Overwhelmed at 1600 listings – normal?

[lilly210]

Good Morning!
It’s been a journey learning how to sell on Ebay and going into reselling full-time since March this year. I love what I do and will continue my ventures on Ebay.
Since the holidays, I’ve been finding myself burnt out due to the lack of help. My husband has a fulltime job and works 6 days a week. I’m a one woman show and handle the packing, listing, sourcing, and everything! It’s been 9 to 10 hour days and only have one half day off once a week. Major of my time is put into listing and research.
My question is at what point does anyone bring in help?
I remember on one of the post cast Ryan brough Jay into the business and work was divided, however I don’t recall the rest. If anyone can provide more perspective or share their thoughts or experience. I wish to continue and grow my store. Seems like once I hit 1600 listings and with the holidays season here, things are obviously busy. Has anyone hit 2000 listing and manages the business on their own without help?
I’m trying to see what I can do better and how I can improve or strategies for my business.
Thanks in advance!

[Tina F]

At 1600 listings, your store should be running itself. I have almost 1700 listings and work at my own pace. I ship between 5-12 items a day. List about 15 items a day. I source 2 times a week. Are you not in a “grove” or have a routine? Maybe this would help. I have 2 kids and a husband who is no help. I do all the housecleaning, bill paying, ect. My husband is not really supportive about what I do and tells me its not a real job. So yes, it can get stressful at times if you are running this business on your own, but the great thing about this business is you can back off when you are feeling this way. Take a day or 2 off and only pack and ship items. Your business will not die off in a matter of days. With 1700 listings you are in a good situation to coast. I will share my routine: Monday/tuesday=source, Wednesday/Thursday=take pictures and measurements. (I take pics of 50-80 items and lay the in a laundry basket in order, I then sit for 1-2 hours total taking measurements and double checking for stains. I write a brief description of each item on paper and throughout the remainder of the week will list off this paper when I have time.) If I am cooking, I list a couple items. First thing in the morning I list a couple. Its a routine and honestly I probably only work about 30 hours a week. Its an assembly line approach and it speeds up productivity. Good luck!

[lilly210]

Holy cow! I want my weekends back!
I source about 3 to 4x per week and looks like I really need to improve my schedule and just stick with it.
I just get so caught up in the business and there’s anyway things to improve. It’s a never ending cycle and work will always be there tomorrow.

It really helps a lot and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and 2 cent

Thanks

[Jay]

Hey lilly210–

First of all, huge congrats. Building an eBay store by yourself with 1700 listed items is a huge accomplishment. Feel good about that.

Like Tina F says, I’d say that your store could run on autopilot for periods of time since you have so much listed. I know that we often have periods during the year where we dont list for 4-8 weeks at a time. Things keep selling. All you need to do is pack.

I’d also say that scavenging 3-4 times a week might be too much. That much scavenging for us would mean a huge back log of items that would need to be listed. Major death piles.

Maybe if you shared your daily routine, people could share their routine with you.

[lilly210]

Thanks Jay!
Before the holidays, things seems to be more in control until the season started in November.
I started doing auctions moving older inventory sitting there from the beginning. This way, money is constantly moving. I’m realizing as I’m thinking about this more, since I’ve started daily auctions, the organizing of things whether they were listing or not takes some time. I source, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays. My biggest sourcing day is Saturday, Sunday take photos of everything I source from Saturday. I have 2 boxes of death piles. I wake up at 7:00 AM and send my husband off to work with breakfast and lunch and start listing for 1 hour then packaging items until Noon. I put up about 10 to 15 listing up per day and sell about 5+ items per day (up or down). So, listing and researching items until 5 PM. Make dinner and we have family time until 8:30 or 9 PM and back to work until 10:30 PM and sleep at 11:30 PM. Free to let me know if you have any questions or I’m missing something. I really appreciate the help. I’m confident that I’ll figure out a better schedule than the one I have now. My first step is, asking people that’s already been through this process and what’s working for them. I am open to learn. You don’t know, what you don’t know. Part of the reason why I started this business because I want to own my own time NOT let it own me. This has been a great support!Thank you!

[Jay]

We cut down on the amount of time we were scavenging since we have built up such a backlog. Maybe cut down to scavenging two days a week. Give yourself more time to process items.

And give yourself more time off. As Steve says, don’t make a sweatshop for yourself.

[Freds_Premium]

You need help if you can’t list as fast as you can source. If you are getting

quality

items and can bring home a lot more than you can list then you should get some help. For example me, I’m a one man operation now but my sales and the amount I list a week are nearly equaling out. My weekly sales are peaking out. Without more listed each day I wouldn’t be able to grow revenue.

[Linda Shields]

Lilly, Everyone has a different system/schedule. You have to experiment to see what works for you. If you aren’t happy do something differently. Sounds like you need to stop going out on scavenging trips so often. Try to visit more places the same day and only go out 1-2X per week. I’m a big believer in taking a sabbath day’s rest each week with no work whatsoever–just R&R. It is healthy on so many levels and gives you energy and renewal. The more you do the more you need it. You will get more done on the other 6 days. Also try to be organized even if you have to take off a week to do it. Clutter is exhausting. Get some “zen” in your home 🙂 Peace comes from within. Start there. Do less accomplish more.

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