Thinking about Parking the Horse & Buggy for the 20th Century!!
thedutymon
Posts: 4,323 ✭
Morning,
I think today will be the day that I move out of the Horse & Buggy era and start using E-Bay/Paypal Shipping to save some money. I have not raised my shipping rates in like 8 years or something and with E-Bay now taking a percentage of my shippng and using the Green DC's on almost every package, whereas shipping used to be at worst a break even endeavor, it has now become a loss center a large part of the time.
So I have several questions:
1. I am going to Staples later, do they make a Pre-Sticky Label the E-Bay label size, like two to a sheet or something? Or do I have to tape the crap out of them like I see some of the cards that come to me are done.
2. I never see the postage on anything I recieve and saw the box in the E-Bay shipping label to check to not show postage, to me that's a no brainer (Don't show postage), but would there ever be a reason to show postage?
3. How much does it cost to use the E-Bay pre-printed labels and do you all just pay with your Paypal?
4. I will need to get a scale, I have seen one for sale down at the Post Office, but assume that Staples will have some options. I ship Raw Cards to boxes with 10-20 PSA cards and all between. What do I need in a scale?
5. What other questions should I be asking?
6. Did anybody notice an increase in the "Where is my package" and the scam of seeing if the Seller has DC, when converting from the Green label to the just White label? A lot of my packages have a Green Sticker on them that says "Scan Me" or "Scan before Delivery" when I recieve them, where do these little Stickers come from? Where can you buy them?
Sheesh....Next thing you know I'll be breaking down and using Turbo Lister or getting the Wife a phone for the house that doesn't have the Crank on the side!!!!
Thanks ahead of time!
Neil
I think today will be the day that I move out of the Horse & Buggy era and start using E-Bay/Paypal Shipping to save some money. I have not raised my shipping rates in like 8 years or something and with E-Bay now taking a percentage of my shippng and using the Green DC's on almost every package, whereas shipping used to be at worst a break even endeavor, it has now become a loss center a large part of the time.
So I have several questions:
1. I am going to Staples later, do they make a Pre-Sticky Label the E-Bay label size, like two to a sheet or something? Or do I have to tape the crap out of them like I see some of the cards that come to me are done.
2. I never see the postage on anything I recieve and saw the box in the E-Bay shipping label to check to not show postage, to me that's a no brainer (Don't show postage), but would there ever be a reason to show postage?
3. How much does it cost to use the E-Bay pre-printed labels and do you all just pay with your Paypal?
4. I will need to get a scale, I have seen one for sale down at the Post Office, but assume that Staples will have some options. I ship Raw Cards to boxes with 10-20 PSA cards and all between. What do I need in a scale?
5. What other questions should I be asking?
6. Did anybody notice an increase in the "Where is my package" and the scam of seeing if the Seller has DC, when converting from the Green label to the just White label? A lot of my packages have a Green Sticker on them that says "Scan Me" or "Scan before Delivery" when I recieve them, where do these little Stickers come from? Where can you buy them?
Sheesh....Next thing you know I'll be breaking down and using Turbo Lister or getting the Wife a phone for the house that doesn't have the Crank on the side!!!!
Thanks ahead of time!
Neil
Actually Collect Non Sport, but am just so full of myself I post all over the place !!!!!!!
0
Comments
2. I have never had a reason to show postage but Scooter's response makes sense.
3. There is no extra charge to use the paypal shipping method and it comes right out of your paypal account.
4. Again, I would avoid Staples for the scale as you will pay a premium compared to what you can find online.
5. You should be asking...."Who am I, and why am I here?"
6. I have had very few "where's my package" when using the paypal shipping. You could probably find those stickers online also.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
I'll have a shot at a few of your questions . . .
Buy the 2-per-sheet Internet labels at Staples, or wherever -- but the 100-count boxes -- sometimes buy 1 get 1 half price
I never show postage on my labels -- don't want to tip anyone to value if I have added insurance
Not sure what you mean with #3 -- ebay does not charge for the shipping engine -- a much-overlooked benefit
I run all my charges through paypal
You must have a scale -- they are cheap and pretty much all the same
Regarding DC -- I use it every time and have never had a problem -- it seems that my PO is very good relative to the posts I've seen
Good luck,
Scott
edited for typo
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
<< <i>May be a risky move...I am old school and want the postal employee to scan it into the system in front of me and leave with the tracking #s on the receipt. If the bar code is not scanned into the system, tracking does not exist! >>
Morning,
Can you not just stand there and insist that the packages are scanned in in front of you?
Since I live in a Podunk town and know both of the Postal employees, and their kids, and their dogs, and What kind of Motorcycle one rides, and what they buy at the grocery store..............I don't see that as a problem!
The only other place I ship is at work at our Contract PO Office which has limitations and I am now seeing that as a problem because she doesn't scan anything, everything gets scanned when the Real Postal Employee shows up at Noon to pick everthing up in the Truck. I will have to talk to her about this.
Thanks
Neil
Yes, you can insist that. If it's a slow post office (and the employees are nice) they likely won't have a problem doing it. I drop my packages off at the Downtown location where it's too busy to do that. Good luck!
2. I do not show postage as its a tip off to how much value you are shipping.
3. I pay with paypal and have had no issues, easy to reprint a label too if needed, I find the biggest cost of printing my own labels is buying the ink cartridge.
4. Scale is a must can be purchased cheap, mine was $6 if shipping boxes get one that goes to 3-4 lbs, I use one that goes to 20oz, most of my sales are single cards and small lots, I try to keep my items to under 1lb as its a lot cheaper to send.
5. I do not use any extra sticker for DC just the printed label, sent over 2000 cards and never had an issue
Good luck and I find doing it online so much easier and better, I would hate to go back to doing them by hand again.
2) Only show postage if postage cost more than what you charged. The buyer will feel they got a deal.
3) Ebay labels go through PayPal. When you go to print out the label you will log into PP. Fees come out of your account.
4) Buy a scale. I bought one (up to 19 lbs) for $10 from Office Depot.
5) Delivery confirmation through PP is $0.19, Free for Priority Shipping. This will pay for the scales.
6) The white labels are great. The bar code is big, mail carriers never miss them.
I highly recomend everyone does this, it saves money in the long run.
Dave
<< <i>Morning,
I think today will be the day that I move out of the Horse & Buggy era and start using E-Bay/Paypal Shipping to save some money. I have not raised my shipping rates in like 8 years or something and with E-Bay now taking a percentage of my shippng and using the Green DC's on almost every package, whereas shipping used to be at worst a break even endeavor, it has now become a loss center a large part of the time.
So I have several questions:
1. I am going to Staples later, do they make a Pre-Sticky Label the E-Bay label size, like two to a sheet or something? Or do I have to tape the crap out of them like I see some of the cards that come to me are done.
2. I never see the postage on anything I recieve and saw the box in the E-Bay shipping label to check to not show postage, to me that's a no brainer (Don't show postage), but would there ever be a reason to show postage?
3. How much does it cost to use the E-Bay pre-printed labels and do you all just pay with your Paypal?
4. I will need to get a scale, I have seen one for sale down at the Post Office, but assume that Staples will have some options. I ship Raw Cards to boxes with 10-20 PSA cards and all between. What do I need in a scale?
5. What other questions should I be asking?
6. Did anybody notice an increase in the "Where is my package" and the scam of seeing if the Seller has DC, when converting from the Green label to the just White label? A lot of my packages have a Green Sticker on them that says "Scan Me" or "Scan before Delivery" when I recieve them, where do these little Stickers come from? Where can you buy them?
Sheesh....Next thing you know I'll be breaking down and using Turbo Lister or getting the Wife a phone for the house that doesn't have the Crank on the side!!!!
Thanks ahead of time!
Neil >>
Ok so I've started. Bought a way overpriced 0-5 pound digital scale at Staples for $30 bucks. Done!
The labels are rediculous at Staples and Target mainly because quantity is so limited, 20 or 50 in pack. They come out at Target to .20 cents per Lable, bought a few packs to get me started. What company sells them online where I can get down to the .04 cents per label? I have no problem with buying 1000, 2000, whatever.
Second question is a little more complicated and for those that are going to be dealing with Paypal and the 200 transaction/20K threshold this year. Anyway, before today I had a folder for Post Office reciepts with like 200 reciepts, I stop at Post Office almost 6 days a week. So I am going to create an excell spreadsheet at the end of the year, enter all the amounts, hit add and call it good for that Business expense.
So I packaged up 5 items just now and used the new technology of PayPal/E-bay shipping, labels came out good, got an E-Mail saying label printed, ect, ect. took money from Paypal balance, all looks good, now here is my question: Can I assume that Paypal will generate a report for me at the end of the year that will show all the postage I've paid out of my Paypal account that I will have no record of unless I waste ink cartridge after ink cartridge printing out a reciept for each Paypal Shipping Postage purchase?????
Hadn't thought of this, but this is important....a real deal breaker!
Neil
1. I've been ordering my labels from iamlabels.com Link is Labels
They are the same size as regular paper for your printer and the page is divided in half so you can print two labels per sheet. Once you print your first label, just put the sheet back in your printer feeder with the other side facing down to print on the other label half.
You can use regular printer paper if you wish, but you'll be sitting there with scissors and cutting out your labels and taping them on. By the time you figure the cost of the tape and your time spent cutting/taping, you could have bought the self stick labels I mentioned above (which are already cut to size).
2. Like someone else said, I only show postage if it comes out to more than the person paid. Also, when a package is insured, it only prints the word "Insured" really small towards the top, so I take a highlighter and highlight the word insured, so the customer can see it had insurance.
3. It's free to use the Ebay shipping as long as you buy the labels for your printer. When you print the label, it automatically deducts from your paypal account. In fact, it's less expensive to use the Ebay shipping because it's discounted online.
4. I got a scale a few years ago that weighs up to 75lbs. and is accurate to the tenth of an ounce. I got one that could do so much weight because I was shipping some cases and box lots at the time. It does just as well on small 2oz. packages. My scale came from oldwillknottscales.com The link for my particular scale is: 75lb. Scale Of course, there are other models that will do less weight and be less expensive. I've never had any problems with my scale in the 5 years I've had it.
5. I don't know.
6. I use the green stickers that say Scan Me. I bought my first batch off Ebay, and the second batch came from Foxtrotprinting.com Link for the stickers is: Scan Me Stickers
Hope my answers help your transition to the 21st century!
Rodney
<< <i>So I have several questions:
1. I am going to Staples later, do they make a Pre-Sticky Label the E-Bay label size, like two to a sheet or something? Or do I have to tape the crap out of them like I see some of the cards that come to me are done.
2. I never see the postage on anything I recieve and saw the box in the E-Bay shipping label to check to not show postage, to me that's a no brainer (Don't show postage), but would there ever be a reason to show postage?
3. How much does it cost to use the E-Bay pre-printed labels and do you all just pay with your Paypal?
4. I will need to get a scale, I have seen one for sale down at the Post Office, but assume that Staples will have some options. I ship Raw Cards to boxes with 10-20 PSA cards and all between. What do I need in a scale?
5. What other questions should I be asking?
6. Did anybody notice an increase in the "Where is my package" and the scam of seeing if the Seller has DC, when converting from the Green label to the just White label? A lot of my packages have a Green Sticker on them that says "Scan Me" or "Scan before Delivery" when I recieve them, where do these little Stickers come from? Where can you buy them?
>>
<< <i>May be a risky move...I am old school and want the postal employee to scan it into the system in front of me and leave with the tracking #s on the receipt. If the bar code is not scanned into the system, tracking does not exist! >>
<< <i>Second question is a little more complicated and for those that are going to be dealing with Paypal and the 200 transaction/20K threshold this year. Anyway, before today I had a folder for Post Office reciepts with like 200 reciepts, I stop at Post Office almost 6 days a week. So I am going to create an excell spreadsheet at the end of the year, enter all the amounts, hit add and call it good for that Business expense.
So I packaged up 5 items just now and used the new technology of PayPal/E-bay shipping, labels came out good, got an E-Mail saying label printed, ect, ect. took money from Paypal balance, all looks good, now here is my question: Can I assume that Paypal will generate a report for me at the end of the year that will show all the postage I've paid out of my Paypal account that I will have no record of unless I waste ink cartridge after ink cartridge printing out a reciept for each Paypal Shipping Postage purchase?????
Hadn't thought of this, but this is important....a real deal breaker!
Neil >>
I can't say for sure, but I would not count on PigPal to do anything that might benefit you, so assume they will not generate any type of report for you at the end of the year.
The way around this is something you should already be doing, which is to drain all funds out of your PayPal account as soon as they show up there. If you have a $0.00 PayPal balance when printing a postage label, you'll be given an opportunity to change the funding source that you are using to pay for the postage. This means you can charge it to your credit card, which should be getting back at least 1% on all charges if not more. The charges that show up on your credit card statement as, "PAYPAL *EBAYINCSHIP 4029357733 CA," and this is how you can document it as a business expense. Make sure to save a PDF file of your credit card statement every month. I'm sure you haven't gone to paperless statements on your credit cards yet, so it would be wise to also keep a paper copy on file somewhere as well.
Tomorrow will be my test run on the new labels and how my local Post Office lady will be able to deal with it. I will insist that she scan them while I am standing there and want a reciept. I will play it up that this is a requirment for my On Line Business required by my Accountant, and not a topic for discussion between us!
Secondly: Crazymind: Although I adopted the Practice of draining my Paypal a few years ago, I have learned that taking it down to Zero is counterproductive. I tend to try and leave $100 in there for unforseen things which happen only when you take it down to Zero! Not really a joke, the most common problem is the following scenario: Number one I don't like having my Credit Card attached to my Paypal so I change that circumstance on a weekly basis, I have been burned/scammed for several hundred dollars on a deal! Because I had a credit card they could do a chargeback on and did. So anyway mostly nowdays I do not have Credit Card attached to my Paypal. Here is my biggest problem: I have been screwed by E-Bay on numerous occasions, when I originally list an item everything is fine and dandy, but when I go to Re-List or use an existing Template of one of my previous listings, they play there little Bait and Switch game. When I pull down a Template from one of the items in my store, E-Bays Computor changes the duration from "Good Till Cancelled", to a Seven day listing. In my haste I miss this, and go ahead and list the item (I Forgot to look at Listing Duration, Who would, I used a Template, it shouldn't change!!!).
So a week later my listing ends, I am on Auto Pilot and go in and Re-List 20-30 listings manually. Don't give it much more thought but over time a few sell, and in the meantime I screw up and go and hit Re-List for all the listings that ended once again, How could you possible screw up if not for FUCjKEd Bay playing games. So anyway......3 months pass, and lo and behold I sell the 1955 Bowman Clint Courtney #34 Graded PSA 6 for $15.74 and I go to pull it out of the slot and it isn't there because I've sold it twice!
And the Bottom Line is, it has happened Three times in the last year and what do I do, Refund and Grovel ASAP !!! That's just one of the reasons why I want funds in my Paypal with immedeate access.
This is 100% E-Bay playing their Nickel and Dime games causing me to make a Mistake !!!
Sorry for the long story, but when Fee-Bay bends you over it is never simple, they have had 15 years to devise their Crap!!
Neil
<< <i>
>>
>>
Thanks, I ordered 1800 labels from your link and 2000 of the Green Scan me Stickers.
Thanks again for the info!
Neil
<< <i>Here all along I thought we were in the 21st century. >>
I'm just a little more behind the curve than most !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YeeHah
Neil
As for keeping funds available in your PayPal balance in case of an emergency, you can get around this by having a second PayPal account. Just gift yourself whatever funds you may need from the second account to the first and the money shows up instantly. You can even use the same checking account linked to both PayPal accounts. You just have to use different routing numbers. Virtually all banks have more than one valid and functioning routing number. HSBC has dozens, just as an example.
I don't understand how you pay for stuff that you buy if you don't have a credit card on file in your PayPal account. Do you always fund using a positive PayPal balance or your bank account? WHY????? If you get ripped off and PayPal for some reason sides with the seller (I know it only happens once out of probably every 10,000 SNAD disputes) you have no other recourse. You should be getting cash back on every purchase with a credit card as well as the ability to file a chargeback after PayPal screws you.
<< <i> #1. Wow I don't even know where to start, but I'll try. Your ebay listings have nothing to do with your PayPal account. Having a credit card (or prepaid Visa gift card) linked to your PayPal account has nothing to do with ebay billing or listing/final value fees. I don't have any financial information saved in my ebay account either, and I would advise you to do the same. But this has nothing to do with PayPal.
# 2. As for keeping funds available in your PayPal balance in case of an emergency, you can get around this by having a second PayPal account. Just gift yourself whatever funds you may need from the second account to the first and the money shows up instantly. You can even use the same checking account linked to both PayPal accounts. You just have to use different routing numbers. Virtually all banks have more than one valid and functioning routing number. HSBC has dozens, just as an example.
# 3. I don't understand how you pay for stuff that you buy if you don't have a credit card on file in your PayPal account. Do you always fund using a positive PayPal balance or your bank account? WHY????? If you get ripped off and PayPal for some reason sides with the seller (I know it only happens once out of probably every 10,000 SNAD disputes) you have no other recourse. You should be getting cash back on every purchase with a credit card as well as the ability to file a chargeback after PayPal screws you. >>
Afternoon,
#1 Do you always fund using a positive PayPal balance or your bank account? Yes and Yes If/When I occasionally need to have Credit card linked to my Paypal account I go to the Paypal site, My Profile, add one, then do the deal and then go back and delete it. I have no Financial info saved to my E-bay and the reason I like to have some funds available for immediate refunds is so I don't have to do the Credit card link too often. I usually only link it to my Papal when I do a Buy of over $1-2K. Having a credit card (or prepaid Visa gift card) linked to your PayPal account has nothing to do with ebay billing or listing/final value fees. I understand this and maybe wasn't clear, but that isnt why I like to have some funds in Paypal. its mainly for refunds. I also pay my $500 or so in monthly Fees owed to E-Bay straight from my Paypal balance, I find this more convienent, and call me Crazy but I even like to be ahead of my Fees and generally run a Credit with E-bay. That way if I get into a Buying mode for week or two and Sales are slow I don't have this big chunk I owe to E-bay with no funds in Paypal.
#2 Having a second Paypal account to be honest sounds like just more Financial complication then I need. My Wife and I have seperate finances and right now I have 4 Checking Accounts and 2 savings accounts just of mine, and I think she has like 3. I have my primary account for everyday living, Card account #1 tied to Paypal, Card Account #2 which is my Paypal sweep account from Card account #1, and then another account for keeping our Rental Properties seperate from our Household stuff. I need another account somewhere like a hole in the head.
#3 I only have one Credit Card (Lots of Debit cards), for Major Emergencies (From my Credit Union). My Wife and I made a consious Lifestyle change 3-4 years ago, I paid off 4-5K in Credit card debt after playing move the Debt around from 0% interest cards for many years before that, she paid off even more. We now have $0 Credit card debt and don't use Credit Cards, even to get Cash back, or Points, or Rewards, or whatever. I got rid off all of them (Except 1), closed all accounts and Have Zero Desire to play the Credit card game. I spend what I have and do not wish to ever spend more than I have ever again! And have no wish to have a relationship with any Credit cards ever again! Basically that is why I ramped up my E-Bay/Card thing about the same time frame because I am only allowed to spend what I make on my obsessions!!! Maybe I am a Lucky person, but in hundreds of deals on E-bay and here and elsewhere other then perhaps a little disappointment with something, I have never had and Desire/Need to do a Credit card Chargeback. And in selling, I have had maybe 2 Snads in the last 3-4 years. I hate to toot my own horn and brag, but describe what you have correctly, Ship like lightning, and when a problem starts, deal with it, refund, and BBL is your friend!!!!!
Neil
Having a second PayPal account has nothing to do with your wife. You just need a dummy account, nothing more.
<< <i>Sorry, I just think that it's stupid to leave money on the table when it's possible to get 4-6% back on every purchase you make using a combination of 6% cash back credit card and prepaid Visa gift cards.
Having a second PayPal account has nothing to do with your wife. You just need a dummy account, nothing more. >>
Evening,
No problem, we can agree to disagree on this one, I may be stupid, but I don't have any Credit Card Envelope's to open anymore, and can say with all honesty, until you start paying for everything in your Life with what you get paid in your Paycheck, then you don't understand the Freedom that some of us have doing this. I don't care about leaving a few dollars on the table................I went to the National this year with my Son and Paid for 100% of everything, dropped 5K, and had an awesome time, and didn't need to worry about coming home to the consequences, I had it all Pre-Paid (Meaning I had the Cash saved !!)
And as you said, I don't need another Dummy account, apperently I'm dummy enough on my own !!!
Thanks
YeeHah
Neil
Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford