I quit eBay because they complicated selling to much!

Started out doing calculated, ended up getting frustrated because we were rookies at shipping but ended up just switching to flat rate. it was a huge weight off our shoulders and things seemed to sell faster.

Great video

Love your channel and the content! Since you quit teaching to do this full time, what are your options for health care? My wife and I run a small home based business and work full time jobs. Just curious how that has worked out for you. Thanks

I do not understand when you say that extra money covers bubble wrap, tape etc. Isn't bubble wrap, tape etc already free when you write it off on your taxes?

I got the email and I opted out because of the time and materials I need to use to ship. I only have about 300 items listed so I only sell a few items a month. I don't know if I'm making the right choice or not.

everything is flat rate shipping for me. Now if I have a used part (I sell a particular motorcycle brands parts) where I have a small part, I list as free shipping and know that it will cost me less then six and list the part at 20. Moves the part nd frankly I have virtually nothing in it.

I am wondering why some people go the email and others didn’t.

So, I've been thinking about this. For example, I know a video game in a bobble mailer is going to ship at am 8oz rate. I'm trying to decided what would be the appropriate cost? I guess I'm going to have to print out the USPS shipping & cost scale and just make it "flat rate." The real problem is that eBay charges fees on shipping, which is dumb, so do I then need to add 13% to the cost of shipping to try to offset that? Also, I've never charged a S&H, but I've been thinking about adding .30 cents to the order to pay for the mailer.. eBay makes it out like "They have to make this change." They don't...they are choosing to do this. They know that sellers aren't going anywhere because they have a massive platform.

There is a huge advantage to those living in middle America. We have two stores and one is primarily decor and large items. Cost for packaging is between $5-10 in supplies. Using Calculated now and we like that extra shipping bonus. Now we are going to get killed. We live in CA and most of the items seem to sell out of TX, FL, and NY. I don’t thing a lot of people realize that eBay includes the what you get paid for shipping is included in the overall eBay fees and this is also one reason why we use calculated. If you opt in you it’s going to cost you 15% extra for your shipping. If you are opting in and don’t do anything, you will pay extra as a seller 100% of the time. We use to use the handling cost to add a few bucks to cover the added insurance cost when it’s not covered. Now we may go back to add that extra $ in the handling.

I've been doing this for 6 months or so already. I charge flat rate for everything under a pound, 1.95 handling for medium size and 2.95 for large items. I started scoring much higher in my shipping ratings after making this change.

I have a lot of these DISNEY Black Diamond VHS Tapes brand new sealed still I even put a plastic cover over it for more protection I wonder how much I can get for them.

Buyers will still bitch and complain and want things even cheaper as usual; it all started going down hill at the onset of covid...

Thank you for sharing your knowledge about STERLING.

This shipping change would make more sense if eBay didn’t charge a percent off of those sellers who opt in.

I didn’t get the email but when I checked I was opted in. I kept it and added $2 for handling. Sales have increased. I do flat rate for under 1lb but always calculated for items over 1lb.

I bought dolls from her recently. I LOVED them. So cute!

I got the email for 2 outa 5 of my Ebay accounts, which I thought was strange... and those 2 accounts are not even registered as a business accounts... Those two were for my 2 smaller accounts with less merch up for sale... Isn't is Interesting?

I have had a few suspicious buyers who send me messages about really wanting to buy something, but they just can't "afford" it, they're on a fixed income, they're sick or even dying, or some other reason for getting a huge discount. Being that I'm such a compassionate person, I usually give in, but I feel some of them are taking advantage of me, or they're just plain liars! Has this ever happened to you? 🥹🤪 Kim

This is one more step for ebay to be a has been. Mark my words just like Sears and Kmart ebay will be a thing of the past. What did they do hire the Bud Lite marketing team. This is the worst policy they have ever launched. It will hurt them and the seller. Are they going to stop collecting on my postage? If i opt in I will have to increase all my prices. I am mad hell yes. Ebay can not survive without sellers but they can survive without buyers. Ebay collects zero from the buyer. They make all their fees from buyers. Keep pushing them away ebay and you will be gone. There market shares keep sinking and this is why. I used to do flat rate all everything but now I do all calculated shipping. Let me make this clear, this sucks but goes along with ebays policy of pushing sellers to other platforms.

My biggest issue with eBay changing the shipping is they KEEP changing it. It used to be for priority mail there was no discount to the seller, so I almost always offered ground and added a small handling fee. Then eBay changed it and suddenly all my items were REALLY expensive to ship. It took me forever to get those handling fees off. Now we are going back and I need to add in the small handling fee. Just figure it out already.

i have superman 1-4 sealed and Rocky 1-5 boxset completely sealed are those worth anything

I'm not going to play the game...I'm opting out. If eBay decides it wants to stop charging me a final value fee for shipping charges I will reevaluate.

I opted out for the same reason you gave, Kevin. I would have to go back and find which of the items I had purposely lowered the weight.

I assumed it was a response to Mercari eliminating seller fees, which turn let sellers lower prices. In typical ebay fashion, ebay decides to screw the seller a little more in favor of the buyer to lower prices.

Love the 8 million ways to do this reference (Simon and Garfunkel?) lol

Thank you.

Calculated shipping is boss.

I buy regularly on ebay. I get sick of paying up for Flat Rate in order to cover your material costs. I don't pay up for Mediocre stuff with high ship costs. Do the calculated. We shouldn't have to pay SO much for your materials, esp on small items.

I’ve always used calculated and try to get as close as possible to weights and measurements so I’m never overcharging my customers. Shipping is expensive enough w/o overcharging so you can make a little to cover your expenses. Your expenses should be coming out of your profits.

If you don't like ebay changes, just close your account. Less competition for me.

Hey Kevin 😊😊

I never recieved an email on this from ebay. How do we opt in opt out? Where do i find this?

I have quite a few of the Disney VHS tapes in the clam shell cases, of course all opened because they where mine as a child, but over all they are in pretty good shape even the ones that the cases aren’t very good the tape it’s self looks like it’s never been touched, never thought about selling them until seeing this 😂

I had someone dispute a credit card payment for shoes 2 months after the sale. Also someone said they haven't recieved the item when the tracking showed it was took back to the post office waiting for them to pick it up.

Box size matters, the ounces are not as important as it used to be. Thanks to ground advantage. I have always passed on my discount, because I want to be as competitive as possible. Currently Sometimes I lose on shipping because I don't guess the right box size since I don't pre pack items. And before ground advantage I would underestimate the weight and lose a bit.

I think I may start using the flat rate system at some point. I sell on depop and put a single price for shipping items already so I am getting familiar with these costs and feeling better about my abilities.

I was already opted into the discount shipping so I did add a handling charge of .75 on poly bag type items, and $1 on larger items. To help so I don't lose money I will add weight to the item and large items I always go bigger with size and weight due to added packing materials. Most of the time the difference is around $1 or less in my favor and larger items vary but I usually end on a positive there as well.

The bottom line is- If you want to continue to sell on Ebay, there are always going to be adjustments sellers have to make. Shipping is constantly going up anyway through USPS. We do have to keep up and continue to find the best balance with the cost of the item and shipping that is fair to the customer. I always have in mind to be as fair as I can on each item separately. I think of it more to adjust the item price a bit and always leave the cost of shipping very close to what it actually is. It's definitely a good challenge which is part of the fun to sell. 🙂 Thanks for all the informative videos. Enjoy watching. You have some great ideas!

Long time seller here- I rarely offer free or flat rate shipping. I pride on shipping professionally, no recycled boxes or stuffing packages with used newspaper. After debating with myself the pros and cons, I decided to experiment, offer the reduce shipping, and add $1.50 to pay for shipping materials. If it doesn't increase sales, or I feel like I am losing money- I can always go back to my original model.

My father would refinish those fire extinguishers when I was a child and absolutely love the beauty.

Called eBay and they said this is not happening…. Just lost a sale tho from a large suit case 60 shipping from il-Florida did not want to lose money but assumes would be more like thirty so I don’t know

Flat rate boxes never fit my stuff. Can we use any king of boxes?

Did not opt out. Sending my first "issue" out now. I put in the weight and measurements of my box when I listed. EBay charge the buyer approx 18.70 for shipping. CA to GA cross country Ground Advantage. The box I used tonight was a bit smaller, buy my choice. I edited the measurements and price decreased by more than $7! I only decreased two measurements by 1 inch each. The Temptation is to just leave the measurements alone. I decided to let the buyer decide. Told her she may have a refund of $7. I just simply asked her if she wants the refund, if there's any, and how she would like to receive it. The item was an expensive pair of shoes, the kind that only women with no Financial issues would purchase so if it was me I would not want to bother with the refund. I did mention (and all of this was in two short sentences) that packing materials could be added on but I'm not going to. If I were to refund her The seven dollars It apparently gets posted right to that item, which means that eBay Should not be charging fees on the refunded amount. It will be easy to check. I agree. We're going to have to start charging for packing which I have never done. Another possibility is that they lost part of their contract with USPS . There's a huge difference in regular shipping and eBay shipping and maybe the post office doesn't want to do that anymore. Well, I've got news for both of them. The first thing I did is call a UPS location nearby and ask what part of the service they are giving us. I live in a very small town in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the desert and UPS has never failed to come when they say they were going to. I just don't know what the rates are compared to what we have with eBay.

i notice when is sell similar off of a listing that they are uping the weigt to the next level or just making the package bigger. like a dress shirt can go into a 9/13 poly mailer but they are putting it at 25/18/6 in the package size.

well in 10 months TikTok wil finally be 100% banned in the USA and thats a fact trust me when i say that and if you love this country you have to support this decision were making this is t protect everyone from China and Russia

May I ask what the dimensions of your shed are? I don't sell nearly as much as you but the stuff I do have had become horribly intrusive into my personal space and after looking at your video, I really like how you've got it set up and wonder if my lofted 12x16 shed could be set up similarly....right now it's a disaster too! Please share your dimension, if you would be so kind. Thank you.

I opted out and almost instantly saw a slow down in sales. I use calculated shipping, I do not add a shipping/handling fee, and I weigh the items with the box when I list so I can get as accurate as I can. I definitely saw the dip in sales. So,punishment, maybe?

I got the email and haven’t opted out as of yet. I sell everything with calculated shipping. I pre weigh everything to know. I honestly don’t know how to do flat rate when you don’t know where it’s going and come out ok. I’m a small seller and most of my items are lower priced. I will probably add a handling fee. I honestly started during covid and have had to trial and error learn on my own. I’m trying to sell some things of my own so my boys don’t throw everything in a dumpster when I’m gone. Thanks you for the info Kevin.

I opted out and set a flat rate on everything - a little more than the Zone 5 rate.