Home › Forums › Podcast Comments › Scavenger Life Episode 427: Efficiency Punks
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Retro Treasures WV.
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09/08/2019 at 5:39 pm #67556
Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week August 25-31, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8558 Items Sold: 32 Gross Sales: $1,286.58 Cost o
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 427: Efficiency Punks] -
09/08/2019 at 9:22 pm #67565
You can find eBay’s Terapeak dashboard on the seller hub under the Research Tab.
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09/08/2019 at 9:40 pm #67566
Ah, you’re right: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2019-fall/index.html
Do you use the Terrapeak search and find it useful?
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09/08/2019 at 9:46 pm #67568
I find it very useful for pricing items to have a year’s worth of data (of course more would be great, too). When I’m pricing a heavy coat or a Christmas item in August, there just aren’t that many data points in the June/July/August data that ebay gives by default. For example, in July I purchased a vintage Christmas item that I thought might sell for $40 or so. When I looked it up on ebay, it looked like this item did indeed sell in that range in the past 3 months. Then I checked terapeak, and found that last fall this item sold for several hundred dollars! And so then I listed it high and got several hundred for it within a few days of listing.
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09/08/2019 at 9:51 pm #67569
That is vert cool. Do you imagine that if its successful, eBay will eventually fold this expanded Terrapeak search into their main search? Not sure why eBay doesnt already allow us to search a years data without going through Terrapeak.
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09/08/2019 at 11:54 pm #67576
Ebay’s native search doesn’t show an entire year b/c it only searches sold listings that still have valid URLs on ebay.com. After a while, sold items disappear and you can’t get to them anymore, and ebay doesn’t seem to archive them. Terapeak must be regularly crawling ebay’s sold listings and storing data about them including 1 photo, but not the entire listing. So, Terapeak has a longer history, but has less info about each listing. Ebay’s native search has a shorter history, but with more info on each listing. I doubt that they are going to invest in the expensive project of merging these two implementations to provide the best of both worlds via one UI. But I would be very happy to be surprised.
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09/09/2019 at 9:17 am #67587
Though I know eBay retires listings links on the website, I’d be surprised if eBay isn’t keeping its data. That’s huge value they’d be leaving on the table.
I assumed that Terrapeak and Worthpoint paid for the data, and eBay sells it to them because they dont have the skills/resources to create elegant historical search. Just like eBay lets other companies build shipping platforms on top of their data.
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09/09/2019 at 5:29 am #67578
We have used TerraPeak and also Worthpoint for years for these exact reasons. Plus Terrapeak does more than just sold history. You can do data analysis like trends, research keywords, trends for key words very much like Google analytics, but this stuff is moore if you are interested in SEO and getting the correctly searched words being used by buyers and incorporating them into your titles, in the correct order and having those words in your description area and Item specifics.
There are many who don’t do SEO, see no value in it, put wrong words in the first 5 places in their titles and also have gone to no descriptions and don’t use or fill in Item Specifics. Just two schools of thought and approach I guess.
But TerraPeak is just one of those tools. We stopped our TerraPeak paid subscription a while back but glad to see it being rolled into Ebay’s Seller hub as a benefit for store subscribers.
Now if you like TerraPeak’s one year of data, would you like a 2nd or 3rd years backlog of data? Then subscribe to WorthPoint, they have all of the Ebay data, several photos, sold prices and the description going back for 10 or more years.
If you have an item that has not sold in the last year. It is unusual and a real hard to find item, we like to know that it 6 of them sold 2 or 3 years ago for more than $1,500 or something like this as just an example.
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09/09/2019 at 7:11 am #67580
It is definitely usefull when buying/listing off-season.
With my recent haul of high end camo hunting gear, I was struggling with pricing. After using terapeak I was able to see that certain items would start selling for full sticker price at certain times throughout fall and winter. So I kept my prices fairly high and will wait.
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09/08/2019 at 9:46 pm #67567
I have used it occasionally since it recently became free, but I usually just use completed listings for my stuff. I do like that I don’t have to leave ebay now to use it, maybe I will get more use out of it now.
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09/08/2019 at 9:54 pm #67570
Thank you for the podcast, back from a 5 day trip and great company packing. Interested to hear about Terrapeak…
9/01– 9/07/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)
eBay store: totommyto
Total store items: 807
Number of items sold: 7
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $242
Cost of items sold: $19
Highest price sold: $100 – Single magic Lantern Slide – paid 60 cents (cost per slide listed)
Average price sold: $34.60
Returns: 1 – GM car part $42, did not fit, item price returned only.
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 51
Sell through rate for the week: 1.0
Number International sales: 1Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 656
Number of items sold: 2
Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $40
Cost of items sold: $2
Highest price sold: Each item sold for $20, an Oklahoma lapel pin, paid $1, and 9 old water spigots, paid $5.
Average price sold: $20
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 0
Sell through rate for the week: 0.3
Number International sales: 0 -
09/08/2019 at 10:05 pm #67571
2019-09-01 – 2019-09-07
Total Items In Store: 3283
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $ 70
Total Sales: $ 738.38
Highest Price Sold: $ Over $140 (Sony Betamax)
Average Price Sold: $ 41.02
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 246.84
Number of items listed: 53Gut Sales Report for the week: Another good week.
Challenge of the week: I shifted my business into overdrive this week by buying stereo equipment on Facebook Market Place (I am starting to feel like this part of my business is turning closer to Steven Schultz’s business model). My daughter says I am getting too professional at the pickups. One guy realized how quick and efficient I was and asked if I was a flipper.
Scavenge of the week: This may be the last good weekend for garage sales in Michigan. Picked up several great items: 1. Got some new Ford Coil Springs for half price at the thrift store (mentioned this on the blog this past week). 2. This was a scrat scavenge – I picked up a Pokemon Master Trainer Board for $1.50. I didn’t know if it was worthless or worth a lot. Turns out I can get at least $100 for it. 3. Picked up 4 Mid-Century chairs for $10. I am going to sell them for about $50 each. 4. Picked up a 1970’s Coleman Large Red Cooler for $15 5. Picked up a nice Varsity Jacket for $3. The lady at the garage sale thought I was crazy for buying it because I didn’t go to that school (she asked me if I went to the school).
Mark S
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09/08/2019 at 10:27 pm #67574
Week Sept 1-7, 2019
Items in store: 4408 Listings for 6303 Items
Items Sold: 109 transactions for 121 Items
Gross Sales: $8071.09
Highest Price Sold: $393 …. Kiton Suit
Lowest Price Sold: $4.99….Shoelaces
Average Sale Price: $66.70
Cost of Goods Sold $360, Plus consignment payout, roughly $840
Number of new items listed this week: 95 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $0
Repeat Customers: 13
International: 29%Almost a new record for the week. Great start to September as far as sales go, though I didn’t get close to hitting my listing goal this week. I tweaked my back Monday and lost two days of productivity. Grr.
Picked up a new consignor this week. Sounds like it may be a fellow thrifter/reseller with a death pile cleanup-type situation, so we’ll see what he sends.
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09/09/2019 at 9:14 am #67586
How are you getting new consignors?
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09/09/2019 at 9:30 am #67590
Shortly after I became licensed to do the consignment, I started having major back trouble. So, for fear of overselling my physical abilities, I never made an official announcement or ad for my services. Most the consignors I have, have reached out to me either just out of curiosity to see if I sell stuff for other people too, or by word of mouth.
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09/09/2019 at 9:35 am #67591
You have to be licensed to do consignment?
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09/09/2019 at 9:46 am #67592
In PA, yes.
I did consignment on ebay in the first couple years I started selling. Then in 2008, the PA auctioneers won a dispute against eBay that resulted in a ridiculous state law requiring all online sellers who were selling for commission to get an auctioneers license.
Well, an auctioneers license requirements were absurd for someone just selling junk on ebay. Something like 18 months of classes, a long apprenticeship at an auction house, learning to do the chant and everything. So I simply stopped selling for other people.
In 2016 a good friend of mine in NY was having amazing success with his consignment business, so I decided I was just going bite the bullet and go to auctioneer school. Might meet some cool people and great contacts. So when I looked into it, I found that they had just revised the law and added a new section to the law to include “online trading assistant” which no longer required the crazy unnecessary training, but rather just a few official registration fees and documents like announcing the business name, registering as trade assistant, becoming bonded and paying $200. What a relief, I was kinda starting to like the idea of the auctioneering….but I don’t have time for that.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
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09/09/2019 at 9:56 am #67594
Seems t have paid off for you. I wonder if a consignors license is just in PA. Never heard of that before.
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09/09/2019 at 10:15 am #67596
I know it was unique to PA at the time, but I’m not sure if any other states followed suit. in 2008 the Auctioneers felt that eBay was stealing their business, and they were trying to fight back. I think they must have figured out finally that auction-going eBay sellers are actually keeping their business alive, rather than hurting it.
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09/09/2019 at 12:31 am #67577
Sept 1-7
Total Listings: 211
Items Sold: 6
Gross Sales: $159.13
COGS: $17.78
Highest Price: $69.85 (vintage skirt)
ASP: $26.52
New Inventory Purchased: $31.74
New Listings: 15
Returns: 0Pretty average week. 15 new listings in a week is a ton for me, since I do this so part-time. Most of it was ephemera. Whenever I list a bunch of ephemera, there always seems to be one item that sells overnight to whomever was waiting for it to pop up, and then the rest of has to wait for its perfect buyer. Kind of like with the 1910s photo mentioned this week, some of it is so specific that I’m blown away when it actually sells.
After about a month, I am calling my free shipping experiment a success. Anything that can go first class, media mail, or Priority FR envelope is now free shipping – that’s now about 2/3 of my store. I raised prices to offset as needed, and if the item was under $30 I took off best offer. I used to hate the idea of free shipping on principle. I’ve come around because I’m suddenly selling lots of low-end stuff I’ve had around forever. 3 of the items I sold this week had been listed for well over a year with no offers and few watchers. My theory is that buyers are turned off by seeing something listed for $15 with $7 shipping, because it seems too high relative to the item. They would rather pay $25 for the item and $0 for shipping. I don’t get it, but I’m not gonna argue.
My next experiment is cross-listing some of my free shipping items to my old Etsy store, which I just re-opened after several years. Cross-listing has been annoyingly manual but I’ve gotten faster. I’ve sold one item so far; we’ll see how it goes over a couple months.
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09/09/2019 at 5:36 am #67579
@HN: We are doing the same thing and in the process of that project right now. We are going to free shipping on everything at 5 lbs. and under and building in the cost at regular over the counter USPS costs to Zone 6.
Doing this one for the same reason you state above and Etsy has now gone to the free shipping format and openly state that if you don’t have free shipping you will be mostly ignored in their advertising and search results.
In our case being a SixBit user, we can make all the changes to all of our inventory in bulk and it synch’s all of that automatically on both platforms. Then when we re-activate our Shopify store, it will have it all synched on all 3 platforms.
mike at MDC Galleries
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09/09/2019 at 9:19 am #67588
Are you building in the shipping cost to send it to NYC? Or do you split the difference: lose a little money to NYC but make money shipping to CA?
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09/09/2019 at 4:37 pm #67623
We are building in the cost for USPS reg. Prioirty to ship to Zone 6 which includes every state except 8 states from here in Atlanta. Then all that is left are Montana, Idaho, Utah and Arizona and the 4 remaining west of those. Those we have to absorb a couple of bucks to ship to zones 7 and 8.But we make extra for those closer, and the closer they are the more we make which will offset the extra we may have to pay to ship to those 8 states furthest away.
Fair or not, Ebay, Etsy, Amazon and the buyers are going that way and buyers are mind set on it. Had to decline an offer last night over this issue. They said they would rather see a $41.79 item with Free Shipping rather than a $29.99 item with $11.80 calculated shipping tacked on. She thought since in her mind, the shipping was close to 40% of the cost of the item, it wasn’t worth it, so she said either we do free shipping or she would cancel and I said cancel and she did.
So I have set everything up to make a complete one shot change over to both Ebay and Etsy and will do so maybe this weekend.
We are also splitting the build in cost by the pound. So, our build in cost chart looks like 1 .01 to 2.0 to zone six, 2.01 to 3.00 to zone 6, 3.01 to 4.00 to zone 6 up to 5.00 lbs.
From here we it is a toss up if we go the FedEx route up on the 6 to 7.00 lbs. Anything weighing more, we will make a call after we get 7.00 and under set-up, which by the way covers 606 of our 1,221 items. Take these costs and tack them on and then remove Calculated shipping. We will just watch out for taking very low offers and / or having too large of a Sale running.
Mike at MDC Galleries
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09/09/2019 at 1:30 pm #67610
Yeah, ephemera is great to sell with free shipping. It can get a bit pricy if it’s slightly heavier than normal and going across the country (or to Hawaii!), but it’s worth it for most orders. If you have multiple items selling to 1 person, you can also make something off the “combined shipping.” Love free shipping.
Depending on how rare or quirky the item is, you might also want to try running some on auction. While most items get no bids or just 1 bid, you’d be surprised by the attention some odd items can get.
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09/09/2019 at 7:18 am #67581
Items in Store 1161
Items Sold 23
Total Sales $780.00
COGS $95.00
Total Profit $685.00
Average profit $29.78
Average sales price $33.91
New Listings 13My ebay tap got shut off early in the week. Lol.
I had almost $600 in sales through Wednesday, then just a trickle of low dollar sales the rest of the week. Boo!Nothing much else going on here. Still trying to shake the shock of having our vacation cancelled…
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09/09/2019 at 8:48 am #67583
Hello Retro,
If I recall right, you had mentioned some time ago switching to 2 day handling. Is that correct? I too work a full time gig, and involved with family quite a bit. The 1 day handling time has jammed me up from time to time. After returning from a short trip, I’m considering keeping a 2 day handling time. I figured I would ask you after some time passed to hear your thoughts on it.
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09/09/2019 at 9:01 am #67585
+1
If we end up getting a part time apartment next year, I will need to drop ours to 3 day handling. I’m curious also to hear how a slower handling time would effect sales. Obviously I would lose TRS+ discount, and also would become ineligible for Guaranteed Delivery program.
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09/09/2019 at 10:58 am #67601
I have been on 3 day handling time for years now.
We’ve been vacationing in September for about 12 years. We’ve never had an issue until last year. They evacuated before we got there so it was just cancelled. We went to Williamsbirh instead a few weeks later. This year they evacuated after we had been there for a day. It sucks sooo much more to get there and have to turn around and leave.
I’ve stood on the beach and watched a tropical storm and a cat 1 roll in. I was actually looking forward to experiencing this one this year. Yeah it sounds weird but seeing the ocean morph right before my eyes like that…it’s addictive.
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09/09/2019 at 11:36 am #67606
3 days. I like. Your vacation situation, no like, hope you make that up soon.
I watched Irma roll in two years ago as a Cat 3, since we were stuck, we could only enjoy the sheer power. We came out OK. This last one kept us hostage in SW Fl for a few days, yet a total non issue for us weather wise once it made its move. The price of living in the sub tropics year round.
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09/09/2019 at 8:57 am #67584
That sucks. We missed a cruise vacation due to Hurricane Matthew, the cruise still went, but we couldn’t get into FL to get on the boat. It was a total shock, especially when you look forward to something for months, or maybe even a year or two. I think it’s important to quickly pick up the pieces and try to throw together a backup vacation plan as soon as possible. When it happened to us, I sent my wife to a small overnight yoga retreat that she was having to miss because of our cruise. I spent the time organizing a pet friendly road trip to Up State NY and Niagara, we ended in the Finger Lakes at a tiny little AirBnB efficiency cabin in the woods, where our dog could run free on acres and acres of horse paths. It ended up being our favorite vacation ever, and we will likely be headed back to that same cabin for our 4th year next month.
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09/09/2019 at 8:18 am #67582
I think about efficiency a lot, and also at work. There is a project management concept called “Critical path” that is particularly helpful, which Ryanne may appreciate if she’s not encountered it before. (Actual business implementations of this idea are not nearly as useful as having internalized the concept.) Basically, you are “on the critical path” when it’s up to you to perform a task, and other tasks (possibly done by other people) can’t proceed till you’re done. This helps you prioritize tasks. E.g., if a permit application for a construction project takes 6 months to turn around, there’s no point going into deep detail on other aspects of that project *before* you apply for the permit. So, apply ASAP and then work on the other aspects at your leisure.
Once you get used to the idea you find yourself using it for such mundane tasks as cooking a meal.
On Ebay. Unfortunately, my great sale of last week (photon counter) was indeed defective, which is too bad. I had to refund $2300 and I changed the other listing to “for parts”. Disappointing, but par for the course – I knew even when I shipped it that there was a good chance it’d be defective.
Apart from that refund I had a pretty good week.
Sales: CAD$1612, 8 items, COGS: $220 –> Item profit: $1126
Expenditures (incl. returns): $2581 –> Cashflow: (-$1235)
Listed: $250, 9 items
Hours: 8
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09/09/2019 at 9:23 am #67589
I bet there are all kinds of business concepts that summarize efficiency. I like “critical path”. Our goal is to make sure our efficiency has some soul in it 🙂 We like to be efficient so we can live our lives well.
Sucks about the big refund. Big risks get the big rewards.
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09/09/2019 at 10:16 am #67597
Jay,
Now that statement is true punk!
“Our goal is to make sure our efficiency has some soul in it 🙂 We like to be efficient so we can live our lives well.”
That is the efficiency I constantly tweak as a part timer, and will most definitely be the only efficiency I will settle into if I ever Scavenge full time.
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09/09/2019 at 10:15 am #67595
Week of 09/01-09/07
Total Items in Store: 3,351 (Up 23% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 51
Number of Items Sold: 98 (Up 20% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 8 Poshmark, 2 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether)
Weekly STR: 14% (Up 2% YOY)Total Product Sales: $3,187 (Up 47% YOY)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: Up $422
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: Up $605
Cost of Items Sold: $698
Cost of Labor: $149
Highest Item Sold: $180 – Vintage Air Force Jacket
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 21-16.Clothing
# Listed: 1,917
# Sold: 66
STR: 15%
ASP: $30.11Shoes
# Listed: 867
# Sold: 20
STR: 10%
ASP: $34.53Hard Goods
# Listed: 567
# Sold: 12
STR: 9%
ASP: $42.40EBay
# Listed: 3,351
# Sold: 89
STR: 11%
ASP: $32.19Etsy
# Listed: 214
# Sold: 1
STR: 2%
ASP: $74.83Poshmark
# Listed: 903
# Sold: 8
STR: 4%
ASP: $30.88Not surprisingly, I am huge on efficiency. When we are going out to do the warehouse and Post Office run, have the grocery list / bank check / library return / etc. with you. When listing, list like items together so you are already in a certain mode. Do all photos, then all listing, then all shipping (“chunking”).
I love the action even more. Move! When you need to do something, just do it. Our actions dictate our destination more than our guidance system. We need both, but pointing your boat does no good if it is still in the dock…
Officially dropped our SixBit to just eBay this past week. So now we crosspost Etsy the same way we do Poshmark. Just not finding enough or selling enough to pay for the backend. I’m already manually doing 8-10 Poshmark orders a week, so 1-2 Etsy ain’t a thing…
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09/09/2019 at 10:42 am #67599
Awesome sales. You guys are doing so well even though you’ve had family time the past several months.
Are you still using the same photographer for all your photos? He must be doing it for a year old for you now, right?
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09/09/2019 at 10:47 am #67600
Yep, same guy. LOVE HIM! We get a lot of messages asking if the photos are of the product or a stock photo.
About 1.5 years now. April of 2018…
Yep, we keep cranking. Starting to get where we want to with this….
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09/09/2019 at 11:29 am #67604
Sept. 1 – 7
Total Items in Store: 2462
Items Sold: 19
Total Sales : $1772 ($572 before big sale)
* Above yearly average of $948
Highest Price: $1200 (Industrial Liquids/Solids V-Blender)
Average Price: $32 without the skew
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $27
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $275
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 3We got back from our vacation last Wednesday and I took the rest of the week off from listing on eBay to catch up on indoor/outdoor chores, hence the low number of new listings this week. But I hit the ground running starting yesterday and hope to start making some real progress again.
I mentioned last week about an industrial blender that I took a best offer for $1200. The buyer set up a uShip pickup, but again there were issues which almost jeopardized the sale. The buyer called me on Saturday evening telling me that the deliverer wanted to pick the item up in 15 minutes, even though we agreed to a Sunday pickup. Problem was, I was far out of town. Luckily the carrier later agreed to uphold the Sunday pickup, but it put a damper on my night thinking that the buyer might cancel the transaction if the carrier didn’t cooperate. This is the second time that a uShip carrier has caused problems. Now I’m just hoping that the buyer is satisfied with the blender, because I don’t know what I’m going to do if he wants to return it.
My scavenge of the week came from a last minute auction that we decided to check out. There wasn’t much there that I was interested in except for a 1950s Formica diner table with matching chairs. It came in a cool red swirl design with mica dots all over. Very nice condition too. I wanted it, but so did someone else. I bid it up to $275 which was way more than I wanted to pay for it, but I know I can make double that at the very least and probably more.
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09/09/2019 at 1:26 pm #67609
Listening to the podcast now. My husband has always done that when we eat out! When they ask if you want dessert or more water or anything else, politely say no, ask for the check, then just give them your card and have them process it right when you’re finishing up. 99% of the time when you’re reading over the check, nothing will be wrong with it and it’s fine to sign and tip. It’s rare for there to be something wrong on the check, and the time you save from just sitting is worth it to sort of hurry it up.
I’m back to sourcing each week, but still not up to full-speed and don’t know if I really want to be before next spring. I had the chance to go out to 4 separate places to get inventory on Saturday, but instead just stayed in and listed from the backlog. Still sourcing more online than in stores, though I would like to start shopping irl 2x per week until it gets too cold to go out much in late December/early January.
Speaking of time saving, here’s a suggestion for those in an urban area: if you’re in a city that has grocery delivery, DO IT. ESPECIALLY do it if you don’t have a car. The amount of time you save driving to the store, walking around, picking up items, picking up extra junk you don’t need because it’s there or on sale, standing on line, driving home can all be eliminated by just ordering groceries online. I took most of yesterday off, but in the early morning I had to wait around for groceries to be delivered. I took the time to work on packing up Ebay orders, pricing items, etc,. that I didn’t have when I was gone for the rest of the day. The groceries came at the end of the delivery window, so I actually had time to price around 40 items. Today has been hectic, so instead of pricing items, I can go straight into listing them when I have time. Thanks, grocery delivery!
In terms of backlog, I still have the box fort next to my desk. I’ve listed 2.5 boxes of backlog over the past week, so at least progress is being made! Trying to list as much new stock coming in as I can as well, but it’s getting delayed. For my own sanity, I’m going to stretch out what I consider “new stock” and “backlog.” Everything purchased from the summer of 2018-now is considered “new stock.” Everything older is from the backlog. I was happy to find a pile of items from 2011-2012 that were good. Still not tossing much older stock other than for condition issues. I’m actually tossing more of the newer stock than the old, oddly enough.
I also need to get back to moving my inventory into the new shelving units. Some large items have sold out of the shelves since I started working on them, but I’ve been refilling them with new stock instead of old stock. Agh. Maybe I’ll get a box or two done today to get back into that drudge work.
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09/09/2019 at 2:22 pm #67611
Almasty,
“99% of the time when you’re reading over the check, nothing will be wrong with it and it’s fine to sign and tip.”
You must have accurate restaurants where you live. I usually find errors in my bill probably close to 50% of the time. Now I do have a family of 4, so probability of a mistake is probably higher, but still.
Mark
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09/09/2019 at 5:01 pm #67626
Just pretty simple meals ordered when we go out for 2 people. Usually 1 app, 2 entrees, sometimes we share a soda. No desserts, no alcoholic drinks. Some restaurants during lunch have prix fixe options for cheap, so even easier to tab up a bill.
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09/09/2019 at 3:21 pm #67616
We also ask for the check ahead of time. Sometimes we put in our order when they ask for our drinks (which is usually water). I don’t know that we would get away with that in Europe, especially France.
Week of Sept 1 – 7
* Total Items in Store: 1437 eBay, 3 Etsy
* Items Sold: 15
* Cost of Items Sold: $13.80 + about $6 Commission
* Total Sales: $300.85
* Highest Price Sold: $36.80 Crystal pepper mill salt shaker set
* Average Price Sold: $20.06
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5
* Number of items listed this week: 25Someone else mentioned that this past week was sort of quirky. I had six sales on Wednesday, but zero on Thursday and Friday. Just random and weird.
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09/10/2019 at 9:36 am #67644
Total Items in Store: 217
Items Sold: 4 Ebay, 1 Mercari
Gross Sales: $122 Ebay, $11 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $11 (some ours) + free shipping $5
Highest Price Sold: $50 Fly Fishing book my dad gave me to sell
Average Price Sold: $30 Ebay
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0Ok, hoping doing my numbers will get me moving with the listing. Sales picked up a bit with best offers and make offers (they countered). I’m taking any reasonable offer if it’s already listed. I’m sucked into a school fundraiser again this Fall, but we have more help to execute this year, so load for me will be lighter later. Worked on that this week and wrapping up a few last details at my dad’s place. Just one more back to school related event this week and then we are pretty settled. Lots of extra teen expenses for the school year, so I could really use the “extra” Ebay money.
Generally pleased with no whammies in the seller update. I’m going to wait to revisit my existing listings because there are new item specifics rolling out in October for Home and Garden and Crafts, two of my big categories. I’ll table that clean up work. I’m mulling over the approach being discussed by History Nerd, with the $ price cutoff for free shipping, but I’m leaning toward keeping it first class and media mail free only.
Regarding the podcast discussion re migration to cities with cheaper housing, I’m sharing this article from the Atlantic.
Have a great week.
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09/10/2019 at 10:30 am #67645
Good article. I think we’re reaching a tipping point where people know smaller cities are not just affordable but have a lot of other people moving there too, making it fun and creative.
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09/10/2019 at 11:05 am #67647
Many of the new occupations are mobile or internet based, so it’s less important to live in the big expensive city.
Vermont is actually paying people to move there, due to an aging population.
Lower interest rates may help with mortgage payments, but you still need money to make a down payment and to pay property taxes etc. Between that, student loans and car payments, there’s not a lot left over to enjoy life.
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09/10/2019 at 11:07 am #67648
I think we’re at the tipping point where enough people move to rural areas so businesses will follow (which means jobs).
Just think of the Research Triangle of North Carolina which grown into a huge commercial and business center since the 1990s.
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09/10/2019 at 11:24 am #67649
That makes sense. It also benefits the businesses, because the property and operating costs will be less. Also, the workers can probably be paid less, because they don’t have to make as much, as they would in the big metro areas, like Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area.
This is one of the many articles on home affordability.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/10-best-cities-for-millennial-homebuyers.htmlThe nice thing about these size cities, is that you have the population base and hopefully an educated populace to hire from.
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09/10/2019 at 2:36 pm #67657
The internet age is changing things in all kinds of profound ways. I thought it was interesting that the article pointed out online shopping making an impact. When I grew up, shopping in the mall was a favorite pastime. Gen Z is spending more time at home and online. You don’t need an exciting big city do to that. Maybe just a really good coffee shop. My son is already wanting to leave California due to taxes looking for affordability and space from the neighbors. He hasn’t even started working yet! Maybe people are also getting more exposure (at least online) to new places than they used to and are more open to migration. Information is readily available about the greener grass elsewhere…
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09/10/2019 at 10:36 am #67646
Just listening to the podcast, and one call mentioned they would like to ship just within their state (California).
I’m not sure if ebay.com has the same options, but ebay.ca breaks down Canada into zones for shipping, in what they call “Shipping Tables”:
https://pages.ebay.ca/seller-centre/shipping-returns/shipping-rate-tables.html
Therefore, it allows me to offer “free shipping” to those who live near me (zones 9 and 7). I use this on many items as I know the fixed cost will be about $8-$10. For those outside the area where shipping is under $10, I continue to use calculated shipping so I don’t get burned with a rural address across the country that may cost $40 to ship the same item.
You can also make shipping “prohibitive” if you want to ship only locally – for example, I don’t want to risk sending a large breakable item too far, I’ll just make the shipping outside my area ridiculously expensive to scare away far-away buyers.
eBay.com may have something similar – as ebay.ca is always a year or two behind.
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09/13/2019 at 11:17 am #67759
SLOOOOWWW WEEK for sales, but I sourced like a maniac. Like a maniac that needs to stop sourcing.
Items Sold: 3!
Cost of Items Sold: $1
Total Sales: $42.50
Sold a garden fairy furniture set ($10, was a freebie), sold a box of books to Half-Price Books for $3.50, and an autographed Bill Clinton book for $29 (ebay)
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 125 more/less at garage sale and auction
Listed 26 items and started on MecariSourcing: I picked up some clothing items for myself and my Poshmark store at a garage sale. Slowly listing those.
But bigger sourcing was about $100+ on a local online auction of a pawn shop going out of business. Prices don’t include tax and 15% fee.
The biggest money was about $42 for two lots of silverware, that I hope I can part out like @Ryanne.
$1 lot of “art” that included a velvet, wood-framed painting of a ocean boat (like a pirate ship)
$1 lot of books labeled “Assorted Books, Collectors Guides, Presidential” I saw some jewelry/gem ID books, and that’s what I wanted. I pulled up and there were 5 LARGE BOXES. Oh, #@$*, I thought. My car was BULGING. Well, it turns out that there are a lot of old (50-100 year old) books and autographed political books: McCain, Clinton, Pat Buchanan. Even a copy of Moon Shot autographed by astronaut Alan Shepard. I’m making my way through these books, but I have a feeling I’m going to be happy I filled my car with these books. I’m of the mindset to move them fast, though.
I took one box of books to Half-Price Books and got all of $3.50, but I’m not interested in anything listing under $10 that takes up more than a file folder worth of space.
$1 for two OLD bibles. Still not able to date them. They are about 4 times as big as I thought.
$4 for a Super 8 projector and Varo viewer (if it works, $$$)
$7 lot that I think is just junk now that I am checking comps and condition.
$21 cameras and lenses lot. I may have purchased my next camera, if the Canon txi Rebel is in working order.
$6 for 2 printer cartridges and 2 weather radio and added junk. One weather radio is for me. I’ve listed on of the printer cartridge (the unopened box) for $100+. We shall see!Regarding Efficiency Punks: I love that term, sound better than “being lazy.” I guess it all depends on what you consider inputs, too. Time is an important one for me, and I’ve started to think about how to get better at using my time on a long-term and short-term basis. I really want to increase turnover in my items, so I’ve started doing a few promoted listing. No results from that yet.
I also appreciated the specific discussion of the silverware in this week’s podcast. I’m presuming I should get those items posted before long, as people will be preparing for Thanksgiving and the holidays. But I’ve got to get these books moving.
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09/13/2019 at 12:56 pm #67766
My store must have caught your stores illness.
I’ve only sold 7 items this week so far!!!They’re all low dollar items too. Also, they are ALL shoes. This is the weirdest week on ebay I think I’ve ever had.
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