Scavenger Life Episode 419: People of the world

2019-07-07 – 2019-07-13

Total Items In Store: 3031
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $65
Total Sales: $676.38
Highest Price Sold: $140 (CD Changer)
Average Price Sold: $37.58
# Items Listed: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $82

I haven’t posted in several weeks because I have been on vacation.

Gut Sales Report for the week: Pretty good sales for my store for this time of year. Plus, I just got back from a long vacation with just some listing.

Challenge of the week: Trying to get items listed by the end of the summer to build up the store. Shooting to go to an anchor store by the end of August.

Scavenge of the week: Bought a Sony Super Betamax from the Thrift store for $12.99. Works great and will list high.

Scavenge of another kind: While I was on vacation in Florida, I was invited to go to a dig for Native American artifacts on private property. I got the opportunity to dig for 3000 year old arrowheads. I didn’t find any fully intact “points” as they are called, but I was able to find a number of tools that were used. It is quite incredible to take something out of the dirt that may not have been touched by human hands for nearly 3000 years!

Mark S

One other thing I did while on vacation was to drive thru Atlanta on the way back. Since my whole family are fans of the Netflix show “Stranger Things” we decided to stop at a place they used. We decided to go to “Hawkins Lab”. It is actually the closed down “Georgia Institute of Mental Health”.

Mike and other in Atlanta – if you are a fan of “Stranger Things”, you can go to the mall (Star Court in the show) or to Steve’s house or downtown Hawkins.

If you are not a fan, check out the show. It is really well done. I couldn’t stop watching season 1 after I got started!

Mark

I just had to pop on here right away and say, way to go Jay!
The stuttering is just fine, not a problem, the podcast is always terrific… good for you!
I don’t see it as a flaw or problem at all, just as I don’t see people’s other characteristics as flaws…
Can we just accept people are different –some people have birthmarks, some have scars, some stutter, some are thin, fat whatever…. none of them are flaws. People are just different and we don’t need treatment to try to be the same as everyone else.

Jay, your willingness to do a podcast despite your stutter has always been a point of huge respect and admiration for me. I was thrilled to find someone who had such self-confidence that he would talk, instead of just writing a blog, despite having what society considers an impediment. You inspired me in a personal way, as well as giving me so much good information about eBay. You are my hero!

You do you. I’m pretty sure there’s a huge slice of the Scavenger Life Tribe behind me who all believe you’re the best you, just the way you are. Treat these odd emails like you treat Grumpy Buyers – shrug, and delete.

Jay, you are so sweet. As a 64 year old married 44 years and regretting somewhat only allowing two fanastic children, I thing you and Rhyann have such a cool relationship and would love to welcome a little scavenger into the world. The world would be better for it. Your stuttering is not a big problem to me and I’m embarrassed someone even brought it up. You are a real man and so ethical. Bless you.

Week July 7 – July 13, 2019

Items in store: 4157 Listings for 6171 Items
Items Sold: 69 transactions for 75 Items
Gross Sales: $4184.31
Highest Price Sold: $205.50 …. Edward Green Shoes
Lowest Price Sold: $12.84… Tie Clip
Average Price Sold: $55.79
Cost of Goods Sold $235, Plus consignment
Number of new items listed this week: 108 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $113
Repeat Customers: 11

I’m sorry someone sent an email like that. I never thought of an occasional stutter as a detraction from the podcast, and I’m sure the vast majority don’t either. I learn so much from the podcast each week and get so much motivation. Could care less if you stutter or not. Keep up the great work, it’s very much appreciated!

I am also a stutterer. I had on my to-do list a reminder to thank you for podcasting with your stammer. I wish I had sent the thank you at the same time you got your other well-intentioned but misguided email.

I am about your age and went through the same humiliating “special” classes back in the 70s. Can you post a link to the type of therapy you mentioned in the podcast? The whole concept kind of blew my mind.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by debitendcredits.

Jay, you know I’ve been witb you since nearly day 1 of this podcast abd I can honestly say that your studder has never been an issue or distracted in any way, barely even noticed it. If anything it was an assett because I felt like I was hearing from a real person and not some perfect pitch radio announcer. Never change buddy, love you the way you are and the way you are is awesome !

Tony

It’s been WAY too long since I’ve shared my numbers here, and I’ve been less active than usual. I’m back!

January 20-26, 2019

Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,605
Items Sold: 26
Gross Sales: $587.78
Cost of Items Sold: $58.00
Highest Price Sold: $45.00 (jean jacket)
Average Price Sold: $22.61
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60.02
Number of items listed this week: 25

Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 927
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales: $109.92
Cost of Items Sold: $11.00
Highest Price Sold: $18.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $12.21
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 8

Amazon.ca sales: $477.84 (Approx $143.35 net profit)
Amazon.com sales (USD): $2,124.04 (Approx $849.62 net profit)

As mentioned elsewhere, now that we’ve moved across the country, and are closer to family, we’ve kind of been milking the summer. We’re still working on the business every day, but have been taking afternoons/evenings/weekends whenever we feel like it to spend time either visiting with family, exploring our new surroundings, or house shopping, etc. We’re coasting a bit, and it feels good (temporarily).

Ebay sales have been decent, considering how little effort we’ve been putting into listing. Another thumbs up for long-tail selling, and front-loading the work!

Amazon sales have been consistent. No huge swings there, just a constant stream of items being sent in every few days, and a commensurate stream of money flowing into our bank accounts every two weeks.

Hope all is well with everyone else! I’ll be making a concerted effort to be around the forums a lot more going forward. I’m also relatively active on instagram (@thecanuckreseller) if anyone cares to follow along there. Drop me a note if you follow me so that I know who my fellow trash elves are!

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Winchester38.

Good Monday morning all. Thank you again for another podcast.

Jay, it appears that the email received, despite the obvious yet almost certain unintentional rudeness, has been a gift. My hats off to your thoughtful push back, and the education put out on a topic that is seldom addressed.
What truly sets you and Ryanne apart from the ruck is your ability to be completely real and natural, yet professional through it all. You are the specops of radio! With folks like you two, any weakness eventually becomes a strength.
Ryanne, I hear you so loud and clear concerning boxes. I have a scary stack that has taken on a life of its own and has taken over the garage. What needs to be done is a matching of box to item, then flatten the box and label. Excessive multiples can be put out for recycle. What would really solve my problem would be paid storage but I have other expenses that need to be gone first. So for now the box monster lives in the garage.

You know it is quite sad that in a group of “adults” that you even had to deal with that kind of elementary crap, Jay. Kudos to you for taking the high road! Me, oh I have plenty of not so high road things I’d like to say to Mr. Anonymous. I hope he enjoys his massive serving of humble pie when he listens to the podcast today.

I think it is awesome that you are going to a therapist that is helping you embrace yourself and to ditch that toxic stress.

I worked side by side with a coworker who had a studder for 5 years and my reaction to his studder was as you recommended – I just made eye contact and waited and moved on like nothing happened. Why? Because nothing happened! It was no big deal. Noone had to teach me to react that way – it’s just common sense. I would never in a million years even consider making fun of someone or try to “educate” them just to make myself more comfortable over something that person has no control over. This ain’t grade school!

Continue being you, Jay. You are awesome and it’s great seeing you taking control and being true to yourself.

Week July 7-13, 2019

Total Items in Store: 1007
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Items Sold: $158 (21.1% of sales)
Total Sales: $747.87
Highest Price Sold: $59.99 (The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me)
Average Price Sold: $32.52
Returns: 0 (3 NPBs/cancellations)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 2
Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $151.97 (20.3% of total sales), $6.89 fees (4.5% of sales)

Solid week of bread & butter. Nothing high dollar, but also nothing super low dollar – just a steady stream of 3 sales per day.

The biggest issue this week has been people either making offers and then cancelling, or people buying outright and then cancelling immediately. I know it’s been discussed on the show, but it’s just so strange/weird to me how these things happen. I’m not letting it bother me by any means, relisting is easy, just curious.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Brian Treasures from Grandmas.

7/7– 7/13/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)

eBay store: totommyto

Total store items: 714
Number of items sold: 16
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $330.70
Cost of items sold: $16
Highest price sold: $70 – Obscure Kingstar mini car diecast – Paid $1
Average price sold: $20.70
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 29
Sell through rate for the week: 2.3
Number International sales: 5

Etsy store oldfleatoymarket

Total store items: 666
Number of items sold: 6
Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $135
Cost of items sold: $11
Highest price sold: $40 – old beat up boat prop – paid $3
Average price sold: $22.50
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $3.50
Number of new items listed this week: 12
Sell through rate for the week: 1.0
Number International sales: 0

Hey guys, good podcast. Agree with others Jay, your occasional stutter is no big deal to me as a listener whatsoever, & much obliged for the continued work you do to keep this community alive.

Ebay was pretty good to me this week.

Sales: CAD$1864, 6 items. COGS: $342 –> Item profit: $1220
Expenditures: $1119 –> Cashflow: $444
Hours: 10, $45/hr
Listed: $415, 5 items
Notable sales: HVAC balancer $800, bought for $300, fire alarm circuit boards $216 (zero cost old lot), PDU for $230 (bought for $30 or so).

Buys: a couple weeks ago I bought a whole bunch of hoists from a construction company moving offices. Although I regret that buy, they did contact me again to see if I wanted some other stuff. Shop lights, monitor stands, exit signs… all new or open box. So I agreed to $325 for 3 pallets of this kind of stuff – got one of the pallets Friday.
I have listed lots of this kind of stuff before and I am on the fence about it. On paper, the prices are high – say $300 for one box. But it is bulky, and it is mostly NOT popular to the point of where, I’m not sure there’s a market AT ALL. But I offered them the cheapest price I thought they might accept and they were hungry enough. So I can live with it for the price I paid.

We had a good weekend, went on a nice easy hike with the kids that ends at a waterfall & had a dip there. I finally took possession of my new storage unit on Saturday and bought two steel shelves ($250 each) to start filling them up. Feels good to have capacity again.

I am now paying $365/mo for storage. It’s not lost on me that a payment on a $200,000 mortgage at 3% would be about $800/mo… so if I expand much more I might look into buying warehouse space, or just buying some land that has a big shop on it. Even right now, there is a place in our downtown for $250,000 with a nice big quonset, for example. I kinda want to acquire some rural land anyway, but I never had a way to make money off of it before. Potentially, this would allow me to justify the expense. We’ll see!

What a great story Jay sharing your journey with stuttering. I hope this reaches so many. I was 26 year Speech Language Pathologist who left the field due to illness and found Ebay as a second career. I’m always naturally aware of subtle speech patterns. I love how unique each person’s speech is with dialect, rate, volume and of course content. Speech is like a fingerprint really, so very uniquely personal. After grad school back in the 80s I was offered full funding for a PhD degree in the area of stuttering research with Dr Conture at Syracuse University, totally free! However the field of stuttering/ dysfluencies was then, and still remains so mysterious, a combination of mostly genetic plus learned avoidance patterns. After a week of tears and indecision I turned down the offer as my interests were in other areas. Some individuals with stuttering do greatly benefit from professional training and techniques resulting in near or full fluency. However, I suspect at least 60% remain challenged with lifelong stuttering despite all efforts, cost and time. I’m always shocked that well meaning but uniformed listeners will comment on someone’s stuttering when they would never speak out on a scar, physical disability or weight problem. Jay thanks again for sharing yourself so publicly, bravely and honestly. Your (J & R) podcasts are always valuable, entertaining and interesting and remain my #1 favorite out of the never ending troupe of resellers filling the air.

Items in Store 1204
Items Sold 20
Total Sales $791.00
COGS $73.00
Total Profit $718.00
Average profit $35.90
Average sales price $39.55
New Listings 0

$265 of my sales was from facebook marketplace this week.

My best sale was scavenger level pro! A couple weeks ago I saw a neighbor had a big pile of privacy fence panels with a “free” sign on them. He delivered them to my house even since they were already on his trailer. I decided not to use them as they were a bit more worn than I liked. I listed them on facebook for $175 and got BOMBARDED with messages. A couple of flakes later the fence panels were gone and I have a free $175 in my pocket.

Still no listing this week. I’m knee deep in a massive overhaul of my garage ebay space that has everything junked up. The end product will be worth it though, even if it is affecting my summer sales goals due to not listing.

I had an unexpected “all in” scavenging purchase Friday. The local Dicks Sporting Goods has a tent sale every summer. Last year they expanded to also have a Field & Stream. Last year I went all in and bought over 200 pair of Smartwool socks at this sale for $3 a pair. I’ve made a ton of money on those so far and still have more than half to list this fall.

This year I spent $280 on high end shoes and boots at the tent sale. Brand new Keen Boots, Justin Boots, and a few Nike and Adidas I’ll do decent on. Many of the shoes will sell for $100-150. I paid $20 a pair for the $150 boots. As I was leaving I noticed a rack of hunting camo that was 75% off. I took a glance, checked my paypal and business account balances, took a deep breath, and warned the cashier I was about to drop a load on him. I cleared the whole rack out.

I got numerous pairs of Scentlok Cold Blooded camo pants that will sell for $150 a pop!
A ton of Under Armour Cold Gear Camo pants, shirts, and pullover jackets. It was all very high dollar stuff that will sell for $50-$100+ per item.

I spent $640 clearing out the Camo, so my total spend was $920.

The whole deal was made sweeter because Dicks had an unrestricted 20% off coupon this weekend. The cashiers were shocked at what my final cost was. One commented that I basically stole from them. Lol!

This week, I HAVE to finish the ebay space reorganization and get back to listing.

I have been listening to the podcast for years. YEARS! And I never noticed a stutter. If I had, I would’ve had something called GRACE and CLASS and never mentioned it. That person is a douche bag. Plain and simple. I don’t like name calling, but I’m making an exception this one time.

“Peace & Love” PFFFT. Never trust anyone that signs a nasty message with an ending like that! So condescending.

I went through speech therapy in elementary school for a couple of years in the 80s for an unrelated speech issue. What people don’t realize is how traumatizing it is to be brought out of a class IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL for just a speech issue. You feel like something is very wrong with you, because your classmates are still in class like normal, while you have to go see a speech therapist because you can’t say certain things right. Like, that’s it, that’s all that’s wrong with me? You have to waste class time to be able to say things more correctly? Why is this a big deal?

I found it to be a big waste of time, because I STILL sometimes can’t say those style of words correctly. Now, when I do mess up those words, I just remember having to be yanked out of class when I was young and how nothing has really changed other than me thinking that something is wrong with me. It’s not like going to speech therapy actually really helps. Does it actually help anyone? I don’t know. Blah.

July 7 – 13
Total Items in Store: 2433
Items Sold: 31
Total Sales : $835
* Below yearly average of $960
Highest Price: $100 (More Keystone Stereoscope Cards)
Average Price: $27
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $82
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $1,154 (WOOF!)
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 65

I had a fairly average week of sales last week. Just a babbling brook of cha-chings, enough to keep me satisfied but not too much to overwhelm. Which was perfect because Steph and I have been occupied with other things. Namely, we bought a van! We got a tip from her mom about a minivan for sale near us so we decided to take a look. It turns out to be a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan but designed to be a cargo van. Perfect for us! Relatively low mileage, great condition, no rust and just at the peak of our comfortable price limit. We’re really happy about it. We took it on two auction trips this week already and filled it up both times, hence my cost of goods purchased amount this week. LOL.

I must say, I commend you for the way you handled that email about your stuttering. I think you’re right that the writer had good intentions when he/she wrote to you, but from an outsiders point of view it sounded so very judgmental and condescending. And you’re absolutely right to treat this not as a malicious attack, but as a chance to educate the ignorant. I admit, I don’t know anything about stuttering. I just knew one other person back in grade school who did it. But I applaud you for being so open about it and deciding to embrace it for your own happiness.

My scavenge of the week came from the first auction we went to. There was a lot of high end furniture selling, but one set of six chairs in particular caught my eye. They were chrome and suede leather armchairs made by Founders in the 1960s. Very mid century modern. Kinda ugly enough that nobody at this auction would have been interested in them. I got all six for $10! I’m planning on listing them all for local pickup for over a thousand bucks.

This week I’ve decided to put eBay on the back burner in order to focus on some house chores and projects that I’ve been neglecting. I’ve been listing like a maniac over the past 6 weeks and it’s time to take a little break.

Jay,

I have been eagerly listening to your show for 3 or 4 years. I vaguely remember noticing a small stutter on the first podcast, and that’s about the last time I noticed anything. When you started to speak about this in last night’s podcast, it took me a moment to understand what the strange person was even offering you “advice” about.

Your show is wonderful. You are both uniquely effective and engaging communicators, and neither I nor the dozens of people I have played your program for have ever been distracted or dissuaded by the way you speak. Thank you so much for addressing this question so publicly and bravely. It was so much more helpful that people get educated about things like stutters and people’s anxieties around them, than it would have been for this silly, unthinking person to just have been told off. I am sure that as a consequence of your taking the time to speak out about this, dozens of listeners with their own little differences will have been made to feel less alone and less anxious. Hundreds more listeners will have been educated about how to better empathize with people whom they might have otherwise considered “offering advice to.”

Here are my numbers for the week:

Total Items in Store: 3167
Items Sold: 36
Total Sales: $870.52
Cost of Items Sold: $98
Average Price Sold: $24.18
Average Cost of Item: $2.74
Highest Price Item Sold: $69.95 Canon PowerShot A650 Digital Camera
Number of items listed this week: 45
YTD Sales: $27208
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +13%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 384
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 142
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 69
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.14%

Kudos to Jay on educating us about stuttering. I found the discussion very interesting. Though not quite the same thing I can relate a little. I have a slight lisp. Not great for someone with the first name of Simon as it’s something I have to think about every time I introduce myself. It’s something kids teased me about for a while in school. I’m not sure if anyone really notices these days. Certainly nobody has said anything to me about it for years. If you ever want a topic for a new podcast, a podcast on stuttering might be a valuable one for a lot of people out there.

Random story. A couple of months ago I bought a huge typewriter. I haven’t listed it because I was concerned about packing it. I finally put it on the top of my to-do list to pre-pack it before listing it so that I wouldn’t get stressed when it sold. I googled “how to ship a typewriter” and Google returned one of Ryanne’s old videos about packing a typewriter.

eBay topic : Does anyone else find the photo uploading and editing processes on eBay to be unpredictable. I regularly get broken images (while cropping, lightening on the website) or if I upload images through the app and don’t wait long enough they get dropped. I find I constantly have to work around eBay’s quirks.

Hope everyone has a productive and profitable week! 🌻

Simon – eBay topic – yes! Especially now that I have the new Google Pixel 3a and can take photos in the eBay app (was dreadful on the old phone.) I find that I have to edit my contrast and lightness a lot and it often returns a file error when I press the save button after editing. I tried hitting Reset, but it didn’t retrieve the photo. If I use my PC to upload off a camera disc, I have to watch my loading so as not to cut it off. I’ve found that updating item specifics or something can interfere with photo loading and, for the love of sanity, don’t enter any UPC or you’ll lose the lot!

Hello Jay and Ryanne!
Been listening to you both for some time, and although I don’t usually post here, I would like to offer you some thanks for being so honest and open about your stutter. My husband and I listen to you each week, and have learned so much from you. For this we are so thankful!
I sell full time (ebay, etsy and amazon) and my husband works in law enforcement, he will retire early, next year at age 48. We are still learning all the ins and outs of e-com biz, we try and fail alot! But are hopeful for the future and very happy to hear you both week after week!
In response to the listener who gave you “advice”, I do believe there are people out there who mean well, but cannot see how their words can affect someone. The first part of your podcast made me a little sad that someone felt the “need” to write you about this.
Until I was 30, my own mother told me how “beautiful” I was, but if I just lost weight, I would be gorgeous. I believed that lie. For 30 years…sad but true. Now Im over 40..and guess what? I have a loving husband and family who accept me as I am, but it took a LONG time to get that in my head..that I was ok..just as I was.
Your stutter makes you so unique, and you are brilliant! We love listening to you guys! Thank you again for your courage in sharing and educating. Podcast was great!
All the best,
Alana @ The Violet Lemon

July 7 – 13
Total Items in Store: 1414
Items Sold: 5
Total Sales : $110
Highest Price: $35 (Schmid Mechanical Music Box, Bird Cage)
Average Price: $22
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $6
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $642 (Double WOOF! lol)
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 21

Bummer sales on my end! But we at least had a good run at yard sales and auctions!
To piggy back on what Doubly mentioned. My mom called me and told me about a van that was near the area that she looked at briefly. We went to look at it and it was perfect for what we needed. We have named her Vanna White, haha, and she did very well during our yard sale abd auction trips this weekend!

My mom went with us during our yard sale trip Friday morning. We found some neat things. We went to a church rummage sale, so small but it was worth it. My mom found this super neat hand-carved folding chair for $5.00! I’m not sure if it’s a pastors chair or something for the church but it’s cool! While she was taking that up front to hold/pay for I turned around and found boxes that read Salvatore Ferragamo. I thought no way I’m reading that right. I started to open boxes, making sure they were what they said. And behold they were! Women’s heels/flats style. I got sideswiped by this old bitty, she grabbed like 2-3 boxes claiming she knew who donated them. I’m like I will karate chop you, dis my spot! LOL I ended up with 8 boxes but I was bitter, I wanted them all, haha 😛 That honestly was my best find for the weekend.

The auctions were good. But really hot… No A/C at either building, so I wasn’t feeling my best. My grandma was at the first auction buying lots of jewelry, lol. I ended up trying some jewelry as well. The only bad thing about this auction was that they were trying out online bids. So that put a damper on what I could afford. Spent too much for my taste on this American Flyer Train set but I will make my money back and then some.

The last auction down the road from us was decent for me. I’ll end up making money, just nothing super crazy out of the box lots. I did manage to get a old Ouija board game. Super neat looking, glad I didn’t have to pay too much for it.

Welcome to the not allowed to list new items club! UGH! I received a similar email from eBay yesterday morning. It was about some Remington caps I had listed (other sellers had some listed and that’s why I listed mine a month or so ago).
I guess it started with a knife I had taken down last month because you cant list knives with Global shipping apparently. So I called and asked if they could relist it and I would remove Global shipping. They lied and said they couldn’t do that. Doubly has called in the past about removed listings and has had them un-removed and corrected. So I relisted/corrected the knife anyway.
After yesterdays email I went through my listings and they missed 2 more caps listings, which I removed, but I don’t understand how they go about doing this. Like you mentioned they could have explained this better. I hope the other sellers that had these listed are on a temp ban like I am.
So I’m on a 3 day no listing/revising ban. I almost feel like I just got detention in school, lol. That put a damper on my mood and I’ve been bummed out. I’m shocked you both got a similar email.

And Jay you handled that email extremely well. If that person wants to be butthurt, let it consume them! lol. It’s sad how low people can be. Keep rocking on Jay!!

Have a good week all! 🙂

Jay, Me too! I have stuttered since young. Not too much now. But I do control some words. Can’t say Disneyland too easily, so I have opted to say Magic Kingdom many times. …My Mom would stop cooking dinner, turn off the stove and give me direct attention as I stuttered out what I was saying. Never shamed me. Of course, kids in school did. I am okay now…whether I do or not. You are fine! ANd I love the podcasts. …..btw….my sales are down too. But will not lose heart…will list until it recovers. I am listing stuff that I think would be collectible…stuff that people may have in their favorite searches. Cheap and sitting my dead piles for a long time. Old magazines, Elvis stuff. We’ll see. Judy

Wow…. I just started listening and felt the need to come straight to the forum and type. I am seeing red! The fact that this person is “anonymous” and feels they can say anything regardless of peoples feelings just floors me. I have been listening to you for many year and even met you in person and not once did a stutter ever distract from the conversation.
That person is a condescending twit, he can go kick rocks. And of course Jay handles the email with good intentions just shows what type of person he is.

Just wanted to say that when I first started listening, I noticed Jay’s occasional stutter and thought how cool it was that someone who doesn’t have “perfect” speech would choose to do a podcast – because he has important stuff to say, obviously! I also thought it was great that other people with speech issues might hear it, and think, “Maybe I can do something like this, too!”

Thanks for educating us about the causes and treatment of stuttering – lots of stuff I didn’t know. I always find it odd when people take it upon themselves to give unsolicited advice about other people’s issues, especially people they don’t know well. It’s much more kind to assume that the person in question is aware of the options and is making the best choice for themselves.

Jay, you are my hero! Well done and well said! Never had any issue with the stutter. But I love the education. That was awesome!

King’s Speech is my all time favorite movie. I love it and own it on DVD. Watch it every time I need a lift.

Boxes! Ryanne, I feel you girl. My husband says I have way too many but I need them ALL. Yes, all of them. No, I can’t throw any out.

MY NAME IS S-S-S-STEVE AND I’M IN LOVE WITH JAY!

I promise I was not mocking Jay just now! This is a fairly lengthy post, but it won’t be nearly as creepy as my intro might suggest. Please, allow me to explain myself:

Frankly, I was insulted by the listener email. If I had received that, I might be tempted to tell them to piss off. I’m impressed with how well Jay handled the situation.

OK, let me explain. I too am a lifelong stutterer. Actually, my affliction mostly manifests as a stammer (like Jay in the earlier podcasts). That is, it’s more common that I have trouble getting words started (“blocks”) than repeating syllables. And let me tell you, both are incredibly frustrating. There have been in my life when my speech was pretty nearly fluent, much like what we are used to hearing from Jay in the podcast.

But most of my life – like now – has been plagued with frustrating, embarrassing stuttering/stammering. I only wish I could speak nearly as well as Jay. Like he pointed out, it’s a condition that – for some – improves with age. But that’s not also so. I too have been through speech therapy several times throughout my life. I too am 46 (as of July 9th).

For me, speaking on the phone is incredibly intimidating. For me to initiate a call (especially to people I don’t know) can be profoundly stressful. And here’s why: stuttering is one thing. But imagine making a call and not being able to explain who you are, why you’re calling and/or who are wishing to speak to. I’ve made calls where I just can’t get words out; or bumble through them. The person on the other end then assumes it’s a prank call and hangs up. Or outright insults me.

Stuttering is bad enough. But when the person you’re trying to communicate with can’t SEE that you’re actually just having a hard time getting the words out, it’s awkward and can dramatically increase the stress level.

For me (and probably a majority of stutterers, to varying degrees), mood, anxiety, energy level, confidence, stress, familiarity with my interlocutor, etc.. all play critical roles in my ability to speak at any given moment. My dad stutters too. His affliction was a lot worse when I was a kid, but he’s almost completely overcome it. Me, not so much.

ALSO… And it’s funny that Jay said this; I ALSO have Tourette Syndrome! Yup, I’ve been dealt a double whammy! Now, I don’t have the “type” of Tourettes that causes people to shout out obscene words. When I cuss, it’s because I’m fucking pissed or just want to stress a point. I’m an adult and am allowed to use grown-up words on occassion.

As Jay commented about working so hard to hide the stuttering, I work hard to hide my stuttering AND my Tourettes. SO many people out there in the word don’t really understand. They see my twitching, head movements and grimaces and think I’m a “retard”. Or hear my speech and assume I’m somehow “dumb”. Not everyone is so insensitive.

But it’s Human nature to be wary of what we don’t understand. But that fear of rejection and of being thought less of aggravate both my stuttering AND my Tourettes. Some of the same things that worsen my speech (especially anxiety (usually caused by fear of embarrassment) and stress) also worsen my Tourettes symptons. And I call them “symptoms” because I detest the term “tics”. Just like I cringe when I hear people speak of an autistic individual as “stemming”. It conjures images of clinical disabilities and gives many people (including myself, to a lesser degree) a sense of your being “special” of somehow less capable or less Human.

Dammit, stutters (and Tourettes sufferers) and people too! Funny that Jay mentions some people who he’s known for ages not even knowing he stutterers. That’s my case too, but only with my Tourettes. I’ve told (“admitted”, in my mind) people I’ve known for years – sometimes decades – that I have Tourettes and they’ve thought I was bullshitting or trying to be funny. But hiding it is physically and emotionally exhausting. Sometimes I just need to be alone to give myself a break for the physical exhaustion. Also, like my stuttering, the severity of my Tourette ebbs and flows over time.

I’ve been a HUGE fan of Scavenger Life for a while now. I’ve heard the current episodes, working backwards until about the episode where Jay put the wrong fuel in an overseas rental car before realizing it’s silly to listen in reverse order. So I then started from the beginning and have recently passed episode 210. Eventually I will have heard every episode at least once.

So as far as what’s made it to the podcast, I’ve heard a range in the intensity of Jay’s stuttering. And I suspect there are times when it’s a lot worse. Jay, let me tell you, as a fellow stutterer, I notice when you use tricks and techniques to lessen your stuttering. I won’t say what those are (no need to put other listeners on the conscious alert for them, if they haven’t noticed them on their own).

I know you don’t need my validation. But I still want to say that I’m incredible proud of your and your courage. I wish I could do what you do. I have a YouTube channel (Wood ‘n’ Stuff w/ Steve French). In many of my videos, I have the video sped up. Not to conceal my stuttering, but to keep within a reasonable time limit. But my videos require me doing a LOT – A WHOLE LOT – of takes most of the time. To the point where I barely even bother taking in videos anymore. Plus, I don’t have the extra time I once did, so I haven’t even put out a new video in a year.

Oddly, the video in which I speak the most fluently was one I did during my last stint of speech therapy, on a particularly good day. It was a video ABOUT my stuttering and I think my speech was damn near flawless in that one. But it’s actually extremely rare that I speak even remotely that fluently.

Alright, I could go on for a much longer time. About grown adults – even customers of mine at my old electronics shop – who have opening mocked me because of my speech; or about the day-to-day struggles or a stutterer and how we sometimes do things differently (things others may not have even ever thought of); the importance of putting OTHER PEOPLE at ease with your stuttering and so on. But I already risk having bored the hell out of everyone her, including Jay!

That said, I definitely wouldn’t mind sharing more on the topic. But for now, since I’ve been wanting to mention to Jay about our common struggle for a long time now, I couldn’t possibly let this door stand open without walking through. I also greatly admire Jay AND Ryanne for their eBay prowess and have learned a LOT (and changed some of my reselling ways) as result.

Jay, I love you! And I hope now you understand why a little bit more!

P.S. Ryanne was right: there ARE other stutterers listening to the podcast.

Oh, I meant to mention that – in my case – speech therapy only helped for the short term. And (I believe) only because it had me excited about “taking action”; again. But afterwards, I was right back to the same severity. In my case, there are underlying issues that exacerbate it. And it all becomes a self-feeding vicious circle.

EDIT: Ugh… I didn’t mean to upvote my own comment above. I was just trying to see who gave me the thumbs up. But it doesn’t seem to give that information. And it won’t let me undo my own up-vote. When I tried, it just added another up-vote. My apologies.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Steves Stuff.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Steves Stuff.

Thanks for the tip about sending bulk offers! I just heard that part while listing and was able to send a bunch of offers without having to go through one at a time. Yes!

Jay I wanted to get on here and say so much but all of it has been said by other fans of the podcast! So, all I’m going to say is Thank You for being YOU! Thank You for sharing information about stuttering. I have listened to all of your podcasts and have never been bothered by the occasional stutter. You and Ryanne have so many people who look up to you for the knowledge you share…and this is yet another subject you have knowledge in that you shared. Thank you to both of you!

I’m only adding to the chorus here, but I grew up in a family of stutterers, namely my mother and my brother. When I was young I used to want my mom to get more help for her speech and found it frustrating to wait on her sometimes. My husband also used to have a pretty bad stutter when he was younger, and still does it every once in a while, but it’s hard to notice. He found that getting a job and talking to people helped him (not that it would help everyone, it just helped him.)

I’m shocked that anyone would mention it, but people on the internet tend to be a lot more rude hiding behind a computer. I’m glad you took the time to educate others and not take it personally.

If you are looking for a different forum that is easier to control and you can still keep control of who is on it you might look into Discord. I personally don’t get it, but I think it is what you are looking for. I coach robotics and I know there is a lot of forum type stuff on there and private groups that appear to be easy to administer. I think a lot of streamers use it for comments during streams as well. If you do figure it out maybe you can teach the rest of us how to use it 😛

I’d also put my two cents in on using sixbit. I can crank out 150 listings a day on it and it makes it really easy to organize your drafts. Every listing you have ever made is saved on it and you can easily pull up old stuff you sold years ago to re-list if you get another one. You can do employee accounts as well. I know the whole non-online thing isn’t what you are looking for, but I think here is a way to do VPN with it. I just don’t really need that functionality. I think you would really like the pick list feature. It will also help you with your inventory if you start working on organizing your barn. I’d at least recommend doing the free trial and give it an actual go.

items sold: 37
sales: $944.11 (i don’t include shipping revenue)
average selling price: $25.51
cost of goods: $142.08
returns: 5
purchases: $296.67
store listings: 1,037
inventory $ risk: $3,950 (what i paid for all existing inventory)
listed this week: 51
ebay hours: 20

what’s on my mind: 4 returns in 1 day, 5 returns in 30 hours. No best offer? No problems. No sales loss due to turning off best offer.

i don’t listen to the podcasts that often, but i think some of the most recent titles are great!
“People of the world” , “Spanning Time”..excellent, even profund! I’ll listen to this one for sure.

4 returns in one day & 1 in the early hours of next day. I have free returns enabled & if all these returns do come back, I will have 8 returns so far 2019. I only bring up returns because I got my first return for “authenticity”. And instead of auto accepting it, ebay gave me some options like refund now, offer replacement, contact buyer etc…etc… I like how free returns auto-calls the buyer’s (potential) bluff & eliminates all the back and forth. I basically never want the buyer to keep the item, so I am good with it.

Long-time reseller and listener to your podcast. Jay, I had noticed you stutter occasionally, but thought nothing of it. I was really surprised to learn how deeply it affects those afflicted. One of those topics I hadn’t explored.

Your combined voices and content are what keep me coming back week after week. It’s a Monday mornig ritual (with strong coffee). I appreciate your insight and tips and your transparency. Thank you. Keep at it – you and Ryanne continue to inspire me and others how to wisely go about achieving our goals.

What initially drew me in to your podcast was the scavenging aspect. I’m a scavenger at heart and live in an urban area where there is a ton of good trash. It’s funny but about one in five items I sell online were pulled off the street or from the trash.

Love your show.

I have not listened to the show yet, but many thanks as always. I generally store up a bunch of them and then listen to them on long road trips. I just went up to Fargo North Dakota this past weekend so my daughter could visit her 95 year old Great Grandfather. A 6 hour drive made easier by listening to Scavenger Life along the way. Thanks for that. 🙂

Here are my numbers for the week.

July 7- July 13 2019
Total items in store: Etsy 469 // Ebay 725
Items Sold: Etsy 19 // Ebay 20
Cost of items Sold: Etsy $45.54 // Ebay $97.45
Total Sales: Etsy $199.15 // Ebay $302.86 ((Total = $502.01))
Highest Price Sold: $65 Mega Force Triax Goliath Set by Kenner
Average Price Sold: $12.87
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 35 (at $615.75)

When I was in my early twenties I worked with someone older who had type 2 diabetes. She asked me to lunch one day to educate me about the disease. I can only imagine that I must have said something completely ignorant and stupid. I think you are probably very correct that this listener badly needed an education. It’s probably someone young. I wonder now that everyone is distracted by the internet if our own kids will know more or less about this stuff. Highly likely that they will comment on the internet without enough information. Ironic because it’s right there at their fingertips.

Thanks for the podcast. It’s valuable for many reasons, including the exploration of non-Ebay subjects. 🙂

At first I thought the title was going to be the Beastie Boys lyric “People of the world unite!”
As far as the guy who commented on your stammer and how you could improve, i am almost speechless. Unsolicited advice on how someone can “improve” is just so arrogant! I am surprised he didn’t end the sentence with “if you don’t understand that it’s on you”, those folks drive me nuts!

Hello! Long time listener- I was compelled to write to you Jay after this episode…………

If I can be honest, the first time I heard you Stutter, I felt…..relief……. that you did not edit it out. I can’t tell you how much comfort I felt to hear this on a popular podcast. It means we’re not alone.
I have ankyloglossia (tongue tie) and long avoided being “exposed”. I skipped school if I had a speech and dropped college courses that required public speaking.
I know our situations are different…..but our behavior is often the same, avoidance. As you mentioned, Jay, we avoid certain words and as such, sound “different” in our speech (often searching our minds for a word to replace the “challenging” word with). I now practice speaking these words, rather than avoiding them.
I wish you all the best, and THANK YOU for sharing your story.

I just got back from vacation on Monday and have been running around doing mostly non-eBay stuff.

The first person I met with a bad stutter (or maybe it was a stammer?) was at my first job out of college in the late 80s. His name was Harvey Berger, and he had a very significant stutter. His face would contort for seconds as he tried to get his words out. In a meeting, this would happen for every sentence. Just one-on-one, he could speak a bit more fluently.

The thing is – this guy was the SMARTEST person I have ever met. His work was flawless, he could do it in a quarter of the time as anyone else, and he had a deeper understanding of design than anyone. I found a link from 2010 discussing some of Harvey’s accomplishments.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2010/09/01/428762/200593/en/Photo-Release-American-Institute-of-Aeronautics-and-Astronautics-AIAA-Honors-Northrop-Grumman-s-Harvey-Berger-for-Outstanding-Contributions-to-Satellite-Communications.html

So, Jay, I associate stuttering with very smart people. Many of the really smart people I know have some type of challenge. I’ve always assumed you are just really smart.

Anyway, I’ve not been active on eBay for several weeks, and my numbers show it.

Week of July 7-13
* Total Items in Store: 1363, eBay, 3 Etsy
* Items Sold: 9
* Cost of Items Sold: about $4 + $0 Commission (haven’t been keeping track of COGS)
* Total Sales: $143.75
* Highest Price Sold: $30 vintage oil can
* Average Price Sold: $15.97
* Returns: 0, 1 canceled order, my fault
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $11.50
* Number of items listed this week: 0

The canceled order was for an espresso cup and saucer. I found the cup, but not the saucer. Not sure, but I think the saucer broke, and I meant to delist it.

I can recall one of the early episodes where I first noticed Jay’s stutter. Pretty sure it was a Jay/Mikey episode. At first, I thought it was done on purpose, until I heard it later again. Ever since, I’ve realized that it was something that Jay was dealing with, and it’s been a non issue for me.

I have always been impressed that when it happens on the podcast, Ryanne doesnt edit it out, and that she doesn’t jump in to “rescue” Jay.

Jay, good on you for not making such an effort to avoid combinations, words, and phrasing that generally leads to you stuttering anymore. It must be absolutely exhausting putting that much thought into a conversation. Do you, stutter and all!

I have a simular condition.

I think this job lends itself well to those of us who may have a difficult time in an office or service position.

Avoidance and masking is exhausting.

Thank you both for doing this podcast. It has been very educational and motivational. I have learned so much and look forward to many more!

I just wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoy hearing the real Jay.
Thank you!

Could defiantly tell Jay doesn’t do the shipping when he said to throw out perfectly good boxes. Nothing makes me happier than finding the perfect box to ship an item in my shed where the (had never heard this term before, lol) box Monster lives. I’ve been known to slam on the brakes if I see a good box beside someone’s trash can in our town.

Week of 07/07-07/13
Total Items in Store: 3,239 (Up 32% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 137
Number of Items Sold: 78 (Up 26% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 8 Poshmark, 0 Bonanza, 1 TrueGether – Who Knew??)
Weekly STR: 10% (Down 1% YOY)

Total Product Sales: $1,881 (Down 31% YOY)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: Up $705
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: Down $1,556
Cost of Items Sold: $403
Cost of Labor: $236
Highest Item Sold: $49 – Cole Haan shoes
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 16-13.

Clothing
# Listed: 1,874
# Sold: 44
STR: 10%
ASP: $22.14

Shoes
# Listed: 758
# Sold: 21
STR: 12%
ASP: $28.73

Hard Goods
# Listed: 607
# Sold: 13
STR: 9%
ASP: $23.31

EBay
# Listed: 3,239
# Sold: 69
STR: 9%
ASP: $22.59

Etsy
# Listed: 223
# Sold: 1
STR: 2%
ASP: $24.82

Poshmark
# Listed: 758
# Sold: 8
STR: 5%
ASP: $37.13

Crazy week. Volume came back, and yet no high sales. Highest sale was for $49. Wow. Not worried about the drop in sales $ vs YOY since last year this was the week we sold the $1000 print to China.

Jay, great talk about the stuttering, and you handled it great and with class. We have someone in our family that can struggle with this as well. Amazingly, when they get up and do speeches in front of good sized crowds….flawless. It is definitely something that has a neurological base, so each case is probably different. But you are full of class. Well handled.

Haven’t had time to post my numbers these days, but still listening to the podcast and loving it. Made my two teenagers listen to last weeks and we all were so impressed with Jay’s response to the email about stuttering. You are an amazing person Jay! Thank you for educating us, and also for letting us know the best way to respond when speaking to someone who stutters. None of us were aware of the best way to proceed in a conversation, and I am very grateful you took the time to address!

@Jay: Follow-up regarding eBay removing the Secondary shipping option (removing Priority options). I got own rep to come back and see that this is a bug, and it is on their bug list. So there is that.

They also have added the bugs that I found on the Awaiting Payment page. The left column isn’t showing when an item has an UPI (Unpaid Item) case opened. And, items that have UPI on them, the drop down still shows that you can open an UPI again. AND, when an item has the UPI timeframe passed, you can’t close and relist from Awaiting Payment anymore. You have to do this from the Resolution Center.

So, sending in lots of bugs to Ebay and Etsy in the past week…

I’ve heard mention of packing peanuts on several episodes and wanted to comment that I hate getting packages with loose packing peanuts. They tend to stick to everything and if a ceiling fan is on they run away to the corners and hide. Ever notice that most (all?) major online retailers have stopped using packing peanuts? I prefer using crumpled brown wrapping paper and reusing packing pillows. If I do use packing peanuts I put them in a plastic bag that is tied closed.

My 2¢

Old Dad: In the 2nd link above about Dunnage and Void Fill options they also list Bogus paper as an in between weight. But the 50# #60 brown kraft is very good at void fill and for support without flattening.

I think the 36″ wide x 900 ft long roll we got was about $37 and when we ordered 2 rolls from Staples it was Free Shipping which was delivered from the closest store at the Mall of Ga., six miles up the road from us, so was delivered the next day, if I recall.

That is 5400 square feet of brown kraft. We also use it to wrap anything flat, like records, books, items that are still in the box, along with loosely basketball size balled and loose rope shapes for bottom, top and side fill and support.

A trick I used to use but not any more just because it didn’t look very well. But I have been known to crumple up brownkraft and put around an object then use our stretch wrap to cocoon secure the brownkraft in place instead of using bubble wrap when I was in a pinch or out of bubble wrap.

Reiterating what many have said. Thank you for being open about your stutter. I have been stuttering since I was 7 and my story is very similar to yours…except I haven’t yet had the guts or confidence to openly stutter yet. I tried it under the advice of the therapist at one point but wimped out. I am however now open that I do stutter and freely state it. Baby steps… Thanks again for all that you do.