Hola from Pittsburgh

[indomatt239]

Hi all
Longtime listener of the show, but I have only begun looking more at the forums since they became mobile-friendly. I started on ebay in 2002, selling a combination of my childhood Star Wars collection and handmade fake poop to fund a backpacking trip across Alaska. I was mainly a hobby seller until 2009, when my wife became pregnant with our first daughter and I needed to make up some extra income. Sold mainly vintage Star Wars then, but ventured into more junque and collectibles. Quit the corporate job in 2014 and have been doing this full time ever since. I currently have about 15,000 active listings across multiple venues. I have the best of both worlds here in Pittsburgh, living on a quiet wooded hilltop just 1-1/2 miles from the center of downtown. Anyhow, very appreciative of the show, it helps keeps me company when working alone in the shop.
-Matt

[Jay]

Welcome.

uh, 15,.000 items? Can you be more specific?
–where do you sell?
–what do you sell?
–do you list on your own or have employees?
–How did you get to 15,000 listings?
–What is your average net profit per month after expenses?

[indomatt239]

Yeah, I wish it wasn’t 15,000 items. I list 200-300 items each week consistently, working by myself. In the summer when I don’t have to spend 2 hours of each day getting kids on and off buses and helping with homework I can sometimes knock out 400 a week. 90%+ of my business is on ebay. I have one main store that I keep just under 10,000 items in to stay under the anchor store limit. I have a couple of other ebay stores with dedicated niches. I buy in bulk, on ebay, at live auctions, and at “pay-by-the-pound” thrift stores. I mainly focus on vintage action figures, especially Star Wars from the 70’s and 80’s. I also love selling vintage items that are small or easily stored. I figure if they are going to sit for a while at least don’t take up too much space. Pens, pins, patches, parts, gewgaws and curiosities. Makes shipping easy too. I have listings in hundreds of categories. Strangely though, I have had a slight decrease in sales in my anchor store since September 2016 when I only had about 5,000 items in that store. I can pretty much count on selling exactly 30 items a day, every day now. Take home each month averaged $7K this past year.

[Jay]

First, I just learned a new word: gewgaw

I’ve never heard it used in real life before.

How do you single handedly clean, photo, list, store 40 items a day, seven days a week?
That’s not including the 30 items you have to ship each day.

[indomatt239]

I put in 50-60 hour weeks, keep a tight schedule. I offer “two business day shipping”. Monday is 8 hours of shipping, with some posting in the evening. Tuesday or Wednesday is an hour to three of shipping, followed by a full day of posting. The other day is used solely for acquisition, be it spent at The Bins, a day trip into West Virginia for some backwoods thrifting, a trip to an auction, or simply spending sometime in a coffee shop buying undervalued things on ebay. Thursday is about 5 hours of shipping followed by some photography and posting. Friday is a full day of photography followed by some posting. Saturday and Sunday are devoted to doing fun things with the family, with some occasional late night posting. Also, “fun time with the family” totally sometimes includes ducking into a thrift store somewhere for a quick look around. My 5 and 7 year old daughters LOVE “the goodwill” (their name for any thrift store).

I sometimes question myself “why wasn’t I doing this all through my 20’s and early 30’s?”, but then I quickly remember that I wasn’t disciplined or organized enough to maintain this type of schedule.

[Jay]

Cool. Sounds like you have a schedule down.

It sounds like you work five days a week.
One day is purely for scavenging.
One day is almost all shipping.
So that leaves three days to list between 200-300 items.

How do you photograph and list that much so quickly?
Are you doing multiples on one item?
Or are these 200-300 individual items?
That’s almost 100 items a day by yourself!

[indomatt239]

I list whenever I have a chance, waiting on the school bus, or for kids to get out of after-school activities. I use a time-card app and swipe in and out when I’m on the clock. Figure that is the one fluid part of my system. I use Auctiva to list, for the most part. It has my historical data going back 9 years now, so it makes it so very easy to copy old listings. In some instances I’m simply just changing the photograph and the SKU (how I keep bin and shelf locations straight). When I’m motivated, and the product is the same or similar to something I have sold in the past, I can list up to 40-50 items an hour. So that’s a snap. When I photograph, I try to stay organized by shooting a run of similar type items. When I list, I pick 5-10 of those similar items to list at a time and then move on to the next one. Some people have death piles, I have death folders, of items photographed and inventoried months and months ago that I am lax to list. The whole system seems like an assembly line process, which makes it sound boring. Sometimes it is, but I love finding something new and interesting and doing the research on it (the history major in me).

[Jay]

Understood. The Assembly Line process is really the best and most efficient way to list on eBay. I guess it can be boring, but we like think of it as Meditative”.

I’m just amazed at your consistency. We have streaks of time where we list large numbers of items, and then we need to spend a week doing something else in our business. Day in and day out listing would burn us out.

[Ryanne]

wait, you sold handmade fake poop? how did that become a business??

[indomatt239]

Yeah, handmade fake poop. It started as a joke (how else!), with me a few friends setting up on the sidewalk of Carson St on St Patrick’s Day, thinking it would be a fun prank. After a while I posted them on ebay. I sold thousands of them…but it was a terribly inefficient business. There is a limit to what you can charge for fake poop.

[Sharyn]

Hello! I live in NJ, but I grew up in Upper St. Clair. Much of my family lived in Squirrel Hill. My kids love to visit my sister and her family who still live in USC.

[indomatt239]

I am originally from Squirrel Hill, Beechwood Blvd.

[Sigilini]

Wow, you really made an amazing business for yourself. Are you willing to share your store name? I would love to see some of your items.

[Doublythumbs]

Hey Matt! It sounds like we source from the same places. We’ve probably ran into each other without even knowing it. Ever drive as far as Wheeling to any thrift shops?

[indomatt239]

Even farther, usually south though. Any good recommendations in Wheeling? I haven’t been there scavenging in several years. I should consider it though, it is fairly easy to get to.

[Doublythumbs]

Wheeling’s thrift shops are kind of a bummer. There’s the Salvation Army which is scary to walk into and the Goodwill that every once in a while will have something cool to buy. The best bet is the St. Vincent de Paul, though their prices have started going up drastically. The only time I really go thrift shopping anymore is when I take a trip to Pittsburgh. lol. I’m more into the auctions anyways.

[Marjean28]

You had me at fake poop…..ha ha ha!!!! That’s crazy fun. Okay, enough poopie talk! Though I bet your kids find it hilarious as well. Thanks for taking the time to post and introduce yourself. It sounds like we have much to learn from you. I’m very interested in learning more about your listing process, as I’m sure others are as well. If you feel like sharing any of those details, I’d be interested in creating a detailed procedure for others, including myself. I feel the mechAnics of listing, including photography, all the way through inventory and shipping as well as follow up admin and customer service are critical areas which hold us all back. Then there is the matter of dealing with increasing sell through for folks who have larger stores, whether that be through SEO, marketing, pricing, etc. welcome! Marjean28

[indomatt239]

I would love to share the process, I will take the time to make a detailed post sometime soon. I am here to learn as well. Something is holding me back, be it SEO, ebay’s algorithm, marketing, etc. I’ve actually had a slight decrease in sales during the past 18 months despite a massive increase in posted listings. It wasn’t a gradual decline either, it was a flat drop that has not recovered.

[Sigilini]

Indomatt239, you can always start another career as a write because you write incredibly well! And I second Marjean28. It would be amazing if Jay and Ryanne did an interview with you, if you agree to it.

[indomatt239]

Thanks. I don’t mind sharing my process with others. Looking to pick up some pro tips as well.

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