- This topic has 9 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
I was talking to a person I see at the auction all the time who has a indoor booth at a local flea market. He does not do eBay he’s an old timer cash guy and has a lot of freebie resources he uses for getting items and the other usually sourcing methods.
He said he has a coding system he uses puts it on every item so he knows exactly what he originally paid for the item. Wondering if anyone has something like that they would share?He wouldn’t tell me his code: its a secret shhhhhh..:-)
I do sell locally Facebook marketplace and offer up upcoming spring yard sale as well as eBay. I was thinking in the future of just putting a 4x amount on every item I get so I know approximately what I paid. Then just take off the tag if I sell on eBay .
Especially for thrift store items.Anyone?
-
- Location:
A local store uses the last 4 digits of his SKU # as his cost – but backwards
656355000 .. would mean he paid $50
on eBay I use this SKU format (buyers do not see it)
180219-032-654-003
DATEPOSTED-BIN-TAG-COST
the tag is a removable sticker label I use
-
A local store uses the last 4 digits of his SKU # as his cost – but backwards
656355000 .. would mean he paid $50
on eBay I use this SKU format (buyers do not see it)
180219-032-654-003
DATEPOSTED-BIN-TAG-COST
the tag is a removable sticker label I useJoe I may try this as it seems pretty straight forward. so 003 means you paid $3 $30 $300?
-
-
We do the same. We use a 23 digit code. It is already pre-printed on a paper tag we attach to every item. It has coded and camoflage numbers in it and that is why we can pre-print tags and just leave a few choice blank spots. From our sku number we can tell the item number, what we paid for it, when boughtand where it is located. The balance of the numbers [camoflage] help disguise those numbers which are easily deciphered by a savey buyer. I can uncover a dealers cost many times by looking at his SKU number then I make offers accordingly.
The advantage of having these items hidden in our SKU is when we are out on the road and get offers, we used to always ask ourselves, what did we pay for that and how long have we had it. Now we know this immediately by looking at our sku and can decide if we wish to take an offer or not or if we wish to counter offer. Then if an item sells and we are out of town which happens frequently, we have our helper who lives less than a minute from us and we text her the sold sku number and she comes to our home office, goes right to the bin it is stored in, pulls out the item number and packs and ships for us [if needed].
A good internal sku number can hold a lot of information if set up properly and in advance of acquiring a lot of inventory. It is also very useful in year end close out for tax purposes and also report generation for financial questions and queries.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
-
-
I’m doing something similar with my listings. I use a letter cypher that contains the price and purchase date so I have easy access to that information when responding to best offers. So, a-j for 0-9; F_BCA would mean I paid $5 for the item and purchased it during the first week of February of this year. I figure it’s always better to have easy access to all of the information.
-
I have severe ADHD and have to keep my systems simple. Using complicated systems will result in me forgetting something important and messing up, so I have to keep it down to 8-seconds-or-less to maintain my focus.
So I pre-printed a bunch of tags. A=Automotive and workshop; B=Books and games; C=Caps and Hats; E=Extra Large; F=Hard Goods; K=Clothing Items; Q=Clothing Items on Hangers (coats, etc. that cannot go into bins); S=Shoes; Z=Anything else. I printed them up in number format: A000; A001; A002. Then I take the next sticker in the row and put it on the item. Then I photograph the sticker in my photos after I’ve done all my pics for the item. I usually align the camera so that I get the sticker in the photo with the weight on the scale.
When I’m listing, I put the sticker number into my SKU and tag the price on. So, for example, a pair of jeans I picked up at Goodwill for $5 will say K150-TS5 and a shirt that I got for at a yard sale will say K162-Yd50c. My “where” codes are TS=Thrift Store; Yd=Yard/Garage Sale; DN=Donated.
The stickers are stored at my listing table and I just use the next one in line. The price is written into my weekly numbers book. If the price tag is still on the item when I photograph it, I snap a pic and then remove it. The photos of the price tag or weight or SKU are not included in the listing.
-
I put where I bought it and for how much on every listing. I set up my own code and wrote it down as reference. After awhile I had it memorized. It’s not high tech but it would be pretty hard to crack. It is easy… 2 letters for location and 2 numbers for price. I use a symbol for a decimal point and no symbol for dollars. I have been asked a few times what it meant by potential buyers. I just said it was an inventory location.
I haven’t incorporated date but maybe I should. Would be nice to see how quickly it has moved. Back to the drawing board!!
-
My two cents… keeping track of your costs is good for record keeping and for gauging your skills as a reseller. However, getting focused on original costs at the time of either pricing an item or negotiating with customers is a bad idea. Those costs are sunk.
You shouldn’t sell a krugerrand for $100 even if you got it for free, and you shouldn’t hold out for $100 on a trinket that’s really worth $50, even if you paid $50.
If you need a quick and dirty aid to negotiation baked into the SKU, might I suggest coding in the low end of what your research suggests the item’s worth?
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.