can't purchase US-bound Canada Post labels through eBay.
None of these Canada Post changes should have all that significant of an impact on Canadian sellers choosing to use Lettermail. The main issue would be the change to ground transport of Lettermail vs it's current air transport. This will maybe add a day or two to letters traveling long distances, but I doubt the vast majority of people will even notice it. I (and many others) already use "Economy Shipping" which show buyers up to 10 business days for delivery and I have practically zero issues with any of my Lettermail shipments.
The end of door-to-door mail delivery isn't going to negatively affect Lettermail in any way - something like 75% of the population already receive their mail via a community mailbox of some sort. The end of the moratorium on urban/suburban post offices also won't have any major impact; the majority of post offices being closed are those that are so close to another existing post office that they don't even make sense to exist (they only exist because of the moratorium). And these post office closures have absolutely nothing to do with the delivery of Lettermail.
As for Canada Post having more flexibility to raise stamp prices, this doesn't really mean much; it can be expected that stamp prices will go up at least once every year or two as they have for the past several decades - that's not going to change. It's possible the increases might be more drastic, but it's always going to be cheaper than sending a parcel (and if it isn't, then sellers will naturally adapt and switch over, but I doubt any tracked shipping is going to ever come close to the price of Lettermail for sub-100g items, and sub-200g items traveling outside your own local area).
Everyone's business model is different. If seller's don't want to use Lettermail then no one is forcing them to. But when people complain about a lack of sales in categories that are heavily dominated by Lettermail sellers - and they choose not to do what their competition is doing - then maybe selling in these categories on eBay isn't the best choice. No one's buying a $5 trading card with $7 shipping when there are dozens of other sellers that have that same $5 trading card with free shipping.
xoticcc
OP5 months agoi think there has been some confusion that its thought i primarily sell cards, im in many many categories. Watches, and Gemstones are my specialty but i sell collectibles/antiques of all kinds. i list the cheaper sports cards to make the algoritm happy, im not concerned about them being my primary sellers, but still some of the points made apply across any category.
Across ALL my categories i lack sales, with still zero since jan 28th. which i find weird as my impressions are up 74% and page views up 30% in the last 7 days, and impressions up 4.5% and views up 11.4% in last 30 days. but only sold 3 items in last 30 days.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoThankfully you have an active "View Listings" button. That helps a lot for sellers to provide input! My motto is, "It depends what you sell, who you sell to and where you ship from. Results may vary."
In addition most of us have variable busy seasons. For example it could be slow if you sell winter clothes (we had our 1st snow so far this winter yesterday) so location is a factor for Okanagan buyers. It could be busy if you sell gardening products which are booming here right now. Our buyer locations may react differently to the "New World Order" based on the economy of their locations. That said slow is slow for whatever reason and it hurts.
My music market has been destroyed by Washington. I think it's temporary. In the meantime I have "Beyond Music" as a subdivision in my eBay store which helps compensate. I'm currently testing and listing a CB radio and whip antenna. It's not only a supplement but also a refreshing change to sell things "outside of the box." Most of them sell domestically which is also nice.
I hope you hang out in the forum a bit. Not many here post about gemstones etc. In my area I have a famous YouTuber named Dan Hurd (Dan Hurd Prospecting). I love his channel. He lives close by me in Peachland. He sometimes teaches gold panning in the creek near me. It's motivated me to pull out my dad's old pan and give it a go. Dan has his own online store where he sells a lot of loose gemstones etc. the link is on his YT channel.
Having you around would be handy as well for those of us who have some older jewelry to sell as well. I hope you pop into the forum now and then!
Best of luck with your sales!
xoticcc
OP5 months agoi definetly will be in here a bit more! just need to remember to pop in lol
dan is a pretty nice guy! he has some great videos
dinomitesales
·5 months agoI mean, that's fine if it's not your primary category, but that doesn't change the fact that over half of your store is Lettermail-eligible items, and since you're charging tracked shipping they aren't competitive. If you don't want to use untracked shipping methods that's fine, but if you want to compete you need to drastically reduce your asking prices to compete with the sellers utilizing free Lettermail shipping. If you're saying you don't care about selling these items because they aren't the main focus of your store, then I'm not sure why you're wasting time listing them.
If you're asking about a specific category like gemstones then I don't think anyone here can provide you any meaningful feedback. Ultimately a lack of sales comes down to either a) lack of demand for the product; or b) prices too high. An increase in views/impressions indicates people are viewing your items but turning away for some reason. Probably price, but could also be something as random as being turned off by your AI-generated descriptions (probably not, but you never know). It's difficult to comp things like loose gemstones as there's always going to be variation amongst offerings due to cut/weight/clarity/etc. If I had to guess this just isn't the best economy for the sale of loose gemstones at the moment - especially from Canada where the large American market is hesitant to purchase from at the moment.
xoticcc
OP5 months agothey are listed to please the algorithm. as everyone says list daily right? thats wht im doing. if theyre filler listings or higher end items, im still listing something daily.
i can agree wit this, the economy is trash for resale in general i find. no one can afford to splurge on themselves, aswell as countries like china, india, and thailand having many many sellers it may deter people from shopping from a canadian, but at the same time china and india produce and distribute a mass amount of synthetic/fake stones so my thought was that im in a "more trusted" country when it comes to fakes that i could succeed.
reallynicestamps
·5 months agoIn the past 90 days you have sold 15 items.
Two in Feb (19 days ) and two in Nov (less than a month)
Seven in January
Four in December.
Frankly, you seem to have normal sales for you.
January was a good month compared to most that we can see.
Do you mean the value of your sales were off or the number of sales, because it is easy to confuse those?
xoticcc
OP5 months agothe amount of sales, at my peak i was selling up to 5 items a day... im not used to it being this slow
i used to do $1,000 days with the same items i sell today, same listing practices, same shipping, same everything. but i just cannot earn what i used to
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoYou're absolutely right. I did mean "Expedited Lite".
It could have been worse... I might have said "Coors Lite" !
Thanks!
uwantuneedgiftsandgoods
·5 months agoI know what you mean I've never used lettermail for the exact same reason, I was warned against it from the beggining. It can cause defects, money loss, and the loss of seller protections. My theroy is I hope they bundle and then it's worth it for them, I try to encourage it, I'm not sure why more people don't bundle and get the combined shipping discount. lol Personally I refuse to take the chance on scammy buyers, one Bad Buyer can do a lot of damage to a stores reputation even though a Seller does their best. Then the Seller is left with no recourse if something goes wrong with lettermail. The card goes out as Near Mint and they get it in Moderatley Played Condition after a trip through the mail carriers bag
lol
xoticcc
OP5 months agoexactly this! ive had that happen a few times, and lots of cases of "it didnt arrive" with no way to prove if it did or did not. i wish people would bundle up, i even have the buy 2 get 1 25% off sale to make bundles more appealing, but since this post ive only sold 1 item with a grand payout of $2.60 (this was a $15 Sale... Fees are CRAZY) i appreciate your message, and wish you thebest aswell!
ricarmic
·5 months agoWhat I've done in similar situations is look at what others (I call them watchees - ie people selling similar stuff to me that I keep an eye on) are doing in terms of pricing and sales.
I think it would be worthwhile for you to do some comparision/evaluation of your material against others.
For example, just do an ebay wide search for this item of yours:
"2021-22 Upper Deck Dazzlers Blue Morgan Rielly #DZ-42 Toronto Maple Leafs"
Generally speaking with your shipping price (to me) your on sale price is 2 or 3 times the price that others have running and there are a lot of it out there. This means the only way of achieving a (relative) high price against your competition is to get the views, which yes would be via expensive things like promoted listings, although in that category I'm not sure it would be workable as I expect there is a lot of promotion happening.
Anyway, that is a very small very quick look. I do suggest taking time to compare the various types of stuff you are selling with what other sellers are selling, as well as comparing to how they do it - someone who has 15,000 cards for sale is going to have more sales and that is going to tip the search algorithm (and repeat buyers) to them so they may be able to achieve higher realizations that way too.