Don’t Let Customers Tell You What To Do!

Recently, I sold an item on eBay. I received an email shortly after, telling me that I had charged enough for shipping and should ship it in a Priority flat rate box.

1. The item would not fit in a flat rate box.

2. She should have checked that out before purchasing the item right?

When I let her know that the item wouldn’t fit in the flat rate box, she told me she only really wanted a small piece of the item and I could just take that off and mail it to her.

Here’s where the “don’t let customers tell you what to do” comes in.

If I would have taken off a piece of the item and mailed her only that small part of the auction, I would have been opening up myself for a “item not as described” dispute.

There’s no way I could have fought eBay or Paypal on this if I sent her less than 1/4 of what was listed in the auction.

She had high feedback, and while I hope she was honest, I felt that a customer with high feedback knows that the rules don’t let me get away with sending a partial item. If she had been brand new, maybe I could believe that she didn’t know.

I simply sent her an email that I wasn’t at liberty to mail her just a part of the auction and that I would be shipping it as stated or I could cancel the transaction.

She said, “Just send it.”
I did and held my breath. Thankfully everything turned out great and I got positive feedback.

The moral of the story is you do what you know is right and what the venue you sell on requires of you. You may have to stand up to your customer, but I’d rather have one back out of a sale than win a “not as described” dispute because I was willing to bend the rules.

Questions

We received this question in a comment

Hi. I am just wondering…I sell on ebay and have for years. I kinda understand maybe, why you made your website. To make money from the advertising? Because it sort of hurts us, the small ebay sellers who find their items in various less than convential ways, i.e. thrift, flea markets, garage sales. You are giving all our secrets away and creating more savvy thrift store shoppers! Wouldn’t it be better to keep your secrets a secret? Just curious…

So are you telling me that you make it to every thrift store, flea market and garage sale in your entire region? If  so, then I could understand your concerns.

We share because there is no way possible for every eBay seller to hit every venue in their area.

We share because one seller cannot possibly specialize in all the areas of expertise to sell online.

We share because we have had good success and we’re willing to help others.

We share because other people share with us.

We share because learning how to sell online is overwhelming and we’re happy to help other people just like others helped us!

Advertising money? haha! We’ve had  ONE paid ad in 2 years–you’re funny though!

We do not give away all our secrets–if we have found an item that’s a hot seller and every one in the country has access to it, we don’t share that. But used items that are selling well? The likelihood of very many people finding it is pretty slim.

And honestly, we’d rather another small time eBay seller know that an item  is a good seller so they know to grab it when they’re out thrifting. Wouldn’t you want another small time seller to profit from an item that you will never see because you only get to a limited area of thrift stores?

If Rachel and I were able to thrift at every last thrift store, flea market, and garage sale in the entire country, than I guess we wouldn’t share tips, but until that is possible we will keep sharing what we learn with others.
 

 

Online Selling Tip of the Week~Taxes

Enter your receipts into your spread sheet a few times each month, (I do mine weekly, it only takes a few minutes.)  and you’ll save yourself a lot of time when it’s time to file your taxes.

Using Pinterest For Your Business

Have you considered using Pinterest for your business?

Pinterest specifically asks that you not use Pinterest only for promoting your business and to follow etiquette, you probably shouldn’t post a majority of pins from your own things. But I believe it’s acceptable to post a few things from your shop–perhaps on a board devoted to your business. That way people aren’t stuck following your business pins if they are not interested in them.

I have an account on Pinterest that I use so I can find all my bookmarks and remember why I actually bookmarked them in the 1st place. I also “pin” things that I think are pretty or funny just because I feel like it. I doubt that I’ll ever do a majority of the things I pin, but I like looking for ideas now and then.

I created a board for my Etsy shop which you can see here. A great tip is to type the price in the description. If you do so, a banner appears across the photo advertising the price.

So, have you considered using Pinterest as a way to share your business?

Do you have Pinterest boards? Share a link in the comments.

This Week’s Weekly Woo Hoo~A Twist

This week, let’s shake up the weekly woo on Friday.

Instead of listing something great you sold–share a link to the most interesting, funny, weird, beautiful, crazy (you pick) item in your store.

I’m telling you today to give you time to think about which item you’d like to add.

1. Limit 1 link per person.

2. Must be family friendly.

3. Share a description of it–where you found it or what you like about it.

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