Christmas is coming...Are you prepared?!?

[aking]

As most of us know, sales are going to start to increase here soon with cabin fever setting in and the holidays. Sales were sky high from October all the way to March.

Are you getting your accounts setup and prepared!?!?? Is anyone taking any different approaches this year?

I personally am thinking about getting a thermal printer.

[surcerouche]

I am.
I am currently sitting on 3 accounts and
trying to decide which items to focus in on.
September is here...=O)

[drosenseo]

If you ship with Fedex, talk to your account rep and ask for a thermal printer. They gave me a nice one for free.

[Burst]

Can you put that into a little more detail? A seller would love to get a thermal printer for free.

I was thinking about vacationing in Shanghai and just doing my ecommerce through a VPN. Maybe be good for me to get away.

[drosenseo]

About the thermal printer from Fedex-

I wish I had more details, but for me after a span of several months of shipping with Fedex Ground, I was assigned an account manager who called to ask how I liked the service etc etc etc. We were talking about how I print shipping labels and she said that since I had high enough volume she could send me a thermal printer ( Zebra ZP 500 Plus). I believe to qualify for it, I needed to average $25 spent per day with Fedex, that may vary I think though.

Also, for those of you who ship Fedex use your Amex credit card to pay for it, you get 5% cash back. For the thermal labels you can get them free from UPS.com. Free Rolls (only lets you order 1 roll at a time), free printer... Just how I like it.

[aking]

Got 5 accounts aging, 2 active. My goal is to have at least 10 accounts active with no holds by October. Got some work to do.

[NotGoodEnuff]

This time of year is always busy for us with school activities. So, my time devoted to Ebay is limited. And this year, we have been hit early by the youngest being sick and me down for a week because of my wisdom tooth being removed (OUCH!)

So, I am already behind on my holiday prep. I usually have my accounts ready by the end of September. This year, I am playing catchup. So, I decided to focus only on 2 accounts. Sales seem to be coming in already. My wholesale account usually starts picking up in September. That account is good to go. I already require insurance since the sales are usually over $50.00. So, no mass changes. My goal is to get the other account stocked by the end of October.

But, I am really pushing all my buyers to my website. My wholesale customers are all going. I am hoping the new ones go over quickly.

[webguy]

I can't even believe that Christmas is around the corner again.

The older you get, the faster the years go by.

We all need to make the best of every day.

[bluemoon999]

Sales volume will go up for sure. Just be prepared when some buyers getting very skeptical about shipping speed especially when closer to the Holidays.

[NotGoodEnuff]

Yep! Seems like just yesterday it was the end of May and I was attending my daughter's graduation.

Originally Posted by webguy

I can't even believe that Christmas is around the corner again.

The older you get, the faster the years go by.

We all need to make the best of every day.

[aking]

YES INDEED, time does fly. I just made another account with everything verified and ready to sell. I just need to get my phone numbers. I'm up to 4 total and will be making another tonight.

Anybody ever bought a thermal printer from ebay? I saw some for around $70-$100 range which I thought was pretty reasonable.

[thakid212]

I never heard of a thermal printer....what is it?

[aking]

Apparantely its like a mini printer that doesn't use ink or paper, but rolls with an adhesive back so you just stick it on the package. No more buying tape, ink or paper!! Google it.

[OfficialGenius]

With eBay only allowing us to list 3 VERO items per month you would def have to be prepared!

[arsgunner77]

Originally Posted by OfficialGenius

With eBay only allowing us to list 3 VERO items per month you would def have to be prepared!

whats that supposed to mean?

[ONE]

Originally Posted by Burst

Can you put that into a little more detail? A seller would love to get a thermal printer for free.

Actually there are several ways to get not only free thermal printers but complete shipping systems.

Before DHL went international only...we got them to give us 2 of their "Easy Ship" Systems which included a brand new dell, monitor, laser printer for week end reports, thermal printer for labels plus a toledo weight scale. No we were not some huge corporation....we got 1 installed in the basement to start and then another several months later for a ebay store we had. We were looking at $2k-$5k a mo in shipping bills.

Anyway I heard UPS and Fedex do the same you just have to ask them and then tell them you want it.... I know DHL is tanked but we did not have to pay a deposit with them it got sent to us next day air and we were up and running.