All I want to do is talk about Sportlots

[nam812]

It's actually supposed to be more than 33 cents since paypal raised their fee a while back, but sportslots (maybe Max) told me that sportlots would pay the increased portion and keep it at the old fee (33 cents) for sellers until he came up with some sort of a solution.

[sedin26]

Originally Posted by nam812

It's actually supposed to be more than 33 cents since paypal raised their fee a while back, but sportslots (maybe Max) told me that sportlots would pay the increased portion and keep it at the old fee (33 cents) for sellers until he came up with some sort of a solution.

I generally try to not buy single cards but the problem, as a buyer, is this is the way the site is set up. I wouldn't mind the email you send out but I'd be willing to bet lots of buyers wouldn't love it.....

Having said that, it's better than not sending and just letting the order cancel, which I've had a couple of times

[longhornjunkie]

Originally Posted by nam812

I would like to get the opinions of some of the longtime sportlots sellers (new sellers and buyers too) about an email I send out to buyers when they, for the 2nd or 3rd time, make a one card order where Im the only seller and get hit with the full paypal amount. Let me know if I am out of line to send this to a buyer.

XXXXX, Thank you for your order, but Im not sure if you realize that every time you make a 1 card order with only one seller, that seller is charged a 33 cent paypal charge. You're certainly allowed to do that, but at some point I will have to stop you from ordering from me rather than lose money each time you make an 18 cent 1 card order. I'm not even saying you have to buy more than 1 card from me, maybe just wait until you had a few sellers to order from in one big order then what happens is each seller splits the paypal fee. Regards, Nick

You may lose a few buyers but it sounds like you're losing money on their purchases anyway so let 'er rip.

I've tried to increase the value of my orders and/or spread over at least a few sellers before ordering. It's cost me cards I want, so as a buyer I'd like to see Sportlots change the fee/order structure somehow. Or maybe I need to make more of an effort to find more cards with that seller.

[bryanscs]

This is another reason I quit accepting 1 - 4 card PWE budget shipping orders. The PayPal fees can no longer be absorbed if you have $1 or less for budget shipping.

As far as your message to the buyers goes, I feel this leans more towards the negative side.

[nam812]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

.......As far as your message to the buyers goes, I feel this leans more towards the negative side.

I tried to word it so it wouldn't, but I guess I missed the mark. In a related story, the few buyers that I have sent that to have all messaged me back saying they had no idea.

The funny thing is that these buyers aren't doing anything wrong because it's well within their rights to order one card from a seller. Also they are just following the terms that I have set by paying my price for the card and my price to ship it to them. My cost to do business is no concern of theirs, so I guess my email to them is just to bring awareness.

Is it possible that my wife has been right all these years and everything I do is wrong? lol

[longhornjunkie]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

This is another reason I quit accepting 1 - 4 card PWE budget shipping orders.

Well, I turned up something interesting after reading this.
I always forget to check the shippers' pricing to see if maybe they have a break after buying X amount of cards.
So I click on yours and the chart says you offer $4.25 budget shipping for 1 card, but in the cart it's not available. Even if I had seen $4.25 I would understand what you are trying to do.

BUT... another seller where I have 2 cards in the cart... when I click their name it says $1.75 for budget, but it's N/A in the cart. Premium is $4.60.

This is another opportunity for Sportlots to make it clearer and better advertise if you get better shipping deals with other options... maybe even base shipping rates on value of card rather than quantity. The 2 cards I have in my cart from you Bryan add up to $13 which I would think would be appealing to a seller to allow budget. (In your case I'd do the $0 box shipping, but some sellers don't offer that either / effectively don't offer it by making it the same as budget.)

[bryanscs]

The N/A in your cart is because you have hit that particular sellers threshold for the dollar amount that they are willing to ship PWE.

[longhornjunkie]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

The N/A in your cart is because you have hit that particular sellers threshold for the dollar amount that they are willing to ship PWE.

Ah, so it's already set up that way. So is that visible to buyers?
I guess all I'm getting at is some of the information is missing and/or misleading. Not the sellers' fault, just the site setup.

[bryanscs]

Yes, it’s listed on the sellers shipping price page, directly below the shipping prices box.

[longhornjunkie]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

Yes, it’s listed on the sellers shipping price page, directly below the shipping prices box.

Thanks, I may have to get with you later because all I see is the Premium threshold. I don't see any Budget $ minimum on any of the sellers.

[bryanscs]

The Premium threshold is the budget minimum.

For example, my premium threshold is $0.01. So any card over that price defaults to premium shipping. That's why budget shipping is listed as N/A no matter which cards you choose.

If another seller has a premium threshold of $5, and offers budget shipping for 1-4 cards, as long as your cards total $4.99 or less, you can have those shipped via the sellers budget shipping method.

[longhornjunkie]

Originally Posted by bryanscs

The Premium threshold is the budget minimum.

For example, my premium threshold is $0.01. So any card over that price defaults to premium shipping. That's why budget shipping is listed as N/A no matter which cards you choose.

If another seller has a premium threshold of $5, and offers budget shipping for 1-4 cards, as long as your cards total $4.99 or less, you can have those shipped via the sellers budget shipping method.

Duh. The freezing point is also the melting point. Thanks for spelling it out! I deleted a high dollar card from the other seller and voila, budget appeared.

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by sedin26

I generally try to not buy single cards but the problem, as a buyer, is this is the way the site is set up. I wouldn't mind the email you send out but I'd be willing to bet lots of buyers wouldn't love it.....

Having said that, it's better than not sending and just letting the order cancel, which I've had a couple of times

Canceling the order makes no sense from the seller - they still pay the PayPal fee. Unless sportlots will refund it, but I’ve never asked.

[nam812]

The site has been very slow loading page to page for a few hours.

[Cliffroach]

I do think they should move the threshold wording to the top of the seller's postage screen. The box (for me anyways) isn't a full page and cuts off that information. If you don't scroll to the bottom, you wouldn't know it was there. Same for any bulk shipping discounts the seller might offer.

[nam812]

October has been very slow so far. Hopefully that has not been the trend for everyone.

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by nam812

October has been very slow so far. Hopefully that has not been the trend for everyone.

Slow for me as well

[Tarheelsfan2012]

Is it pretty common for sellers to not respond to questions? lol . I've asked two different sellers a question in the past week without a response. It was in regards to which variation the card was. In 2001-02 Upper Deck made a product called hardcourts and there was 3 different versions, on court, off court and high court. It wasn't listed which it was on the "Exclusive" version which is supposed to be /25 (although another seller has a picture of one thats listed as exclusive but is the main version /1000).

[flyercle]

Originally Posted by Tarheelsfan2012

Is it pretty common for sellers to not respond to questions? lol . I've asked two different sellers a question in the past week without a response. It was in regards to which variation the card was. In 2001-02 Upper Deck made a product called hardcourts and there was 3 different versions, on court, off court and high court. It wasn't listed which it was on the "Exclusive" version which is supposed to be /25 (although another seller has a picture of one thats listed as exclusive but is the main version /1000).

I find that most sellers generally do respond to inquiries. That said, they could be rather inactive sellers? or just unsure of how to answer as those are subtle differences. Either way, I wouldn't let it disuade you from the site, as most other sellers do actively respond.

[ScottBreaks]

Starting to wish SportLots would just tack on the $0.02 per card fee at the end of the transaction, reflected in the purchase total. Starting to notice that sellers are adjusting their prices so that it's not as obvious there's a $0.02 fee on top of the listing price, which means the sellers are footing the bill on the charge, not the buyer. I understand it's not a huge fee, but a good amount of orders I'm getting aren't very profitable to begin with when you factor in the paypal fee and the constantly increasing postage prices.

[nam812]

November started out like it was going to be a very strong month and then, almost as if a switch got turned off, no sales for 4 straight days now. Hopefully everyone else is having different results.

[ScottBreaks]

Originally Posted by nam812

November started out like it was going to be a very strong month and then, almost as if a switch got turned off, no sales for 4 straight days now. Hopefully everyone else is having different results.

I just finished loading my Topps Update inventory last night, so a few orders came through today. Thought it was funny that I added around 600 cards to my inventory from Topps Update, and the first order I receive after was for a selection of cards I've had loaded for some time now. It feels like if I'm active with keeping my inventory updated through adding or adjusting prices, I receive random orders.

[smanzari]

What is with SportsLots buyers and bad addresses?! I've been running auctions and keep getting return to senders despite everything being exactly like the invoice -- is this an issue you all are seeing too? Or am I just getting (un)lucky? Its like once every three weeks and SOMETIMES the buyer responds (still waiting on the response on one, have sent a what seems like a message a day for over a week)

[nam812]

I have a question that is probably geared more towards the bigger sellers, but it's for all the sportlot sellers.

I have an opportunity (if you can call it that lol) to buy about 60,000 well organized (his words) cards from the late 1980s to the early 2000s with most being 1990s that have been picked over for anything of value.

My questions are would you avoid it at any price, or if you were to entertain buying it what would you want to pay for it?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[tribefan26]

Originally Posted by nam812

I have a question that is probably geared more towards the bigger sellers, but it's for all the sportlot sellers.

I have an opportunity (if you can call it that lol) to buy about 60,000 well organized (his words) cards from the late 1980s to the early 2000s with most being 1990s that have been picked over for anything of value.

My questions are would you avoid it at any price, or if you were to entertain buying it what would you want to pay for it?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

I have about 120,000 cards from 1988 to 2000 listed on sportlots - I probably sell 1-2% of them a year. Like $200-300 a year, so I wouldn’t pay much to resell on sportlots.

I’ve been a red seller for 15 years, with moving to yellow maybe 10-15% of the time.