All I want to do is talk about Sportlots

[nam812]

Originally Posted by timber09

.......I don't click "Fill Order" until the cards are in the envelope and ready to go........

Why not as soon as you pull the cards and know you have them in stock?

[timber09]

Originally Posted by nam812

Why not as soon as you pull the cards and know you have them in stock?

There are a number of reasons but it kind of boils down to comfort and one last double check of everything before the package goes out. Piece of mind for me that everything is good to go once I hit the "Fill Order" button.

Most of my stuff goes out pretty quickly but I would hate to gather a bunch of stuff, then either misplace a card or have it end up in the wrong package. Plus I really hate having to go back through the "Orders Filled" portion just to double check an order. It can get tough especially toward the end of the month if there are a ton of orders in there.

[DMS6391]

I feel like this is a silly question. But for box orders...if it’s just a couple small orders, is it necessary to ship in an actually box? Or is a a large padded mailer with the separate orders inside good enough?

I’m not as big a seller as some on here, so while i like the idea of the Box Shipping, I don’t have quite enough inventory (around 5000 cards now) to the point where I’m getting several box orders in a week. Usually just 1-2 in a week.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by DMS6391

.....Or is a a large padded mailer with the separate orders inside good enough?.....

That's how I do it.

I believe the "box" is on sportlots end, and how they will be shipping to the customer once all the customer's orders have been received.

[DMS6391]

Originally Posted by nam812

That's how I do it.

I believe the "box" is on sportlots end, and how they will be shipping to the customer once all the customer's orders have been received.

I assumed as much, but wanted to be sure. Thanks!

[nam812]

I haven't gotten a premium shipping order since July 1st. My last 43 orders (I only average 35 to 50 orders per month) have been budget or box. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong.

My shipping is usually same or next day, my accuracy is 100%. My premium, budget and box prices are fair to low, but not super low. I have just under 40,000 cards listed with many years listed in quantity (100 to 400 or more per year). They are mostly 1995 to 2015 in baseball, basketball and football priced mostly at 18 cents unless there is demand, but maybe the years I have are just not sparking interest for bigger purchases. Just some random thoughts on a boring Tuesday evening.

[bryanscs]

Originally Posted by nam812

I haven't gotten a premium shipping order since July 1st. My last 43 orders (I only average 35 to 50 orders per month) have been budget or box. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong.

My shipping is usually same or next day, my accuracy is 100%. My premium, budget and box prices are fair to low, but not super low. I have just under 40,000 cards listed with many years listed in quantity (100 to 400 or more per year). They are mostly 1995 to 2015 in baseball, basketball and football priced mostly at 18 cents unless there is demand, but maybe the years I have are just not sparking interest for bigger purchases. Just some random thoughts on a boring Tuesday evening.

Keep putting inventory online. The more you have to choose from, the larger the orders will be!

[timber09]

Originally Posted by nam812

I haven't gotten a premium shipping order since July 1st. My last 43 orders (I only average 35 to 50 orders per month) have been budget or box. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong.

My shipping is usually same or next day, my accuracy is 100%. My premium, budget and box prices are fair to low, but not super low. I have just under 40,000 cards listed with many years listed in quantity (100 to 400 or more per year). They are mostly 1995 to 2015 in baseball, basketball and football priced mostly at 18 cents unless there is demand, but maybe the years I have are just not sparking interest for bigger purchases. Just some random thoughts on a boring Tuesday evening.

I don't think that is way out of whack (depending on your shipping charges of course).

About 150 sales for me since 7/1 and about 20 are premium with about half of those being free shipping (I offer free shipping over 100 cards) - which is probably a bit more than normal for premium I am guessing.

[nam812]

Here are my shipping rates. Feel free to give them a look, and a critique as well.

[DMS6391]

So, looking at nam812's post above and some other stuff I've seen on SportLots...

How are most of y'all doing Premium Shipping? I understand it for orders of, say, 1-4 cards. Budget seems to generally be PWE for small orders. And Premium Shipping for smaller orders would be in a bubble mailer. But once you get up to bubble mailer or larger size, do you treat Premium and Budget the same? If not, what differentiates Premium Shipping...tracking on Premium vs no tracking on Budget?

[nam812]

I can only speak for myself, but after 4 cards "budget" is just terminology. From 5 cards and up everything goes premium (well secured and tracked).

On a different shipping note, I don't know if I will implement it, but I like timber09's idea of free shipping over 100 cards.

If I think of it in a worst case scenario, If someone orders 150 topps heritage cards at 18 cents each thats $27 for me minus 23% (my average) for sportlots leaves me $20.79. Then I have to ship which is about $9.00-ish (1 to 5 pounds plus 200 count box cost to worst case distance of California) so I end up with about $12.00 +/-

$12 net amount after fees/150 cards sold = 8 cents a card net profit

[Westlake]

I could see free shipping for 100 cards $50 minimum. So there is a # of cards and a $ amount.

[bryanscs]

I treat premium shipping the same as budget shipping after 4 cards. I've seen some sellers use it as 1st Class vs Priority though.

I also do the free shipping, but mine is for orders over 300 cards.

[kelleys1]

I have my free shipping at 150+ cards. I figured if someone wants to take that many cards out of my inventory and I can make a few dollars than it is a win.

[timber09]

For those interested, here are my shipping rates.



Note: On July first I changed my Box shipping and started offering free shipping on all orders of ten cards or more. Box shipping always frustrated me - not because I don't think it's valuable but because, even offering cheap shipping, I was getting neither enough orders to make it worthwhile for me nor pay for what it would cost to ship the packages to WI. Since I dropped the free shipping threshold there I have seen a pretty significant spike in Box shipments. Now I know I am going to have to pay that portion of the shipping, but at least the boxes are full and it's worth my while.

[Dalston]

Originally Posted by timber09

For those interested, here are my shipping rates.



Note: On July first I changed my Box shipping and started offering free shipping on all orders of ten cards or more. Box shipping always frustrated me - not because I don't think it's valuable but because, even offering cheap shipping, I was getting neither enough orders to make it worthwhile for me nor pay for what it would cost to ship the packages to WI. Since I dropped the free shipping threshold there I have seen a pretty significant spike in Box shipments. Now I know I am going to have to pay that portion of the shipping, but at least the boxes are full and it's worth my while.

As a buyer, this is a great shipping chart! There are a ton of sellers that put steep jumps in their charts that simply discourage adding cards to purchases, since who has the time to go through an entire inventory to find enough cards to add to justify the jump.

I just put in an order for about 1,000 cards across a large number of sellers and had to prune orders from about a dozen sellers because there was a shipping jump that meant I was better off ordering fewer cards. And if there is a card I want that has multiple sellers at 0.18, I'm always going to buy from someone like you or bryanscs where I know I'm not going to dinged by unfair shipping policies.

[timber09]

Originally Posted by Dalston

As a buyer, this is a great shipping chart! There are a ton of sellers that put steep jumps in their charts that simply discourage adding cards to purchases, since who has the time to go through an entire inventory to find enough cards to add to justify the jump.

I just put in an order for about 1,000 cards across a large number of sellers and had to prune orders from about a dozen sellers because there was a shipping jump that meant I was better off ordering fewer cards. And if there is a card I want that has multiple sellers at 0.18, I'm always going to buy from someone like you or bryanscs where I know I'm not going to dinged by unfair shipping policies.

Thanks for the feedback - I appreciate it.

I know I have been burned a time or two where people have cherry-picked out all prospect or underpriced cards and I've ended up on the short end of the transaction. But most have been player collectors, set builders or TTMers just looking for a pile of cards at a good price - I'm happy, they're happy, I would think Sportlots is happy, we all win.

It does still amaze me though that people must assume that prices go up with more cards or just don't take the time to look.

Right now, I have two different Box orders to process as follows:
1x card = $0.24 + $0.50 box shipping
3x cards = $0.72 + $0.40 box shipping

The first is paying $0.74 for one card. They could have purchased four more minimum priced cards for an additional $0.72 but shipping would have dropped and they would have ended up paying $1.21 total or about $0.22 per card.

Second could have purchased two more cards for an additional $0.21 and dropped their per price card from about $0.37 to under $0.27 per.

Granted - these are pennies so it is not a big deal either way so I can certainly understand not spending much time looking at it but when purchasing low value cards, pennies add up.

Anyway - figured I would show you guys a couple different scenarios. I really thought that once I went with free box shipping at eleven cards that I would never see another five card order again but that really hasn't been the case. I ended up seeing more of both. Maybe not so surprisingly, I have seen my percentage of Box shipments spike significantly.

[Cliffroach]

I spend a lot of time looking at shipping costs in tandem with the cost of the cards. I'm a set builder and I often have to jump around to different buyers to find what I need at the best price with the best shipping. And some days it just works out that I pay more in shipping then I do for the actual cards because I'm buying cards from several sellers. So I really pay attention to the shipping costs and sellers that don't have a big jump from 2-4 to 5-10 for example will always get a first look from me.

Just as an example I spent around $250 on Sportlots in July in cards and $144 in shipping. But shipping is part of the deal especially at a time when there aren't any card shows.

Side note: I order from some of you in this thread quite often, and often multiple times a week. Please always feel free if you recognize my name to hold my stuff for a couple days and ship things together. Saves you money and saves on all trash too.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by Cliffroach

........sellers that don't have a big jump from 2-4 to 5-10 for example will always get a first look from me........

Thanks for your insight Cliff, I appreciate it. Hearing from the buyers can only help sellers, and that is why I wish sportlots had a message board.

I have given a lot of thought to the 5 to 10 card section of the postal rates, but to me it is the trickiest to navigate price-wise.

I almost wish sportlots had cut it off at 8 cards instead of 10 because I think 8 is still doable in a PWE using some creativity but without sacrificing durability.

If the order is ten cards at 18 cents each there is no way it can go first class without losing money on the order if you use "budget type" pricing.

Maybe I will do some experimenting with 10 cards in a team bag sandwiched between thin but sturdy cardboard and see what it looks like in a PWE.

Back to the drawing board.

[Cliffroach]

Originally Posted by nam812

Thanks for your insight Cliff, I appreciate it. Hearing from the buyers can only help sellers, and that is why I wish sportlots had a message board.

I have given a lot of thought to the 5 to 10 card section of the postal rates, but to me it is the trickiest to navigate price-wise.

I almost wish sportlots had cut it off at 8 cards instead of 10 because I think 8 is still doable in a PWE using some creativity but without sacrificing durability.

If the order is ten cards at 18 cents each there is no way it can go first class without losing money on the order if you use "budget type" pricing.

Maybe I will do some experimenting with 10 cards in a team bag sandwiched between thin but sturdy cardboard and see what it looks like in a PWE.

Back to the drawing board.

Yeah definitely don't short yourself. There is some creative shipping out there so maybe folks will post their secrets.

[bryanscs]

Originally Posted by nam812

Thanks for your insight Cliff, I appreciate it. Hearing from the buyers can only help sellers, and that is why I wish sportlots had a message board.

I have given a lot of thought to the 5 to 10 card section of the postal rates, but to me it is the trickiest to navigate price-wise.

I almost wish sportlots had cut it off at 8 cards instead of 10 because I think 8 is still doable in a PWE using some creativity but without sacrificing durability.

If the order is ten cards at 18 cents each there is no way it can go first class without losing money on the order if you use "budget type" pricing.

Maybe I will do some experimenting with 10 cards in a team bag sandwiched between thin but sturdy cardboard and see what it looks like in a PWE.

Back to the drawing board.

Make sure your PWE is less than 1/4" thick. Otherwise, it's considered a parcel, and must have 1st Class Package postage.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

Make sure your PWE is less than 1/4" thick. Otherwise, it's considered a parcel, and must have 1st Class Package postage.

I just cured that thickness problem by doing two 5 card packages side by side in the PWE. So for me, I'm now declaring 10 in a PWE doable. I'm off to adjust my 10 card postal rate.

[bryanscs]

Originally Posted by nam812

I just cured that thickness problem by doing two 5 card packages side by side in the PWE. So for me, I'm now declaring 10 in a PWE doable. I'm off to adjust my 10 card postal rate.

If someone purchases 10 thicker cards, such as Heritage/Gypsy Queen/Bowman Chrome type cards, you will lose money, as it'll have to go as a package. So just be careful!

[nam812]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

If someone purchases 10 thicker cards, such as Heritage/Gypsy Queen/Bowman Chrome type cards, you will lose money, as it'll have to go as a package. So just be careful!

That's where the 5 and 5 side by side comes in.

[tribefan26]

I stopped budget over 4 cards - I was tired of demands for postage due.

I don’t differentiate budget or premium for more than 4 cards.