lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 08:51:43 AM new
I am really tired of the poor customer service at channel advisor. I have continued to put up with them for a year now but feel it is time to part ways!
The only reason I have stayed was because of the way they handle our inventory numbers. When we set up an inventory item, it shows up in the ad view and then will show up on the customer invoice which allows me to go right to the postcard that person bought.
I make my ads, give my postcard a number, and that number is the name I use for my photo so I know when I can delete them as well.
I understand AW does not use your inventory number UKA or whatever they call it number to actually track the item through the sale process so...
My question is: After you list and have several hundred postcards ready to go how do you know what exact postcard to go to when you get ready to mail a sold one? Surely you don't look through your whole stack to get the ones that you receive payment for? So, AW must have some way to do this that works for you.
I would really appreciate it. I know you have answered my questions on AW before, but I am still worried about identifying sold cards. I relist everything and keep all unsold for FLDs so I might have hundreds or thousands of postcards listed before I go back to relist another one. With my numbering system I can now look at my final sales invoice and know exactly what that person bought no matter how old my actual ad is. How do you keep your inventory so you can easily find the paid items?
Actually, I would appreciate comments from anyone but the postcards seem to be the thing I have thousands of and need to track carefully to save hours of time trying to match up a photo with a sold item. I always relist everything every 90 days so it could get a little complicated unless AW has some easy way to identify sold items.
Thanks!
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on May 9, 2003 08:59:31 AM new
We tag everything we sell with the auction number right after we list it. Usually the item goes into a poly bag or sleeve. Then they go into plastic shoeboxes in numerical order. Picking is easy.
I'm a little surprised you don't sleeve your postcards...that would keep them clean and dust-free.
I buy poly bags both locally and from PaperMart. I generate labels with one of several Dymo LabelWriters, many of which were available inexpensively on eBay when the "PC postage" thing flopped.
--
California voters: Be a part of the first-ever successful gubernatorial recall! Defy media pundits! $21 million of our money is going down the tubes daily because of our incompetent corrupt governor. Visit http://www.recallgraydavis.com to download your recall petition.
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 09:31:14 AM new
Of course I sleeve the postcards!
But, I don't have the great sell through rate you do! I only have a 25 to 35% sell through so many of my postcards wind up in the box with my own inventory number on them through 3 or more listings on Ebay.
I may not sell it until a year after the first listing when it goes up on FLD and there will be thousands behind it. I keep them in long file drawers, all sleeved, with my inventory number because the Ebay number I sell it under is usually not the Ebay number I listed it under.
And, going back for every relist and changing that would be tooooooo time consuming. I actually tried that but when you are dealing with 20,000 items you just can't. You have to have your own tracking numbers.
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CBlev65252
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posted on May 9, 2003 09:51:16 AM new
Just a thought, but a lot of sellers put the inventory # in their title or description.
Cheryl
http://mygallery.timegonebuy.com/customer/kcskorner/kcskorner.html?
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 10:12:06 AM new
Lindajean,
I understand EXACTLY what you are describing. I sell magazine advertisements... and also have a low sell through rate (but high profit!). Here's what I do to organize my inventory.
1) Take a picture
2) Asign picture an Alpha-numeric number (A01, B22, J43 etc...)
3) Put the magazine ad in a poly-sleeve and WRITE the number on the sleeve in permament marker.
4) File them in alpha-numeric order
I don't keep a hard-copy record of the auctions that are currently active. BUT as soon as an auction ends... I record all the auction information (buyers id, auction number, etc...) on hard-copy. By viewing the auction at this time, I can move my mouse over the image that is in my listing. This shows me the name of the picture (my alpha-numeric code system), and then I record that number with the rest of the bidders information. When the bidder sends payment, I match the payment with my hard-copy record and pull the item from my files. It's a piece of cake! Hope that helps some!
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neonmania
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posted on May 9, 2003 10:19:35 AM new
If you can spare the room in your title, put the inventory number in the title itself at the end. Use a Letter+3 number code (A001, A002, etc) By using the letters you increase your cyle from 9999 pieces before repating or needing to take another space in your title to 25,974 pieces. By the time you cycle back around the original pieces with the number should be sold.
Hope this helps some - I used this when listing sports cards for a friend and it made things much easier to find the cards todelete the items from our inventory list once they were were sold. We used the inventory number as the picture name as well for the same reasons.
[ edited by neonmania on May 9, 2003 10:24 AM ]
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neglus
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posted on May 9, 2003 10:48:38 AM new
Wow..you all are a lot more sophisticated than I am!!
When I list my postcards i sleeve and file them in a box with ordinary file dividers according to the day the auction expires.. "mon-tues-weds-thurs etc etc...have about 2 weeks worth....
when I am ready to ship i print out the "my ebay" sold items (ok i don't do this every day..about 3 x's per week) and separate the "sold" and "unsold" ones (if they arent on "sold list" then they are "unsold" . Now that "my ebay" shows paid through PP I separate paypal from the others...I place the sold postcards in rigid plastic sleeves at this point and process the PP right away (that is usually more than half of my sales)..i keep the new stack separate from the other "sold not shipped" cards because the checks I process next will be in the older group.
the unsold ones are grouped together and labelled "unsold and the date" and filed in my "relist" box.
I use VENDIO "post sale" to do my bookeeping...I faithfully update "paid" and send "shipment notification" when I ship the postcards and do feedback at that time. Vendio has a very good search engine so that I just have to input the last 4 digits of the ebay # (or the name of the town etc if i dont know the number) to find the postcard i want to update..three clicks and I am done...
When i want to do relists I go to my "unsold" pile and then to VENDIO "post sale" "unsold items" and find the postcards (they are sorted by dates)...i edit them as needed (changing the price to one ending in "8" so i know they are relisted)and then scehdule launch...i file the relists with the new lists in the appropriate date. When I am relisting, if the price of the postcard in the "unsold" list ends in "8" i know I have already relisted it and decide whether or not I will place it in my store, relist it again, or start over at some later date. (probably a free listing day). I keep the unsold-unrelisted postcards by date so I can easily find them on FLD.
Not very sophisticated but it works! I have lost only one card in thousands i have worked with..(I had houseguests and i blame them!)I don't know if this system would work with larger volume - I try to have between 300-400 auctions running at one time with goal of 50/day.
VENDIO is also very good with system for following up payments...POST SALE "unpaid items"..I send reminders etc through that.
So, yes I do go through my stack when i ship my postcards but I don't think it takes as much time as worrying about inventory numbers etc...and the stack is greatly reduced after the first shipment because of all the PayPal payments.
I didn't know you sold Postcards Fluffy! And you have that fantastic sell through rate?? I have about 30% too Linda ... I finally realized that it is whole lot less work for me to ship one $7.00 postcard than 2+ lower priced ones! If they don't sell they will someday!
Hope this helps!
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on May 9, 2003 10:58:01 AM new
I didn't know you sold Postcards Fluffy!
I don't. I don't have that kind of endurance. I could never, like lindajean does, save up unsolds all year long to list on FLD. That would make me nuts.
The name of the game in this neighborhood is "more inventory turns == more cash for Fluffy".
I think it takes a special temperament to sell postcards.
--
California voters: Be a part of the first-ever successful gubernatorial recall! Defy media pundits! $21 million of our money is going down the tubes daily because of our incompetent corrupt governor. Visit http://www.recallgraydavis.com to download your recall petition.
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neonmania
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:02:28 AM new
While I have you postcard sellers attention - my mother recently came across some postcards that my grandfather had sent home from France while there during WWII. Some I believe are cards that he wrote notes home on and that are postmarked, others are unmarked that were just sent home to show some of the sights. Do these typpes of cards have any value?
[ edited by neonmania on May 9, 2003 11:03 AM ]
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:09:52 AM new
Neglus: I am only running about 100 a week but hope to increase that to about 500 soon.
Keeping up with my inventory number is really pretty easy because I never have to handle the postcard again until it is actually sold and paid for. They go in large storage boxes in numerical order (my inventory number) and when sold I just pull that one and slip it in the envelope.
I know what to relist by checking out my unsold listings on CA and assume AW still has the same? I usually wait about 6 to 8 weeks to relist so I will have a new audience since most of my postcards are bought by people who either live or have lived in the towns the cards are from.
I agree about pricing. I haven't gotten brave enough to raise my price to $7.00 yet, but I used to be one of those $4.00 sellers. I decided the work was already done when ad is made and that I have the same sell through rate each time I relist if I give it enough space between listings, so I upped the fee to $5.00 and have the money built in for the 3 relists it usually takes.
Neonmania: I can't spare the space. I really need more as it is. I try to list the city and what the card features in the title and have to shorten things as it is. I used to do that but have found my sell through rate pick up from 20 to 25% to now 30%+ with better descriptions.
eauctionmgnt: I am going to go check that out now. You mean if I run my mouse over the picture it will show me the name? From the Ebay page? I always use my inventory number for the photo name so that would work great.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I have to do something. I actually left AW because they had so many problems a year or so ago, and now CA has more and I think AW has worked theirs out. So, if I can figure out this inventory thing I will be back!
[ edited by lindajean on May 9, 2003 11:10 AM ]
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:21:44 AM new
eauctionmgnt: THANK YOU!!!
I actually had to right click and go to properties to see my photo name, but there it was and I am sooooo excited!
That will let me keep up with all of them.
Now, I have one more little question for anybody?
When an item ends without selling where does it go on AW? If I relist it does it disappear from some "unsold" list or when i relist if that one doesn't sell either will I now have 2 items showing up as "unsold" when I actually only have 1.
Does that make any sense?
And, yes, the profit margin is still very good even with the relists so for those who toss everything after it doesn't sell the first time, please don't think I have lost my mind.
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:27:01 AM new
Lindajean,
Glad to help! The reason this works on listings through Vendio is because the image is put in with a LINK to a larger image. Just about all browsers will show you the URL for the link at the bottom of your browswer window. The URL should look something like:
Link:http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/viewimage.x/000000000/YOURUSERNAME/FILENAME
When I realized how easy it was to quickly access this information I was thrilled! There's another thing you might be interested in about Vendio that works great for me. AUTOMATIC RELISTS! I agree with the rest of you that it is better to have a high-price on low-sell-through items. (let's face it... our items are worth the price, we just need enough exposure for the right person to see them!) Vendio now lets you set up auctions that will automatically relists your items if they don't sell. So... if you list an item on sunday... it will relists on sunday immediately after it ends (if it hasn't gotten a bid). This way, you're getting as many weeks of auctions as you want to pay for (I usually choose 3), BUT you're not investing ANY extra time. Now... if they'd just support eBay stores I'd be set!
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:31:38 AM new
Lindajean,
Vendio has three main sections in the sales manager. Active listings, pending listings and Closed listings. (all self explanatory). Once you relist an auction from your closed listings, it remains in the closed listings section... UNLESS you archive it. Then it dissappears and you don't see it any more. The great thing is that if you use the Auto-matic relist feature... it AUTOMATICALLY archives the listing for you so that you don't have a duplicate closed listing for an active auction. Hope that helps some more! (I'm getting the feeling you might be joining the rest of us Vendio users soon!)
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:36:41 AM new
Sounds great!
I will use the rest of this week to copy my ads I have pending on CA and my pics are already stored on my hard drive so I will be joining you all soon.
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neglus
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:36:57 AM new
You might want to rethink your inventory numbering if you plan to switch to Vendio ...Vendio does have the unsold items (sorted by date of auction end) ..I just checked and my items from Sept 2002 are still there...as far as i know there is no way to identify or sort by your own inventory number....this is why I just sort by date and the actual postcard rather than a number. I don't handle my pc's outside of the rigid sleeve very often..once they are inside that, nothing could harm them!
I just shipped 93 postcards yesterday and 72 on Monday and will ship only the PP's tomorrow..my system works well with this volume. I only process checks and mo's once a week...and don't hold checks to clear (haven't been burned yet knock on wood)..I figure if they think I can wait for their payement then I think they can wait for their postcard!
Did you get your new envelopes? I got mine and they are heavier than my older ones BUT i ordered the cheaper sleeves and they were lighter so I am crossing my fingers I will be ok on weight! Going to the postoffice now!
Email me!
Mary Ann
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neglus
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:51:48 AM new
I don't use the Automatic Relist function because I change my price and sometimes the description (edit the listings)...can you do that with the Auto Relist function? Can you schedule when the Auto-relist will occur (as in 3 weeks from today?) The profit margin soon gets eaten up with all the relists on 60% of your items. (My sales rate on relists is well below 33% so I pick and choose what I will relist and when)
Also some of my postcards are not worth relisting ad infinitum...
better to hold them or put in the eBay store for $.06/month or free in the Vendio store.
[ edited by neglus on May 9, 2003 11:59 AM ]
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dacreson
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posted on May 9, 2003 11:53:11 AM new
eauctionmgnt: THANK YOU!!!
Ditto!!! I did not know you could do that?
Likly never tried. I also use my picture letters/number as an SKU (Stock control number). It also tells me who owns it or where came from so I can track wholesale costs (Cxx is mine; Bxx consigned; 3euxx
Third buy from this guy (I know I paid $xx.00 for total 3eu stock). If I have muti pictures is 3eua, 3eub, 3euc, etc. As others I mark my stock with my SKU number and DOUBLE check upon shipping to prevent errors.
As to record keeping the only thing I do different is print page one only of sale. I log SKU # and postal S/H (Mine vary) and then log status of payment, shipment, DC/I number etc and then log is Excel and finally file. I have had to pull hard copies several times in the past and always is useful.
Good thread I learned something today
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:02:37 PM new
Neglus, I think my numbering system will still work on Vendio.
I will keep my unsold sorted by date and when I relist I just relist everything 9 weeks old anyway. Then, I will archive all those and they will be gone.
I'm not worried about harming the postcards, but about the extra time and work in sorting and resorting.
It is so easy to have them all listed and ready to pull when needed. I may have thousands of them ready for the next FLD (if there is one) and I think I can keep track through archiving and relisting by date. Hope so anyway.
I think Vendio will be much more expensive for me than CA was. It was only $29.95 a month there. But, the ability to list offline, etc. should make up the difference. Plus, if I have a slow month the price will go down so it will all level out.
I'm a little concerned about the pics not being kept more than 90 days and about the archive function only being 3 months. I'm not sure how I will handle that. Now, everything is kept until I delete it.
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:08:20 PM new
Neglus,
The Auto-relist is an instantaneous relist, and does not give you the opportunity to adjust any content of the auction. You also can not set it to automatically relist at a different time. In otherwords... if your 7-day auction was launched on Sunday... the automatic relist will be launched on the following Sunday. (minutes after the original ended). I've talked to Vendio Customer service about this and suggested they allow us to have it automatically relist at a different time... but they didn't seem interested.
Dacreson,
Glad to help! That's what's great about these boards. Shared knowledge makes all of our lives easier!
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:12:23 PM new
Lindajean,
I was just about to bring up the archive-image issue for you. There is an image-hosting tab in Vendio that you can click on to view all your images. If an image is nearing deletion... it will have a warning in red-text. To stop the image from deletion, you just click on the image thumbnail... it will load the image for you to view... then the image is good for another 90 days. It's a little bit of extra work... but not too bad if you browse through your image every week or two.
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on May 9, 2003 12:24 PM ]
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:20:55 PM new
Does Vendio still give you 90 days before they delete the images? If so, it will rarely be a problem as I usually relist every 60 days.
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:24:08 PM new
Lindajean,
You might want to take a very close look at the different pricing plans Vendio offers as well. I use the Annual listing plan which is great for me. It costs $250 a year +0.06 per listing. I've developed an Excel spreadsheet that takes into consideration your average sell-through rate, your average selling cost, and the average number of items you list a month. Using this information, I have a break-down showing what each one of the different Vendio plans would cost. For example... for you if your average sell through rate is 25%-35% and your average selling price is $5.00, and you list 2000 items a month... your best plan would be the Variable Rate Power Plan (would save you about 50% in comparison to some of the other plans.) If you want a copy of this spreadsheet... just post your e-mail id and I'll be glad to send it to you! Hope that helps!
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:25:36 PM new
Lindajean...
Ooopss you're right... Vendio does still give you 90 days! I went back and edited my post to reflect that. As long as you relist every 60 days it shouldn't be a problem!
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neglus
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posted on May 9, 2003 12:27:14 PM new
Isn't it still $29.95 here? The FVF is really negligible...and you get the store (I use it as a gallery) for free..make sure you select the right Vendio plan though! I use the Variable Power Plan and if your sales are $3,000/mo the 1.5% FVF would only add $45 to your bill...and the scheduling of auctions & post sale management and image hosting ( i have 4400 images stored) are well worth it!
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 01:10:51 PM new
Thanks Neglus. I will probably go that way as well.
eu: I would appreciate the spreadsheet. You can send it to me at:
[email protected]
Thanks for all the help. CA just admitted they had no clue when things would run well again on their site, and they can't even figure out what the problem is. (and don't seem to be in too big a hurry to fix it either).
Vendio may be getting a lot of business soon 
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eauctionmgnt
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posted on May 9, 2003 01:31:57 PM new
lindajean,
The spreadsheets on its way!
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lindajean
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posted on May 9, 2003 01:46:24 PM new
I got it! Thanks for all the great help.
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