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[crochetgal]

Patti, VAT is 'Value Added Tax' and is used in the UK. It is the equivalent to the US Sales tax.

If you have a few items to sell on Ebay, why not just go ahead and list them and see what happens? I wouldn't worry about trying to get a vendor score up at all. I'd just go ahead and list what you want to sell.

[Barbara G.]

Hi Patti,

I have sold on eBay and have been amazed at how much some of my stuff sold for (personal items). It does help to increase your score by selling smaller items. There really were not too many things that I put on eBay that I was disappointed in the amount it sold for. One year, I sold nearly 1000 items when I would shop stores and look for things to put on eBay.

I am not sure about international shipping. I always stay locally.

[Patti Hale]

Thanks Barbi!
Trying to figure out shipping right now--not doing international. As I said, I have stuff left over from a printing business I had. I have 8 boxes of picture holder cards that don't weigh that much. I thought I would put one up (18 cards and envelopes) starting at .99 and say that 7 more are available at the winning bid price since I expect anyone wanting them would need more than one box. I could easily figure out shipping for say 1 or 8 but not sure about what I might run into in between. I'm thinking I might go with the flat rate boxes but have not compared the prices between the cost of their actual weight versus the flat rate. Any thoughts?

[fairynatb]

I also think selling on ebay is a better idea than some other places even if some have had positive experiences with Etsy and the like. ebay has no fee offers where you don't have to pay a thing when you want to sell something there and I have done it before (not for crochet items though).

[Patti Hale]

fairynatb
I wonder how people on Etsy (not that I would be that lucky, lol) keep up with the demand if an item is popular? I'd rather know I had the items in stock (and they turned out okay, lol!) before I put them up for sale but maybe that's not a problem.

[Misty]

Patti,
I don't think thats a problem. Just imagine all the people that use Ebay and all the countries that have Ebay sites. Its Awe inspiring when you think about it. Misty

[crochetgal]

fairynatb
I wonder how people on Etsy (not that I would be that lucky, lol) keep up with the demand if an item is popular? I'd rather know I had the items in stock (and they turned out okay, lol!) before I put them up for sale but maybe that's not a problem.

When I sell on Etsy, everything that I list is currently 'in stock'.. ie it can will be shipped the next day.

However, my partner makes the wooden soap dishes that we sell and occasionally the sales will come faster than he has produced them. In that case, I will amend the listing to state when they will ship. Usually its only a matter of a few extra days.

If someone wants a custom listing for a larger quantity than what I have listed (for example a batch of 500 or 1000 pieces), then the delivery date is agreed upon before I will process the sale. Usually for the large orders I request a minimum of 6 weeks lead time.

For my fisherman sweaters, I state right in the listings that they are 'made to order' based on the buyers measurements. Because of the detail that's involved in each sweater and the fact that I'm not a crochet machine, I request a minimum of 8 weeks to complete one. In most cases they are ready to ship in much less time than that but the 8 weeks gives me enough time should something else unexpectedly come up.

Because of my work load, I stopped taking custom orders for the larger crocheted pieces (shawls, shrugs, sweaters) for guaranteed Christmas delivery back in October. However, if someone really wants one as a holiday gift I will take the order with the understanding that it won't arrive until the new year.

[Patti Hale]

Verrrry interesting, crochetgal and good to know. I learned something again today!

[Patti Hale]

Wow! Crochetgal
Just visited your Etsy site--quite impressive! I love this:

[crochetgal]

Thanks for the compliments Patti! Much appreciated! Its one of my fav's and I'll be sorry to see it go.