Seller Club Podcast
Seller Club Podcast
Episode 88: Top 5 Bad Habits
How are your habits? Have you checked on them lately? Today we talk through Glen’s list of the top 5 bad ones that eBay sellers tend to have - plus a bonus or two. In the reselling grind, habits play a big role. Join us for this discussion and consider your own!
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Solar Club Podcast episode number 88. This is the big eight. Eight. World. World there. I cut that beat. Summer days are coming to an end. Well kind of. It's still gonna be super hot for a while. Uh but um sad news also celebrity deaths have been going on.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, they're yes, it's been such a sad week.
SPEAKER_02:I know, yeah. Big one was, you know, during the time of recording. WWE Legend. Oh code, right? Yep.
SPEAKER_00:I I I feel like is it me?
SPEAKER_02:Because I when I'm reading all this, I was like, this has to be AI. This has to be like fake. Really? You know, like I that's kind of like what I feel now with where we're at.
SPEAKER_00:But like hopefully you're not accidentally reporting something that's AI.
SPEAKER_02:Right, like no, isn't that weird, right? Like, um, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:That's kind of just like and then people kind of say that like deaths happen in threes or something like that. Yes. Oh isn't that like a theory?
SPEAKER_02:Three's not a yeah, it's yeah, three's not a good number.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:No, but that that's what people say. Like, yeah, celebrity deaths. And the first one that I heard of was Ozzy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know if if Hulk Hogan's two or three.
SPEAKER_02:And then there was another one I did not know. Yeah, there's another one. Okay, so there's already been three. That's a guy that uh that was uh he went on a swim and drowned.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, that's right. Yeah, from uh the Cosby show that he was Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:He was like 50s.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's right. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he went on a swim by himself. Like, you just don't swim by yourself. You never you shouldn't. Um that's a pro tip for uh for everybody and from somebody that's been around water, you just don't swim by yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:There's literally Facebook groups that have like when celebrities die, there's like eBay sellers ready to sell their stuff, or like they tell everybody like I know.
SPEAKER_00:So is this um is this episode about how not to have an eBay store in poor taste? Wait till they're gonna be able to do that. In my opinion, that is kind of poor taste.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:No, that is I mean, go ahead and sell it. But being like ringing the bell and letting everybody know, hey, time to sell all your whatever.
SPEAKER_02:At the end of the day, too, though, and here's the crazy part. You don't even you I don't think you have to be told because you're if you have a lot of his stuff or her stuff, just pop off. It'll just pop off. Yeah, but there's people that are probably ready to raise the prices. 100%.
SPEAKER_05:That's like the Kobe thing. I mean, remember Ken how much Kobe stuff we had? Oh, yeah. I was like, what is going on? Yeah, and then sure enough.
SPEAKER_00:So sad. That's like how you found out? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I did, I did. Glenn called me. I was like at lunch, it was I think it was a Sunday I was at lunch, and then Glenn called me, and I was like, Yeah, I was like, Have you heard? I'm like, and I was just like, oh no, because like I look at my phone and it was all my Kobe stuff sold. And I'm like, golly, but that is really sad. Um, but yeah, because but there's that. Um writing note, um, episode 88, it's 88 degrees here.
SPEAKER_00:I'm pretty sure it's 98 degrees here. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I I just look at my computer, it says heat advisory today.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right. Yeah. It is hot. It's funny though, because like at least at the time that this episode airs, we will be just a couple weeks away from going to Vegas for eBay Open in person, which is now officially sold out. So if you still want to join, you can, but it will be virtual, which is also great because it's free. Um, and there's gonna be really cool stuff um on the virtual side for eBay open, but I'm just thinking, how much hotter is it gonna be in the desert?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it's gonna be mid-August. 110.
SPEAKER_00:I know.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm probably 110.
SPEAKER_00:I'm already trying to preemptively stay hydrated.
SPEAKER_02:Um also, you know how they say like bad luck I'm in three? No, because Cellar Club's gonna be there. There's gonna be three people in the podcast booth.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Uh um, you know, we finally got all the confirmations. We're gonna be there. Um, we even have three cool stickers that we're dropping. If you're listening, we're gonna have exclusive stickers every day. So Tuesday we're gonna drop one. It's gonna be yeah, and you're only allowed to get one. You have to be present. You can't be like, I gotta get one for my buddy. Not one handful. No, no, one sticker, because this is limited run. Um limited run. Yeah, and Vegas exclusive only. Yeah, there's Vegas exclusive only. So um it's gonna be a fun time. Um we we are gonna get sellers and possibly eBay employees on the podcast. We're gonna bring a whole podcast setup there. Um we're gonna have some fun and surprises. And I should just break it to the people that are listening. If you're gonna be there, come to our booth. Because well, rhymes with cellar club are cellar snacks.
SPEAKER_00:Ken, do you know what rhyme means? Listen, they definitely go together, but I can't.
SPEAKER_01:They go together. Cellar club and seller snacks. They are the same. They go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_00:See, people think, okay, these jokers talk about snacks all the time, but we are gonna put our money where our mouth is on this. Exactly. Like big money. Make sure you stop by.
SPEAKER_02:Big money. There's gonna be snacks for everybody. We got Glenn's edimami snack. Um, I got my mango. Anna's got uh white chocolate for her, and uh cheddar um.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, white cheddar cheeses, the best.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So so yeah, plus many more.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, a lot. Like good snacks. Like, this ain't no cheap snacks. This is good snacks, seller club cha chain snacks. So y'all, y'all gotta be there.
SPEAKER_00:It's gonna be so fun. I can't wait.
SPEAKER_02:And it's the 30th year, you know, it's gonna it's a birthday. So that's true. And we're gonna have a big booth. Gonna have a bigger booth, bigger booth than other other sponsors. Not bragging, but I am bragging.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Like, check out the sides of our booth, you guys.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I don't know. Just like a big hustle bee blown up, huge.
SPEAKER_00:Like, listen, if there was ever a time to wear the B suit, this is it.
SPEAKER_05:It'll be now.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, no, don't do that, the Glenn. Don't do that, because he will.
SPEAKER_05:It's already retired in a frame.
SPEAKER_00:I'm just saying. It's it's Vegas. Like, do it. It better be a sequin B suit for that matter.
SPEAKER_05:True, true. If emergency, break glass, and I'm gonna have to get it out from the frame. Yeah, the frame. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It is gonna be awesome. I really can't wait. I'm really excited that it's sold out, too. That means we have a lot of sellers to meet and hang out with and talk to, and it's gonna be a blast.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, like I said, make sure you stop by, get your sticker, ch you know, let's chat. Um, you know, let's let's prove the world that summer slowdown is not real.
SPEAKER_00:I think I'm doing that. Ironically, I think I'm the one doing that this month, you guys.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, sales are fantastic.
SPEAKER_00:Best July of my entire eBay career. Oh but it's I am running a big sale, like or a couple, like a series of big sales, but I'm very surprised how well things are still selling. I mean, it's like it is popping off.
SPEAKER_02:So that's good. I mean, I I I talked to some people. Um, I talked to Sneakers Envy and he's selling some winner apparel.
SPEAKER_00:Same.
SPEAKER_02:Crazy.
SPEAKER_00:So maybe I should talk to Sneakers Envy. We need to talk.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I'm I'm 10% down month to month. Uh not bad. Not bad. Not bad.
SPEAKER_00:My entire zone last month. But I wasn't running such aggressive sales last month. But still, I'm just like, honestly, guys, I'm like, wow, Q4 is right around the corner. I'm probably gonna be sourcing more in Q4 again, and I need to like be ready and like literally have space.
SPEAKER_02:So I And or be ready and stock up because Q4's coming.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know how uh well we'll still have solid September and October. Um I'm kind of probably gonna take August off. Uh family's gonna be here. Um and it's my birthday month. Come on, I gotta take them off somehow.
SPEAKER_00:Well, honestly, that's that's been July for me, not my birthday month, but I've pretty much like I haven't really listed anything new. Um, I have stuff, I have sourced a good bit, and I have just been selling and selling and selling, and that's mainly what I've been doing. So for me, once we're back from eBay Open, I'm gonna be like back to listing again. But yeah, it's just like take a break while you can, enjoy your actual life where it makes the most sense, you know. How about you?
SPEAKER_02:How's your sales?
SPEAKER_05:Uh last 31 days, I'm down 41.1%.
SPEAKER_00:Ouchy.
SPEAKER_05:I know somebody's not listing. Someone's not listing or running sales. What is he doing here?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know what you guys are doing. I thought we all agreed we were having a summer surge, and it sounds like I'm the only one doing it.
SPEAKER_05:Well, whatnot has definitely been surging, but eBay has not been surging.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well then that counts because that's still part of your overall business.
SPEAKER_02:That counts. Still a big part. So uh, well, Glenn's bringing a topic today that we don't have a clue about. So I think we should uh jump right to it.
SPEAKER_00:Um cluelessness. My favorite way to be.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. I was gonna say Anna's favorite style.
SPEAKER_00:It's always fun. Glenn always makes it fun.
SPEAKER_05:All right, we already know what we do. Top ten, top fives, top threes, things like that. Today is top five bad habits. Every eBay seller needs to break.
SPEAKER_02:I like that, I like that, I like that.
SPEAKER_00:I bet I know what one is.
SPEAKER_05:Oh no. What about okay, so bad habits. Just thinking about that in general. What are some bad habits that don't have to do with eBay that you would like to break?
SPEAKER_04:Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_00:First and life?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. A bad habit. Maybe like eating chips before bed. No, you know what?
SPEAKER_02:You know what? I I you if you talked to me four months ago, I had a really good answer. We did talk to you four months ago. Well, if you asked this question. If you asked this question four months ago, it would be donuts and ice cream. I haven't had ice cream in a long time. I mean, I haven't had donuts in a long time. I don't even remember last time I had donuts.
SPEAKER_05:And it's summer, it's perfect for ice cream.
SPEAKER_02:I'm surprised. Um, I've been doing some uh, well, I don't know if it's ice cream, but they're like fruit desserts.
SPEAKER_00:Fruit desserts.
SPEAKER_02:They're fruit pops. So that's not ice cream. No, right? Because it doesn't have a cream. It's not dairy. Or like dairy adjacent. Yeah, it's like it's like sorbet. Yeah, it's like pineapple, like real fruit, like 45 calorie per serving.
SPEAKER_00:I love like the Mexican popsicles that are like some kind of fruit and like coconut framework.
SPEAKER_05:I wish we had those.
SPEAKER_00:They're so good. I have them in my freezer right now.
SPEAKER_05:So Annan can have no bad habits, nothing to protect.
SPEAKER_00:I have so many bad habits. I'm struggling to like narrow them. One big one I will say is leaving, like not ever cleaning out my car and just like living like a slob in my car.
SPEAKER_05:My car is like full of slobs.
SPEAKER_00:I just tell people like this is my work truck. Like, I don't even treat it like a regular vehicle at this point. It's really bad. I think it's really bad.
SPEAKER_05:The bad thing is that my inventory storage unit is looking slobish, just like the car, just like my office, just like everything else. So it's starting to take over, but I think that's definitely number one is like cleaning and organizing, like tidiness. Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, it's because days go by so quick that I'm just like trying to do so many things, and then they just like pile up.
SPEAKER_00:Literally.
SPEAKER_05:I know it's pretty much like a lasagna of junk.
SPEAKER_00:Mmm, I love lasagna.
SPEAKER_05:It's like layers.
SPEAKER_02:My uh my bad would be uh sleeping late. I still haven't broken it.
SPEAKER_05:I go to bed late.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:At 1 a.m., 2 a.m.
SPEAKER_02:Not that late anymore. I think I'm getting better, right? But it's too bad because it was so bad that I would be, you know, sleeping at 3, you know. And then I I moved it back to now like 11:30.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that's a pretty good thing.
SPEAKER_02:Which I want it to be at like nine to ten, probably ten optimally. It's kinda hard to sleep at ten when it's bright at nine. You know what I'm saying? Like it's so hard to kind of like kind of like land your brain or something like that. Um I think I have uh my bad habit is like leaving stuff unfinished and starting a new thing. I don't know if that's a bad habit, but I think that's a behavioral issue. That's a behavioral issue. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_00:That is a good one.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, because I I mean like now finally JC figured it out, because like, hey babe, and then I say, Can we do that later? And I just don't hear her, and I just start doing it. And and there's our stuff like later. I said later, yeah, yeah, and then I'm just like still doing it. I was like, okay, I'll I'll I'll try. But no. So um, but no, um, we're all a work in progress, so I can't wait to uh talk more about this bad habits.
SPEAKER_05:Alright, top five bad habits. Every eBay seller needs to break number five poor or inaccurate item specifics. Leaving out that lines up with one of mine.
SPEAKER_00:I wrote down what I think they are. Oh see how many I get right.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, leaving out important details or not disclosing defects may lead to returns and or negative feedback.
SPEAKER_00:That's what mine said, not disclosing flaws.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think that's a this is a big one for a lot of the uh thrifting, the goodwills, the bins. You gotta be really sharp. You gotta be gotta be sharp on it. Exactly. On a lot of these defects, because most of the stuff you're gonna get is pre-owned, pre-worn, pre-loved.
SPEAKER_02:Pre-loved. Right, right. But here's the thing too, Glenn. Yeah, that is a good point.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, what if someone hated it?
SPEAKER_02:No, but I think but I think some people in the brand new retail art people are more sloppy because they get too complacent.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. They're not checking for little flaws, like you know, defects, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And and that's why like I don't I don't buy white sneakers just for that fact of there's a it got dropped sideways, you know, and if it gets dropped sideways, it gets to like the toe box, done. Like we literally had one that had like a pen mark, and it was like in the inside. Um JC's very thorough. Um but sometimes I always say like, oh man, you're taking too much time trying to, you know, clean this pair, trying to wipe the bottom. But at the same time, like, you know, when you say brain, some of the stuff that we ha we get are tried on. You know, like and and those are things that you have to double check. Um Yeah, that is that is a I agree, that is a bad habit. I feel like I feel like it takes more energy trying to fix that later, right? Because now you gotta deal with the repercussion, negative feedback, um, complaints, and stuff like that. So unless you have a thousand listings like Anna, that'd be tough.
SPEAKER_00:A thousand? You mean four and a half thousand? Oh which is down by like about two thousand because I purged again. Oh, all right.
SPEAKER_05:We gotta talk about this purging.
SPEAKER_00:That's not what we're talking about, but we can talk about this.
SPEAKER_01:That might be a bad habit. Purging all your not purging.
SPEAKER_00:No, that is the truth right there. But again, here nor there. Let's keep up the train on the tracks, Glenn.
SPEAKER_05:Alright, we'll go to number four. Uh, low quality photos, blurry, dark, generic images uh can reduce buyer trust and lower visibility in search. But with I think with the photos, what makes it tough though are the stock photos. I feel like so many sellers are still using them. And obviously they're the cleanest, but I worry if people think that I'm selling like an inauthentic item or something. Yeah, because it's like too generic.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So I don't know if that actually helps or not.
SPEAKER_00:I I may have already mentioned this on the podcast. I can't remember, but I did have somebody fairly recently message me on a listing. It was a sneakers listing of mine, and they said, show me the actual pair. And I was like, This is the actual pair. And they're like, Oh my bad, thought it was a stock photo. And I'm like, Well, thank you very much. It was not a stock photo. I took that photo.
SPEAKER_02:That's why you don't use white background.
SPEAKER_00:But like, it was not a stock photo anyway. It wasn't perfect by any means. Yeah, especially when they saw it.
SPEAKER_02:Especially when they saw it filleted.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, Ken hates it. I do this on purpose now just to bother him. All my shoes, I'll like flip them like on their sides, like soles together, so they look like and he's like, that looks like it's filleted open. It's terrible. I hate it. So now I make sure and do that in my sneaker listing. I'll send like my camera roll of all those shoes.
SPEAKER_02:It's like a fillet or a butterfly when I'm looking at a com some like this ass would be anything.
SPEAKER_00:Well, usually I don't make it the first picture, but I guess it's sometimes probably.
SPEAKER_02:It's eye-catching, you know? Yeah, and it makes sense.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Maybe it's some other animals.
SPEAKER_05:I like uh some of these, maybe like the eighth, ninth photo, we get to see partial tattooed arm.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. I know. I'm like, I don't even care. Now you know I really took my own photos. Exactly. That's a good part.
SPEAKER_05:You see, it's a real photo. It's not as no.
SPEAKER_00:Let me ask you guys this. I don't get my nails done, but if I did, would that be a write-off if I'm a hand model? Oh okay. Maybe I'll start then.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe I'll start. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um Me and Molly were talking about that on Instagram the other day. I'm like, let me know what your tax guy says, because I'll start getting them done.
SPEAKER_02:I I on the photo side though, in um it's not that expensive to have good photos.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_02:Um you know, like, okay, you don't want to be fancy, you don't want light. Uh as a matter of fact, daylight is the best lighting. So you just work next to a window. Um that's how we started actually. Um and then I remember we had like an iPhone XR when JC was using it. And it still looked crispy, you know?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um and and I feel like the tip is the the tip to photos. I mean, if you have a phone within the last if you bought it within the last three years, it's a great phone.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Our photos that we take on eBay right now is still an iPhone 13 Pro.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And and it's still great, it takes a great photo. And it's because light lighting. Lighting is the key to great photos. So um Yeah, it it should it shouldn't be an i excuse. That is a really I I would rank this up there, Glenn, for bad habits.
SPEAKER_00:Even if it's really yeah, even if it's really simple, it's like now it's way more accessible, like you said, to have a couple of simple tools that like just don't you don't have to overthink it. And it doesn't have to be perfect. That we're just talking about not blurry, not dark, like clear and like not on your couch, not on your bed. Right. With like your crazy bed spread or whatever, laundry all over the place. Yeah, like it's not that hard to do the basic things to make it look like really easy to view, right? That's the goal is like ease of viewing. But yeah, I did not have that one on my list, so that's interesting.
SPEAKER_05:Interesting. All right, let's go to number three.
SPEAKER_00:Because who does that?
SPEAKER_05:Who does that? Uh slow shipping and handling.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know that one.
SPEAKER_05:Delayed shipments after purchase or ignoring handling time can kill buyer confidence as well.
SPEAKER_00:And your store metrics.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I agree. Which in turn further kills buyer confidence because they're like, Well, you shouldn't you shouldn't be in business if you can't be a uh a man of your word or a woman of your word. You posted it there, we'll ship within two within three days or two days. If you can't do that on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, on a regular basis. Yeah, things happen.
SPEAKER_02:No, yeah, you shouldn't have 95 you have five percent of leeway. And me and my wife just had this discussion on the last what 90 days, something like that, right? Like if you've sold a thousand items, you have three I mean, what's five percent of that? Fifty. You have fifty errors, or I forgot, I was late. That's a lot.
SPEAKER_00:That's a lot.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Here's a question. So if someone buys something late Friday, do we ship it out on Saturday or do we ship it out on Monday?
SPEAKER_02:Not Monday. Well, I I used to. I used to be really good. I used to be, I used to be, I used to be over-excellent achiever. I would ship it Saturday. Unless it's an expensive item. If it's anything over 300 bucks, ships same hour.
SPEAKER_00:Same hour. Ken dashing out of a sushi race. Yeah, I'm like, hi, where are you going? Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, print. I'm like, print.
SPEAKER_05:There's a trick question. The real answer is you print out the label Friday and then you ship it out on Monday.
SPEAKER_00:Right, exactly. Except, but now, right, it will say like the labels created, it won't say ships.
SPEAKER_02:It won't say shit.
SPEAKER_00:So, which I think is good. That's more transition. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:If the but I I think I don't know the metrics, but if the label is printed, I would say 95% of the time they won't cancel.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_02:You know? Like, like, like, cause because it could have been dropped off. You know what I'm saying? Like it just didn't update yet. In a in a uh pro tip, when somebody asks you, hey, have you shipped it yet? And you haven't done both, you haven't printed it, you haven't dropped it off. I would say um item has been shipped, tracking will update within 24 hours. And then you can ship it that hour. Ship with that hour.
SPEAKER_00:You're like, so that's how that works.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's how that works, you know.
SPEAKER_00:And then no, I'm usually not going out of my way to ship it any earlier than my stated handling time. Like if it's if that's technically within the handling time, then that they should expect that. They should have seen that on the order screen, you know. But but buyers don't. No, they don't. They completely do.
SPEAKER_02:You know, like on a Sunday, did you ship this out yet?
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, bro, like it's closed.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I can understand on a Saturday, right? But like a Sunday, but also like Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It's like, and and anything else is not open the full day on Saturday. Yeah. It's like if you can get it out first thing in the morning, okay, but like I'm not gonna re-read. Yeah, who wakes up early on Saturday morning to go ship something? You know what?
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna start responding to people like, I'm sorry, I'm still at church. Um feeling bad. Feel bad. Yeah, make them feel bad. Like I'm like, Jesus be mad.
SPEAKER_05:The worst part of it is uh when the actual the only thing they really pay attention to is when uh eBay tells them you'll get this in two days or something.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:It said two days and I haven't gotten it yet. What's going on here? And even though you shipped it out the very next day, you have no control over what USB does that promise to do.
SPEAKER_00:The service that you chose was this. So yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_05:But they promised though.
SPEAKER_02:I've uh I haven't learned my lesson about like even priority, because like priority is like still gets one to three days. Um that there's I don't like I don't like offer upgrade for priority anymore. It's it's two-day overnight or one day or overnight shipping. It has to be like express or ground advantage, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00:Like priority is like not different enough to just no, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's not that much different than ground advantage because like it could be three, four days still, right? Like it says two to three days, but like they miss one delivery. That's another day, you know. Yeah. So bad habit. Come on.
SPEAKER_05:Come on now. So speaking of uh buyer messages, that's number two. Ignoring them. Oh, you can't ignore.
SPEAKER_02:Uh uh. So guilty. I don't ignore them, but they might get an emoji.
SPEAKER_00:That is so hilarious.
SPEAKER_05:Or go search Google or something.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Ignore buyer messages. So failing to respond promptly to questions or concerns makes you look unreliable as a seller.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I must look super unreliable.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I feel like when I'm at.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? Watch me, watch me drop this mic, you guys. I don't mind looking unreliable to people I don't really want to sell to. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Here's a question for the listeners and for Ken and Anna. When a message comes in, an alert on your phone, is your response, let me knock this out real quick?
SPEAKER_01:Or is it I know what Anna is.
SPEAKER_05:It's the big long sigh.
SPEAKER_00:Because it's a message, not a nothing.
SPEAKER_05:It's not an offer, it's a message.
SPEAKER_02:So here's the thing. Um I don't know. I don't know how you guys' notification work, but I have an Android. So I get an email uh notification from my Gmail that I can scroll down and I can see what they sent me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like preview it.
SPEAKER_02:Like I can preview it through my email. Now if it's a legitimate question, I'm there. But if it's like will you take 50 and$150 shoe, I'm there too. This is me. If you offer anything over fi half off or like low ball, I used to get mad. Now I get excited. Because this is when I start sending emoji. And and that's when I say sure. And they said, really? And that's when I said, got yeah.
SPEAKER_05:They're gonna say send offer, and then they send the offer and you just decline it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That is funny too. That is funny.
SPEAKER_00:Like, yeah, you can offer 50.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but and that's the thing.
SPEAKER_02:They o they do that when there's no offer available, or they've been they ran out of offers, you know, they've been auto-became.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I have people do that when there is an offer available. And I'm like, if you want to make an offer, make an offer. Don't message me about it. Just make the offer. Yeah, it doesn't, yeah. What is that about? Um, I don't like that.
SPEAKER_02:My favorite response is like, one of my favorite responses, if they're trying to lowball me. And you know how they're trying to like be nice? I was like, hey, if you don't want, if you can't, you know, no, don't I'm not trying to lowball you, you know, but but they're really lowballing you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And trying to be like trying, and then I was- I want you to like me, but I also want you to give me a deal for nothing.
SPEAKER_02:My my favorite response is like, this is like automatic. This is auto-suggested on my my keyboard already. I said, no thanks. I'm sure there's other shoes or clothing or shorts that is within your budget. Happy shopping. Oh, that fires people up. When you mention within your budget, they feel like you're telling them you're broke.
SPEAKER_00:Because they're offering like they are.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, that's what I say. Like, uh, so like if if they I haven't had anybody come at me sideways like that. Because if they do, I'm gonna be like, you're acting like you do. You know, that would be my that would be the mic drop and then block them.
SPEAKER_05:Well, apparently the draw.
SPEAKER_00:Drop and block. The drop and block.
SPEAKER_05:The top two messages that most people get, apparently, for eBay, is number one, uh, what are the measurements on this item? Whether whether measurements are in the items or the photos.
SPEAKER_03:And I would ignore those.
SPEAKER_05:And the second most is Hey, what's the lowest?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Not even an offer. What's the lowest?
SPEAKER_02:What's the lowest is like? I have I have yet to come up with a really good response for that. Because sometimes it could be legitimate though. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean maybe they're just ready to spend.
SPEAKER_00:You know my mind goes my mind goes somewhere else every time I get that question. And I do get it a lot, right? What's the lowest you'll go? Yeah. What's the lowest you'll take, right? But I'm always like thinking, well, I'd probably insult your mama at some point. That's probably about the lowest I would go. You know? Not gonna like bring your children into it, probably, but maybe your mom. Maybe your mom.
SPEAKER_01:You should just say yo mama. Just say yo mama. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Your mama's so ugly. Just like I'm like, yeah, that's a lowest algo. So if you can handle uh your mama joke, you're it'll be okay.
SPEAKER_03:We'll make it. Oh, that is funny. I need to come.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. You need to help me script that work.
SPEAKER_05:Well, there is a YouTuber that he said that his response always to what is the lowest, you respond with, well, what's your highest?
SPEAKER_04:Oh.
SPEAKER_05:And then that's when they give you the lowest offer that they're gonna have to get.
SPEAKER_00:And you're like, yeah, my lowest is above that. A really good indication of the price I will take for this item is the price of this item. You know? That's kind of the whole reason for like having a price on the item.
SPEAKER_02:I would be like more than plus. Or, or you know how they say uh, oh, will you take 30? I'll pay right now.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, yeah, but I'll pay right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Thank goodness, that is no longer. I know, that's what I say for a drink.
SPEAKER_02:Not this time.
SPEAKER_00:Like, I can wait. I can wait if you pay me double that.
SPEAKER_02:I always say 55, pay tomorrow. I've said that. I've said that, I've said that. I give them five dollars off and said, pay tomorrow. I can wait tomorrow, baby. Cause I'm not gonna tomorrow either.
SPEAKER_00:If it's still here tomorrow, if it's still here when your paycheck hits, you can buy it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Oh, that's gonna be that's gonna be raw. That one. Oh, I've had this kid, I got this kid, it's like he was like, Oh, I'm saving off for and this kid was just offering me$25 for a hundred dollar shoe, right? And you know, great story. Hey, I'm working on a summer job, I'm mowing lawns and everything like that. I finally came up with$25, and I can probably ask my mom for the shipping. Yeah, like great story. And I said, Man, that's impressive that you're make uh you're mowing lawns to make money, and then I always say, like, yeah, come back next week, mow five more lawns, and then you can buy this product.
SPEAKER_00:I yeah, I was for real, because like how many lawns are you mowing to get 25 bucks? Like that is cheap.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, you're probably not doing a really good job.
SPEAKER_00:How big are these lawns?
SPEAKER_02:I know, I know, like, yeah, you you can't do 25 and not.
SPEAKER_01:I think the cheapest is like 35, 40 bucks for a lawn now.
SPEAKER_05:Everything is gonna be a little lawn.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, yeah, that's really cheap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway.
SPEAKER_05:Alright, so we have one left, but we'll go back. Number five is poor or inaccurate item specifics. Number four, low quality photos. Number three, slow shipping and handling. Number two, ignoring buyer messages. Number one is drum roll. Anna guessed this.
SPEAKER_00:It's gotta be.
SPEAKER_05:Canceling orders due to being out of stock.
SPEAKER_00:Not what I thought.
SPEAKER_05:What?
SPEAKER_00:What did you think?
SPEAKER_05:Let Anna say at the very end what her.
SPEAKER_00:I definitely thought it was gonna be death pile. That's a bad habit.
SPEAKER_02:It is that is a terrible business manager.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, bad habit.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, this is like if that is a habit, that is a problem.
SPEAKER_02:A bad habit is that means you're still alive. Having a death pile, that means you're not making money.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_05:Uh so canceling orders due to being out of stock means a sign of poor inventory management.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I do have one, one of them on my list that I brainstormed real fast was no inventory system. So this would really just be the direct result of no inventory system.
SPEAKER_05:Destroying your seller metrics in the end.
SPEAKER_00:Completely. And your and your uh your dignity with it, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's a reminder like you can't be in this business.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I will say though, I did a bad, I had a bad error of this just the other day. I sold like a really expensive piece of outerwear. And I had just made a human error in my spreadsheet where and then from my spreadsheet, I had updated my quantities, right? On my on eBay. So I had I totally just my brain like scrambled it, and I had, you know, one size or I had one of a a certain color of this thing, and I thought I had like quantity two of that color, but I actually had quantity two of the other color. And so it sold twice, and I literally didn't have two of that one. I only had one of that one, but I had two of the other one, so I had just mixed it up on accident.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's what that's why we gotta rely on AI now. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00:Like that would have caught it, right? So so that was a bummer, but that's I would never say that's a habit.
SPEAKER_02:Did you lose they didn't want the other color?
SPEAKER_00:No, I offered them the other color and or to cancel it, but at least I got to then say the buyer asked to cancel. Like, do you want me to send you the same thing?
SPEAKER_02:We didn't have it in our inventory, we didn't have it in anybody that I don't think.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I don't think you did, at least not listed, so probably not. But anyway, it was um humbling, but that is not a habit. That happens like once in a really bloom.
SPEAKER_02:That was human error.
SPEAKER_00:That was uh but it's a bummer. I can't imagine that being like a habit. That'd be oh imagine if you have to do it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've had people that is not top the below standard because of that fact. Yeah, and I'm like, bro, like if I get there, I'll just I'll just give up. I'd just have babe just create a new eBay account. I'm done. That's what I would do. That that's what I would do. That would be like the sign that I'm not built for this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Now keep in mind canceling orders for being out of stock is part of uh a bad habit every eBay seller needs to break. Now, if you're a Poshmark seller, just mean that Poshmark.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good habit. As a matter of fact, I just I understand it. I just we just canceled three uh the last two days. Yeah, because I sold I sold I sold like us oh, it's just a football cleat. It was good money too. I sold it for like a hundred bucks on goat and it sold for 130 on Posh, and I knew we didn't have it, you know, because like I just celebrated the GOAT sale and I'm like, oh crap, like um, but yeah, I'm still selling Posh mics, still not suspended. Uh just don't delete items, just cancel them.
SPEAKER_05:That's wild. That's so bad. It is wild.
SPEAKER_00:It is uh mess. Are you kidding? Okay, so I 100% thought Death Pile would be on this list, and it wasn't, and I have another one that wasn't on the list. But do you guys have any that you thought would have belonged in this? Top five.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I made this list, so uh so no.
SPEAKER_00:Um uh huh your list sucks, Glenn.
SPEAKER_02:I can't believe you left out death by them to say um I would say a bad habit is I don't think it's a habit. I think it's just a inability to accept change.
SPEAKER_00:Is that a habit? Sure, you can habitually not accept change.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, let's just change the platform where it was. Uh let's just, you know, this product is still good, you know. Even if it's not, I feel like those are like people not wanting to change, you know, like how's I like to do that?
SPEAKER_05:I put a C D in the other day. I mean, I put a C D in the other day. You didn't what? No.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, what car do you listen? I I have a CD player in my car. I freaking wish I'm gonna be a good one. I love listening to it. I still have it.
SPEAKER_02:I still have one in my RAV. Mine. I just don't see them anymore. Isn't that wild, right? Like you don't like Yeah, I mean, you just completely like delete it out of your um I feel like when I see a CD, like I feel like it's a man, like that's such a you know, like I feel like the garbage recycling, you know, like how do you get rid of it? How do you get rid of this?
SPEAKER_00:You know I still like it, but I don't really know what the crazy part is.
SPEAKER_02:We don't have well, because obviously, right? We I moved here from the Philippines and then we got this house. I don't have a relic like that. I don't have a CD. There's zero CD, there's zero Oh, we have a record.
SPEAKER_01:We have a record.
SPEAKER_00:If you had a CD, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01:It would be Veggie Tales. Vegetales. Stop!
SPEAKER_00:That's not what I expected.
SPEAKER_01:I love Vegetails. I grew up watching it.
SPEAKER_00:You really?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Is that where your sense of humor came from? Larry the cucumber.
SPEAKER_01:If you want to talk to tomatoes, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:Don't even get me started. I know like every Vegetail song ever.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that and um if I had a VHS, if I had a VHS, it would be jungle book.
SPEAKER_02:I have it. It's my favorite. I have it.
SPEAKER_00:And I have a VCR. Because I'm not a media.
SPEAKER_02:What would what would be yours then? If you had a VHS, what would it be?
SPEAKER_05:Oh, home video, because I'm so old. Just old, old video of myself.
SPEAKER_02:I I wish I can it's the mini DVs. That's what sucks. Because I I I know my parents had like uh handy handy handy cam, right? Yeah. And they're still stuck on the mini DVs.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you could change that that.
SPEAKER_02:I know I need to find I'm probably gonna digitalized.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm probably gonna do that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I gotta make that happen. So Anna, what was what was your last one? Oh, my last one.
SPEAKER_00:My yeah, here's a bonus one for you. Sourcing on vibes. Ah sourcing on vibes. Or like emotion, right?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that's like that's the vibes are immaculate.
SPEAKER_02:It's just one of the I would say that's 60% of the eBay sellers that don't really sell stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, really, the if you boil that one down, it's not knowing your numbers, right? Or maybe even because honestly, knowing the numbers is not enough. You have to do something with that information too. And especially if you have unwilling to not let vibes lead the way.
SPEAKER_02:Especially if you have bad taste and bad fashion, that is just Yeah. You're done.
SPEAKER_00:Or honestly, like you're not keeping up with trends. How things change. I mean, not even like it's not even trends. More so like the the death of a trend or something.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's like just for example smartphones now. Don't be buying flip phones, you know what I'm saying? Like that. Don't be buying telephones.
SPEAKER_00:How saturated things are. I mean, I've been helping out like all week at my church is doing a huge rummage sale. And so, of course, for me, I'm like, hey, that is my wheelhouse as like a almost professional thrifter, you know. So I've been like helping out to run the event and organize and sort everything and price everything and whatever. And of course, I've also been sourcing some stuff for my store very selectively. But it's just funny how you know, hearing the comments of other people about different things, like, oh man, yeah, these these will go for a lot. And I'm like, not anymore. Like maybe like 15 years ago, that would have been like a hot item, but it hasn't been for a long time, you know. And people just don't know. Like, I don't know, probably sellers, at least in um niches or just like areas, categories that you're familiar with, you probably know more than the average person about that. You might have your finger on the pulse, but if that thing happens to be a thing that you really like, then you're probably not gonna want to hear it. You know, you're not gonna want to like admit that it's not that cool anymore or not that in demand anymore. And I think that happens a lot. And it is a habit. I think it's a bad habit that can really hurt your business.
SPEAKER_05:There we go, there we go. So that was all five. Anything else uh we want to add in? That was a wrap.
SPEAKER_02:That was a good that was a good one. That was a good one.
SPEAKER_00:I think uh thanks for letting me add a bonus.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah, two bonuses, technically.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it gave me a good sense of agency in this episode since I was clueless at the beginning.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that was good. Yeah. That was that's that's what I was thinking all along. You know, dealing with bad habits.
SPEAKER_00:Right. You just knew.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I just kind of knew. No, I think I think that is uh, you know, I feel like you know how people say, like, oh, it's a new year, it's a new way to kind of like get to eliminating bad habits. For I think for eBay sellers specifically, oh, it's summertime. Better drop them. Better drop those bad habits because Q4 is a new year. I feel like Q4 is a new year, you know. Like, I feel like come September. Uh we have this uh in the Philippines, we call them the bear months. So come September.
SPEAKER_00:September.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the bear months. It's Christmas basically for the Philippines. Yeah, it's like you're thinking Q4. It's holiday. So I feel like once September hits, I feel like you should have purged all like the bad inventory, bad habits, uh organize your system because bear months are gonna be popping. You know, it's gonna be party month. So um I think uh this is a really good uh time to discuss it.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely. Especially if you have less going on. It's like that's a good time to you're gonna need to focus on it a little bit more to break it. So use that extra focus.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. All right, we shall see you guys on the next one.
SPEAKER_02:Anything else? Think we're done? No, that's pretty much it. We just want to give a shout out to our sponsors, eBay. Make sure you follow them, eBay for sellers. There's gonna be a lot of updates, especially leading up to eBay open. Also, our other sponsor, Seller Ledger. Make sure you follow them. They're actually a sponsor of eBay Open as well. And we will see you in the next episode. Peace. See ya.
SPEAKER_00:Bye bye.