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Running a business can be complex, stressful and take up all your time. But should it be complicated? eBay’s Fall Seller Update came out with no rea
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 373: Should Running A Business Be Complicated?] -
hello all – i got away from posting my numbers for quite a while but have been listening to the podcasts as always. Lots has changed on my end but still plugging along. This week had a semi nice score on some high end handbags – outside my normal zone – and ended up selling a couple items from the lot off nicely but the majority ended up being fake. The silver lining i guess is i have learned some of the ‘low hanging fruit’ to identify fakes, so that’ good i suppose. Will still turn a nice profit off the handbags as i bought em with a “margin of safety’ and really paid next to nothing for them allowing me to turn a profit already off a couple of sales (the putter was part of the same purchase)
8/5/12 – 8/11/12
Total items in store (beginning of week): 327
Items sold: 12
30 day sell through rate: 15.73%
Total Sales: $225.453 (no shipping): $225.53
Average price: $18.79
Cost of items sold: $32.20
Gross profit: $193.33
Highest item sold / best sale: Ashdon Golf The Guided Missile Putter $50.00 / cost 6.67-
Yeah, Im not good at determining if designer stuff is authentic. Glad you got it cheap for a risk free buy.
How have things changed on your end?
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A lot of designer brands are simply not what they used to be as well. I saw a HUGE selection of Coach at the local Macy’s Department store last week, as well as several other “formerly elite” brands. It looks like they’ve decided to start cashing in on the budget market that was buying up counterfeit products.
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Geoff wrote:
1) had to pick up work. Fortunately I do not hate my work, i have always been in sales, and my current gig is flexible as i work from home / though does require some travel and prevents me from owning my time (ultimate goal.) The major benefit is it should allow me to for the most part let a snowball build with this business — I have kids and my costs are pretty high in life so i have to build up a bigger net worth to get to a place of financial freedom.
2) I reset my store — took everything down and started from 0. I had about 1400 items up. The reasons i did this were; 1) my shipping policies were messed up. I was offering options for shipping and long story short a lot of my items had really high shipping costs showing in searches. 2) I changed my business processes so that i am now packing my items at the same time as i list. For me this is more efficient, though takes up more space, it also frees me up once i am done listing that item most of the work is done and shipping is just printing a label. This gives me more flexibility if i cannot out a lot of time in for a week i still can keep up with shipping no problem. 3) Much like you guys have been discussing in recent weeks, i have been trying to change my focus to just getting quality items (less) that may be more expensive but sell fast and still turn a return. Some items are still long tail — most maybe — but that is cool so long as my cost are low on those ones (and ideally storage space) and as long as i am putting most of my energy finding the items in my zone — (like an item that is a home run where i pend 50 to make 3 x 4x 5x etc…)
3) While most of my listings sell fixed price / FP w best offer, i am using auctions more. For me it works well – i start most items on an auction and simply have the item automatically go to fixed price if it does not sell. I find this strategy is helping me move some of the stuff real fast — and actually for some items i have no idea what they are worth even if i look back 7 years with worthpoint. Some items i will just take what i paid — start at 2X and let if fly. Other items i just start high and know most likely it will just be long tail anyway — though sometimes i do end up getting bidders bringing it up to my surprise. Some buyers like auctions — this method lets me sell to those buyers too.
A good example of why i like this and it works with what i am doing is PACMIN AIRBUS (2005) 1/100 A380 EA ENGINES Model Airplane w Original Box — this item ends tonight. I bought it last week at my local flea market. The guy i bought it from said it was rare and custom made for an airline executive . The most similar items i could find sole between 99 and 179 — so i through it up for 119 as i suspected it may be worth more. it is at 280 as i write this. While 119 would have been a great return obviously i would have lost money at that price – if is started a lot higher it could have taken months to sell. For this one item – my best total return including time likely is the auction path.
Another item from this week is Copper / Bronze Toned 3.2 Pounds Metal Horse Statue 9″ x 8″ — the highest sale i could find of the same item was something like 34$. I started an auction at 34 and have a bid and 8 watchers. Go figure?
Plus it is a lot of fun to do the auctions
Other than that still just trying to build up a snowball and having fun doing it.
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If auctions worked for us, we’d use them. Sounds like you found the right kind of items to start bidding wars.
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Items in Store 1087
Items Sold 19
Total Sales $646.00
COGS $69.45
Total Profit $576.55
Average profit $37.97
Average sales price $34.00I had two $100+ sales this week which makes me happy! This past weekend was the big city wide yardsale. Got some really good stuff, including a high end Sony stereo system($150+ value)and a middle seat for a Honda minivan ($200+ value). I also got a pair of England Bench-made Ralph Lauren Wingtip shoes at a thrift store ($200+ value).
I’ve done really well on getting clothes and shoes at yard sales this summer. I have picked up alot of Brooks and Asics running shoes that have been selling well. LOTS of failed runners in this area. Lol!
On another front, I picked up a 2012 MacBook Pro for $200 to be my first Mac computer. The more I learned about it I realize it wasn’t as good of a deal as I thought, but its still a great little laptop for a great price. If I keep it I’ll upgrade the RAM and put in an SSD.
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I was up North Micigan at the in-laws cabin a good part of the week. This is a place where you still pump the water outside from the well – That is my job. Cell phone service is bad to non-existant. It is a really small town and gave me a feel for where J & R live. There was a town festival and I think there were more people there than lived in the town, or so it seemed. I just hung out and did some town things.
My first night there I hit the grocery store (only 1). I saw on the bullitin board that there was a rummage sale at a church. I went to the sale which dodn’t look like much at first, but turned out well. Bought 2 nice bikes for the cabin. I also got my daughter a bird cage with toys for her future bird that she wants. Everything thing was by donation which is sometimes hard. I had to make multiple trips because of the large items. My best find was 2 display cases of golf ball markers from golf courses accross the country. There were 2 cases that look like golf course putting greens with about 50 ball markers each.
Mark
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No offense, but would be nice to see on each update your breakdown on your total costs, such as ebay store, accounting and so forth. Would give a more complete and true picture.
The only reason I bring this up is a friend is starting on eBay and I sent him to your site to help him start. He was confused and thought that is what you make in profit, so I had to explain to him the other costs involved. Thanks and I have enjoyed reading your blog since (I think) 2013. thanks again.-
No offense taken. We post our sales – cost of goods sold. I recently added the cost of paying our helpers each week.
But beyond that, I’m not interested in doing a big spreadsheet each week of all our exact expenses, etc. We have to balance sharing with the community and getting things done.
Our other expenses are expected and standard for everyone:
–Paypal = 2.7% of each sale
–eBay final value fee: approx 10% of each sale based on category
–Store subscription: $299.95/month for our Anchor storeOur podcasts are cool, but you should sit your friend down and really explain the business of online selling to him. Or if you just want to send links, send him this calculator: http://finalfeecalc.com/
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Oh no thank you though lol I had two forums, one did very well teaching people how to sell on eBay, I also wrote a large pdf of about 333 pages, those days are over, that is why I sent him over to you lol.
With all the changes on eBay (more than usual at least), I will keep training myself only at this point. Thank you though, he just likes to nitpick and I do not mean that in a bad way, he is analytical and needs numbers, he knows there are more costs. I mean he asks what about cleaning supplies and etc.., he wants everything broken down. I do not think he will make it being so obsessed with the numbers.Think about it, if we were that obsessed with numbers and percentages on eBay, we would of ran away long ago.
Thanks for Replying Jay and good luck to you.
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TheHustler: Getting to the final Net Profit number is a challenge for most resellers, as the first question is Accrual or Cash Basis?
When we are all posting our numbers here, most are showing their Gross Profit on an Accrual Basis. Meaning that the Sales less COGS is on the items that sold. The hard part about the rest of your costs (fees, supplies, labor, warehouse, etc.) is that those costs are not broken down item by item, so you can’t get a true Accrual cost for most resellers (Mike and I have discussed this at length, and there may only be a few others that even WANT to get to that number…)
The real important part to look at is Net Cash each week. Cause it really doesn’t matter if you show profit on paper, if you ain’t got the cash in the bank account…you can’t spend it. This is where it is important for people to see how their numbers run each week (STR and ASP) so they can see what type of Sales (Cash In) they can expect, but then match that up with their weekly disbursements (Cash Out) each week on the business. Mainly, how much they are going to spend on new inventory, supplies, pay the eBay fees, etc.
For estimation on the accrual side, for many resellers that are smaller in scale or part time, after the Gross Profit, you could deduct 15% for fees (eBay Store/FVF/Paypal), and maybe another 15% for misc expenses (supplies, 3rd party app, etc.). That should give you a ballpark.
If you or your friend want to talk about numbers in detail, hit me up at TSATTERF@YAHOO.COM. I have a spreadsheet you can have that will track the past, and then if you want to project the future, I can help with that too.
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well side T-Salt.
One thing i pickup up from I believe R&J is Go Daddy book keeping. It is totally awesome and helps me a lot get a picture of my business after all of the costs (aka the miles to buy stuff, to ship etc…) I think this is a good option for anyone starting and trying to treat things as a business even while smaller
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Quicken does the exact same thing BUT it also produces a business Profit and Loss statement, which at the time I research GDB did not. But that may have changed.
You also compare this year P&L to last years, compare by quarter, week, month, etc., etc and compare by categories, how much spent on used or ne winventory this quarter as compared to the same quarter last year and even the year before that AND print all those comparisons out in chart form. It takes no more time than GDB just as Jay calles it a more robust program. And this is Quicken for Business NOT QuickBooks. Very few people need QuickBooks unless you are a gluten for punishment and do billings or invoices for your goods and services to customers or clients.
mike at MDCG
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Cool. GDB used to not do that. Think you even said so way back when, but not positive. In any case, pulling that report once a month is SOP. No complexity there, just palin old business sense to have that P&L. Much better than looking at weekly numbers limited to only the way they show here at SL. But still a fun thing to do.
Cheers to watching your numbers!!!
mike at MDCG
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Lmao, you are a numbers geek, so am I though in a small way, if my bank account shows a profit then I am happy, that is the only number I care to control. I mean yes, I know what my store costs, my accountant charges me and so forth. He on the other hand wants to know what the gasoline cost, oil, any cleaning supplies. I mean he gave me a list a mile long. I gave him a few ebooks I wrote like this one http://liftingforlife.com/ebayebook.pdf had to copy that over, the website used to be just100aday but let it go. The more I give him though the more he wants me to break down numbers. I could go through everything and I guess nit pick the numbers but I know I have a surplus at the end of the year after taxes and that is what I am concerned with. I know I want to make at least 40k a year and I do so I am happy. Thanks, I think he has numbered himself out of the equation though lol.
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Something else to consider is taxes. While everyone should be deducting their probable taxes from all of their numbers, if they’re going to go that far with getting costs down to the finest detail, they don’t. A lot of small-time sellers don’t get 1099ks and don’t report their taxes. A lot of small-time sellers will never pay taxes because they never cross the threshold to report them.
That really divides a lot of the f/t sellers on this forum from the p/t ones. I do see numbers of some p/t sellers on the forum reflecting that they do get 1099ks and pay taxes on them, but I suspect that’s not the case for a lot of resellers (both on this forum and elsewhere).
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I wonder how many small sellers dont report income under $20k. I’d be very nervous to avoid taxes, especially if it was north of $10k. That’s basically a part-time job that you hope the IRS doesnt find out about.
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Judging by comments overheard multiple times at my thrift store, a lot of them. “You can sell $20,000 worth of stuff before you have to pay any taxes.” “Once I get close to $20,000 in sales for the year, I stop selling until the next year so I don’t have to pay taxes.”
These are people telling total strangers about how easy it is to make tax free money on Ebay. I usually bite my tongue, but went off on someone a few months ago.
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Listening…
8/5 – 8/11/18
eBay store totommyto
Total store items: 609
Number of items sold: 10
eBay sales ( not counting s/h): $383.70
Cost of items sold: $10.50
Consignment payouts: $66
Highest price sold: $95 – Jurassic World Dinosaur sound figure
Average price sold: $38.37
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $10
Number of items listed this week: 11Etsy store Oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 556
Number of items sold: 8
Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $181.20
Cost of items sold: $15.50
Consignment payouts: $12
Highest price sold: $31.50 – 2 rusty chains with hooks
Average price sold: $22.65
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $10
Number of items listed this week: 11-
totommyto: “Highest price sold: $31.50 – 2 rusty chains with hooks”
Really? On Etsy? What kind of chains were these? Decorative?
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T-Satt,
Bought for $6.00, sold in two weeks.-
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I click and the etsy sold page comes up?
Sorry about that!
Maybe Google:
Chain hook rusty iron steel heavy duty rust patina.
I do not pass up rusty lengths of chains and hooks,
especially if old (you just get to know them).
I usually ship them coiled in flat rate boxes.
Good profits.
Bread and buttery for me. -
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Total Items in Store: 440
Items Sold: 4
Cost of Items Sold: $73 + $18
Total Sales: $313
Highest Price Sold: $119 (tie – new clearance pillow shams bought same week $35, vintage needlepoint kit paid $10 at estate sale few months ago)
Average Price Sold: $73
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $18
Number of items listed this week: 20Mercari: 4 cross-posted (mugs, clothes) in 5 minutes, 0 sold last week, collected balance from prior sales directly to checking account fee free so paid 10% total fees)
A slower week than the last two for me. Happy the Fall update was mellow.
Did an estate sale around the corner all rookie wrong this week. Arrived 10 minutes early Sat. No dealers in line. House fairly full but all 70s brown not 50s and 60s. All the value totally picked already – no perfumes, huge full sewing room with no machines or kits, no desirable kitchen stuff. Come to find out it started on Friday AND the company sells consignment on Ebay. But, good since I have the death piles.
Enjoyed the talk and forum postings about pricing. I think there is an art to pricing items that fall along the availability spectrum between the totally unique hand carved nut bowl and the iphone case. This is where I’m rethinking my tendency to price high. For example, I was pricing vintage Pyrex bowls lately. There are say, 10 of the exact same bowl sold separately in basically the same condition. Interestingly, the lowest priced ones were not sold first. I priced mine on the high side but not at the top, pinned it, and it sold right away even though there were lower priced ones available. That’s why I was surveying the elves to see where people price in comparison to the highest solds. In the past, I’ve been going over the high solds and running 10-20% off sales. But, I’m thinking about going more like 85% of solds for items like this so I can get more velocity and clear my piles.
Have a great week. Enjoy your City time R&J. I saw the Eighth Grade movie you mentioned last week with my teen. It was well done.
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We don’t have kids, but I feel like Eighth Grade should be a required movie for any parent of a young teenager.
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It was fun and humorous and generated good talking points, especially if you have a teen girl. Super sad the part where the dad is trying to talk to her and she’d rather be scrolling her feed…
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That was my favorite part! And then really made the campfire scene more memorable.
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So Jay you and Ryanne have a “practice” infant now (nephew correct?) what do you think? LOL
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I don’t have kids – my wife and I are in our early 40’s and we still get bugged when we will have them several times a week!
I’ve been mean a few times – telling people that not everyone is “blessed with the ability to have kids” even though it isn’t the case with us. I feel bad sometimes saying it, but it does quiet them down immediately.
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8/6/18 – 8/12/18
Total Items in Store: 962
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $41
Total Sales: $608.17 (not including shipping)
Highest Price Sold: $85 (Typewriter)
Average Price Sold: $38.01
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $2,000+
Number of items listed this week: 77Soft sales and all lower dollar sales this week. Had limited time this week so I decided to focus on building inventory as I am very low on items to list. Hit a great auction along with some good old fashion picking and acquired a lot of great high dollar items. These will be much more fun to list and sell so I am looking forward to getting back on track with listing this week.
Absolutely agree with you on not making things unnecessarily complicated. I have started multiple small businesses, both profitable and not, and early on I was so enamored with research, tracking statistics, and shiny object syndrome that I spent way too much time on tasks that did little toward moving me to the ultimate goal of making more income.
I believe it is absolutely imperative when starting any new venture to keep it simple. Do the basics until you know them inside out and are making progress. Only then do you know where to try new tactics or tools to make you more efficient.
When it comes to selling on eBay, it is all about finding good items at a good price, listing them, and shipping them. Making it more complicated than that when you are still learning the basics is a form of procrastination at best, and a recipe for failure at worst.
Hope New York is treating you well, one of my favorite places to visit!
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A million times yes. Keep any new venture simple till you have mastered the basics. Then you add the shiny stuff. I feel a lot of people come to online selling later in their careers and bring all their bad habits and false expectations from their traditional careers. They want to run an eBay business like a Fortune 500 company.
You spent $2000+ on inventory this week?! What’d you buy?
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Absolutely, and bringing old bad habits in is a good insight. I am still tempted to overanalyze my eBay store but I just remind myself that I am not experienced enough to know it all, and that is alright.
One of the best lessons I have learned from you and Ryanne is the importance of just getting to work on listing. The best ways to learn, in my opinion, is through experience and mentors (but a mentor is just learning from their experience so maybe there is only one way)
I got a lot of original classic car parts (hundreds though I haven’t even begun to count them all), the type of stuff collectors and people restoring a car will want. This is an area I had only a little prior knowledge on but took the time to learn as there is so much of it in Michigan. I also found numerous advertising pieces. Lot’s of large items so I am looking at shipping options before listing those.
I am finding I really enjoy selling to collector’s. They appreciate the pieces, are willing to pay more, and I have never had an issue from a higher dollar collector trying to nickel and dime me.
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Pros to selling to collectors:
–willing to pay top dollar for rare items
–can be very appreciative when you take care in your photos, communication and shippingCons:
–are very picky and will be a problem if you dont disclose even minor imperfections.
–sometimes want to engage in long, non-relevant conversations.-
That last point is spot on! There are days where I don’t mind an excited buyer who sends these type of messages but there are other days where I just don’t have enough time and it can feel like a chore. But as of now I will take that over the type of issues I hear from clothing and commodity sellers. I compare buyers of pricier collector items to be more like the people shopping at the upscale consignment shop you visited in NY where the commodity buyers sound too similar to the nightmare shoppers I see yelling at the Walmart customer service counter employees. Couldn’t make enough money to coax me into dealing with that on a daily basis.
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Been away off and on for the past few weeks – birthday trip to Seattle & Portland, travelling for work, and visiting family. Haven’t posted fora while (although I have been listening to the show on planes & in hotels 🙂 ), so here are my numbers for the past 4 weeks.
Weeks July 15-Aug 11, 2018
Total Items in Store: 954
Items Sold: 49 (1 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $473 (26.3% of sales)
Total Sales: $1,801.40
Highest Price Sold: $175 (Valentino shoes https://www.ebay.com/itm/202206053669)
Average Price Sold: $36.76
Returns: 0 (1 case opened, although no return yet)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $385
Number of items listed this week: 70
Promoted listings test: 15 sales, $474.75 (26.4% of total sales), $38.38 fees (8.1% of sales)Decent, although not great for 4 weeks. Had some extended handling time, although never more than +5 days because in my travels I did come home for a few days at a time and got shipping done while home. Ran some sales and actually sold some “mistakes” – didn’t lose any money on them, but they were less profitable than I like (percentage-wise) because I got caught up and paid too much. Don’t really like calling them mistakes, but learnings.
– the Valentino shoes above – paid $125 for them thinking I could get over $300 but only got $175
– United Airlines silverware – paid $45 and sold for $125 https://www.ebay.com/itm/192599345886
– Pink Floyd Division Bell LP – paid $50 and sold for $140 https://www.ebay.com/itm/202356753613
– Tom Petty Full Moon Rising LP – paid $20 and sold for $80 https://www.ebay.com/itm/202370719261In my days home, I got a good bit of listing done including backlogs of records, baskets of smalls, death piles. Chugging forward to Q4 which is less than 6 weeks away now! 🙂
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It’s fun to see all the trips that you guys take paid for by your eBay profits. We love the PNW.
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Yeah, ideally we wanted to visit Scandinvaia, but my wife could only get a week off and we felt like we needed at least 10 days. PacNW was an easy trip – flew to Seattle and stayed for 3 days, got a rental Mustang Convertible (was actually the cheapest option at only $25/day), drove through the Mt Rainier park, past Mt St Helens, then along the Columbia River to Portland. Stayed in Portland for 3 days, took a day trip to the Willamette Valley (Oregon’s wine country). Very cool, very relaxing trip. I found that Seattle was more interesting, more things to do, but Portland seemed very livable – very similar in my mind to Pittsburgh with the rivers, mountains, and old industrial buildings turned chic. We had AirBnbs in both places and Portland’s was far nicer.
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J & R, I am fairly certain that the “bug” regarding waist sizes that you encountered when bulk editing the jackets was not a glitch. Ebay periodically does away with entire product categories, or reassigns them. I had the same issue with some old tweed jackets of mine very recently. The original category number that I had used, #3002, is no longer available. I had to move them over to #182046 (Clothing, Shoes & Accessories > Vintage > Men’s Vintage Clothing > Suit Jackets & Blazers). When using bulk edit, I think eBay’s AI recognizes your suit jacket or blazer as being contemporary or new, where there are more item specifics required. They don’t communicate this well, though. If you ended each item and tried to relist it, you’d probably then receive an error message saying that the category is invalid. Make sense?
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Makes sense: a merging of categories.
–So will all men’s suit jackets need to have a waist size? or is that a bug?
–How do you properly measure waist size on a jacket?-
On the issue of the sport coats: I called eBay IMMEDIATELY and they realized that the Waist Item specific should not have been on there for Sport Coats. It WAS a requirement for Suits. When they merged, they didn’t change that.
Answer: Use the Does Not Apply at the bottom of the list of items for Waist. Also, there is a new Item Specific for Type: Sport Coat / Blazer / Suit / etc. Fill that in as well.
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PS – I actually DO measure the waist (layed flat across the second button), as it tells what the drop is (fit), but I know that ain’t what they are looking for. They need to remove this as a Mandatory for this category now, but I’m betting they stick with “Does Not Apply”.
PSS – Does Not Apply didn’t exist when I called them up. They realized their mistake and added it after that.
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Listened to the podcast on my way to the contract gig, will post numbers later. My thoughts:
100000000% agreement on keep it simple when you start. Find good items, take good photos, list on the platform, ship. Repeat. Use a spreadsheet to track your numbers. Done. Veronica did a great job on our business by herself without ANY backend (I stayed out until 2011 when I wanted to start, and then in 2013 when we got serious). Keep your focus on sourcing good items and listing well until small things get better. Watch your processes as you do them and make improvements as you go (KAIZEN or LEAN). We are an LLC now, with SixBit, with ShipRush, on multiple platforms…but we started without ANY of that. Do the right things right first, add and improve as you go.
Loved how Ryanne spent the time to learn the new software. Any implementation takes time (ours was a good week to get everything the way I wanted in SixBit), but then it pays off with good processes and more knowledge down the road.
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I love the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabiCharacteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
It’s not usually applied to business, but it certainly helps me know that there will be no perfection for us when selling online because the platform (ebay), the market (what people buy), scavenging (what we can find) will always be changing.
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Bingo .. Amen brother.
Took me a long time [maybe a month or two] to aclimate to WL.
To answer Jay and Ryanne, we do everything within WonderLister. It does everything Ebay does only better and faster but you have to learn what it does, where everything is and how to navigate it, just like you have to do with the first time you ever list on Ebay.
WL has a full WYSIWYG listing & photo editor attached to the description section as does SB. All HTML tools if you want to use them or not. It can save thousands of drafts and we create folders for the different types of template drafts to be stored in.
Our new helper started today. She spent 3 hours training on WL with the help of our first assistant on Friday and then started today. She has created 15 drafts ready for my final review this morning using our generic vintage item template and she has never done anything like this before.
as far as simple goes. To those who already pocess the knowledge of how to keep thousands of inventory items organized, understand business policies in depth and operations procedures, then running an online business like a business IS SIMPLE. Pulling a real P&L stament and reading and comprehending it is just as fast for me as looking over your Ebay statement. Just SOP for us. Also automating as much as possible so it just happens is of benefit also. Ryane you down load data into Go Daddy don’t you? Well you could do that manually by using a pencil and paper to reconcile, but you don’t, but that is complicated not simple. It is only simple because you have pre-assigned categories to each line item and it is automatic and as you have said in the past, all you have to do is go over a few things at the first of each month. So there you go, no difference.
What is complicated is how Ebay creates so many rules then creates exceptions to the rules, then implements seasonal changes, and issuing so many updates and we as sellers don’t know exactly what all those changes may impact. Doesn’t it make you wonder, that most of the discussion here on the SL forums is about the Ebay procedures instead of basic business procedures. We could go a whole year and never discuss basic business SOP’s but bet we can’t go one week without discussing an issue about Ebay, from Ebay or what to do about Ebay things = Complexity to me.
Ebay is the one that adds complexity to our making money online, not our business practices and procedures.
But that is just the opinion of an old, senior artist turned business man and that and $.50 will get you a third of a cup of coffee.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Yep, WL seems to work for you. As long as WL keeps up with all the eBay changes every quarter, then sounds like a good solution.
Are there still places where you can buy a cup of coffee for 50-cents?
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Notice I said a “third of a cup”. But these days it is more like another $4.00 plus that $.50. 🙂
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I looked at the WL forum the other day and saw 8,000 members. I actually wonder how many people have subscribed to all of the 3rd party apps out there and use them exclusively to manage online selling on any of the platforms and what that number is compared to those who use the Ebay form only? HHhhhmmmmm….
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To piggy-back on Mike’s answer, here is what we do:
All listing, relisting, and inventory management is on SixBit. We only use eBay to resend invoices to buyers who have not paid, or to manage a return (process the return on eBay to provide the refund, then process the return on SixBit to put back into inventory to relist).
All Shipping is through ShipRush. PS – THAT is were I would like eBay to continue to evolve. ShipRush is free to us, but manages ALL our shipping (even Etsy/Bonanza/TrueGether (though TG is manual)). Hire out the tool, provide the free tool.
Sales (when we run them) are managed on eBay, as are Promoted Listings.
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T-Satt,
Why is shiprush free for you? Sorry if I dont get the hire out the tool, get the free tool reference. Affiliate program or something?
I tried shiprush but found it did the exact same thing as going through ebay print label page, except they wanted me to pay for it.
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michael d: You should be able to get ShipRush free if you sign up through the eBay website
https://apps.ebay.com/selling?appId=my.shiprush.com
We use it because it is multi-platform (all eBay, Bonanza, and Etsy orders automatically go there), we can get one SCAN sheet for the USPS at the end of the day (much easier than the bulk shipping tool on eBay and the SCAN sheet is CRITICAL to our process), and we can pay for shipping on our cash back credit card.
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We don’t sell on Etsy, stopped Bonanza when they started creating alot of double sales.
Cant use it for amazon because it will not carry over our location codes. So we would have to print packing slips on shiprush and then look up the location codes on our inventory software.
The scan sheet feature is nice, I wish they would add in other marketplaces. We do alot of business through alibris, barnes and nobles and a few other sites. I know you can manually create labels but kind of a pain. Maybe I can try it again, its been awhile since we first tested it out. Perhaps they added in some kind of new import features for amazon. Thanks for the info.
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Week of Aug 5 – 11
* Total Items in Store: 1224
* Items Sold: 13
* Cost of Items Sold: $17 + $15.22 Commission
* Total Sales: $388.21
* Highest Price Sold: $78 Vintage Red Cross Uniform
* Average Price Sold: $29.86
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $50
* Number of items listed this week: 13I was actually in NYC on Friday. I took my kids to the Museum of Modern Art. We also walked around, and I ended up buying a 1857 book of patents from a used book store for $1. The place is called Argosy at 116 E 59th St, if you have the time and want a different place to scavenge. Not all their stuff is cheap, but they have $1 racks out in front.
I had a decent week for the summer mostly because of selling three listings of vintage American Red Cross uniforms. I listed them all the previous week. Perhaps I underpriced them, but I was happy to get some decent sales like that during the summer. I did do my research, so perhaps they were just desirable.
On the other hand, I ran auctions on 13 items just to get some sales and traffic, and not one sold. I’m keeping with it. I figure I’ll save a bit on listing fees if anything. I had to change the category to collectables for a few in order to get the free auction listings.
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Not a bad week for sales…
Sales: CAD$1226, 6 items, COGS: $106 –> item profit: $919
Expenditures: $493 –> after tax cashflow: $293
Listed: $1029, 8 items
Notable sales: industrial light fixtures $30–>$300 with lots left to sell, POS displays $40–>$455 with half left to sell.OK so technically this is today but I’m excited. Just got about 150 voip phones for $75, picking up another maybe 100 tomorrow for the same price. Used these should be $30 phones but say 20, I think this might be a $5000 pick for about $150 cost.
Oh, on inkfrog. Did you guys successfully back up your photos or just the text of the listings? That was why I cancelled, couldn’t make the photos upload.
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Yep, inkfrog synced up our entire store with all the listings including text + photos. We’re going to use it as a backup for now.
Did you have issues trying to list directly on inkfrog? We havent tried tht.
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That’s good to know. Maybe I’ll try it again just for backup. I do want a backup for sure.
Listing on inkfrog didn’t work well with my process. I take photos on my phone, then upload them to the mobile app, then complete the listing on the computer. Inkfrog seemed to only work with upload from the desktop. It seems trivial but I didn’t really want to change.
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Yep, this is our issue. Our helpers take photos on the phone in a scheduled listing. Then complete the listing on the laptop. As you said, Inkfrog doesn’t see the listing until it’s live.
This isnt a trivial issue IMHO. They told us to take photos on a camera and transfer photos. Too clunky for our tastes.
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Jay: That is interesting. Inkfrog doesn’t pull in your scheduled listings?
With SixBit, it will pull in your scheduled listings on eBay (this was part of our process before we got Veronica on SixBit on her laptop.
Is there a setting in Inkfrog that would pull in your scheduled listings?
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Have you all experimented with using airdrop? Then your helpers could do all the listing in inkfrog, go take pictures and airdrop to the mac, and finish up the listing by uploading the photos. Cropping would be almost be eliminated by swapping between 4:3 and square formats in the phone camera app. If you are on iOS 11 (I’m 11.4) there are now a lot of great white balance filters that fix the issues photographing blue items on a white background.
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We could absolutely take photos on a camera and use airdrop or dropbox to transfer photos. Then upload the photos to a listing. This is exactly how we did it for years.
But that feels like going backwards. We love that you can take photos in the eBay app on the phone…and they get automatically uploaded to eBay. It’s really made our listing much faster.
We dont need to crop or adjust photos that our helpers take. They crop in camera, plus we use natural sunlight so colors always look good.
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Just finished listening to the podcast.
I think a lot of people prefer to do the beginning parts of any new thing that catches their interest, and then maybe or maybe not to proceed to go through with the rest of it.
Write a novel? Buy a new laptop. Maybe write on it for a few weeks or months. Never get anything published.
Start a band? Buy a fancy new guitar. Play on it for a few weeks.
New Year’s? Exercise until the middle of January.
Start an ebay business? Wow, there are all these intricate parts to it. I can pretend to be a business person for a few weeks, while never actually listing anything for sale. It’s so interesting to think of all of what goes into making a business. By the time they are done reading up on it, they’re exhausted and will move onto the next thing.
OR
If they start out getting good stuff and do well with it for a month or two while thrifting, get exhausted by month 5 when they realize they have exhausted all of their thrifts and knowledge. Complain when actual work and research is involved. Quit.
For third-party tools, yeah, it is sort of exhausting to have to buy all of these extra services to “help” what should be easy. Still, it is the actual knowledge of which services to buy, how to use it in your business, how to set-it up so it makes life easier for you, etc,. that eventually do make your life easier. If Ebay was any easier to use, there would be 100000x more people doing it. Having at least a little barrier to entry to make it a little more difficult to use is a good thing for f/t sellers.
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The older we get, the more friends we see talk endlessly about the businesses they’re going to start. Like you said, it’s more like they’re in a movie and they need to get into character and buy all the props. But when realty hits and its time to do the work, the movie is no fun anymore.
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almasty: “For third-party tools, yeah, it is sort of exhausting to have to buy all of these extra services to “help” what should be easy. Still, it is the actual knowledge of which services to buy, how to use it in your business, how to set-it up so it makes life easier for you, etc,. that eventually do make your life easier. If Ebay was any easier to use, there would be 100000x more people doing it. Having at least a little barrier to entry to make it a little more difficult to use is a good thing for f/t sellers.”
There is SOOO much good stuff you said in there….
Amen!
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Aug 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 1637
Items Sold: 22
Total Sales : $857
* above yearly average of $759
* above 2017 total week sales of $0 (Closed my store after the flood)
Highest Price: $190 (GM Oldsmobile Underhood Lamp Assembly Kit)
Average Price: $39
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $58
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $18
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 27I had a great week of sales! Though it felt like I sold way more than I actually did. But I’m happy with my totals for this time of year. Didn’t get to list as much as the previous week as life got in the way as it tends to do. But we did get to explore a different Goodwill Outlet store on Monday. Boy, that was an experience! It was way different than the outlet we were use to. More people and way more sketchy. But I scavenged some okay stuff. We probably won’t go back there but I’m glad we checked it out.
This morning I had a message on my phone from the post office. On Saturday, we had some packages to be picked up that I scheduled the night before. Well I forgot to put them out until it was too late. Oops, that was my fault… but no big deal since technically I didn’t have to have them mailed out until Monday. Well today I got a snarky voicemail from the postmaster saying the carrier came Saturday morning and our big package box was empty and it was a waste of her time and if I don’t have any packages for pickup then I need to not schedule a pickup or at least call and tell them before they come out. Huh? I don’t think this post office likes us very much. I tried to call back to explain myself but she had already left for the day. So on one hand, I hate to piss off our local post office who we rely on to do our business. But on the other hand, that kind behavior just isn’t very professional. I already bent to their will when I bought the outdoor patio box to store packages in so the carrier wouldn’t have to walk to our door.
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In all seriousness, a reliable mail pickup is key. If they did indeed make a special trip t pick up packages, you made a mistake. Say sorry and move on.
Our mail carrier drops off mail whether or not we have packages. We dont even tell them we have packages because she knows where to check.
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Jay: “In all seriousness, a reliable mail pickup is key.”
Agree. Why I’m having a discussion about getting on a regular pick up time. Our main carrier knows we are running a business and we are at the end of the route, no earlier than 3pm. When she is gone, they are there from 11am to 2pm, and we are Same Day Shipping at 2pm, so no bueno…
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this is why i set my cut off time for Same Day to 9am. seems crazy, but she picks up anywhere between 11-3. so i just never know.
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My Store Week August 5 – 11, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1098
Items Sold: 11
Total Sales: $302.14
Cost of Items Sold: $18.33
Promoted Listing Sales: 5
Ad Fees for Promoted Listings: $10.58
Highest Price Sold: $75 (Stetson Hat)
ASP: $27.47
STR: 4.3%
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $95
Number of items listed this week: 27Pretty typical week – just busy trying to list whenever I can. I did my monthly Goodwill Outlet visit this week and bought a whole trunk full of stuff dirt cheap to list over the next few weeks. Nothing too special but all bread and butter staples that I know will sell. I paid $12 for 7 pairs of name brand shoes and boots. I also bought a bag full of clothes, 2 mens suits, some 70’s art and costume jewelry, antique books, vintage bags and a collection of sealed train amazing journey VHS tapes and plenty of other odds and ends. I have been thinking I need to broaden my scavenging and figure out how to source better types of items if I am going to grow as a business. I know I need to check out the auction scene and step out of my comfort zone. I am frustrated that I am not making more money, but at least sales-wise, I have been fairly consistent. My STR seems low also, so maybe I’m either pricing too high or getting boring items.
Thank you, Jay and Ryanne, for your podcasts – I appreciate this forum so much! 🙂
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RR Store Week August 5-11, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1592
Items Sold: 21
Cost of Items Sold: $39.75
Total Sales: $542.09
Highest Price Sold: $74.99 (Tom Waits record)
Average Price Sold: $25.81
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 1Last week, I made an executive decision.
The past few months have been very difficult. My personal life basically took over, and I became completely distracted. As a result, I slowly began neglecting my eBay business. Sales dropped sharply. Thankfully, the personal problems I was having are mostly in the past, and things are finally on the right track. I’m in a much, much better place, but the business is still lagging. So, I took a friend up on his offer to be the shop manager at his newly opened barbershop. I’m not thrilled about working for someone else again after three years on my own, but the numbers don’t lie: I need to make more money, and quickly. Luckily, it’s a great shop, and I get along very well with all the guys. I’ve been a client of theirs for years, so it’s a very natural fit. Also, it’s literally on the street that I live on, so it’s a quick walk. No gasoline needed.
My new schedule is tough: five days working at the shop, and eBay on nights and weekends. It’s a lot of work, and I’m still adjusting, but I think it will work out fine. Eventually, I’m going to go down to three days at the shop as eBay starts to pick up again. In the mean time, I’ll be earning money for car repairs, new inventory, etc. Again, not my first choice, but I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do, and I couldn’t ask for a better place to do it in. And a bit more financial stability will reduce my stress levels dramatically. Onward.
Paul
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Rydell Relics,
Nice record sale. I am trying to dig into vinyl sales more, seems to be an odd niche to figure out. The sold listings have prices and conditions all over the place. What made that Tom Waits record sell higher than the $25 average? Just picked up a lot of Metallica and other metal bands but difficult to understand the price fluctuations on the sold comps.
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Thanks, michael d. I appreciate it.
I have the benefit of 16 years in music retail, so I’m a bit ahead of the learning curve. But I spent very little of that time grading records, so I had to learn that skill.
The price fluctuations are usually due to the pressing of the records. That Tom Waits record was the first pressing of his debut LP. Later pressings and reissues won’t command quite the same price because they aren’t as scarce. Also, the vinyl itself was in great shape; I believe I graded it as Excellent.
When I was first learning to grade, this site was a great resource. I still refer to it if I’m on the fence about a grade. And Goldmine is considered the industry standard.
Another invaluable tool is Discogs. I use it all the time to determine what pressings I have. It gets super detailed and nerdy, all the way down to the matrix numbers etched in the runout area at the end of a record. That kind of information is so important…downright crucial if you’re dealing with lots of different pressings, like Beatles records.
When people ask me what records are worth, I always answer the same: it’s all about title and condition. You could have an original Tom Waits first pressing, but if the vinyl is thrashed, it’s almost worthless. Conversely, if you have a pristine copy of “Color Me Barbra” by Barbra Streisand, it’s hardly worth anything because very few people are seeking it out. Plus, millions of copies were pressed, so it isn’t rare or special.
Hope this helps, and good luck! Old Metal vinyl can be worth a lot, as long as they’re in good shape!
Paul
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Rydell Relics
Thanks for the info. I am currently using discogs but as you said they can get into the weeds on specifics. Will check out the other guide.
Mike
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Echoing RR’s notes about vinyl sales. Discogs is an amazing resource. Matrix numbers in the deadwax are the best way to check which pressing/variation you have. Also know that UPCs were not manditory on all retail products until 1983 – so if you have a Led Zeppelin IV (released in 1971) with a UPC on the back cover, it’s a 1980s repressing.
All variables taken into account: Condition, Pressing Rarity, Band/Title, and so on. For example, I currently have 4x copies of The Rolling Stones Through the Past Darkly. https://ebay.to/2P8UOZz They range in price from $19.99 to $39.99 based on 1) original pressing or not, 2) condition of vinyl, 3) condition of sleeve, 4) era produced, 5) how many were originally produced, etc.
What I would suggest is that to start while you’re learning is stick to the basics and with the types of bands you know. Beatles, Stones, Floyd, Zep, etc will always be a good seller simply on name recognition. Beatles original presses command a premium because 1) they are still incredibly popular, 2) they are 50+ years old, 3) there were so many variations and label changes (Parlophone, Apple, Capitol, etc), 4) many were destroyed in the late 60s/early 70s when there was back lash against some of the things they were saying about race, religion, government, etc.
Original pressings are generally preferred over repressing (although PLENTY of exceptions exist to this rule). The lower the run, the better, like 90s as an example – by then it was all cassettes & cds so very few records were produced. Original 90s pressings of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, REM, U2, etc are highly saught after just because very few were ever made.
Get to know what record label logos looked like over the years – Columbia records has been around forever, and their logo and labels on the vinyl have changed; based on what the logo looks like also helps determine age & thus value (http://www.cvinyl.com/labelguides/columbia.php) – my Miles Davis Milestones on a “six eye” Columbia label is likely worth nearly $200, but the same LP on a “one eye” Columbia label is likely only worth a couple bucks.
I could go on for days on the info that I’ve learned by simply being in the game for the past 3 years, but hopefully this gives you a good start.
Most importantly, ENJOY THE MUSIC!
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Rydell: Sorry to hear you are having to get a “regular” job again, but glad it is in a place you like and with people that respect you. We are still lucky that I have my contract gig to plug the holes, especially in the summer. The full time live is not easy, takes lots of time to build the business and the ability to have a low cash burn. This is why Jay and Ryanne have been successful: Low cash requirements and 10+ years to build up 8000 items in their store.
You will be back, just keep plugging away!
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And we also take 2-4 contract jobs a year as well. We dont depend on the money, but it certainly is a nice cash injection to keep pushing our plans ahead.
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Thanks T-Satt. I needed those encouraging words. And thanks for the big update last week! So much great info.
Paul
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Thanks for the podcast Ryanne & Jay – Glad you guys are enjoying New York. Sounds like a fun break from the usual.
eBay is a fickle animal.
The previous week I had the best week of the year for me with 50 sales totaling over $1500.
For the week that has just ended, I had my worst week of the year with 16 sales totaling just $368
I hadn’t made any material changes to my store or listings. (In fact about the only think I did of note was to update 3/4 of my listings to have free returns. ). I did the usual amount of listing last week.Hopefully things have turned around. Today alone, I’ve made 9 sales worth $256 so in one day I’ve made almost 2/3rds of what I made all last week. Go figure.
Glad you guys got InkFrog figured out. I can certainly appreciate the concern and risk involved in moving large quantities of listings from one store to another. You have to have a lot of faith in a tool to do that.
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Yep, its been very slow for us the past couple days. Barely $100 a day. But usually a week is a long enough time for things to even out. A month always has enough sales to feel consistent.
Sellers (not you) that microscopically obsess over their hourly/daily numbers predictably create unneeded anxiety. They’re the ones that slash prices and spiral down into making no money.
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The last two podcasts have really made me think about my eBay store and where I am currently and where I’m going with the whole shebang. My focus is different than many of you. Since I am retired and have a steady income, my eBay store serves as my version of a part time job. It’s extremely flexible, which is important when you are a caregiver. It also supplements my income and allows me little luxuries I had to give up financially when I retired. (I really love good wine and manicures) Don’t get me wrong, I am always looking for ways to save money, but some days I would rather eat out than cook. My favorite part is the sourcing-I love a good treasure hunt. I also like the research part-Old reference librarians never stop looking for answers. If it wasn’t for my husband the retired accountant and listening to your podcasts, I probably wouldn’t do my numbers regularly or pay attention to taxes. Even though I am under the threshold, I pay quarterly taxes. I keep everything as simple as possible. My goal is not to create more work for myself, I am retired after all.
Here’s an example of my splurging on myself. I would never have found this if I hadn’t been scavenging for inventory. I spent $28 dollars and it makes me smile every time I see it.
Ditto on the mail carrier making the difference. We got a new carrier about 2 months ago and all those problems I used to have simply disappeared. I did have a customer email this week and ask about whether an item had been delivered. It was one of those rare things I used postage stamps on, so I didn’t have a way to track it. She went on to tell me about the terrible mail service in her town. I’m probably going to have to do a refund, but I haven’t heard back from her yet. Slower week this week. Lots of low dollar items, but I look at it as good riddance because it makes room for higher priced items.
eBay August 5-11
Total sales. $114.22
# sold. 14
Avg sale. $8.15
Returns. 0
COGS. $8.81
$ spent on new. $27.60
# new listed. 22
Highest sale. $20 girls coral Levi’s jean jacket -
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Nice podcast. The only third-party app I use for ebay is monsoon, our book inventory software. Other than that I have a hard time paying for an app or site if I can do the same work myself. Ive tried inkfrog, sixbit, shiprush and shipworks. Just seemed faster to list and ship the item directly through ebay.
Good sales this week, vintage Triumph gas tank for $200, J.K. Rawlings Harry Potter book for $140 and Teac reel to reel for $125.
Went to the Rt. 11 yard crawl in Virginia, 42 miles for yard sales and flea markets. Only made it about halfway through before running out of energy, money and car space. Picked up some good finds and learned that I need to start on Friday morning instead of Saturday.
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Sorry if I missed your answer on another thread, but now that you work alone:
–how are you handling the amount of inventory that you purchase?
–what percentage of your sales are on Amazon vs eBay?-
Jay,
Let go off the two part time workers last August, they were causing more of headache than helping. I have one contract employee that goes to one charity three times a week to procure books, I go to the other sites twice a week. The other three days I’m in the office, listing and packing. Books are easy to list, I just scan an ISBN code into an excel sheet and list the condition. Roughly 60 books and hour. Its the other items that are piling up, going to hire someone now that school is starting up again.
Roughly 60/30/10 split amazon, ebay, other.
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Week of 8/5-8/11
Total Items in Store: 2,471 (Up 54% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 137
Number of Items Sold: 68 (Up 28% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether)
Weekly STR: 12% (Down 3% YOY)Total Product Sales: $2,116 (Up 115% YOY)
Cost of Items Sold: $524
Highest Item Sold: $140 (tie) – United Airlines Employee 2018 Winter Olympics Air Raider Action Figure & Chippewa General Utility Copper Caprice Bridgeman Boots
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week (and she had them BOTH!) and Veronica leads for the year 19-13eBay Clothing
# Listed: 1,596
# Sold: 45
STR: 12%
ASP: $25.15eBay Shoes
# Listed: 339
# Sold: 13
STR: 16%
ASP: $49.92eBay Hard Goods
# Listed: 536
# Sold: 9
STR: 7%
ASP: $33.55Etsy Hard Goods
# Listed: 156
# Sold: 1
STR: 3%
ASP: $34.86Business Improvement for the Week – Begin CrossPosting to Poshmark. Yeah, I need to get on this one. I can make the excuse that my contract job took up 30 hours last week, but excuses don’t get it done. Gotta get started this week…
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8/5 – 8/11
Total Items in Store: 2580
Items Sold: 37
Cost of Items Sold: $30.70
Total Sales: $1234
Highest Price Sold: $128 (Vintage redwing Irish Setter Boots)
Average Price Sold: $33.35
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $17.50
Number of items listed this week: 55Not listing as many as I would like, I’ve been doing some rock foundation work for my brother in law. Gigs, ya know? Sales consistent and good.
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Okay Jay, here it is, sorry if I ramble a bit but lots of thoughts all trying to get out at the same time! I spent a large chunk of the last year growing my store. I have maxed out my 1,000 free buy it now listings. I am utilizing more of the auction listings as a way to list more items without a fee. I am at the point where I need to up my store to anchor level or be content where I am now. As long as my dad is alive and my husband has health issues, I don’t think going to the next level is an option right now. I’m not sure I could list enough to justify the extra cost. Since it’s summer and garage sale season, I’m having some death pile issues. I think reading the forum posts are incredibly helpful, but can also lead to ‘trying to keep up with the Jones’. I really wish eBay would make a store level between where I am and anchor level. Last week I finally decided to list more items taking me over the 1,000 free items. I am taking out older items that are under $10 as eBay gives me the 16 month warning message, especially books. I am also looking into booth space at a store in town. Bottom line, I need to mold this into something that is profitable but works for me, not me working for it. Finding items to sell is my favorite part, so I need to keep doing that without becoming a hoarder. I like my little part time business, so I just need to keep tweaking it until it becomes a lean mean money making machine.
Sorry Retro, Heinz is fixed. Which makes me a little sad, because I think he would make beautiful babies!
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retiredtreasures719: I think that is the right mindset, making the business fit you.
Since you like to do the sourcing, is it possible for you to hire out the listing or photography? If you have enough profit in each item to pay $2-$3 per item for someone else to do one part, or $5 to do both photography and listing, it might help to grow the business and not burn you out.
Fair warning, that doing that will create a cash flow hole in the short term. You are paying for the labor now while the item will sell later. How much later will depend on your type of store. For us, I predicted a 4-month cash flow hole that is coming true right now, as we are seeing the benefits in August from the work we paid for starting in April. Lower STR stores will take longer to show the benefits of labor paid today.
This will mean that you go over your 1000 “free” listings, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue. The Premium Store is $60/mo for 1,000 fixed price listings, so that is $.06/listing. Everything over 1,000 listings is $.10/listing, so $.04 more.
Just trying to see if I can help you build up your store since you have a backlog and like the shopping, it is mainly the listing and cash sides that are the pain points right now. But if you can work through that, then it will pay off in the long run.
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I think an easy fix for going over the 1k free listing limit would be to remove all items that are under $10. Depending on how many listings you have in the lower price range, that should bring you back into “free” listing territory.
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T-Satt it was getting over the mental hurdle of going over 1,000 listings. I basically had only been listing enough to replace sold items. Since I made the decision to go over and pay the per listing fee, I have been listing at least 2x as much as I was. If I can hammer out an agreement with the local shop owner on booth space, that will free up even more space. Space is a big issue, trying very hard to keep my eBay stuff in my office. I have started storing some stuff in my garage, but I still have boxes of my dad’s stuff from when I moved him into assisted living out there. Maybe this will motivate me to start going through them!
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retiredtreasures719: Gotcha. Space is an issue for a lot of us. We have a large house, but we don’t wan to live in the business. This is part of the reason for getting an outside storage unit, so that the main living area of our house has no business in it, and also gives us a spare bedroom upstairs and a living area downstairs for guests (which we always seem to have!)
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Your podcast is such good common sense. Starting a business shouldn’t be that complicated, especially starting an Ebay business.
Jay, why don’t you look in garbage bags on the curb in NYC if you want to? If they’re on the right-of-way, it’s legal. If someone put out $5000 boots, I’d definitely be taking a peek in whatever bags they put out with them. It might be gross old food and dirty diapers, but it also might be a bunch of other $$$ stuff. If it’s embarrassment that is stopping you, just remember that 1) you’ll never see these people again and 2) the people walking by probably don’t even see you even if they’re looking at you. People are infinitely more concerned with themselves generally lol. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been hassled while curbside shopping, and when it happened I just left. No big deal.
Sales have been pretty slow for me, so my numbers aren’t really worth posting. Hope it picks up soon.
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In rural areas, you quite possibly could get shot going through someone’s trash. At the least you may have a gun pointed at you at some point.
It may be a cultural/location kinda thing. Here in WV, you don’t go through trash. It’s a big no-no. Having said that, most folks trash is still on their private property when picked up.
Apparently there is a legal precedent set by the supreme court that makes trash picking legal if the trash has been set out on the public property (street curb outside of private property lines) for collection.
My own personal opinion: My trash can is my property and I don’t want folks going through my bags or my can. If my kid gets lazy or forgetful and hops off their bike or Powerwheels next to my trash can, I don’t want to have to worry about someone assuming it is trash and taking it when I’m not out there.
GET OFF MY LAWN!! 🙂
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I agree that we shouldn’t be embarrassed to go through trash bags on the street. During the day, the streets are full of people and we’d basically be like homeless people. We should really do it late at night when the streets are empty.
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In one of the communities I use to live in, they would have a week every year that people could put out anything on the curb, and anyone could pick it up to “freecycle”. This had multiple benefits, including the town saving cash by not having to haul all this stuff to a landfill.
The problem was people abused it – they would look past the curb, and start stealing chairs, plants, and anything not bolted down off of people’s front yards, porches, gardens, etc. and it got cancelled.
What was a great idea for scavengers, and people looking to get rid of stuff turned into a free for all for a few thieves.
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An organization in my town does a freecycling event as well, but it is held in a parking lot and not at peoples’ homes. Actually, I started volunteering for this organization last year, and I am now organizing this event. I don’t source at the event because it’s not allowed, but I do grab boxes and maybe something that is about to go into the dumpster. Our next one is for Oct 6.
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Lol! Honestly though, so what? A street full of people you will never see again think you are homeless? You are laughing all the way to the bank, buying your own time with their castoffs while they stress about how to pay for the stuff they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like! I wouldn’t go late at night since I think that that would be a little scary, but if you aren’t scared and it makes you more comfortable, go for it 🙂 I’ve seen youtube videos of “dumpster diving tours” of NYC at night so it’s a thing there for sure.
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We love Sebastian Maniscalco…
Loved the bit below, jump to 1:52 for the section that is for Resellers…
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Total items in store 392
Items sold: 2
Total Sales: $53
Average price: $26
Cost of items sold: $4
Gross profit: $49
Highest item sold $35 Quacker Factory Cardigan
Would have just sighed, listed more and said soft week. BUT, I have just taken the big leap (for me) and upgraded my store to Premium. This was my first week at the new level. So those numbers hurt.
On the plus side I picked up 2 sets of Tony Lamas and 1 Lucchese. Time for Cowboys.-
Congrats on making a commitment to investing in yourself and your store. It is a big deal to commit to filling a premium store. The sales will come. Eventually you will be disappointed in $500 weeks instead of $50 weeks.
On paper going from 390 to 1000 items doesn’t sound too bad, but it is an order of magnitude more work, effort, skill, and time to manage correctly.
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T-Satt: There are several thrifts around by here that do bag sales. One does it the first of the month for $2 paper grocery bag. I leave with a bunch of clothes for pennies a piece. The other store does bag sale everyday they are open. Another thrift I go to frequently has everything for $1 to $2. And they have all sorts of amazing vintage and high end items. Other than that at estate sales clothes are usually $1 to $2. Because I do well with these items, I don’t normally spend more than a few dollars. I did buy some unworn World War II service boots for $20 a few weeks ago 😂
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Question about Preference Settings on the Returns.
We utilize the 30 Day Free Returns program. We don’t get many returns. In the past, for the few we do get, we have gotten emails form the buyers and we state to request a refund from their Buyer dashboard. We use the Hassle Free returns program so they get an automatic return label. Ebay even says wait until you receive the item back before you issue the refund.
The other day though we get a notice that Ebay did an automatic refund of $29.61 to a buyer. She had contacted us that day and we sent a reply saying to ask for a return and she would get a label to return a pair of shoes. But seems this time Ebay did an auto refund and no request for a return.
So I checked our shipping preferences, which I think Ebay pretty much ignores now anyway, especially in these Free Returns and Hassle Free Returns programs. But our preferences does say auto REFUND of under $250 but only for the 3 or 4 reasons. This request did not fit any of those reasons.
I have checked Doesn’t work or defective, doesn’t match descrip., wrong item sent, missing parts or arrived dameged.
Just wondering which preferences most of you guys are using and what dollar amount you have selected for an auto return. Guess I should lower that way down so maybe Ebay will ask me before doing it automatically.?
In this case the buyer said she bought the shoes for her old mom and they started to pull away or tear at the top seam where the sides attached to the shoe tongue. These were new in the Box NIB and never worn but could have been a few years old. But could be from poor ability to put them on, or over stretch or whatever. So I aksed for them back and expected an auto return label to be sent, but not an auto refund. I know I will never get them back now, but wondering why auto refund kicked in if her reason was not one of the ones checked unless she calimed defective.
So I am wondering if I should uncheck that as a preference reason for auto refund or maybe just cancel – delte the auto refund all togther but think that kicks us out of the Hassle Free Returns which I think then kills the TRSP status doesn’t it?
Just curious. The amount doesn’t make or break us, just cost of doing business and we get so few anyway.
Mike at MDC Galleries
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Mike: We only had the eGD Auto Approval of RETURN turned on, but I looked at the other rules, and we set up an Auto Approval of a RETURN for thinks like “Changed Mind”, Doesn’t Fit”, etc.
We don’t Auto Approve of a REFUND at all. Ain’t doing that at our level of the business for now.
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Hi Mike,
I don’t have any “automatic refunds” reasons checked. I only have “automatic approval” selected so for any and all reasons the buyer will be given a label and must send the item back first and then I will (manually) determine the refund. (We get to choose the amount refunded because of free returns, but I have always chosen 100% – I like having the option to do less in case there is ever an issue – ie: something is returned damaged but I have never had to do that.) This preference has not affected TRSP.-
Hi EbayMom & Troy: That is what we thought we had set-up also a long time ago, but all of a suddent aht auto refund popped in. We think this got changed somehow during all of the Ebay Updates and us opting in on some of the new changes and requirements.
Sure we opted into “Hassle Free Returns”.. as I have said before, don’t phish us for partial refunds, if you are unhappy for any reason, send it back and we will refund you. Most of the time by calling their bluff it never comes back. But Hassle Free no Questions asked full auto refunds is not something we would do either, but this item showed up.
I went and deleted out the rule that indicated auto returns. All tha is left is an auto return rule to generate a shipping label for the buyer.
The existing rule we had didn’t have all reasons selected, but you mentioned you checked off for any and all reasons, correct? I guess that would cover the doesn’t fit, didn’t like it and it’s not the right color, and all that other stuff. Guess our position is and should be, we don’t care, you are unhappy, just send it back. After we get it and inspect it, we will decide on how much to refund. But this gets us into that Hassle Free Returns, but atleast it will no longer be an automatic refund.
I know Ebay is going to look at this and do a review, but goving a buyer a full refund AND the return shipping is like taking an article back to a local dept. store, asking for a refund for whatever reason and that is fine, but then having the gall to also ask the retail store to pay you for your gas, oil, wear ond tear on your car and tires for the trip to bring the item back for the return. Any big box store will say go jump.
I am good with full product refund and even the one way shipping, part of doing business but then the return shipping also? Think Troy [T-Satt] said they will be looking at that and I heard some people at the Q&A sessions asking about that also.
Ryanne.. used to say she didn’t have all of the reasons for a return checked and would accept. But just the ones that seemed to indicate an error on their part as a seller. wonder if Ryanne has decided to check off accepting a return for all the reasons listed? J&R??
Mike at MDCG in Atl.
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I don’t do weekly numbers anymore but I will say that my etsy revenue is up 20% comparing the same time last year. For the last couple of weeks, combining ebay and etsy, receipts are around the $650 mark, for summer I am fine with that and I am under no pressure to make more since I do not pay the bills in this house, so any money I make is pocket money. Sadly the local auction house where I got great stuff closed but I recently found a thrift store that has old fashioned pricing, for example I got a Victorian box for $2.
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I’ve been experiencing a glitch with men’s bottoms size. I’ve been trying to bulk edit my return time, but all my men’s pants are getting the boot. Even though the size is already noted in the listing, ebay has added a new size field which requires me to add the size again in order to post with changes. Le sigh.
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