| Most Recent Posts PRICING! What Is The Answer? Here Are Some Insights & Tips & SuggestionsPosted Aug-05-08 20:03:24 PDT Hello Everyone and Welcome Back! As we have mentioned before this is a valuable Forum and WE, (Vanessa & Myself) are so honored, to have YOU joining us. This hopefully will be an informative few minutes of your time, at least we hope so. We are going to share our theories and address the Pricing of Items for Listing on 'ebay', in general, let's begin: INSIGHT ONE: In the 'Retail World' in general, a Keystone Mark-Up is standard. I.E.(In Other Words), an item is bought for a ONE Dollar let's say, then the Retailer would, in a normal marketing situation, sell that item for TWO Dollars. That is an example of a 'True' Keystone Mark-Up. Now, a Retailer has the ability to employ a 'Keystone' + 1 or 2 or 3 and so on. I.E., an item may be still purchased for One Dollar and employing the Keystone Mark-Up, brings that items cost to Two Dollars as we have already figured out. Well the Keystone + 1 makes that item Three Dollars and of course, a Keystone + Two, in turn makes that item, that was bought for One Dollar, Four Dollars at Retail. A Keystone Mark-Up may be an unfathomable Keystone +10 or +20, etc. This allows Sale Prices to look Great, but in reality, only brings the Item Price back to a Keystone + 5 or + 10. This is a bit confusing, but not at all to your Local Retailer, this is a principle they have honed and use religiously, on every item they offer you. It is Basic Retail and always geared to assist the Seller, not the Buyer. TIP ONE: We do not suggest ever using this general approach on pricing an 'ebay' Item for Listing. The reason is, it will usually result in, pricing your Item right out of consideration by any prospective Buyer. You lose the sale, but worse than that, the prospective Buyer is denied to purchase an Item they really wanted. If you buy an Item for Five Dollars and Price it at Ten, plus the S & H, Good Luck. It sure better be a Very Special Item indeed and Listed Correctly (Category), for you to be successful in a sale and satisfying the customer, which is why we do this, right? TIP TWO: You may go to an Estate Sale and find a Beautiful 'Thingamagig', great. You get home and see it in "Warmans" listed for $50.00. Great again right? Not exactly. Just because an Item's Listed Value is $50.00, that means nothing at all about what your new found 'Thingamagig' will fetch at Auction. So if you purchased it for $25.00, you actually paid too much to start with and you see it is worth $50.00 when you get home, what do List it for? Certainly not $50.00, it will not sell, hope you like it and buy a Snickers Bar because it is not going anywhere for quite a while and will be with you, a long time. INSIGHT TWO: When we are lucky enough to go to an Estate Sale, we are always very selective, first of all. We look for Items that cannot necessarily be found in"Warmans" --we could care less. We look for pieces that bring our 'eye' to them and 'touch' us in some way. Things we want to share with our Customers, that they otherwise would not have ever gotten the chance even to see, much less purchase. Of course the purchase price does matter to us, we are not wealthy, we are just a normal middle class Father & Daughter . If we see an Item that meets our criteria and we think may be of interest to someone else, so far so good. Secondly we never Haggle on the price (even though it may be expected), if it is too high, we leave it alone. Very similar to TIP TWO, we feel the Seller has the right to seek what they ask, we feel as Buyers, we do not have to Buy and thus, we do not. TIP THREE: Let's say we find a Great Item at an Estate Sale that meets everything we are looking for and it costs us $7.00. When we figure the (Truthful) S & H Fees, we will probably start the Item at $3.50, possibly $4.00. Call it Crazy/ Gutsy/ Whatever, but by doing this, it gives the Buyer a Chance to obtain a Dream Item or Collectible, they have always desired. We put our Faith in our conviction of the Auction Process and the Item Choices we have made. We are always putting ourselves in 'The Shoes' of our Customers, give them the chance at items we had the opportunity to purchase for them and let it all work out. Just like in Nature, it usually does. INSIGHT TWO: On the other hand, there are so many Items we have gathered throughout the years, many to say the least. How do we dare to price them in todays world? Of course we do Research to see what they might be selling for on 'ebay' at the time we are prepared to List the Item. We do not consult Collectors Guides in these cases, other than for Research, if needed, we look at 'Google' to find most of our Research and to find like Listings and arrive at our Listing Price from that alone. Our goal is not to ever undercut another Community Members Price on a like item. It is rather to compromise their Listing Price with our feeling for our Item and compare the Two or Three or more. That makes it easier to arrive at a Listing Price that makes us and our Customer equally treated well. TIP THREE: Always strive to not let $$$$$ be your guide in Pricing. Be realistic and base your Pricing decisions on Research not a blank 'Keystone' Mentality. Think of not only your S & H Fees, but also your Customer. Price your items low and let the Bidders Decide. Give them a Chance, They Know, in many cases better than you could have ever have calculated. If all the books you can find, say your is worth this much, remember it actually is only worth what your customer is willing to pay, or what you can sell it for, that is the Bottom Line. INSIGHT THREE: In closing, the financial gain cannot be paramount, it must be thought of after your Customer Concerns have been considered. Try to be Fair to them and your Auction Results will be Fair to you. Thank-You for joining us and Please come again, we hope we shared at least a tidbit of help, that you can apply to 'ebay' or Life in General. Take Care. Vanessa & Art (Vanart Products) S&H (Shipping & Handling) The Debate!Posted Aug-05-08 19:04:29 PDT Updated Aug-14-08 16:54:45 PDT Welcome, Glad you are here! (This is a one sided debate so far, yet we want your input, ideas and insights to make this a well rounded look at the S&H issue at hand.) We want to talk about S&H as part of the in depth criteria on the NEW Feedback scoring system. There are abuses that exist, granted. When you see an item selling for .99 cents and the S&H is $12.99 and the item is a Key Chain, we have a problem! We had an experience where we bid on an item from China, described as an Antique Teapot, it was lovely, the winning bid was ours and the cost was $2.99. Hooray! Great The total Paypal Charge was over $54.00. What we we to do? Not pay! We paid and took away a costly important lesson! By the way, that Teapot was an Antique as an item we bought from a large chain store, yesterday. Alas, the issue. We charge a very flexible Handling Fee, the Shipping is what it is. Our Standard is always $2.00-$3.00 per package. Outside the United States is $1.00 more, to cover the extra paperwork, etc. We have never charged more than $3.00 for any item we have shipped. For instance, if we sell an item for .99 cents, it is a small item and we know that at listing and the Handling fee is $2.00. On the other hand if it is a Fragile or Cumberous piece or needs extra attention to prepare it for delivery the charge is $3.00, or it could be $2.50, it depends.The Bottom Line is we never depend on S&H fees to make us money. Vanessa and I always have looked at this Fee, as a way to cover the cost of Tissue Paper, Bubble Wrap, Tape, Package Prep, Labeling, and Etc. plus going to mail the package. Hard to fathom, but in reality an average package we send takes 35-45 minutes, give or take, but on average, this is real. I check all the Home Shopping Channels, the S&H is 'Unreal'! (In relation to the item), (Personal opinion). But they have it all figured out to a 'T'! We do not! That is not what being on ebay is all about for us. The Shipping is what it is, One Pound to Ohio is what it is. Cut and Dry! The $2.00-$3.00 per package we charge allows us to keep doing this, bringing you items you may not be able to get elsewhere. If we had to only rely on the sale proceeds of items to do the ebay experience, it would not work and we would not do it. The main point is as I mentioned, there are abuses. These need to be met with Strong Feedback Critique. We applaud you for that. On the other hand, would you believe that S&H is under attack in our very own Feedback. This can only be a lack of understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in preparation for the item to be sent on to the customer. All We can say and Urge, if you see an tem for .99 cents and the item weighs an ounce and the S&H is $12.00, LOOK OUT! On the other hand, if you recieve your purchase packaged well and in fine shape, the Handling Fees charged were Well Worth It! Consider this in your Feedback! So Glad 'YOU' Were Here! Hope This Helps!? Take Care, Vanessa & Art (Vanart Products) 'Faith & Trust'-What It Means To Us, In The Context Of 'ebay'!Posted Jul-06-08 11:15:31 PDT Updated Jul-07-08 16:31:48 PDT We apologize for the length of time which has transpired since we last posted a topic. Your response (via visits) to our previous Blogs have been astounding and appreciated! We do hope that some of our perspectives have aided you.We hope you did not give up 'Faith' that another subject, to be addressed would be forthcoming. We assure YOU that we feel this Forum is important and useful on many levels and thus we participate gladly. Thank-You for being here with our comments and we hopefully will never betray your 'Trust' in us, by stating anything, contrary to our conviction to a better 'ebay' community.We 'Believe' in not only 'ebay', but also our Customers, Past & Future. So far, Three (3) major terms have been expressed in relation to this 'BLOG'. Only Two (2) are really pertaining to the essence of this Posting. 'They are of course, 'Faith' & 'Trust'.We will take each one and try to explain just how important they are, not only to life in general but also in the context of 'ebay'. Let us begin with 'Faith'. Most everything one encounters on a Daily basis has roots of some sort in 'Faith'. Such as the Sun will rise, our Loved Ones will still be with us, if we do good things they will in turn be done to us, we are safe and tomorrow will be better than today. These are some examples of 'Faith', some might think that our many World Religions='Faith'. Not so, an individual does not have to believe in any particular way, to still have the basic 'Faith', as the examples we mentioned. How does 'Faith' relate to 'ebay'?Well for instance, when you Ship a package to a customer, you put 'Faith' in the Carrier, hoping the customer will receive it. Three (3) Shipments were a problem over the past Year & A Half, Tracking Numbers saved us and the customer,(We recommend Tracking Numbers always be used). You may have 'Faith' that the customer will like the item and give you Feedback, it should work that way, but it does not always, we still recommend as a Seller never give Feedback first, it's the Buyer who should initiate it. No matter what, if no Feedback is given, Keep giving Great Service and Move On! Knowing in your Heart, you did your best. When you write a listing or read a listing you have 'Faith', that what you wrote or read is concise and truthful. Most of the time, have no fear, it is. Of course you could have happen to you what happened to us on a listing we did. We got neutral Feedback from a Worldwide Buyer that claimed we did not explain this one particular thing about an item. We were surprised and went back and reread the listing and we had most certainly covered his issue totally in the listing. There again we had 'Faith' that the customer would read & understand what we were saying, we were wrong in our 'Faith', so be very careful, language interpretation can be tricky, especially overseas. So you can see that 'Faith' misplaced can be as bad as no 'Faith' at all. 'Trust' is another tenant 'ebay' could not survive without, as nor could we in our everyday lives. One example of 'Trust' might be as simple as being paid on Payday, or trusting that your vehicle will start when needed, or that the other car will stop at the Red Light or yield you the Right Of Way. 'Trust' is so important, we would offer that it is possibly much more important than 'Faith', yet you cannot have one really without the other. The overlap is profound indeed. In the 'ebay' realm, 'Trust' is paramount! It ('ebay') just would not work without it and it must be nurtured, by all means. When you see an Item you want and Bid, you do that with a large bit of 'Trust'. There are many tools 'ebay' provides to aid you. The Feedback Score is very important of course, but also you may want to dig deeper into previous Feedback and the related wording, both given and received by any Seller, you wish to do business with. This is indeed the proverbial 'window to the Soul' sort of examination you may want to do in addition to contacting past customers on the performance of the Seller, especially on large ticket items. Most are very obliging and 'ebay' friendships can be forged from doing this. As a Seller you always have 'Trust' you are going to be paid by the Buyer within the timeframe you state in your Specifics. This is a Criteria you set in your listings and carries forth with each Listing you do. (We most certainly recommend you do this, if you are not doing so now). This is the only thing protecting you from Deadbeat Buyers and possible large problems down the road. There have been instances that we have had to open Unpaid Item Disputes in the past and this is not a happy event for us, nor do we enjoy doing it at all. But when the circumstance arises, we do it not only for us but also to protect every other 'ebay' customer that might come across this particular Buyer, You also, Must Take This Action. There again, 'Trust' that 'ebay' will protect You and they will! They indeed realize, the importance of 'Trust' on 'ebay and 'Faith' for that matter. You as an 'ebay' user have the right to both of these principles, without a doubt. Let us recap, by employing the Dictionary, ( Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary). 'FAITH'=Confidence or 'Trust' in a person or thing based on one's ability, 'Belief' which is not based on proof, belief in anything such as Code of Ethics, Standards of Conduct.'TRUST'=Reliance on the integrity, strength, reliance, ability, surety, etc. of a person or thing, confident expectation of something; Hope. To have 'Trust' and confidence in; Rely On. So there you have it! 'Faith' +'Trust'=Believe! (Which Was The Third Major Term, we mentioned in the beginning)! Many Blessings To You! Vanessa & Art (Vanart Products)
'FEEDBACK'-The Choice Of: Dilemma or A Possible Solution?Posted Mar-08-08 17:02:57 PST Updated Mar-08-08 17:27:12 PST If someone says to you, "Good Morning!" What do you do? Say, Good Morning back or say nothing at all? How about when you hear someone say; "Hi, how are you today?". Would you respond, "Just fine, thank-you, how are you?".
Now of course there are variances of vernacular that can be applied to the aforementioned situations. But, the overlying courtesy remains the same. "Hey, how are you?" "Fine, thanks and you?" Basically, simple courtesy, it is that easy for most people. On the other hand, what do you do if you come in contact with an individual who never says Hi, or How Are You or never acknowledges you or responds to you at all? It may happen to you once, by saying "Hello" to that person and getting no response. Then you may try again, "Hello", again, no response. The greeting will not happen again. Lesson Learned. The same issue applies to Feedback. After someone leaves Feedback (positive or other) a couple of times and gets none in return, that will be the end of that. This honestly is what we encountered on numerous occasions as we began on 'ebay', over a year ago. So Vanessa & I have adopted a 'Rule'. We only leave Feedback, when Feedback is left for us. Simple! Now, that applies in our role as a Seller. When we buy on 'ebay', which we do, when the item arrives, we leave the appropriate Feedback first and the seller hopefully responds, the point is, we do our part. What really gets us, is when 'ebay' sends us a message saying, "You need to leave Feedback for 'so & so'! Yeah Right! We sent the item and we packed it well. No item we have ever shipped (close to 300 packages) has gone without our individually pertinent, hand written Thank-You Card! This is important to us, because we mean every word and never received any Feedback from these folks, how would they expect or deserve, Feedback from us...As the Seller, that is not going to happen! The proverbial 'ball' is in their court, not ours. So the bottom line is: If you buy, leave Feedback, when you receive, First! If you Sell, leave Feedback when you receive Feedback. Simple Courtesy, What A Concept! Hi, how are you? I'm fine thanks, how are you? Now that is, Simply, A Beautiful Exchange Of Feedback! ANNIVERSARY LISTING-POSTED (1/31/07-1/31/08)Posted Jan-31-08 18:56:12 PST Hello & Welcome as always!
One year has passed so quickly. An entire tenth of a Decade has disappeared. How quickly it went! As, Life does generally! As one applies measurements or milestones, it seems to increase the the speed of time and critical it is to appreciate, each and every moment, however fleeting they may be. We wanted to take hold of one (1) of those moments to Thank-You All again! This is one of those Celebration pauses, meant to be used as Reflection and Growth. As we all plod ahead. It is a wonderful opportunity, we are provided these bits of time to use them as we see fit. We chose to use our bit of celebration time to list our Original First listing on 'ebay'! One Year ago to this evening, Vanessa and Myself, sat out on an adventure on 'ebay'! One Year Later and 'The Adventure' Continues! Thank-You All for that! Who would have thought a single can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, could have turned into such a Tale of Joy? Vanessa and Myself have seen 'IT' first hand and our lives have been enriched as a result. One Year on 'ebay', could it be? Thank-You All, for participating in this past year with us, our 'pause' to reflect is over! That passed quickly also! Many Blessings & Our Thanks! Well, we hope you come along, as we head into our Second Year! Here We Go!!!!!!!!! |
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