Scavenger Life Episode 400: Tax Season Advice for Newbies from Strangers On The Internet

[Ryanne]

 Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week Feb 17-23, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8152 Items Sold: 41 Gross Sales: $2,066.44 Cost of I
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 400: Tax Season Advice for Newbies from Strangers On The Internet]

[ebaymom]

Congratulations on #400! YAY!! Love this podcast! Can’t wait to listen to this one multiple times…

Quick Numbers:
My Store Week Feb 17-23, 2019
Total Items in Store: 1062
Items Sold: 12
Gross Sales: $345.73
Cost of Items Sold: $52.24
Highest Price Sold: $53.19 (Vintage Nike Run Walk Sneakers)
Average Price Sold: $28.81
Returns: 0 (1 Cancel, 1 Unpaid)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $39
Number of items listed this week: 11

[Mark S]

Congratulations on episode 400!

02/17/19 – 02/23/19

Items In Store: 2,729
Items Sold 9
Cost of Items Sold: $30
Total Sales: $354
HIghest Price Sold: $70 (Vintage Stereo System)
Average price $39.33
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $210
Items listed: about 30

Gut sales report
It felt really slow compared to the last 2 weeks. This is the lowest sales week I have had in a long time.

Challenge of the week
I finally got all of my golf clubs Listed for the Spring rush.

Scavenge of the week
I went to a really cool estate sale at an old Farm House in the country. My kind of sale. Got about 40 vintage pieces of clothing from the 50’s – 80’s. Brands such as Pendleton, Patagonia, Woolrich, Eddie Bauer, and Harris Tweed. I realized that this was pretty clise to the dream I had last month and posted about. I Will have to post an update on that thread.

[Sharyn]

Congrats on 400! Weren’t you just talking about #300? Time flies …

Week of Feb 17 – 23
* Total Items in Store: 1358 eBay, 3 Mercari, 3 Etsy
* Items Sold: 14 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $33.90 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $540.30
* Highest Price Sold: $125 Sculpture, $100 Antique farm implement, $95.70 for a large number of 60 W CFE bulbs
* Average Price Sold: $38.59
* Returns: 1 (hasn’t sent it yet), 2 cancels, 1 Unpaid – Ugh
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $25
* Number of items listed this week: 40

Things to do list: Changed some items to auction for future donation if they do not sell, pulled two items for new photos, pulled an item or two for the donation pile

I was having a very slow week, but had a few really good sales. Then, I realized that my sales had all ended at the beginning of the month and I hadn’t restarted them. Once I restarted, sales seemed to pick up even though the items selling weren’t on sale. Maybe a coincidence.

I had a few high dollar sales that I can’t wait to talk about in the What Sold post. I also had a series of cancelations and a nonpaying buyer. One of the cancelations was a guy in Sweden who couldn’t seem to pay for some UN mementos (pins & a patch). I tried sending him an invoice taking his out of GSP, but it didn’t work. eBay put the listing under military collectables. I looked under restrictions for Sweden, and I didn’t see any issues. So, I don’t know understand the issue.

[Temudgin]

Maybe that Swedish guy was blocked under your automatic Buyer Requirements for too many unpaid item strikes? You can look under Site Preferences > Buyer Requirements for a block activity log to check. It does not provide the buyer’s ID but does provide the date and item they tried to buy.

[Sharyn]

@Temudgin – Nope. No activity in that log.

He was a bit weird, though. His messages were long, and he was kind of overly kind, but, I’m not sure how to put it, emotional? overly dramatic? He kept using OBS, which I assume is for “obviously”. And “Etc Etc Etc”. I didn’t know to make of it, so I just acted professionally.

But, maybe there was something about his account. I don’t know.

[simplicio]

400 episodes, holy moly. You guys have some follow through! No wonder you’ve done well in real estate.

True that employer remits some money on your paycheque such as (in my country) pension etc., however it’s somewhat illusory in that the *incidence* generally falls on the party with the weaker negotiating position, usually the employee. I.e., the employer *remits* it but ultimately they pass that cost on to you in reduced salary.

Strikes me that a big drawback of ebay is the lousy tax implications of ostensibly HUGE profit margins on paper without commensurate expenses. Your expenses are primarily your time – which is not deductible! This is one reason why hiring employees is appealing – suddenly all that labour cost becomes deductible. J&R, were the tax implications of hiring a helper a significant part of what attracted you to that path? Myself, I would if I could but listing and shipping is not a big bottleneck for me so it makes little sense.

I have always done my own taxes and it works fine for me. One hitch is, I would really like to speak to somebody about whether I’d save money by going from a sole proprietorship to an LLC.

Jay, you mentioned you wish you had a spreadsheet of all the items you bought at auction and what they sold for. Once again I’m confused on this… don’t you HAVE to have that already if you’re tracking COGS for tax purposes?

Pretty pathetic week for both sales and scavenging. Only saving grace is I didn’t put many hours or dollars into it either.

Sales: CAD$440, 4 items
COGS: $12 –> Gross profit: $353
Expenditures: $21 –> Cashflow: $345
Hours: 4, rate: $55/hr after tax
Listed: $0, 2 items (both are longshots)
Notable sales: Best sale this week was a box of hospital sharps containers for $150.

[simplicio]

Incidentally, the “problem” of high taxable profits is also a good reason in favour of quick sales, and in favour of paying higher COGS rather than spending tons of time to save COGS.

[Jay]

We hired helpers to save our time. It’s a bonus that we can write it off.

Obviously it has to make sense to spend that extra money on paying someone to take photos and list. If the expense is more than the profit, the tax write off is irrelevant.

[simplicio]

Yep absolutely, I think of it as more like a discount. Anything deductible comes at a 26% (or whatever) discount.

[Jay]

It’s like when people in the US buy too much house because they get excited about the extra amount they can write off on their home mortgage deduction interest.

Sure you can write off more if you borrow $500k instead of $200k, but then you’re stuck with a much larger monthly payment.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Strikes me that a big drawback of ebay is the lousy tax implications of ostensibly HUGE profit margins on paper without commensurate expenses. Your expenses are primarily your time – which is not deductible! This is one reason why hiring employees is appealing – suddenly all that labour cost becomes deductible. J&R, were the tax implications of hiring a helper a significant part of what attracted you to that path? Myself, I would if I could but listing and shipping is not a big bottleneck for me so it makes little sense.

I think you meant “asset” instead of “drawback”. 😉

Let’s reframe the conversation: I’m offering you a business proposal. This business will be incredibly low risk. You will average 10 to 1 profit margins on each item. You will sell 1000 items at a VERY conservative average time investment of 30 minutes per item for a total time investment of 500 hours (10 hours per week).You have ZERO overhead and can run the entire business out of your garage. You will make $25000 net profit at the end of the year. The only thing is that you have no expenses so you will pay 25% tax on this. You’ll net $18750.

Framed such as this, would anyone turn this deal down. No!!!! Who gives a crap about that 25% in taxes – that is nothing. You’re still making almost $40 an hour. This is similar to the “get rich quick from your couch” schemes except it is REAL. And the best part, it isn’t even accurate because there ARE expenses.

As a small home business we have the opportunity to deduct our everyday lives by integrating work and personal business. I have yearly sales around $25k and my expenses are usually right at $25k as well. Did I REALLY have 25k in expenses? Not really. Because I merge business with personal though, practically everything I would be spending/doing anyway becomes deductible at some level. My home, my car, my phone, my computer,my trips to Wal-Mart, etc.

BUT…spending money frivolously with the sole purpose of reducing my tax burden? That is silly. That is like burning a dollar to collect a quarter.

Seriously though, there is such a fundamental misunderstanding of taxes in this country. From the counter intuitive theory of “spend more to pay less tax” to the incredible fallacy of thinking a tax return is free money. Taxes are not the scary enemy many folks make them out to be. I LOVE doing taxes – it is fun!

[simplicio]

@Retro – I mostly agree, and didn’t mean to sound too negative. Obviously big profit margins are a great problem to have! and spending *merely* to reduce your tax bill is completely idiotic.

What I am pointing out however is that capital and labour substitute for each other but labour is not deductible (assuming you’re not in an LLC).

A typical scavenger tradeoff is something like “do I buy a single $100 item for $20 or spend 4 hours scavenging & selling 5 items I got for free, for the same $100 in sales?” Everybody has to answer that question for themselves, but one factor to bear in mind is that the $20 purchase is actually ~$15 because it’s deductible, whereas your labour isn’t.

You can apply a similar logic to hiring employees.

[The Speckled Goat]

Congratulations on Episode #400! Wow.just.wow.

I also wanted to link to a 5 year old conversation on this very forum where Breezy was audited by the IRS and explained what they wanted in terms of receipts and documentation for her eBay business. It was THE most helpful conversation regarding taxes. It’s from episode #88.

Scavenger Life Episode 88: What’s Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?

The info in paragraph #4 is hugely important for scavengers regarding COGS.

Thanks for the great Podcast – so much useful info in a no BS zone. You guys are one-of-a-kind!
Caren

[simplicio]

Yes, 100%. This is great, I am posting it below so nobody misses it!

What I learned or made mistakes on:
1. I should have a spreadsheet with every single solitary item I purchase listed on it individually. What I spent, how much it sold for, how much it was shipped for, fees incurred, etc. I have to admit that I still don’t do this, I’m sorry but this is RIDICULOUS. For the most part eBay tracks this information in it’s seller reports anyway (other than of course the price I paid for the item).
2. You really do need receipts for everything- he went through them with a fine toothed comb and compared them to my bookkeeping
3. You need to keep more than receipts for gas- they want us keeping a log of where we went and the vehicle’s starting and stopping mileage if you’re going to use gas as an expenditure
4. You can’t include the cost of goods as a deduction for items that haven’t sold as of 12/31 – in other words, you can’t include their cost until they have sold, which of course is a complete nightmare. So the cost of items that sit for a year or two can’t be deducted until they’re sold. I told him this was extremely difficult and he really didn’t care. I was deducting inventory expenses right up until the last day of the year but in actuality you have to analyze your inventory and add the cost of all unsold items back in (or remove their deductions). This is quite a feat.
5. Doing a “home office” deduction is a red flag in most cases. It’s nearly impossible to claim (if you’re audited). You have to provide pictures of it and prove that 100% of the space is used for business purposes. For instance, a computer in your home office used for family purposes negates the ability to claim this space as a home office.

Hope that gives everyone an idea of what they’re looking for -atleast according to the IRS auditor I worked with. And of course he found honest mistakes and I owed the government an additional several thousand dollars (there are also auditing fees, penalties, interest, blah blah blah- as if I asked for the audit). Feel free to ask questions if I missed something!

The key thing here, which I suspect a few people in this forum are still hazy on, is YOU NEED TO TRACK EVERY SINGLE ITEM FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE including at least COGS (c/w receipt), date of sale, sale price, shipping income, and shipping cost.

[simplicio]

And yes, paragraph 4. Cost of goods sold only includes the cost of goods… SOLD. Not every dollar you spent on inventory. (Which is why you need to track every single item.)

[Brian Treasures from Grandmas]

EPISODE 400!!! Amazing, congrats, kudos! I believe I joined ~episode 7 and it’s amazing to see your growth, my growth, the community’s growth.

Week February 17-23, 2019

Total Items in Store: 1043
Items Sold: 22 (1 Amazon, 1 Craigslist, 1 Discogs)
Cost of Items Sold: $135 (20.6% of sales)
Total Sales: $656.50
Highest Price Sold: $79.99 (Leonard Cohen & Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah, 2012 Limited Edition Record Store Day)
Average Price Sold: $28.45
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $200
Number of items listed this week: 31
Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $173.49 (26.4% of total sales), $8.41 fees (4.8% of sales)

Good week of volume, but a really good example of why average price sold is so important – my average this week is about 25% lower than it has been over the past month and that hits the total week sales hard. Had individual sales of $3.96, $8.85, $9.99 – those hurt the bottom line, but they were also things I’ve had forever and sold on clearance getting a little bit was better than nothing [at least I’ll tell myself that :)].

Good topic today, I actually did my taxes with my accountant this weekend as well. Because this isn’t my sole income (both my wife & I have full time W2 jobs, plus I have some other “consulting” 1099s), we file everything jointly & take deductions across the board. To date, it’s been pretty beneficial to do it this way and we rely on our guy to let us know if we need to make changes with evolving tax codes.

[Jay]

There are few people in the forums that stick around long term. You’re one of the few that has been so consistent on this ride. I guess you clear $25k a year selling part-time on top of your regular job and raising a family. Amazing!

[T-Satt]

Week of 02/17-02/23
Total Items in Store: 2,877 (Up 53% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 120
Number of Items Sold: 98 (Up 51% YOY)
(Includes 2 Etsy, 3 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 12 Poshmark, 1 Mercari)
Weekly STR: 16% (Up 1% YOY)

Total Product Sales: $2,842 (Up 84%)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: $784
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: $515
Cost of Items Sold: $551
Cost of Labor: $257
Highest Item Sold: $125 – Spyder Legend 3L Stryke Jacket
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week (on a roll!) and Veronica leads for the year 5-3.

Clothing
# Listed: 1,734
# Sold: 66
STR: 17%
ASP: $29.80

Shoes
# Listed: 576
# Sold: 13
STR: 10%
ASP: $31.13

Hard Goods
# Listed: 567
# Sold: 17
STR: 16%
ASP: $24.76

EBay
# Listed: 2,877
# Sold: 84
STR: 13%
ASP: $25

Etsy
# Listed: 209
# Sold: 2
STR: 4%
ASP: $30

Poshmark
# Listed: 578
# Sold: 12
STR: 9%
ASP: $58

Bonanza woke up this week, had three sales. Plus, we had our first sale on Mercari, and I almost had a sale on Grailed (accepted the offer, but he didn’t pay). I will listen while we ship this morning!

[sonia]

T-Satt,
Congrats on the significant positive price variance – consistent every week. Volume variance is great, too, but to me that translates to more stuff to ship = work. But getting your prices up – that is everyone’s goal and you are rocking it. Way to go.

[T-Satt]

@Sonia: Thanks! We are trying to move this up all the time. I went back to look and since the beginning of 2018, our average Price Variance is $329/wk, with only 4 weeks having an unfavorable price variance.

I can see this may come down as I’m looking to exit some markets, and lowering prices to sell out while I do so, but if the larger stuff keeps selling, it will hopefully offset that.

Plus, we have summer coming up. Short Sleeve shirts and swim trunks are a much lower ASP, and we have a lot we are sitting on…

[Jay]

Does anyone have better info on the specifics of Poshmark?
–We sold an item for $200. Yeah.
–Poshmark took $40 as a fee. Is their fee 20%?
–They sent a priority label to ship. Do we pay for shipping, or does the buyer get charged extra on top of the $200?
–Poshmark says we get paid three days after confirmed delivery. Is it business days?

[almasty]

Poshmark pays for shipping, but they allow an option in “send offers to buyers” that allows you to offer reduced shipping to people that like your listings. That shipping fee reduction comes out of what you earn for the sale.

What are the fees for selling on Poshmark?

What are the fees for selling on Poshmark?
Our fees are very simple and straightforward. For all sales under $15, Poshmark takes a flat commission of $2.95. You keep the rest. For sales of $15 or more, you keep 80% of your sale and Poshmark’s commission is 20%.

Once your sale has been delivered and received by your buyer, the earnings from your sale are yours. Please keep in mind that buyers do have 3 days from the delivery date to accept their purchase. If they do not accept their purchase and are pleased with their item, Poshmark will automatically release your funds on the 4th day after the delivery date. You can spend your earnings within the app or withdraw your money as cash whenever you like.

We at Poshmark like simplicity. Unlike other places, there is no nickel and diming – we handle the financial transaction for you (including paying credit card fees), provide you with a pre-paid, pre-addressed shipping label (supporting packages up to 5 pounds), and we will serve as your customer support team for your sale. In other words, we provide a simple end-to-end platform for selling fashion!

[T-Satt]

I got you Jay:

Yes, the $40 is 20% of the selling price. Shipping is not included at all in that calculation. The price that the buyer pays for the item itself, you pay a 20% fee on that.

Poshmark handles all of the shipping themselves. All shipping is priority (no first class), and all labels are the same price to the buyer, $6.79, for up to 5lbs. So a light shirt, buyer pays $6.79 priority shipping. Buyer purchases a 3-4 lb suit and pays $6.79 for shipping. Buyer purchases 5 lb boots and pays $6.79 shipping. So in your case, the buyer paid $206.79 for the boots, $200 to you and $6.79 for the shipping.

I think it is three calendar days for the acceptance. I’m running about 60% of the time they accept on Poshmark before the three days.

[Jay]

Huh, so Poshmark actually has higher fees that eBay/Paypal, correct?
eBay/Paypal = 13.5%
Poshmark: 20%

Not a big deal, but I was under the impression that people were excited about Poshmark because it was cheaper.

[Mississippi Pickers]

I can’t speak for everyone Jay but we are excited about Poshmark because it’s an additional income stream that actually works and works month after month like clockwork you can count on it. many of these online markets are pure crap that are so up and down in sales you can’t predict anything. Much like Bonanza, just a waste of time.

It’s a completely different pool of buyers too so there is that.

2 cents given 🙂

[Jay]

Very true. Plus I think even if they charge higher fees, sellers appreciate the streamlined system:

We at Poshmark like simplicity. Unlike other places, there is no nickel and diming – we handle the financial transaction for you (including paying credit card fees), provide you with a pre-paid, pre-addressed shipping label (supporting packages up to 5 pounds), and we will serve as your customer support team for your sale. In other words, we provide a simple end-to-end platform for selling fashion!

[T-Satt]

Poshmark is a little higher, but I think clothing sellers like it because it has cultivated the right audience, clothing buyers.

As to how much more expensive, it isn’t that much more when seen differently.

On Poshmark, you pay 20% on the selling price of the item (no shipping included). On eBay, you pay 13% (9% eBay FVF + 3% PayPal Fee) and that includes shipping.

So, let’s look at something we would sell using a Padded Flat Rate Envelope.

Selling Price – $20
Shipping – $7.33
Total – $27.33

Fees (13% of $27.33) – $3.55
Fees (as a percentage of JUST the Selling Price of $20) – 18%

The same sale on Poshmark would have $4 in fees (20% of the $20). So the difference is $0.45, kinda small. Plus, it is free to list on Poshmark. No listing fees.

Now yes, if you extend this out to higher end items, like your $200 boots that you could ship for say $15, you are looking much different ($27.95 fees on eBay vs $40 on Poshmark), but I think you can get good prices for the higher end items on Poshmark. Plus, you may still want to ship those boots Priority for the insurance, so now it lessens the difference in rate.

[Jay]

Understood. So its the simplicity that sellers like, not that they charge less. And like Tony said, it’s another place to sell.

I notice that you grossed almost $600 on Poshmark just this week. Not bad!

[T-Satt]

Yep. This week was $700 on Posh (12 items at a $58.33 ASP). New league record.

The listing is easy, and I have a process now to not only make sure that I keep the sales in sync (remove from Posh when it sells on eBay, and vice versa), but I also make sure that the active number of listings is in sync as well. I can show that on the hangout.

[sonia]

T-Satt,
And there are no listing fees on Poshmark, is that correct? That’s another little bit of savings that helps make the Poshmark 20% not quite as high as it sounds.

[T-Satt]

@Sonia: Yep, no listing fees on Poshmark. Your only initial investment is time…

[Retro Treasures WV]

On some items I am paying more than 20% in fees due to FVF, paypal fees, and Promoted listing fees.
So yeah, poshmark is still cheaper.

I HATE that promoted listings is a thing…but after experiementation it is an absolute requirement to keep high sales for my store.

[Mississippi Pickers]

400 EPISODES !!!!!!! SIMULATED FIREWORKS HERE !!!! BOOM !!!!!

Congrats on a truly amazing feat, You both ROCK !

Great Episode, lots of information for both new and veteran ebayers.

About 10% of my current sales are on Poshmark but I only have like 80 things listed, I have just started making it a regular part of my process. Definitely worth it if you have the time. I can see where if you had a full time job it might be too much but for those of us who do ebay full time it shouldn’t be much of an issue to put an extra 2 minutes into your process to add your listing to poshmark.

here is the fee policy

Listing is always free on Poshmark
When you make a sale, we deduct a fee from your listing price. For sales under $15, the fee is a single flat rate of $2.95. You keep the rest. For sales of $15 or more, the fee is 20% of the listing price and you keep 80%.

Hey money is money, I’ll take it, lol

[Jay]

So if you sell items under $15, the flat fee of $2.95 is actually more than 20%.
If you sell an item for $10, the fee is closer to 30%.

But as you said, a sale is a sale. Maybe people like Poshmark because listing is free. You just pay extra when the item sells.

[Mississippi Pickers]

well the way we look at it and this may be different for others is, we only paid one dollar for a shirt that sold for $30.00 and we made $24.00 and we don’t have to worry about shipping cost or listing fees so hey $24.00 from a dollar, yeah I will take that all day long, lol.

my ebayers have the same opportunity to buy the thing, if it’s just sitting there not getting a bite on ebay and a posher baby wants it, heck yeah take that thing !!! lol

Man I really love Poshmark, I have had nothing but good experiences on there so far. Don’t get me wrong, I love ebay too, it’s the engine that keeps the ship going but I am loving the extra income.

[T-Satt]

Jay and Tony: This is part of the reason that I’m steering clear of lower end items on Poshmark now. The STR hasn’t been great, and I don’t want to go less than $15.

Plus, the buyer is stuck with the $6.79 shipping price. So that is a great rate for a suit, coat, or shoes, where the shipping on eBay would be above that price.

[sonia]

T-Satt and Tony2Times,
How much time do you spend on the social media “work” of poshmark – having to share and like lots of items?

[Mississippi Pickers]

I don’t do any sharing, I list it and forget it just like ebay. Honestly we would probably sell more doing the whole sharing thing but I am happy with our sales with the list it and forget it model. The only thing I did was follow a ton of people on there. If you follow thousands of people then about 1/4 of them will follow you back. I have like 11,000 followers now.

Is that needed or necessary? I seriously doubt it because many times people find my stuff by search that don’t even follow me. I will see something that goes a little like….. key24086 just liked your item, key24086 has started following you and then CONGRATS key24086 just purchased your item. So I don’t think it matters that much if your not trying to make a full time income on there.

We are happy with whatever sales we get on there because for us it’s just extra cash.

[T-Satt]

So, I went the other way from Tony and I did a LOT of following (like he did) and sharing at the beginning. My goal was to get to Posh Ambassador status, which requires sharing both your items and other items. It has seemed like once we got to that level, sales became more consistent and we were getting a TON of followers just from Posh.

Since we are full time, it was worth the investment.

[T-Satt]

PS – Do try to keep up with this a bit as well, sharing other peoples items when I’m on the site crossposting, as well as sharing during some parties.

I figure it is like eBay…if you want to maximize their algorithm…play by their rules…

[sonia]

Tony,
That’s really encouraging to hear that you are having success on Poshmark via List It and Forget It. That brings me a few tiny steps closer to wanting to try it out, bc I just don’t see myself doing any of the sharing work, at least not consistently. Just don’t have it in me.

T-Satt, Thanks for sharing your approach as well. I’m guessing if you do the work, you probably get more benefit than if you don’t. Something for me to keep in mind if I ever get started and posh and want to get into it as much as ebay.

[totommyto]

In freezing windy Columbus Ohio for some good family stuff. Back to balmy Naples tomorrow and back to a 1 day handling time. Interesting how this was a better week overall, regardless. Etsy back to normal sales.

Happy 400! Your consistent character driven life is something that we all benefit from! Thank you! I must listen today!

2/17 – 2/23/19

eBay store totommyto

Total store items: 585
Number of items sold: 9
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $355.00
Cost of items sold: $14
Consignment payouts $5
Highest price sold: $150 – big plush Pottery Barn Kids advent Calender snowman ($5 church sale)
Average price sold: $$39.40
Returns: $25 – 1 broken Krystonia statue (I simply refunded them)
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 24
Sell through rate for the week: 1.5

Etsy store oldfleatoymarket

Total store items: 621
Number of items sold: 6
Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $140
Cost of items sold: $6
Consignment payouts: 0
Highest price sold: $40 old boat prop (paid around $5)
Average price sold: $23.33
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 5
Sell through rate for the week: 1.0

[SilverFoxFinds]

Average week, ending with no sales on Saturday (and then just 1 on Sunday, which is quite unusual). C’est la vie. Spent Sunday working on tax stuff, so today’s show was quite on point. Working on honing some info tracking systems, and looking at some local CPAs (after considering doing it solo). Early enough that I have time to mull it over.

02/17/18 – 02/23/18
Total Items In Store: 1081
Items Sold: 26
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $896.83
Highest Price Sold: $170 Electrolux vacuum (I ate $50 in shipping fees, but still made a nice profit)
Average Price Sold: $34.49
Cost of Items Sold: $116.39
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $18
Number of Items listed this week: 51

[T-Satt]

PS – Jay, you had me pegged. The second you guys were talking about having an item not found, I’m saying “SixBit!”.

[Jay]

If you want to do a live stream hangout, I’d love to see you walk us through how you use Sixbit.

[Geoff]

I would be interested in watching that if made available.

I always gravitate to Auctiva — as for me it is easy to use and not expensive – but i always end up back to ebay direct w no third party because listing in Ebay directly is so much better (specifically the photo editor is way better in Ebay.) Not sure if T you are using sixbit to list or just track the business…

[T-Satt]

Geoff: I swear by SixBit, also for the listing process. Both Veronica and I list everything through SixBit. Lots of reasons why, and something I can explain out.

The biggest reason is that I list in chunks. I just do listings about 2-3 days each week with my schedule. But with SixBit, you can schedule the listings to hit at no extra cost. So when we get our photos back, I add the photos, finish up the listings, and then schedule them to hit over the next few days. This has us “listing new” on eBay every day, even though the actual listing time is only 2-3 times per week.

[Geoff]

Auctiva has the same thing with the scheduling. Normally I don’t put much thought on scheduling a listing unless I’m running auctions. The thing like the most about Auctiva in I can set rules to change price over time… For example lower price by 2 percent if an item does not sell which I would use instead of doing best offer.

It’s also great having my listings stored for ever so I can list similar

The biggest negatives to Auctiva gave been:

General third party issues. When there is an eBay update things can get crazy

Pictures – the eBay app is really good and with the editor it works way better for me

And in general with the eBay app I find that I can actually list better and faster than with Auctiva which sort of defeats the purpose.

My understanding is that a lot of value folks get from SixBit also is it helps track costs and stuff, but if you do the webcast I’ll be really interested to see more about the listing you guys are doing in it to try to understand if I think it would be better for me.

[T-Satt]

Geoff: I like that part too, and SixBit handles the price change over time as well. You can drop or raise prices every relist by $ or by %.

I’m hoping to hear how they will handle the change with eBay going 100% GTC for fixed price listings. I would love them to create a process to end any listings that have 0 sales after a set period of time so that I can look and review them before relisting.

[T-Satt]

Jay, that is an excellent idea! We can announce when it would be shown live, and while I have you and Ryanne on and asking questions, we could have other folks come on and ask questions as well. That would be a great knowledge share!

Let me look this week on how to do one, especially the screen sharing.

[Jay]

Cool. Thats a livestream I’d be on. You know we’ll have lots of questions.

[T-Satt]

Cool. I will make this happen.

Once I get some of the basics down, I will hit you up to run some tests to make sure the screen shares work, the audio is good, etc. Plus, we can have a few folks send in some upfront questions so that we have a framework to build around.

[ChristineK]

The buyer pays the shipping on Poshmark. You can offer a shipping discount via a bundle or via an offer to buyer, but otherwise the buyer is paying the full shipping. I’m one of the people who now prefers Poshmark to Ebay. My method is to take Poshmark pics on my phone, list on Poshmark, copy the description, screenshot the photos and list on Ebay. I crop the photos in Ebay since they’re square and they need to be cropped once you screenshot them. It’s much faster for me to go from Poshmark to Ebay than vice versa. I don’t always (or even often) crosspost anymore though.

Also, that 5 pound shipping rate is good for an entire bundle up to 5 pounds so Poshmark is WAY cheaper for shipping if you are buying a bunch of stuff. This can be good for sourcing from Poshmark for resale.

[Libby]

Can’t wait to listen later today! Short on time to keep up with forum, but it is killing me!
Feb 17- Feb 23 2017

Total Items in Store: 3598
Items Sold: 94
Gross Sales: $1471.69
Consignor Commission (COGS): $464.55 (31.6%)
Highest Price Sold: $80 (oak coat rack-local pickup)
Average Price Sold: $15.66
Returns: 6
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 238 (67 personally)

Hit our new survival goal of $1250 per week, so that is a positive.
Returns are really out of control, 6 this week which is really high, we do free
returns, but will monitor over the next few weeks to determine if it is still a good option.

[Simon]

Hi R&J

Congrats on the milestone episode. Very few podcasters ever produce as many episodes. It’s the same on Youtube. Most people seem to tire of it over time and disappear. My Monday mornings wouldn’t be the same without an episode to listen to on my way to my day job.

My numbers for the week
Total Items in Store: 2729
Items Sold: 34
Total Sales: $816
Cost of Items Sold: $118
Average Price Sold: $24.01
Average Cost of Item: $3.47
Highest Price Item Sold: $94.95 Osborne 1 OCC-1 Vintage Portable Computer System (for parts)
Number of items listed this week: 60
YTD Sales: $6212
YTD sales compared to this time last year: -11%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 368
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 151
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 47
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.25%

This was an unremarkable week but I’m happy with the volume and value of the sales.

I’m just about done with my taxes but I haven’t submitted yet. I’ve been using TurboTax to do my own taxes since the mid 1990s and I’ve had a small business before so I don’t find the process too difficult but and I’m happy not to have to deal with sche; dule of a tax preparer. A couple of notes regarding tax things you mentioned in the podcast. The w2 form is actually the one an employee gets at the end of the year with their total earnings, deductions etc. (The one you fill out when you join a company is a W4). Also, PayPal sends 1099s to residents of MA and VT when they exceed $600. (It is reported to the State government for those residents).

[Geoff]

So have not listened yet to the podcast but eyeballed the SL numbers and the 1400 dollars spent on inventory caught my eye — hope you went into that number on the podcast as it looks like your making some big moves : )

2/17/19 – 2/23/19

Total listings in store (beginning of week): 414
Items sold: 14
30 day sell through (rate): 14.49%
Gross Sales: $759.11
Cost Paid for Items sold: $133.32
Shipping Cost: $167.30
Ebay Fee’s: $55.87
Paypal Fees: $26.21
Total Costs: $382.70
Net Profit: $376.41
Profit % Rev: 50%

[almasty]

Yay for the 400th podcast!

I had 70 sales on the main Ebay store this week! After a disappointing December & January, this past week finally felt like how it should have been during the Holiday Season. Currently at 3 sales for today. I’m not sure if increased sales have come from nearly daily listing, or reaching a certain number of active listings. I’m currently at 10,470 listings with 0 promoted listings.

I’ve been working through items from both the backlog and new stock. If I don’t list the new items right away, I at least like to sort them by type, or price them. As long as something is done to keep them active and not fall into the backlog, it works. I also spent half a day cleaning and prepping areas as new photo areas for Ebay, so at least that’s out of the way. I hope to incorporate working on inventory soon into the mix.

Definitely agree about getting taxes out of the way as quickly as you can. It makes you feel less anxious to get it out of the way as soon as possible. I always try to get mine knocked out by the second week of February, which I did once again this year. I have already shifted my focus away from that to other aspects of my business (backlog, inventory, cleaning, prepping, buying new inventory, etc,.).

I tried winning a storage unit this week (first time bidding), and it went up to $1,100 in the last 10 minutes! My max bid was $500. Yikes.

[T-Satt]

almasty: Yeah, I’m normally like you, done with the taxes by the second week of February. Let’s you know if you owe, you have some time to prepare. If you get a refund, you get it sooner.

Showed my youngest son how to do taxes (he moved out, works pretty much full time while also going to school first time), and why I use and swear by TurboTax. He is getting a pretty good refund, so we talked about how to change his W4 so he gets more per paycheck. I laughed since he is now part of the 45% of the population that pays $0 in Federal Income Tax. Made almost $30k this year…$0 Federal Income Tax.

Now to finish ours. Got the 1065 Partnership form done, as well as the K-1s, and working my way through ours (we have four sources of income, all taxed differently…this is why Jay and Ryanne pay someone to do theirs!).

We are getting a pretty good sized refund now as well. That $24k Standard Deduction for Married is kicking in now. I may not need to itemize any more!

[Geoff]

It’s so interesting to see that such large stores sees such variance. Could be eBay elves or perhaps it’s a really neat pulse on the economy (or both)

Anyway, great to see you are not doing promoted listings. Kind of wish there was a way for all sellers to push back on that. To me it seems promoted listings are for drop shippers who get dinged by eBay so eBay gives them a way to pay to be like regular ebayers in the search results. So long as regular sellers don’t feel obliged to pay more too

[Retro Treasures WV]

Items in Store 1064
Items Sold 23
Total Sales $866.00
COGS $90.25
Total Profit $775.75
Average profit $33.73
Average sales price $37.65
New Listings 23

A nice rebound in sales from last week. I did list some items and did a promoted listings update with more items and realigning the trending rates.
I sold a pair of J Lindberg boots for $150, and I also sold 4 pair of Asics running shoes to the same person at $50 a pair.

I think everyone at my house is now officially done with the stomach bug. I never got it. Why? Because I took a dose of Elderberry syrup every day. I was up to my elbows in all of it giving direct care to all my kids and wife and handled all the soiled laundry for days at a time. Laying with sick kids, using the same pillow, etc.

If you don’t have elderberry syrup in your medicine cabinet, you should!

Spring is almost here and I am SUPER excited. I bought a plug aerator off facebook marketplace for cheap so I can start to repair my sad, sad yard. Gonna get the yard fixed, do some major ebay organizing/listing, etc etc. I’ll be off work once the new baby is here in April for 2 weeks so I will be doing a lot of ebay.

[T-Satt]

Retro: Was that elderberry syrup Umcka? We have had good success with that in the past, and lots of our friends as well.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I don’t recall what brand- I’ll have to look at home. I just buy an 8oz bottle from the local health foods store for like $20. Eventually I’ll start making my own from dried berries.

[The Speckled Goat]

Total Items in Store: 487
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $697.90
Cost of Items Sold: $85
Highest Price Sold: $200 (Men’s fur lined trench coat)
Average Price Sold: $49.85
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $152
Number of items listed this week: 25

So I retired from my part-time day job on Feb 1st. I’ve been doing eBay for approx 15 years but now I can do eBay as much as I want! Which is absolutely fantastic to me. That said, I struggle with shopping/listing balance (and always have). I can justify the shopping (at least in my own mind) but I really think I could double my sales if I just built an ongoing listing momentum. It seems I do ok for a while and sales really go up, but then something derails me and it’s hard to get back into the listing “flow”. The latest derailing was catching up the books to get ready to do my taxes. I think I really need to have a day devoted each month (like Ryanne does) to stay current with the bookkeeping. Anyway, lots of tweaks need to happen to streamline this now full time business (and my sole source of income) and I hope the lack of a safety net helps me keep it real going forward. Going to start posting my numbers once a week also, as the actual numbers make me face up to the harsh reality of my spending habits.

Love the Podcast. Hope you don’t tire of it because I think we would all be lost without it. Thanks again!
Caren
ebay store: thespeckledgoatllc

[Geoff]

congratulations on retiring!

[T-Satt]

Ditto on the congrats on the retiring!

[The Speckled Goat]

@T-Satt and Geoff: Thanks! I’m definitely in the honeymoon phase! T-Satt – can you explain how to use the reply feature on this forum? I never can get my reply to come under the right post.

[The Speckled Goat]

Nevermind. It worked this time. LOL.

[Jay]

Did you quit your job early? or was this a planned retirement?

[The Speckled Goat]

@Jay – Early! I’m 63 and was going to wait until I became Medicare eligible (65) so as not to have a gap in healthcare coverage. (I’m healthy but you never know when you are going to be t-boned by some crazy scavenger with their hair on fire trying to get to the Goodwill Outlet).
But I discovered that I can do Cobra for 18 months which will carry me till I reach eligibility. Cobra coverage will cost $640 a month – whereas Obamacare was quoted to me at $1,200 a month.
So I took the leap! $640 is still a lot, and I’m worried that I will flop at this as my sole source of income – considering I have trouble getting things listed but no trouble buying! Also I sometimes get “the gravy train is over” irrational mindset.
Nevertheless, I’m taking a chance and boy do I feel alive.

[Jay]

Coo. Big congrats on making the leap. But all jokes aside, if you don’t consistently list, you’re going to fail. If you worked 40 hours for someone else, work 40 hours for yourself. Real Talk.

[T-Satt]

Facts. I will second what Jay said. You don’t get paid without providing value, and more listings is providing more value to more people.

Be the Ant…not the Grasshopper…

[The Speckled Goat]

@T-Satt: I need to re-listen (for the 3rd time) to the interview you did with Jay. I want to try to understand concepts such as sell-through rates and forecasting. I’m comfortable with Excel and I use Quickbooks which I think will provide year over year type reports. I like the idea of having discreet numbers to shoot for so things are less overwhelming. But, until I’m up to speed on my financial education, I’m just trying to keep myself listing.
Speaking of financial education, based on the interview here with Mr. Collins some time ago, I switched over all my 401Ks to index funds and boy has that paid off in spades – I just can’t touch it for a few years.

[T-Satt]

@GOAT: Yeah, you bring up another good topic that would be best to show in a spreadsheet format…numbers, what they mean, and how to forecast.

If there is some interest in that, after I figure out how to do a Google Hangout Live and have people join in, then we can cover that as well. I can have you and some others that would like to ask direct questions on and we can have a session, or even if folks just want to type questions in the chat.

[Jay]

I’d be interested. I’ve never understood how you can predict how much you sell into the future, or what assumptions you’re making to get to that number.

Is this inside Sixbit, or a predictive spreadsheet you’ve created outside sixbit?

[T-Satt]

Ok, two makes it a trend, so I’ll do a separate Live stream sometime just on forecasting.

All forecasting is done using a spreadsheet. Data may come from SixBit at first, but any data that is collected to be put inside a spreadsheet and then go from there.

[old_man_marty]

Hi, Troy, it’s Marty from Santa Barbara, CA. I am definitely interested in the spreadsheet conversation. Forecasting, sales records, anything. I created a forecasting one from an Excel file I downloaded from the internet and then modified in Apple Numbers – but it is clunky.

Congrats, Jay and Ryanne on #400. You two rock!!!

[T-Satt]

Will do Marty.

Forecasting is about 60% Science, 30% Art, and 10% Dark Magic, so there will always be some clunkiness….

[The Speckled Goat]

Definitely interested. But take your time figuring out Google Hangout, because I’ve got at least 10 days of book keeping backlog to catch up on.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

T-Satt I would be all over having you do either a live chat demo or a video demo on how to use your spread sheet and to do the forecasting.
But so much on my plate. I have got to get through our Sub S Corp. taxes and then personal [since the Sub-S Corp is a pass through], then get on with the transition from WonderLister to SixBit, then also doing some Shopify University training, and with the 4 houses being built, time is at a premium.
Something I have thought about lately and that is also how much time Scavengerlife can eat up. With the growth in SL membership, the amount of posts are growing and with it comes expanded amount of questions, comments and just no time to chime in and help.
By Wed. of this week I had 225 unread emails from Scavengerlife in response to this weeks podcast by Jay and Ryann. It takes time to read those and then if I wish to reply, well you can see the time this is posted and I have been up for 4 hours [4:00am EST].
So point being anything you set up as far as a demo to help expedite the use of the forecasting spread sheet and the use of it also for the others numbers would be great.

AND… if you did a demo on the use of SixBit and your process, i bet that John and the gang over at SixBit may be interested in using it on their site.

For general knowledge SixBit does have a lot of demos and they are very good. Much better than anything WonderLister has.

Mike Collins at MDC Concepts, Inc. – MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

[T-Satt]

Mike: Totally agree.

I’ll probably hit the SixBit one first, showing how I use SixBit to manage inventory, especially how I crosspost and manage PoshMark on SixBit (so fast since I own the data rather than it being on a website). Plus how to find things quickly. I’ll probably take some other questions ahead of time to structure the time.

[The_SEAM_Store]

Oops, accidentally did that post delete thing again.

Happy 400!

Week Feb 17-23, 2019

Total Items in Store: 3470 listings for 5396 total items
Items Sold: 95 Transactions for 169 Items total
Gross Sales: $7254.26
Cost of Items Sold: $581
Consignment payout: $976
Highest Price Sold: $1569, one buyer bought 4 Shirts, 1 Pocket Square and 66 Ties!
Lowest Price Sold: $4.99 (Pair of Shoe laces)
Average Price Sold: $76.36/transaction, $42.92/Item
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $36
Number of items listed this week: 70 Listings

Amazon Experiment
Amazon Products – 49
Items Sold – 9
Gross Sales – $243.48
Average Price Sold – $27.05
Cost of Goods Sold – $20

Bought a car this week. It was a pain, but looking back I’m thankful I didn’t have to try to figure out how to get to a job without a car, or use vacation time to go test drive possible options. I still owed money on the old car, and didn’t want to re-finance that money, or even finance a new one. So I chose to keep the old car in our garage for now, and bought the new one with cash. I’ll keep making the payments on the old one for a few months, and attempt to find a motor to swap out as cheap as possible and then sell it. This will hopefully maximize the $$ I can get back for the old car, as well as save nearly $3K in interest on a car loan. And once the old car is gone, we wont have a car payment…..hopefully for a while…..if not forever.

Oh, BTW, the new car is pretty sweet. 2014 Jeep Patriot Limited, Fully loaded with only 29K miles on it. Should last us quite a while.

[T-Satt]

SEAM: Huge fan of the Jeep line, especially if it is the Straight 6 engine. Our oldest still drives our 1999 Jeep Cherokee, and Veronica loves her Wrangler.

[The_SEAM_Store]

SEAM: Huge fan of the Jeep line, especially if it is the Straight 6 engine. Our oldest still drives our 1999 Jeep Cherokee, and Veronica loves her Wrangler.

I was impressed with the Patriot as soon as I drive one. I was a little worried it was going to handle like a Jeep, which would not be optimal for my back. I really would have liked to find the High Altitude version with a 6 cylinder, but this one popped up locally and it was close enough to having everything I wanted, plus exceptionally low mileage. I’ll trade a little torque for gas mileage, no problem.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Is there a story to your impressive tie business? You have a ton of NWT ties – how did you get into ties? I’m assuming you happened upon an “all in” lot at some point. It has been a while since I’ve shopped the tie racks as they always just seem to be junk ties from Sears and Wal-Mart.

[The_SEAM_Store]

Is there a story to your impressive tie business? You have a ton of NWT ties – how did you get into ties? I’m assuming you happened upon an “all in” lot at some point. It has been a while since I’ve shopped the tie racks as they always just seem to be junk ties from Sears and Wal-Mart.

Yeah, I have a lot of ties (I seem to have a lot of everything lol). I typically only run with about 600-800 ties in my store at a time, but last November I was put in contact with a distributor who was clearing out old inventory, and was able to purchase about 3000 NWOT ties direct at about 5% retail, many with multiple quantities which made listing nice for sure. I still have quite a few of that lot left to list, maybe 600, plus another 1000 or so pre-owned ties that are being held off until the others are listed. Not to mention….my consignors send lots of ties as well. My consignors items take priority over mine, so they get filtered into my store as they come in.

Yeah, the tie racks usually yield maybe 1 purchase for every 100 ties, if that. Every now and then you find a bunch of nice ones in once place, but not too often in my immediate area. There are weeks when I don’t find a single tie in thrift stores, but there are days when I come home with dozens. You never can tell.

[Jay]

Who needs 66 ties?

[The_SEAM_Store]

Who needs 66 ties?

The same guy who bought 26 last week….and hopefully will buy more next week.

[Jay]

But seriously, do you have any idea why someone would spend that much on so may ties? Do you sell to designers or prop houses?

[The_SEAM_Store]

But seriously, do you have any idea why someone would spend that much on so may ties? Do you sell to designers or prop houses?

I’m not sure with this guy, he’s been a regular customer for a few years, but usually only 2-3 items at a time. His account indicates he is in the UK, though his packages always ship to NY. His feedback is set to private so no help there. I imagine he could have a mens shop or something, but I have also personally seen and purchased mens tie collections well into the hundreds. I send him messages about combined shipping, and to thank him, but he never responds, and never leaves feedback.

Yes, I’ve sold many things to prop houses and theaters, a few things back to designers, and a couple things to museums. Though most of those items are vintage. I had a nice little vintage clothing collection going for a while, but most of it has been sold off now to make room for profitable inventory. I think all I have left here is a custom tailored tuxedo worn by Boston Mayor, Maurice Tobin, to the 3rd inauguration dinner of FDR in 1941.

[s]

Total Items in Store: 1105
Items Sold: 32
Gross Sales: $813.02
Cost of Items Sold: $57.88
Highest Price Sold: $50.44 (Green Plaid Levis 511 Jeans)
Average Price Sold: $25.40
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $135
Number of items listed this week: 70

Was having the slowest sales week I’ve had since last summer, but then the weekend came around and Saturday and Sunday were absolutely killer days.

I’ve been buying a lot of shirts lately to do some experimental lot selling with, so that’s going to be my new adventure for the next week or two. Does anybody here on the forums have any experience selling lots of 3-5 shirts or anything similar? Just looking for any tips or tricks.

As always, hope everyone has a week of great sales, sourcing, and listing!

[The_SEAM_Store]

I’ve been buying a lot of shirts lately to do some experimental lot selling with, so that’s going to be my new adventure for the next week or two. Does anybody here on the forums have any experience selling lots of 3-5 shirts or anything similar? Just looking for any tips or tricks.

I’ve sold some shirt lots before, typically in lots of 2-5, sometimes 7-10 as well.
Here are a few things I’ve found helpful, some of these may be obvious, but I’ll list anyway.

—I’ve found it best to make sure all the shirts are the same size and similar style. This will make your lot more likely to sell to an end-user, rather than another reseller, so you can get a higher price.

—Be careful with posting lots with multiple brands, on occasion listings get taken down automatically if the algorithm detects possible keyword/brand spamming, even if you are really selling each of the brands. I typically keep my lots all to one brand per lot to keep on the safe side.

—Inspect well for damages. Collar ring, armpit stains, chipped or missing buttons, holes, odors, etc. Also for dress shirts, check the chest and cuffs for monograms.

—Make sure you weigh your lot. The ounces can add up quickly, putting you unexpectedly into the next shipping tier.

—Fold the shirts nicely for packaging. Presentation is everything.

[T-Satt]

Love ya SEAM! Especially the last part. 1000% percent!

[s]

Thanks for the info!

All of the lots will be single brand, single size, single style. I’ve been buying for my stockpile to do this for a few months, just seemed like a waste to pass up all the descent shirts I see on dollar tag day sale because they’re not really worth listing to sell individually. My buying, folding, and shipping game is pretty strong, so I’m not really concerned with that part. I’m pretty sure I can nicely package 5 nike golf polo shirts and fit them in padded flat rate envelope, but I’ll have to do a bit of testing to make sure before I put any listings up.

[The_SEAM_Store]

Good luck with your endeavor. I suppose they might fit in a PFR mailer, but I don’t know off hand. I don’t think I’ve ever used one. I ship everything in boxes, except my shoelaces (small ebay mailer). It’s not necessary to use only boxes, it’s just my personal preference based on the way I like to receive my purchases.

[Rhianna]

Total Items in Store: 1944 (160 on Poshmark)
Items Sold: 41 (34 Ebay and 7 Poshmark)
Gross Sales: $1561.02
Highest Price Sold: $154 (American Girl Dresses)
Average Price Sold: $38.07
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $168
Number of items listed this week: 105

Great episode with lots of useful tidbits.
Regarding Poshmark, I started taking pictures in square mode for Ebay then it is easily cross posted into Poshmark. For items I already have listed on ebay I will just do screen shots. I only use my laptop to post on Poshmark, the phone takes too long. Poshmark is much easier to list, in my opinion. But the sharing, liking, etc can be exhausting. I have decided to take 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening to list, share, and like. I spend the rest of the day focusing on ebay. We will see how it goes. I had my worst month last month, it was horrible. But the last couple days have been crazy… seems like ebay turned my store on (hahaha). Hopefully it keeps going.

[Marshal_G]

Customers pay for shipping on top of what they pay for your item on Poshmark. The benefit is that Posh has negotiated a sweetheart deal with the USPS where they get a flat $6.49 (I think it just went up to $6.79 or so) for up to 5lb. I see an opportunity for selling boots and heavier shoes on Posh because the shipping is so much less than eBay when you get to 2 or more lbs.

Posh Pros
Cheaper shipping on heavier items
Easier listing – way less info. eBay seems to add a new field I have to fill out every month.
Built in social media aspect – liking and sharing other people’s listings gets you viral views through their followers, and their followers’ followers, etc.
The Posh app is very slick and modern looking. It’s marketed to younger people as an app and the ease of use and list-from-your-phone means the platform is geared towards younger people. Young people like to buy things on their phone, are more fashion conscious, but on the other hand don’t have as much money as older, more established adults.
It’s just a different demographic. Sometimes things that won’t sell for over a year on eBay (even if refreshing the listing) will sell very quickly on Posh. and vice versa. Being on Posh is just casting your net wider.

Posh Cons
The users seem to be about 95% resellers interacting with each other, with many fewer buyers than eBay, and my sales on both reflect that. But it is growing.
Fixed $6.79 shipping is great for heavy items, but makes it a hard sell for a light blouse or t-shirt or tie. Hopefully as the company expands and the platform grows, they might offer a 1st class option.
People love to lowball you, in some cases 50% of asking price. Asking prices seem very inflated vs eBay, possibly due to naivete by newbies seeing “influencers” making thousands of dollars. If you do make an offer to someone that is considerably lower than what you listed it, they’ll counter with even lower. Much lower.
When you make an offer to someone, you HAVE to offer a shipping discount. If you’re like me and your margins are already thin, that means you have to offer less off the asking price to account for the shipping discount.
You can’t offer a discount unless it is at least 10% below your lowest ever price. Which means when you raise prices (when you realize people want to haggle), you can’t offer discounts. People expect discounts.

[The Speckled Goat]

@SEAM – appreciate the shirt tips!

[vikingsilver]

Week of 2/17-2/23
Total Items in Store: 1,609
Number of Items Listed: 43
Number of Items Sold: 46
Total Sales: $622.91
Cost of Items Sold: $102.50
Highest Item Sold: $40 – Jarvis Landry Autograph Card
Average Price Sold: $13.54
Inventory Spending: $120.00
Consignment Payouts: $13.00
Sell Through Rate: 2.86%
Cash Flow (+/-): +231.87

Ebay:
Sold a lot of small dollar sports cards this week. That coupled with no larger consignment sales made for a low dollar week. The sell through rate is nice, but that included a number of $2-$5 sales. I hit one auction this week and was marginally successful buying merchandise there, but many weeks I’m able to spend closer to $300 on merchandise so this week was pretty low quality items. As the podcast discussed, I am working on taxes this week and interested to see where I landed last year. I’m hoping doing these numbers beginning in 2019 will help be keep organized much better moving forward as tax time is too much of a mess currently.

Other:
I have started my training to attempt to set the fastest known time on North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail in May. It is a 1200-mile trail that spans the entire length of the state east-west. My hope is to complete the run in 24 days and use the experience to launch a public speaking side hustle and potentially write a book. I am officially announcing my attempt tomorrow so I guess I have to follow through now… Exciting, but quite a bit scary.

[Rhianna]

@vikkingsilver
Wow! That run sounds amazing! Good luck and please let us know how it goes. Will you be documenting it with photos or video?

[bcfol440]

Weekly Sales:
ebay: 1300 items
Sold: 22
Sales: $931
ASP: $42 (YES!, gettin’ there!)

Mercari:
Sales: 2
Amount: $72

Poshmark:
5 sales, $124
^clearing old sheeettttttt.

Focusing on my home this week. Too many ebay items have crept into my living space and it’s making me anxious! I need to list them and store them. For ex, sorting jewelry and watching TV. My coffee table is covered.

Re: Poshmark, sounds like it’s been covered. I will add the reason for listing the cheapie items are if a 1. buyers like to bundle items 2. I have sold TONS of cheapie (under $15) items and yes they pay $6.79 for that item. When I a needing a Poshmark algorithm boost, I just list little cheapies I have in my ebay store (earrings, scarf, kids outfit).

Yes, 20% is eh, but considering no Promoted Listing Fees or store subscription It’s probably a break even. Where it becomes annoying is fielding the Best Offers and factoring it all into your bottom line.

[vikingsilver]

Rhianna,

Thanks! Yes, I plan to post regular updates on Instagram throughout the run. I will be sure to share that information as it gets closer!

[bcfol440]

Re: Clothing lots.
We just bought a lot 3 Big & Tall size dress shirts for family member and paid $12 in shipping for them. They arrived rolled into balls inside a Padded Flat that was VERY tight. Not a great buying experience, so I agree with the above re: presentation to buyer. Paying $12 and then getting the Padded Flat was annoying, although I am not sure a regular buyer would know there is a $4.50 price difference.

[SpartyQ]

My Store Week Feb 17-23, 2019
Total Items in Store: 554
Items Sold: 35
Gross Sales: $1,002.50
Cost of Items Sold: $80
Highest Price Sold: $125 (Genuine Birch Bark Lampshade)
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: Approx $80
Number of items listed this week: Approx 60
Favorite Sale of the Week: I have a Goodwill near my work that has been stocking hockey equipment in near new condition.
I have found some gloves, pants, and skates that have sold well over the past couple of months. This week I sold a near new pair of kid’s skates for $45 that I paid $7 for. Crazy that things this new are given away.

Stories from the week: Weird week. I was all ready to report a bad week considering how things started, but a nice finish on the back-end made up for it all.
I made the mistake of swapping shipping labels on two orders. Had to pay for additional postage to get them to the right location and to top it off, one of the items did not work upon arrival – it was a motherboard to a PC that I bought for $30 – thought I had identified the issue as I have some expertise in computer building but I was wrong. Overall I sent the motherboard and a vintage firkin bucket and lost a few bucks. And then I had resolution on a set of glasses that never delivered (USPS) – I refunded…ugh.
So the week was ugly at the start but some good things happened. I went to my first live auction on Wednesday and spent $41 – Listed 40 things and have already profited $60 off two items – a mid century modern clock and a Panasonic VHS Recorder. Another item that has been selling quickly is the Barbie Jumbo Jet that I took apart for pieces. Bought for $3 and have already made three sales for $36 with plenty left to go. Possible BOLO item as it’s easy to part out.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by SpartyQ.

[ChristineR]

Total Items in Store: 298 Ebay, about 40 Mercari
Items Sold: 3 Ebay, 2 Mercari
Gross Sales: $69 Ebay, $44 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $19 + $6 free shipping + one item ours
Highest Price Sold: $38 Ebay, midcentury salad plate set (paid $7 indy thrift)
Average Price Sold: $22-23 across platforms
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $4
Number of items listed this week: 0

Happy 400! Thank you J&R for your consistent effort on the quality podcast and forum. I really appreciate being able to learn from others and share re my hobby now turned small business. Unfortunately, there are not many others out there making great content. A whole lot of get rick quick ads, jabber, whining, and click bait. I also really appreciate that you educate encourage others to honestly pay their taxes on reselling income and remind all that we all reap some of the benefits of it, even if we don’t agree with some things going on. I will certainly now leave that topic right there.

I really like doing my own taxes because it helps me understand how it works. It’s very, very different for us this year than last. The business deductions will come into play though an accountant friend of mine said to be cautious about storage space and I need to look further into that. Also most of the time is spent on the bookkeeping rather than the tax preparation work. Turbotax did pretty well predicting my new and much higher quarterlies so hopefully they are up to speed.

Dreadful sales but I’ve seen it before in February and I just simply haven’t had time to list. It’s weird not to have to go to the post office or pack in the morning. I look forward to a rainy school day off to sit and list by the fire without going to the office. Just not in the cards lately. Have a great week trash elves!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by ChristineR.

[mprw77]

Great episode and congratulations on 400 episodes.

I would highly recommend getting an LLC and putting everything through that entity. It is so much better in terms of taxes and keeping life and business separate.

[Jay]

Can you link to some info why an LLC has better tax benefits? From my research there is absolutely no extra tax benefits than sole proprietorship or general partnership. In fact, LLC has a yearly fee.

There’s a benefit if you can get loans put in your LLC name so you arent liable for that debt, but usually banks and companies make you personally sign for any loans so the potential protection is nil. People over-hype the benefits of liability protection. These days, LLC’s are usually just used to either hide ownership or an easy way to set up a partnership.

But I’d be happy to learn more if you send any specific links on how LLC’s pay less taxes.

[Mark S]

Jay,

Your statement was correct until December 31, 2017. But on Jan. 1st 2018 the 2018 Trump Tax Reform MAY save you up to 20% for pass-through entity – which an LLC is.

Here is the link to that: https://bench.co/blog/tax-tips/trump-tax-reform-small-business/

The key here is that it MAY save you 20% for 2018.

Mark

[Jay]

But a passthrough business isnt just an LLC:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/taxes/pass-through-income-tax-deduction/

This deduction is for people who have “pass-through income”.That’s business income that you report on your personal tax return. Qualified pass-through entities include:
–Sole proprietorship
s.
–Partnerships.
–S corporations.
–Limited liability companies (LLCs).

So our General Partnership benefits as well. I haven’t found a reason yet why an LLC saves us any extra money.

LLC’s don’t provide liability protection for many small businesses because they are simply no more than empty names for the actual person.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil
You’d have to do a lot of work to make sure the LLC was a completely separate entity from you, the person.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Jay.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Jay.

[simplicio]

Regarding LLCs, I was reading this today & found it helpful. It applies to Canada but I suspect it’d be similar for USA.

https://youngandthrifty.ca/sole-proprietorship-to-corporation-in-canada/

Regarding taxes, the idea in essence is just that the small business tax rate is lower than the personal income tax rate. Whether this justifies the extra hassle involved and the whole new level of bookkeeping is another story. I’m going to be talking to an accountant about this I think.

As far as liability goes, I agree with you Jay that the legal liability risk from ebay selling is minimal.

[Inglewood]

With a LLC, don’t you have to pay taxes twice though? Once as the LLC, and once when you “pay” yourself from the LLC (therefore, paying tax on your business then personal income)?

[Mark S]

Inglewood,

The way I read it, yes. But the only way I see around that is to change to a C Corporation.

Mark

[T-Satt]

Inglewood and Mark: No, LLC’s are not taxed separately. LLCs are pass-thru entities, meaning that the profits from the LLC are passed through to the owners, and the owners pay the tax on their personal tax forms.

We are set up as a LLC, so each year I complete and submit a 1065 Return (which is informational only…kind of like when a company submits the W2 or 1099 to the government). The 1065 also includes the K-1 forms, which reports each partners portion of the profits. The income for each person on the K-1 is added as income on the Income portion of the 1040. Unreimbursed Partnership Expenses (like home office deduction and mileage) are included on the Schedule E as a reduction of the profits from the K-1.

I finished filing our taxes yesterday, so very fresh on my mind… 🙂

[Jay]

In your opinion, whats the difference between a LLC or GP/SP?
–Any tax difference?
–Any real legal difference in your opinion?

From what I see, taxes are all done the same way.

[Jay]

Forming a C-corp is a next level step for sure. This is where the corporation owns everything and you pay yourself as an employee. The C-corp can provide you benefits, lease you cars, etc. The Corporation pays lower taxes. You can also eventually sell the C-corp as a separate business.

But it’s also next level paperwork. I cant ever see doing enough business to make it worth it.

[Mark S]

Jay,

You are right. I just saw the LLC and said cool, that’s me.

I am not sure how much actual protection the LLC provides me, but I guess it is better than nothing.

But in reality, a pass-through entity covers just about all business’ except the C Corporation.

Mark

[Jay]

If you’re concern is racking up debts you cant pay, the LLC will not save you. Again, banks and businesses will make you sign for it personally.

If you’re concerned someone may sue you, the LLC is very cold comfort. A good lawyer and appropriate liability insurance is what will save you.

From what I understand, an LLC might be most helpful if you set up a partnership with a person who you really want to make sure there’s a legal agreement on who owns what. The legal structure is what will save you if/when the partnership fails.

But as just a regular dude running an eBay business, a sole proprietorship gets you all the tax benefits for very little paperwork. (IANAL)

[Temudgin]

Well said, Jay. So true regarding debts and liabilities, and taxes. The LLC (in the US) is no panacea. And the LLC is strictly a state-specific administrative structure and does not dictate how the entity is taxed. There are essentially only 4 ways a for-profit business files taxes under federal law: as a Sole Proprietorship (Form 1040, Schedule C), Partnership (Form 1065), Subchapter S Corporation (Form 1120S) or a Subchapter C Corporation (Form 1120). An LLC is a type of entity that can file a Schedule C if it only has one member (i.e. one owner – or only a husband and wife as members, under certain conditions), or it can be set up to file Form 1065 (needs more than one owner), or even Form 1120S or Form 1120 with the appropriate documentation and IRS filings.

[maybel9]

Jay! The man you spoke with at the auction who was trying to clear out his aunt’s house– that was a perfect networking opportunity dropping itself in your lap. Did you ask him if you could see what the aunt had so you could purchase some of it from him?

It is amazing to get first shot at an estate, before anyone else has pre-picked it. Try it, and I think you will love it.

I assume you wouldn’t want to buy the entire contents, so you could pick what you want, and refer the man to cleanout or estate companies for the rest.

[Jay]

His aunts house was already sold. He told me what had already happened.

Ive been in a couple of hoarder houses. They usually have very bad taste and everything is in bad condition.

[Jean Jangles]

Our Store Week Feb 17-23

Total Items in Store: 1610
Items Sold: 39
Cost of Items Sold: $90
Total Sales: $681 (AUD)
Highest Price Sold: 70 – washing machine motherboard
Average Price Sold: $17.45
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0 – I was on holiday!

In episode 398 you guys talked about eBay wanting certain listings to be
matched with a product identifier / catalouge info. it seems like every appliance
part I list pops up in this list.. I’ve got 65 listings that “require attention”
I tryed matching some up with catalouge info but it was too time consuming and now i’m just
ignoring it. I doesn’t seem to affect the sales

Seems like i’ve had a perfect storm of events lately, I lost my drafting job (not ebay drafting)
just as my eBay store started supplying me with enough income. I’ve also started doing some
drafting work from home for a friend from uni that started his own design business.

[Jay]

Yeah, we have about ten items that eBay keeps nagging us to add product identifier numbers, but then wont let us connect them to current listings or make our own. We hope they’ll just be purchased.

Sorry about losing your job. But working as a freelancer at home + selling on eBay is a pretty sweet combo. Just make sure you ask for good money on those contract jobs.

[Geoff]

I have a few items eBay messages me on about adding product too. Same thing can’t add product etc. Sounds like maybe pending spring update addresses somewhat:

“Organizing the world’s largest catalog is a massive undertaking. Building on the work you’ve helped us complete so far, moving forward we are simplifying our ask of you. You will be able to optimize your listings for product-based shopping by simply providing complete and accurate item specifics when you list. Accurate item specifics will allow us to monitor which elements are most important to buyers within the shopping experience. As we identify key item specifics that contribute to increased traffic and sales conversion, we will highlight these item specifics in Seller Hub so check often to optimize your listings.”

So it seems like listings may no longer get dinged for lacking product association and more emphasis put on those specifics giving eBay that structured data they want (so going back to how it was like last year I guess)

[Doublythumbs]

Feb 17-23
Total Items in Store: 2082
Items Sold: 26
Total Sales : $477
* BELOW yearly average of $917
* BELOW 2018 total week sales of $877
Highest Price: $60 (Starrett Machinist Protractor Head and Square)
Average Price: $18
Returns: 2
Cost of Goods Sold: $28
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 20

Yikes! It wasn’t a very good week of sales at all. Only about half of my average selling price. That and two high priced returns But that’s okay. I was sort of expecting this since I haven’t been putting a lot of effort into eBay over the last two weeks due to working my butt off training my replacement. But things are looking up already this week. I’ve nearly matched my gross sales from last week, and it’s only Tuesday.

Speaking of my job and all that… I’M DONE! Friday was my last day. It really hasn’t hit me yet that I’ve made this life-changing career move. It still feels like a long four-day weekend or something. My partner, Steph, made that move months ago and she says she still feels like an extended vacation in a way. I had a rough first day, though. Yesterday our internet went out due to the wind storm and we were dead in the water all day. Couldn’t list, couldn’t print labels. So we made the best of it and totally spring cleaned our house. I think I’m going to take this week and work on some other projects for the house that I’ve been putting off for too long.

Congrats on the 400th episode! It’s been a long journey so far! Here’s to the next 400!

[T-Satt]

Congrats on the leap Doubly! Just don’t get too distracted with the other projects (this comes from MY experience…). Like the man said

A…B…L…

Always…Be…Listing

[Doublythumbs]

Thanks, Troy! I actually just finished the major projects that I had planned. Fixed our ceiling, painted some patches in the wall, cleaned and reorganized my office. Now I’m ready to list list list.

[Retro Treasures WV]

This is a good time to have a mobile hot spot. You can add hot spot to your existing phone with many service providers. You could also just buy a straight talk hot spot device and keep a $10 hot spot service card for an emergency. That way you always have internet even if your service goes out.

[T-Satt]

Amen Retro. Always have a backup plan.

2 is 1…1 is none.

And you can’t have a disruption of your business.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

RTWV: We were just talking about this with one of our helpers and the phone hot spot came up. She said she uses it all the time and works great. But if the power goes out and it is wide spread, then at some point a cell phone’s battery will dwindle also. We have a super fast hand held recharger that would be good for an additional one or two charges before it also would die off. We use it when we are out scavenging. Quick, fast, easy charge right from my coat pocket.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art

[Retro Treasures WV]

You can get battery banks for portable devices dirt cheap now. I also have 3 laptops in the house that I can use to charge my phones. I battery backup can keep a laptop powered for quite a while as well. There are plenty of options if you suffer from power outages.

At our old house we had a lot so I installed a transfer switch so my generator could be seamlessly integrated with our house.
I have that switch still (pulled it before moving), but I’ve never installed it here because we very rarely have outages.

[So Cal Joe]

Yes, but you can charge the cell phone in the car in an emergency. I’ve also run the printer off the car battery before. A laser printer is a little tougher, due to it’s power requirements, but is still doable.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

So Cal Joe: Very good tip. I have a device that has a cigarette lighter plug and a large block that has 4 regular power cord plugs ins, I just have forgotten about it. I think it is in one of the car’s arm rest. In an emrgency I could plug a laptop in and a portable printer and be back in business. Then using my phone as a hot spot, I would have the internet and there we go.

[Inglewood]

Here is what we have figured out for our contingency plans:

Electricity – we live in a rural area with a lot of power outages, so we already have a gas generator that we can use when not connected to the fridge, sump pump, or heater. We previously had battery back-ups, but the batteries are expensive and wear out after 4-5 years. If we run low on gas, I have a syphon hose (that has a pump so you don’t get a mouth of gas) ready to go.

Internet – rural issues with using a wireless hot spot, therefore our back-up is the local library (if they have power…), if not, we would go somewhere that we could get our wireless hot spots working efficiently, or a business with free wi-fi. We probably won’t list in this scenario – just wait it out. Our ISP from our experience last week will swap out equipment with no questions asked, so that is an option if we feel it is an equipment issue again. This is our Achilles heel at the moment…

Shipping Labels – need both electricity and internet, but if the printer dies we have discovered our local post office can “reprint” labels with a tracking number, therefore we just need to bring the info in and they will print the labels for us. If for some reason we can’t even setup our own labels, we’ll have to bring the info and our account number to the Post Office do it old school.

Cameras – we have 3 identical Nikon cameras now – all use the same batteries/lenses, so we should be good here. We also don’t re-use SD cards, so if we did run out of cards, we could re-use one of the dozens we have. Worst case we have a couple other digital cameras with lower picture quality, or use a phone/iPad (which would be lower in quality, but acceptable).

[T-Satt]

Love it Inglewood!

[So Cal Joe]

Thanks Mike,

It sounds like your car has a built in 12v/110v inverter. It should work fine in your situation, as long as you’re not using a laser printer. Of course, for extended use, you’ll have to run the car to keep the battery charged.

I’ve been using a hot spot (option on my cell phone), as may primary internet for years. I find it’s super reliable, even with a weak signal. Of course, the band width limitations are another conversation.

Regarding power outages and the refrigerator, I advise everyone to buy a cheap $10 indoor/outdoor thermometer. (Acurite is the brand I have.).

Place the outside temperature sensor in your refrigerator.

Now you can see the temperature of your food at all times. If the power goes out, it really takes a lot of the stress out of the situation, as you always know if you are going to have an issue with your food spoiling due to the fridge not working.

Anyone want to talk generators… Maybe next time.

[Doublythumbs]

Good idea, Retro. I will have to look into getting one of those. The only minor issue is that our cell service isn’t too great where we live. It would be doable, but majorly inconvenient. But in an emergency situation, little is better than nothing.

[Inglewood]

Excited for you @Doublythumbs…

You also bring up a good point – we lost our internet during the wind storms on the weekend (don’t know if anyone saw the wall of ice going over the shoreline on the news where Lake Erie goes into the Niagara River – that was just by my house!) but it fried our internet and power. Our router that the cable company supplies just died with the constant power outages and surges.

We called up our cable company to replace it, and they told us it was going to take 2 weeks!!! The other option was to drive an hour to pick another one up, so since we were heading that way anyways, we picked one up.

It go us thinking though – what critical issues could arise to shut us down? Without the internet, we have no notifications, listing ability, or options to print labels. We needed to come up with a contingency plan – not only for the internet, but other important/critical “things” we need for our business.

It was something we didn’t think of before, but now have a plan for some of the major issues like internet loss that we can work around if necessary. The loss of it for even a day there was crippling!

[Doublythumbs]

Thank you, Inglewood! I’m excited too! Or at least I will be once it finally settles in that I don’t have to wake up at 6:00 every morning. Damn internal alarm clock…

[newvintageny]

I have never really ran a sale before until now and it looks like it is working! First sale in 4 years of having a store and I didn’t inflate any prices which is why it is working.

https://imgur.com/a/FlRB2DN

[The Speckled Goat]

@newvintageny – holy crap that’s a great looking graph!

[newvintageny]

This little cutie has been keeping us busy. Totally worth it! She is good motivation to make more sales.

https://imgur.com/a/eC4KIIH

https://imgur.com/a/YNGSYCS

https://imgur.com/a/5ZW3AmG

[ebaymom]

She is so adorable!

[Paulo H Leocadio]

Updating Business Policies (changing handling time for example).

In my case, every time I have to make any changes and any error occur to one or more listing, what it does is to create a policy_name_copy with those listings that did not change.
So if the specific policy had 1000 listings and when I change whatever and the process finds error in the shipping weight or other, 500 listings get changed and the 500 in error are placed in the newly automatically created copy policy.

[Paulo H Leocadio]

Listing on other eBay sites.

Folks, soon after I enabled multiple currencies in my PayPal account, coincidence or not I received an offer to have all my eBay listings active on eBay for other countries. I could even choose the countries (I chose Japan, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Spain, China, total of 9).
What happens is that this add on translated and created my listings in each eBay site in the local language.
Since I enabled it 3 weeks ago, majority of my sales are international through the sister eBay sites in local currencies. The worse case scenario so far was a case in the UK where I had a back and forth to adjust shipping since calculator was too off.

[Inglewood]

Be careful…not sure what you are signed up for…you could always do this through eBay and still use your own currency and buyers could use there currency. How much are you paying for the translation service (my listings for example don’t translate if they appear on international eBay sites).

You may want to be careful where you ship – not all mail services use tracking that is compatible with your mail service – so buyers can say they didn’t receive the item and tracking will support them.

[Paulo H Leocadio]

So far – and I assume since the App does not detail much – I suppose I am in a trial period, so I am not paying anything else.
The main difference is that I have visibility on those sites instead of people having to come to US eBay looking for my products.
I am still on the guard to see how far it goes, if it is worthy, and what is the catch

[Inglewood]

Just so you are aware, when you setup your eBay shipping preferences when you list an item, the item will show up in the countries that you are willing to ship to. For example, if you are willing to ship to Canada, and check that in your shipping preferences, it will show up on the Canadian website and the U.S. website for the same cost, and it will show the price in Canadian dollars on the Canadian website, and you will still get paid in U.S. dollars.

[Paulo H Leocadio]

For reference, this is the service advertised to me:

https://webinterpret.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

[Inglewood]

Thanks for the link – there regular pricing looks like it would be 5% of what you sell, and then it varies significantly for the other fees beyond that (advertised is $49.99 a month, but other sites say they have other fees as well – translation services, hosting, eBay fees for multiple listings, etc.).

Keep us up to date on how it works out for you. I’m scared of getting burned shipping to some countries from bad experiences in the past.

[Paulo H Leocadio]

I found out I have the free/basic subscription, so I am charged $1.49 per paid transaction.
In these 3 weeks my sales doubled (which is not a big deal since I have a 800 items store, $1k-2k per month).

I only had one problem selling a broken iPhone to Russia, the buyer complained the iPhone was broken hehehehehe, that was the best ever (listed as broken, for parts only)/

So far very happy selling to China, Taiwan, Russia, India, Australia (several), Nordic countries, UK (several), Portugal and Canada.
I do not sell to Brazil (sold 2 times upon an in depth due diligence, by default I do not even respond), for Hispanic countries depending on the due diligence.

[T-Satt]

Paulo: You have me intrigued…

So this service puts your listings on the international sites (so eBay UK) but showing that you are a International seller (to eBay UK), therefore shipping is correct to the buyer, correct?

Then are you shipping through this service on those sales?

[Paulo H Leocadio]

Hello Troy, nice exchanging with you again:

“Paulo: You have me intrigued…
So this service puts your listings on the international sites (so eBay UK) but showing that you are a International seller (to eBay UK), therefore shipping is correct to the buyer, correct?
Then are you shipping through this service on those sales?”

In a nutshell, the service replicates your US based eBay account to the ebay sites you choose (totally open choice). You can even log on to those sites directly with the same US credential and see everything under the perspective of a Ducth ebayer for example.
When the potential buyer gets interested or executes a purchase, the shipping option they have is the converted amount you have in your listing for international shipping, they cannot opt for their local services, they must either pay whatever eBay calculates to them, or message you to understand why that is the cost. For example. I must have had 10 sales during the period, with the exception of one, all other nine contacted me because the shipping cost seemed to high.

There was a hand painted silk fabric from Japan for example I was able to use the large envelope option and reduced the shipping I think 3 times (you must resend the invoice, but through their origin site, not from the regular ebay “all orders” link, since the invoice must be in their local process.

Did I clarify a bit to you???

[aperture]

Congrats on 400th episode!!!

If it’s OK, since your topic is taxes, I want to give a thumbs up to “Not Your Dad’s CPA”. He has an “Essential Tax Guide for Online Sellers” that I find to be very valuable. He walks through the 10,000 foot view and then walks through all the types of taxes and every deduction.

Best wishes to all, Daniel.

[The_SEAM_Store]

Guys, just topped $25,000 for the month! First time ever…..imagine if it had been leap year!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

[Geoff]

Congrats man — it has been a lot of fun watching the diligence and hard work you put in and great hearing about the success!

[Jay]

What are your net profits for the month?

[The_SEAM_Store]

What are your net profits for the month?

About $15,000, of which $4000 will have to be set aside for estimated tax.

[T-Satt]

Well done SEAM! That $15k is also after your consignment payouts, correct?

[The_SEAM_Store]

Yes, that’s after pretty much everything. Shipping, Ebay fees and COGS/Consignment being the biggest bills. I believe the only thing not accounted for yet is my February mileage, but I drove very little this month.

[T-Satt]

Well done. I want to be you when I grow up SEAM!

[Geoff]

If I understand correctly, with the exception to what i have gathered is occasional photography help, you are pretty much a one man operation, no?

[The_SEAM_Store]

Mostly just me. Actually it seems that the photographer guy flaked on me. Would love to get someone in here to help with that for sure. I’ve taken every picture of every item Ive ever listed or sold. Over 31000 items.

My wife helps me a little when she can, but she has her own business too so she’s busy as well. Primarily she tags and bags stuff for inventory after I do the rest. I take what I can get and am very thankful for the help, however insignificant it may seem to her.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

[MoCoyotes]

2/17-2/23

Total Items in Store: 2730
Items Sold: 39
Cost of Items Sold: $40
Total Sales: $1645
Highest Price Sold: $166 (Vtg 1990s Wolfenstein 3D video game, which I got for free from local thrift free section)
Average Price Sold: $42
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $107
Number of items listed this week: 30

Barely listed again. Was busy with some flooring and tree trimming side work. I do that here and there for cash, plus I like it. On Sunday we sold 9 items to the same buyer! All random vintage and military/workwear clothes.

[T-Satt]

I LOVED WOLFENSTEIN!

Spent a lot of hours on that while in college working in the PC lab. Back when no one had computers in their room…

Sounds like the wild west now…

[The_SEAM_Store]

Yes! Had that on a floppy for my 286.

[T-Satt]

The 286…wow…you are really going old school!

I remember how the Pentium was the Ultimate in speed! I did a paper on it my Senior year…

[Inglewood]

I remember we played Wolfenstein at College in the labs constantly, and then we moved on to Duke Nuk’em…the IT department would wipe off the games nightly, we would just re-install them the next day and waste the computer lab time. I became an instructor after graduating and joined the students that moved on to Command and Conquer – Red Alert.

It was great to be in a room with the people you were playing, hearing them groan and swear…now kids probably just play with strangers they will never meet.

[Marie in Florida]

Congrats on 400. I am so glad there are 400, lots of motivation

Most exciting item was an order for 7 pairs of clip on glasses in size xs. Why? Possibly a play? Anyway I made $42

I’ve misplaced too many items. I’m currently starting with my oldest item and 1 by 1, finding them and noting in the bottom of the listing a code showing me where they are. It’s helped, but it takes SO long. Currently about 20% done. Anything I can’t find in less than 5 minutes is moved off of active. Also found a major flaw in a pair of shoes. Noted it and dropped the price 70%

[So Cal Joe]

Hi Marie,

You may want to just go bin by bin to find and put an item location in the listing for each item. Do the bins one at a time.

Once the bin is done, label it and it’s done. Don’t label it, until everything in it has been updated.

This way, you always know which bins have been updated for location and which still need to be done.

Every new listing needs to have a location now.

Make sure the location is unique and not just a number, that way, later on, you can always search your items by bin numbers to find everything in the bin. This makes it much easier to combine bins if the need arises.

Yes, it’s a real pain, but you will be so much happier once it’s done.

Good Luck

[Sharyn]

Marie – In addition to what SoCalJoe said, consider using the custom label for your location code. The customer doesn’t see it, but it will show up as a column in your Active Listings screen and will be noted in your Orders under the title. That way, you don’t have to open your listing to find the location code.

[The_SEAM_Store]

Everyone keep an eye on your service metrics. Ebay has begun passing out the FVF penalties this week, And It’s not pretty for those affected. Despite having 3-4 anchor reps assure me that while the metrics are not appealable, the extra fee would be appealable, I’m hearing that this is not the case at all, so be careful.

[Jay]

If I remember correctly, this is the page that shows you the service metrics eBay is judging you on: https://www.ebay.com/sh/prf/service-metrics?src=filters&metric_type=SNAD

We are judged on
–item not described
–item not received

Seam Store, is this what you have heard?

[The_SEAM_Store]

Correct. I know of a few people who incurred the extra 4% fvf 2-3 days ago. They each reported SNAD returns in the 1.8%-2.4% range, most of which were opened incorrectly by buyers as not as described for remorse reasons like fit, or color, didn’t read description etc. None have been able to appeal the decision.

This is troubling as I spoke to a few separate reps last fall that assured me that this would be appealable. I currently am not in the danger zone, but how quickly that can change with a few returns. I currently have 11 SNAD returns, 10 of which would be considered remorse reasons by any sensible rep. If I had 5 or 6 more it would cause me to be penalized 4% extra FVF (an increase of roughly $800-1000/month)

[BigSally]

R and J 400 is a huge deal !

In numerology the number 400 symbolizes going on a spiritual journey, ending and beginning a phase or a cycle in your life. It also symbolizes patience, determination, pragmatism, the Universal energy, wholeness, oneness, endings and new beginnings, tradition and building foundations for the future.
This number also symbolizes hard work, efforts, responsibility and inner wisdom.

It seems to fit your journey right now, from this observation deck 😉

thank you and your tribe for being!
sally

PS

Unrelated but important number in my universe, 52. weeks on ebay. years of age.
yep my 1 year ebay birthday! what a journey. I will share more about my selling numbers when i figure out how to do that on the google sheet I created. lol.

[Jay]

Congrats. Being consistent for one year is a big deal. Most people tend to burn out in a handful of weeks.

[bcfol440]

The_Seam Store: Can I apprentice with you? HA! Congrats on your success. I found a Brooks Bros. stunning tuxedo yesterday with all the doo dads. Got it into the light while still at the sale and discovered moth holes ! UGH! I never know whether to pull the trigger on those.
I started off selling mens clothes as my husband has an extensive gucci loafer collection and left a corporate suit job. You are inspiring me to maybe explore going back to my roots a bit.

[The_SEAM_Store]

If you live anywhere near Gettysburg PA, yes please.

[Author]

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