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Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week July 7-13, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8472 Items Sold: 27 Gross Sales: $974.27 Cost of Ite
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 419: People of the world] -
2019-07-07 – 2019-07-13
Total Items In Store: 3031
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $65
Total Sales: $676.38
Highest Price Sold: $140 (CD Changer)
Average Price Sold: $37.58
# Items Listed: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $82I haven’t posted in several weeks because I have been on vacation.
Gut Sales Report for the week: Pretty good sales for my store for this time of year. Plus, I just got back from a long vacation with just some listing.
Challenge of the week: Trying to get items listed by the end of the summer to build up the store. Shooting to go to an anchor store by the end of August.
Scavenge of the week: Bought a Sony Super Betamax from the Thrift store for $12.99. Works great and will list high.
Scavenge of another kind: While I was on vacation in Florida, I was invited to go to a dig for Native American artifacts on private property. I got the opportunity to dig for 3000 year old arrowheads. I didn’t find any fully intact “points” as they are called, but I was able to find a number of tools that were used. It is quite incredible to take something out of the dirt that may not have been touched by human hands for nearly 3000 years!
Mark S
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One other thing I did while on vacation was to drive thru Atlanta on the way back. Since my whole family are fans of the Netflix show “Stranger Things” we decided to stop at a place they used. We decided to go to “Hawkins Lab”. It is actually the closed down “Georgia Institute of Mental Health”.
Mike and other in Atlanta – if you are a fan of “Stranger Things”, you can go to the mall (Star Court in the show) or to Steve’s house or downtown Hawkins.
If you are not a fan, check out the show. It is really well done. I couldn’t stop watching season 1 after I got started!
Mark
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Welcome back Mark and thanks for the tip. Don’t think we have watched before but will check it out. We did start watching one that was close to an X-Files type of show but can’t remember if this was it or not.
Many things do film in Atlanta. One used to film out at the antique mall where we had our booths. Pain in the butt when we were trying to be moving stuff int our booths and they wanted the whole mill to be “quite” as they filmed plus they took up all the parking with their trailers.
Many people around Atlanta are always on casting calls to play extras for a few side dollars. I believe Julie here on SL is someone who plays some extras.
I will check the show out and check out the shoot location. Something maybe fun to do on a weekend.
mike in Atlanta
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Mike,
Do check out the show. Season 3 was just released on July 4th.
Michigan does get some movies here once in a while. My wife and I were extras for a George Clooney movie. You are not allowed to talk to the director or actors unless they talk to you. George Clooney struck up a conversation with us so of course we engaged with him. That rarely happens though.
Mark
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The GA Institute of Mental Health building has made a cameo in several films/shows now. It’s so foreboding looking.
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I just had to pop on here right away and say, way to go Jay!
The stuttering is just fine, not a problem, the podcast is always terrific… good for you!
I don’t see it as a flaw or problem at all, just as I don’t see people’s other characteristics as flaws…
Can we just accept people are different –some people have birthmarks, some have scars, some stutter, some are thin, fat whatever…. none of them are flaws. People are just different and we don’t need treatment to try to be the same as everyone else. -
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Jay, your willingness to do a podcast despite your stutter has always been a point of huge respect and admiration for me. I was thrilled to find someone who had such self-confidence that he would talk, instead of just writing a blog, despite having what society considers an impediment. You inspired me in a personal way, as well as giving me so much good information about eBay. You are my hero!
You do you. I’m pretty sure there’s a huge slice of the Scavenger Life Tribe behind me who all believe you’re the best you, just the way you are. Treat these odd emails like you treat Grumpy Buyers – shrug, and delete.
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Jay, you are so sweet. As a 64 year old married 44 years and regretting somewhat only allowing two fanastic children, I thing you and Rhyann have such a cool relationship and would love to welcome a little scavenger into the world. The world would be better for it. Your stuttering is not a big problem to me and I’m embarrassed someone even brought it up. You are a real man and so ethical. Bless you.
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Week July 7 – July 13, 2019
Items in store: 4157 Listings for 6171 Items
Items Sold: 69 transactions for 75 Items
Gross Sales: $4184.31
Highest Price Sold: $205.50 …. Edward Green Shoes
Lowest Price Sold: $12.84… Tie Clip
Average Price Sold: $55.79
Cost of Goods Sold $235, Plus consignment
Number of new items listed this week: 108 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $113
Repeat Customers: 11 -
I’m sorry someone sent an email like that. I never thought of an occasional stutter as a detraction from the podcast, and I’m sure the vast majority don’t either. I learn so much from the podcast each week and get so much motivation. Could care less if you stutter or not. Keep up the great work, it’s very much appreciated!
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I am also a stutterer. I had on my to-do list a reminder to thank you for podcasting with your stammer. I wish I had sent the thank you at the same time you got your other well-intentioned but misguided email.
I am about your age and went through the same humiliating “special” classes back in the 70s. Can you post a link to the type of therapy you mentioned in the podcast? The whole concept kind of blew my mind.
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Jay, you know I’ve been witb you since nearly day 1 of this podcast abd I can honestly say that your studder has never been an issue or distracted in any way, barely even noticed it. If anything it was an assett because I felt like I was hearing from a real person and not some perfect pitch radio announcer. Never change buddy, love you the way you are and the way you are is awesome !
Tony
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It’s been WAY too long since I’ve shared my numbers here, and I’ve been less active than usual. I’m back!
January 20-26, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,605
Items Sold: 26
Gross Sales: $587.78
Cost of Items Sold: $58.00
Highest Price Sold: $45.00 (jean jacket)
Average Price Sold: $22.61
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60.02
Number of items listed this week: 25Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 927
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales: $109.92
Cost of Items Sold: $11.00
Highest Price Sold: $18.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $12.21
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 8Amazon.ca sales: $477.84 (Approx $143.35 net profit)
Amazon.com sales (USD): $2,124.04 (Approx $849.62 net profit)As mentioned elsewhere, now that we’ve moved across the country, and are closer to family, we’ve kind of been milking the summer. We’re still working on the business every day, but have been taking afternoons/evenings/weekends whenever we feel like it to spend time either visiting with family, exploring our new surroundings, or house shopping, etc. We’re coasting a bit, and it feels good (temporarily).
Ebay sales have been decent, considering how little effort we’ve been putting into listing. Another thumbs up for long-tail selling, and front-loading the work!
Amazon sales have been consistent. No huge swings there, just a constant stream of items being sent in every few days, and a commensurate stream of money flowing into our bank accounts every two weeks.
Hope all is well with everyone else! I’ll be making a concerted effort to be around the forums a lot more going forward. I’m also relatively active on instagram (@thecanuckreseller) if anyone cares to follow along there. Drop me a note if you follow me so that I know who my fellow trash elves are!
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Good Monday morning all. Thank you again for another podcast.
Jay, it appears that the email received, despite the obvious yet almost certain unintentional rudeness, has been a gift. My hats off to your thoughtful push back, and the education put out on a topic that is seldom addressed.
What truly sets you and Ryanne apart from the ruck is your ability to be completely real and natural, yet professional through it all. You are the specops of radio! With folks like you two, any weakness eventually becomes a strength.
Ryanne, I hear you so loud and clear concerning boxes. I have a scary stack that has taken on a life of its own and has taken over the garage. What needs to be done is a matching of box to item, then flatten the box and label. Excessive multiples can be put out for recycle. What would really solve my problem would be paid storage but I have other expenses that need to be gone first. So for now the box monster lives in the garage.-
The box monster was the main reason I switched from selling anything and everything to just selling clothing. I love the package type/size consistency. Easy to plan for, easy to store.
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Amen! I got away from oddball things and threw out a TON of cardboard. I was selling mainly smalls, clothing, and shoes. I have started bring back in the awkward sized things because…well…I like money and these items have higher returns. Now I have a rapidly growing box monster taking up space again.
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You know it is quite sad that in a group of “adults” that you even had to deal with that kind of elementary crap, Jay. Kudos to you for taking the high road! Me, oh I have plenty of not so high road things I’d like to say to Mr. Anonymous. I hope he enjoys his massive serving of humble pie when he listens to the podcast today.
I think it is awesome that you are going to a therapist that is helping you embrace yourself and to ditch that toxic stress.
I worked side by side with a coworker who had a studder for 5 years and my reaction to his studder was as you recommended – I just made eye contact and waited and moved on like nothing happened. Why? Because nothing happened! It was no big deal. Noone had to teach me to react that way – it’s just common sense. I would never in a million years even consider making fun of someone or try to “educate” them just to make myself more comfortable over something that person has no control over. This ain’t grade school!
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Amen RTWV. Jay, I whole heartedly agree with what everyone has said. People like that can just go pound sand.
There are a couple of other YouTubers and PodCaster ladies whose voices are so high and schrill it hurts my ears to listen to them, thus I just don’t listen anymore. He should just do the same if it bothers him, go away, it is his problem not yours.
And again, one of those “anonymous” people that I have mentioned before that used to get on here and take exception to everything everybody was saying, not listen, criticize all of us who were just trying to help and they all hid behind the “anonymous” banner. I am glad Ryanne stopped any one from signing up using the “anonymous” name. Even with an alias handle name, and only one person that can use that name, keeps an eye on that sort of thing.
mike
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Continue being you, Jay. You are awesome and it’s great seeing you taking control and being true to yourself.
Week July 7-13, 2019
Total Items in Store: 1007
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Items Sold: $158 (21.1% of sales)
Total Sales: $747.87
Highest Price Sold: $59.99 (The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me)
Average Price Sold: $32.52
Returns: 0 (3 NPBs/cancellations)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 2
Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $151.97 (20.3% of total sales), $6.89 fees (4.5% of sales)Solid week of bread & butter. Nothing high dollar, but also nothing super low dollar – just a steady stream of 3 sales per day.
The biggest issue this week has been people either making offers and then cancelling, or people buying outright and then cancelling immediately. I know it’s been discussed on the show, but it’s just so strange/weird to me how these things happen. I’m not letting it bother me by any means, relisting is easy, just curious.
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7/7– 7/13/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)
eBay store: totommyto
Total store items: 714
Number of items sold: 16
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $330.70
Cost of items sold: $16
Highest price sold: $70 – Obscure Kingstar mini car diecast – Paid $1
Average price sold: $20.70
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 29
Sell through rate for the week: 2.3
Number International sales: 5Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 666
Number of items sold: 6
Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $135
Cost of items sold: $11
Highest price sold: $40 – old beat up boat prop – paid $3
Average price sold: $22.50
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $3.50
Number of new items listed this week: 12
Sell through rate for the week: 1.0
Number International sales: 0 -
Hey guys, good podcast. Agree with others Jay, your occasional stutter is no big deal to me as a listener whatsoever, & much obliged for the continued work you do to keep this community alive.
Ebay was pretty good to me this week.
Sales: CAD$1864, 6 items. COGS: $342 –> Item profit: $1220
Expenditures: $1119 –> Cashflow: $444
Hours: 10, $45/hr
Listed: $415, 5 items
Notable sales: HVAC balancer $800, bought for $300, fire alarm circuit boards $216 (zero cost old lot), PDU for $230 (bought for $30 or so).Buys: a couple weeks ago I bought a whole bunch of hoists from a construction company moving offices. Although I regret that buy, they did contact me again to see if I wanted some other stuff. Shop lights, monitor stands, exit signs… all new or open box. So I agreed to $325 for 3 pallets of this kind of stuff – got one of the pallets Friday.
I have listed lots of this kind of stuff before and I am on the fence about it. On paper, the prices are high – say $300 for one box. But it is bulky, and it is mostly NOT popular to the point of where, I’m not sure there’s a market AT ALL. But I offered them the cheapest price I thought they might accept and they were hungry enough. So I can live with it for the price I paid.We had a good weekend, went on a nice easy hike with the kids that ends at a waterfall & had a dip there. I finally took possession of my new storage unit on Saturday and bought two steel shelves ($250 each) to start filling them up. Feels good to have capacity again.
I am now paying $365/mo for storage. It’s not lost on me that a payment on a $200,000 mortgage at 3% would be about $800/mo… so if I expand much more I might look into buying warehouse space, or just buying some land that has a big shop on it. Even right now, there is a place in our downtown for $250,000 with a nice big quonset, for example. I kinda want to acquire some rural land anyway, but I never had a way to make money off of it before. Potentially, this would allow me to justify the expense. We’ll see!
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Thats the exact math that we did. We had two storage units where we paid $200/month (cheaper in rural areas). We decided to spend the $25k to build a warehouse behind our house. It’ll pay off in the long run, plus we know improved our property value.
More importantly, it’s made our lives 1000 times more convenient.
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Yeah, I’ve batted around the idea of building on our existing lot, but the space we have is about 15×40, which is not big enough for serious future expansion. More importantly, it’s a nice residential area and I don’t think the neighbours would appreciate it.
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What a great story Jay sharing your journey with stuttering. I hope this reaches so many. I was 26 year Speech Language Pathologist who left the field due to illness and found Ebay as a second career. I’m always naturally aware of subtle speech patterns. I love how unique each person’s speech is with dialect, rate, volume and of course content. Speech is like a fingerprint really, so very uniquely personal. After grad school back in the 80s I was offered full funding for a PhD degree in the area of stuttering research with Dr Conture at Syracuse University, totally free! However the field of stuttering/ dysfluencies was then, and still remains so mysterious, a combination of mostly genetic plus learned avoidance patterns. After a week of tears and indecision I turned down the offer as my interests were in other areas. Some individuals with stuttering do greatly benefit from professional training and techniques resulting in near or full fluency. However, I suspect at least 60% remain challenged with lifelong stuttering despite all efforts, cost and time. I’m always shocked that well meaning but uniformed listeners will comment on someone’s stuttering when they would never speak out on a scar, physical disability or weight problem. Jay thanks again for sharing yourself so publicly, bravely and honestly. Your (J & R) podcasts are always valuable, entertaining and interesting and remain my #1 favorite out of the never ending troupe of resellers filling the air.
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Items in Store 1204
Items Sold 20
Total Sales $791.00
COGS $73.00
Total Profit $718.00
Average profit $35.90
Average sales price $39.55
New Listings 0$265 of my sales was from facebook marketplace this week.
My best sale was scavenger level pro! A couple weeks ago I saw a neighbor had a big pile of privacy fence panels with a “free” sign on them. He delivered them to my house even since they were already on his trailer. I decided not to use them as they were a bit more worn than I liked. I listed them on facebook for $175 and got BOMBARDED with messages. A couple of flakes later the fence panels were gone and I have a free $175 in my pocket.
Still no listing this week. I’m knee deep in a massive overhaul of my garage ebay space that has everything junked up. The end product will be worth it though, even if it is affecting my summer sales goals due to not listing.
I had an unexpected “all in” scavenging purchase Friday. The local Dicks Sporting Goods has a tent sale every summer. Last year they expanded to also have a Field & Stream. Last year I went all in and bought over 200 pair of Smartwool socks at this sale for $3 a pair. I’ve made a ton of money on those so far and still have more than half to list this fall.
This year I spent $280 on high end shoes and boots at the tent sale. Brand new Keen Boots, Justin Boots, and a few Nike and Adidas I’ll do decent on. Many of the shoes will sell for $100-150. I paid $20 a pair for the $150 boots. As I was leaving I noticed a rack of hunting camo that was 75% off. I took a glance, checked my paypal and business account balances, took a deep breath, and warned the cashier I was about to drop a load on him. I cleared the whole rack out.
I got numerous pairs of Scentlok Cold Blooded camo pants that will sell for $150 a pop!
A ton of Under Armour Cold Gear Camo pants, shirts, and pullover jackets. It was all very high dollar stuff that will sell for $50-$100+ per item.I spent $640 clearing out the Camo, so my total spend was $920.
The whole deal was made sweeter because Dicks had an unrestricted 20% off coupon this weekend. The cashiers were shocked at what my final cost was. One commented that I basically stole from them. Lol!
This week, I HAVE to finish the ebay space reorganization and get back to listing.
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I have been listening to the podcast for years. YEARS! And I never noticed a stutter. If I had, I would’ve had something called GRACE and CLASS and never mentioned it. That person is a douche bag. Plain and simple. I don’t like name calling, but I’m making an exception this one time.
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“Peace & Love” PFFFT. Never trust anyone that signs a nasty message with an ending like that! So condescending.
I went through speech therapy in elementary school for a couple of years in the 80s for an unrelated speech issue. What people don’t realize is how traumatizing it is to be brought out of a class IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL for just a speech issue. You feel like something is very wrong with you, because your classmates are still in class like normal, while you have to go see a speech therapist because you can’t say certain things right. Like, that’s it, that’s all that’s wrong with me? You have to waste class time to be able to say things more correctly? Why is this a big deal?
I found it to be a big waste of time, because I STILL sometimes can’t say those style of words correctly. Now, when I do mess up those words, I just remember having to be yanked out of class when I was young and how nothing has really changed other than me thinking that something is wrong with me. It’s not like going to speech therapy actually really helps. Does it actually help anyone? I don’t know. Blah.
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I can’t believe a SL Podcast made me cry…it brought back a lot of bad memories as a kid and empathy for anyone going through speech issues.
I would be sent out of class to speech therapy from Grade 1 to Grade 8…absolute nightmare. I would get tormented by other kids, and yelled at by teachers in front of the class just because I couldn’t pronounce a “t” correctly – I would have to say words like Buttons and Bottles over and over and over…1000s of times…and it would always sound right to me, but the listener would hear “Buddons” or “Boddles”. I finally was diagnosed with a hearing disability when I was in my early teens. All that torture and tears was for nothing and minor surgery corrected most of my speech issues.
I’m crying and mad at the same time. If this was back in grade school, I was always the biggest kid so I could beat the **** out of someone bullying me. Wish I could do the same as an adult to trolls online.
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July 7 – 13
Total Items in Store: 2433
Items Sold: 31
Total Sales : $835
* Below yearly average of $960
Highest Price: $100 (More Keystone Stereoscope Cards)
Average Price: $27
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $82
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $1,154 (WOOF!)
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 65I had a fairly average week of sales last week. Just a babbling brook of cha-chings, enough to keep me satisfied but not too much to overwhelm. Which was perfect because Steph and I have been occupied with other things. Namely, we bought a van! We got a tip from her mom about a minivan for sale near us so we decided to take a look. It turns out to be a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan but designed to be a cargo van. Perfect for us! Relatively low mileage, great condition, no rust and just at the peak of our comfortable price limit. We’re really happy about it. We took it on two auction trips this week already and filled it up both times, hence my cost of goods purchased amount this week. LOL.
I must say, I commend you for the way you handled that email about your stuttering. I think you’re right that the writer had good intentions when he/she wrote to you, but from an outsiders point of view it sounded so very judgmental and condescending. And you’re absolutely right to treat this not as a malicious attack, but as a chance to educate the ignorant. I admit, I don’t know anything about stuttering. I just knew one other person back in grade school who did it. But I applaud you for being so open about it and deciding to embrace it for your own happiness.
My scavenge of the week came from the first auction we went to. There was a lot of high end furniture selling, but one set of six chairs in particular caught my eye. They were chrome and suede leather armchairs made by Founders in the 1960s. Very mid century modern. Kinda ugly enough that nobody at this auction would have been interested in them. I got all six for $10! I’m planning on listing them all for local pickup for over a thousand bucks.
This week I’ve decided to put eBay on the back burner in order to focus on some house chores and projects that I’ve been neglecting. I’ve been listing like a maniac over the past 6 weeks and it’s time to take a little break.
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Jay,
I have been eagerly listening to your show for 3 or 4 years. I vaguely remember noticing a small stutter on the first podcast, and that’s about the last time I noticed anything. When you started to speak about this in last night’s podcast, it took me a moment to understand what the strange person was even offering you “advice” about.
Your show is wonderful. You are both uniquely effective and engaging communicators, and neither I nor the dozens of people I have played your program for have ever been distracted or dissuaded by the way you speak. Thank you so much for addressing this question so publicly and bravely. It was so much more helpful that people get educated about things like stutters and people’s anxieties around them, than it would have been for this silly, unthinking person to just have been told off. I am sure that as a consequence of your taking the time to speak out about this, dozens of listeners with their own little differences will have been made to feel less alone and less anxious. Hundreds more listeners will have been educated about how to better empathize with people whom they might have otherwise considered “offering advice to.”
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Here are my numbers for the week:
Total Items in Store: 3167
Items Sold: 36
Total Sales: $870.52
Cost of Items Sold: $98
Average Price Sold: $24.18
Average Cost of Item: $2.74
Highest Price Item Sold: $69.95 Canon PowerShot A650 Digital Camera
Number of items listed this week: 45
YTD Sales: $27208
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +13%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 384
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 142
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 69
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.14%Kudos to Jay on educating us about stuttering. I found the discussion very interesting. Though not quite the same thing I can relate a little. I have a slight lisp. Not great for someone with the first name of Simon as it’s something I have to think about every time I introduce myself. It’s something kids teased me about for a while in school. I’m not sure if anyone really notices these days. Certainly nobody has said anything to me about it for years. If you ever want a topic for a new podcast, a podcast on stuttering might be a valuable one for a lot of people out there.
Random story. A couple of months ago I bought a huge typewriter. I haven’t listed it because I was concerned about packing it. I finally put it on the top of my to-do list to pre-pack it before listing it so that I wouldn’t get stressed when it sold. I googled “how to ship a typewriter” and Google returned one of Ryanne’s old videos about packing a typewriter.
eBay topic : Does anyone else find the photo uploading and editing processes on eBay to be unpredictable. I regularly get broken images (while cropping, lightening on the website) or if I upload images through the app and don’t wait long enough they get dropped. I find I constantly have to work around eBay’s quirks.
Hope everyone has a productive and profitable week! 🌻
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How much did the typewriter sell for? We got out of selling them a couple years ago because the market price fell so much.
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How much did the typewriter sell for? We got out of selling them a couple years ago because the market price fell so much.
I haven’t sold it yet. (I need packing peanuts to finish my pre-packing job before I list it). It’s a red IBM Selectric II. They typically sell for over 100 plus shipping in working condition.
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That’s a cool one. We were selling the old fashioned kind.
Your typewriter is listed for $400+ on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01M5C1LAE/ -
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Simon – eBay topic – yes! Especially now that I have the new Google Pixel 3a and can take photos in the eBay app (was dreadful on the old phone.) I find that I have to edit my contrast and lightness a lot and it often returns a file error when I press the save button after editing. I tried hitting Reset, but it didn’t retrieve the photo. If I use my PC to upload off a camera disc, I have to watch my loading so as not to cut it off. I’ve found that updating item specifics or something can interfere with photo loading and, for the love of sanity, don’t enter any UPC or you’ll lose the lot!
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Hello Jay and Ryanne!
Been listening to you both for some time, and although I don’t usually post here, I would like to offer you some thanks for being so honest and open about your stutter. My husband and I listen to you each week, and have learned so much from you. For this we are so thankful!
I sell full time (ebay, etsy and amazon) and my husband works in law enforcement, he will retire early, next year at age 48. We are still learning all the ins and outs of e-com biz, we try and fail alot! But are hopeful for the future and very happy to hear you both week after week!
In response to the listener who gave you “advice”, I do believe there are people out there who mean well, but cannot see how their words can affect someone. The first part of your podcast made me a little sad that someone felt the “need” to write you about this.
Until I was 30, my own mother told me how “beautiful” I was, but if I just lost weight, I would be gorgeous. I believed that lie. For 30 years…sad but true. Now Im over 40..and guess what? I have a loving husband and family who accept me as I am, but it took a LONG time to get that in my head..that I was ok..just as I was.
Your stutter makes you so unique, and you are brilliant! We love listening to you guys! Thank you again for your courage in sharing and educating. Podcast was great!
All the best,
Alana @ The Violet Lemon -
July 7 – 13
Total Items in Store: 1414
Items Sold: 5
Total Sales : $110
Highest Price: $35 (Schmid Mechanical Music Box, Bird Cage)
Average Price: $22
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $6
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $642 (Double WOOF! lol)
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 21Bummer sales on my end! But we at least had a good run at yard sales and auctions!
To piggy back on what Doubly mentioned. My mom called me and told me about a van that was near the area that she looked at briefly. We went to look at it and it was perfect for what we needed. We have named her Vanna White, haha, and she did very well during our yard sale abd auction trips this weekend!My mom went with us during our yard sale trip Friday morning. We found some neat things. We went to a church rummage sale, so small but it was worth it. My mom found this super neat hand-carved folding chair for $5.00! I’m not sure if it’s a pastors chair or something for the church but it’s cool! While she was taking that up front to hold/pay for I turned around and found boxes that read Salvatore Ferragamo. I thought no way I’m reading that right. I started to open boxes, making sure they were what they said. And behold they were! Women’s heels/flats style. I got sideswiped by this old bitty, she grabbed like 2-3 boxes claiming she knew who donated them. I’m like I will karate chop you, dis my spot! LOL I ended up with 8 boxes but I was bitter, I wanted them all, haha 😛 That honestly was my best find for the weekend.
The auctions were good. But really hot… No A/C at either building, so I wasn’t feeling my best. My grandma was at the first auction buying lots of jewelry, lol. I ended up trying some jewelry as well. The only bad thing about this auction was that they were trying out online bids. So that put a damper on what I could afford. Spent too much for my taste on this American Flyer Train set but I will make my money back and then some.
The last auction down the road from us was decent for me. I’ll end up making money, just nothing super crazy out of the box lots. I did manage to get a old Ouija board game. Super neat looking, glad I didn’t have to pay too much for it.
Welcome to the not allowed to list new items club! UGH! I received a similar email from eBay yesterday morning. It was about some Remington caps I had listed (other sellers had some listed and that’s why I listed mine a month or so ago).
I guess it started with a knife I had taken down last month because you cant list knives with Global shipping apparently. So I called and asked if they could relist it and I would remove Global shipping. They lied and said they couldn’t do that. Doubly has called in the past about removed listings and has had them un-removed and corrected. So I relisted/corrected the knife anyway.
After yesterdays email I went through my listings and they missed 2 more caps listings, which I removed, but I don’t understand how they go about doing this. Like you mentioned they could have explained this better. I hope the other sellers that had these listed are on a temp ban like I am.
So I’m on a 3 day no listing/revising ban. I almost feel like I just got detention in school, lol. That put a damper on my mood and I’ve been bummed out. I’m shocked you both got a similar email.And Jay you handled that email extremely well. If that person wants to be butthurt, let it consume them! lol. It’s sad how low people can be. Keep rocking on Jay!!
Have a good week all! 🙂
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Yeah, if we ever get items flagged for any reason, we just take them down for a while. Then list six months later or on another platform.
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Thank you for the advice!
I panicked after the email and worried eBay would shut my store down for something little like this. O well, slap on the wrist and keep moving on I guess, lol. -
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Chrysler product vans are the best. I bought a 2004 in 2016, it now has 212k on it and it still runs great.
I took the seats out and use it for scavenging and hauling the dogs places.
When the lease is up on my SUV I’m going to be looking for a 2005+ Caravan with the stow n go seats.-
As a teenager, the kids that drove caravans were then most popular because they could haul so many people at once.
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I had a full size cargo van when I was a teenager in high school…
One day at lunch two guys in there 20’s started brake testing me, giving me rude hand gestures, and followed me into a local burger place. I’m not sure if I cut them off or something, but they were ready for a fight.
The got out of there car as I was parking, ready to fight me. Then out of the back of the van jumped at least a dozen other teen guys my age and they peeled out of the parking lot as fast as they could. I wish we had camera phones at the time as it would have made a great video – I still have their reactions etched in my mind – they went from ready to fight to flight in 0.001 seconds once the back door of the van opened.
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Jay, Me too! I have stuttered since young. Not too much now. But I do control some words. Can’t say Disneyland too easily, so I have opted to say Magic Kingdom many times. …My Mom would stop cooking dinner, turn off the stove and give me direct attention as I stuttered out what I was saying. Never shamed me. Of course, kids in school did. I am okay now…whether I do or not. You are fine! ANd I love the podcasts. …..btw….my sales are down too. But will not lose heart…will list until it recovers. I am listing stuff that I think would be collectible…stuff that people may have in their favorite searches. Cheap and sitting my dead piles for a long time. Old magazines, Elvis stuff. We’ll see. Judy
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Wow…. I just started listening and felt the need to come straight to the forum and type. I am seeing red! The fact that this person is “anonymous” and feels they can say anything regardless of peoples feelings just floors me. I have been listening to you for many year and even met you in person and not once did a stutter ever distract from the conversation.
That person is a condescending twit, he can go kick rocks. And of course Jay handles the email with good intentions just shows what type of person he is. -
Just wanted to say that when I first started listening, I noticed Jay’s occasional stutter and thought how cool it was that someone who doesn’t have “perfect” speech would choose to do a podcast – because he has important stuff to say, obviously! I also thought it was great that other people with speech issues might hear it, and think, “Maybe I can do something like this, too!”
Thanks for educating us about the causes and treatment of stuttering – lots of stuff I didn’t know. I always find it odd when people take it upon themselves to give unsolicited advice about other people’s issues, especially people they don’t know well. It’s much more kind to assume that the person in question is aware of the options and is making the best choice for themselves.
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Jay, you are my hero! Well done and well said! Never had any issue with the stutter. But I love the education. That was awesome!
King’s Speech is my all time favorite movie. I love it and own it on DVD. Watch it every time I need a lift.
Boxes! Ryanne, I feel you girl. My husband says I have way too many but I need them ALL. Yes, all of them. No, I can’t throw any out.
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MY NAME IS S-S-S-STEVE AND I’M IN LOVE WITH JAY!
I promise I was not mocking Jay just now! This is a fairly lengthy post, but it won’t be nearly as creepy as my intro might suggest. Please, allow me to explain myself:
Frankly, I was insulted by the listener email. If I had received that, I might be tempted to tell them to piss off. I’m impressed with how well Jay handled the situation.
OK, let me explain. I too am a lifelong stutterer. Actually, my affliction mostly manifests as a stammer (like Jay in the earlier podcasts). That is, it’s more common that I have trouble getting words started (“blocks”) than repeating syllables. And let me tell you, both are incredibly frustrating. There have been in my life when my speech was pretty nearly fluent, much like what we are used to hearing from Jay in the podcast.
But most of my life – like now – has been plagued with frustrating, embarrassing stuttering/stammering. I only wish I could speak nearly as well as Jay. Like he pointed out, it’s a condition that – for some – improves with age. But that’s not also so. I too have been through speech therapy several times throughout my life. I too am 46 (as of July 9th).
For me, speaking on the phone is incredibly intimidating. For me to initiate a call (especially to people I don’t know) can be profoundly stressful. And here’s why: stuttering is one thing. But imagine making a call and not being able to explain who you are, why you’re calling and/or who are wishing to speak to. I’ve made calls where I just can’t get words out; or bumble through them. The person on the other end then assumes it’s a prank call and hangs up. Or outright insults me.
Stuttering is bad enough. But when the person you’re trying to communicate with can’t SEE that you’re actually just having a hard time getting the words out, it’s awkward and can dramatically increase the stress level.
For me (and probably a majority of stutterers, to varying degrees), mood, anxiety, energy level, confidence, stress, familiarity with my interlocutor, etc.. all play critical roles in my ability to speak at any given moment. My dad stutters too. His affliction was a lot worse when I was a kid, but he’s almost completely overcome it. Me, not so much.
ALSO… And it’s funny that Jay said this; I ALSO have Tourette Syndrome! Yup, I’ve been dealt a double whammy! Now, I don’t have the “type” of Tourettes that causes people to shout out obscene words. When I cuss, it’s because I’m fucking pissed or just want to stress a point. I’m an adult and am allowed to use grown-up words on occassion.
As Jay commented about working so hard to hide the stuttering, I work hard to hide my stuttering AND my Tourettes. SO many people out there in the word don’t really understand. They see my twitching, head movements and grimaces and think I’m a “retard”. Or hear my speech and assume I’m somehow “dumb”. Not everyone is so insensitive.
But it’s Human nature to be wary of what we don’t understand. But that fear of rejection and of being thought less of aggravate both my stuttering AND my Tourettes. Some of the same things that worsen my speech (especially anxiety (usually caused by fear of embarrassment) and stress) also worsen my Tourettes symptons. And I call them “symptoms” because I detest the term “tics”. Just like I cringe when I hear people speak of an autistic individual as “stemming”. It conjures images of clinical disabilities and gives many people (including myself, to a lesser degree) a sense of your being “special” of somehow less capable or less Human.
Dammit, stutters (and Tourettes sufferers) and people too! Funny that Jay mentions some people who he’s known for ages not even knowing he stutterers. That’s my case too, but only with my Tourettes. I’ve told (“admitted”, in my mind) people I’ve known for years – sometimes decades – that I have Tourettes and they’ve thought I was bullshitting or trying to be funny. But hiding it is physically and emotionally exhausting. Sometimes I just need to be alone to give myself a break for the physical exhaustion. Also, like my stuttering, the severity of my Tourette ebbs and flows over time.
I’ve been a HUGE fan of Scavenger Life for a while now. I’ve heard the current episodes, working backwards until about the episode where Jay put the wrong fuel in an overseas rental car before realizing it’s silly to listen in reverse order. So I then started from the beginning and have recently passed episode 210. Eventually I will have heard every episode at least once.
So as far as what’s made it to the podcast, I’ve heard a range in the intensity of Jay’s stuttering. And I suspect there are times when it’s a lot worse. Jay, let me tell you, as a fellow stutterer, I notice when you use tricks and techniques to lessen your stuttering. I won’t say what those are (no need to put other listeners on the conscious alert for them, if they haven’t noticed them on their own).
I know you don’t need my validation. But I still want to say that I’m incredible proud of your and your courage. I wish I could do what you do. I have a YouTube channel (Wood ‘n’ Stuff w/ Steve French). In many of my videos, I have the video sped up. Not to conceal my stuttering, but to keep within a reasonable time limit. But my videos require me doing a LOT – A WHOLE LOT – of takes most of the time. To the point where I barely even bother taking in videos anymore. Plus, I don’t have the extra time I once did, so I haven’t even put out a new video in a year.
Oddly, the video in which I speak the most fluently was one I did during my last stint of speech therapy, on a particularly good day. It was a video ABOUT my stuttering and I think my speech was damn near flawless in that one. But it’s actually extremely rare that I speak even remotely that fluently.
Alright, I could go on for a much longer time. About grown adults – even customers of mine at my old electronics shop – who have opening mocked me because of my speech; or about the day-to-day struggles or a stutterer and how we sometimes do things differently (things others may not have even ever thought of); the importance of putting OTHER PEOPLE at ease with your stuttering and so on. But I already risk having bored the hell out of everyone her, including Jay!
That said, I definitely wouldn’t mind sharing more on the topic. But for now, since I’ve been wanting to mention to Jay about our common struggle for a long time now, I couldn’t possibly let this door stand open without walking through. I also greatly admire Jay AND Ryanne for their eBay prowess and have learned a LOT (and changed some of my reselling ways) as result.
Jay, I love you! And I hope now you understand why a little bit more!
P.S. Ryanne was right: there ARE other stutterers listening to the podcast.
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Hiding it is physically and emotionally exhausting.
hey Steve. This is the quote that sums it up for me. I’m giving up trying to hide the way I talk. It’s ust a lot easier to live.
As I’ve learned, fluency is not our friend. If I compare myself to how others talk, I’ll never feel good. My goal is just to be able to speak spontaneously and say exactly what I want to say, whether I stutter or not.
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By the way, you’re an extremely talented woodworker!
https://www.youtube.com/user/blockyimage/videos
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Oh, I meant to mention that – in my case – speech therapy only helped for the short term. And (I believe) only because it had me excited about “taking action”; again. But afterwards, I was right back to the same severity. In my case, there are underlying issues that exacerbate it. And it all becomes a self-feeding vicious circle.
EDIT: Ugh… I didn’t mean to upvote my own comment above. I was just trying to see who gave me the thumbs up. But it doesn’t seem to give that information. And it won’t let me undo my own up-vote. When I tried, it just added another up-vote. My apologies.
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Thanks for the tip about sending bulk offers! I just heard that part while listing and was able to send a bunch of offers without having to go through one at a time. Yes!
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Jay I wanted to get on here and say so much but all of it has been said by other fans of the podcast! So, all I’m going to say is Thank You for being YOU! Thank You for sharing information about stuttering. I have listened to all of your podcasts and have never been bothered by the occasional stutter. You and Ryanne have so many people who look up to you for the knowledge you share…and this is yet another subject you have knowledge in that you shared. Thank you to both of you!
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I’m only adding to the chorus here, but I grew up in a family of stutterers, namely my mother and my brother. When I was young I used to want my mom to get more help for her speech and found it frustrating to wait on her sometimes. My husband also used to have a pretty bad stutter when he was younger, and still does it every once in a while, but it’s hard to notice. He found that getting a job and talking to people helped him (not that it would help everyone, it just helped him.)
I’m shocked that anyone would mention it, but people on the internet tend to be a lot more rude hiding behind a computer. I’m glad you took the time to educate others and not take it personally.
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If you are looking for a different forum that is easier to control and you can still keep control of who is on it you might look into Discord. I personally don’t get it, but I think it is what you are looking for. I coach robotics and I know there is a lot of forum type stuff on there and private groups that appear to be easy to administer. I think a lot of streamers use it for comments during streams as well. If you do figure it out maybe you can teach the rest of us how to use it 😛
I’d also put my two cents in on using sixbit. I can crank out 150 listings a day on it and it makes it really easy to organize your drafts. Every listing you have ever made is saved on it and you can easily pull up old stuff you sold years ago to re-list if you get another one. You can do employee accounts as well. I know the whole non-online thing isn’t what you are looking for, but I think here is a way to do VPN with it. I just don’t really need that functionality. I think you would really like the pick list feature. It will also help you with your inventory if you start working on organizing your barn. I’d at least recommend doing the free trial and give it an actual go.
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Discord is more of a chat platform (like slack), but always happy to look at options.
We’ve been very very slow to check out thse third party listings options like Sixbit. Seems like a lot of upfront work to get it all set up to use. Plus, we hate the idea of paying a monthly fee for something we get free on eBay. But it’s good to hear people’s experiences.
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Country Lane,
I’m rather new to sixbit (6 weeks or so). It is difficult at first but I am getting the hang of it and beginning to really appreciate its features. There is a learning curve!Tell us a little more. or Perhaps we need a separate thread for Sixbit and other ecommerce softwares.
What kind of merchandise are you listing that you can do 150 items per day?
How long have you been using sixbit?
How many items in your store?
Anything else you care to share about it?Timo
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Timo,
I think a separate thread would be good to discuss it. I did not find it extremely difficult to start using. You just import all of your eBay stuff into it and you are ready to go. I did struggle with some of the server settings and whatnot at first, but the tech support helped me set everything up. After the import I just had to go fill in storage locations for everything I already had. I am sure I don’t know the half of what it can do, but I manage. When I had employees it was really nice since they each could have their own account and they could do all the work without ever being in my actual eBay store.When I knock out 150 a day or so it is usually like items. Books or shot glasses or car parts etc… Basically you just do a duplicate of your last item and change the title, upload pics, tweak the specifics and set the price. I’m talking all pics taken and everything stored and I am simply doing data entry. I am knocking on the door of 6k items in my store and I basically work part time at it.
One very useful item I wanted to mention is how it puts all of your listings in a spreadsheet sort of look. It makes it easy to scan for screw ups before you submit. I can see easily if I put wrong storage location in or maybe picked wrong shipping policy etc… You can also verify quantities of each listing with a glance.
I keep all of my books separate from sixbit because I don’t really know how to use it for that purpose. I love being able to export my listings to a CSV file. You have to take advantage of the customization of the screens too. The standard setup probably isn’t best for anyone, but it is easy to move stuff and organize it to your flow. I am by no means an expert or an paid advocate, but I wouldn’t want to be without it.
I have to get up at 4AM to ship my sales before I leave for work and the pick sheet having all the info for each item is a lifesaver. I still ship from eBay, but since they screwed up the shipping page so bad I should probably learn how to ship from within sixbit now. I also love how if I have an item that I can mail with a stamp it will print out the address info on my zebra thermal. That has saved me some coin.
I would like to see them add support for cross posting on several other platforms, but right now it is just eBay and Amazon I think. I would also love to see the pick list be a mobile app component.
It was also nice a while back when eBay deleted a bunch of pictures. I just had to filter by list date, select all the listings in that range and click update and all of the pics got sent back over.
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Country Lane: SixBit does 3 platforms and is in Beta Testing for a 4th.
T-Satt and I use the Duo edition which allows the Ebay Platform then you can select if you want either Amazon OR Etsy but not both. Troy and i have Ebay and Etsy shops so that is how we have it set-up and also we have 2 other work stations for helpers to tie into the server which is on the desktop in the main office area.
SB basically takes our Ebay listings and posts that same listing on Etsy right after we post it on Ebay. There is a small amount of manual tweaking to do because their are a few dis-similarities between Ebay and Etsy and there is nothitng that can be brought over automatically. But that does not take more than half a min. to get done.
SixBit now has it’s Shopify Interface Module in Beta Testing and that will be added soon once it is de-bugged. At that time we will be adding our Shopify Store into the mix and we will have SixBit co-ordinating everything for all three platforms. I talked with SixBit 2 years ago and stressed how Shopify would be a good add and even shared how WonderLister was doing it. It just took SB a while to get around to all the coding that was needed.
The main reason I stress Shopify is even though it is not a selling platform, thus doesn’t bring customers to you, you have to generate your own through correct SEO and Social Media Marketing, it provides a complete back-up of your whole store, every item, and if Ebay or Etsy ever pulls a stunt or you get caught in a big policy change like Etsy new FORCED FREE SHIPPING change [kinda], then as a seller I will have the Shopify store already going. Think of Shopify as a way to save your whole store, payment gateway, prices, photos, description, everything in a great store front on the internet and the domain name, policies about how you conduct your business, what and how and who you want to ship to, everything is under your control and you control your feedback, no listings pulled down, etc., etc.
So having SixBit completely stock my Shopify Store and have my complete store lock stock and barrel backed up and functioning is worth it to me. And SixBit will use your one Ebay listing to populate the other two and also delete sold items from the 2 sites where the sale did not take place, so you don’t have to worry about selling something that is already sold.
Then on top of that you get a complete financial break down of what has sold, where it sold within the Finacial reports section. And troy has SB set-up to handle all of his shipping through a 3rd party that is less costly than Ebay. I think he has Pirate Ship set up but unsure because I think he was going to change that.
In any case, yes SixBit does eveything you say, and much more. Variations, multiple quantities, free scheduled shipping, auto end and auto re-list items to keep them fresh and a lot more.
BUT it comes with a cost. SixBit’s Duo version which we use [Two Stores handled by SixBit is first month free trial then $99.99 per month from then on. And when they get Shopify added and working then that will most likely be called the TRIO version and was told that 3rd store module would be adding maybe another $25 to $30 bucks to the total price and then having a Shopify Store runs another $29.99. So for 3 stores to be synched and run by Sixbit and with the Shopify store it will be about $159.98 per month. Then if a seller gets large enough to upgrade Ebay from a Premium store to an Anchor store that difference will have to be added.
But as i said, that Shopify store is a safe guard. Think of it as a “Safe Depsoit” box for your complete store. And as time progresses you will be building customers and traffice to your store via Google and all the other various marketing mediums.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Hey Guys, been a listener and lurker/learner here for a year+ and never had the occasion to speak up or ask.
Jay, thanks for sharing your story regarding your speech.
So several of you have done pretty extensive research regarding listing software. I want to select and use one for allowing employees to list without being on my ebay account, adding more channels (one now – more later) and to improve listing process and inventory management. I like sixbit for the analytics and workflow customization. Quite “robust” as some would say.
Context – I am full-time but with young kids and I am responsible for getting them everywhere and that limits my hours somewhat. I have a small leased commercial space (1500sq) with warehouse and office. I intend to scale up a bit and have launched into pallets and looking at higher volumes. Not dedicated to a segment but I like sporting goods – small enough to ship is ebay now, everything else I sell local, they come to me. I hired a person I trusted previously but the next hire may not be someone I know as well.
Specific questions:
1. How hard is it to set up a network to allow multiple users for listing via sixbit (2-3+ employees)? Does it have to be a server / LAN?
2. Can you duplicate the database and work from road or home and then sync later?I am wondering if I would be better off using a cloud solution like inkfrog then sixbit, giving up some of the functionality I am looking for now then migrating as business grows.
Thanks for everyone who shares here, it has been tremendously helpful as I have started and grown this adventure!
Brad
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1500 square feet is no joke. How much does that space cost you?
I’ll be interested in people’s answers on listing options. We actually would prefer a cloud based platform and am surprised Sixbit doesnt provide it. I’d rather our helpers because able to log in on their own computers with the access we allow, versus them having to use our laptop that has the database.
Does anyone here use Inkfrog in this way?
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Hey Jay!
1500 costs me $1125 (he covers h2o, I pay elec and internet). Houston. My business was kicked out of my house (loving wife but there was crap everywhere), I was allowed to stay though. So I got 650sq and outgrew that in 6 months then found this space. The owner has a forklift and pallet jack that he lets me use and that is pretty helpful.
FWIW I grew up in Norfolk, not too far from y’all. -
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Do you remember the old Northwest Mall? It is near there – Long Point Rd and Silber. This is near my kid’s school – I don’t have time for driving in our traffic, it has gotten so much worse. I drop the last one kid off in the AM and then work here (<1 mile) processing, listing and shipping until I need to go take them to whatever sports or other activities are on the schedule after school. Then I can work from home later if needed with photos or research. It works for me! Post Office, other shippers nearby and fairly central for sourcing if that requires me meeting someone.
I met a guy today in the heights who has excess stock of smaller pelican cases and accessories. That kinda thing. -
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Slipslope,
SixBit is really easy to set up for multiple users on your home network. Basically you pick one PC to be your “server” and you want it to have a very large hard drive because all of your pics and listings will be stored there. Personally I use my MacBook because it is basically worthless to me for functionality. Any other PC’s you have will link to the server across your network. I have the MacBook server, a 3 screen desktop I work on, 2 employee computers with three screens (although since I no longer have employees I don’t use them), and a shipping PC. All of those seats of SixBit can be used at the same time. The main issue I had starting out was firewall issues with the server, but SixBit remoted in and fixed me right up in like two minutes.Each employee is given a login and password and you decide what functions they can use. For instance, you can let a person list new items, but not edit old items. You can choose if they can submit listings to eBay. You can choose if they can see your messages, sold items, shipping, etc…
You are basically tied to that server for anything you want to do (and it will back up to a location of your choice every night). If I want to travel and work on listings I just take the MacBook, which I used to do, but it is so fast to do at home I now leave the computer behind when go on vacation. It is just too clunky to work on a little screen like that. I know they have a VPN solution, but I haven’t had a strong enough need to set it up. Theoretically, I could set up the VPN and have employees work from home or I could work while travelling.
I keep all of my photos on an external drive that is shared to my network so whatever computer a person is listing from they have access to the same photos. I prefer to work on a 3 (27″) screen setup for speed. One screen has Windows Explorer up with my pictures, one screen has SixBit, one screen has eBay or google up research.
I previously used InkFrog and I am much happier with Sixbit.
1. InkFrog put ads in all of my listings. When eBay freaked out about scripts in listing descriptions the only issues I had was all of the left over InkFrog crap. SixBit will also put ads in your listings, but you can pay like $3/month for them to not do that. I would recommend that.
2. Latency. Listing is all about speed. I have some issues with latency on SixBit because I list on a different PC than my “server”, but it is minor. Like adding photos takes a pause, maybe 3 seconds to add 3 photos. Opening a listing can take like 3 seconds too, but simply inputing data and text is instant.
3. I can organize my entire workflow into one screen. No scrolling through the listing when I am working on it. I can organize the process so it flows to my liking. Flipping from listing to listing is easy to go back and tweak things you forgot or messed up.
4. Once I am comfortable with a “batch” of listings I just select them and hit submit. Then I can go about my business while SixBit uploads all the info. I am not using listing time to do that. Uploading basically locks you out of SixBit, but just on that computer that you are submitting on. I can easily go over and do my shipping while the listings upload.The SixBit version I use is $37.99/month including the no ads thing. Worth every penny.
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Jay,
I haven’t been on InkFrog for several years so it is hard to say how it has changed.As I recall, waiting for things was an issue. I don’t have exceptionally fast internet, perhaps those who do would have another experience. SixBit saves the waits for the submit time. Helps me list more in less time. I think if SixBit was cloud based I would actually like it less.
Customization of the interface on SixBit is huge. Each employee can have their own UI setup to their liking.
I recall having to scroll while listing on InkFrog. I hate scrolling, A lot of why I hate the new eBay shipping UI among many, many other things.
I found it more difficult to organize the work on InkFrog.
SixBit is basically an SQL server so it has a lot of features you would find in Microsoft Office suite. You can easily export data to excel. I believe you can import too, but I have a fear of things going wrong with almost 6,000 listings so I wouldn’t attempt that.
Filtering and searchability is really good in SixBit. It has some issues I don’t like, but I am hoping some day they will fix those. When you search you have to type fast because it will finalize your search with the slightest pause and then select all and start typing over it. Another issue is you can only search exact strings, you can’t put two random words in from a listing title and return any results.
The moral of the story is speed. Time is money you know. Whatever cranks out the most listings in the shortest amount of time is biggest KPI in my book!
In that previous post I meant to say 3 seconds to do 12 photos, but the forum won’t let me edit the post.
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Jay,
Actually Between about 200 items and 5,000 items I was about the same. Year over year my sales were +/-1%. I’m fairly convinced that eBay categorizes sellers and allows a certain volume. I have gone months on end selling the exact number of items with the exact average price per item and the exact total sales. All while steadily growing my inventory year over year. No way that happens in nature.I am hoping this year is better, I am working on upping my price per item that I list. We’ll see how it goes. I am investing a lot into that inventory though. It takes about the same amount of time to list a $1,000 item as it does a $5 item. Being part time that’s the only way I can up those numbers.
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Thank you very much Country Lane, your detailed response regarding the software and workflows helps a lot. I think I should be able to work around the office issues, just have to think about remote for myself or employees. I can ask SB how hard the VPN is and what I would need on my end. I have survived thus far without networking or databases due to cloud solutions. There might be times when I need to work away from the office and there would be an employee at the office. I wouldn’t want to take the database with me!
I get what you are saying regarding the scrolling and latency, I find myself staring at the screen waiting for photos to upload or edit in ebay. Or a listing to load. Also, I will be finding some more screens on public auction – I have been alt_tab’ing my way around way too much!
Does anyone use GoDaddy along with SixBit? Do they play together well? Thanks to this forum I selected GoDaddy and it ties my checking, paypal and eBay transactions nicely.
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To clarify one does not “take” the database with them. Our home office desktop stays on 24 hrs. 7 days a week [except when I do clean up and maint. on the operating system]. But the desktop is always on. We use “Team Viewer” for remote access just like many technicians do.
We have Teamviewer loaded on 3 rigs. When away to trips or vacation I take my lap top with me, turn it own, open TeamViewer, enter my master password and I am instantly connected to my office desktop. It works just like I was sitting in front of it. I even have 2 monitors on the office desk top and all I do is toggle between the two on my laptop.
Now the surprise. Because we also have SixBit loaded on another rig in our office [yes we have two workstation in our office area], if I so choose to leave both of those running 24 / 7 our helper can open her personal laptop which has TeamViewer also loaded on it. She opens her TeamViwer and enters her password and BOOM she is now logged into the other office laptop. That laptop runs simultanesously with the office desktop. So she is going to Alaska next month and she can tie into the 2nd laptop and work on SixBit. I can sit here at my desk and watch her computer screen-mouse move as she works on it and I can continue to work on SixBit on mine and they don’t interfere.
Now if I take off on the road while she is still in Alaska working, all I do is open my TeamViewer, log into my rig and VIOLA! we are both working on 2 office computers from 2 off site locations thousands of miles apart, yet SixBit is working just like if we were sitting back here at the office side by side. Fully functional database operation. All our photos are stored on a 4 terrabyte external hard drive Drive F: Either one of us can be loading photos if we choose or creating brand new entries from any blank templates we have store.
The database never leaves our office desktop which is always here in our office. That 3rd personal laptop of our helper doesn’t have to have SB on it because she access the office laptop from her rig using TeamViewer once logged in.
Many newer guys to SixBit can gain a lot of insights into what SixBit can do by going to Google and searching for the Ebay open last year in Las Vegas and searching for SixBit, and searching for SixBit Demos on YouTube and participating in the SB forum instead of here on SL. No offesne, but so many questions have already been asked and answered on the “real” SB forums that you can find almost anything. And if not, then ask on there and you will find hundreds of users of SixBit only that can answer your inquires.
I would take a guess there are not more than 10 or so [just a guess mind you] of SL members who use SB and or WonderLister and or Ink Frog. Also SixBit technicians Steve Leah, JC Ryan, Dustin Sherburne and even at times John Slocum the founder and owner will chime in. Can’t get a better source for answers thaan that.
But I suggest give the SixBit forums a try. Also you can get a glimpsee of upcoming news.
Good luck..
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Thank You Mike!
Did not even know about the forums on SixBit, much appreciated! I will be taking a closer look at a remote solution. Now I need to figure out how to make my laptaps go BOOM! when they log into a remote. 😀Seriously, coming from a fellow scavenger, it is much appreciated! And no offense taken at ALL!
Brad
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How much do you pay each month for TeamViewer?
https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/buy-now/ -
TeamViewer is free. Has been for many years. The only paid version is the Commercial version. The Commercial version is used by companies who do remote in service on their customers computers. If you ever had a technician do a remote session then they use the paid versions and it is also more robust.
But for small guys like us, a version can be on each computer for free. Just download the APP [make sure it is the free version] and install on your rig. Do that all on your devices. Each install has a separate pass code to access but it also allows a setting to be able to let anyone connect any time based on a single master password the main computer user sets. That is how we do it.
If you had TeamViewer on your rig right now and I gave you the master password, you could log onto my computer and have full control of all functions on my computer.
They even have a TeamViewer for cell phones. When I am sitting and waiting on Susan at times, I open TeamViewer on my phone, log in and then I am in full control of my at home office computer.
I like doing this instead of using like the Ebay pr Etsy apps separately because my office computer uses the desk top seller hub and that view and functions much better, has more control than using the cell phone Ebay APP which is truncated for the cell phone.
OK, a draw back is that doing this you will be looking at the larger monitor that is on the home office rig, but you can do the finger spread and enlarge the image, but you may have to scroll sideways a little bit.
But bottom line FREE to access your main computer remotely from anywhere.
There are competitors out there, one is called “Log Me In”, and others. I found after trying several TeamViwer is the fastest of all at the time I was comparing.
Take a look. Here is the link:
https://www.teamviewer.com/en/credentials/free-for-personal-use/mike at MDCGFA
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MDC Galleries,
I am now looking into the shopify thing and thinking I want to give that a try.So to do the shopify, I have to upgrade to the Duo which is $65 more a month. I also have to pay for the shopify $29. I am guessing (maybe) I also have to pay for TaxJar which is $17. TaxJar is the sticking point for me. I am a little confused as to whether I need to collect sales tax at all for other states since I will be a rather small presence. I believe the threshold for South Dakota was $200k in sales to that state alone. Can you let me know how you are handling this? Once I am comfortable with the sales tax issue I think I am ready to give it a try.
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Good morning Country Lane:
Don’t jump on the band wagon just yet. SixBit is not ready to launch the Shopify interface just yet. It went to a small advanced group of Beta tester earlier this year. Then last I heard from one of the tech guy’s is that it has now moved to their larger list of Beta Tester’s. It was, last I heard hoping to be ready to add to the SB group early this fall which is about now.I was talking with one of the tech team members yesterday and still no definite timing but close.
Up until end of last year we were a 5-year user of WonderLister. WL had made many strides over the years as a third-party app. And at that time, we had our Ebay Store and Shopify Store running through WonderLister. But it was buggy and did some of the cross-platform work but not all of it. I was trying to get WL to expedite their Etsy interface at the time, but they were extremely slow at developing it and writing the required code. Long story short, we finally made the transition to SB.
We gained a complete Etsy interface module in this move. List once within Six Bit and both Ebay and Etsy was completely controlled from that one platform. But without a Shopify interface. So, we closed our Shopify store down [just for the time being] to give SB the time to get out of Beta Testing and go live. Then from there own we will focus all the social media posts [Pinterest, Facebook Market Place, Instagram, Twitter, and a few smaller others] to building and driving organic traffic toward our Shopify store. But that’s a whole other topic.
The way I was told in July is that SB will be adding a third pricing column called the “Trio” pricing. It will be the “Duo” price of $99.99 [which we are currently using] and will be adding approx. $30 more for around $129.99 for SB to handle all three platforms. Keeping 3 separate financials and a combined financial P&L for all 3. Also when you create a single listing, photos, item specifics, descriptions and all, when you submit, you will be able to select which of the 3 platforms you wish to submit to, Ebay, Etsy, Shopify, or Amazon all 2, or any combination of 1 or two. But I am unsure if they will keep amazon in the mix.
Then SB will list to that selection and from there on, will handle all the sales, remove the sold items from the other platforms as items sell, and keep all histories for various reporting for all time [as in forever].
If a user will only want two of the three platforms, the Duo will serve you in that fashion and I am assuming, you will be able to select which of the platforms you wish to activate.
We are waiting for the trio version to go live and will add Shopify back into the mix. If it goes like WonderLister did, we will be able to select which products-items-listings we want in the Shopify store then “click submit” and the whole Shopify store will be populated over night and the next day the Shopify Store will be up and populated.But you must already have your store designed using either one of there free templates or purchase a custom template and have it all set up with your “Featured Item” area, banners, etc. And of course, have your domain name secured and registered. You can do this with Shopify or with any domain name reseller and have it “pointed” to Shopify.
I would suggest if you are going the Shopify route, go ahead and do your up-front work on that. SixBit does not handle any design work, HTML, Java Script work. It just uploads data. But don’t let this scare you. Shopify handles all this design work automatically and you will use a WYSIWYG drag and drop interface.
Get your domain name xxx.com, get it registered, and then subscribe to the $29.99 Shopify Store level. You will need this level so that you will have Shopify’s credit card merchant gateway so you can take payments. Then sign up for Shopify’ University tutorials which are free and go through the beginning levels of setting up your store.
Now that leaves us with State Sales Tax. Up until fall of last year the state sales tax was not much of an issue except for the Sales we made here in GA. And we all know what has transpired over the last year. States have imposed legislation for those who sell from other states and even though they have no real store or physical presence in those states, they want their cut of the sales taxes. Ebay and Etsy handle this for us. BUT, and the BIG BUT is that there is still details to be worked out in Congress and the hub-bub from what I last read on the Ebay Gov’t Issues update and I think Jay even mentioned this, is that there may be an exemption for those who make less than $200,000, then I heard $500,000 and so forth. That is still pending in Congress. So, if that is true and comes to pass, then we may not have to worry about it if we are under the final decided threshold.
2ND BUT… Right now, there are thresholds in place BUT THEY ARE STATE BY STATE.But yes, if there are states with no thresholds, then we will have to pay those states using our financial reports supplied by all of our selling platforms., Shopify doesn’t file or remit sales taxes for you, but they do collect it for you. You must click on what states to include in your set up preferences. They collect it and will provide you with a report of what sales and taxes were paid by state and so will WonderLister and Six bit both, but it will be up to all of us to file and submit.
If we all will have to pay, then something like TaxJar will probably be a good add on option at about $20 a month
BUT, BUT, BUT here is the most current info. directly from Tax Jar, out of all of the states who have currently imposed to collect sales tax from resellers that sell online but DO NOT Have a physical store, warehouse or presence in their state a large percentage of them already have thresholds that are high enough that we won’t have to pay in those states. 33 states to date have thresholds of $100,000 or higher. But that still leaves 17 states with no threshold.
So I am hoping that Congress will get up off their butts and make a decision on this and provide a nationwide threshold limit, [I am hoping for a high number-amount], whereby all of us that sell online in all of the states will only have to pay sale tax in our own state where we reside just like it used to be, and only have to pay in other states if we make more than $250k, $500k a year, etc., etc.
Here is a link to the whole Tax Jar list of states and their thresholds and an explanation of the situation as it currently exists. And for the military people, when it comes to our state and federal officials, it is a “SNAFU”, [look it up!!] .. as usual!
https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/01/list-of-states-with-internet-sales-tax.html
Bottom line for us, $130 for SB to be the Command Central Master Flagship Hub for all 3 stores, plus $29.99 for the Shopify Store and the $17 plan if we must pay taxes in a few states for Sales made through Shopify, for a total of approx. $175 monthly. But remember, Shopify is a web site hosting business it is NOT A MARKET PLACE Platform like Ebay and Etsy. Shopify has no buyers or traffic, at all. “Build it and they WILL NOT COME” unless you market and brand yourself. It takes Googles spiders and bots’ months to crawl the web. Your store will not be found until you start to make a presence on Google, know how to do some serious SEO and Optimize your Shopify Store. It may take a year for you to even start to get a small amount of traffic to your store.
We are doing it first as a back-up to Ebay and Etsy in case either one penalizes us for some odd ball reason and takes our store down. Also, we can design and do anything we want on our own store.
But Shopify University will explain all of this, instruct you in how to. And if you are young enough you will build a business there. We are 70 and 68 years old. My 10-year business plan is to stay alive until then!! LOL Take care … ABL!
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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Country Lane,
Thanks for sharing. I have a ton to learn about Sixbit. Plus a long way to grow my store compared to you and most others here.I used the Pick List today to help me locate my items for packing.
Thanks again.
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@Mike, Country Lane, and Timo: Sign me up for a SixBit sub-forum as well. If I could ever get off my @$$ and figure out why my live streaming sucks we could have a Master Mind set up for that, were we could share screens on issues, tips, etc.
Mike, I use the Google Remote Connect rather than TeamViewer, but same process. While I was in Montana, I could remote in (laptop, though I have used the phone before) and work like I was at home. Love it.
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- Location:
items sold: 37
sales: $944.11 (i don’t include shipping revenue)
average selling price: $25.51
cost of goods: $142.08
returns: 5
purchases: $296.67
store listings: 1,037
inventory $ risk: $3,950 (what i paid for all existing inventory)
listed this week: 51
ebay hours: 20what’s on my mind: 4 returns in 1 day, 5 returns in 30 hours. No best offer? No problems. No sales loss due to turning off best offer.
i don’t listen to the podcasts that often, but i think some of the most recent titles are great!
“People of the world” , “Spanning Time”..excellent, even profund! I’ll listen to this one for sure.4 returns in one day & 1 in the early hours of next day. I have free returns enabled & if all these returns do come back, I will have 8 returns so far 2019. I only bring up returns because I got my first return for “authenticity”. And instead of auto accepting it, ebay gave me some options like refund now, offer replacement, contact buyer etc…etc… I like how free returns auto-calls the buyer’s (potential) bluff & eliminates all the back and forth. I basically never want the buyer to keep the item, so I am good with it.
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Long-time reseller and listener to your podcast. Jay, I had noticed you stutter occasionally, but thought nothing of it. I was really surprised to learn how deeply it affects those afflicted. One of those topics I hadn’t explored.
Your combined voices and content are what keep me coming back week after week. It’s a Monday mornig ritual (with strong coffee). I appreciate your insight and tips and your transparency. Thank you. Keep at it – you and Ryanne continue to inspire me and others how to wisely go about achieving our goals.
What initially drew me in to your podcast was the scavenging aspect. I’m a scavenger at heart and live in an urban area where there is a ton of good trash. It’s funny but about one in five items I sell online were pulled off the street or from the trash.
Love your show.
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I have not listened to the show yet, but many thanks as always. I generally store up a bunch of them and then listen to them on long road trips. I just went up to Fargo North Dakota this past weekend so my daughter could visit her 95 year old Great Grandfather. A 6 hour drive made easier by listening to Scavenger Life along the way. Thanks for that. 🙂
Here are my numbers for the week.
July 7- July 13 2019
Total items in store: Etsy 469 // Ebay 725
Items Sold: Etsy 19 // Ebay 20
Cost of items Sold: Etsy $45.54 // Ebay $97.45
Total Sales: Etsy $199.15 // Ebay $302.86 ((Total = $502.01))
Highest Price Sold: $65 Mega Force Triax Goliath Set by Kenner
Average Price Sold: $12.87
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 35 (at $615.75) -
When I was in my early twenties I worked with someone older who had type 2 diabetes. She asked me to lunch one day to educate me about the disease. I can only imagine that I must have said something completely ignorant and stupid. I think you are probably very correct that this listener badly needed an education. It’s probably someone young. I wonder now that everyone is distracted by the internet if our own kids will know more or less about this stuff. Highly likely that they will comment on the internet without enough information. Ironic because it’s right there at their fingertips.
Thanks for the podcast. It’s valuable for many reasons, including the exploration of non-Ebay subjects. 🙂
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At first I thought the title was going to be the Beastie Boys lyric “People of the world unite!”
As far as the guy who commented on your stammer and how you could improve, i am almost speechless. Unsolicited advice on how someone can “improve” is just so arrogant! I am surprised he didn’t end the sentence with “if you don’t understand that it’s on you”, those folks drive me nuts! -
Hello! Long time listener- I was compelled to write to you Jay after this episode…………
If I can be honest, the first time I heard you Stutter, I felt…..relief……. that you did not edit it out. I can’t tell you how much comfort I felt to hear this on a popular podcast. It means we’re not alone.
I have ankyloglossia (tongue tie) and long avoided being “exposed”. I skipped school if I had a speech and dropped college courses that required public speaking.
I know our situations are different…..but our behavior is often the same, avoidance. As you mentioned, Jay, we avoid certain words and as such, sound “different” in our speech (often searching our minds for a word to replace the “challenging” word with). I now practice speaking these words, rather than avoiding them.
I wish you all the best, and THANK YOU for sharing your story. -
I just got back from vacation on Monday and have been running around doing mostly non-eBay stuff.
The first person I met with a bad stutter (or maybe it was a stammer?) was at my first job out of college in the late 80s. His name was Harvey Berger, and he had a very significant stutter. His face would contort for seconds as he tried to get his words out. In a meeting, this would happen for every sentence. Just one-on-one, he could speak a bit more fluently.
The thing is – this guy was the SMARTEST person I have ever met. His work was flawless, he could do it in a quarter of the time as anyone else, and he had a deeper understanding of design than anyone. I found a link from 2010 discussing some of Harvey’s accomplishments.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2010/09/01/428762/200593/en/Photo-Release-American-Institute-of-Aeronautics-and-Astronautics-AIAA-Honors-Northrop-Grumman-s-Harvey-Berger-for-Outstanding-Contributions-to-Satellite-Communications.htmlSo, Jay, I associate stuttering with very smart people. Many of the really smart people I know have some type of challenge. I’ve always assumed you are just really smart.
Anyway, I’ve not been active on eBay for several weeks, and my numbers show it.
Week of July 7-13
* Total Items in Store: 1363, eBay, 3 Etsy
* Items Sold: 9
* Cost of Items Sold: about $4 + $0 Commission (haven’t been keeping track of COGS)
* Total Sales: $143.75
* Highest Price Sold: $30 vintage oil can
* Average Price Sold: $15.97
* Returns: 0, 1 canceled order, my fault
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $11.50
* Number of items listed this week: 0The canceled order was for an espresso cup and saucer. I found the cup, but not the saucer. Not sure, but I think the saucer broke, and I meant to delist it.
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That’s super interesting. How did you go from the world of Northrop Grumman to selling things on eBay?
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The company was actually TRW, but they were bought out by Northrop Grumman maybe 20 years ago (after I had left). I moved back east to work for another very large aerospace company in 1993. This company merged with another company in the 90s and our plant moved from NJ to PA as part of a consolidation. In 2014, they had another consolidation and moved the plant to CO.
I was able to transfer to the PA plant without having to move, but I didn’t want to move to CO. Perhaps it would have been an adventure, but my kids were in school here, my husband has a good engineering job, we had just spent a lot of money on renovating our master bathroom, etc., etc.
I did look for another engineering job, but I couldn’t really find much in my industry without having to have a significant commute or move. My commute to PA was about an hour, but my company had let me work from home three days a week.
Then, I found you guys and decided to try out the eBay thing. My daughter did track & cross-country for three years because I was available to pick her up after practice. I am there for my son who has challenges (he has been diagnosed with high-functioning autism), I can cook from scratch more often, and so forth.
Initially, I felt that I was wasting my skills by not going back to an engineering job, but I really enjoy the eBay thing and I get to spend more time with my kids. My husband “brings home the bacon” and the health benefits.
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That’s the life! In this rime period where unemployment is low and engineering degrees are at a premium, I bet you could always go back to work if you wanted. But the scavenging lifestyle can spoil you 🙂
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Always be open to everything in the world of Engineering. I’m in the camp that if someone local came calling me and offered me a good salary, I’d put my engineering skills back in the workplace for at least 8-12 months, even maybe a couple years.
I feel I can always handle the training/honeymoon period, and especially having eBay and other income to fall back on, I don’t have to work if I don’t like the place.
It’s nice to have options, and be able to make the choice to do things or not – it’s something many people will never have in their lives.
I always think it doesn’t hurt to keep you ears open to opportunities, and explore them – worst case you just go back to what you are doing today. Also, some cool experiences may open up – I know I would drop everything for a chance to work for a Formula 1 or Indycar racing team for a season; or work on a cool world-renowned project.
Choosing what to do with your time is the spoils of this lifestyle.
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I can recall one of the early episodes where I first noticed Jay’s stutter. Pretty sure it was a Jay/Mikey episode. At first, I thought it was done on purpose, until I heard it later again. Ever since, I’ve realized that it was something that Jay was dealing with, and it’s been a non issue for me.
I have always been impressed that when it happens on the podcast, Ryanne doesnt edit it out, and that she doesn’t jump in to “rescue” Jay.
Jay, good on you for not making such an effort to avoid combinations, words, and phrasing that generally leads to you stuttering anymore. It must be absolutely exhausting putting that much thought into a conversation. Do you, stutter and all!
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I have a simular condition.
I think this job lends itself well to those of us who may have a difficult time in an office or service position.
Avoidance and masking is exhausting.
Thank you both for doing this podcast. It has been very educational and motivational. I have learned so much and look forward to many more!
I just wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoy hearing the real Jay.
Thank you! -
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Could defiantly tell Jay doesn’t do the shipping when he said to throw out perfectly good boxes. Nothing makes me happier than finding the perfect box to ship an item in my shed where the (had never heard this term before, lol) box Monster lives. I’ve been known to slam on the brakes if I see a good box beside someone’s trash can in our town.
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oh me too, i’ve pulled boxes out of the woods on the side of our road. for sure!
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Every couple weeks I go out early on a Sunday morning box hunt, I have a route where I know I’ll find great boxes, some styrofoam sheets and occasionally some trash to resell.
Pet Smart is a good place for boxes and the styrofoam lids from the containers they ship fish with.-
Thanks Steven, good tip on the styrofoam sheets from “fish containers” and the Sunday morning time slot. It just never crossed my mind that would probably be the day and very early that no one else would be around to hassle you about being ther or a cop driving by.
We have two Pet Smarts not too far from us, each in opposite directions. I have been buying a 24″ wide x 8 ft. long 1/2″ thick insulating blue board from Home depot and just cutting it up as needed. Will check out the Pet Smarts this weekend and see what they may have.
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The community we are moving to doesn’t have curbside recycling collection – they have areas near parks and public buildings to bring your recyclables including boxes.
It is GREAT! I almost feel I don’t even need to store boxes – there is always hundreds to choose from. And one of the recycling points is only about 75 yards from my house in a park.
I read a lot about how recycling collection costs communities a lot of money and most of it gets put in the landfill as there is no market for most items – this system is great for people like me where I can take away someone else’s waste for my own use.
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Ryanne should take a photo of our box storage. There’s a time when you can have too much of a good thing 🙂
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Jay: I take all of the boxes I get from incoming purchases and bust them open at the seam, lay them flat and then cut them into long, narrow, strips. I use these to roll up and place around cups, tea pots or anything cylinder shaped for protection. The corrugated and scored rolls of cardboard is pricey so I make my own roll strips.
Then after I get enough to last a while and or out strip my storage capacity, I do throw away the over stock for awhile until I need to collect some more.
TIP: The USPS Large Game Boxes are great for just tearing them open and cutting them into strips to roll round and cylinder objects with. We find it better than the box within a box method for certain items.
Wrap item in newsprint, roll wrap with cardboard, bubble wrap that roll, then place 6 glasses side by side inside your bigger, outer box and u are good to go.
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Week of 07/07-07/13
Total Items in Store: 3,239 (Up 32% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 137
Number of Items Sold: 78 (Up 26% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 8 Poshmark, 0 Bonanza, 1 TrueGether – Who Knew??)
Weekly STR: 10% (Down 1% YOY)Total Product Sales: $1,881 (Down 31% YOY)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: Up $705
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: Down $1,556
Cost of Items Sold: $403
Cost of Labor: $236
Highest Item Sold: $49 – Cole Haan shoes
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 16-13.Clothing
# Listed: 1,874
# Sold: 44
STR: 10%
ASP: $22.14Shoes
# Listed: 758
# Sold: 21
STR: 12%
ASP: $28.73Hard Goods
# Listed: 607
# Sold: 13
STR: 9%
ASP: $23.31EBay
# Listed: 3,239
# Sold: 69
STR: 9%
ASP: $22.59Etsy
# Listed: 223
# Sold: 1
STR: 2%
ASP: $24.82Poshmark
# Listed: 758
# Sold: 8
STR: 5%
ASP: $37.13Crazy week. Volume came back, and yet no high sales. Highest sale was for $49. Wow. Not worried about the drop in sales $ vs YOY since last year this was the week we sold the $1000 print to China.
Jay, great talk about the stuttering, and you handled it great and with class. We have someone in our family that can struggle with this as well. Amazingly, when they get up and do speeches in front of good sized crowds….flawless. It is definitely something that has a neurological base, so each case is probably different. But you are full of class. Well handled.
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Haven’t had time to post my numbers these days, but still listening to the podcast and loving it. Made my two teenagers listen to last weeks and we all were so impressed with Jay’s response to the email about stuttering. You are an amazing person Jay! Thank you for educating us, and also for letting us know the best way to respond when speaking to someone who stutters. None of us were aware of the best way to proceed in a conversation, and I am very grateful you took the time to address!
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@Jay: Follow-up regarding eBay removing the Secondary shipping option (removing Priority options). I got own rep to come back and see that this is a bug, and it is on their bug list. So there is that.
They also have added the bugs that I found on the Awaiting Payment page. The left column isn’t showing when an item has an UPI (Unpaid Item) case opened. And, items that have UPI on them, the drop down still shows that you can open an UPI again. AND, when an item has the UPI timeframe passed, you can’t close and relist from Awaiting Payment anymore. You have to do this from the Resolution Center.
So, sending in lots of bugs to Ebay and Etsy in the past week…
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@Jay: Yeah, and the Devil has been busy…
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I’ve heard mention of packing peanuts on several episodes and wanted to comment that I hate getting packages with loose packing peanuts. They tend to stick to everything and if a ceiling fan is on they run away to the corners and hide. Ever notice that most (all?) major online retailers have stopped using packing peanuts? I prefer using crumpled brown wrapping paper and reusing packing pillows. If I do use packing peanuts I put them in a plastic bag that is tied closed.
My 2¢
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You make a good point. Paper unfortunately flattens down so doesnt actually provide much protection. The air filled bags that amazon uses is smart, but not cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Air-Machine-Inflatable-Packaging/dp/B01MY70RYG
Packing peanuts are really good at what they do for the right price.
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Jay: It depends on what pound paper. Brown kraft is heavier than newsprint. Newsprint is usualy 30# or 40# and is book page weight called “text weight”. Brown kraft is usually 50# to 60# Lb. Cover stock weight. A large difference in the overall thickness, and ability to support objects without flattening.
We bought 900 to 1,000 ft. rolls of 50# Brown Kraft paper and have it on a 3′ wide dispenser that holds the roll. It is heavy to load but spins ok on that dispenser which also has a tearing blade to effectively tear-cut the paper at lengths we want.
Crumpled that brownkraft up and make it thick and loose and it will not settle out flat. We buy it online and it is delivered to our door. Just a heavy mofo to lift and carry upstairs to the office and get on that dispenser.
Much less costly than peanuts.
But their is research on “DUNNAGE” paper and the articles will tell the story.
mike at MDCGFA
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Like Mike, we are using 50#, a 24″ x 900′ roll was around $30 I think last time I bought it (Amazon). I’m sure it would be less if I had a local source, but I live in a small town (1100 people) which is not close to any really large cities.
Appealing to your scavenger instincts, look for plotter paper, it comes in a roll and usually is heavy enough to work fine for packing.
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Old Dad: Plotter paper. Never thought of that. I will research that out, didn’t think the pund weight was that heavy on plotter paper I guess. But almost anything is cheaper than peanuts.
And, brown kraft crumples easily into “paper ropes” for intertwining between indentations on odd shaped breakables.
Here is a link for a desktop unit. We don’t have or use one, but we just make our paper ropes-snakes by hand. It is quicker for single boxes. But if doing an assembly line type of work this would be useful.
Also here is a link to a good break down of “Void Fill Dunnage Options”, and peanuts are not a good chocie.
https://www.ecoenclose.com/Definitive-Guide-to-Void-Fill-and-Cushioning/That is why last year I was surprised that Jay & Ryanne went to peanuts, based on the fact they got a good dispenser cheap. Peanuts are very expensive, no body likes or wants to recieve them, they are a hard sell to recycle. In my opinion now, for what that has been worth here on SL we all know is worth a third of a cup of coffee along with $.50, is that if I would start to use peanuts, I would be doing my customers a dis-service and certainly not helping the environment. But just my opinion.
We get some good prices on boxes [cheaper than the Ebay store] and on occasion the heavy brown kraft rolls at Staples. Check them out.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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We use crumpled paper ropes too. Hadn’t seen the crumpler gadget before, I’m not even sure it would work on 50# paper, but it’s not that hard to do by hand as you said. I sell automotive parts primarily, while they aren’t usually fragile some are heavy enough to tear the box up if not secured. I’ve had a few orders come back as undeliverable and even after the round trip they are still pretty tight.
I was just thinking, I hope I didn’t rain on the R & J parade, they seem very pleased with the new peanut dispenser. Every business is different though.
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As I have mentioned numerous times about our “cocoon” method of wrapping. we also keep a stack of 30×36 flat sheets of corrugated sheets in a ready stack.
So plates: If I have just one type say 4 to 8 dinner plates only, or a stack of salad plates, I put a thin bubble sheet down on the table, then a small square piece of thin cardboard, then a small styrofoam plate we use as spacers, then a thin sheet of bubble again and again a thin sq. pice of cardboard, etc., etc. until the “stack is completed. One stack all with cardboard, bubble wrap cut to size and a small styrofoam plate spacers.
This whole stack then gets a 360 degree tape band vertically in several directions. This tight stack is now, stretch wrapped with with 3 to 4 winds of stertch wrap from my hand held dispenser. At this point I have a solid block of tightly held together plates. I probably could stop there, but nope.
Now I take that tight stack and set it on one of the flat corrugated sheets and quitly cut a4 sided box shape and tape that over the stack, or if I already have some of my hand made rolled corrugated strips, I wrap that around the stack of plates and tape that in several directions.
Lastly I neatly wrap that whole hand made container inside of #50 lb. brownkraft to make it look like a wrapped present. Then this gets a complete wrap of thick bubble.
I would then do this for each of the other types of plates I may have, salad, bread, saucers.
Then using the same 5 to 7 layer “cocoon” method I would roll wrap cups, juice glasses, sugar, creamer, tea pots, etc. All with the paper, thin bubble, stretch wrap, brown paper and then cardboard roll wrap [which is our hand made “quick inner box” as we call it] and then the large bubble wrap skin, this is usually about 6 layers in all that goes internally.
When done all of these separate boxes get placed in the larger outer box with crumbled brown kraft dunnage as fill on the bottom, then intertwined with brown kraft ropes zig zagged in between each inner box to keep from touching and then finishing off with the last layer of brown kraft dunnage on top and a packing list.
The outer box, is almost always USPS Priority except of fuller dinner sets with many pieces and extra serving platters they go FedEx and at times in two boxes. The outside box is always taped on all seems and where the box is glued together also. Extra heavy boxes get a Ryanne nylon strap around it.
17 to 30 pcs can take an hour to an hour and a half to do completely.
The pay off since 2002, we have only had 6 packages that arrived with damage goods and 2 of those looked like a truck ran over it. Our guess it fell off a conveyor or forklift and the forklift ran over it. The other 4 were crock pottery bowls, but was before we developed to 6 layer “cocoon” method. Now I would feel safe shipping a funner set of dinnerware up in the 60 to 100 piece range but I have told Susan, i will shoot her if she buys full sets any more.
But just within the last few weeks we have thought about going back to full sets but listing each type of item, plate, cup, saucer as a separate listing and doing just like Replacements.com does and sell everything 1 pc. at a time.
But that would limit the buyers to only those who already have the pattern and only need to replace a missing piece or expand an existing set.
We do the same for rocks, high ball glasses, coffee mugs, Paper wrap, thin bubble, stretch wrap, cardboard roll around, brown kraft, thick bubble, outer box. BUT< BUT on thicker glass or coffee mugs usually just slip the 6 layer “cocoon” into a bubble mailer since the inner layer is so protective.
I would guess that about half of our 1093 feedback says something positive about how well our items come to them, how well wrapped and packaged they are. We invite you guys to go look and then just scroll down, page by page and count or search on packing and you can see for yourself.
Six damaged packages, 1 neutral feedback and 1 negative feedback in approx. 16 to 17 years. We must be doing something right! 🙂 🙂 🙂
MIke at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Old Dad: In the 2nd link above about Dunnage and Void Fill options they also list Bogus paper as an in between weight. But the 50# #60 brown kraft is very good at void fill and for support without flattening.
I think the 36″ wide x 900 ft long roll we got was about $37 and when we ordered 2 rolls from Staples it was Free Shipping which was delivered from the closest store at the Mall of Ga., six miles up the road from us, so was delivered the next day, if I recall.
That is 5400 square feet of brown kraft. We also use it to wrap anything flat, like records, books, items that are still in the box, along with loosely basketball size balled and loose rope shapes for bottom, top and side fill and support.
A trick I used to use but not any more just because it didn’t look very well. But I have been known to crumple up brownkraft and put around an object then use our stretch wrap to cocoon secure the brownkraft in place instead of using bubble wrap when I was in a pinch or out of bubble wrap.
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Reiterating what many have said. Thank you for being open about your stutter. I have been stuttering since I was 7 and my story is very similar to yours…except I haven’t yet had the guts or confidence to openly stutter yet. I tried it under the advice of the therapist at one point but wimped out. I am however now open that I do stutter and freely state it. Baby steps… Thanks again for all that you do.
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