is it worth it to sell online ??????

[dobo5250]

 first off this is steam release thing- no response needed -----well i thought after all my problems with ebay were starting to get fixed one by one-and they were-- sales started to improve - to about one a day - listing 10 items a day -- about one problem a week always something small  but always costing me money - but i would solve them but the offset was---- i was stiil selling so i thought all was well --on the road to success - how ever minor- hughughughug---- just got my accounts back from bookkeeper who said after all said and done for the year --- after everything was taken in account all expenses  -- i made  just over 3 dollars a hour clear  for the year for my work --- holy cow -- i am depressed really bad -- a coffee and a donut a hour at tims -- draft at the legion-- small glass on seniors day - i made that in 1970 working at kmart in the shoe dept partime -- i just started to laugh --its really funny -- all the hype they give you about scaling up -iam been doing this for 18 months now -  every day working at something 

on this site even when i  had got cov19 i still took pictures and listed from bed ---

i still have a large inventory stock  i purchased two years ago  with my savings that i have to clear - i need the room wife is starting to nag a little about the time spent on this and  no room in the garage -- well summer coming up maybe i can try yard sales selling or second-hand flea markets when they get back running -- 

i have tried following suggestions from here to improve -- and now i have tried promo listings which have improved sales but pushed my costs to 36/38 percent eBay fees and Canada post extremely high expedited shipping costs combined- even my inventory  depreciating factor only raised my income a little over the year enough  to buy a  descent present for my wife's  70 th birthday 

just needed to left off air here --- i will still try for a little longer maybe till the fall maybe things will improve 

i hope so -- i don't like to admit defeat -  but flogging a dead mule sort of thing - will see how it goes

  thanks for listening

doker bohm

[recped]

A couple of comments........

Why do you only ship to Canada? Although my sales to Canadian buyers has incresed quite a bit over the past 10+ years (it used to be almost zero from 1999 - 2010) it would never be enough for most Canadian sellers.

Second thing that struck me, much of your electrical/plumbing parts are things that when people need them they need them NOW, not tomorrow, not a week from now.

One other thing I didn't check (don't know the market) is your pricing, you need to be very competitive or things will be very slow.

[reallynicestamps]

I was startled by recped's claim that you did not ship to the USA. And you don't!

Not only does the US have 10x our population, but they have a cultural bias to buying by mail order that Canadians don't.

 Yes, shipping is high in Canada, but you don't pay it.

The customer pays for shipping, even when we advertise Free Shipping (don't panic) we are including our shipping cost in the asking price.

And if he could buy it at Canadian Tire or Nordstrom, he wouldn't be shopping on eBay, especially for niche products like yours.

About 80% of my sales are to the USA. That's lower than pre-pandemic, but still.

You will have to use Tracked Packet for US buyers. They expect tracking and it is the cheapest service available.

If you haven't looked into it yet, check out chitchat and Stallion, freight forwarders who  will take your shipments to the USPS for the cheap mailing. They do charge a fee, but they can be economically efficient.

about one problem a week always something small but always costing me money

That seems a lot, even with the steep learning curve here. And right when you have it figured, they change the system.

You do offer Returns, which should help with disputes, since a Return policy indicates a listening seller.

[reallynicestamps]

On the other hand.  All of this is very negative.  (And ALL CAPS is hard to read.)

-PLEASE IF YOU WANT A REFUND BECAUSE OF CANCELLATION PLEASE CONTACT US AND RETURN THE ITEM WE WILL REFUND THE MONEY ONLY WHEN WE RECEIVE THE ITEM BACK-

You have your refund policy on your shipping page. This is unnecessary, whiney, and negative.

Drop it.

 PLEASE REVIEW PICTURES FOR CONDTION AND ITEM SPECIFICS AND FOR MORE DETAIL BE SURE THESE ARE RIGHT FOR YOU

Buyers Don't Read ™

The smart ones did. The others....sigh.

 THIS ITEM IS THE CHEAPEST YOU SEE ON THE INTERNET FOR NEW PRODUCT OF THIS KIND with free shipping 

What happens if you are asked to prove it? Could you match a lower price? Could this make for a NAD dispute?

Low prices attract bottom feeders and bottom feeders are difficult customers.

I'd lose all of it except the FREE SHIPPING.

But we'll get back to Free Shipping.

WE OFFER free free HANDLING PACKAGING AND SHIPPING TO ALL THE LOWER CANADA PROVINCES 

I seem to remember this.

This is where Free Shipping is a Bad Thing.

Your stuff is bulky and you are shipping with Parcel Rates.

Parcel Rates vary with dimensions, weight, level of service andDESTINATION.

They are not suitable for bulky items.

Also-- you can't refuse to ship to the Territories (Churchill is still in Manitoba, but it costs about the same as Tuktoyaktuk to ship there).

If you lose Free Shipping and change  to Calculated Shipping *, you can reduce your asking price**.

And by using Calculated Shipping, you can also ship to the USA. If the total price is acceptable, the Yankee will pay.  (But he will want tracking, and he wants it fast so compare Tracked and Expedited costs.)

WE DO IMPOSE A RESTOCKING FEE WE  ONLY ACCEPT WHOLE UNUSED/UNOPENED IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING RETURNS

Allowed

RETURNS ARE ON YOUR DIME no matter what  reason you return it then you pay for it to return it

Nope.

Smart buyers will ignore this. You can have a No Returns policy if you are willing to abandon the product, but you cannot have a No Refunds policy.

And if your buyer chooses Not As Described (if only because as noted above Buyers Don't Read ™) you will be paying for return shipping.

-PLEASE IF YOU WANT A REFUND BECAUSE OF CANCELLATION PLEASE CONTACT US AND RETURN THE ITEM WE WILL REFUND THE MONEY ONLY WHEN WE RECEIVE THE ITEM BACK-

Whiney and negative again.

Nothing is going to go wrong. You are the best seller online. Your products are magnificent. All will be smooth. Well, obviously not, because; life -- but that is what we tell the customer because among other reasons that makes him happy and willing to communicate when there are problems.

So again, drop this.

*And since you are only a little younger than me, I'm gonna remind you that Canada Post went metric in 1974. If you use any other system, you will make mistakes.

** I am assuming that your Free Shipping means you have your shipping cost factored in to your asking prices, right? By taking that amount out of your asking price you can make your product look cheaper, without saying it is cheaper.

[38e_avenue]

Well, I verified your sales history - you sell an item almost every day. With only 80 items listed, and without US shipping? I would say you are doing very well ...... 

75% of my orders are from the US, 23% from international, 2% from Canada. I would not have money to buy a BigMac if I would rely on my Canadian buyers only ...... 

[pjcdn2005]

They have 1200 listings with around 80 sold.

I agree that selling to the US would definitely help.

[38e_avenue]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

They have 1200 listings with around 80 sold.

I agree that selling to the US would definitely help.

---

You are right - my apologies. But still not bad without US buyers ..... 

[dobo5250]

thanks for the advice most of what you said is probably correct and needs to corrected in time-- i totally agree  with your suggestions - with listing ten new items every day (as per ebay advice about listing ten new items every day to stay in the loop) and processing orders etc. time is the enemy- i can only do so much in -i tire easily these days after cov19(long haul) and being an old guy well you get the point  about the caps my cpu is broken and only works in caps mode when in listing mode  except here for some reason it works in normal fashion--go figure -- again thanks for the advice --the issue selling in the states -- i have tried that before and only pokemen cards seemed to go well ( selling for a friend who husband died so no profit for me )  - my other  hardware goods don't do as well and had so many returns and scam situations - that after about three months when i first started i stopped i just don't need the headaches  and moved on with selling less  (his is where the one a day sale comes in) but with canadians less scams and returns about one in 30/40 sales easy to refund and forget 

maybe one day i will try again with some new listings  to see what happens  in the states- i have about 1100 more listings to reapply to ebay then i will be fully listed  maybe i can try some of those to the usa

market  again thanks for the advice  

i will do what i can till the fall and then see what happens 

doker bohm

[dobo5250]

thanks for the advice 

[femmefan1946]

about the caps my cpu is broken and only works in caps mode when in listing mode except here for some reason it works in normal fashion--go figure

Try writing out your description in a  text document on your desktop or laptop.

Then cut and paste it into the Description box of the selling form.

If you are shipping to the USA, definitely use Tracked Packet. The Yarks have a deep emotional attachment to an option that is of no use to buyers.

[rocketscollectibles]

I see you sell pokemon stuff so just my 2 cents with my knowledge. Your listings does not seems made to sell

The electrodes you sell are not high demand cards at first, and you sell them in a same listing as dupplicates. People most likely won't want dupplicates, and secondly you are not showing the reverse of the cards. People have hundreds better options. The holo ones are not rare there is probably hundred listings of it. People most likely won't pay $90 for dupplicates when they can buy the 2 non dupplicates of your listing, seeing the condition better, from experimented pokemon card sellers, for half the price

It's similar for your pasta cans. I was shocked by the pricing so i decided to do researchs and found out one sold in february in auction (the only one, 1 bid), the charizard artwork, $250. You sell it for $670.00, and the blastoise one $400.00