Scavenger Life Episode 328: Chaos vs Stress, There is a difference in life and business

Wow, this seems early! 🙂 Looking forward to listening to the podcast soon. Thanks!

September 17th (store opened from vacation on the 18th) – Sep 23rd 2017
Total items in store: Etsy 461 // Ebay 432 (Items not crossposted I list different types of things on Etsy and Ebay)
Items Sold: Etsy 10 // Ebay 16
Cost of items Sold: Etsy $21.38 // Ebay $44.36
Total Sales: Etsy $175.35 // Ebay $376.84
Highest Price Sold: Unopened Dimensions Christmas Stocking Kit $100
Average Price Sold: $21.24
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 49 (listed at $883)

Glad to be back from vacation. Excited to get things listed and selling again! My stock items have dropped off – need to go back in and renew / relist some things.

Also, I bought 11 unopened / unused Christmas cross stitch kits at a garage sale a few weeks ago for a dollar apiece and just got them listed. So far 3 have sold for $35, $60 and $100! So excited!!

Did you say that all watermarks have to be removed by November??? I think I have a watermark on every photo in my store. Ebay decided some time ago to allow watermarks if the met a certain criteria, which they do. Now they changed their mind again? How the heck am I supposed to remove the watermarks without replacing every photo? This may be too much for me to even consider.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Linda Shields.

Can’t wait to listen to the show in the morning. I thought last week’s convo (on the show & on the boards) was super interesting how challenges, changes, problems, stress affect people differently.

Week September 17-23, 2017

Total Items in Store: 94715
Items Sold: 20 (7 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $88 (13.8% of sales)
Total Sales: $639.87 (not included items on consignment)
Highest Price Sold: $99.99 (1977 Star Wars John Williams Record with posters)
Average Price Sold: $31.99
Returns: 1 (started, but hasn’t been shipped yet)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $316
Number of items listed this week: 57
Promoted listings test: 6 sales, $108.99 (17% of total sales), $4.78 fees (4.4% of sales)

Steady week for me, good pace, pleased overall. Total above don’t include a few consignment items I sold for family/friends. I mentioned the pieces from my aunt that were art pieces from my uncle. Almost immediately I got several watchers and some offers, ended up selling the pairs of cufflinks for $100 each to a professor at the University of Kansas. He asked if I had more than what was listed of my great uncle’s work – I don’t, but have reached out to some family members that do. Including my mom’s brother who has to large wall hangings that could fetch $5-$10k each. He was already thinking of downsizing last time I saw him in the summer, so he’s deciding if he’ll let them go.

Picked up a huge lot of records this weekend. I got the whole lot (~200) for $250. About 60 were worth listing separately, which I did and then listed the rest on CL as a lot for $100. Sold almost immediately, plus the guy asked if I had more (which obviously I have a good 350 records in my store). He’s going to get back to me, but he said he wanted a good 45 out of my store too totaling a combined $1800… we’re working on price right now, but could be a big story for me in next week’s post.

Week of Sept 17 – 23
* Total Items in Store: 1069
* Items Sold: 17
* Cost of Items Sold: $15.83 + $12.30 Commission
* Total Sales: $332.66
* Highest Price Sold: $27 lot of 11 Christmas Salt & Pepper sets
* Average Price Sold: $19.57
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $32.50
* Number of items listed this week: 48

I made a stupid mistake this week. I was running late to meet a friend for lunch on Wed, so I decided to go to the post office afterwards. I spaced out and forgot. It wouldn’t have been a big deal except that Thurs was the Jewish New Year, and I didn’t ship anything. Friday was also part of the holiday, but I decided to ship that day. I brought my new packages to the car and found the old ones still sitting there in the trunk. I had been wondering why I wasn’t seeing updated tracking; I should have realized. I had 5 packages shipped late, but at least one will still be within the shipping window. One got to its destination very quickly, so maybe it is still within the window for receiving the package. The rest might be late and may ding my rating. I won’t lose my TRS over this, but I’m just pissed off at myself. I’m one of those people who will walk into another room to get something, but forget what it was once I get there. I write lists or notes to myself and set alarms on my cell phone to remind me of appointments. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any of those things on Wed.

Anyway, the week was decent, but sales dried up on the weekend for whatever reason.

Thank you for the podcast Jay & Ryanne. Happy travels. It made me so happy to see that the podcast was already up today and so early. I think I know what you mean about chaotic lives. I don’t think I’ve been a person that has had a necessarily chaotic life, but I’ve had to step away from some relationships with people that seem to be in that state. At a certain point, you see that it’s probably not going to change (unless like you mentioned, the person is self-motivated, and goes to therapy or something), and there’s nothing an outside person can really do about it. And it is what Ryanne said, at some point, it is about deciding how you’re going to be an adult.

On a lesser scale, I sometimes find myself defaulting in some negative patterns or stressing out in this current life, but then really have to catch myself and remember how I would have killed for this life about a year ago, when I was so unhappy at my last job. Regular reflection is key.

Sept 17 – Sept 23, 2017
Total Items in Store: 338
Items Sold: 15
Cost of Items Sold: approx. $15
Total Sales: $366.93 (excluding shipping costs)
Highest Price Sold: $80 (Dale of Norway Cardigan)
Average Price Sold: $24.46
Returns: 0
International Sales: 1 (Elie Tahari Cardigan)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $45.33
Number of items listed this week: 5 (yikes!)

Not bad for a week of barely listing. I think home and homeschooling schedule felt wonky this week, trying to figure out a consistent schedule for us, and what we’re doing when. I can work better when home isn’t chaotic and messy, so needed to take care of that. Getting more confident about pricing. Because of this, getting more decent offers, can run sales without the price dipping lower than I’m comfortable with and average sale price is getting better. I’m trying a new approach with listing. I’m scheduling out listings ahead of time & keeping track on a calendar, so everyday at least some new listings are going up. It’s a more positive frame of mind for me to work ahead and nice to cover a day or weekend that I want to free up. I’m scheduling it, but manually making it go live to avoid the scheduling fees. This shift feels better, working and looking ahead rather than constantly feeling behind.

It was a good day at the bins on Friday, was able to find more than I have been, about 45 vs. the 25 average lately of strong items. A good friend wanted to come along, so it was fun to have her there and show her that world. Great personal finds from the bins was a near perfect condition unicorn book for my daughter w/ the gift receipt still inside and cute wedges for one of my stepdaughters.

Other non eBay related week high points included helping at an urban garden w/ my daughter (this has been a good regular thing in our schedule) & my daughter starting jiu jitsu at a great dojo that emphasizes self-confidence and anti-bullying. The kids verbally and physically stand up to the instructors. The instructors pretend to bully them by calling them things like “watermelon face”, “banana head”, etc. The kids look at them seriously and say things like “Never call me that again”. Hilarious, and I’m glad she’s getting this practice.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by dearmila.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by dearmila.

(I think your post might have been deleted? if so, here it is)

T-Satt wrote:

Week of 9/10-9/16
Total Items in Store: 1,768
Number of Items Listed: 86
Number of Items Sold: 66
Weekly STR: 16%
Total Product Sales: $1,712.14
Cost of Items Sold: $324.29
Gross Profit for Week: $1,227.55
Highest Item Sold: $75 – Vintage Footjoy Black & White Golf Shoes
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 22-15.

We had a great time at the Junk Jaunt in Nebraska, but came away with a bit less than usual. We ran into too many places that were either asking way too much for their items, or items that were just not resellable. Still works out to have a business trip where we get to visit our son as well, so a definite plus on the taxes.

I haven’t seen anything else on the eBay site regarding the Concierge Service, just what we heard at eBay Open, and what they have been discussing on eBay Radio. We received a message that we were enrolled, and it has been smooth since then. Below is what is in the message we received:

Learn more about eBay Concierge
What is eBay Concierge?
eBay Concierge offers an enhanced level of service to selected customers, and looks to remove friction and barriers for high value and high frequency customers.

What are the key benefits?
We review the services on a regular basis but the areas that we focus on are:
–Direct access to a dedicated team of experts with minimal wait times and a choice of contact options
–Support from top team members empowered to take responsibility for issues and concerns
–Tailored support on buying or selling issues

Who is the program open to?
The program is currently open to selected customers only. Criteria for selection include the value and volume of business with eBay. Membership of the program is optional. Customers who choose to opt out will continue to be supported by our standard customer service team.

Membership of the program may also be reviewed by the business from time to time to ensure we continue to offer the service to customers who can benefit the most.

Once a member, always a member?
The program aims to support high value customers, so it’s possible we’ll review membership of the program in the future. This ensures we can focus the services of our expert teams to those who’ll benefit most. Everyone currently in the program will have access to the Concierge team at least until the end of 2017.

How do free returns for buyers work?
Concierge members who use the eBay returns process will have shipping costs refunded back to their account. This applies to the first five returns per quarter. Buyers will need to print the return label through My eBay and we’ll automatically credit the shipping cost.

How is eBay Concierge different from eBay Valet?
The eBay Valet service is available to all US sellers to help them price, list, and sell items. eBay Concierge is a program that’s initially available only to select sellers and buyers.

What’s the difference between Concierge and an Anchor Store subscription or Managed Account service?
The eBay Concierge program gives us an opportunity to evaluate a variety of enhanced services with select sellers and buyers. Anchor Store subscribers, Managed Account sellers, or other seller programs will have services specifically designed to support their business requirements on eBay.

Week of 9/17-9/23
Total Items in Store: 1,768
Number of Items Listed: 86
Number of Items Sold: 66
Weekly STR: 16%
Total Product Sales: $1,712.14
Cost of Items Sold: $324.29
Gross Profit for Week: $1,227.55
Highest Item Sold: $75 – Vintage Footjoy Black & White Golf Shoes
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 22-15.

We had a great time at the Junk Jaunt in Nebraska, but came away with a bit less than usual. We ran into too many places that were either asking way too much for their items, or items that were just not resellable. Still works out to have a business trip where we get to visit our son as well, so a definite plus on the taxes.

I couldn’t find a link on eBay about the Concierge Service, just what we heard at eBay Open and what they have discussed on eBay Radio. Below is the information that we received in our message from eBay when they told us we were enrolled.

What is eBay Concierge?
eBay Concierge offers an enhanced level of service to selected customers, and looks to remove friction and barriers for high value and high frequency customers.

What are the key benefits?
We review the services on a regular basis but the areas that we focus on are:
–Direct access to a dedicated team of experts with minimal wait times and a choice of contact options
–Support from top team members empowered to take responsibility for issues and concerns
–Tailored support on buying or selling issues

Who is the program open to?
The program is currently open to selected customers only. Criteria for selection include the value and volume of business with eBay. Membership of the program is optional. Customers who choose to opt out will continue to be supported by our standard customer service team.
Membership of the program may also be reviewed by the business from time to time to ensure we continue to offer the service to customers who can benefit the most.

Once a member, always a member?
The program aims to support high value customers, so it’s possible we’ll review membership of the program in the future. This ensures we can focus the services of our expert teams to those who’ll benefit most. Everyone currently in the program will have access to the Concierge team at least until the end of 2017.

How do free returns for buyers work?
Concierge members who use the eBay returns process will have shipping costs refunded back to their account. This applies to the first five returns per quarter. Buyers will need to print the return label through My eBay and we’ll automatically credit the shipping cost.

How is eBay Concierge different from eBay Valet?
The eBay Valet service is available to all US sellers to help them price, list, and sell items. eBay Concierge is a program that’s initially available only to select sellers and buyers.

What’s the difference between Concierge and an Anchor Store subscription or Managed Account service?
The eBay Concierge program gives us an opportunity to evaluate a variety of enhanced services with select sellers and buyers. Anchor Store subscribers, Managed Account sellers, or other seller programs will have services specifically designed to support their business requirements on eBay.

Good sales this week! I love it when I have quantity that I’m expecting to gradually sell, and one buyer just buys it all.

Sales: CAD$1160, 6 items
COGS: $124
Gross profit: $863
Expenditures (incl. new inventory): $31
Net profit: $832, 7 hrs, $119/hr
Listed: 9 items, at least $240
Notable sales: a few weeks ago I bought a bunch of low pressure sodium lightbulbs for about $2 each – total of maybe 30 bulbs. This week I sold 22 of them at $40 each, for a total of $880 (free shipping, so my profit will be about $650). I am happy because I had second thoughts at dropping $60 on those things, but I’m glad I did and I still have 10 more to sell!

Most of my other sales were clearing out old junk for more or less breakeven. But I did also flip a toner cartridge for $5–>$166.

Not much scavenging this week. The 9-to-5 has been crazy lately.

A little followup on the lightbulbs: similar such buys in the past have not turned out well for me. I think the key difference is, for a bulk buy, it EITHER has to be a high-demand, fast-moving thing OR your profit margin has to be fantastic. (Ideally both of course, but that rarely happens.) In this case the profit margin was great (I just got lucky that it sold so fast, IMO).

If you’re only doubling up AND the item is slow, it sucks, because eventually you get desperate to move the item, and there’s time for other sellers to come and undercut your price (and not so much room to move before you lose profitability).

So for the future, my test will be that if I *think* I can bulk sell for say $50/item, $20 or even $10/item should still be acceptable.

Regarding the bookseller who requested a “tip” — I’ve got one. “Don’t run auctions without a reserve!” What chutzpah. But I’ve had a few bad book buying experiences recently:

A few months back, I tried to purchase a book from an Amazon seller; he canceled the order because he said his pricing software had inadvertently set the price too low. When I expressed disappointment (in simple, inoffensive terms) he became agitated and accused me of trying to profit from his “honest mistake.” He said I “should have known” that because his item was $30 less than the next highest priced similar item that there must have been an error, and I was trying to exploit it. (As if we’re not living in a world of 1-cent books.) Cancelling sales and accusing your buyers of dishonesty: really bad seller behavior. Ironically, I eventually found the book as a free PDF download and nobody made any money from it.

At a bricks-and-mortar used bookstore we visited over the weekend, the owner refused to honor the $2 price written inside the front cover of a book my daughter wanted to buy and instead took the book away, engaged in some sort of calculation in a back room for literally 10 minutes while we stood there, and eventually came back out and told her the price was $7.50. We paid it, but that $5.50 extra might have cost her all of our future business. The whole thing was so weird; in my opinion she should have lumped it and just accepted the $2 marked price as the cost of doing business and having “improperly priced” books out on the floor. When we were leaving, she said that when we were done with the book she would happily buy it back for $1.

This past week went fine, with about $640 in sales on about $25 in items. I sold a fancy set of fireplace tools, some paper lanterns, and a sculpture. My goal of selling fewer things at higher price points while I work at my 30-hour-a-week job looks good on paper this week. I have about 40 minutes between getting out of work and my kids’ dismissal from school, and I’m using that time to hit my favorite local thrift (only about 6 minutes from home.) So far these tiny surgical strikes at the end of each day are working out pretty well and I’ve found some great pieces.

I live in ADHD-style chaos, but not (for the most part) emotional chaos. And listening to Scavenger Life has definitely increased my serenity around dealing with the travails of online selling. I used to get sucked into drama and get upset about various things out of my control. Now, it’s much easier to be detached and just consider certain losses the cost of doing business.

Kate/Habnab

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Habnab.

Sept 16-22 2017

• Total Items in Store: 852
• Items Sold: 18 Total (16 eBay / 1 Truegether / 1 FB Marketplace)
• International 2 via GSP
• Total Sales $895 ($808 eBay / $57 Truegether / $30 FB Marketplace)
• Highest Price $130 tie between Z-Coil boots, Coleman lantern
• Average Price Sold: $50
• Returns: 1 GE record player, damaged.
• Cost of Items Sold: $60
• Cost of items purchased this week $80

The GE Wildcat record player was returned for not functioning properly.
When I received it I took it apart and found the motor was loose. Apparently the rubber motor mounts had deteriorated and fell apart during shipping.
A quick trip to Ace hardware for some rubber grommets and it’s fixed, I’ll still come out ahead but not quite the margin I had originally hoped for.

Is it chaos if, like a messy desk you know where everything is but to an outsider it’s a world turned upside down?

Store Week 9/17/17 – 9/23/17

Total items in store: 1549
Items sold: 30
Cost of items sold: $41.94
Total sales: $918.80
Highest price sold: $75.00 (Forest Service hat)
Average price sold: $30.63
International Sales: 1
Returns: 1
Money spent on new inventory this week: $35.75

My favorite sale for the week was a Halloween costume I made for my daughter when she was a baby. It was by no mean professional (lots of glue gun going on), but very cute and special to me, so I’m happy that it’s getting reused! I’ve had some offers on my son’s cutest homemade costume too, but I keep countering. I guess I’m not ready to be rid of that one yet! Another cool sale was some vintage Christmas tinsel icicles (the lead ones) for $19.99. Trash into treasure for sure!

Sept. 17-23
Total Items in Store: 657
Items Sold: 10
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $222
Highest Price: $40 (Vintage Hand Blown Green Glass Fishing Buoy Float)
Average Price: $22
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $24
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $77

ANOTHER bummer of a week! I thought it was going to be better with some quick sales on Sunday and Monday, but they rapidly died off after that. I don’t know what’s going on. But all I can do is keep listing. And boy did I! I listed close to a 100 items last week. Mostly small things like hardware and photo slides. I just can’t wait to get my numbers up to what they were before.

I went to an estate sale on Saturday. We don’t really have those a lot in my area, so it was sort of a special treat. Too bad they wanted top dollar for everything. But I managed to get a few items, including one of my holy grails of a portable CD player, the Sony Discman D-88! It was in a blank box and wasn’t priced, so I suggested $4 and she shrugged and said sure! I was ecstatic! I went back on Sunday and got a few other little things for the half-off sale, but afterwards I got to thinking about what they were going to do with everything that didn’t sell (and believe me, there was a lot still there)? That’s when I thought it would be cool to have a simple business card that I could give out in certain circumstances such as these where I would offer to buy the leftovers for a cheap price. Has anyone ever done anything like that?

Keep enjoying your trip, Jay and Ryanne!

I agree that dealing properly with chaos involves maturity. Chaos is inevitable in one’s life, especially if you’re a reseller or an artist. It’s how you deal with that chaos that is the key.

You can sit around and blame others for problems, or you can realize that problems will happen regardless of what you do. Sometimes, people just need to lay off being attached to the emotions that result from their problems. Especially if they’re small problems. Not everything is so bad.

For example, the link problem of this past week. I had 5,000 listings with links in them that needed to be removed. Instead of yelling and crying at my screen upon hearing the news, I thought rationally about what I could do. I had someone help me remove those links, and together we got it done in less than a week.

If I don’t sell enough items to my liking, I run a sale. I list more. I go out and buy more stock. I don’t blame anyone else for my lack of sales.

If a customer has a problem, I think of how I can help them in the least stressful way possible in order to resolve their problem. I try to make them feel as if they have had an overall positive experience, even if something went wrong.

There are a lot of people that are not cut out for reselling. They are the ones that find every step of the process to be an extremely trying orderal. It’s not. It’s fun.

RR Store Week Sept 17-23, 2017

Total Items in Store: 1347
Items Sold: 27
Cost of Items Sold: $29.17
Total Sales: $658.04
Highest Price Sold: $80.99 Vintage B-52’s t-shirt)
Average Price Sold: $24.37
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $33.99
Number of items listed this week: 7

Weird week. Had one return for size, no big deal. Then a late night order and immediate cancellation; I think the guy was drunk. Then I sold an item on Friday that I’m positive I sold months ago. No clue how it popped back up in my listings. I’ve heard this discussed on the podcast before, so I know it isn’t an isolated incident. I called eBay, and they told me to cancel the sale and give a refund, and to call them back when the defect pops up to discuss its removal.

Jay, sometimes your topics are so parallel with my life. Tuesday, I finally got the diagnosis I’ve been waiting for for a year and a half. My ear, neck, and general head problems are caused by a disorder in my temporomandibular joint, or TMJ. By process of elimination, we figured out that the cause of the problem is indeed stress. The last year and a half has been my most challenging ever, and I know I haven’t been reducing my stress levels properly. So this week, I took some time to relax and think about my process. Went to the L.A. County Fair with friends. Filed a bunch of records (very relaxing for me). Took some walks. I know I’ve been out of balance for a while, but now my body is pleading for mercy. Time to heed the call.

*Paul*

I LOVE that desk you sold, well worth the $1800+ paid for it. My week was pretty good, sales have picked up, so while I am sad that summer is ending (said while munching on a sweet home grown cucumber) I am ready for the seasonal sales.

Total Items in Store: 950
Items Sold: 11
Cost of Items Sold: $42
Total Sales: $306
Profit: $264
Highest Price Sold: $50 Birkenstock shoes
Average Price Sold: $27.82
Average Profit: $23.99

Pretty slow week compared to the last few weeks. I only listed a handful of items – all our time is being taken up by baseball and softball right now, which is AWESOME!

My new sourcing “interest of the moment” is men’s button down shirts. It started this summer when I came across several yard sales where I bought large lots of high end plaid button down shirts for $1 each. I got all of them listed and they are selling, so I’ve started spending more time in the shirts section of thrift stores. I want to become proficient in finding the valuable shirts quickly and efficiently. It was during one of these education sessions this weekend that I came across a scavenger grail – a COOGI Sweater!!! I know there are a couple folks on here who are knowledgeable on these so I’ll post some pictures on here soon to get a better grasp on its value.

I also made a change this weekend to my shipping process. I’m always looking to tweak things, and last week I was thinking about the DYMO 450 printer I bought for amazon FBA that has just been sitting collecting dust. I decided to order a roll of the long skinny labels that work for ebay USPS postage. Well I’m a fan now that I’ve tried it. So much quicker and easier. $7 for 150 labels is great.

Jay and Ryanne great podcast.

I believe free returns also means the seller pays return shipping not just no re-stocking fee

Kicker is that for my oldest listings, eBay watermarked my image automatically with my username because I had activated that option when it existed. I was on eBay Radio a long before eBay got serious about the no watermarks rule and, at that time, Grif mentioned that my inclusion of my store name and logo on a printed piece of paper in my listing photos was not a violation of the watermark rule because it is not a watermark.

* Total Items in Store: 420
* Items Sold: 10
* Cost of Items Sold: $25 used + $42 new RA + 24.24 free shipping offered
* Total Sales: $262
* Highest Price Sold: $46 1950s Waverly kitchen fabric
* Average Price Sold: $26
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 22

Felt like a slow week but just low dollar items going out. I might try free returns at some point on smaller items only because I don’t sell clothing and have only ever had two returns. I will probably see how prominently the filter is presented first. My instinct is that free shipping might have helped my sales a bit, even though they are not stellar. I’m hoping for algorithm favoritism rather than buyer behavior. I had a couple of old items sell after making the switch, but really it’s just a hunch. So far promotions I think helped less for me personally.

I need to read the forum thread re the 10konthebay video. He seems to think you have to pay now to run sales and that sales items are not presented well with the buyer only seeing a discounted price in the cart stage with a generalized sale banner in the corner. I have my weekly 15% sale priced into everything so it matters to me.

When I was young and crying about something apparently not significant. My dad (who is actually really awesome) used to say “stop crying or I will give you something to cry about”. I feel like the last few years life has been throwing up curveballs worth crying about at times. I’m a worrier by nature, but now I find it hard now to sweat the smaller stuff. I want to do a good job on Ebay, but be practical, efficient and certainly not get worked up about hiccups. I’ve eaten a couple of broken claims, provided a partial refund once. Well worth keeping the good feedback score and the peace of mind. That being said, I do get a bit frustrated that things don’t seem to be well thought out or operational before they are launched. I expect that occasionally customers will be unreasonable but I don’t expect that from a giant high tech company.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by ChristineR.

ChristineR, PLEASE read my posts on our Promoted Listing thread, I eventually watched the video. It is filled with misinformation. In my opinion, you would be better off not watching it at all. I DO think there may be some glitches with the rollout of the new merged tool. I’m still waiting for ebay to give it to me. But his biggest error is about the fee. There is NO fee to use it. He is confusing it with Promoted Listings.

I’ve actually been begging ebay to give me the new tool, in part because there’s so much misinformation about just what they are doing. But eBay is eBay, and I’ll get it when they damn well feel like giving it to me, and not a moment sooner LOL

Maybe this is why Some packages are late, and why Amazon uses UPS:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/26/probe-estimates-billions-of-delayed-mail-pieces-postal-service-acknowledges-some-coverups/?utm_term=.3bfd0043226c

My numbers for the week of 9/17/17:
Total Items in Store: 77
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $35
Total Sales: $391 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $75 (Carhartt Aztec Jacket)
Average Price Sold: $32.58
Returns: 0 (one $53 sale included in the numbers had to be cancelled because of invalid address…didn’t even have a street name or state in the address field when I went to ship)

I have a couple of opinions to share:
ChristineR…for the love of God don’t listen to anything that 10Konthebay says. They seriously have no idea what they are doing. I sometimes read stuff over there when I need a laugh.

Watermarks…Linda I feel so bad for your situation. I know there are plenty of sellers with 1000+ items all with watermarked photos. It’s my opinion that changes like this should be Granfathered in rather than a straight out change in policy. I hope you get a resolution.

Free Returns…I truly believe the psychology/behavior of shoppers can change when “free returns” is offered. This could work as a positive for a big company, but it’s not going to work for me as a tiny seller and I won’t opt in. Example: Zappos offers free returns. It is actually quite customary for buyers to order multiple styles or sizes, see which they prefer in person, and return the rest. When I wanted to purchase a pair of Birkenstocks, I ordered from Zappos BECAUSE of their free returns policy. I don’t usually order shoes online because of fit, and would have preferred to buy in person but couldn’t find the combination (color/style/size) I wanted locally. I wouldn’t have considered somewhere else for this purchase, even if it was cheaper. That’s the positive (for Zappos). The negative…the first pair didn’t fit quite right and I promptly “free returned” ’em for a different size width.

The above brings me to another thought I have about the cost of postage. Why hasn’t eBay negotiated a better discount for us? They are big enough to, other companies have it. They are making lots of changes to appeal to customers with the push for free shipping and returns. I feel that they should be doing everything they can to make it affordable for us sellers to opt in.

BethGreen, Just a couple quick comments. I haven’t watched any of his other videos, but this one is definitely filled with misinformation.

Postage Cost, I suspect ebay has tried to get a better deal. With all the pressure on USPS, I’m not sure it’s an easy task.

Free Return Shipping. I’m a small seller of used stuff. I’ve been offering free return shipping for several years. It has worked out fine, and I don’t have to deal with the remorse buyers who file INAD claims just to get the free return shipping. That alone has been worth it LOL I think fear of what might happen is what actually prevents most small sellers from using it.

Jay, I’m just a very small seller (planning to ramp up in Q4 if non-ebay circumstances don’t intervene.) I often go months between returns. My return rate is very low. My items are generally one-offs, antique, collectible type stuff, used clothing, pretty much typical scavenger inventory. As a scavenger, my mark up is usually pretty high, which means I can cover the cost of the occasional return without any real trouble.

I have high blood pressure controlled by meds and am improving my lifestyle, losing weight etc. I mention this because I like to reduce my stress. When I see the seemingly endless threads on the ebay boards (and even here) about buyers claiming INAD to get the free return shipping, and sellers fighting the INAD claim, etc. , well, for me, it’s worth it just to avoid those situations…saves me time and stress. If I ramp up and find returns becoming a problem, I would absolutely re-evaluate, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

BethGreen, I don’t know anything about that website, so I won’t comment on that for now. I’ll just say that its in ebay’s financial interest to get us the best deal they can, because it would increase sales and thus increase ebay’s FVF revenue (even if it would take a small bite out of their FVF on shipping). So I’m not convinced that they haven’t tried.

I still don’t know much about Mercari, but here’s another take on their shipping options:

http://www.debtfreedawn.com/save-money-reselling-clothes-buying-shipping/

Topic from a few episodes ago: eBay sending out emails to watchers/recent viewers

I was skeptical when this topic was brought up, but I’m a believer now. I had an item for nearly 4 years now with little to no interest. Last night I got my first ever offer on it, but it was low so I countered. This morning I woke up to a sale – at full price (more than 2x the offer) from another buyer! 🙂

Brian, Had you changed the price before the purchase?

Yes, that’s great—definitely satisfying to sell at full price after a low ball offer!

I’m not sure what you meant about ebay sending out notices? I know they send to watchers if you lower the price, but you did nothing? Or do they send a notice when an item gets an offer?

Ah, OK! I hope that’s true…wonder if its new, or just a test?

Must be new – haven’t seen it before in 20 years on eBay!

I just asked about this on ebay’s “Weekly CHat” discussion board. Here’s the answer from ebay rep Heidi:
I haven’t heard of this happening and I don’t believe it should be working that way. If you receive or see a report of this, would you mind @mentioning one of us on the thread? We’d be happy to look into it and investigate what’s happening. Thanks!

I have been listening every week, but have not commented in a while. Ryanne made a comment about flipping houses, so I thought I would share a little. In the past couple of months I have sold 2 flip houses, and this week I purchased another project. The first flip house was a very small house that a friend owned and just wanted to get rid of. I paid $18k and sold for $36k. after all the paperwork and monthly bills we ended netting around $13k. I did nothing to this house but clean it up. It needed a LOT of cleaning up. It needed too much work to rehab.

Second house I purchased with a partner (my current boss at my day job). The deal was, I would purchase the house and he would pay for and manage the remodel. I also picked out all of the cabinets, fixtures, paint colors, etc. This house needed more structural work than we bargained for. We ended up replacing 25% of the floor joists. When we purchased the house, we assumed we would sell it for around $175k. Here are the numbers: Purchase $87k, remodel costs $61k, sales price $194. We listed it for $190 and got an offer of $194 the next day. We took almost 4 months to do the work, and spent too much in my opinion on the work. But we ended up splitting $36k after realtors fees. We hired out 100% of the work.

Monday of this week I purchased a home almost identical to the last one we sold for $194k. I paid $104k for this one, it needs no structural and a lot less overall work. I am tackling this project by myself while my boss and I look for another project. I am planing on doing 75% of the work myself and hiring out a few trades to keep things moving along. If anyone is looking for me over the next few months, that is where I will be.

Just for fun, amazon sales are picking back up, Last 7 days – $1,750 in sales on items I purchased on ebay. Just a reminder, I am still running %40% to 50% profit on those items. Hopefully I can keep everyone better updated on my adventures.

I think a realistic model for me when I quit my job is to flip one house at a time and do ebay/amazon in between and nights.

Jay,
I heard you two talking about selling a Polaroid, so went to your sold listings and saw the one you guys sold last week. I noticed you listed it as “tested”. Do you mind letting us know how you do that? Do you have an empty cartridge?
Thanks

I wanted to chime in on what Brian and MyCottage were discussing about whether buyers who are watching an item get a message from eBay when the item receives a best offer. I decided to do a test, although I would need an additional person to do a full test to see if a message was sent by eBay.

My wife and I both have eBay accounts and we both sell. I have a basic store and she has about 50 items listed. I made some test best offers on some of her listings that had several watchers and she did the same to several of my listings with watchers. About 3 hrs later one of the items she made an offer on was purchased by someone else for full price. This item is not a commodity item and is more a one of a kind type and had been listed quite awhile.

Based on this sale I think there may be some validity to the claim that eBay sends messages to watchers when an item receives a best offer. To further test this claim I would need an outside party to make an offer on one of my wife’s listings I am watching. That way I could see if eBay sends me a message.

If someone would like to help with the experiment, let me know and I can provide a link to a couple of her listings that I am watching.

sure, be happy to help out. (Your wife will decline my offer, right? LOL)

Ryanne,

I have always been able to sort by watchers, both on my laptop or the iPhone app, even before I had a store.

MyCottage, of course it would not be accepted. We are leaving mine up for the 48 hrs and letting it expire. I put in obviously low offers and I am doing the experiment for her. Here are a couple of listings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321797155659
http://www.ebay.com/itm/322565215062

Thanks for helping with the test. It will be interesting to see if I do get a message from eBay or not. If I do I will post it in the forum.

Thanks

It has been a week and I never got a message from eBay alerting me that an item I was watching had an active offer on it. I guess it was just a weird coincidence that something with a few watchers sold soon after I had my wife make a test offer to see if this urban myth is reality.

Thank you to My Cottage for helping me test this out.