Double discounts for free shipping extended through June

[coxengines]

Seems to work for us.

We get about $30 in extra discounts each month without having to give anything besides the 10% FVF on included shipping 🙂

Cheers
Bernie

[cottonwoodindustries]

same here

love the extra discounts

Buyers love it and my shipping DSR loves it too...


Loré

[futuretech_liquidations]

Same here, with 90% of our listing offering FREE SHIPPING coupled with the 15% discount level it adds up to a decent amount of savings each month.

[momoftwingles2]

I'm glad to hear that the FREE SHIPPING is working so well for you. I've toyed around with the idea, but do not believe that this will work for me personally as I do not sell high priced items. Mind you right now I have a big sale running, but when I don't....most items in my store are only $1.00 up to $4.99 and a few items are $6.99. It's difficult to absorb the shipping and/or add on the shipping as one easily outprices themself in the marketplace.

I noticed on Amazon that the same Jolee's that I sell at regular retail of $4.99 are $8.99 each there. That's fine for one....but when you pay that whopping $4.00 extra on each one.....that's a killer for a buyer!

I keep revisiting this issue and one day I'm sure that a wise owl on here will share their expertise for sellers of lower priced items to offer FREE SHIPPING.

Keep up the great work!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[coxengines]

Free shipping works on items where one can "bury" the cost.

We do it on some items priced $40 and up.

Cheers
Bernie

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Bernie,

I think you are correct. Unfortunately I don't have $40.00 items...but who knows what the future will bring!

Keep up the great work! It's wonderful having successful roll (role) models here!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[cottonwoodindustries]

I do FREE SHIPPING on all my light packages or ones that need stamps.

INTERNATIONALS I charge $1.50.

Has been working thus far.

Loré

[coxengines]

Sure you have $40 items, Susan. You just don't know it yet 🙂

We used to have $9.95 items that sold slow. Once we raised the price to $19.95, they sold like hotcakes - another little secret they don't teach you in marketing school 🙂

Cheers
Bernie

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Bernie,

Believe me...if I could turn a $4.99 sticker into $19.95 for the same sticker....I would. But, I can assure you...they are $4.99!

Now if you want to share your secret....I'm all ears!

*S*
Susan
momoftwingles2

[celticstudio]

THE "SECRET"Specialty niche market with little competition!
A product where the demand is "inelastic" on the demand side. If you need a gasket for an engine that cost $100.00 it does not matter that it costs $5.00.. YOU NEED IT! Even when this gasket only costs 10 cents to make you are willing to pay whatever it costs since you already have a larger investment in something that will not work without it.

Economists describe this as the price of a glass of water in the dessert versus a glass of water in a boat on fresh water.

This is the perfect type of eBay business! A bricks and mortar location would go bust because the demand is not large or local enough to pay the overheads but in a world market through eBay it is a great success!

The other nice thing and perhaps the key to success is that there is a barrier to entry into the market... the most powerful one of all .. KNOWLEDGE in a small specific field. Again, this acts to inflate prices since the wrong part is of no use to anyone!

CONGRATULATIONS on finding a perfect eBay business.
Build your web page from your eBay ad copy and just use eBay to generate NEW customers. Ever Paypal payment gives you your customers e-mail address. Download and use that list to do direct to the customer marketing to your own web site. There is software easily available to build a newsletter direct to your customers and you also know what they bought!
EBay has its great strength in reaching a large number of potential customers but then there are all those listing and closing fees. Your own Web site will be your greatest success.
I recently had a seller offer $2.00 of postage stamps for $1.00 with free shipping. They got my e-mail address and my mailing address. They included information about their business and website when I got my FREE extra dollar of stamps. Smart!

So that is the "SECRET" and it is the secret of ever good eBay seller. High profit.. low overhead and a dedicated niche market with knowledge.

How much would you pay for the "key" to a $20,000 car that you could not drive otherwise? Do you really need FREE shipping?
I have a similar business in my small niche.
All the best
Louis
celticstudio

[coxengines]

Louis,

You have saved me the trouble of writing a reply to Susan. I could not have worded it better, thank you.

Our shipping is not really "free". What we do is take a $49 engine, bump the price up to $59 and offer "free" shipping.

Not only do we make more profit on "free shipping" items but we get a boost in searches, the "free" logo on the gallery picture, free subtitle and our customers just love "freebies"

It's all about marketing. 🙂

And yes, sometimes items sit for weeks with no buyers. Often, when we then bump up the price 50%+, they sell overnight.

It's all about perception of value. 🙂

We spend almost no time worrying about competitor's pricing. We are the highest-priced sellers for our product on eBay, by far. Doesn't matter.

It's all about optics from the buyer's point of view and how we feel about our business from our point of view. 🙂

Cheers
Bernie

[ecbluestar]

I do FREE SHIPPING on all my light packages or ones that need stamps.

Is there a trick to select light packet in PayPal Canada Post module? It never worked for me, I can't select any dimensions with weight combination.

[coxengines]

Light packet on-line shipping is only avaiable with Paypal shipping at this time.

Cheers
Bernie

[ecbluestar]

Light packet on-line shipping is only avaiable with Paypal shipping at this time.

I know that, what I want to know is what kind of dimension and weight you enter to make this to work.

[coxengines]

http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGsmpack-e.asp#1380535

Cheers
Bernie

[momoftwingles2]

Light packet's dimensions are a minimum of:
140 mm x 90 mm x .18 mm.

The maximum dimensions are:
380 mm x 270 mm x .20 mm.

It's the same as Other Letter.

PayPal shipping ROUNDS up.

Weight choices..up to 100 grams, 250 grams or 500 grams.

Just measure and plug in the numbers!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[ecbluestar]

Thanks it worked, my problem was thickness.

Anybody noticed there is problem with integration PayPal shipping with eBay. For the last few days I have to manually update already shipped items on eBay sold page.

[kcenterprize]

Just to add to the topic,

Been with eBay for quite a while now and power seller for a second time. Just like every large volume seller I also have been searching for a sustainable part of the online market, something that i could count on.

I started selling very high ticket motorized vehicles which quickly took a down turn by running into high competition with very low profit margins, this turned a profit in the beginning, but as competition grew stronger the margins dropped from 100% down to 20%. We couldn't support happy customers off of this margin and were forced to stop selling.

Now i have changed my online business model, it is a very simple model for anyone to follow.

Rule 1) Be original, sell products that have been and will be around for a long time.

Rule 2) If it the product doesn't earn enough to make you happy and to support the customer after the sale then don't sell it! (there are millions of products out there to sell, you don't have to sell every product which appears good! do a small test by selling a few of a new product and see what the results are, before deciding keeping it in your store.)

Rule 3) Always be adding products! Now especially in these economically uncertain times there are billions of hungry people out there looking for opportunities, if you don't act on it, someone else will! so keep adding new products every day, week, month...

Rule 4) Offer free shipping whenever possible and promote shipping discounts if you can't offer free shipping on smaller priced items.

A little off topic i know, but wanted to share my success formula with a few fellow Canadians!

Cheers,

Leigh Kuhn
oempartsource.com an eBay.ca store

[dipmicro]

kcenterprize, the problem seems to be sourcing. What I am running into is that many wholesalers and manufacturers want you to buy worth of $$$ thousands of their junk in initial wholesale order with negligible price breaks from retail.

[ecbluestar]

I have question about re listing items. I am always trying to released item as suggested in some other message in 30 days format. My items always carry from 3 to 10 items in stock but I never seen previous sale record passed or kept in new released items. How is that done? I see at some other vendors transactions record going back to four months.