Scavenger Life Episode 434: Do You Have A Business Destiny?

This topic has 75 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by T-Satt.

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- 10/27/2019 at 1:07 pm #69617
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week October 20-26, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8528 Items Sold: 49 Gross Sales: $1,311.02 Cost
  [See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 434: Do You Have A Business Destiny?]
- 10/27/2019 at 4:50 pm #69621
  Willow603
  Participant
  Location:
  @willow603
  Thanks guys, love your show every single week! My returns have skyrocketed for clothing! What’s going on? All my returns are for Does Not Fit. I’m hovering at 4.7% suddenly despite loads of measurements and item specifics, ave 10 pics, many details in the listing. I have 30 day buyer pays returns. Did the description on mobile go even more incognito? I’m waiting on 5 returns right now and I’m a small seller, it’s an endless flow back into my mailbox. Ug!
- 10/27/2019 at 4:55 pm #69622
  Ricker
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @ricker
  Sales were still down quite a bit, but they are finally back on track over the past 2 days.. I took 2 solid days to revise 100% of my listings, once I did that, sales went back to normal..here’s a major tip to anybody looking to revise your items..in your active listings page in seller hub on desktop, set the page to most results, which is 200 items…sort from highest price down…hold the control key down while clicking on each edit item hyperlink, they will automatically open up..my screen size would only allow 8 at a time…this saves so much time..(** note: if you have offers to buyers out, you can not edit those, so just skip over them)…
  
  My Store Week October 20-26, 2019
  
  Total Items in Store: 626
  Items Sold: 13
  Gross Sales: $1,053.75
  Cost of Items Sold: $117.59
  Cost of helpers: $0
  Highest Price Sold: $183.75 (used Canali sport coat)
  Average Price Sold: $81.05
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $134.00
  Number of items listed this week: 26
  - This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Ricker.
- 10/27/2019 at 6:31 pm #69625
  totommyto
  Participant
  Location: Naples, Fl
  @totommyto
  Hello to everyone. Thanks again for another great podcast! Will listen through again.
  
  10/20 – 10/26/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)
  
  eBay store: totommyto
  
  Total store items: 889
  Number of items sold: 15
  Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $408.50
  Cost of items sold: $13
  Highest price sold: $60.50 – Star Wars loose action figure lot – product of a trade, $ cost was zero.
  Average price sold: $27.23
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: $15
  Number of new items listed this week: 14
  Sell through rate for the week: 1.7
  Number International sales: 1
  
  Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
  
  Total store items: 666
  Number of items sold: 4
  Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $98
  Cost of items sold: $7
  Highest price sold: $31 – lot of rusty old springs – paid $3
  Average price sold: $24.50
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: $10
  Number of new items listed this week: 8
  Sell through rate for the week: 0.7
  Number International sales: 0
- 10/27/2019 at 7:26 pm #69627
  Craig
  Participant
  Location:
  @craig
  CraigslistHunter requires local pick ups to leave him feedback before they leave with their purchase. He said he’s never had an issue in any case. Don’t know how much this would help in a paypal case, but it may cause a scammer to think twice.
  - 10/27/2019 at 7:36 pm #69628
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Thats a great idea. At least they acknowledge they got it.
- 10/27/2019 at 8:54 pm #69639
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  Week Oct 20 – Oct 26, 2019
  
  Items in store: 4532 Listings for 7266 Items
  Items Sold: 104 transactions for 118 Items
  Gross Sales: $7389.64
  Highest Price Sold: $340 Multi-item purchase of 13 Neckties
  Lowest Price Sold: $15.00….Necktie
  Average Sale Price: $62.62
  Cost of Goods Sold $513, Plus consignment payout, roughly $1130
  Number of new items listed this week: 200 listings for 826 items.
  $$ spent on new inventory this week $12
  International Sales 25%
  Returning Customers 8
  
  Only bought two things this week, so I guess the scavenges of the week were a pair of vtg Bob Allen hunting pants for ducks unlimited, and a vintage letterman sweater.
  
  Took the week off from doing any consignment listings to focus on listing my wholesale purchase from last week. I got through about 60% of it before 2 more consignment boxes came in so the rest will have to filter in over the next month or so.
- 10/28/2019 at 12:09 am #69642
  Doublythumbs
  Participant
  Location: Hopedale, OH
  @doublythumbs
  Oct 20 – 26
  Total Items in Store: 2609
  Items Sold: 23
  Total Sales : $657
  * Below yearly average of $945
  Highest Price: $65 (Fisher 8-Track Player Recorder)
  Average Price: $29
  Returns: 0
  Cost of Goods Sold: $39
  Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $178
  Number of New Items Listed this Week: 41
  
  My sales started out terrible this week, but on Friday it was like something turned the faucet on finally. Steph and I both sold more stuff on that one day than the whole week prior combined. Weird.
  
  I don’t have too much to report this week. I’ve just been hunkering down and listing. Went to a quick little auction on Saturday and bought some great stuff. My best buy was a large box of photo slides for the opening bid of $2.50. I just got a chance to go through them today and I’m very happy with my little purchase. These photos were taken by a race car enthusiast in the 1960s. There are tons of pictures of old Ferraris, Porsches, Cobras and GT40s on various tracks, including some from a very controversial race in 1966 at Sebring. I have a lot of research on my hands here, but just based on some quick past sold searches, I should be able to add a few zeros to that $2.50 investment.
  - 10/28/2019 at 1:01 pm #69689
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    It seems like your sales have taken a nose-dive since September like mine have.
    Have you taken a look at your traffic metrics? I started a post here with a snapshot of my impression data but noone else checked theirs.
    You may want to take a look at yours. In my case, my traffic dropped 25% starting on Sept 1st, which I believe is when the promoted listings changes took effect. My sales dropped over 30% in step with this traffic drop.
    - 10/28/2019 at 2:36 pm #69694
      Doublythumbs
      Participant
      
      Location: Hopedale, OH
      @doublythumbs
      
      I don’t know if a nose-dive is the right term. My sales have been pretty lousy since August, but they’ve been very slowly on the rise. Here’s a screenshot of my impressions over the last 3 months. There’s one day in September that my impressions spiked for some reason, but on average they’re consistent. They’re not as wildly contrasting as yours. Maybe because I don’t sell very much clothing.
      https://imgur.com/a/tpDiVPR
      - 10/28/2019 at 3:04 pm #69696
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        Do you use promoted listings? If so, how do you use it?
        
        10/28/2019 at 3:47 pm #69699
        
        Doublythumbs
        Participant
        
        Location: Hopedale, OH
        @doublythumbs
        
        No, I don’t use promoted listings on any of my items.
        
        10/29/2019 at 9:30 am #69718
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        That is likely the difference then. I suppose it could just be a drop due to the duplicates no longer showing up, but I had a 35% drop in average sales that coincided with the drop in impressions. My impressions have stabilized and coincidentally my sales are returning. Yay.
        
        I’m considering doing another experiment in dropping promoted listings. I did this before but I quit after two weeks because it had a huge effect on my sales.
- 10/28/2019 at 8:06 am #69648
  almasty
  Participant
  Location:
  @alamasty
  I haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet. Sounds like a good one!
  
  There were a few good sales this weekend, so I set my buying budget at $500 and spent it all! Filled the back of an Uber van full of goodies. I’ve been working on listing through it since the afternoon I got back, but I think this haul is going to take 2-3 weeks on its own. Still, I’m excited. Perfect Q4 stock. A few boxes have gone up on Amazon, a few will go on Etsy, but the majority will be for Ebay. I’m going to set a goal of getting it all listed in 2 weeks so I can get back to listing the other good Q4 stock I was working through prior to buying this stock.
  
  I have 1 big buy for my Amazon store coming up this week, but then it’s back to focusing just on Ebay. Amazon. Ugh. I used to stock it 3-5 times a week, but now I’m down to 1-2 times a week, if even that often. It’s going to be even less now that it’s getting colder out. You can really feel the lack of listing activity on there vs. Ebay. Still, it ain’t what it used to be, so I’m NOT going to put the effort into it.
  
  I see people complaining about Ebay policies and glitches, but they do not compare at all to the way Amazon messes up. The most random items will be gated for absolutely no reason. I listed 20 books from the same publisher yesterday – 3 are gated, 17 are not. What?! Off to Ebay those 3 go. There are also “pricing issues” going on for books – that’s the newest fun thing booksellers have to fix. If someone doesn’t list down to the cheapest megalister, it is a “pricing error.” I dislike having to waste my time watching individual listings so closely.
  
  Ugh, Amazon. The heydays were definitely the early 2000s-early 2010s. With FBA, it is hard to keep a toe in the game if you’re FBM. I believe there are now 3,000+ new sellers on Amazon each day? 🙁 All driving the prices down, all believing they’re making more than they are because FBA hides how much people are actually making and it takes them several months to catch on they are making very little, if anything.
  
  So, back to focusing my efforts on Ebay. It’s fun in a way that Amazon is incapable of being. Etsy is just as fun, but still has a long way to go to get up to the infrastructure of Ebay. If they ever brought their listing prices down to a practical $.05 a month from $.20 every 4 months, that would be a real game changer. A lot of items will sell within the first month or two on Etsy, so the additional listing fees are wasted.
  - 10/28/2019 at 8:59 am #69652
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Ugh, Amazon. The heydays were definitely the early 2000s-early 2010s. With FBA, it is hard to keep a toe in the game if you’re FBM. I believe there are now 3,000+ new sellers on Amazon each day? 🙁 All driving the prices down, all believing they’re making more than they are because FBA hides how much people are actually making and it takes them several months to catch on they are making very little, if anything.
    
    This is my sense of Amazon these days as well. I bet its still good for those who are disciplined and run a tight operation, but I bet the profits are thin. I always wonder what happened to that Gildaddy guy and if he and his wife still sell big on Amazon. They havent posted a video in two years.
    - 10/28/2019 at 2:01 pm #69691
      almasty
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @alamasty
      
      I haven’t heard of that guy before. I just saw his youtube link and it looks like he hasn’t made any videos in 2 years. I feel like sellers like that are either completely out of the business of selling on Amazon, or are still on it and having to work really hard and not wanting to give up their secrets to strangers on Youtube (finally, if that’s the case).
      
      I don’t know if you’ve seen this article yet on the WSJ, but Amazon claims it’s going to spend billions of dollars monitoring products being sold by 3rd party sellers on the site:
      
      Amazon Ready to Pour Billions Into Policing Products on Its Site
      
      People on the Amazon forums think that in reality what will happen is that Amazon will just yank a ton of 3rd party sellers completely off the site and not really do much of anything else. Some sellers think that Amazon will eventually completely do away with 3rd party sellers. Who knows?
      
      Since Amazon already has a history of asking sellers of certain products for invoices/distributors/wholesalers/etc,. and then directly competing with those sellers once they have been supplied with that information, I don’t see why they wouldn’t to some extent weed out certain sellers completely once they are able to sell the exact same products themselves. However, Amazon claims that 3rd party sellers make more money than they do on the site,
      
      Jeff Bezos says third-party sellers on Amazon are “kicking our butt”
      
      so I can’t imagine Amazon completely getting rid of 3rd party sellers.
      
      It will be interesting to see how Ebay and Amazon both shake out over the next year, especially with escalating political rhetoric on the Left to break up Amazon, tech companies, etc,. and Ebay’s new direction from the VCs (whatever that will really end up being).
      - 10/28/2019 at 3:09 pm #69697
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        Yes, it is ridiculous that you have to hand over your source contact info along with your invoice.
        Might as well say “Please undercut me!”
        
        I understand why they are doing what they are doing, but again…they shouldn’t be a direct competitor. That is a serious conflict of interest.
      - 10/28/2019 at 4:44 pm #69702
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        I always felt weird selling on Amazon because Amazon could be our competitor. eBay is nice because the relationship is clear: eBay provides the platform and we supply the product.
- 10/28/2019 at 8:43 am #69649
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  Crazy week. Seemed like all my best stuff sold at once.
  
  Sales (c/w shipping): CAD$7141, 12 sales
  COGS: $207, Fees: ~$928, Shipping: $704 –> Gross profit: $6006
  Expenditures: $1963 –> Cashflow: $4250
  Hours: 12
  Listed: $1150, 15 items
  Notable sales: sold the rest (70) of my Panasonic laptop battery packs for $4000.
  Buys: spent $800 on 7 seismic sensor things (on ebay), hoping they pay back at $400-700 each.
  - 10/28/2019 at 8:57 am #69651
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    What a great week of sales. This is when being an industrial seller really pays off!
- 10/28/2019 at 8:48 am #69650
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1261
  Items Sold 20
  Total Sales $716.00
  COGS $74.00
  Total Profit $642.00
  Average profit $32.10
  Average sales price $35.80
  New Listings 41
  
  Sales did rebound from my terrible week last week, but still very erratic. I had zero sales or offers yesterday. It’s feast or famine it seems.
  
  Listing on ebay now is so messed up now. They’ve completely destroyed item specifics. I am seeing small unannounced changes on the site almost every day and that terrifies me to think what they are messing up without being aware of it. Apparently there are pay issues with managed payments to where people aren’t getting their pay outs on time. Saw that on ebay for business. So glad I’m not involved in that mess too.
  
  On a positive note, I spot checked my shirts and it looks like they have mapped the size to the required field. Shoes are still blank.
  
  Scavenger wise, yesterday was the last day for our local Sears. Another retailer bites the dust! I was able to score a big pile of new in box refrigerator water filters, a riding lawnmower bagger attachment thing, and a bunch of high end built in microwave trim kits.
  
  a year ago our mall was so successful that they were literally kicking out stores to make room for new businesses that were willing to pay more rent. Now there are almost 20 empty store fronts and a HUGE anchor store is now gone too. My how quickly things change in the retail apocalypse.
- 10/28/2019 at 9:38 am #69653
  TopNotch
  Participant
  Location: WI
  @topnotch
  10/20 – 10/26/19
  
  eBay store: topnotchnewandused
  Total store items: 1186
  Number of items sold: 25
  Total eBay sales (Includes shipping): $786
  Selling costs(Ebay/Paypal/Shipping fees) $239
  Cost of items sold: Hard to say–box lots for $1 and very old items
  Net before COGS $547
  
  Highest price sold: $101 – Expired nutritional supplements
  Coolest item: 1970’s snow suit $40
  Average price sold: $31
  Cancels: 2 for $76. 1 buyer cancelled for “wrong address” and 1 buyer I refunded fully because the item had a crack I missed.
  Returns:0
  Money spent on new inventory: $95
  Number of new items listed this week: approx 140
  Click thru 2%
  Sell thru 1.4%
  
  Monday and Saturday were over 50% of our week.
  I’m considering going down to 3 day handling so we only have to ship twice per week. We lost top rated over 2 items I should have called Ebay about, but didn’t bother. I think the potential $20/month in Ebay fee savings can be mitigated by sending some smaller items in envelopes.
- 10/28/2019 at 10:13 am #69656
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  @Jay & @Ryanne
  
  After you turn off free returns, be sure to monitor your service metrics carefully. Several of my selling friends who do not offer free returns have been hit with the extra 5% fee due to an increase in improperly opened returns by buyers who don’t want to pay return shipping. Additionally, once you make the switch, your evaluation peer group will change, so keep an eye on how that affects your group average as well.
  - 10/28/2019 at 10:19 am #69657
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Good call. Can you remind me where I find that info?
    - 10/28/2019 at 10:26 am #69658
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      @Jay
      
      Service metrics are found on the Seller Hub “Performance” tab drop down menu. It may be month or two before you see any change, depending on when you make the switch and the delay in reporting/projecting.
      - 10/28/2019 at 10:32 am #69659
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        There it is. Here’s a direct link for anyone interested: https://www.ebay.com/sh/prf/service-metrics
        
        So far we’re super low returns compared to our peers. It’ll be interesting to see if it rises as a penalty for not taking Free returns. Maybe that’s the carrot eBay dangles out to offer them.
        
        You sell almost exclusively clothes. Do you receive high returns? Or is your buying pool more sophisticated so know what they’re buying.
        
        10/28/2019 at 11:09 am #69665
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        @Jay
        
        The returns come in waves, but I average 3-4 a week. Most of them are for “doesn’t fit”, several are still opened as false NAD with “doesn’t fit” reason given in the comments, and every so often I do miss something or something gets damaged/lost during shipment.
        
        I rarely mention returns or buyer issues, because I just don’t like to dwell on them. In the clothing business, it’s just something I have learned to anticipate.
        
        In the last year, I have issued roughly $15K in returns (including return shipping) on $270K sales. I charge an extra 50 cents shipping per item to offset the return shipping cost, which amounts to about $2600 collected in the last 12 months, which more covers the return shipping money spent.
        
        Out of approximately 5200 items sold in the past 12 months, I had 210 returns opened, 30 of which were never returned.
        
        My total return rate is about 5.6% ($return/$sold), and about 3.5% (#return/#sold)
        My 90 day rolling NAD return rate is typically about 0.8% to 0.9%.
        
        This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
        
        10/28/2019 at 4:41 pm #69701
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        That’s comforting to hear from a large volume seller like yourself. Returns happy and just part of the business.
        
        10/28/2019 at 9:14 pm #69712
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        They do sting at times, but the items almost always re-sell quickly the second time around.
        
        I had a rare, controversial civil rights poster which sold for a best offer of $600, the buyer claimed he had found another one for cheaper, and returned it unopened. I was skeptical, as the only record of another sale of one was nearly 15 years prior. I relisted it and another buyer who was bummed to have missed out on the sale the first time bought it within a week for $800. Gotta love that.
        
        10/28/2019 at 11:54 am #69669
        
        Old Dad
        Participant
        
        Location: Missouri
        @old-dad
        
        “There it is. Here’s a direct link for anyone interested: https://www.ebay.com/sh/prf/service-metrics”
        
        I sell primarily NOS auto parts, I don’t have free returns, my return rate usually hovers around .25%, the majority of which used a bogus return reason.d While those are irritating at times they don’t amount to a significant cost to my business and usually just refund the less expensive items when received without any pushback. The return rate for the same inventory on Amason is always higher.
        
        10/30/2019 at 10:25 am #69780
        
        Old Dad
        Participant
        
        Location: Missouri
        @old-dad
        
        Here’s an eBay page I happened across this morning, https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/service-and-payments/returns.html#attract-buyers-with-free-returns. According to eBay’s own estimates, the “Sales Lift” from changing from 30-day returns (buyer pays return shipping) to 30-day free returns is 5%. Of course, their disclaimer waffles on that 5%. But, taking this as an accurate estimate, it seems the reverse would also be true and changing from free 30-day returns to buyer paid is going to drop sales by 5%.
        
        I don’t believe the 5% estimate but it is at least something to plug into evaluating changing to or from free returns. The unknown number is what is the actual cost of the free return shipping to eat.
        
        I will still stay with the customer paying for discretionary returns, my gut says free returns would not improve my bottom line.
        
        10/30/2019 at 2:42 pm #69793
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        A 5% boost in sales doesnt seem that great even if true. We’ve offered Free Returns for a good year and saw no rise in sales.
        
        In fact, we’ve had one of our worst selling years in memory. Difficult to put a finger on the reason. As we’ve discussed on the podcast, our efforts this tear have gone to other projects.
  - 10/28/2019 at 10:50 am #69661
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    They are missing a CRITICAL piece of the puzzle for this dumb service metric: How do you as a seller HANDLE these cases? In my opinion, if you make the buyer whole in a timely manner it should never be counted against you. If they want to punish the bad actors then they should go after those that don’t have good customer service.
    But hey, if they handle this logically then they make less money. It’s almost like they are financially motivated to not be fair…hmmmm….
    
    Me personally, I don’t get many false INAD’s. I don’t offer free shipping and I don’t refund original shipping on standard returns. I’m currently even with my peers.
- 10/28/2019 at 11:02 am #69663
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  This week started off where I found about 100 of my items were suddenly marked as 16 or more months old. I usually look at my oldest items every week, so I was surprised. I’m guessing that they fixed something in the software that caused this to happen. Did something similar happen to anyone else?
  
  Week of Oct 20 – 26
  * Total Items in Store: 1507 eBay, 36 Etsy
  * Items Sold: 12 eBay + 1 Etsy
  * Cost of Items Sold: $17 + $0 Commission
  * Total Sales: $217.57 eBay + $30.95 Etsy
  * Highest Price Sold: $43 Signed Tom Clancy book Debt of Honor
  * Average Price Sold: $18.13 (eBay only)
  * Returns: 0
  * Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $7.30
  * Number of items listed this week: 37
  
  I was surprised to see how slow this week was for me, but I did have my first sale on Etsy. Since I only have a few items listed there, I chose to include shipping in my prices. This makes it difficult to calculate my average over both stores, so I only reported my average for eBay. I haven’t actually shipped my Etsy item yet, but it will probably be about $10.
- 10/28/2019 at 11:08 am #69664
  Old Dad
  Participant
  Location: Missouri
  @old-dad
  Jay/Ryanne,
  
  Will you be doing a physical audit of your inventory, either while you are setting up the new system or after you complete that project? I think you will likely find you have items still listed that are not in inventory and/or inventory items that are not listed. I always do.
  
  Also, on an ongoing basis if you have multi-quantity listings, verifying the remaining quantity on those at the time orders are picked can be worthwhile if only a few remain in stock.
  - 10/28/2019 at 4:39 pm #69700
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Since we’ll be adding the shipping location on the item listing page, we’ll know if an item is listed or not.
    
    I keep hearing nightmares of sellers saying hundreds of their items get delisted for no reason. We’ve never done a full inventory, but we’ve also never run across a “delisted” item.
    
    Does this happen to you? If so, do you list “good till cancelled”? any clue why this would be happening?
    - 10/28/2019 at 6:26 pm #69706
      Old Dad
      Participant
      
      Location: Missouri
      @old-dad
      
      Everything is Good til canceled in my main store, 2881 listings. I use a paid inventory management service to keep my inventory in sync between venues.
      
      I don’t spend a lot of time on detective work when I find a discrepancy. I used to then decided it was a waste of my time. I don’t know that I have ever had anything delisted by eBay but can’t be positive about that. I think most of the differences come from having a wrong initial quantity, not increasing quantity when returns are put back on the shelf, replacement sent without reducing quantity, human errors in other words and most of those are unique to multi-quantity listings.
      
      At shipping time I print a picklist from the inventory management site and check anything with low quantity as I pick orders. Perhaps once a month I find an issue and correct it. That doesn’t take care of the problem with orphan listings or inventory, only a careful physical audit will do that.
      
      I still get out-of-stock orders 2 or 3 times a year. If I can buy the product somewhere else and drop shop to the buyer then I do that.
      
      I don’t have an inventory location system in place and need to do that. You know how easy it is to procrastinate on that project.
      - 10/29/2019 at 8:45 am #69715
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Understood. In your case, the issue is more about items with multiple quantity getting out of whack. I can see having issues with that. We’ve sometimes relisted multiple quantity items and accidentally posted more quantity than we had.
        
        Im still confused about the folks who say items completely disappear. I guess we’ll see when we check each of our items.
        
        10/31/2019 at 12:59 pm #69856
        
        Old Dad
        Participant
        
        Location: Missouri
        @old-dad
        
        @Jay
        
        “We’ve sometimes relisted multiple quantity items and accidentally posted more quantity than we had.”
        
        I’m not sure if you know this, but some here may not. If you use Sell similar as a shortcut to relisting (then end the old listing), for multi-quantity listings if you have sold some the quantity on the relist will revert to the original quantity, unless you specifically change the quantity during the relist. A “gotcha” that is easy to miss and then wonder later why the item oversold.
        
        10/31/2019 at 2:21 pm #69863
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Yep. This is an example of sellers missing items because of a mistake when re-listing. My hunch is that often missing inventory is using “sell similar” or forgetting to relist items that they chose to let end.
        
        Seems a much more plausible explanation than eBay just deleting listings. But I guess we’ll see when we do our inventory.
    - 10/28/2019 at 7:06 pm #69707
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      @Jay
      
      I’ve never had anything delisted that I know of, but I do find a few unlisted items from time to time. We will begin consolidating and reconciling 4000 of our items this week, hopefully it’s not too bad.
      
      However, A friend of mine recently had some issues with items he listed from the mobile app. I’m not sure what happened exactly. One of my side hustles last year was storing/shipping a fellow seller and consignors 600 item inventory while he was too busy with some contract work. He paid me $5 per package, and all I needed to do was slap a label on it. All his items were pre-boxed and numbered, so it should have been simple. Well…it wasn’t exactly that simple.
      
      At some point half his inventory got delisted. As a standard he uses Auctiva to manage his listings, but at some point had listed or relisted many items with the ebay app. He determined that those items were the same items that were delisted. Though we never figured out when or why.
      
      The result was 3 or 4 rounds of me reconciling his inventory. Many had to be consigned to me, which helped pay for my extra time. The pile is pretty small at this point, and I have convinced him not to sell off his items in a blow-out sale, but rather to consign more and more to me. Selling something for $9.99, and then paying me $5 to put it on my porch….plus ebay fees and COGS, just doesn’t make sense.
      
      One note on the whole mess. He uses an inventory code which he puts at the end of each title. If he had that number in the custom SKU field instead, the reconciling process would have been so much easier. Still working on convincing him to make that change.
      - 10/29/2019 at 8:46 am #69716
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Wow. That’s seller was very generous to pay you $5 just to slap on a sticker.
        
        I wonder if his missing items were just a function of the software he uses, Auctiva. I know some sellers do the manually relisting every 30 days to “refresh” their listings. It’d be easy to forget or miss some items.
        
        10/29/2019 at 10:04 am #69721
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        Yeah, he’s a good guy and we’ve made a lot of money together. The store and ship idea seemed like an easy way to make $3000, but it ended up being a pretty big hassle. It was literally a stack of pre-packed priority boxes 35 feet long and 5 feet high, which took up most of my extra storage space at the time. It would have been ok, except for the unexpected time (multiple times) spent handling everything and trying to sort out his inventory issues for him. After a few months I discovered that over half of the items were not on eBay at all, and he had no idea. And since he was very busy with his contract work, it took him several months to get it fixed. So for quite a while I was just storing stuff for free with very few outgoing packages, and space is pretty precious around here. Over 100 listings were lost forever and those items were added to his consignment items. Fortunately, there are only about 100 items left…..and I’m itching to use that space for my own items.
- 10/28/2019 at 11:11 am #69666
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 271 Ebay, 45 Mercari
  Items Sold: 3
  Gross Sales: $85 Ebay
  Cost of Items Sold: $26 + one item ours
  Highest Price Sold: $45 New platter (paid $24 on clearance)
  Average Price Sold: $28
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $56
  Number of items listed this week: 9
  
  I love to find and sell the starglow china in your thumbnail! Rough, quiet week on Ebay and surprisingly busy week outside Ebay. I allowed myself to go to to a rummage sale for the first time in a very long time. I discovered bought a few pieces of Franciscan Silver Pine – very cool atomic china. Someone donated brand new Pendleton bath sheets ($5 each). It was a nice little thrill. I woke up early and listed almost all of it the next morning. Now back to the piles this week. I’m very into listing because quite frankly we could use the money as my work has been slow. I don’t normally rely on Ebay money, but life my other part-time income was off the last couple of months.
  
  Wishing you the best R & J with cash flow and your new business adventures. Have a good week!
- 10/28/2019 at 12:02 pm #69670
  campmocs
  Participant
  Location: Maine
  @campmocs
  I’m loving the all the inventory system talk… it has my wheels turning. The last two weeks have been great sales wise. I have set new records each week. I have changed my listing process from phone only to starting drafts on computer and taking pics through the app. The app has been sooo buggy and difficult to work with.
  
  I’m meeting with an accountant later today to make sure I’m keeping track of everything needed. Thanks for another great listen and the motivation.
  
  Numbers for the last 2 weeks:
  
  oct 13-19 Oct 20-27
  Items in Store 667 684
  Items sold 25 30
  Gross Sales $790 $882
  COGS $107 $157
  Highest Price Sold $202 $145
  Average Price Sold $31.64 $29.39
  New Inventory Costs 86 271
- 10/29/2019 at 8:54 am #69717
  chaoticgood
  Participant
  Location: Kansas City, MO
  @chaoticgood
  Here’s my week: Oct. 21-27
  Items Sold: 8 on Ebay and Mercari
  Items in stores: 150 Ebay, 189 Poshmark
  Total Sales: $ 175.xx before fees, after shipping
  COG: Minimal…$5?
  Items listed: 10, including several items with multiples
  Highest priced item: $65 for an autographed book by astronaut Alan Shepard. I changed the category to something like space memorabilia instead of books, and the item that had been up for a couple months sold within a week!
  
  Highlights:
  3 sales of pairs ice cleats
  Sold 2 Garrison caps; I’m down to my last one!
  
  No new inventory. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I missed out on a couple auction closings last night. But the pipeline seems infinite. I should work on my existing money piles. They are getting more challenging to list.
  
  I’m making a list of offers and price drops to do on Friday. I saw someone else recommending to do that to coincide with payday. It will also be the 1st of the month this time around.
- 10/29/2019 at 10:40 am #69723
  Mississippi Pickers
  Participant
  Location: South Mississippi
  @mississippi-pickers
  October has been really good for us, I know some of you guys are struggling and that sucks. We just hit a 10% STR already this month with an ASP of $18.68 which is up from 8% last month.
  
  We sold 38 items this month for $710.00 net / $954.00 gross
  we have 425 items listed
  
  We have maintained an 8% bottom STR and a $17.00 bottom for the whole year. Not bad for a couple of bumkins from nowhere Mississippi, lol
  
  We still have not changed our “NO RETURN POLICY” and I don’t think we are quite ready to start accepting returns just yet, we will but not just yet. We have still not had one single return so better knock on wood for that one as its been over a year now.
  
  We still maintain a 100% positive feedback score
  
  My biggest issue is listing, currently at 425. I have the product, I have the photos, the measurements but when it comes to doing the actual listing I struggle because I am such a perfectionist when it comes to the listing itself and perhaps I just need to relax on them a little so I can go faster.
  
  That’s about it, I hope your sales pick up and you all have a great 4th quarter !
  
  Love yall !
  Tony
  - This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Mississippi Pickers.
- 10/29/2019 at 2:39 pm #69755
  Marie in Florida
  Participant
  Location:
  @marie-in-florida
  I’ve been doing 2 day handling for years. For me it works way better than 1 day. And I never did the free return.
  Oh I wish this week was like 2 weeks ago. Then I sold over $600. This week I sold 2 items.
  Total Items in Store: 470
  Items Sold: 2
  Gross Sales: $45
  Cost of Items Sold: $5
  Cost of helpers: $0
  Highest Price Sold: $25 Vintage Whiting Davis Bag
  
  So in the whole week I sold one 1 piece of clothing. Wondering if that’s the Ebay revision or just a bad week? It’s been months since I had this low a week.
  
  Jay, I’m not sure how we redirect millennials to Ebay. My kids will go to Amazon or Posh first.
  
  On the plus side they are scavengers. One just picked up 2 sleds and a push lawn mower from the side of the road. She’s heading out after work to get the free firewood.
- 10/29/2019 at 6:33 pm #69764
  Simon
  Participant
  Location: San Francisco Bay Area
  @simon
  I’m a little late to the party but here are my numbers for the week:
  
  Total Items in Store: 3305
  Items Sold: 46
  Total Sales: $1005.96
  Cost of Items Sold: $126
  Average Price Sold: $21.87
  Average Cost of Item: $2.75
  Highest Price Item Sold: $119.95 KLM BOLS BLUE DELFT miniature HOUSE SET of 6
  Number of items listed this week: 46 worth $1050
  YTD Sales: $41541
  YTD sales compared to this time last year: +7%
  Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 435
  Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 237
  Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 161
  Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.39%
  Hats sold this week: 29 (63% of sales) worth $539.68 (53% of sales $)
  
  Not a bad week overall on the ebay front. Mainly lots of small sales that added up.
  
  Outside of eBay, my power was cut off on Saturday night due to the danger of wildfires (I’m in California) and hasn’t returned as of now (Tuesday afternoon). Some people in town got power back yesterday but they plan to shut it down again for another couple of days. Dark evenings are pretty miserable. I’ve had to print shipping labels at work and have done no listing of any kind this week. Fortunately we’re not actually threatened by the big fire which is about 45 minutes north of us at present so it could be much worse.
  
  Hope everyone has a great week.
  - 10/29/2019 at 7:09 pm #69767
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    One word:solar
    https://www.tesla.com/energy
    
    With the Powerwall, you’ll run your whole house when the power’s out.
    Tesla has a subscription now that seems pretty insanely good.
    https://www.tesla.com/support/energy/solar-panels/learn/subscription-solar
    
    I’d do it in a heartbeat if they were in VA.
  - 10/29/2019 at 8:37 pm #69769
    So Cal Joe
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @so-cal-joe
    Hi Simon,
    
    Too bad about the power outages. I’m glad you’re not getting directly affected by the fire.
    
    Some are getting the blackouts down here too, but it’s nothing like up there. Fortunately, I live a little too far away from the fire areas to be affected.
    
    If you’re thinking about getting a generator. I highly recommend the Honda EU2200. It’s about $1200, small, portable, reliable, quiet and very efficient. The only drawback is that the fuel tank is small, but you can easily attach a 3 to 5 gallon boat tank (gas can) to it and it will run for days.
    
    It’s limited in power 1800 watts (2200 peak), which is like having one outlet. It will power a refrigerator.
    
    I guess tonight is supposed to be extra windy, at least in the south.
    
    I hope you get your power back soon.
  - 10/30/2019 at 10:04 am #69779
    ChristineR
    Participant
    
    Location: Southern California
    @christiner
    @Simon sorry you are affected by the power outages. What a mess with the companies. It seems like the State will have to take them over. Hope your area is missing the major wind event and out of danger. It’s passing South of us this time.
    - 11/01/2019 at 1:42 pm #69927
      Simon
      Participant
      
      Location: San Francisco Bay Area
      @simon
      
      Thanks for the comments / suggestions everyone.
      
      My power came back on and didn’t go off again as they had threatened which was a relief. Of course it was too late to save things in our freezer so that all got thrown out.
      
      Solar companies, large-battery retailers and generator manufacturers will certainly benefit from recent events here.
      
      We don’t plan to living in this house long enough to make a solar investment worthwhile but I probably would already have done a while back it if we were going to stay. We have a big roof and get lots of sunshine.
      
      Lots have people have been talking about generators here but I’m reluctant to invest in one until I see that this is becoming a pattern. I imagine everyone will own one before long if it does become a frequent occurrence.
      - 11/01/2019 at 1:47 pm #69928
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Screw PGE. Time for communities to build microgrids with renewables. Put those winds to use.
        
        This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Jay.
- 10/29/2019 at 7:39 pm #69768
  StainedGlassKarin
  Participant
  Location:
  @stainedglasskarin
  Great show as usual! We listen every week.
  
  Wanted to chime in about PirateShip. Our best use of PirateShip is their International Simple Export Rate. You have to ask customer service to add the feature to your account, not sure why. An example from a sale is week is a 12x12x8 box weighing 3# going to Canada. First class international through eBay $24.95, Simple Export Rate is $16.95. That is significant!
  
  It is a flat rate chart. Worldwide 1-8 oz is 9.95, 9-16 oz is 15.95, 1#-2# rate $17.95, 2#-3# $23.95. Canada 1-8 oz is 7.95, 9-16 oz is 9.95, 1#-2# rate $12.95, 2#-3# $16.95.
  Ask for it, it’s awesome.
  - 10/30/2019 at 10:51 am #69781
    The_SEAM_Store
    Participant
    
    Location: PA
    @the_seam_store
    @stainedglasskarin Awesome tip. I’ve used Fitshipper to ship via cubic weight since Jay and Ryanne interviewed them. I will continue use them for cubic rate, but Just added Pirateship to my rotation and had them add the International Simple Export Rate. One thing to note is that the Simple Export Rate is not insurable, but I’m willing to risk a lost package on lower value items. This will save me some bucks on international shipping for sure. Thanks!
    - 10/30/2019 at 11:15 am #69785
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      Anyone care to chime in on their sales volume using this simple export rate vs GSP?
      I don’t know the number right off my head, but I’d estimate I have 20-30 GSP sales a year.
      
      If I could change to this simple export rate and greatly increase my international sales it would seem to be very much worth the effort.
    - 10/31/2019 at 8:50 am #69827
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Based on my international shipments for the last 12 months, I think Pirate Ship could save me about $2000/year.
      
      Now I’m just have to decide if I keep my already competitive international shipping rates the same, pocketing the $2000, or lower the rates and hope it sparks even more sales.
      
      Thanks again @stainedglasskarin
    - 10/31/2019 at 1:53 pm #69859
      Ricker
      Participant
      
      Location: Florida
      @ricker
      
      Actually, this in incorrect..you can purchase insurance for any 1st class international package via Pirateship’s simple export rate..even after doing so, you still save money…
      
      https://www.pirateship.com/usps/first-class-package-international
      - 10/31/2019 at 3:03 pm #69866
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        Hmm, I wonder why the pirate ship rep told me it was not insurable. Good to know. Thanks.
- 10/30/2019 at 2:48 pm #69794
  AtomicStar
  Participant
  Location:
  @atomicstar
  My return rate is 5%. I’ve had a concerning amount of false INADS lately to avoid return postage. It’s troubling. Last week was much better than the week prior when the glitch was in full force. I sold around $800 during “glitch week” and I’ve bounced up to $1800ish this past week. Thank God because I was really starting to worry. This business is so up and down without eBay monkeying around with the site.
- 10/30/2019 at 3:38 pm #69796
  mallybills
  Participant
  Location: Sandy, Utah
  @mallybills
  Sales are picking up from the summer slump and I’m loving Q4 already. We will have been reselling on eBay for 2 years in February of 2020. I’m really excited about our progress and still have no regrets that we made the decision to resell. The biggest challenge for us is not letting unlisted inventory take up our living space. But, we are developing systems and have FINALLY found a consistent helper so we are making good progress in getting through our piles.
  
  Oct 21 – 27
  Total Items in Store: 1,725
  Items Sold: 31
  Total Sales : $815
  Highest Price: $225 (Vintage IBM 1983 color monitor)
  Average Price: $26
  Returns: 0
  Cost of Goods Sold: $84
  Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $257
  Number of New Items Listed this Week: 70
  
  On the plus side, my October is my best month of the year so far!
  
  https://res.cloudinary.com/back-to-the-basics/image/upload/v1572459564/eBay%20Business/October_ppwnrl.png
  
  #SellTrashBeFree
  
  Malinda
- 10/31/2019 at 9:58 am #69835
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  With all this talk of inventory, I thought I’d share a few pictures of ours. I am fortunate in that my wife did a lot of research before we started really selling and had an inventory system in mind from the start. It’s modified over the years a bit, but it uses the “Amazon” system that Jay and Ryanne have been talking about. We use a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. No sku, just box or shelf location. Two things I really like: We use the clear storage boxes, which make locating the rare lost item easier, and rolling carts under the stack of boxes in front of the shelves. Store glass and some larger items on the shelves. Artwork on top. Except for a few larger items, our entire 1247 item inventory is in these pictures. Have to be a bit careful of the rolling carts, not to stack too high, otherwise tipping is a problem.
  
  https://imgur.com/a/MHoH0zE
  
  We’ve about outgrown our laundry room and envision expanding to the guest room soon. I don’t recommend the Ikea shelves and wouldn’t buy them for this purpose again. Have since found the metal shelves they sell at Costco and like them much better. We use them for storage of the to be listed inventory stored in another room.
  - 10/31/2019 at 10:03 am #69837
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    That’s cool. The stuff that can be stored in number bins is ideal. The issue is all the stuff you have on those back shelves in a loose manner. We have a lot of that stuff.
    
    Also, what happens if you have to get something from bin 16 next to the refrigerator. Slide out the whole stack of bins and then take off the top five to get to the bottom one?
    - 10/31/2019 at 10:17 am #69839
      Lukastreasure
      Participant
      
      Location: Chevy Chase, MD
      @lukastreasuretrove
      
      @Jay, Yes, you have to unstack them all. I admit, I hate it when what I need is in the bottom box, but I get a little thrill when it’s in the top box, so it balances out. 🙂
      
      One reason I like the costco shelves is that they will fit 3 of these storage boxes on a shelf. Long range plan is to buy more of those shelves so that I don’t have to stack and unstack. Maybe when we move into the other room.
      - 10/31/2019 at 10:23 am #69840
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Dont get me wrong. You guys are super organized. Just noticing the pain points.
        
        Yeah, we have shelving that holds the plastic bins so easy to get to. As I said though, the issue is with the loose, weird, delicate items that are on shelves. As your inventory grows, it’ll be interesting to see if you come up with another solution, we havent figured one out.
        
        10/31/2019 at 10:38 am #69841
        
        Lukastreasure
        Participant
        
        Location: Chevy Chase, MD
        @lukastreasuretrove
        
        A lot of the loose things I used to store on the shelves now go in boxes. However, like you, we’ve have been buying more glass lately, which makes it tough to get away from shelves. Look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.
- 10/31/2019 at 11:29 am #69845
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  This is what 4000 ties looks like if anyone was curious. Each box has around 60 ties. These are the NEW stock. I have another area with about 1000 or so secondhand ties.
  
  I crack up every time I see that word “Exstra” lol. Someone at the manufacturer’s warehouse couldn’t spell very well.
  
  https://i.imgur.com/CJkfBNW.jpg
  - This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
  - 10/31/2019 at 11:35 am #69849
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Thats great to see that storage can be so simple. Ties would be the dream inventory to store.
    - 10/31/2019 at 12:04 pm #69851
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Of course it’s always the ones in the bottom boxes that sell, even if you mix them up.
      
      If you want something to sell faster, make it harder to get to.
- 10/31/2019 at 12:16 pm #69853
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  Here is a small closet converted to accessory storage with adjustable shelving. Helped eliminate the stack issue.
  
  The bins are Sterilite Clearview 32 Qt. I get them at Target. Nice and manageable for someone with back trouble.
  
  https://i.imgur.com/jfKrYvn.jpg
- 10/31/2019 at 1:31 pm #69857
  Old Dad
  Participant
  Location: Missouri
  @old-dad
  This is a small portion of my “warehouse” which was previously a restaurant. I wanted to point out the cardboard bin boxes on the foreground shelf. I use those to shelf small lightweight items that would otherwise be constantly falling over. They are fairly cheap and come flat so they take up little space unassembled. They are available with lower or higher sides.
  
  What is showing in this pic is about 1/4th of the total storage space, plus I have a separate room for shipping and for products not listed yet. I don’t recall the total square feet, 3000 as a rough estimate, probably more. One advantage of living in a small (1100 pop.) midwest town, I only pay $250 a month for this building.
- 10/31/2019 at 1:33 pm #69858
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  $250/mo wow!
- 10/31/2019 at 5:40 pm #69886
  MN Jimbo
  Participant
  Location: Minnesota
  @mn-jimbo
  Would one reason to keep free returns on be to make it simple to have any neutral or negative feedback removed? Somewhat related, I’m pretty sure I picked up the tip on this podcast about charging for shipping that way I can deduct that amount off in the case of a return. I used to always do free shipping but realized I shouldn’t do that since I couldn’t deduct the initial shipping since it was free. I’m always a little nervous some one will ding me for this with bad feedback for this. Having free returns allows some piece of mind for me.
  - 10/31/2019 at 8:15 pm #69896
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Another seller made a similar point. If we arent offering Free Returns (which dont know as of this week), will eBay still give us some leeway dealing with returns and unfair feedback. We’ll see.
- 11/04/2019 at 8:03 am #70001
  T-Satt
  Participant
  Location:
  @t-satt
  Week of 10/20-10/26
  Total Items in Store: 3,278 (Up 17% YOY)
  Number of Items Listed: 80
  Number of Items Sold: 75 (Down 23% YOY)
  (Includes 3 Etsy, 9 Poshmark, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether)
  Weekly STR: 10% (Down 5% YOY)
  
  Total Product Sales: $2,259 (Down 31% YOY)
  Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: Down $741
  Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: Down $269
  Cost of Items Sold: $435
  Cost of Labor: $294
  Highest Item Sold: $94 – Rock Revival Jeans
  Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 25-19.
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