Selling Toys - Horror Stories & "Happy" Customers

Good to know I'm not being anal retentive about the list.

I went through most of my Mezco figures today, and I think this will be what I'm going to be taking to the toy show.

PXL_20260506_222829056~2 by lionpride75, on Flickr

I just need to add this all to my spreadsheet and then research prices to work on what I'll be charging.
 
Schizm said:
Sellers taking forever to ship is one problem, then USPS/UPS/FedEx just not moving shit for days. Is this on account of gas prices maybe they're trying to consolidate shipments? It's so frustrating to see sellers just sit on items for days after purchase. My account is set up to ship within two business days and usually I beat that.
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This is an interesting take... because I sell semi regularly on-line but I have a full time job and a kid with a packed schedule, so it sometimes takes me more than two days to ship. It isn't because I don't care but carefully packing items and getting set to mail and then getting to the post office isn't always possible every single day. I'm not a business, just a guy clearing garage space.
 
PantherCult said:
This is an interesting take... because I sell semi regularly on-line but I have a full time job and a kid with a packed schedule, so it sometimes takes me more than two days to ship. It isn't because I don't care but carefully packing items and getting set to mail and then getting to the post office isn't always possible every single day. I'm not a business, just a guy clearing garage space.
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I'm in the same boat. I also make it clear in my listings that It can take up to three business days, and I never ship on the weekends (even though I do sometimes if I have ot ready and am going to my brother in law's house since the post office is on the way). But yeah, this is a side thing to make room and give myself a little extra money.
 
SalemCrow said:
Good to know I'm not being anal retentive about the list.
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I hope my response to you wasn't taken as a negative or a critique, I was laughing at myself for having not thought of being better organized. It might not have come off appropriately in text, my apologies if so. I certainly wasn't trying to say anything negative about it.
 
Am I the only one who boxes things up as I list them, so they're all ready to go whenever they're bought? 😅 Granted, I never have too many things listed at once, so I suppose it depends on amount, but if I list something for sale, that generally means I want it gone ASAP. By the time the listing goes live, those suckers are ready to go and stacked in a little pile in a corner of my kitchen.
 
I mean... if I drag out a box of things to sell I'm not doing it one at a time.... in the last round I just finished I had 30 auctions going... and sometimes people buy more than one item or lot, so pre-packaging isn't actually that efficient in those cases In my last round of sales I had two separate buyers that purchased 4 lots each.

And having them pre-packed and ready to go doesn't cut down any time it takes to travel to the post office.
 
That's a good point. I've only had maybe one transaction where people have bought multiple things from me, so it's not something I can really comment much on, but of course I'd adjust accordingly. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things other than maybe saving a few moments later and giving a slightly more accurate shipping estimate (if even). Just one of those weird little differences.
 
joshsquash729 said:
Am I the only one who boxes things up as I list them, so they're all ready to go whenever they're bought? 😅 Granted, I never have too many things listed at once, so I suppose it depends on amount, but if I list something for sale, that generally means I want it gone ASAP. By the time the listing goes live, those suckers are ready to go and stacked in a little pile in a corner of my kitchen.
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I used to do that, but like PantherCult mentioned, I get quite a few multiple purchase customers typically when I list stuff, so now i just sort of stage the boxes and get the materials together when I list so I dont have to scramble for boxes or anything like that when they sell.

Same as you guys, just a working dad trying to clear garage space, but I've got it down pretty good with shipping since there's a post office on my way to work. I takes me about 30 seconds to drop my pre-shipped box in the chute in the morning and my customers are always happy about the "super fast" shipping.
 
I allow 2-3 days for myself to ship. Depends how simple and direct they were closing the deal and what I have going on. Post is right on the corner in a drugstore.

I also box as I go. But I'm doing local, not eBay, so I lock in my bundles.
 
One efficiency I need to create is doing the mailing labels at home. I don't have a great printer currently and don't have the scale for properly calculating parcel weight - so I end up having to wait in line at the PO and pay for postage there. Someday.
 
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PantherCult said:
One efficiency I need to create is doing the mailing labels at home. I don't have a great printer currently and don't have the scale for properly calculating parcel weight - so I end up having to wait in line at the PO and pay for postage there. Someday.
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That is definitely key brother, it made my selling life sooooo much easier.

My wife and I both sell stuff, so it made sense for us to have a decent printer and got a cheap kitchen scale at Walmart that was like 11 bucks. It handles anything under 6 lbs - anything over that I just weigh myself on a scale, then again holding the box, then do the math. It's probably not super accurate, but it works in the very few times I've had to ship heavier stuff. We're actually thinking about getting one of those smaller thermal label printers so we don't keep burning toner on them.
 
On the shipping time front - how many days do you have listed in your account settings? Does Ebay allow that to be blank, or is it up to a certain amount?

I get that people have a life and sometimes getting to the Post office is added stress in my day especially when the convenient one closed but I thought all sellers had to list a business day shipping time. Mercari's is automatic by the third day you have to ship and that sounds fair.
 
I set mine at 5 days as a cushion to hopefully help temper the less patient customers - but I ship the next day almost 100 percent of the time. They don't allow it to be blank - the range is "same business day" to "30 days".
 
Reefer Shark said:
I set mine at 5 days as a cushion to hopefully help temper the less patient customers - but I ship the next day almost 100 percent of the time. They don't allow it to be blank - the range is "same business day" to "30 days".
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Exactly the same for me. If it's not next day, I will almost always message the buyer telling them when I expect to ship and offer to cancel/refund if it's an issue, and no one has said yes yet.
 
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