Scavenger Life Episode 391: Trash Elf Holidayz

[Ryanne]

Happy Holidays! We’ve been enjoying our NYC time, buying discount stuff, finding clothes and house accessories in the trash and then packing it all up with discarded boxes and peanuts and shipping it home! Hope everyone is having a relaxing and prosperous holiday time! Thanks to everyone giving us tips on the tip jar, that’s so nice of you, we really appreciate it.[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 391: Trash Elf Holidayz]

[BrianB]

Merry Christmas J&R and fellow scavengers!

[Mark S]

2018-12-16 – 2018-12-22

Total Items In Store: 2,594
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $80
Total Sales: $1030
Highest Price Sold: $165 (Vintage Cornet)
Average Price Sold: $51.50
# Items Listed: 24
Money Spent
on New Inventory: $108

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gut Sales Report for the week: Good sales again.

Challenge of the week: I am going to take this Holiday break to “fix” things in my business that need fixed. Also, look for ways to improve all areas of the business. This will also be a time of reflection on how to push the business forward in 2019. I will do a little listing, but mostly fixing, planning, and strategy for the future. Getting my COGS in order will also be a priority.

Scavenge of the week: Two things:

1. This is an item(s) that sold this week for about $300. The funny thing is that a garage sale this summer just gave them to me! It was a huge box of Stamp binders. I had to think twice about taking them even for free because they took up so much room. But I took them and sold a bunch of them for about $300 this week. I still have 6 left.

2. Went to an estate sale and picked up 7 pair of work boots. The average selling price is only about $35. But when is the last time you found 7 pair of work boots all in one place? I never have.

I heard a very sad story at an estate sale this week. I will try to tell the story in the “Random Thoughts” section later in the week.

Mark S

[The_SEAM_Store]

Merry Christmas, safe travels everyone.

This was my best week ever!

December 16-22 2018
Total Items in Store: 3664
Items Sold: 109 orders for a total of 126 items.
Gross Sales: $7484.16
Cost of Items Sold: $515
Highest Price Sold: $744.14 (vintage tube stereo amp)
Average Price Sold: $59.40
Average Order Price $68.66
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 82

Also, surpassed my Q4 sales goal on Friday.

Scavenge of the week: I was getting ready to list a stack of empty gucci shopping bags in a lot. One of them felt a little thicker than usual. I reached inside and pulled out a stiff envelope with a $250 Gucci gift card in it. Not sure how long I’ve had them, months. Sold the gift card for $192 to cardkangaroo. Not much you can buy at Gucci for under $250. Works for me. Nothing like free money.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

[simplicio]

Wow, those are remarkable numbers!

[Jay]

I dont think I’ve asked you this yet. If you’re pulling in over $5k a week after expenses, what do you do with the money? Anything special?

[The_SEAM_Store]

I dont think I’ve asked you this yet. If you’re pulling in over $5k a week after expenses, what do you do with the money? Anything special?

Whatever is left after paying the bills is usually re-invested in inventory, saved for next summers slowdown cushion, sent in as an extra mortgage premium payment, and of course saved for some fun vacation time.

Love your numbers Seam Store! You are at the level we want to get to, so I will love following you and seeing that it is possible. 15% STR is nice as well. You are obviously picking quality items that get a solid ASP. Very nice!

Thanks, keep in mind that’s my best week ever, not really my normal week at all, though one day hopefully it will be. I think my average is only about $3500/week this year, which isn’t too bad considering my wife had surgery this summer and I spent several weeks taking care of her. I can’t imagine if I had to leave her in bed every day to go to a traditional job somewhere, so glad I could be here to baby her.

[T-Satt]

Amen on surgery recovery…that is VERY fresh on my mind right now…

[T-Satt]

Love your numbers Seam Store! You are at the level we want to get to, so I will love following you and seeing that it is possible. 15% STR is nice as well. You are obviously picking quality items that get a solid ASP. Very nice!

[Mark S]

Great Sales The_SEAM_Store!

I posted that sad story I mentioned above. Here is the link to it:

Sad story I heard this week. Makes me thankful to sell online!

Mark

[Sharyn]

Week of Dec 16 – 22
* Total Items in Store: 1310 eBay, 10 Mercari
* Items Sold: 13 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $28.90 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $247.84
* Highest Price Sold: $34 Men’s Large Carhartt vest
* Average Price Sold: $19.06
* Returns: 1 (+1 refund damaged in transit)
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $91.71
* Number of items listed this week: 43

My week was only so-so plus someone opened a return and I had one item damaged in transit. Still happy overall, and I’m looking forward to the new year!

Happy Holidays everyone!

[simplicio]

Happy Christmas all!
Another great week.
Sales: CAD$2064, 12 items, $172/item
COGS: $350 –> Item profit: $1377
Expenditures: $423 –> After-tax cashflow: $946
Listed: $900, 3 listings
Hours: 4
Notable sales: Trimble rugged computer $100 –> $700, sold to Spain. Discharge lamps $25 –> $330, sold to China.
Scavenging: not too much, but I did buy some more shelving for my storage unit and set it up with my bro in law. Things are quiet for the holidays and I doubt I’ll be buying much, but we’ll see. Big auction coming up in mid January so I’m trying to save a good wad for that.

[totommyto]

Good Morning, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, impressive numbers from our hosts, awesome!
Yuck numbers for me and hoping for the usual purchases after the Holidays when people buy what they want, especially the old toys they had as kids!

eBay store totommyto

Total store items: 641
Number of items sold: 10 (1 international)
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $256.00
Cost of items sold: $20
Consignment payouts $8
Highest price sold: $55 – lot of five GI Joe like action figures.
Average price sold: $25.60
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $125
Number of items listed this week: 5
Sell through rate for the week: 1.5

Etsy store oldfleatoymarket

Total store items: 627
Number of items sold: 7 (0 international)
Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $130
Cost of items sold: $8
Consignment payouts: $0
Highest price sold: Several $20 items
Average price sold: $18.60
Returns: One return for $10
Money spent on new inventory: $100
Number of items listed this week: 14
Sell through rate for the week: 1.1

[Winchester38]

Merry Christmas trash elves!

Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,498
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales: $448.31
Cost of Items Sold: $36.80
Highest Price Sold: $45.99 (vintage turntable parts)
Average Price Sold: $24.91
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $69.85
Number of items listed this week: 15

Store 2
Total Items in Store: 588
Items Sold: 4
Gross Sales: $38.37
Cost of Items Sold: $1.60
Highest Price Sold: $15.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $9.59
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $1.60
Number of items listed this week: 9

Amazon.ca sales: $640.00 (Approx $160.00 net profit)
Amazon.com sale: $880.00 (Approx $220.00 net profit)

Had a pretty average week in our main store, and slower than usual in our second store. We’ve slowed down on listing in preparation for holiday travel (currently posting from a hotel room, while watching Die Hard).

We started viewing properties last week in hopes of finding our next (cheaper) home before the move gets closer. Told my family last night that we were moving back across the country, and would be a four hour drive away, instead of the current much longer day of flying/connecting.

Counting the days until I’m able to leave my day job at the start of February.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Winchester38.

[Jay]

How did your family react? I bet that’s a big, happy piece of news for them.

[aperture]

Merry Christmas to all. I am so grateful to Jay and Ryanne and this community.

Since retiring at the start of July, my sales on eBay have exceeded expectations. I am comfortable now that I can earn enough to supplement my income/savings enough to afford to help my kids with college and to do some international travel.

In 2019, I hope to tighten up my real-time record keeping so that I will be able to easily report my numbers in this forum. Best wishes to all in the new year, Daniel.

[Jay]

I cant wait to hear about your trip to Europe in January.

[T-Satt]

Week of 12/16-12/22
Total Items in Store: 2,706 (Up 62% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 60
Number of Items Sold: 75 (Flat YOY)
(Includes 3 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 1 TrueGether, 0 Poshmark)
Weekly STR: 12% (Down 7% YOY)

Total Product Sales: $2,162 (Up 6% YOY)
Cost of Items Sold: $379
Cost of Labor: $150
Highest Item Sold: $90 – Zanetti Italian Double Breasted Mens Suit
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 29-22 (Still playing for pride!)

Clothing
# Listed: 1,687
# Sold: 46
STR: 12%
ASP: $29.09

Shoes
# Listed: 463
# Sold: 12
STR: 11%
ASP: $29.73

Hard Goods
# Listed: 556
# Sold: 14
STR: 11%
ASP: $27.52

Etsy
# Listed: 154
# Sold: 3
STR: 8%
ASP: $31.55

Poshmark
# Listed: 112
# Sold: 0
STR: 0%
ASP: $0

Taking a bit of a break with family in town for Christmas. Loved the podcast while I walked the dogs this morning. The hike is coming, gotta get ready!

Guest host…I liked that! Glad to help! Just call me The Numbers Guy! 🙂

[ebaymom]

My Store Week Dec 16-22, 2018

Total Items in Store: 1090
Items Sold: 8 (0 International)
Gross Sales: $155.11 (What happened?!? Really Crappy Sales :-0)
Cost of Items Sold: $7.08
Highest Price Sold: $44.99 (Lot of Mens Shirts)
ASP: $19.39
STR: 3.01%
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $72.07
Number of items listed this week: 8

Hello! Just posting these numbers to let anyone who had low sales this past week – you are not alone… However, already yesterday (Sunday) I sold more than all the sales in the previous 7 days combined – so must have just been a slow week with Christmas preparations – I know I have been super busy! This is the first week I just left my store in auto-mode and didn’t run any daily sales. Somehow, I think this hurt me big time, but it could just be the normal ebb-and-flow of the business. On a positive note, I finally finished epoxying my basement floor with the DIY Rustoleum Basement Epoxy Kit. This will be my future eBay office/warehouse. It turned out terrific and I am very pleased with the results, without having to pay a professional (I am not very handy, but I was able to do this and didn’t screw it up)! I will be renovating my new space over the next several weeks and am looking forward to a much more productive 2019. Will post pictures when it is all said and done. I have been living in a very unorganized ebay chaos for the past year and it has been stressful, and anyone who has experienced a move/remodel/home project knows what I am talking about…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody at Scavenger Life. Thank you Jay and Ryanne, you really have made a difference in the world!!! I am waiting for your cable TV show syndication… someday… !

[Jay]

Congrats on doing some of your own renovations. Definitely will save you money. We know when its okay for us to do, when we need a pro. Redoing a floor is a great self-do job.

[ebaymom]

Thanks, Jay!

[ChristineR]

Total Items in Store: 372 Ebay, 45 Mercari
Items Sold: 12 Ebay, 4 Mercari
Gross Sales: $263 Ebay, $58 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $52 + $35 shipping included + some items ours
Highest Price Sold: $68 (three new bowls, paid $15 RA)
Average Price Sold: $21 Ebay, $14 Mercari
Returns/Refund: 1 refund- for the first time ever I grabbed the wrong item :0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 2

Happy holidays trash elves! R&J I’m happy to hear about your fun vacation and great week selling. Well deserved.

An ok week for me considering shipping cut off week with a low ASP. I was late getting up my Christmas items and I’m very pleased to see some of this stuff still moving out, even at fairly low prices. On Mercari, I sold some premium paper products I bought 90% off that sat on Ebay through last Christmas.

Speaking of Mercari, there are not great Youtube or FB resources about it but I did hear a guy say they rolled out a new feature where after 30 days your listing automatically converts to a best offer listing. I also need to pay attention once I drop the price enough and take off free shipping. All reasons to start out the price a bit higher than you actually want on Mercari or feature items that you don’t need to get top dollar on. BUT, you don’t have to use square photos or share on social media. Plus it’s very fast to list. I do well with children’s book lots on Mercari so far, selling very quickly. After doing Ebay for 3 years, it feels pretty darn good to get results more quickly after listing.

We adopted a rescue doggie for Christmas and have a lot going on so I have no listing mojo. As for 2019, I continue to work through the piles. I’ve got dwindling RA inventory left and Ebay said my sales are down 40% from a year ago. I feel a little funny going to straight vintage and used, but I can’t get the prices at the same retailer I used to get anyway. So in 2018 I really shifted from plowing profits into the business to draining it of the cash I can get out. We’ve had a lot of expenses lately, nothing fun to spend money on in particular. We are also in the minority paying significantly more taxes this year under the new law so we had higher quarterlies. All said, it’s probably going to be a low ASP for my year ahead, but then I’ll be able to hit estate sales. That’s the carrot.

[TreasureFinder]

I have Unpaid Item Assistant and have it set to 2 days. So much easier than chasing people down for their money. They have 2 days then get an automatic case opened, then 4 days to pay after that then case is closed. You should do it!

[Ryanne]

i don’t see the option to have Unpaid item assistant for less than 4 days.
how are you able to have it set to 2 days? are you in the US?

https://imgur.com/a/yhbtv4N

[Sharyn]

Ryanne – I’m trying to remember, but I think that one person who had the 2 day option had same day or one day handling. I have 2 day handling, so my options start at 4 days like your image. Perhaps, once you get back home and change back to 1 day handling, you might have the 2 day option at that point.

[ebaymom]

I have the 2 day option and 1 day handling time…

[Ryanne]

i checked it a couple weeks ago when we were home and had same day handling, and it still said 4 days. can anyone else confirm that they can use the unpaid item assistant to open a case in 2 days?

[The_SEAM_Store]

@ryanne. Yes, you can definitely do two days. However, It looks like you are allowing combined payments for 3 days. You would have to turn off that feature to get the 2 day UPI case option. I have mine set to allow combined purchases for 7 days, so my earliest automatic case open day, if I used it, would be on the 8th day. There’s a little note and link to that option in the screenshot you posted, right below the drop down menu.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

[ebaymom]

I am not sure I understand “allow combined purchases” for 7 days… Does this mean that you can have multiple items in your cart from different users and just pay 1 user at a time? Thanks!

[The_SEAM_Store]

@ebaymom, it’s a setting that allows a buyer to shop your store for the number of days you decide, and then make one combined payment for everything.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

[ebaymom]

Thank you for clarifying – I was not understanding that option – I don’t think it would really help me out much (I want them to buy and pay without delay) – but probably for a large store as yours I can see some advantages…

[Winchester38]

Jay said: “How did your family react? I bet that’s a big, happy piece of news for them.”

They were VERY excited. They’ve both got some health issues, so having us closer to home will be a big help for them at this point.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Winchester38.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Winchester38.

[Jay]

That’s a great bonus to moving and working for yourself. Exciting.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Items in Store 1039
Items Sold 27
Total Sales $742.50
COGS $83.00
Total Profit $659.50
Average profit $24.43
Average sales price $27.50
New Listings 14

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas here!

Man I hate being back at work today, but at least hardly anyone is here and I don’t have much to do. My hardest task today will be to avoid falling asleep at my desk. Lol! Days like these are a double edged sword of having an office day job. On one hand, the pay is good. On the other, I am wasting precious hours of my life sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen when I could be doing things I love to do.

As for ebay, This December has been great! I’m very thankful for my sales numbers considering I have not been listing much at all. This month my ebay funds allowed me to buy inventory, pay car payments, house payment, and buy all the Christmas presents. Wow! That is a pleasant feeling.

I know a lot of work goes into my ebay store, but I enjoy all of the “work” associated with ebay so much that the money always feels like free money.

[totommyto]

Retro,
Nice!
And you have described my working life and my eBay life!
A good dilemma unfolds when thinking about changing it up, at least for me, although the good doesn’t help motivate any change!

[almasty]

What type of books did you find?!

In the future, you might want to consider taking a lyft or uber back with large unexpected hauls. I’ve taken an uber for 3 blocks before, but that was for a few boxes of unexpected finds. I have no shame. 😀

Just tip well!

[Jay]

It was a big box of art + technical books. Scanned them when I got home. 3/4 were keepers.

I’m not shy about getting a car, but I also get the “scavenger high” when I find cool items. It gets me excited to solve the puzzle of getting it home by carrying a heavy load, figuring out how to load our truck at an auction, or driving 10 hours round trip with reclaimed flooring from an old barn in NC.

[Geoff]

Happy Holidays!

12/16/18 – 12/22/18
Total items in store (beginning of week): 492
Items sold: 16
30 day sell through (rate): 14.17%
Gross Sales: $449.91
Cost Paid for Items sold: $108.58
Shipping Cost: $83.07
Ebay Fee’s: $35.91
Paypal Fees: $15.73
Total Costs: $243.29
Net Profit: $206.62

Profit % Rev: 46%
ROI: 190%

[ChristineK]

Sounds like you guys found some epic trash in NYC 🙂

I wanted to comment about Poshmark. I don’t sell on there because I make more money than I would if I just focused on Ebay. I sell on there to diversify. Between the Ebay glitches in the recent past and and the fact that Ebay suspended my account in error for 30 days, I feel the need to sell on multiple platforms now. Even though I was able to get my account fully restored within an hour, the experience made me very wary of focusing solely on Ebay. The rep who restored my account told me that I should relist all the items (they had taken down and deleted nearly 100), but that I’d have to start from scratch as the listings were no longer on the site. I wasn’t game since they couldn’t tell me what in the listings triggered their bot to flag them and take them down.

That is when I got serious about diversifying. I relisted the items, but on Etsy and Poshmark instead of on Ebay. Every day since, I’ve built up my Poshmark following by following the followers of big accounts and by sharing. I’m up to almost 20K followers. Follower count helps with item placement in searches apparently. Yes, it takes time away from Ebay, but I’m OK with that since I now have a backup in the event that Ebay decides to delete a bunch of my listings again in the future. It doesn’t take a ton of time, and listing on there is way easier than listing on Ebay.

[Jay]

Yep, I get the desire to sell on multiple platforms in case your eBay account get glitched. But I will say that ever case of people’s accounts being suspended/banned end up having a very good reason for it (too many VEROs, selling counterfeit too often even if by accident, treating buyers disrespectfully, consistently shipping late, etc). eBay (or any platform) has no incentive to ban people for successfully selling.

I think you’ve shared your numbers before: how much do you sell on Poshmark each week or month? Since you have built up such a following, just curious how consist the income is.

[ChristineK]

Honestly, what you said about people only selling like $100-$150 a week on Poshmark is about right for me, but that’s likely because I only have around 100 items up at any given time and I’m not super into “styling” my photos (which I think helps). I really need to put more items up on there. I only got serious about it in the past 2 months, although I’ve had an account for a couple of years. You can build followers fast on there if you put some time into following large amounts of people. I try to go to large/active accounts to find their most recent followers and follow that way. A lot of the time they follow you back if that makes sense. I tend to do this in the evening when a lot of people are active on the app also.

The issue I had with my Ebay account was from selling vintage undergarments and bathing suits. There was nothing remotely adult about the listings, but yet the bot took them down for “adult content”. No way was I relisting those unless the Ebay rep could tell me exactly what triggered the takedown and suspension. The suspension was removed within an hour of my discovering it but I’m still super wary. I did have a VERO for using the word “Velcro” in an item title and a VERO for a random hat (Nissan I think?) that was taken down in a mass takedown of that brand’s items at one point so I’m sure that didn’t help. I think like 2 years ago I had a VERO for selling a pair of what I thought were cute rainbow tube socks from the 70’s. I didn’t think I had an excessive # of VEROs, but maybe I did. Whatever it was that triggered it I’ll never know, it made me really wary of having all of my eggs in one basket.

One thing that worries me is seeing a huge seller like Craigslist hunter going through random suspensions. In the past year I’ve seen at least a couple of videos from him that Ebay suspended his account. One time it was for something really random where he was trying to do the right thing and NOT sell off Ebay, and yet he was suspended for a week I think and they refused to lift the suspension. He generates a lot more money for Ebay than I do, and yet he runs into these suspensions. He seems to be a very honest, rule-following seller. I guess I’m saying it could happen to any of us regardless of how good of a seller we are so being established and diversified on other platforms is of benefit even if it doesn’t net us more money in the short run.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by ChristineK.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by ChristineK.

[Jay]

Understood. If our eBay account were to go away, my bigger fear is that no other platform comes even close to what we sell on eBay. I wonder if you could make $2k a week on Poshmark.

[ChristineK]

I think you could and that people do, but it would have to be the primary place where you listed your items IMHO. Since Poshmark is just clothes and accessories, I’m not sure that would work for me personally. Etsy and Mercari both allow hard goods. I haven’t tried Mercari yet (although I will soon as I hear good things), but I do sell on Etsy. I think Mercari or possibly Etsy might be closer to Ebay in terms of allowing what you sell. I wish Poshmark would make some categories for hard goods, but I can understand why they just want to stay fashion too.

Honestly my bigger fear is that Ebay will acquire sites like Poshmark and Mercari, thus negating the work many sellers have put into diversification. Hopefully that won’t happen.

[T-Satt]

Christine and Jay: Great conversation.

Part of the reason that we are cross-posting now is to broaden our audience, but also some risk mitigation. eBay is the biggest and most consistent, but that doesn’t mean that it will stay that way. If Posh or Mercari grows into something big, it would be good to be early in the game on them. Plus, anything that can diversify our income is good. Having only one stream is all or nothing. As the saying goes: I’d rather have 100 people paying me $1 than 1 person paying me $100.

[bcfol440]

SALES: Dec 16-22
Store: 1050
Sales: 26 items, $1010 ebay
ASP: $38
Poshmark: $231 after fees, 5 items
ASP Poshmark: $46

total: $1241
-COGS:$145
TOTAL:1096

Had 1 complaint on Guaranteed Delivery delay, I directed buyer to the ebay page which outlines how buyer can formally ask for refund, credit, shipping return credit, etc. very helpful page for buyer.

January Goals:
Get Poshmark to 500 active items minimum (288 active at present) crossposted from Ebay. Note, make sure you look at “Listings Analysis” to get ACTIVE listed items. The total at top of main closet is not ACTIVE. It is sold and active combined.
Continue crossposting to Mercari (get to 100 listings).

Ebay goals: THE PURGE. I have limited storage, and some things need to get trashed / donated.

[Doublythumbs]

Dec 16-22
Total Items in Store: 1960
Items Sold: 34
Total Sales : $1381
* above yearly average of $906
* above 2017 total week sales of $1215
Highest Price: $360 (Drake HAM Radio Transmitter)
Average Price: $41
Returns: 2
Cost of Goods Sold: $88
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $5
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 53

I’m kinda late with posting my numbers. There’s just a lot of craziness happening in my world right now. But I’m glad you’re enjoying your stay in NYC! I can’t wait to be able to take trips with Steph without worrying about syncing our vacation time at work and only being able to plan it during our slow seasons and taking my work phone with me anyways because I know things will somehow blow up while I’m away.

I had a pretty good week number-wise. It’s fun watching my yearly weekly average rising steadily. At $900+, I think i can safely say that this business can certainly sustain me financially. Which is a major relief right now because we got some troubling news last week. The university which I work at is in some major heat. We might lose our accreditation which would absolutely mean we would close. We were told that the university has a month to come up with a financial plan to satisfy the DOE or they’ll be shutting us down. And even the president seemed pretty hopeless in his meeting with us. So ultimately, my plan is to stick it out until we know what’s going to happen since I already have my backup plan ready. I know there won’t be any severance packages for the employees, but maybe there’ll be some sort of assisted health insurance or something that I can take advantage of.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. And enjoy your New Years Eve!!

[Jay]

When you work for someone else, sometimes those decisions are made for you. You mind me asking what school you work for?

Good news is that you’ve been having consistent sales the list several months. And that’s just doing it in your spare time. Imagine what you could do if you woke up each day and worked for yourself?

Healthcare coverage is the scariest thing for people in the United States for good reason because it’s traditionally tied to your job where its “taken care of”. As long time self-employed citizens, I can tell you that its easy to go on http://healthcare.gov and buy it yourself. Until the current administration completely dismantles it, you currently cant be denied coverage for any reason.

[Doublythumbs]

I work for Wheeling Jesuit University. It’s a small university so I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody here has heard of it. I work as a tech specialist for a space exploration themed educational program for K-12 grade.

I’m pretty excited about the aspect of doing eBay full time. I know there will be some difficulties and major adjustments that will take time to get use to, but my feelings match what you described. I’ve managed to make a nicely profitable business in the few hours I can spare after work every night. If I can dedicate an entire work day and more, then logically my business should grow even more.

I got myself all set up on healthcare.gov to see what my insurance estimates will be. Obviously I’ll be paying more than what my payments are now, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle.

[Jay]

I read the wikipedia page for your school. How did a Jesuit college in the mountains of West Virginia get a space program?

[Doublythumbs]

LOL good question, and one I don’t really know the answer to. The program started in the mid 90’s I believe. We have a whole space simulation where kids can see what it’s like to be an astronaut in a space station. I remember doing it when I was a kid in school.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Sorry to hear about the situation at the University. What a kick in the pants at Christmas time. Chin up and get focused on the back-up plan. Maybe you will have enough time for the switch to plan b full time-hard core.

good luck mike at MDCGFA

[Doublythumbs]

Thanks, Mike. I’m pretty confident that I could switch over to full-time eBay right now if I really wanted to. I’ve got a year’s worth of salary saved, no debt other than a house mortgage, and eBay is already earning me nearly as much as my day job.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Ah that’s terrible to hear about your employer. My father-in-law is in administration at WV State. They’ve went through an accreditation scare there too but made it through.

To be honest, we have waaaayyy too many 4 year universities in WV compared to our population, job opportunities, and funding availability. I went to Marshall and transferred to WV Tech to finish my degree in Engineering. Marshall was decent, but amateur hour compared to better, larger schools in other states. WVU Tech was….well….I liked my teachers! I had 10 people in my graduating class of Mechanical Engineering. The facilities and funding at Tech while I was there was TERRIBLE.

I think that eventually a couple smaller state schools are going to have to close for the betterment of the rest. The Mountain State University accredidation issue was pretty ugly. Based on what you are saying, I agree that you are on an inevitable path. Keep on listing and I wish you the best of luck!

[Doublythumbs]

Retro, I can’t say that I disagree with you, as painful as it is to say it. In addition to WJU being my employer, it is also my alma mater. I graduated there with a bachelors in Communications. But my experience mirrors your’s. Great teachers but really poor…everything else. During the meeting we had last week, we heard some frightening statistics. I forget exactly what percentage, but this trend of schools closing is only going to increase in the next decade. But like you said, maybe the over-saturation of colleges in WV was too much for what this state has become. The population is shrinking for many reasons.

[T-Satt]

Doubly: Sorry to hear about your situation, but this is exactly why you have build your life raft (eBay). If it happens, you can do this. And you have all of this community to assist in any way we can.

[Doublythumbs]

Thanks for the confidence, Troy! It’s weird because just two months ago I was ready to hand in my resignation to peruse my eBay business full time. I got cold feet only because of some renovations that needed done on our house. But now that I’ve saved up a few more paychecks, I feel confident again. I just feel for my fellow coworkers who don’t have a good plan B.

[T-Satt]

It is a good lesson in life… Always have a Plan B. As poker players would say, always leave yourself outs.

This mindset gets you through just about anything. A second (or third, or fourth) stream of income is way better than just a salary (even Jay and Ryanne have extra income streams). I have food in the basement, just in case we get a cold snap. Got food and clothes in the car, just in case I need it. I try do have duplicates everywhere, because 2 is 1, and 1 is none.

So now, you have to go all in on the eBay side and make sure it is where you need it to be.

And then get working on a NEW Plan B income stream…

[ChristineK]

Wow Doubly, that stinks. Thank goodness you have your Ebay business already established. Can you do that thing where you can buy insurance for 18 months on your old plan (sorry, can’t remember what it’s called) before you have to move to the marketplace?

Also, if you are going to look for employment again, I think you might do well to look here on the Space Coast (Brevard County, FL). Here, everything boils down to space. It’s what we live and breathe, especially with the resurgence caused by SpaceX. Space education here is huge. Space everything here is huge. I imagine your skills are quite transferable. The big university here is Florida Institute of Technology if you are looking.

[Doublythumbs]

Christine, are you referring to COBRA? Yes, I can take advantage of that but it might not be the best deal (or it might be good, I’ll have to do some comparisons).
I feel that space exploration is becoming trendy again. Like you said, with the development of SpaceX and more affordable means of space travel, we’ll be seeing a lot more space interest and education.

[ChristineK]

Yes for sure. We had a really sad time here when the shuttle program was shuttered. So much talent exited the area too. It hurt to see something as important as space exploration fully abandoned like that. Of course, that opened the door to commercial space, and that is what brought everything back to life. I’m so happy to see things turn around as they have. Space is trendy, but I hope that it’s a trend that’s here to stay. I love that a place in the mountains of WV has a space education program! I really hope your university doesn’t get shuttered.

I did mean COBRA yes. I just couldn’t think of what it was called. I think it’s pretty expensive, but like you said it’s probably worth comparing.

[ThriftShift]

12/16/18 – 12/22/18

Ebay store items: 680 (ALL items on three platforms start on ebay, then are copied onto Posh and Mercari if appropriate)

Ebay Sold: 14
Sales: $673.50
Avg price: $22
COGs: $30
Consignment payout: $71

Poshmark: 285 items cross-listed from ebay
Sold: 5
Sales: $91
COGs: $16

Mercari: 590 items cross-listed from ebay. No sales.

Total sales: $764
Items sold: 19
COGs: $46
Avg: $40 an item
Returns: maybe one pending, buyer said necklace had broken clasp but I was waiting to hear back

High priced items were a NWT pair wool hunting pants “Codet” brand (Canadian) for $79, a ruby and gold ring for $122.50, a large wooden block knife holder for $65, large sealed ink cartridge in box for $70, and an Oriental fabric print for $50. I never thought that print would sell. It was part of an auction lot I spent $1 online for four vases, three framed prints and this fabric one. I sold two of the vases already for $80 and now this print. I’ve had them all a year. Eventually everything sells. I held tight on the high price for the ink cartridge. I priced at $80. I had offers of $25, 35 on Ebay and Mercari, but those were the “ink hounds” just like there are “silver and gold”, looking to buy cheap and re-sell themselves.

I haven’t done any outside scavenging for two weeks. Christmas was a blast staying at home with my family. We all edited our closets and belongings after receiving gifts, so I suppose I did scavenge our belongings and thus listed 23 items. The other bags filled a sedan and went to a local charity. Next week we travel to Sun Valley, Idaho for a work conference. Now that I am retired, I can go with my husband and take our 4 year old and we can stay for a week visiting family and staying at the resort hotel for the 2 day conference. We will use ebay money to have fun on the slopes there and the 4 year old will see snow for the first time (that she remembers). I love owning our time (my husband owns his own engineering practice and controls his time too). Not sure if there will be any inexpensive thrift stores in Ketchum, Idaho since it’s a resort town, but our family lives in other small towns, so we might find some gems too like R&J did.

[Steve List]

Just a quick note to people that have an eBay store. Make sure to use your coupon for shipping supplies before it expires in a few days.

Happy New Years and have a great 2019

-Steve

[Author]

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