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We’re thrilled with some recent high dollar sales on Henriot Quimper pottery that we found in a box in the corner of a thrift store.
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Trash to Cash. A podcast about making a living on eBay.
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We’re thrilled with some recent high dollar sales on Henriot Quimper pottery that we found in a box in the corner of a thrift store.
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Because each of us has a different set of life circumstances, there can be no “Ultimate System” for making money on eBay. There is a Scavenger Equation that each of us should work out for ourselves.
Time (Can you spend 40 hrs/week listing on eBay or 2 hrs/week?)
+
Knowledge (Can you spot items from across a room in a pile of junk that’s worth a ton of money?)
+
Opportunity (Can you spend an entire day wandering yard sales, or just an hour on lunch break?)
+
Vehicle (We assume that most Scavengers will have a vehicle, but car or truck can make a difference in what you can scavenge.)
+
Storage (The amount of cheap storage you have will determine how you run your business)
+
Quality of Inventory (are you selling stuff for $7 or $75?)
+
Homelife (Is your partner/family pro-scavenging?)
=
Your eBay Business
The different equations we each live will put different pressures on us. You can change any part of this equation based on what you want to do. Answer the question: what do you want? “Money” Okay, how much money? Adjust the equation based on this answer. The sellers who are always angry/frustrated/disillusioned usually have their equation out of wack.
We always remind people that this blog is a not a “how to” because we’ve built our life in a way that allows us to run our eBay business in a particular way. This blog is more like a diary and a place to trade tips on survival. What would you add to the equation? Did we miss anything?
In this podcast, we talked about several links:
—Airlines are changing the size of carry-on luggage. If you sell bags like we do, it’s good to include these sizes in your listing.
–Zach sent us this video of an eBay hoarder. Always be listing.
–Ever wonder who buys old computer equipment? This is what a real collector looks like.
–A caller last week mentioned that USPS will soon charge extra for “Fragile” handling. After some digging, community members found the relevant links. Here and Here.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week June 7-June 14, 2015
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| This cat loves a real antique, Persian rug! |
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Truckers hats can be a dime a dozen at flea markets and garage sales. That’s why you should grab them! The sell like crazy on eBay!
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Lately we’ve been talking about change, experiments and constant adapting to the way people buy on eBay. Since we encourage other sellers to be as efficient as possible, we had to look our ourselves. Even though most sellers already know this secret, it was new to us. We now are listing lightening fast.
Since 2008 we’ve been listing with a self-made html template in the description of each listing. It looked like this:
Back in 2008, eBay charged you for any extra photo you wanted to display on an item. So the template was important because it allowed us to showcase multiple photos. Buyers like to see what they’re getting and we felt this was one secret to our success. We also liked the “professional” feel of the layout. It was like having our own custom webpage on each listing that gave us a brand.
But then a couple years ago, eBay began allowing all sellers to upload up to 12 photos free. They were encouraging people to list items straight from their phone. We thought about dropping the template but were stuck in our ways. Listeners would say, “Templates are for losers. Mobile devices don’t display html templates correctly!” Hey, we were stubborn and thick headed like the best of them.
For some reason, it took a walk along the pier in Pacific Beach, San Diego where we looked at it from a different angle. Why not just list down and dirty? Upload great photos and simply include the relevant info in plain text? Everyone does this and they sell all day long. So easy. What were we afraid of? Why were we being so insistent on not changing?
Like all experiments, we’ll keep an eye on the results to pass final judgement. But so far, Ryanne is listing as fast as she ever has. Now we see if people buy these items with no template. Our selling lives could be changed forever.
In this episode, we refer to these links:
—Millionaires who are frugal.
–NewBergPicker sent us this video about a young Canadian couple adventuring in a converted van. I could see them selling on eBay as they went.
–Pinterest is about to become an actual selling platform.
–Chris The Dollar Flipper sent us this listing where a guy sells clothes with his cat laying on them!
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week May 31-June 6, 2015
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A long time listener (Thanks Nicole!) sent us a great story from Planet Money where they interview a guy who buys stuff at Toys R Us and resells on Amazon. We all now the drill, but this news team dug a little deeper and asked all the questions we always ask: “How is this even a job, much less an industry?”
Listen here: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/06/03/411777635/episode-629-buy-low-sell-prime
They also talk to Ina from eCommerceBytes about Target’s problems with Lilly Pulitzer and the online resellers. They don’t get to a definite answer but it will be interesting to see if big box stores try to stop the flow of their goods onto Amazon. Or maybe the manufacturers will cut out the middlemen and sell directly online? Or maybe the Retail Arbitrage business is here to stay eating away at the Big Retail Corporations until they go out of business? Who Knows!
God bless that world. But I love the Scavenger Life where we find items at the tail end of the waste stream. We’re carrying on the tradition that has been going on for centuries. Find the stuff that people think is almost garbage, put it in a different context, and give it new life (while making a living). As long as there’s waste, we’re paying our bills.
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We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it- anything with an owl on it will sell on eBay.
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There are people who go online to find reasons, or to tell you the reasons, why they can’t sell on eBay. I’m going to make it easy for these people: you shouldn’t sell on eBay. You shouldn’t start an online store. You shouldn’t work for yourself. Every reason why you think it won’t work is true. Stop wasting your time. We’re the anti-motivational people.
Why do we say this? Because running an eBay business isn’t easy. It’s better than most jobs where we’ve worked for other people. And if we stay on top of the thousand details of a daily store, it can be a fun flow. But ultimately, we have to self-motivated and constant problem solvers to make this work. If we get stuck in excuses and look for someone to blame, there is no one to make it better. Our customers don’t care why we aren’t shipping promptly. eBay doesn’t care why we can’t follow their rules. The bank doesn’t care why we can’t pay our mortgage. The IRS doesn’t care why the check isn’t in the mail.
This is why we like to surround ourselves with other Scavengers and sellers who are making it happen day in and day out. Having a community that solves problems is exciting. We’re glad you’re here. This podcast is about sustaining and growing as Scavengers.
After four weeks of traveling, not listing, and instead…working on other projects, we finally put in a full week into eBay. (We grossed over $6k while our store was on auto-pilot). In this episode, we share a special secret experiment that we started because of a great suggestion from an anonymous commenter (Update: Thanks MarkH!).
Here are the links we mention:
—Cool article with great photos showing the UPS headquarters at night as 7000 packages are sorted per minute.
—USPS announced rate changes effective now. It’s about a 5-8% increase. At least we all get good discounts.
–We mentioned before how we switched to Ting and now pay only $50 a month for two mobile lines. Ting is offering a $100 credit for anyone that switches by June 8. You must use this link (we get a credit too 🙂
–Everyone is complaining how slow sales are. Here’s an article that discusses how economists are trying to figure out why no one is spending right now. So it’s not just eBay.
—Amber linked to this page that lets you turn on your RSS feed for your store. This helps other sites index your items.
SEATTLE SCAVENGER MEETUP
When – Wednesday July 15th, 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Where – Denny’s at 2903 Pacific Ave, Everett, WA 98201
Why – Meet other Scavengers in the area & exchange ideas and share energy 😀
++Agenda++
Brief introductions
Share one Scavenger/Selling idea/tip that’s working for you
Mingle and have fun
Contact Info: Dan Mattson woodenboatdan@gmail.com 425 319-7800
Please RSVP by email or phone before July 15th
If you can’t make this meeting, please connect by email anyway for future meetups
And if you ever want to take a cool vacation in the Shenandoah Mountains, come stay at our fancy Farmhouse. Trash Elves always get a discount.
Here’s photo of one of the four loads of free wood we cut this weekend for next winter.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week May 24-30, 2015
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This is an extra special, extra long ‘what sells’ video because we were away for about 12 days before I made this. So enjoy and keep an eye out for those vintage pencil collectors!
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If you talk to anyone who’s sold on eBay for more than a couple years, they’ll have stories of how it used to be (people mailed you cash without any seeing a photo of the item). Even when we started our store in 2008, life on eBay was different (not much, but a little). Now these crazy kids just use their pocket computers to snap a photo and list from anywhere. Change! That’s all we can ever count on, and this goes doubly true for online selling. If you’re choosing to quit your job and make money scavenging, then be prepared to adapt as buyers and marketplaces become ever so sophisticated.
We like change and have done well changing with the times. When I graduated from High School, I could never have imagine I could make a very good living selling junk from our country estate without much trouble. Keep the change coming.
This week, we discussed these links:
–Big Daddy Griff (aka Master Online Beard Shaman) has said that eBay will supposedly start punishing stores that have any duplicate listings. This site helps you find any duplicates.
–Marc sent us another interesting site: http://checkaflip.com/ Helps you see what percentage of an item sells and at what average price. (We still say price high!)
By the way, we’ve turned on a new feature in the comments. It’s an advanced AI called the Trash Elf 3000. So when people comment, it may answer automatically since Jay has been so mean to people lately.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week May 17-23, 2015
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This week we’re talking with Sylvia (aka redleader98) about the “early days of eBay”.
When we started selling on eBay in 2008, online commerce was already at full throttle. We quickly learned that it was more beneficial to sell our items using “Buy It Now” vs Auctions. There were hints that older sellers were angry at eBay about something, but we didn’t really worry about it because we were happy to find a way to make a living. Once we found the eBay community forums, we learned about the big changes that eBay made before we joined. Sellers could no longer leave buyers negative feedback. Fees were substantially raised. Sellers who started out on eBay felt like they were stabbed in the back. I guess they finally realized eBay was a mindless corporation that was always hungry for profits. The Community Forums became a place to rant and rave. As new sellers, we certainly didn’t feel comfortable finding useful info there.
Sylvia was selling in those early days and remembers what is was like before the big changes. Online selling was still relatively new and eBay was one of the main places to buy anything. Sellers put anything and everything on auction and it sold. Early eBayers talk about how it felt like a gold rush. Beanie Babies were an actual thing people wanted to buy. I dont know if this is an example of the past always looking brighter, but it sounds like an awesome time.
Sylvia talks about the community of sellers that she belonged to. Before blogs, people met in person to help each other. They had regular meetings where they discussed eBay issues and helped each other solve problems. They even had a float in their town’s 4th of July parade! That is some super nerdy stuff.
I always remind sellers that eBay is still always in the top ten most popular sites on the internet. Though there is now massive competition for online sellers, there are infinitely more people buying online each day and this number is growing. It’s never been a better time to sell online. Plus, we now have these blogs and youtube communities to help each other. Yes–you must work hard and treat your eBay store like a business, but everything still eventually sells.
If you were around in eBay’s early days, we’d love to hear some of your stories in the comments. Instead of telling us how angry you are at eBay, we’d love to hear how you had to change your methods for selling online as ecommerce has become more sophisticated. Sylvia says she’d be happy to answer any questions that newer sellers might have about how it used to be.
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