weeding out the collection need advice -LONG SORRY!!

[lizmil]

First, I appreciate your suggestions... thank you

Ok here we go...

I have , like many, gotten Coach coupon fever lately & need to weed out the acquisitions. Most, not all, of my items were purchased at Coach factory stores. Everything is in good shape still in tissue , with receipts and tags.

I have a bagful of items to return, but I see many of the same items going for a profit on ebay & Bonanzale & I think, hey I could do that too. Then there is the pssibility of the dreaded banning letter, but I'm not really worried about that, because I do have all receipts & I'm not returning a bunch of stuff that looks like it was bought to sell on ebay.

THEN, I read all the horror stories here about buyers who bait & switch, don't pay or claim they got an empty box & I think. "it's not worth it".

I have been a longtime ebay buyer, but Ive never really sold much of anything. Similarly for Bonanzle, except that's newer.

So the questions:

• return to the place of purchase & call it a day?
• try my hand at selling probably on Bonanzle as a first choice & ebay as a second choice, & maybe make a little extra? Some items I see there have huge markups if you compare to the outlet prices. I realize they may NOT be from there, but how much do you have to add to cover costs & what is REASONABLE markup to cover costs? Plus if you price LESS than other sellers because you want to sell it, will buyers think there is something wrong with it?
• I have the old paypal, before credit cards were accepted. If I upgrade am I shooting myself in the foot? I remember in the old days people had two accounts one to use for CC purchases and one for the other kind.
• how do you list on Bonanzle & ebay at the same time & not get two buyers?
• how do you protect yourself from the "horror stories." insure, delivery confirmation, lots of pics, paypal.
• Where do you buy those little attachments people put on their stuff so you can't bait & switch?
• How do I figure out fees?
• Estimating postage?

Whew!!

Is there more?

THX

[lizmil]

bump

I guess I asked too many question, please take a stab at it!

[trumanfinn]

Well first, you may not be able to sell them all on eBay. They have a fairly new policy that you are only allowed to list one designer item every 30 days- so even if your auction ends with no bids, you have to wait 30 days to relist it!
You can request to have your limit lifted, but you have to have a lot of feedback, and a good seller history. (I was denied once, and then approved the second time I requested.)

I don't find Bonanzle to be the great. It seems really slow, I sold one thing there, but that was only because my price was REALLY low, and a reseller bought it. Bonz also uses Google checkout, but when I tried to set up a seller's account, they requested all of my tax information, and I"m guessing that they want to use that to make my sales there taxable income? Not sure, but I bailed out on it.

I'll answer what questions I can!

So the questions:
return to the place of purchase & call it a day? I think that's what I would do.

try my hand at selling probably on Bonanzle as a first choice & ebay as a second choice, & maybe make a little extra? Some items I see there have huge markups if you compare to the outlet prices. I realize they may NOT be from there, but how much do you have to add to cover costs & what is REASONABLE markup to cover costs?

Like I said, Bonz is pretty slow, and you may not be able to list everything at once on ebay. For mark up, I would suggest looking at what similar items are selling for, then factor ebay's fees (very high, I think around 12%, maybe more, and then 5% of the sale to paypal) and decide if it's worth it.


Plus if you price LESS than other sellers because you want to sell it, will buyers think there is something wrong with it?
I don't think so, as long as it isn't significantly lower.


I have the old paypal, before credit cards were accepted. If I upgrade am I shooting myself in the foot? I remember in the old days people had two accounts one to use for CC purchases and one for the other kind.
I don't think you'll be shooting yourself in the foot, but I think it would be problematic if you only accepted funded paypal. You'd have to really spell that out in your listing, and a lot of people wouldn't understand what you meant. You really should upgrade your account to accept credit cards- it isn't a big deal, just keep in mind that you get charged for credit card transactions. You can have a personal account or a merchant account. On a merchant account you get charged for all of your transactions, but there are no limits to how many you can receive. With a personal account, you only get charged for credit card transactions, but there are limits on how many you can accept per month and per year (I think it's either 3 or 5, and you get charged a little more for them than with a merchant account.)


how do you list on Bonanzle & ebay at the same time & not get two buyers?

You just have to watch them carefully. If you have a bid on ebay, you'll have to remove the bonz listing. And if you accidentally double sell it, you'll just have to retract one of the sales. I don't know that there's a safe way around it- it's just a risk you take when you list things in 2 different places. Listings are easy to remove, though, so if something sells on one site, you can quickly and easily remove it from the other.


how do you protect yourself from the "horror stories." insure, delivery confirmation, lots of pics, paypal.
I think that signature confirmation and insurance are the best ways to protect yourself against that kind of fraud. If you require the signature, they can't claim that it wasn't received.


Where do you buy those little attachments people put on their stuff so you can't bait & switch?
I have no idea. :)

How do I figure out fees?
When you're listing your item on ebay, at the point where you put in the price, there is a little box that says "Fees?" and it will spell it out for you. It's difficult, and I've never been able to get it 100%. Fees are higher for a buy-it-now than an auction. Fees are higher is you put a reserve price...fees vary based on your starting price etc... It's a total pain in the butt. Paypal fees also vary, for my merchant account they are 4.9% of the sale. There is a link in pp that will tell you what your fees are.



Estimating postage?
That's tough, too. Unless you have a postal scale, you just have to guess. Or you can estimate the weight and size of the box and go to USPS.com and try to get an estimate there. I just try to make mine the same as everyone else's. I frequently don't charge enough, but when I overcharge I make sure to refund the buyer a little bit.

Hope that helps!

[lizmil]

Thanks trumanfinn,

Wow,

You gave great answers, maybe not the ones I hoped to hear, but great nonetheless!

So, I'm still pretty skittish about the whole thing. Sounds like I should return anything except an item that might be a really hot seller & usually I'm LOOKING for those not already having them & willing to give them up, KWIM?

It sounds like with ebay, paypal & the CC fees you have to build in a 20% markup. WOW.

I bow to the ebay sellers. It IS rocket science!!!

[Nico3327]

Definitely return them and just get your money back. Ebay can be great, but it's just not worth the hassle as a seller IMO.

[noshoepolish]

I will send you a pm when I have a chance. Look for it later tonight.

Basically, selling is a pita and there is little profit in it, if any at all.

[trumanfinn]

I agree, lol.

Actually, if you go to ebay and click "Start selling" there is a box that says "What's it worth?" If you enter your item in that box it will tell you the average price that item sells for. If you've gotten some great deals, it might be worth it to sell a few that way!

[TallulahJane]

Originally Posted by trumanfinn

I agree, lol. Actually, if you go to ebay and click "Start selling" there is a box that says "What's it worth?" If you enter your item in that box it will tell you the average price that item sells for. If you've gotten some great deals, it might be worth it to sell a few that way!

I think thats a good idea. If there are a few items that you will be able to make a decent amount of profit with I would sell those, if not just return them. Its really not worth all the work and Ebay/Paypal fees can easily take away any profit you would have.

[shibumiflowers]

My responses are in pink.

Originally Posted by lizmil

First, I appreciate your suggestions... thank you Ok here we go... I have , like many, gotten Coach coupon fever lately & need to weed out the acquisitions. Most, not all, of my items were purchased at Coach factory stores. Everything is in good shape still in tissue , with receipts and tags. I know what you mean, I've been on a bag-buying binge lately and bought way more bags than I know what to do with, but a deal is a deal, right? I have a bagful of items to return, but I see many of the same items going for a profit on ebay & Bonanzale & I think, hey I could do that too. Then there is the pssibility of the dreaded banning letter, but I'm not really worried about that, because I do have all receipts & I'm not returning a bunch of stuff that looks like it was bought to sell on ebay. Yeah, recently I saw the banning trend in another thread but I can't believe that Coach has someone sitting around scouring FLEAbay and Bonanzle catching coach items for sale and matching these same sales to your buys. THEN, I read all the horror stories here about buyers who bait & switch, don't pay or claim they got an empty box & I think. "it's not worth it". This is a major concern and I agree that there have been many horror stories both as buyers and sellers. I find that it helps that when you send the bag, you mark the label with the contents. For example, I always insure for the value of the sale and write (in my case), "Chloe Paddington Brown Bag". And always send to a confirmed address. Also, if item is over $300 get signature confirmation. It's a little bit more but worth the security. I have been a longtime ebay buyer, but Ive never really sold much of anything. Similarly for Bonanzle, except that's newer. I used to sell high end power tools on ebay a couple of years ago. I have since stopped because ebay fees are crazy and it's hard to make any profit when these listing fees, final value fees, and paypal fees get factored in. Bonanzle is not as bad in the final value fees but the sales move much slower. If you are not in that much of a hurry, Bonanzle can be good and you can negotiate the price you want with a potential customer. The negotiation tool is great. Also, I noticed that for many selling there, the impact of the feedback isn't as scary. So the questions: return to the place of purchase & call it a day? I would do this with the bags I am sure I don't want and couldn't sell for a better price than returning it. try my hand at selling probably on Bonanzle as a first choice & ebay as a second choice, & maybe make a little extra? Some items I see there have huge markups if you compare to the outlet prices. I realize they may NOT be from there, but how much do you have to add to cover costs & what is REASONABLE markup to cover costs? Plus if you price LESS than other sellers because you want to sell it, will buyers think there is something wrong with it? Remember the fees paypal and 'bay or bonanzle take also. The markups you see may partially be for these fees. I have the old paypal, before credit cards were accepted. If I upgrade am I shooting myself in the foot? I remember in the old days people had two accounts one to use for CC purchases and one for the other kind. I don't think this is a big deal, accepting CC improves sales. how do you list on Bonanzle & ebay at the same time & not get two buyers? Not sure about this one. I think you have to take down the bonanzle listing if there's a bid on 'bay. how do you protect yourself from the "horror stories." insure, delivery confirmation, lots of pics, paypal. As I said above: send only to confirmed address, insure the bag and if over $300, get signature confirmation, write out the contents of the package on mailing label. Where do you buy those little attachments people put on their stuff so you can't bait & switch? this is a great idea. I've never done it. How do I figure out fees? ebay and paypal and bonanzle all have pages dedicated to these fee schedules. Estimating postage? USPS.com is a good place for that. I think it's also cheaper to do the mailings online. ************f00ff]Good luck.[/COLOR] Whew!! Is there more? THX

[lizmil]

Wow, depressing... as an ebay buyer, I never realized how many people were taking a chance on me. (off to find my ABBA CD)

Thanks for all the great responses telling it like it is!

THX shibumiflowers

[new.old.bag]

signature is required for items of $250 and over last I checked.

I would not recommend starting out as a new Coach seller at this time on ebay.

As has already been mentioned, there are listing limits and many other pitfalls even for experienced sellers, and (again also mentioned earlier,) at the end of the day after all the fees, it is a LOT of work for very little profit.

[PhantaBitten]

Id return the bags and save the headache of ebay for another day.

[karmenzsofia]

Return what you can, list the rest for sale on eBay and/or any other website of your choice.

Based on your questions, I can see you're worried about details and logistics, all of which is covered in the websites' selling instructions, help pages and tutorials. IMO, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the basics before listing anything.

The fees are explained in each website.

The same applies to shipping methods--go to the USPS website (or whatever carrier(s) you're considering) and check out postage rates.

As to listing prices, you need to look what other sellers are charging and search completed transactions (using the "advanced search" feature on eBay and the "sold in last year" feature on Bonz). It pays to study the market.

To sell and buy with PP, you need a current, updated account. The same account is linked to your CC and bank account. Go to the website, and if you can't figure it out, click on "contact us" and call PP for instructions.

About the tags, there are several brands TPFers have recommended. Just use the TPF search feature and search for threads/posts on the topic.

Finally, there are no guarantees. You cannot fully protect yourself, but you can minimize your risk by doing your homework (read all you can here and on the websites you plan to use) and playing it safe.

Good luck!

[hotshot]

^agree.. selling seems to be slower than usual.. would return what you can

[lizmil]

I wanted to update everyone and thank you all again for your great advice.

I took that advice & returned the weeded items. I was able to locate all my receipts except for a couple and I think the price the outlet gave was as good as or better than the sales on ebay would have been.

The bad news was I bought some other things, but they were a big upgrade in items as far as quality and styles I really love. but I still feel I came out ahead of the deal.

I'll have some purchase postings on the regular part of the forum.

Thank you