All I want to do is talk about Sportlots

[bryanscs]

You need a larger inventory if you are wanting Sportlots to be successful.

I don't recommend selling until you have at least 10,000 cards listed, but that still maybe a little low.

There are currently 71,000,000+ cards listed, so your 2500 is a drop in the bucket, so to speak.

Simply put, you need more inventory listed. Sales will come, the more you list!

[Browns1981]

I will. Is there a good guide for higher bulk and canada shipping pricing? Don't want to get burned.

[Westlake]

Originally Posted by Browns1981

I feel like I may be doing Sportslot wrong. I've had 4-5 sales since starting my store early December with not much to show for it. After shipping/packaging costs I've barely made any profit. I'm not trying to get rich, just curious what I can do better. I price everything at or below the lowest current sale price and I think my shipping and loot values are in line.

Here is a summary of your payment details:

Payment Category Amount
Card Fixed Sales $4.10
Card Fixed Postage $7.75
Card Fixed Fees $3.93
Transaction Fee $0.00
Credits $0.00
Payment total $7.92

If it was me I'd go to vacation mode. List like crazy and go live again Feb 1 with 15,000 to 20,000 cards. Good luck whatever you choose.

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by Browns1981

I will. Is there a good guide for higher bulk and canada shipping pricing? Don't want to get burned.

You can set some reasonable price for PWE budget up to 4 cards. For anything above that you're into $10 and up.

Since Box shipping started, my shipments to Canada for PWE shipping have dropped 80% and I can recall one package I sent in 2020.

I have $2.10 for single card and $2.25 for 2-4 card budget. Everything else is 10 and up. Haven't had an issue covering costs.

[Browns1981]

Originally Posted by Westlake

If it was me I'd go to vacation mode. List like crazy and go live again Feb 1 with 15,000 to 20,000 cards. Good luck whatever you choose.

I'm going to do that. I have my loot at 5%, is that fair?

Think I've bought from you and a few others in this thread.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by Browns1981

I'm going to do that. I have my loot at 5%, is that fair?

Think I've bought from you and a few others in this thread.

That's where my loot is too, but in my opinion I feel that lower shipping (not to the point of losing money though) entices buyers more than the loot does.

I'm constantly toying with my shipping rates, and by toying I mean weighing amounts of cards to see what the cost would be for the weight of X amount of cards plus holder (1 to 5 in toploaders, 5 to 50 in a snap case, over 50 in cardboard ct. boxes, etc....) plus the weight of the mailing vehicle (bubble mailer, box, etc..) so that I can be competitive with other sellers without having the actual postage cost me (or the buyer) more than it should.

It's obviously not an exact science because 5 A&G minis will weigh far less than 5 chrome cards (and every different weight between those 2 types), but it helps me stay on my toes and not be lazy. lol

Edited to add: Feel free to list your sportlots ID here so that some of us can take a look and perhaps help you tweak your specific seller page along with the general do's and donts.

[Browns1981]

Sure, my profile is BROWNS81.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by Browns1981

Sure, my profile is BROWNS81.

Your box shipping prices seem high, but maybe you're doing that purposely to avoid box shipping. That makes sense because with the little inventory you have you arent going to get many box orders. What makes box shipping work for me is when i have 6+ sportlots box orders to send to sportlots.

Box orders are like a clock for me, once I get a new sportlots box order my 7 day clock starts. 7 days after I get my first sportlots box order I make a big package and send them all. My last two were nice as they had 10 order each in them, but sometimes there may only be 3 or 4, so I may lose a little shipping it, but they are orders I may never have gotten if I didn't offer low box shipping rates.

My box orders are usually only orders of between 1 and 10 cards, so I would say i need about 6 to 8 box orders per week to not lose on shipping. Keep in mind that I'm a very small seller on sportlots with an inventory of only 48,000+, and my sales did not start getting consistent until I passed the 20,000 to 25,000 card threshold like others above have mentioned.

Good luck growing your inventory, and post here with any questions/thoughts you may have. Many of the big sportlots sellers are in this thread, and they are all very generous with helpful tip and info.

[Browns1981]

I'm wondering if it's worth the time to upload thousands of junk wax (junkiest of the junk; I have enough 92 Score to wallpaper my whole neighborhood). Does any of that stuff move, aside from hall of famers and other notable players?

[Westlake]

Originally Posted by Browns1981

I'm wondering if it's worth the time to upload thousands of junk wax (junkiest of the junk; I have enough 92 Score to wallpaper my whole neighborhood). Does any of that stuff move, aside from hall of famers and other notable players?

If you are adding it to existing inventory it can't hurt. If it's all you are going t list don't bother. You will be paying huge fees on the little you sell.

[nam812]

Happy New Year to all the buyers and sellers in the sportlots family.

January has come storming out of the gate for me. I don't know if it has to do with the virus relief money, but my orders are way up. December was very good too, but January is on pace to be my best month ever for amount of orders.

Box orders are especially up. I know Max did some sort of promotion to encourage buyers to request their boxes be mailed out from sportlots last month, so I wonder if that is having something to do with my box orders being up.

Hope all the sellers here are experiencing the same great start to the new year, and thank you to all my buyers for past sales, and more opportunities for me to help add to your collections in the future.

[Westlake]

Originally Posted by nam812

Happy New Year to all the buyers and sellers in the sportlots family.

January has come storming out of the gate for me. I don't know if it has to do with the virus relief money, but my orders are way up. December was very good too, but January is on pace to be my best month ever for amount of orders.

Box orders are especially up. I know Max did some sort of promotion to encourage buyers to request their boxes be mailed out from sportlots last month, so I wonder if that is having something to do with my box orders being up.

Hope all the sellers here are experiencing the same great start to the new year, and thank you to all my buyers for past sales, and more opportunities for me to help add to your collections in the future.

I'm seeing this as well.

[Tom Oates]

Originally Posted by nam812

Happy New Year to all the buyers and sellers in the sportlots family.

January has come storming out of the gate for me. I don't know if it has to do with the virus relief money, but my orders are way up. December was very good too, but January is on pace to be my best month ever for amount of orders.

Box orders are especially up. I know Max did some sort of promotion to encourage buyers to request their boxes be mailed out from sportlots last month, so I wonder if that is having something to do with my box orders being up.

Hope all the sellers here are experiencing the same great start to the new year, and thank you to all my buyers for past sales, and more opportunities for me to help add to your collections in the future.

I have over 140,000 cards in my store and rarely get a box order. I can go months without one. I did get one this week though. Sales in 2020 were pretty good for me. Enough to make it worth all of the time it took me to get all of those cards listed. For some reason I never get the email stating that I have an order to fill so I have to check multiple times a day. If anyone has the "from" email address or subject line of the mail message, it would help me out trying to research why or where they are getting blocked.

Tom

[bryanscs]

Originally Posted by Tom Oates

I have over 140,000 cards in my store and rarely get a box order. I can go months without one. I did get one this week though. Sales in 2020 were pretty good for me. Enough to make it worth all of the time it took me to get all of those cards listed. For some reason I never get the email stating that I have an order to fill so I have to check multiple times a day. If anyone has the "from" email address or subject line of the mail message, it would help me out trying to research why or where they are getting blocked.

Tom

Sportlots doesn't send those emails out anymore.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by Tom Oates

I have over 140,000 cards in my store and rarely get a box order. I can go months without one. I did get one this week though. Sales in 2020 were pretty good for me. Enough to make it worth all of the time it took me to get all of those cards listed. For some reason I never get the email stating that I have an order to fill so I have to check multiple times a day. If anyone has the "from" email address or subject line of the mail message, it would help me out trying to research why or where they are getting blocked.

Tom

I see that there is no difference in your regular shipping price and your box shipping price. Lowering your box shipping price would entice more customers to use that service when buying from you. When I made all my box shipping prices 1/2 of my regular shipping price, my box orders really increased. I've done 8 to 10 box orders every week for about the last 6 weeks. Obviously those are just my results, and your results may differ, but the theory behind it makes sense. Good luck with your sales.

[bryanscs]

I agree. The lower your box shipping, the more orders you'll get.

My box shipping is $0. I average around 20 box orders a day.

[Westlake]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

I agree. The lower your box shipping, the more orders you'll get.

My box shipping is $0. I average around 20 box orders a day.

Are they decent size orders that offset the free shipping?

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by Tom Oates

I have over 140,000 cards in my store and rarely get a box order. I can go months without one. I did get one this week though. Sales in 2020 were pretty good for me. Enough to make it worth all of the time it took me to get all of those cards listed. For some reason I never get the email stating that I have an order to fill so I have to check multiple times a day. If anyone has the "from" email address or subject line of the mail message, it would help me out trying to research why or where they are getting blocked.

Tom

Your budget and box shipping is essentially the same. Why would a US buyer pay box shipping, and have to then spend more money and wait extra time to get their cards?

I suspect the limited orders you are getting for box shipping are from foreign buyers.

[mjohnatgt]

I'm in the US and have only made Box shipping orders. I don't want a million small envelopes delivered to my house in a year. I'd much rather have them collect somewhere else and then take delivery. Maybe I got spoiled by COMC.

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by mjohnatgt

I'm in the US and have only made Box shipping orders. I don't want a million small envelopes delivered to my house in a year. I'd much rather have them collect somewhere else and then take delivery. Maybe I got spoiled by COMC.

I assume you look at postage charges when you purchase. That is my point. He can’t compete with the large number of no charge or nominal charge box shippers when you are shopping on most purchases.

[Tom Oates]

Originally Posted by tribefan26

Your budget and box shipping is essentially the same. Why would a US buyer pay box shipping, and have to then spend more money and wait extra time to get their cards?

I suspect the limited orders you are getting for box shipping are from foreign buyers.

Yeah, I did that on purpose because I hate selling cards for negative amounts. Especially at the beginning of the month when they take 75% of the sale. After sportlots fees, paypal fees, cost of stamp, top loader, penny sleeve, printer ink, electricity, envelopes, a small amount of gas to swing by the post office sometimes... I actually lose money on some sales.

I'll think about the box shipping idea and maybe try lowering my box shipping for a couple months and see what happens.

Thanks for taking the time!

Tom

[bryanscs]

Sportlots doesn't take 75%, unless you don't go over that threshold ($4.99 a month in sales).

They only take the percentage of what your total sales are at the end of the month.

Low Amt High Amt Fee Pct.
$0.00 $4.99 75%
$5.00 $24.99 50%
$25.00 $49.99 35%
$50.00 $99.99 27%
$100.00 $199.99 23%
$200.00 $299.99 20%
$300.00 $499.99 18%
$500.00 $999.99 17%
$1000.00 $1499.99 16%
$1500.00 Above 15%

[tbc]

I received my first Sportlots box yesterday - boy was that like late Christmas, still going through it all. I am highly surprised by the amount of Scotch tape used by Sportlots sellers. No package from me has had it since 2000 or so, I thought it was pretty much standard today to use something else.

I'm actually in the process right now of cutting out four $12 cards that are in a jumbo penny sleeve, no top loader, and were taped over with scotch tape which touches the cards. Performing medical surgery to get these things out without tearing them to shreds.

[gopherfan]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

Sportlots doesn't take 75%, unless you don't go over that threshold ($4.99 a month in sales).

They only take the percentage of what your total sales are at the end of the month.

Low Amt High Amt Fee Pct.
$0.00 $4.99 75%
$5.00 $24.99 50%
$25.00 $49.99 35%
$50.00 $99.99 27%
$100.00 $199.99 23%
$200.00 $299.99 20%
$300.00 $499.99 18%
$500.00 $999.99 17%
$1000.00 $1499.99 16%
$1500.00 Above 15%

Bryan, I assume those percentages are progressive. If you sell $700 in cards for the month, they take 75% of the first $4.99, 50% of the next $20, etc.

[bryanscs]

No, they aren't progressive.

In your $700 example, your fees would be 17% total.


You can go to your account summary, and click on the orders filled tab, where you can see your fee percentage.

That amount is calculated by your 'Applied' sales - any loot x the fee percentage.

There is no 75% of the first $4.99, 50% of the next $20, etc.