Friday, February 21, 2014

Lots of Sales and a Couple of "What Would You Do's?

Sold quite a few things this past week! Here are my eBay sales:
27 Rubber Stamps from my stash
Sold for $10.00 - Profit $9.41

11 Boys Shirts from a Friend
Free - Sold for $13.50 - Profit $9.58

5 Pairs boys jeans from a friend
Free - Sold for $13.75 - Profit $13.90

Boys Dress Clothes
Free - Sold for $10.00 - Profit $6.07

3 Pair boys jeans from a friend
Free - Sold for $12.01 - Profit $10.51

Baby Boy Gymboree Jacket
Paid $2.00 - Sold for $7.00 - Profit $5.00
This went to Chili!

Mens Nike Golf Shirt
Paid $4.38 - Sold for $17.51 - Profit $10.42
 
Hubby's Pepsi Leather Jacket
Sold for $30.00 - Profit $24.43

192 Scrabble Tiles
Paid $2.50 - Sold for $15.00 - Profit $10.16

Homer Laughlin Dinner Plates
Paid $1.20 - Sold for $12.95 - Profit $12.16

Vidal Sassoon Hot Rollers
Paid $4.38 - Sold for $19.95 - Profit $11.18
 
Lot of 16 Cards and Paper Crafts Magazines
Sold for $9.99 + $88.75 Shipping!!!
Profit $20.17
 
Now this is where one of the "What would you do?" questions comes in! I sold this lot of 16 older card making magazines to someone for $9.99. The woman is from Latvia! That's in England in case you're like me and didn't know that! It's on the continent of Europe bordering Russia....guess I was getting my "E" words mixed up! :) When I saw that she would have to pay that much shipping I thought she probably didn't realize it and would never pay. The next day she paid! It's hard to believe that someone would pay that much for magazines but she must want them! Anyway, the question is this.....she was charged the $88.75 according to the weight that I put in which was 14 pounds. That's what the actual package ended up weighing too. Since I am a top rated seller, I got a discount of I think 26% so the actual shipping ended up being $71.45. Would you refund her the difference, part of the difference or figure that you earned the discount and you should get to keep the difference? I kinda thought I should at least give her $10 back. Part of the problem is that on international labels they put the cost of the postage right there on the label so she probably will see it if she looks! I've had different people say that the person agreed to pay the price so that's it. What would you do?
 
Now here are my Etsy sales for the week:
10 Blue Ball Quarts plus 10 Zinc Lids
Paid $10.00 - Sold for $75.00 - Profit $49.28
 
Sold these 2 sets of jars for $48.50
Profit $40.88
 
Wonderworld of Science
Paid 50 cents - Sold for $7.00 - Profit $7.26
 
10 Blue Ball Quart Jars
Paid $10.00 - Sold for $65.00 - Profit $41.28
 
Now here is where the other "what would you do?" question comes in. This last jar order of 10 jars was placed yesterday. She said she really wanted them for next weekend because she was having a bridal shower for her sister and was going to use these for the flowers. I let her know that I would mail them out Friday. Today I got a note from her saying that it would be great if I could mail them out today and she wondered what the time frame for the shipping would be. When I got the package ready it said parcel select would be 2-9 days. The package is going to New York. I figured it would probably get there by next weekend but...who knows for sure. So I checked how much priority would cost and it was $4.34 more than what I had charged. I didn't have time to send them a message asking if they would want to pay the extra, so I was deliberating in my mind whether or not to just spend the extra and send it by priority mail so they would get them for sure. I didn't want to have to worry about it getting there in time. So, I went ahead and mailed them by Priority Mail. I sent them a note telling them what I did but I didn't even bother saying that it was extra...I tried to but it sounded tacky so I just forgot that part and told them they should get them by Tuesday or Wednesday. So the question....would you have spent the extra to make sure they got them in time? Or would you have hoped for the best with regular shipping? They apparently waited till the last minute to do their shopping so it's kind of irritating.....I was kinda hoping that by me telling them that I shipped them by priority  mail that they might ask if it was extra or offer to pay the extra but they just said thank-you, which is fine. If it would have just been some change or a dollar or so it wouldn't have been so bad. Oh well....just a question for ya! I shouldn't complain...I had a pretty good week!
 
Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam
 
 
 


23 comments:

  1. Hi Pam, this is my first time commenting on your blog but I have been reading for a while (I'm a newbie eBay seller).

    Regarding your questions... I love that your "gut feeling" in each is to provide above-and-beyond customer service. You obviously have a good heart and want to treat people well. I have also been struggling with questions like yours, because several times I have shipped an item for less $$ than the final shipping price on the auction... usually it has been less than a dollar so I don't really bother with it. But tonight I did actually refund a woman $5 because I realized I could ship her item in a flat rate envelope instead of plain priority. It actually felt pretty good... I don't know if it's necessarily the "right" thing to do, but it might be the best thing?

    With the jars, gosh, I don't know. I think it's rad that you shipped them quicker just in case, and compared to your profit margin I guess $4 isn't too much... but it is frustrating when people shoot first and ask questions later.

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    1. Hi Kait! Thanks for reading my blog and for your input! Sometimes it's just hard to know the best thing to do! ~~Pam

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  2. Hi Pam,
    That was a great week!
    I think that I would let them both go as is. The international one because she agreed to pay and when eBay invoices you at the end of the month and the top rated seller discount comes off I think they only give it to you on the actual item cost and not the shipping cost. Someone else feel free to correct me on that but when I get my monthly invoice that seems to be how it is. The NY one I would leave go too and just feel I did a good thing. They should not wait until the last minute but this way you are sure it arrives on time.
    Rhonda

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  3. I offer free shipping on almost all my items and so it gives me the leeway to choose whether or not I want to upgrade to priority on heavier things, but I think you did the right thing to send it priority. And your Latvian customer may be paying less than you think when you consider converting the currency. Either that or those books are so rare there, that they are worth the price. When you break it down, she paid $6.25 per book. What was the original price on them? She prob thought she got a great deal.

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    1. The "Cards" magazines are $14.95 each...or I think that's what I paid for them so there were 4 of those and then the others were probably $6.95 or so. There was also a thicker book there too so yeah, she didn't get too bad of a deal! ~~Pam

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  4. I go by what the profit Im making is. On a 40 dollar profit margin i would upgrade. If i was making 5 or 10 it would be a "maybe it will get there in time why did you wait so long to order?" lol

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    1. Yeah, that definitely makes a difference! :) ~~Pam

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  5. Latvia is a country near Russia. It is not in England.

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    1. Thank you! You are right! I looked it up but I guess when I saw that it was on the continent of Europe for some reason my brain was thinking England! Thanks! ~~Pam

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    2. You're welcome. I have been enjoying your blog for several months now.

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  6. I think in the Latvia case i would refund the difference! Or the ten dollars! Either way! Even though i agree that you did earn the discount.... i think i would just do it to be nice. lol. Usually if the difference isn't much (less than 1.00) i wont bother but i have refunded in cases where the difference was more. The customers are always so thankful and it makes me feel good.

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    1. I just sent her a refund of $10.00. I usually always refund anything over a couple of bucks extra so I don't know why I was even deliberating this one! I guess I can see the reasoning on both sides of the issue. Thanks for your comment! ~~Pam

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  7. No question in my mind. I would have refunded the difference. I can't even believe anyone would pay 88.00 for shipping especially for what she brought.

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    1. I usually do give a refund if the difference is more than a couple of dollars. I usually try to figure a little bit in for the cost of the shipping supplies. I don't know why I've been debating on this one, especially since it is so much difference. I guess part of me figures that when someone buys something, they see what the shipping cost is and by purchasing the item, they've agreed to that cost. I don't feel like I HAVE to give a refund, but most of the time I do. I figure this lady must have some money to be able to do that because like you said, I can't believe someone would pay that much for shipping for something like that either, but I guess we all have our "thing" that we're willing to spend money on! Thanks for your comment! ~~Pam

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  8. I've bought a lot on eBay and always appreciate an honest and thoughtful seller like you. I would have paid the difference for the priority shipping, and they should have been grateful enough to offer. Also, I would not have been offended to be asked for the difference, well worth it to get the item on time...especially since they procrastinated.

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  9. I don't refund the difference in shipping when it is due to my seller discount. You earned that discount being a top rated seller. If the difference was due to a mistake on your part like miscalculating the weight then I would definitely refund the difference but any discount you earn is yours IMO.

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    1. Thank you Nancy! I appreciate your viewpoint! I caved though and sent a $10 refund....wish I would have gotten your comment before I sent it! :) ~~Pam

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    2. Pamela I think you did the right thing. I wouldn't call it caving at all I would call it doing the right and nice thing. Lynn

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  10. I agree with Nancy. You shouldnt have to calculate your discount into the shipping costs. You work hard for it.
    As far as the jars... if I can upgrade to priority for a few extra bucks I will. I always send the buyer a message saying "I upgraded your shipping free of charge......" I think that going above and beyond usually ensures positive feedback and a good experience.
    Love you blog!

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    1. Thank you! Love yours too! It's always fun to see what others are selling! ~~Pam

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  11. Hi Pam! I do refund the buyer when it's that much money. I don't if it's just a dollar or two. As for the upgraded shipping, if it was only a few dollars extra to go priority, I wouldn't have said anything. I ship most of my stuff priority because it's usually cheaper to go that route with the ebay discount, and I don't like my packages to be in the hands of USPS any longer than they have to be. If it was more, I might have replied to her with the ship time for both and then offered her priority if she wanted to pay the difference. Btw, great sales!! :)

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