Sending money through Paypal

Here's a trick I used just this week when I needed to send money to private person thru Paypal (as opposed to paying for an item on eBay, etc.):

After you log into your account page, find the Send Money tab at the top.  That takes you to another page where you fill in the person’s email (Paypal ID) and the amount to send.  Under that you’ll see a box with 2 tabs: Purchase or Personal.  Choose the one marked Personal, which will give you more choices (gift, payment owed, etc.).  I usually choose Payment Owed.  Hit Send.  The person you are sending money to will not pay any fees to receive the money.

Packing Fragile Items

You want to make sure that your package arrives to your customer in the same condition you sent it.  That seems easy enough. But sometimes I have received a poorly packaged item.

Here's how I pack, and it's how I suggest you pack too:

This shows the item inside a box (the blue box), where it has its own layer of styrofoam or other cushioning. Then that box is surrounded by two to three inches of additional cushioning, and that's inside another box.

Nothing is perfectly safe, of course, but so far I have had no items damaged while being shipped to a customer when it's been packed this way. On the other hand, I have received sometimes damaged items and that happened because the packing wasn't good enough for the chance of rough handling.

Time to Get to Work!

Monday morning--a new week!  Time to get organized and get some things listed!

Look at all these great books I found at the Salvation Army Thrift store last week--I like the prices at SA over the ones at Goodwill.  Hardcover books (here) at SA are 50¢ and paperback are 3/$1.  But GW prices are $2 and $1!  Big difference!  And, I think the overall pricing system at SA is better than GW....

Any sportsmen out there?  Notice those two old Shooter's Bibles?  One is dated 1951 and the other is 1960 (I paid a bit more than regular price for those--even SA knew they were special  LOL).

The shoes?  Oh yes!  Anytime you find good quality (watch for expensive brands, too) leather shoes at a good price, grab them up!  Also, look for dance shoes, larger sizes, and narrow or wide sizes--all will eventually sell!

Don't laugh at me!

Now, don’t you laugh—I sold another Hippo Birdie Two Ewe mug!  Husband John thought the first one I sold was crazy and just shook his head in disbelief when I found a second one (after sending the first one to Australia). 

The second one has been listed just a couple of weeks, and it sold tonight!  Whoo Hoo! (Now I need to go find another—wouldn’t that be a trip!)

Free Shipping!

I tried something new for my birthday—I set everything in my eBay store to free shipping for 24 hours.  It was a learning experience to say the least!

I may be changing my opinion on the Free Shipping option—if you recall, I’ve always said it isn’t worth it because I’d have to raise prices on each item to offset the shipping.  And in doing so, my eBay fees will raise due to the higher final price.  That’s true, but it seems the free shipping icon attracts more sales, so if I’m moving more items out of my store, it balances out…

On the other hand, I sold a few items that cost me extra to ship, so I didn’t make much on them (men’s shoes that cost me $10.20 to send). 

So, I think I will start offering FREE shipping when I know the shipping will be fairly minimal: such as when selling a smaller item where the shipping may be around  $3.00 or less to send it via flat rate or media mail.  That will make customers happy, and happy customers might look around at my other listings, and buy more!

What do you think?  Do you use Free Shipping much?

Orange Goop and Books

Orange Goop is a cream-like substance that mechanics use to clean the grime off of their hands. It is sold in the dollar stores around my area. It is great for removing sticky residue off of book covers—you know those sticky price tags that thrift shops, etc. put on books!

Probably any similar product that mechanics use to clean their hands would work just as well. Just, don't buy expensive products for removing stickers from books-- check out your dollar(or less) discount stores.

Another thought: the dollar stores themselves are filled with valuable treasures: just last week I sold a wonderful children's book (brand new) that I bought there for a dollar and sold on eBay for $9.99.  I always check out books at our dollar Store.  They have many new books with dust jacket books (without remainder marks) that make great gifts for holiday giving and great books for selling on eBay.

Look What I Found Last Night!

I made an impromptu stop at Goodwill last night...nothing better to do, right?  I found a few "goodies" that I will try to get listed today.

Puzzles are hard to sell unless they have a unique theme (like aliens!), and look at that cookbook on things to do with a store-bought rotisserie chicken!  The Grinch's Chrismas is a favorite, so even if it doesn't sell this year, I'm sure it will by next year.  And look:  I found another Hippo Birdie 2 ewes mug!  I sold one just like it to someone in Australia just a few weeks ago.  What fun!