posted on October 6, 2000 11:14:31 AM
I've read here in the past where some sellers offer to wrap items purchased as christmas gifts-exactly how do you go about this? I'm considering doing the same, now that Christmas is approaching, but it seems that the item would need to be wrapped, then reboxed so as not to disturb the wrapping, thus increasing shipping costs, reweighing, etc...any advice would be appreciated, thanks y'all!
posted on October 6, 2000 06:46:12 PM
Last Christmas season I offered holiday wrapping at an additional charge of $1.00. My buyers seemed to be pleased with this idea and it made me feel good to do it. I had tons of wrapping paper and ribbon so it really didn't cost me anything more. The dollar I charged actually went for putting the wrapped box into a bigger box so this dollar covered the extra shipping charge for weight.
posted on October 6, 2000 06:49:25 PM
We thought about doing this, but in the end decided that it was too time consuming and would hurt about ability to turn a better volume. I guess it depends on what you sell, but if you are trying to sell ALOT, then the time it takes to wrap a package *well* is just too valuable to sell so cheap.
posted on October 6, 2000 07:05:17 PM
If I had purchased items from you previous to this and you offered to giftwrap for only a dollar I would appreciate it greatly. But if this was the first time I bought from you I may be a bit nervous passing the gift on to a loved one without checking it first for damage or to see if it was the right article.
posted on October 6, 2000 08:26:31 PM
Yeah as I read this theard I was think to my self that offering to gift wrap Items bought for chirstmas would be a nice service but not on the one of a kind item you couldnt replace if it was opened and found broken since a USPS insurance receipt isnt much of a gift.
if you are selling whole sale Item you can resend out incase of damage this would be a good service though, many mail order companys offer gift wraping for there items bought as gifts.
posted on October 7, 2000 08:36:52 AM
It's a good idea. It seems like $1, though, isn't enough. What a bargain! If I were to do that, I'd only do it for unbreakables, though. The idea of something arriving broken sends chills down my spine.
Is this common, to offer giftwrapping on eBay? I've never seen anyone offer this in their ads.
posted on October 7, 2000 10:08:35 AM
If a buyer mentions to me in his email after the auction that the item is a gift, I always offer to gift-wrap for free. Most people decline but all seem to love it being offered to them. This Christmas I plan to offer gift wrap on every End of Auction email for 1.00 extra. I already have enough dollar-store gift wrap and "A Gift From" tags to sink the Titanic and the time factor doesn't change much when I look at how much time I spend wrapping anyways. I let them know they will need to put on bows and ribbon themselves (it gets smushed in the mail.) My customers seem to really appreciate this service.
posted on October 7, 2000 12:47:56 PM
Just last week I started putting this on my listings:
**Any items bought as gifts can be sent directly to that person! What a great option for Birthdays-Anniversaries-Anytime Gifts-and Holidays!**
A card can be put in the package, I can even put one in that the seller has sent me with payment. And I will try to pack it well, but I think the wrapping of the gift can get complicated. But my auctions are usually for heavy items that aren't practical to wrap.
But I have sent packages to whoever the buyer wishes, and have packed inside a card that they buyer has sent to me to put in. This works quite well, and really isn't much extra trouble. So far I haven't charged for this - it's what I would normally do.
posted on October 7, 2000 05:58:34 PM
I've been thinking about the whole Xmas wrapping idea also. But, I know I would never give a gift without checking it first, so it doesn't seem to make sense. Then today I noticed a discount store near me has very nice Xmas gift bags ranging in price from 49 cents to 99 cents each. I was thinking, when size doesn't make it impossible, I would include a gift bag with my item. More and more people are using gift bags instead of wrapping anyway. One of the card stores at our mall doesn't even have gift wrap - just bags!
This way the buyer could inspect the item, put it in the bag, and they're ready to go!
