On the way to pickup some things from the warehouse I pass by service stations that increase prices more than once during a day.  Imagine if we could just keep raising our prices every few hours and people would accept it because they need what we are selling.

Well, indirectly we will have to follow suit because our costs to us keep going up...cost of shipping, cost of fuel, cost of items, many have jumped prices in the last year due to increased costs of zinc (die cast items).  In addition, just like our customers we have to fuel our cars/trucks, pay more at the grocery store (again cost of gas/diesel is added to everything we buy).

Some of the things that are not going up are wages, profit margins for retailers/wholesalers (exception being large oil companies and a few others who either directly or indirectly supply goods to continue the war) and the sellers who do not supply "must have" items such as collectibles, dealers who need to make a true profit on sales in order to survive.

I guess the best that can be said that no matter what the conditions are there are always opportunities, we just have to be more aware and do our research to find out what people need and make it available to them.  Anyone can succeed when things are going well, but true success is tested by tough times then we will find out if we have what it takes to stand on our own as sellers and business people.  Our options are to succeed or go back to what many of us left to pursue our goals and dreams-working for someone else to help them achieve their goals. 

Who needs Las Vegas when you can start you own business with about the same odds of winning-enjoy the journey and who knows what the payoff may be.

Bill 

First, thank you clay7741 for your comment.  Shipping both world-wide and in the US can be simple if you use the resources of the United States Postal Service. 

My experience with Priority Mail (inside the US) has been nothing but excellent.  Once Priority Mail was offered we chose that as our primary delivery system.  Some of our customers assumed that it was more expensive since it said "Priority" but with a bit of customer education they realized that they would receive the item within 2-3 days rather than 5-7 business days.  Using USPS allowed us to give a confirmation number to the customer and also gave us confirmation when the item was scanned and delivered.  The downside was no tracking information-only when it left our business and when it arrived as the customers doorstep.  As the service evolved we now print our Priority Mail labels on the computer, pay for them on-line and also have free pick-up by requesting a carrier pick-up (on-line).  We also use the same service for Express Mail. 

See: USPS  Click-N-Ship(https://sss-web.usps.com/cns/landing.do)

You can also use the shipping services offered by e-Bay and PayPal.

International shipping: We use Click-N-Ship and now you can print all of the customs forms needed for your shipment but you must know the Harmonized Tariff Number  (Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) assigns a number to each product that is traded internationally to insure that customs officers and statisticians around the world are referring to the same thing when classifying a product) for the kind of product you are shipping to another country.

To find out the HS codes you can go to: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ftd/sbsearch.pl, this will show you the numbers for toys "9503"(we ship diecast trucks and similar items) but you can search for other items on the website.  I suggest printing the codes you need so you have ready information for shipping.

By now almost all know of the up-coming changes in rates and shipping (USPS), the basic procedures will stay the same but to make sure check: USPS International Product Redesign and Rate Changes

Bill

It had to happen sometime after 10 years plus working on the web selling on e-Bay to finally setting up an on-line store (www.whitebearstudios.com) then coming back to e-Bay with another store: Whitebear Studios Collectibles this month (April 2007).

Just by chance I responded to an e-Bay University e-mail- it was coming to Portland, Oregon (2007)-I went, I saw, I learned and realized that a lot had changed from the e-Bay I began with in 1999.  What a challenge to change what I thought I knew about e-Bay to now learning to use all the tools e-Bay offers.  To realize that since I first began selling on e-Bay my business has had to withstand the shocks of 9/11, dock strikes, increased fuel costs, not to mention the competition that arrives daily on the internet.

Nonetheless, it is all a welcomed-if we cease to grow and learn then we truly have lost the zest for what is possible.  Bill