ebay...anyone do it full-time?

[bziddy]

Originally Posted by dawger13

What is the deal with a thermal printer?

Thermal printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Doesn't need toner, just the special paper. I figured out that labels end up costing between 3-5 cents each? I can't recall specifically -- but it was better than adhesive paper + toner.

Plus it is really small and quiet.

[benshobbies]

Originally Posted by CharlieHustle

All cards should be individually toploaded if you want to justify selling a 25 cent BV card for a $1. Penny sleeve, topload, team bag in a bubble mailer.
you can fit up to about 11-13 cards in a small #000 padded envelope and you can fit up to 40 cards in a #0 padded envelope. 40-150 cards go in a Flat Rate Priority Envelope and anything over 150 goes in a Flat Rate Priority box.

I'm starting to love those 300 count boxes that people use to store their cards in. Not only can you send them economy in a pinch, you can stack up to 15-30 cards inside toploaders or about 4-5 cards in magnetics in the boxes. Tape the edges, and slap the label on. I gotta place an order for a bunch of those boxes.

[dlab85]

Originally Posted by benshobbies

I'm starting to love those 300 count boxes that people use to store their cards in. Not only can you send them economy in a pinch, you can stack up to 15-30 cards inside toploaders or about 4-5 cards in magnetics in the boxes. Tape the edges, and slap the label on. I gotta place an order for a bunch of those boxes.

Those are great. I grab the 330 Counts to give me a little extra room.

[HadWayTooMuch]

Back to the scanners for a moment. Are you able to scan the cards in penny sleeves if you want to?

And is the thermal printer only for labels and such? Do you have a regular printer too?

Great topic, I'm learning a lot and I've been selling on ebay for 13 years.

[bziddy]

Originally Posted by HadWayTooMuch

And is the thermal printer only for labels and such? Do you have a regular printer too?

Yes, I print receipts/packing invoices off the regular printer and labels off the thermal.

[RichMag]

Originally Posted by HadWayTooMuch

Back to the scanners for a moment. Are you able to scan the cards in penny sleeves if you want to?

And is the thermal printer only for labels and such? Do you have a regular printer too?

Great topic, I'm learning a lot and I've been selling on ebay for 13 years.

I know on mine you cant. I just tested it and the penny sleeve is just too slick. The rollers grab it and crinkle it while the card comes out of the sleeve.

I do when when I worked in Corporate America after I retired from the Army, we had one that you could scan anything. The peeny sleeves would work in one of those. Problem is, the cost is well over 5k.

I have both, the label thermal printer and a regular printer. The thermal only does labels so I need a regular printer for all other functions.

Rich

[HadWayTooMuch]

I wish this topic hadn't been moved to this useless area.

[brentandbecca]

This a good thread, although some secrets have been shared, lol, shhhh

You can make money on eBay & with cards, just like someone somewhere can make $ at almost anything that others may not be able to or thought of

However, this thread with it's good tips also has much missing and that comes from time & experience...building up customers and a name/rep within a niche market

Too often folks like to jump into an over-saturated market, and start off poorly. You will most likely lose $ before making it. Also, some jump in way too deep rather than starting slowly. Find a place you are comfortable & start there, not everywhere... for some it may be a specific sport or non-sport and perhaps it could be cases or collections or set breaks or supplies or who knows

I spent years trying to help other sin this business and have enjoyed it. I have been interviewed an asked to write for websites, but no matter how much talking or writing it can't answer everything. There are so many tips. I could write a book over 1,001 tips that I have learned in 16 years but just like with anything it takes time and it is not for everyone.

That is one thing for sure. If you do not have patience, or current financial ability, or even time away from job/home/life, this is no easy business. It is about 18-20 hours a day and eBay never closes even on holidays. If you become big & successful, people will want to contact you and expect fast answers and faster shipping, just like ebay now wanting shipping with 24 hours. May be easier with store of older fixed priced items, but new stuff at 100s auctions a night is not. I receive on average 250-300 eBay messages a days during a break, plus another 200 twitter messages, not to mention emails and PM and DM, etc. And that takes so much time, but is important to me as I always want to deliver top customer service and respond each time as timely as I can. There are so many things to do during a break, and so many requests.

Anyhow I could go on and on. In fact I talk to other case breakers daily and have a guy that asked me to mentor him about 5 years back & we still talk on the phone almost daily. Market, strategy, and things always changing, so you have to adjust too.

This is just a basic article I wrote about case breaking....again not easy & I don't advise just jumping in so big, but there are some basic truths at least from what I have learned in the market/niche/way I do things.

Hope it adds to this all. It is just one of many articles/interviews I have done.
One key thing as well to all this is relationships!!!!

Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Sports Card Case Break

Good luck!

[bziddy]

B&B, thanks for chiming in. I know you've seemed to get this down to a science, or maybe art. I remember the pictures of the post-heritage break carnage you posted on twitter last year. Crazy.

This is for anyone -- I've not figured out how to do this on TL2 yet. I can pop a file in excel and use concatenate to create many listings quickly -- the problem I have is associating pictures with those auctions. Are you storing your scans on a 3rd party site where you can access them with a URL or is there an easy way to add them to TL2 automatically. What I end up doing right now -- once I have all my auctions and scans ready -- I go through each listing by hand and add the picture(s). That gets time consuming.

[alexlazarevich]

Originally Posted by brentandbecca

Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Sports Card Case Break

That is a great article with lots of good information in it. Very interesting read for me to compare that with what I've learned. I'm small volume compared to Brent, but then I don't have any help at all, it's just me.

For anyone considering case breaking, what Brent says about losing in the beginning is absolutely true. I'm slightly embarrassed to say I lost way too much of my savings in 2010 and early 2011. But for the last year or more, I've been making profits. Mostly it's due to buyer trust and recognition in my eBay store. But there are so many other factors. If you are just starting out, you really have to be prepared to take a loss.

[CharlieHustle]

Originally Posted by bziddy

Are you storing your scans on a 3rd party site where you can access them with a URL

Yes, exactly.
The trick is to scan the cards in set order, so that the URL matches up with the cards. For example:

photobucket.com/user/2012TOPPS/001.JPG
would refer to card number 1 in the 2012 Topps set.

[bziddy]

Originally Posted by CharlieHustle

Yes, exactly.
The trick is to scan the cards in set order, so that the URL matches up with the cards. For example:

photobucket.com/user/2012TOPPS/001.JPG
would refer to card number 1 in the 2012 Topps set.

Thanks again!

[dashcounter]

thanks again for all the info everyone. im in the process of ordering some 0 bubble mailers, getting a new AFS scanner and a thermal printer. gonna make some changes in my ebay store and see how it goes.

[marklemerchants]

The first thing I would recommend is a laser printer. I got a Brother for $100 and bought the generic ink off of amazon for $25 and I haven't had to change it yet and I print a lot of labels.

[RichMag]

Originally Posted by marklemerchants

The first thing I would recommend is a laser printer. I got a Brother for $100 and bought the generic ink off of amazon for $25 and I haven't had to change it yet and I print a lot of labels.

For $100 that you spend on the laser printer, you can get a thermal printer that has been talked about throughout this thread and never have to buy ink.

Cant beat it for labels.

[marklemerchants]

Originally Posted by RichMag

For $100 that you spend on the laser printer, you can get a thermal printer that has been talked about throughout this thread and never have to buy ink.

Cant beat it for labels.

How much do the labels cost? I just use regular paper because I watch and get it for free so it costs me basically nothing to print. I'd be interested in labels if the price were low enough.

[dogzman]

I make too much to do it full time but I (DID) do it part time for a
while and made a profit.

[RichMag]

Originally Posted by marklemerchants

How much do the labels cost? I just use regular paper because I watch and get it for free so it costs me basically nothing to print. I'd be interested in labels if the price were low enough.

Hey Mark,
They are only $.02 to $.05 each depending on how many you buy. Go to eBay and search DYMO 99019 Labels. That should give you an idea of how much they cost at the quantity you need.

I just got the thermal printer a few months ago and it is the best investment I have ever made when it comes to eBay (as many have also stated throughout this thread). A long time ago I used to use plain paper and would tape it to the bubble mailer. Then, for many years, I used the half page shipping labels that you can get for something like $70 for a thousand.

I usually ship anywhere from 10-60 (60 on the new release weeks) packages per day. I couldnt imagine manually cutting out 60 labels from the paper, then taping all of them to the bubble mailer. It would just take me too much time. With the thermal labels, it's just print and stick. Well worth the $.03 I paid for the label.

Rich

[dogzman]

If you don't go thermal you're a moron!

[marklemerchants]

Originally Posted by RichMag

Hey Mark,
They are only $.02 to $.05 each depending on how many you buy. Go to eBay and search DYMO 99019 Labels. That should give you an idea of how much they cost at the quantity you need.

I just got the thermal printer a few months ago and it is the best investment I have ever made when it comes to eBay (as many have also stated throughout this thread). A long time ago I used to use plain paper and would tape it to the bubble mailer. Then, for many years, I used the half page shipping labels that you can get for something like $70 for a thousand.

I usually ship anywhere from 10-60 (60 on the new release weeks) packages per day. I couldnt imagine manually cutting out 60 labels from the paper, then taping all of them to the bubble mailer. It would just take me too much time. With the thermal labels, it's just print and stick. Well worth the $.03 I paid for the label.

Rich

Is there a particular seller you buy from? Looking on both ebay and Amazon a lot of the people that buy generic labels are complaining that they come off. I'm tempted to buy one to try but I see a mixed bag.

Also does a wireless thermal printer exist? That may be a dealbreaker, I don't want to be plugged in all the time.

[RichMag]

Originally Posted by marklemerchants

Is there a particular seller you buy from? Looking on both ebay and Amazon a lot of the people that buy generic labels are complaining that they come off. I'm tempted to buy one to try but I see a mixed bag.

Also does a wireless thermal printer exist? That may be a dealbreaker, I don't want to be plugged in all the time.

Not sure about a wireless thermal printer. You might have to google it or shop around. I use a Dymo LabelWriter 450 Turbo and it is wired. As for the labels, Ive bought from a few sellers (I think one is houselabels or something like that). Never had an issue with the labels falling off. Ive probaby done close to 2k labels and never had an issue. I have had problems with the old half sheet, printer labels in the past but not with the thermals.

[marklemerchants]

Originally Posted by RichMag

Not sure about a wireless thermal printer. You might have to google it or shop around. I use a Dymo LabelWriter 450 Turbo and it is wired. As for the labels, Ive bought from a few sellers (I think one is houselabels or something like that). Never had an issue with the labels falling off. Ive probaby done close to 2k labels and never had an issue. I have had problems with the old half sheet, printer labels in the past but not with the thermals.

I shouldn't have said a lot of people, but some people complain. I couldn't find a wireless one, but I know such a thing exists at least commercially because Target uses them.

[NonFlammable]

For those experienced ebay store owners, what volume/sales level do you feel justifies the different tiers of ebay stores ($15.95/$49.95/$299.95)?

I average about $100/month in fees, which sucks to begin with. I try and take full advantage of the free listing days, but that's usually only once a month...

[xbignick]

I think I'm an idiot...I listed a bunch of stuff when they had the free BIN/OBO listings for 30 days....I did not notice after the first 30 days it is no longer free and they charge you .5 per listing every 30 days thereafter. Whoops, didn't lose much, but some of the stuff I had up was pointless.

[nyisle]

i think learning excel is probably some of the better advice I saw on here. When I first started selling it was just for fun, then I decided that I was going to run it like a business, to see if I could actually make a few bucks from my hobby. I made a spread sheet of what my supplies cost and charted all the fees. I figured out what I could charge to ship 1 card, 2 card... to see where I would start to lose money on how many cards I could ship for 1 price.

For those still using plain paper, go to your local arts and crafts store and pick up a photo cutter, its only like $5-$10, just place the paper in and cut it down to size, takes like 15 seconds.

another piece of advice, and its hard not to do, but do not get too wrapped up into it. I would spend like 8 hrs a day after work, if the wife wanted to go somewhere I had to make sure I didn't have any auctions ending because I was to watch them end. You don't realize it at the time of what kind of stress it can put on a relationship, especially when she might not be into the whole idea. Need to learn to walk away and turn off the computer every once in a while.