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This is the 1st thread for 2022. Post your Challenge numbers here for the week starting Monday January 3, and ending Sunday January 9, 2022. Numbers must be posted on Monday 10, and then each week going forward. You do not need permission to join, just post your numbers and I’ll add you in.
For information and rules on the Challenge, go here.
Opening the thread early for the Designated Challenge posts. Information on the Designated Challenge can also be found on the information and rules post above.
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Who has the Vision, gets the Mission! No hiding in the shadows for me, I need to show you what I’ve done so that you “get the picture” (pun intentional! LOL)
For anyone wondering, yes, this is my genuine list. About 90% of what’s on this list is stuff that I’ve been dreading for over a year! I’m praying that my Choice numbers are pulled later in the year, because I am going to need a break after the clusterfarkle of my challenges!
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I am SO ready!
Here is my TEDC list.
1. List 3 boxes of craft/art items on Etsy.
2. List 25 vintage books on Etsy.
3. Challenger’s Choice.
4. Process 8 London Calling Boxes.
5. Find home for problematic antique dolls.
6. List 3 boxes of specialty fabrics.
7. List 25 pieces of vintage bed linens.
8. Challenger’s Choice.
9. List 25 pieces of vintage jewelry.
10. Frame 50 vintage postcards.
11. List 25 vintage art stamps.
12. List/process 4 death pile boxes.
These are all projects that have been on the back burner for way too long….set aside for items that were much easier and quicker to deal with. I can’t wait to start completing these projects!
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Thanks for the examples! I was getting hung up on the fact that I have stuff needs to be done in order in the coming year, and so the random number thing was problematic. But now I’m going to concentrate on smaller stuff that I’ve been wanting/needing to get to, stuff that doesn’t need to be done in a particular order. So, back to the drawing board….LOL
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When I first read about this challenge I thought it would be hard to come up with 12 challenges. After compiling it for a few days I had too many! It was tough deciding which 12 to use but here they are:
- List or toss SP
- Research and learn obscure VHS niche
- Try Using ScoutIQ for one month to scan books
- Open an account on Etsy and list at least one item
- List all LC
- List all BP’s
- Run a Markdown sale
- List a painting
- Clean out death pile at end of book room
- Challengers Choice
- Sell a fluorescent rock
- Create and use a coupon
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Here’s mine:
Oops. Can someone remind me how to post the actual image from Imgur?
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Okay, folks, this is the last time I will upload my full sheet for you, but here it is “in action”. The first number drawn in January is 12. If you’re using the sheet, you will write J or Jan or whatever you wish to put in under the Month column. The note section is personal choice: make a note of what you need to do, what you have done, what is left to be done at the end, it’s YOUR sheet. The done block at the end gets a whopping check mark on the last day of the month if you’ve managed to finish your challenge.
MyCottage, copy and paste the imgur link as text, not as a link. So just put the link into the body of your message as if it was text, not using the hyperlink option. Then it should populate as a picture.
My January challenge is to sort and tidy my packaging supplies and boxes. Himself has been bugging me forever to break down the boxes, but my biggest problem is how to store those poly bags. They’re always folded, and when you pull one out, you get a gazillion that you then have to try to shove back. Grrrrr… Anyone have any suggestions? 😉
Good luck, everyone!
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Amatino, if I pasted the Imgur link correctly you should be seeing a solution I found for some of my poly mailers. I didn’t want to spend more money on Ebay stuff so I saved from the recycle pile two old USPS priority 1095 boxes (the 15 x 12 x 3 size). I closed both ends of the box but not before cutting out a little section on the top near one end. This allows me to store the poly mailers flat and I can easily grab one poly mailer at a time. I use this for the 13 x 10 poly and I have one for the 15 x 13 poly. I write the size of the bags on the front end of the box. It won’t work for bags larger than that unfortunately but perhaps if I found a wider & longer flatish box it would work. I stack the two 1095 boxes on top of each other to save space. The boxes I’ve used have held up for several years.
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I just got back from my year end trip. Sorry, I did not get this list up earlier.
Many challenges on the list are to help me to focus on items that sell for higher price, but don’t necessarily have as good of an ROI. With my part time job becoming more challenging, I need to change my strategy up a bit. It doesn’t mean I can’t buy real cheap auction lots so that I can find the gems, but I can’t just do that all the time.
1. List as many death pile items as possible
2. Try retail arbitrage, go to a few upscale stores or maybe hang with the SIL
3. Challenger’s choice
4. Try retail arbitrage, try a few online sales (and/or hang with the SIL)
5. Buy 2-4 higher priced items at auction with lower ROI but higher dollars
6. Put together BOLO list, items not requiring much testing, easy to pack, decent ROI
7. Try a new thrift store, maybe go to a few known ones as well
8. Go to a few yard or estate sales
9. Complete eBay store banner & description
10. Challenger’s choice
11. Decide how I should list my old stamp collection, list a few stamps
12. Organize & test electronics -
My TEDC list
- Go thru entire clothing rack and either: fix & list, toss or donate
- Go thru 1/2 of the Repair Bin: fix & list, toss or donate
- Go thru 2nd half of Repair Bin: fix & list, toss or donate
- Take physical inventory of all storage boxes that I haven’t done yet & relist any that have fallen off of eBay
- Clean & organize the red shipping table & list any unlisted items stored on it
- List all unlisted items from the shelf & floor areas in the Ebay room
- List all unlisted items from laundry basket in Ebay room
- List all unlisted items from the chico’s box
- Clean & organize desk
- List all unlisted items from the table in Ebay room
- List contents from one death pile box in the basement
- List contents from one death pile box from the basement
I may add to the list if I happen to complete more than one in a single month. That may be a bit of a lofty goal however. 🙂
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Go thru 2nd half of Repair Bin: fix & list, toss or donate
Or simply list as-is. If the item is desirable enough, just list it. Here’s an example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265481417521
I hemmed and hawed over this and one other paintball marker for months. I looked for local CO2 suppliers. Kept telling myself I’d eventually go to Dick’s sporting goods and get supplies to test them. Then if they needed work I’d have to research how to fix air leaks and stuff.
Then this weekend I just punted and listed them as-is with a disclaimer that buyer should anticipate it needs work. Sold one of the markers within 24 hours for $168.
What would I have gotten if I went through the effort of test/fixing it – maybe $30-50 more.
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My January task is to create a better set up (or really any set up) to photograph clothes and then do the bag of clothes that has been sitting upstairs forever waiting for me to list it.
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Hey, JR, my eBay Bestie recommended this YouTube Video on building a custom photo booth for clothing. Maybe it will help you too.
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My challenge this month is to create and use an eBay coupon. I don’t know much about them or how effective they are. I will learn about them, use one, and post my results here. Does any one have any tips concerning coupons.
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Utahbill, There are private and public coupons. I’ve been running a public coupon sale for a few days now, it ends tonight, but you can look at my store to see what it looks like. It’s very similar to Markdown Manager, BUT one major difference is, there is no strike through to show the buyer the lowered price. (I suppose because the price doesn’t actually get lowered until checkout) I haven’t had a lot of luck with the public coupon, and I wonder if it is because buyers don’t want to have to do the math….I’m running a 20% off sale, and I think the percentage throws people. I might do better with, say, a five dollar off sale , because people can probably subtract that easier than they can figure out what 80% of the price is in their head.
That said, I also send coupons to all my buyers as part of the packing slip. Haven’t had anyone buy using one, and I’m thinking of reworking that.
But this means I’ve got a bunch of 10% off coupons out there. They can’t be stacked onto a coupon sale, but they can be stacked onto a Markdown Manager sale. So if I run a 20% off MM sale and someone uses a 10% off packing slip coupon, they are basically getting 30% off. So be careful about that.
They do not stack with best offer. So, if I’m running a 20% off coupon sale and someone makes a Best Offer and I accept it, the buyer doesn’t get the 20% off on top of his Best Offer.
My store:
https://www.ebay.com/str/mycottagebooksandantiques
(Note that I’m using the new store “banner” feature to promote the Coupon Sale…you can use it to promote any type of sale, or an individual item, or a category.)
My sale is not on all items in my store. To see the sale itself, showing only the items included in the sale, click on the “shop now” button in the banner, or go here:
I haven’t used every option with Coupons, but I’ve been using them for a while, so if you have any questions, let me know.
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MyCottage-
I started digging in to coupons tonight and created a draft. Most of the options were fairly straight forward, but now that I understand the difference between the two coupon types you mentioned. I can’t see any reason not to make the coupon public unless it was a one off, for instance satisfying a grumpy buyer. Thoughts?
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Utahbill,
Yeah, it just depends on what you want to use it for: Public, you are basically running a sale for everyone on ebay. Private, you are targeting one or a specific group: as you say, maybe a grumpy buyer, or maybe if you are on Facebook, your Facebook friends. So, if you want to basically run a sale, I’d go ahead and jump in with the Public….
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Mind blown! It never occurred to me that coupons could be stacked! Thanks for the great info, MyCottage!
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I have successfully created a coupon and applied it to some of my listings. So, I say “Challenge Completed!”
Here are a couple of my thoughts regarding the process:
First be aware that the coupons will stack on top of mark downs, but <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>only</span> mark downs. <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Offers are not effected.</span>
Second, The only options to select what listings to apply it to are your whole store, an eBay category, or <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>one</span> of your store categories. You can not search the title to select listings. This was a problem for me. I only wanted to apply the coupon to the cookbooks in my store. Unfortunately, I have never bothered to categorize my items. Once I moved all the cookbooks into the correct category in my store it worked fine.
Third, you can create many types of coupons. It will take testing to determine which type drives more sales. I am running my coupon until the end of January and I will report back on my sales results.
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Here’s a link to a YouTube video that shows the coupon creation process well.
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That said, I also send coupons to all my buyers as part of the packing slip. Haven’t had anyone buy using one, and I’m thinking of reworking that.
I’ve been playing around with coupons since June of last year, so a few thoughts to share. First, some numbers:
I ran a 15% private coupon from June to December of last year. I included this coupon on every packing slip, as well as sending it directly (using the ‘send coupon’ button to the right of the order) to repeat buyers, or buyers who purchased multiple items, or buyers who left overwhelmingly positive feedback. My total sales using this coupon, according to promotions manager, were $146.13.
I ran a 10% off public coupon on Black Friday weekend, good on any item in my store from the $10 items to the $250+ items. My total sales were $377.91. I’m sure some of those items would have sold without the coupon, but it was still a nice boost.
A few thoughts:
1. Anecdotally, it seemed as though I had a lot more sales from the private coupon than what promotions manager actually showed. But I trust the numbers over my gut. I know for sure that I had a few repeat buyers who bought from me again after I sent them the coupon, but they didn’t use the coupon. I wonder if it is difficult for some users to figure out how to use the private coupon.
2. Also anecdotal, but for whatever it’s worth — I had a handful of sales from buyers who used the coupon after they sent me a message thanking me for their purchase, or other types of buyer chit-chat, where part of my response was essentially “Here’s a coupon in case there are any other items in my store you might like.” We all have buyer interactions like this, so creating a coupon might be useful if only for these types of buyers.
3. The public coupons seem especially useful for “high-traffic” times — holiday weekends, and eBay bucks promotions including the beginning of the new quarter — to distinguish your listings from other sellers and other similar listings. There may not be a slash over the “old” price but there is text underneath the listing indicating that a coupon is available.
4. Just like with sending offers to buyers, and other types of discounts, buyers are more likely to engage when the discount is a good deal (ie 5% is basically useless). I’ve raised my current private coupon to 20%, and next quarter I might even try 25%. Your mileage may vary, but I always prefer to sell than not sell, even if I could have made a few extra bucks profit along the way.
5. Creating a coupon is so simple and quick, once you get the initial hang of it, that it’s worth experimenting with to see if it works particularly well in your niche or for your store. This is nothing more than speculation, but I think it’s at least possible that using these tools is a small part of eBay’s search algorithm. I have found that my sales (in general) are higher when I’m sending offers, running sales and sending coupons to buyers — though those are also the times when I’m regularly listing good, quality new items, which is obviously more important than any coupons or sales or other tactics.
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Thank you MyCottage for posting the info on creating eBay coupons. I haven’t tried it yet and your post was helpful.
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VintageTreasures—The coded coupon is very flexible, both in terms of what sort of sale you want to run (percentage off, dollar off, etc, etc) , some inventory, all inventory, and how you put it out there: from a coupon for one buyer to a regular Sale. If you do Social Media, you can post the Code to your Social Media page as a “reward” for your followers, you can add it to your store newsletter, etc.
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My January Task is, wouldn’t you know it, Challengers Choice. Just retrieved a sold item from the “Listed on ebay Inventory Room” and the task became obvious: FINALLY get the Inventory Room set up properly, so it isn’t as much work to pull sold items. I’ve been putting this off for a LONG time.
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New Worksheet for you!
In honor of the new challenge, and because I found it incredibly helpful last year, I’ve amended the worksheet I produced last year and created a Monthly Planner that includes a space for your Challenge. It provides a block in which you can write your daily listing numbers, a To Do block, a Notes block, and something new… a DAS.
Now what, by my muddled mind, is a DAS? It’s a focus point. The acronym stands for Decision, Action, Satisfaction. (Yeah, I know, bear with me!)
Instead of writing out your goals, for example, as “Tidy that shelf”, and then working out how to do it, DAS demands far more. If you want to tidy a shelf, you have to look at the stuff on the shelf and DECIDE what to do with it. Do you want to keep the stuff? Put it in a box? Donate it/sell it/move it to a different shelf/set it on fire and roast marshmallows? Only once you have made your decision, do you take ACTION and get it done accordingly. Finally, in the satisfaction phase, you tweak whatever actions you have done to fit the polar bear plunge real life takes joy in tossing you into, and then finish the task to its full completion, before sitting back, putting your feet up, lighting a cigar, and wondering when the heck you started smoking and why it looks cool but tastes so disgusting!
It’s not as easy as it seems. I put it to the test yesterday and it’s quite a humdinger. Tidying up is something you do when you’re trying to make the place look good for company. DAS is what you do when you’re ready to deal with that space once and for all! It’s a whole different mindset and I LIKE it!
If you don’t want to use the DAS, please ignore and enjoy the rest of the worksheet.
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32 new listings for me last week.
I wanted to mention a death pile challenge I did with my eBay Bestie. For 8 weeks we listed only death pile items. I took 8 banker boxes, each full of DP items, and challenged myself to list every item in one chosen box for each week of the challenge. Since I was out of town during two of those weeks I had mixed results and didn’t list everything in 3 of the 8 boxes.
But I did list 127 death pile items in 8 weeks. The part of the challenge that pleasantly surprised me was that I also sold 29 of those death pile items during the 8 weeks of the challenge. More have sold since then. The results inspired me to get the rest of my DP items listed. Now I’m trying to list at least one box of DP items every month, which also helps me put the brakes on buying additional inventory to sell. So a win-win for sure.
Wishing everyone a productive and profitable week!
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I listed 15 items.
I am maybe 25% complete with my electronics challenge. Most of that was going through all the stuff lying around and deciding to get rid of it. I did organize/test two mp3 players and a bunch of landline phones that I am now ready to photograph and list. The remaining stuff are VCRs & stereo components, lamps, and cameras. I have a feeling that I won’t get to the cameras, but I hope to test and list all the components and at least order the parts I need to rewire several lamps. If I get all that done this month, I will be thrilled!!!
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Just remembered; I have some electronics and a juicer in our laundry room. I forget about them because they aren’t in the basement with the rest of my inventory. The electronics are a pain because they are items that I can’t fully test, but I can at least plug them in, see if any lights or switches do anything, and then sell as-is. The juicer does have to be tested, though. Ugh. This task will probably have to be completed in a challenger’s choice month.
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52 listings for me for the week. I was aiming for 60, but it’s a good start to the year. I’m hoping that this will be the year that I finally reach my goal of 2k listings. My monthly challenge this month is to process 4 death pile boxes and I was way too busy last week shipping to start, but am hoping I can get at least one done this week. VT your 8 week death pile challenge is very inspiring! Once this month is over I should challenge myself to a DP box every month.
Hope everyone has a great week ahead!
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43 listings for me this week. I was on target for much more but a migraine sidelined me yesterday and is doing it’s best to sideline me again today.
I’m not going to get to my monthly challenge. Saturday I got a notice from my county tax assessors office. They are taxing me on all of my ebay inventory, listed and unlisted. So while I have pretty good spreadsheets, I don’t keep track of the inventory until the item sells. That means this month I’ll be going thru approx 70 bins to take inventory of every single item. I looked into Easy Auction Tracker and I’m going to start using it to log every single item I bring into the house to sell.
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This doesn’t make sense to me, although I know that Georgia’s laws are different from NJ. I skimmed the conversations you (or someone else in GA) had in the past with Mike in Atlanta.
If you report your income from your business and pay taxes on it, then what is the county taxing you on?
If eBay is reporting your sales tax and submitting it to the state, then what is the county taxing you on?
Do you pay sales tax on your inventory when you purchase it? How can they tax you on something that hasn’t made you money yet?
In NJ, we do not have a local tax, only state and federal. When I lived in PA, we did have a local tax. I assume this is what they are looking at, but you should be doubly sure that they aren’t taxing you twice.
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It doesn’t make sense to me either. This is called a “Business Personal Property Tax”. By my count, this means one item gets taxed at least 4 times: Once when I pay sales tax when I purchase it, then my buyer pays sales tax when they purchase it from me, I pay income tax on what I make off of selling it and the county gets to tax it when it sits as inventory. Now imagine all the other times that one product was taxed along the line before it even gets to the point where I initially bought it (when it was imported into the country, at the wholesaler’s level, etc).
I called my CPA and he said yep, this was a real thing. I don’t know why the county suddenly sent me the notice this year when they never have in the past. I’ve been reading up on it and it appears that a lot of the bigger companies get an exemption from having their inventory taxed as an incentive to bring jobs into the county but so far it does not look like a tiny businesses such as mine qualifies. Surely there must be a threshold that has to be met but I don’t know yet.
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27 listings for me last week.
I sold two items that utilized the 10% off coupon that I created. There’s really no way of knowing if they would have sold anyway. That’s what’s so troublesome about most of the promotions. However, there is really no harm in running the coupon, since I increase the price of the items to cover the discounts anyway. I guess they must be effective or we wouldn’t receive so many in the mail every week.
May you all have many listings and many sales this week!
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16 items for me over the past 7 days, and 4 of those I did while traveling and one of those already sold!
I’ve been doing pretty well the last couple weeks with my listing. currently going through a separation and soon divorce so there were a few weeks where I just couldn’t get anything done as I was moving.
Good times ahead, I can feel it!
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Good morning, everyone! Sorry I didn’t get to post yesterday. Poor Felix got fixed! The vet called and said “I’m 15 minutes away, are you home?” so it was a frantic runaround trying to get the kitchen counter cleared for surgery and then find the cat. Isn’t it funny how they always know when the vet is coming? It was 5 minutes for the anesthetic to work, 2 minutes for his pockets to get picked, and then 4 hours of me stressing over his limp form, then watching over his wobbling attempts to move around and cleaning up upchuck. All is good, however. He’s running around like LooneyTunes, which is why I’m up at 2AM. Grrrrr….
It was a rough week last week, so only 10 listings up for me.
Well done, JR, on starting the new year with something up on the board! My sheet is printed and under my keyboard, so I can fill in my daily numbers and so that it’s a constant reminder that I need to be listing. Also, I use the back for all my notes and bits and bobs. At the end of the month, it goes into an envelope (I have a pack of 100 10×13 inch from OfficeMax.) I can then refer back to notes, or see what I did over the month, work out numbers, etc. I may add in scribbles on total sales per week too, just so that I can see my progress.
VT, 127 death pile items listed! Woot woot! AND nearly a third of them sold. How awesome is that? Go you! What a motivation to get those piles gone!
MyCottage, yes, Monday to Sunday, numbers on the next Monday. Welcome to the board!
Sharyn, I went through a phase of electronics and decided it was all way too much work! LOL. Well done for sticking through it.
VL, good luck on your goal! We’re all rooting for you and cheering you on!
JB. that’s freaking scary! So now we have yet another tax to worry about! Talk about a motivation to get Death Piles listed! However, did you know that Georgia has a Freeport Exemption? “A handful of states offer some form of Freeport Exemption for goods that are stored within their state but ultimately will be shipped to other states. Among states offering this kind of tax relief are Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.” Source
Jaepete, sorry to hear about your divorce. That’s very stressful. Sending best wishes that things will improve in the year ahead.
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Brand new spreadsheet created and updated.
Phew, you guys, what a busy start to the month!
VL, I know you told me last year what your goal was to be, but would you tell me again in this thread so that I have it altogether? Everyone else, please would you send me your goal for your weekly listing number so that I can update your goal section in the spreadsheet?
Please remember, last year’s winners cannot win this year. At the end of the year, if the winner is a previous year’s winner, then the next highest will take the prize. So you can still be a weekly winner, as VL is this week, but you can’t be the annual winner.
Go forth and list, y’all! Get those Death Piles cleared before you get taxed on them!
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speaking of an “inventory” tax. I owned a retail business in Maryland a couple decades ago and they had an inventory tax. This was a state imposed tax. If I remember correctly it was based on the cost of goods and was very minimal. I reported an inventory with a cost basis of around 12k? and maybe paid a couple hundred in tax?
I also had a sales tax license for MD so was not paying sales tax on purchases, only on the item once sold. but again, this was with a retail store front.
I guess I need to look to see if this exists here in TX.
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I have 43 listings again this week. I’m kinda surprised because it felt like I spent most of the week taking inventory. I’ve completed inventory on only 17 out of 90+ bins (Whaaaaaa!) My problem is as I go thru each box I’m adjusting prices, cross posting to other platforms, fixing listings or ending and donating the item if it’s been around for too long and no longer worth the hassle. Eventually I’ll need to just take inventory and worry about the listings later.
I saw the Freemont Exemption to the county business tax law but I’m not sure I qualify and I haven’t sent in an exemption request. I’m going to take inventory first and then see if my CPA can get me the exemption. Fingers crossed.
My listing goal for the year is to avg 33 listings per week which is approx what I listed last year.
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Only 12 listings this week. A lot of other things ended up taking precedence unfortunately, but I’m accepting that it is going to take me a while to really get set up properly to do my 5 listings a day….I did get a little work done on the Inventory room, but so much more to do there…
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Greetings, y’all! Hope you’re all warm and happy this winter, unusual as it has been.
Last week VT mentioned that she got a stunning number of items listed, and some great sales, because of a challenge with her eBay Bestie. I’ve been thinking about it all week, and wanted to tell you about my eBay Bestie. (Most folks would call them an Accountability Partner, but I like eBay Bestie!) I started the TELC 5 years ago because I wanted to improve my listing numbers, but it was only when I got a personal eBB that things began to turn around.
My eBB has a larger store than me, her current monthly sales totals are my future goal totals, we don’t sell the same stuff (although we both sell used/non-homogenous.) She’s been selling nearly 2 decades, I’ve been going less than 6 years. We’ve never met, we don’t even live in the same state. She has a professional light kit in a basement, I have a DIY lighting system in a cabin. She was using a phone, I was using a camera, when we started – but I’ve recently capitulated and changed sides, mostly due to PhotoRoom. If we were both members of a mentorship group, we would never have been matched up!
However, due to our commitment to each other, we have both seen a huge increase in our respective businesses. She has doubled the size of her store (okay, she lists WAY more than me!) Last year I listed more than I have since I started the TELC.
The key to a successful Accountability Partner lies in respect and boundaries. You have to know how to push the boundaries and not cross them, and you have to respect each other enough to want to honor the commitment. You need to want to not disappoint your Bestie by not reaching the bar they set for you. Or by not trying to reach the bar – some bars are set a little high, and sometimes life intervenes. Your Bestie needs to know when to support your hard times and when to swing a cudgel! Some days my bestie has to pull out the big bat and beat my stubborn head around the ears so that I stop making excuses! LOL
When we first started, we made an agreement that we would be honest with each other. No silent resentment and hurt feelings. If one of us offends the other, we say “Ouch! That hurt!” Then we explain what the other had done to offend, or why we took offence, and we would clear it up, apologize if necessary, and go on. Your accountability partner can’t be some stranger on the web, you need to be honest and vulnerable with each other. You’re going to become friends, or it won’t work. How else would they know when to push and when to just be there for you? We have managed to offend each other a few times, but this honesty policy has been refreshing and our salvation. We’ve worked through our issues and grown stronger because of it.
One side effect of having a Bestie is that, over time, they might pick up on problem areas that you haven’t noticed. Or have been quietly trying to ignore, because you find them daunting! My Bestie picked up on my erratic listing stats. She noticed that I don’t list every day, and this week, she pulled out that huge club of hers and challenged me to list 3 items every weekday. Wow and ow! She hit me right in the gonads! I absolutely, positively need to list every day, but I have so many rea… excuses, let’s be honest! I told her she was mean, she knows my weekly listing goal is only 10, which would be 2 per day! But she wouldn’t budge; she knew I needed to get over that hump. (She isn’t mean, she is exactly what I need, that push to jump out of the nest!)
This week had multiple very late nights, sometimes getting my 3 listings up right at the last minute – but I did it! 15 listings for me for the first week of the new year. I would not have achieved that if she hadn’t been there for me. Best of all, on top of the euphoria of achievement, I learned that I can make it happen. That push to extend me past my comfort zone helped me to realize that a little more dedication is all it takes. Now I have to just add perseverance, and I’ll might even double MY store this year! 😀
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Another win for VL! Great start to the year!
Jaepete, will you give me your weekly listing goal, please? This is how many listings per week you believe you can achieve, not how many you would like to achieve! A common mistake, that we all make because we are all optimists! (We have to be, to sell on eBay. LOL)
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Hi Amatino….you can put down 7 as a realistic goal number for me.
and last week ironically that’s what I listed on Ebay. and if we count listings anywhere (ebay, facebook, craigslist, etc) then I actually had 11 total as I listed some higher priced items on FB marketplace and Craiglist.
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Well, well, well – aren’t I ever NOT the genius!
Turns out I’ve not been following my OWN rules! *smacks head* Please be kind enough to check out Rule #7 while I go stick my head in a bucket!
The spreadsheet has been updated accordingly. UtahBill, you won week #1 and have been accredited the point. Sharyn, you won week #2 and have your point. Well done to both of you.
It’s rather odd, as we had a tie AND a challenge, so we’ve crossed out a third of our participants! However, that means our lower listings are in the running to win a prize this year! Go forth and LIST, y’all, you may get a silly something in the post! LOL
Thanks, Jaepete, I’ve updated your number. Yes, listings count anywhere, but only once. So if you listed different items on Ebay and FB, you get to count each listing. However, if you crosspost on multiple platforms, the listings only count once.
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THANK YOU AMATINO for the prize you sent me!! (Hopefully I posted the image correctly so a picture of the prize shows up.) You really did not have to do that! You expend so much time keeping this group running and then you made(!) and sent me a prize at your expense! It is so thoughtful and wonderful and nice of you! I will hang my prize prominently in my eBay room to motivate me to keep on listing! Prize is shown next to Cookie, who deserves mention as she spent nearly every moment with me as I was listing – taking up a generous 1/4th of my desk space.
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I completely concur with Julie B’s sentiments Amatino. I also got my prize and it’s fabulous!
Mine is similar to the photo posted by Julie B. I’d post a photo but yup, even though it’s been explained to me as to how to do so – I’m still perplexed about posting photos. Computer luddite here…
Amatino: On top of your generosity and willingness to do the huge amount of work it takes to keep this thread going – you are also creative and thoughtful! I’m so grateful to be a part of this community – thank you so much for all you do!
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VT – I have Jay’s instructions for uploading images to this forum bookmarked here, in case it helps: https://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/how-to-upload-a-photo-to-your-forum-post/
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Thrilled you like it, ladies! Thank you for gratuitous kitty photos. We love kitty photos here in the TELC!
Julie, I thought you were ignoring me, but now I think I may be in your Spam folder! LOL. I’m glad you got the prize without needing the tracking number. Unfortunately, VL’s prize is taking the scenic route and is on the completely wrong side of the country. As she’s in the Northwest and the parcel is in the Southeast of the USA! Sigh… I’m still tracking it daily, even though it isn’t going anywhere fast! I think they’ve hired a teenager with a forked stick to get there on his skateboard. Or something.
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Sorry Amatino, I’ll have to go back and check for your email! I have 7 or 8 email accounts and since I almost never get email from anyone but retailers and spammers, I don’t check them often.
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I replied to the one you sent me. I figured it might have ended up in the Spam folder! LOL. 7 or 8 email accounts? Wow! Way too many to process! I’ve been reducing all my email accounts to two (one for me, one for eBay) and my bank accounts as well. I had 9 bank accounts, at one point. Nine! The problem with multiple businesses! 😉
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Etsy requires you to have a different email account for every shop and since I have two shops on Etsy I have two emails. I try to keep it simple though and really only want one email account to handle daily. You can set Google email so all your different email accounts land into your main account and that’s what I do, so when I get email from the one I use for Etsy it comes into my main email. I get MORE than enough email from just the one!
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22 listings – which is half of what I’ve been posting so far this year. I’m still taking inventory – I really need to get my butt in gear or I’ll never finish. On the bright side I am feeling good about removing some very old stale inventory that were bad buys to begin with. The thrift store I donate to is probably wondering why they are suddenly getting an influx of bubble wrapped breakables and individually poly-bagged clothing items.
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I listed 11 items. Many continue to be from my Jan challenge of listing electronics. I still have several components, two DVD players and a VCR, that I would be thrilled if I could test and list this week. A bonus would be to go through the lamps and order replacement parts.
Saturday, my neighbor from across the street came by with some boxes for me, but also the crushing news that his wife passed away over a week ago. It was a bit of a shocker as I did not know that she was ill.
She was a bit of a hoarder/shopping addict, and he wants me to help him sell off her stuff. While I don’t like to do commissions, I’m fine with him as he is a friend and he doesn’t care what I sell things for or if I don’t want to sell lower cost items.
I did walk through the house to get a feel for what needed to be done. There is one room that is filled with her junk that will take some time, but the rest of it seems reasonable. She junked up her side of the garage, but I think there is less sellable stuff there. There are a few larger items that I might have to sell through Facebook Marketplace.
I was going to come here today and talk about how I had been so focused on listing death piles and not buying new inventory that I was getting close to having to buy new stuff. However, the universe intervened. Maybe in not such a good way, but intervene it did. It’s nice that he is across the street, and I can come by as I list stuff. He needs time to process through everything anyway, so it should work out well.
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Well done, JR!
Julie, the post office is probably cursing you! They have to unpack all of it to put it on display. ROFL. I have a permanent Goodwill box. As I work through my stuff, anything that needs to go gets put straight in the box. Once the box is full, I drop it off at GW, and get a new box and start over. By the way, I discovered this weekend that Easy Auction Tracker has a very comprehensive Inventory sheet. If you use unique SKU numbers on eBay, you can input those numbers into EAT, and it auto-populates your sales with the COGS. Plus it keeps a running tally of inventory on hand. I’m not deliberately going backwards to find all my Death Pile items, but I am actively adding my new purchases as I buy them. When I pull DP items to list, I add them to the inventory sheet as well, so my inventory list is accurate to what I’m listing, even though it’s not a full inventory of everything I have.
Sharyn, sad news about your neighbor, but it worked out well as you now have inventory on tap – and it’s NOT death piles! LOL. May I suggest an alternative to consignment? I’ve done this fairly successfully. I tell the person that I will pay them up front for the stuff, and make an offer that’s fair, but still makes a profit for me, anywhere from 40% to 60% of what I believe the item will sell for (lower priced items are the 40% range.) If they accept, I pay them and take the items. That way I don’t have to worry about tracking consignment payments, and they get all the money upfront, plus the stuff out of the way. In the case of your neighbor, you could do it on a box/stack at a time. So this week/month/10 days/etc. I’ll take this pile and pay you $xxx. Then you list all of those items, go back for the next batch. This would allow him to clear stuff out slowly, give him income, and make the whole process hassle free for you. I suggest you go for the better items first, then he might get friends or family members interested in the lower priced items, or the items that need to go on FBMP, and he could sell it to them without you needing to get involved. You both win!
This past week was a rough one for me, but I managed to list 11 items, one more than goal. I’m doing a major overhaul of my photography space in the hope of making the process more efficient, so I’m hoping to do about 10 listings per day from next month. I shall keep you all advised and share my space once I’m done.
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Amatino, I looked into Easy Auction Tracker after a recommendation from another thread in these forums and it looks like a great tool! I was all set to shell out funds to purchase it when I discovered it is not compatible with Apple products. Booo! But, I have a decent spreadsheet so as long as I remember to enter new purchases it should work okay.
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My 2021 Winner present towel finally arrived and I love it! Thanks so much Amatino…you are the best!!!!
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Okay, I’m a dork, I know I’m a dork, but I love patterns. This week we had triplets, with Sharyn, Jaepete and I all clocking 11 listings, and Julie B must be Da Mama, cause she came in with 22! 😀
Yeah, yeah, I said I’m a dork! LOL
Congrats to VT for this week’s win. VL takes the honorary note, as neither she nor JB can win this year.
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Grrrrrr… Earlier today I wasted half an hour writing out a whole report on my January Challenge. When I clicked Submit, the bots advised I am a “known spammer” and I lost the entire post. I’ve discovered that the bots don’t like my BitDefender VPN, which protects my online presence. Stores in general don’t seem to mind it, Reddit has no issues, but Facebook and Google (who make money off tracking my online usage) regularly get hissy with it. It’s a bit much to be labelled a known spammer, though!
5 days left until the end of January, how are you doing with your January Challenge?
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Coming to the end of our January Designated Challenge and I’m thrilled that I made it this month. My challenge was to sort out my packing and shipping supplies. All done and I’m very happy with the result. My husband has been working on my new photo booth, I will post information on that when it’s done (we’re still sorting out lighting) and, as I had to rearrange stuff to make room for the booth, I decided to get my Challenge done at the same time.
As mentioned before, I use filing cabinets to store hard goods, and I arranged supplies on the cabinets and on the shelf Himself installed above it. My polymailer solution was given to me… literally! My neighbor handed me a whole carton of paper trays, the kind used by scrapbookers and crafters (like this, although I don’t know if it is this brand) and they all hold my polymailers and FREs very neatly. You can see them on the very right of this photo on the last black filing cabinet. Excuse the strange angle, but I had to wiggle myself through the shelving unit to get this shot! LOL
https://imgur.com/BnLZ8jhYou can also see them on the very left of this shot. Previously, this was set up to hold my lightbox, but it didn’t work out very well for me and, now that I am setting up my photo booth, I will have to decide what to do with the big empty space. On the very top I have totes with tissue and paper, and boxes with peanuts, on the 2nd and bottom rows I have my eBay shipping supplies and USPS boxes.
https://imgur.com/exms8s2There was a day’s break between the above two photos and this next one, due to Himself deciding to add shelves to raise my PC off the desk to give me more room on my workbench. You can see I now have the addition of a crate full of clothes to photograph, and a cat who has decided my warm and cosy cabin is preferable to the house with a teenage catten (too old to be a kitten, too young to be a cat) who loves to beat up on the older kitties. I have polystyrene foam pieces and bubble wrap on the shelf above my pegboard. Underneath the workbench I have my plastic poly bags that each item is put into before it goes into storage. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what time the photo was taken by the clock on the wall. ;o)
https://imgur.com/TRFVKDGFinally, the Really Good Boxes that arrive from places like Amazon, which are great for the non-standard size oddities or to cut up for padding, are stored in my loft. I considered breaking them down and flat-packing them, but then I realized it would be a nightmare to find the size I was looking for. I’d have to keep a spreadsheet of what was up there, and then keep track of any additions or subtractions – way too much work! So I just packed them neatly. In the middle is a pack of empty totes and lids, and to the right is my excess bubble wrap and foam.
https://imgur.com/w1Vfy1IAnd that’s all, folks! My January Challenge completed. I’m very pleased with the end result and it’s such a pleasure working in this space now. If only I could get the other side of the cabin to look the same! LOL
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Great week for me. Despite taking time out to reorganize my space, I managed to get a whopping 19 listings up this week. The new information I’ve been getting from watching Chris Lin at Daily Refinement, plus the acquisition of the tools to do the job, has led to a huge improvement. Amazing how much the right tools can revolutionize your processes!
Hope you all had a great week. Tomorrow (Monday) is the last day of January, so the last day to work on your January projects. I look forward to you all posting great stories before you get your new month’s number on Tuesday!
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Great work, Amatino! I am envious of your space. I listed 0 this past week 🙁 I worked on some drafts, but it’s been unusually cold here and my photography/storage/packing area is in our unheated basement so I just couldn’t get myself to stay down there any longer than absolutely necessary. That’s my excuse, anyway. I didn’t finish my January project either, but I made some progress on it so that’s something.
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34 new listings for me.
My January challenge will not be completed today, but I’m happy with the progress I made and I’m already looking forward to the February challenge!
On assessing what kept me from completing the January challenge, there were several reasons:
One is the amount of work some of the clothing needs to get it to sellable condition. For example, one leather coat has a tear and needs to be professionally repaired, which not something I’m able to do myself.
The second reason is that clothing is not my listing comfort zone and there’s no motivation for me to list items I’m selling for a relative since there’s no $ in it for me. ($ is the motivator for me on items I don’t really like to list.)
Time spent on listing these zero profit (for me) items is time taken away from listing items that are profitable for me to list. So it’s difficult to continually put a lot of time into and then list zero profit items. But I have made a dent in the number of January challenge items I have left to list, so I’m grateful for this challenge.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week!
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36 new listings for me.
Listing similar items has really helped my listing count, but it does become boring. Sourcing and listing a variety of “treasures” is certainly a lot more fun. However, I am building a base for my store consisting of an easy to source niche item. After it reaches a sustainable level with minimal maintenance I will get back to OOAK items. Easy to say, harder to do, but it should be worth it in the long run.
Have a great week everyone!
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52 listings for me. I worked very hard on my death pile boxes and am almost done with the 4 I needed to do this month. I have 6 listings to do from one box and 20 items to clean and price for the mall space from another box and then all 4 boxes are done. I am not sure if I will officially be able to finish by the end of the month, as I have 118 orders to ship out today. But if not today, in the next day or so, and it will feel great to get that accomplished.
Hope everyone has a good week ahead.
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I listed 15 items this week.
For my January challenge, I listed 27 electronic items from my death piles, and three of them sold. I was very happy with the progress I made, but I didn’t get everything completed. I wasn’t actually expecting to list it all, but I guess I can’t report that the challenge was completed. Perhaps I can finish up in one of the challenger choice months.
Here is what I have left:
1. I have two large components that need to be tested before listing. I did hook up a DVD recorder, but only to check that it could play a DVD. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to test the recording part. The other is a stereo receiver.
2. Various cell phones, cameras, and cables/cords. I think I will group up the cell phones into types and sell as untested. Many of the cables/cords just need to be thrown out or given away.
3. Lamps that need to be rewired. Part of the issue here is that I have one lamp made in India that needs a thread conversion from metric to English. I did figure it out at one time, but never bought what I needed. Then I want to buy sockets and cords in bulk so that I have them available any time I get a nonworking lamp.
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I forgot to mention that I did complete my monthly challenge which was creating and using a coupon. Sales did increase on the category where I used the coupon. It’s hard to tell if it was due to the coupon, or just listing more items in the category. In any case, the coupon was easy enough use that I will continue utilizing them each month.
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I listed 11, which is half of last week’s total. And last week’s total was half of the total from the week prior. I have some listing to catch up on, to say the least.
Amatino I love looking at other people’s ebay spaces. I geek out over shipping supply organization especially. 🙂 My space currently looks like a cyclone went through it. Once inventory is done, I will get the room under control.
January challenge – if I put my head down and get at it I can complete it today. I need to shut out all distractions and just do it!
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MyCottage, that’s the purpose behind our little group. Put up your weekly listing numbers. When you look at the spreadsheet, you see your numbers week by week, plus you get to chat to the folks in the group about your experiences. It’s motivating to try to do better!
As you’ve not stated your numbers for the past couple weeks, were they zero? Take heart, I have whole lines of zeroes in some years. Life happens, but being part of the group somehow just pulls you forward and you get going again! Ask JR, he’s been here for a full year and a bit now, and he’s still plugging away. Just being in the group restarts the mojo!
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Spreadsheet updated and UtahBill, you’ve racked up your second win for the year! Doing great, well done!
It’s been good to read about all your progress with your Designated Challenge. We’re now into February, and our new month’s challenge number is…
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My #7 is the top shelf of my Intake Shelves. Fortunately, with February being a short month, this is a small shelf. These intake shelves are supposed to be the repository for new stock, until I sort them for listing. Unfortunately, they have just become a dumping ground and the dumping has become extreme! Clearing the shelves has been on the To Do List for ages, but I never get around to it. Actually clearing the shelves so that I can use them is likely to make Himself pass out in disbelief, so I’m thrilled this came up. LOL Plus, I can actually get to use them!
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It’s somewhat of a hollow victory since 2 of our top listers are no longer eligible to win, but I will take it. My challenge this month is to run a mark down sale. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Using the eBay marketing tools has been on my list for a long time. This shouldn’t be to hard, but I have more difficult monthly challenges coming up.
Amatino- Thank you for creating this years challenges. They will really help us grow as sellers!
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You’re right, Amatino! I need to get back on track here! My #7 is List a total of 50 ties, tshirts, or shirts. I don’t really have to source that amount, I’m sure I have 50 here….but getting them photo’d and listed is the challenge. Even if I do just 2 of them a day, I should be able to meet that challenge….Plus, my regular listing goal is 5 a day every week day (and that 5 can include the ties, etc.)
So…..time to start listing!
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VT, I didn’t know there was such an animal as a Doll Hospital until I came to the States and I couldn’t believe it. I mean, just make her a new dress already! Then I found out how much those collector dolls sell for and I understood! Wowza, there’s a lot of money in those dolls! And if you’ve had them for decades because you’ve been waiting to get them repaired, you should score big ticket sales! Good for you!
UtahBill, you forget, we still have VT in the running. She didn’t win the Listing Challenge, but the Project challenge, so you have some stiff competition! Plus me, I’m working on upping my listing numbers!
MyCottage, this guy has revolutionized my listing process for clothes. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a listing process in action that really works. Unfortunately, I’ve not managed to achieve 90 seconds for any listing item, but I am getting faster!
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@Amatino – I’m going to have to check out this guy. I will be listing lots of clothing for my new consignment with my neighbor. Right now, I have a small box of unworn Lands’ End swimming tankini type tops, no bottoms. Looks like she liked to wear these under a button down type shirt and not for swimming. Just something I’m not all that interested in, but worth listing as they are new without tags.
BTW – your cabin looks incredible. I was thinking of showing photos of my deathpiles, but they are so disorganized that you can’t tell how they are thinning out. Plus, I’m now using that area for this new consignment and to store some of my own stuff I want to get rid of.
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Today was my day in the office, so it’s been tough to get online. I’ve had a rough week as well from a busted furnace (will be fixed tomorrow), check engine light coming on the car (husband wants to look at the code before I bring it in), and a daughter we drove to college and forgot she had both keys to one of our cars (last minute drive there and back last night). So, yeh, I’ve been a bit busy to say the least.
OK, that off my shoulders, my #7 challenge is to go to a few thrift stores. Between the pandemic, my starting a job, prices going higher, etc., I’ve really not been to one to source in two years or so. Many of my goals are focused on switching my sourcing to slower going, higher priced sales. Let’s see if I can find an interesting place within an hour or less from me.
Should be easy. I need easy this month.
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My goal this month is to list 25 vintage linens and I am excited about this because I have a huge stack that’s been waiting for me for the longest time. I also pulled two more death pile boxes from my garage today, with the hope to process them this week. It’s been fun to read about everyone’s goal for this month!
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I had 4 listings.
I actually was ready with eight more, but the hot topic on the forums was that you should be spreading your listing over the full week. Hopefully, I will list more than what I have in drafts, but my part time job is staying consistently busy.
As part of my Feb challenge, I did go to a thrift store this weekend. I had found out about this store a few years ago and followed its page on Facebook. However, it’s a 45 min drive, so I never went. During the pandemic, they closed, opened, and closed again, and now they are liquidating their inventory.
I was able to buy five NWT dresses for $2 each. This is the first inventory purchase I’ve made in 4-5 months, so that was fun. I’ll keep an eye out to see if they have any other liquidation opportunities after this event ends next weekend.
I brought a large load over from my neighbor as well. Lots of NWT clothing. Other stuff, too, but tons of clothing. Looks like I will be in the NWT business for a while.
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Also, I watched the video that Amatino linked to on listing clothing quickly. I recall watching something from the same guy on how he created his setup. I don’t have the inclination or desire to do something like that, but I definitely have to get out of laying the clothes on the floor. Kills my knees. I also need to buy fabric rather than use poster board. I may put off listing clothes until I figure something out. Got to be creative.
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Sharyn – I found a space on a wall and put up a heavy duty command hook so all I have to do is hang everything when I photograph it. If you don’t like how the wall color appears in the photo, the PhotoRoom app is free, fast and amazing! You open app, hit the “+” symbol, find the photo you want to have a white background and PhotoRoom creates a white background instantly. Then you just save it to your photos on your phone. It’s usually accurate and the best app I’ve found in quite awhile. I usually just do it to the first photo I’m going to display in my listing and the rest I leave as is, but you can do all of them if you want. Here’s one of my listings using it. You can see the other photos in the listing I kept the background as is.
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Beautiful photos and a really neat mug!
I have some ideas on the clothes setup. I’ll post when I try it out. I can only put up a hook in my basement, and I’d hate to be stuck there when I’m doing photos.
We all need a separate warehouse or cabin to hold our eBay business so we can set it up anyway we chose!!!
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Sharyn if you have a flat white bedsheet that can work well for a photo backdrop. The beauty of it is that it can be easily washed if it gets dirty.
I have a flat white bedsheet threaded on a dowel and suspended from two hooks in my basement ceiling. The hem of the sheet works well to thread the dowel through (just open the ends of the stitching on each side of the hem for the dowel to poke through). I also tied up a length of white cord that loops down from the ceiling hooks. I hang the clothing on a clothing hanger from the cord for photos.
I’d love to have a set-up like Chris’s from Daily Refinements (as shown my Amatino above). But I haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. In the meantime the bed sheet and dowel system seems to work pretty well.
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VT –
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m not sure I have a white sheet, but I’ll have to look around.
I don’t have a place to hang anything from a ceiling. I’d have to put in hooks, but it is something to think about. I like the way clothing looks when it is lying down on a flat surface. In the vid, the surface was at an angle, so you got the flat look but could still hold it down with a hanger.
In the video, he used a gray background. I’ve heard that colors show truer that way, but I’ve never tried it.
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40 listings for me this past week. I haven’t listed any vintage linens for my monthly challenge yet, but I did start sorting them and researching. Part of my hesitation has been to decide whether to list them on Ebay or Etsy. Ebay has quicker sales, but Etsy commands higher prices. I will probably list some on both and see what happens.
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68 listings for me last week, which is a new record for me. I can really crank them out when listing similar items over and over with a good template. I am building a pipeline, but it sure isn’t as fun as one of a kind items. I am actually starting to look fondly at my death piles. However, I will focus and list all of my pipeline items before I go off the rails.
I also completed my challenge for the month, which was creating a mark down sale. I created a two day 25% off sale on some of my items that have watchers, and I was happy to sell two items. I think promotions work, but it’s difficult to determine the best strategy to use with them.
I also broke the 700 listing mark last week. 🙂
Have a great week everyone.
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Spreadsheet updated. Wow, UtahBill, you definitely earned your win this week! Go you!
Apologies for the late posting this week, folks. I went into the ER on Friday night, got treated, went back on Saturday night, was transferred to hospital at 3AM on Sunday, had surgery on Monday, and got home last night. Turns out cat bites can be really nasty, especially when they’re on a joint! My left hand looks like a boxing glove! 😉 However, my quick action is getting to the ER probably saved me from an amputation (they say) which would have really slowed down my listing process!
Sharyn, I have discovered apparel felt is awesome for backdrops. NOT craft felt, that’s a different category! Apparel felt can be washed and dried in a machine on normal settings, doesn’t require ironing, and doesn’t fray. It comes in a range of colors and is often around $5 – $6 per yard at Hobby Lobby, for about a 72 inch width. If you go in on their 50% off week (which rotates, phone your local HL to check and go in on the week when fabric is on sale) then it’s an even better deal. Grab 2 yards. Go to your local Home Depot and get a sheet of insulation foam board, 4 ft by 8 ft, which will cost about $5-$10. Drape the felt over the board, and lean the board against your wall. Done! If you can create a bit of a stand to raise the board a few inches above the floor it helps to reach the back of the board without kicking it. A couple of handweights at the bottom corners to stop it sliding are also a good idea. If you find a couple of fire irons somewhere, they would make a terrific stand, but you could make something up with a chunk of wood if you or your other half are handy that way. Total cost will be less than $20, excluding whatever you use as a base. Stick a hook/pin/nail in at the top for hanging and you’re all sorted.
I know this works because I experimented with this set up before Himself built my new set up. Excuse the chaos in the photos, this is a working shot, not a posed one. I used a room divider folded in half from my dance wardrobe. It was too narrow, but I made it work for the experiment. My new set up uses the insulation board and I will be sharing photos of that soon.
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Another P.S.
Here’s the listing for the green shirt you can see in those photos, just so you can see how it worked. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185264310271
Using this new system, I have halved my listing time.
I also use PhotoRoom, as suggested by Julie, but with enough light on a flat white background, that’s not necessary. My new system is a work in progress as I get the lighting correct, and I hope to halve that time again.
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I had been thinking of a similar setup. I could probably set something like that up against the dining room table and put something heavy at the bottom to keep it from moving, like you said. I was thinking of just using a large cardboard box, although, it might not be strong enough. I’ll look into the apparel felt and insulation board. Great ideas, and something I need to think about. Thanks so much!!
This week, I was able to list about eight pair of shoes by pulling down stock photos from sites like Walmart. I know that isn’t completely Kosher, but these are all discontinued styles. I figure I’m not completing against them. I could possibly find similar photos for the NWT clothes, but, if I get a good setup going, it might be faster.
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Amatino! What.The.Heck!? That was an expensive cat bite. I’m so glad you were smart and got it treated before it was too late!
My husband got the slightest dog bite on his face when roughhousing with our dog (husband’s fault, dog wasn’t expecting it.) It was really just a scrap from the dog’s fang but I insisted he get it checked at urgent care because I’ve heard how sometimes these things can take a bad turn, resulting in amputations, etc. The staff at urgent care treated us like we were weird for coming in but I wasn’t about to take any chances.
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Sharyn, I tried with a cardboard box but it kept collapsing and moving and was generally annoying. Shifting to a solid sheet was much better!
Julie, indeed it was! LOL. Went for my follow up to the surgeon. Good and bad news. The bad news is that I have some tendon damage and some loss of function of my fingers. The good news is better – with time and patience (I’ll have to look up that word!) the tendon will heal and most, if not all, function will return. For the next couple weeks I have to monitor for further infection or complications and sleep with a splint at night so that I don’t move the hand and accidentally damage it further. Overall, very positive. And I can return to listing, albeit achingly slowly!
For those with a taste of the gruesome, post surgery photo with stitches etc.
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35 new listings for me last week.
What a frightening thing to happen, Amatino. Cat bites are no joke. When I went through training to be a volunteer at a pet shelter they documented how a cat bite can end up. It’s not something you’d ever want to know about… I hope you are on the mend and I’m glad it didn’t end up like the case they showed in my training.
Wishing everyone a productive and profitable week!
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Posted an hour ago and got kicked off for being a spammer again. Forgot to turn off my VPN. Had to wait until I moved to the other network, because I must wait about 24 hours on the same one. Sigh…
13 listings for me and I’m happy with that, considering I only got back to work on Friday. Also completed my February Challenge. One empty shelf; one remote control helicopter, tools, car parts, and dozens of magazines listed. I’m thrilled! As that shelf is narrow, only 8″ tall, and high, I’m thinking I will use it for storage in future, rather than as an active shelf. Things I don’t use often, such as spare tape rolls for my printer, or shrinkwrap rolls, etc.
Thanks for the good wishes, folks. Hand is hugely improved. I’ve regained all use of my thumb, pinky and ring finger, and partial use of my pointer and middle fingers. It’s only been a week, so this is great.
Wishing you all a great week!
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I listed 20 items this week.
I waited until later to post because I pushed off my thrift store challenge until today. I went to a larger thrift near Trenton, NJ. Holy crap, the prices were high there! And they only took cash. They did have good stuff, but not for resellers at those prices. I think that Monday is not the best day to go because all the good or discounted stuff is sold on the weekend, but I happened to be in the area. I decided to buy one jacket/long blazer that seemed to be from a upscale brand for $15 (at 50% off!) since I had made the trip.
@Amatino – I don’t know if you break easy, or if you just put yourself in precarious situations, but your life could be a movie! Or, at least a set of informational videos on what not to do :). I am glad to hear that you are recovering well. -
LOL. Sharyn, the movie would be called Darwin Award Auditions! If I broke easy, I wouldn’t be alive to write this! I heal so well that doctors’ don’t believe me when I say I’m injured. I also seldom if ever bruise. When I smashed my knee, in a break so severe that they were worried I’d ever walk right again, I splinted my own leg, called the doctor and told her to meet me at the hospital, and when I got there, cracked jokes and made all the staff laugh. They didn’t believe that I was hurt as badly as I said, until the X-rays came in, at which point they freaked out and started rushing around frantically! All the medical staff think I’m a nut! They’re probably right. 😀
Spreadsheet updated, Julie would have won if she’d not been a Previous Year winner, so VT takes the win with an excellent number of listings for the week!
We seem to have lost MyCottage. And UtahBill is MIA, but he always turns up, so I’m not worried (yet!)
Into the 2nd half of the month. How are your February challenges going?
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Just 2 listings for me last week, but I am happy with that considering, I went on a 5 day road trip to New Mexico with my son to pick up a motorcycle he bought. We crammed in a lot of site seeing on the way home including, White Sands NP, Chaco Canyon, City of Rocks New Mexico SP, Petrified Forest NP, and Valley of the Gods in Utah. It was exhausting but wonderful!
Amatino- I am so sorry you had yet another round with the medical establishment. Heal fast and stay well.
Have a great week everyone!
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I listed 20 items this week.
I went back to the thrift store that I mentioned last week. It was still pricey on Friday, but better than Monday. I did buy something that I saw on Monday that was 50% off on Friday. I’m certainly successful at my challenge, but I’m finding that maybe thrifts aren’t worth it. My goal this week is to go to local thrifts.
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Only listed 7 items last week, so I’m behind on my goal, but I hope to make it up this week.
Sharyn, I find I have better prices at small charity thrifts than the chain-style ones like Goodwill or Salvation Army. Usually the small places receive so many donations, they can’t process them all, so they price low to get the stuff out. Women’s abuse shelters, youth aid, and similar places are given a lot of stuff to “help the needy” and so their thrift stores are often bursting at the seams, but the quality of it is often better. Goodwill, on the other hand, is just folks dumping their extras.
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I listed 43 items last week. I was working on a personal death pile challenge this month: To list 100 DP items before buying more inventory, but I only made it to 60 or so items listed before I went nuts buying more inventory. Oops.
So I’m trying to up my listing game and get the new stuff listed quickly so I can get back to my DP items.
Wishing everyone a great week!
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I listed 40 items last week. It’s the last week of the month and I have yet to list any vintage linens, which was my monthly challenge. The farthest I have gotten on the challenge was to pull out a pile and sort through them, choosing five to list. It appears I have a mental block when it comes to listing these linens, and I have a week left to overcome this block. Here’s hoping I do.
On a brighter note, we had an adventure at the bins and found many lovely old books, including a very very rare one and it’s in great shape and a first edition (1951), and promptly listed it for $495. Woohoo!
Wishing everyone a good week.
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26 listings for me.
Vintage Treasures I like your challenge. I don’t think I could make it to 100 but I’m going to try something similar – maybe keep it to like 20 or 25 items at a time before I go thrifting again. I think that you getting to 60 items was quite impressive. Good job!
I didn’t get as much listed this week but I scavenged some great items, including a Hallmark Christmas ornament I currently have listed for $479.99. Here’s hoping it sells for full or close to full price and that whoever buys it, loves it and keeps it forever.
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Welcome, dwashnc, thrilled to have you on board.
Listings count, drafts do not, unfortunately. 😉 For information on how this works, please have a look at this post. I’m hiding from garrulous dog groomers, so I will only be updating the spreadsheet later today, but you will be added to it. We look forward to seeing your posts each week!
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Thanks Julie B! I felt like I failed and you made me feel much better about it. It was a fun personal challenge while it lasted, I recommend it!
I guess a better way to look at it is that I listed 60 DP items! Of course I purchased more than 60 items during the couple of days I went crazy thrifting. So I better get listing 🙂
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Spreadsheet updated, and dwashnc is added. The names are in alphabetical order, so you’re close to the top.
Nice find, VT, how awesome for you! A YTber I watch just recently found a first edition that he is going to sell for a similar amount. And JB found one too! How awesome! I’m thrilled for you that you got some goodies. Those grails are out there!
Sharyn, that’s exactly it. She comes to wash the dogs, and she’s really good at it, but then spends about two hours afterward chewing my ear about stuff that has little to no impact on my life! I have been concerned about her health on a couple of occasions, but eventually figured out she must have gills somewhere and doesn’t need to draw breath. Himself, on the other hand, is the grumpiest old man you could imagine, and nobody talks to him for very long about anything! So I hid out in my cabin and let him deal with the dog groomers. They were in and out in less than 2 hours. They must have been lost, wondering what to do with the rest of their morning! LOL
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Good morning all! Last day of February for your final day of your Challenge. One last push to get it done! Go on, you can do it!
Managed to juuuuust eke in my 10 listings for the week. Running 4 businesses is a constant juggle and we’ve had unusually cold weather (for Texas) which comes with its own challenges.
Has anyone noticed an uptick in the “I want to cancel this order, I didn’t mean to order it” orders? It’s rather annoying, and I’m getting at least one a week recently. Fortunately, the cancellations have been coming in before shipping (although today’s one came in JUST before the parcel went!) I buy things on eBay all the time. It’s not a one-click event. How do you “accidentally” buy something? Even Amazon’s ‘Buy Now with One Click’ isn’t! At minimum, there’s always a confirmation click required. My rant for today! 😀
Wishing you all a great week. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the new challenge number.
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I had a total of 14 listings last week. I didn’t feel too bad about that since I was traveling for three days. I was able to complete my challenge this month, and I can’t wait to see the new number tomorrow. The new challenge format has been very motivating for me and I really like it.
Have a great week everyone.
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27 new listings for me last week. I’m getting close to my 1,000 listings store limit so I’m slowing down on listing a bit.
I didn’t make my challenge again this month 🙁 I do have the excuse that the place I needed an appointment for in order to fufill the challenge never answers the phone and their message system is full. I finally found out via Facebook that they are open to the public for 4 hours every Saturday. But I had obligations all last Saturday so I didn’t make it there. Darn it! Fingers crossed that the March challenge is one I actually accomplish.
Wishing everyone a great week!
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I listed 30 items this week. I was helped by the fact I had a few groups of similar items and a slightly less crazy job week.
I wanted to go to local thrifts this week. There were two in my area that are located in churches. I was able to get decent items for good prices, not a lot, but enough to be happy. Much better than the large thrifts I tried in the past few weeks. I still did not make it to my town’s local Goodwill, but I’ve met the challenge of trying out a few thrifts this month.
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I forgot to mention: I bought felt fabric and set up a photography background for clothing as suggested by Amatino. I am just using a flat box at this time, and I will get a board sometime later. I purchased both white and light gray felt, and the gray is definitely better. It mostly comes out white in the photos but shows true colors better. The setup is not perfect, but it works well enough for now.
In other news, though, I decided to bite the bullet and just send the large lot of clothes from my new commission into Swap.com. I’m annoyed with the company. They seemed to have “lost” clothing I sent in earlier, but they are making things right by paying me for them. I told my commissionee (is that a word?) all the issues with the website and gave him the choice to not to do it, but he is very easy going. He wants me to make money, his wife’s stuff to be appreciated and used by someone, and he will give any of his profit to charity. I’ve got two large boxes, each with over 50 pieces, to send in.
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Terrific, jaepete! That’s what this is all about!
Sharyn, I’m glad you got your photography set up, and very interested in the gray being better. What shade of gray are you using? I bought white and have found that I no longer need to use PhotoRoom to edit the background, but it’s still not as accurate with color. Perhaps the gray is the answer.
Spreadsheet updated and Sharyn wins this week! It looks like a 3-horse race this year! LOL
Now, on to the March challenge, and no, it’s not a typo. Sometimes the draw works this way!
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Ass of a donkey’s uncle! My #3 is a humdinger! I have to inventory the whole of my F category, which is probably the largest category in my store! Woe is me…
Needs to be done, (true, which is why it’s on my list) but I was really hoping for an easier win for this month. I have SO much on my plate!
What are your #3 challenges?
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My #3 challenge is: “List at least one item on Mercari, Etsy and Poshmark to get an idea of how each platform works.”
I used to sell on Etsy so that should be easy. Mercari and Poshmark I’ve purchased on but never sold on so those will be a learning experience.
Good luck to everyone with their March challenges!
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Looks like the easy challenges are over for me.
#3 requires me to “Try Using ScoutIQ for one month to scan books”
I used to scan books with an old app called ScoutPal back in the day and did pretty well. I have become a more diverse scavenger and don’t scan much any more. I still pick up books based on instinct and knowledge, but I suspect I am missing some treasures by not evaluating books more thoroughly with state of the art equipment. This challenge will require some expenditure up front, but you have to spend money to make money right? If any one has any advice regarding this topic please share it with me.
Good luck on your challenges!
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My #3 is Challenger’s Choice. My husband agreed to help me get through the electronics that I didn’t manage in January. So, listing electronics will be my challenge.
@Amatino: Hopefully this photos shows the color of the gray felt I purchased. The photo shows the gray felt right next to the white. I think that you are the one who posted a video link where a guy built a setup for clothing. He talked about how gray was a better color for photos. It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that. -
I’m late to the party but I listed 30 items last week. And no, I still didn’t get any vintage linens listed for my February challenge. Ugh. It’s a real mental block….but this month is Challenger’s Choice for me and I’m determined to push through that block and finally get them done.
On a brighter note, I did accomplish a very big goal for me…..processing and eliminating an entire storage unit. It’s a unit I got Spring 2020 when it was apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to do my shows, and I needed a place to dump stuff, and so dump I did. I donated some things, listed a lot of it, consolidated some of it into another unit, and by the end of the month it was empty and that’s $150 less I am spending every month. I’m always going to have storage units because of the nature what I do, but I have one less now, and that’s a big deal for me.
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I’m also late to the party. I was hit with Norovirus Friday night and still haven’t gotten any of my energy back. Norovirus is infamous for causing widespread outbreaks on cruise ships. I was at home and I was the only one to get it but I can not imagine how horrible it would be, to be on a cruise ship with other sick people with this stuff.
I did get 26 listings done before I got sick. That’s the same number as the week before I think.
I never even got started on the Feb challenge so that’s a big goose egg there.
The March challenge for me is to go thru 1/2 of my “to be repaired” bin and either repair, toss, donate or list as is.
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It’s so much fun reading about all the different challenges. I think this is such a great change from the old monthly challenges. Of course, in a year or two, we’ll get bored with it and I’ll have to come up with a new one, but for now… what fun!
Thanks, Sharyn, that’s darker than I realized. I was expecting something like a very light dove gray, but that’s more of a smokey charcoal. I may invest in some too, just to experiment.
Congrats on that huge goal achieved, VL. Love that you managed to get it all sorted out!
So sorry you were sick, Julie. That’s terrible. Lots of sympathy!
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31 new listings for me.
I had an experience on eBay that I thought I’d mention. I try to put up 5 new listings every day, seven days a week. I sell (on average) just under 4 items per day, seven days a week.
In the last 2 weeks I had one day in both weeks that I didn’t list anything. The day after listing nothing in both those weeks I had a zero sales day.
A zero sales day is very rare for me so I thought that was interesting. I’ve always believed that listing every day is really important to eBay’s algorithm, perhaps this confirms that belief?
Wishing everyone a great week – and keep listing!
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I try to consistently list a few things every day, but my part time job and timing sometimes get in the way. Yesterday, I thought I should hold off on some listings so that I could list consistently this week, but then we have this challenge. I wanted to list more in case I have enough to win.
So far it is working. I listed 33 items last week.
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LOL. I love that this challenge motivates folks to keep listing!
Zero for me and it will be a goose egg for the next month. I have a family emergency and will be flying off to the UK to help out. I get back on April 5th. I will keep updating the TELC each week, but don’t expect much else. However… I am hoping to find a few small, non-breakables while I’m in England to list and bring back. So I may have a couple listings up. We’ll see. Not sure if I’ll have time to do more than poop and sleep, although, if I stop eating, I won’t need to poop, which means I can work longer hours! Hmmm…. 😀
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85 listings for me last week. I got really lucky at the bins and found a category of items that list in less than 10 minutes each and also have a high profit margin. I went into crazed listing mode and already have sold two of the items. I paid about 30 cents for each and one sold for $15 and the other for $20. This is the kind of picking I live for. I’m also happy to be building up my listings, as my show starts in a few weeks and my listings will drop to zero for a week or two.
I appreciate all the info on listing consistently daily….and am going to try to do it too and see what happens.
Good luck on your trip Amatino!
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What a humdinger week! I LOVE it! 4 of you where within one count of each other, and all in the 30s. That is a stunning number. VL, of course, would have razed us all to the ground if it wasn’t that she was “blue” and can’t win this year! Nice finds, VL, congrats!
However, having made a push to win, Sharyn took the prize this week! And we now have a hat-trick, with 3 of you tied for the year. Still early days, though, so it’s anyone’s game!
Thanks for the good wishes, y’all. I may be a little slowed up getting the spreadsheet done, but I will do so to the best of my abilities. Pray that my plane doesn’t get blown up going or returning, that there IS a plane returning AND that I can get on it! The Asshat keeps chuckling that I’m going to be stranded for months and he’ll have the house to himself for ages! 😀
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Woo hoo! I guess it was worth the barrage of listings on Sunday 🙂
Amatino – Good luck with your trip. Other than WW3 brewing, I think everything else is starting to normalize, and you should be OK. Are you going to put your store on pause? Or do the Jay & Ryanne thing and let stuff sell?
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I listed 34 this week, one more than last week’s total.
My challenge this month is to list the electronics that take me so long to get organized. I did much of it in January, but I wasn’t able to complete all of it. So far, what I’ve done is had a conversation with my husband about it. Yup, there is a reason they call it “challenge” right?
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33 new listings for me. I’m pretty pleased I managed that many as I’ve just returned from a long weekend trip.
I worked ahead and scheduled listings to go live on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was the first time I’ve ever managed to do that. I can’t say it helped my sales much though. It was pretty slow for me while my store was on time away.
Wishing everyone a great week and safe travels to Amatino!
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Ouch, only 7 new listings for me last week. I wasn’t feeling well after traveling. It turned out to be nothing of note though and I’m fine now. But it really hurt my listing progress last week.
I expect to have as many listings done today as I did all of last week so this week should be much better.
I want to debunk my own hypothesis about listing every day that I posed on 3/7 when I wrote: “In the last 2 weeks I had one day in both weeks that I didn’t list anything. The day after listing nothing in both those weeks I had a zero sales day. A zero sales day is very rare for me so I thought that was interesting. I’ve always believed that listing every day is really important to eBay’s algorithm, perhaps this confirms that belief?”
I didn’t list for 4 days last week and I had good sales all week with sales every day. So much for the hypothesis that you need to list every day to satisfy the eBay algorithm!
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I am hopefully back on the wagon, 7 listings done over the weekend. Sales had stalled a fair amount but then sold a couple things the day after I listed. Hit a few estate sales this weekend, spent $60 at the second one and basically called it a day as that got me about 60 things. most are old Hot Rod magazines and car books but I don’t need to sell many to get my money back.
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I managed 38 listings this past week. I’m listing much faster these days, I think mostly due to having a steady stream of things I don’t have to test. I also think I have a faster process, but I do see a mistake or two here or there. Nothing significant, but I do make them going faster.
I did test some electronics this week against my challenge, but haven’t listed them yet.
@vintagetreasures – I think that sometimes the sales from listing are delayed, and sometimes not. End of winter/beginning of Spring is a known period of slowness, so sales can be unpredictable. I’ve been trying to make my listings consistent as well, but I can’t say that I’m seeing a difference. -
Just 5 listings for me last week. I was at the beach for part of the week, and a lot of balls in the air the rest of the time.
I tried putting my shop on extended shipping for the first time, instead of just vacation mode like I usually do. It was an interesting experiment. In the five days, from Tuesday afternoon to Saturday evening, I received just four orders. This is dramatically less than I usually get. This time of year I average 4-5 orders a day in my Ebay shop, so 4 orders in 5 days was disappointing. I guess 4 orders is better than zero orders, but it certainly seems to make a difference.
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32 listings.
Having work done in the basement this week so most of my inventory had to be moved to another area and stacked very high. Here’s hoping they get done with the basement lickety-split because digging around for my stuff and moving heavy boxes that are on top of stacks taller than me is not fun. They haven’t even started yet and I’m already cranky.
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Hi all.
I am back on the grid after a 10 day vacation in Death Valley National Park. Anyway, here are my numbers for the last couple of weeks. I had 13 listings for the week ending on the 13th, and 0 listings last week. I hate to see a 0, but I had no internet all week. In retrospect I should have scheduled some listings to start then. Oh well….
Have a great week everyone!
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42 new listings for me last week. I started the week listing a lot but then I got distracted watching more fires near my home. Pretty unnerving, but at least these fires didn’t spread like the huge fire disaster we had here on December 30th.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
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Hey everyone! Huge apologies for the prolonged silence. I completely forgot that when you move towns, you lose everything – change of address, change of phone number, need new internet installed….
I’m supposed to be coming home on Sunday (cross EVERYTHING!) so I will do all the spreadsheet updates on Monday. However, it’s a new month, here is your new challenge number:
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For the March challenge, I was supposed to do my Category F stock inventory, but only got as far as consolidating it when I left to fly overseas.
For April, my #9 is to clear my 3rd intake shelf. Gulp! I’m both thrilled, as it needs to be cleared, and terrified, as there’s a reason it’s been packed for so long! LOL.
How did you do? Did you get through your March challenge? What do you have for April?
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For March, I was able to test and list electronics that I recently obtained, but the stuff that’s been sitting around for a while is still there. So, partial win I guess.
My #9 is to complete my eBay store banner & description. Should be pretty easy.
If I have some time, I want to order bulb sockets and cords so that I can fix some lamps sitting around for years.
Looking forward to having you back Amatino!
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I listed only 9 items this past week.
I have lots of drafts and some fast items to list, so I should be much higher this week. Only thing is I am busy with non-eBay stuff, so we shall see.
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@amatino – Also, isn’t this the start of second quarter? Not sure if you want to start another thread, but I thought I’d remind you.
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Hey everyone! I’m back – and thrilled to be home! It’s nearly 1:00PM and I’m still trying to get stuff sorted out. It’s going to take a couple days, so much to catch up on. Most depressing to see a whopping 5 zeroes in a row, but I hope to make up for it going forward.
Spreadsheet updated for all the weeks I was away. Week #10 we had not one, but two blues! VL would have taken the win, but she won last year. JB was next in line, but she tied with VL last year, so Sharyn got the red for the week’s point. Sharyn also won week #11 with the highest number of listings overall. Week #12 would have been JB, who got the blue, but VT came in with the red for a win there. Now we’re all on week #13, so I’ll wait for the rest of you to post your numbers and update the spreadsheet tomorrow.
Sharyn, thanks for the reminder. I’ll shift us over tomorrow, after I’ve updated the spreadsheet.
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43 – posting a day late. Yesterday I picked up my grandpuppy. He’s staying with us for the week. He’s a 9 month old Brussels Griffon and a frenetic bundle of energy. Fortunately he’s getting along quite well with our dog. One cat HATES him. The other cat is spying on and stalking him, which are kind of his favorite things to do anyway.
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Spreadsheet updated, and VT has a very convincing win this week! Congratulations!
A little housekeeping done too. We seem to have lost Dwashnc and MyCottage, they’ve been moved down. If they come back, I’ll reinstate them. Jaepete and JR are both popping up sporadically, so they stay.
New quarter thread started for future posts: https://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/listing-challenge-2022-thread-2/
THIS THREAD IS CLOSED.
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