How can i have a 25% OFF sale on my item, green ribbon on top right hand side?

[trixie-cat]

my title says it all, i am motivated to sell and brand new, worried i set my prices too high.

thanks kelly

[pierrelebel]

You must have an eBay store to use the Markdown Manager.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/items_on_sale.html

Since you do not have an eBay store, your only alternative is to lower the price using the "revise" function.

[pierrelebel]

"worried i set my prices too high."

Frankly, you should be more worried about setting your shipping charge too high.

To list a blouse at US$19.95 and demand US$23.00 to ship within Canada is... oh well... a bit on the high side and will most likely not attract any bid.  You need to rethink your shipping policy.

Also, not accepting any return is ill advised.

[femmefan1946]

Yes, what pierre said.

Weigh and measure your items with the packaging you intend to use. Use metric measurements. Canada Post went metric in 1974 and every other measurement will be inaccurate.

Use Calculated Shipping.

Look very carefully at what  you get for various shipping services. Do you need Delivery Confirmation? Do you need insurance? (As a new seller of designer purses, probably yes. This is a high fraud category.)

You don't always have to box things. That blouse could be wrapped around a stiffener, to keep it from moving, covered with tissue fastened by a pretty sticker* , and shipped in a poly envelope as Light Packet if it is under 500 grams and 2 cm thick. Big saving but no insurance or tracking.

Search these boards for mentions of Cookie Jar Insurance. (Not as useful for new sellers as for experienced, since you would want to have some money in the Jar to use it.)

And speading of measurements, mid-price designers like Eileen Fisher and Lululemon cut large. I can wear a Size L in Eileen Fisher.  DD recently bought Size 2 LL pants although her 'normal' size is 12.

So put the actual measurements into the listing. Usually these are in inches (since most of your customers will be in the USA) and are side to side, so a 42" bust would be given as 21".

* Just for pretty. Give the customer the warm fuzzies.

[trixie-cat]

Good advice you guys. i gotta admit, the shipping thing has me kerfuddled. I am saving to buy a scale, yeah, its  true, i don't own one.

whats cookie jar insurance?

[trixie-cat]

like i said farther down the shipping calculation has me kerfuddled. i have a post office 2 blocks from my place and I have started adding that I will check for shipping options for any customers who are interested. but it is better to have it listed with that price, that I understand.

[trixie-cat]

searched for cookie jar insurance and just found a bunch of racist cookie jars. WTH?

[Anonymous]

Buy a good quality postal scales at office stores.  I bought 2 of them at Office Depot at 80% off just becuase the boxes were damaged but the scales were intact with foam protections! (sad that they are closed as they are better than Staples!). 1 up to 4kg and 1 for heavier parcels.  It is worth to buy one or two depending on how heavy items you are selling. 

[pierrelebel]

"searched for cookie jar insurance and just found a bunch of racist cookie jars."

Cookie jar insurance is self-insurance.

Instead of giving your money (dollars) to Canada Post (or other carrier or insurer) for every parcel you ship, simply put aside a dime or a quarter in a "cookie jar" and use the money from the "cookie jar" whenever you have to pay a claim for lost or damaged parcel not otherwise covered by insurance.

The principle is simple: insurer make money with the premiums you pay.  Insurers always collect more than they pay.  So why give money to an insurer knowing you will receive less in paid claims?

"cookie jar insurance" on parcels shipped by mail is not the same as life insurance or house insurance where you insure large amounts for a small premium.  Postal insurance typically charge 2% (or more) when claims are less than 1/10 of one percent.

At the end, self-insuring allows you to ship much cheaper as you can use the cheapest method available instead of paying high fees for insurance, tracking, signature, etc... unneeded most of the time.  The lower shipping costs allow you to charge your buyers less resulting in more sales.  WIN - WIN