Scavenger Sick In Bed

[Ryanne]

Ryanne has strep throat, this is going to be the rare week where we don’t post a podcast. You probably heard my sick voice last week when we r[See the full post at: Scavenger Sick In Bed]

• This topic was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by Ryanne.

[totommyto]

Jay, yes, I did pick up on your voice last time, bummer for Ryanne right now! I hope your house returns to full health at soonest possible! Thankful for all that you do always.

8/15 – 8/25/18

eBay store totommyto

Total store items: 603
Number of items sold: 8
eBay sales (not counting s/h): $478.30
Cost of items sold: $19
Consignment payouts: $77.20
Highest price sold: $179.80 – lot of 4 wood long bows
Average price sold: $59.78
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of items listed this week: 5

Etsy store Oldfleatoymarket

Total store items: 564
Number of items sold: 4
Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $75.50
Cost of items sold: $8
Consignment payouts: 0
Highest price sold: $22.50 – vintage Sweet Treats Spoon doll
Average price sold: $18.87
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of items listed this week: 10

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by totommyto.

[ChristineR]

Hope you feel better very soon R and thanks for your past consistency with the podcast!

Total Items in Store: 457
Items Sold on Ebay: 12
Gross Sales: $300
Cost of Items Sold: $42 + 28 free shipping
Highest Price Sold: $60 Quantity 2 new bowls paid $17 clearance in Spring
Average Price Sold: $25
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $18
Number of items listed this week: 2

Mercari update: Sold one item, listed one of our clothing. Mercari sends a message about low view, stale (6 weeks old) listings asking if you still want to sell the item. Interesting…

On Ebay this week sold a lot of low dollar items and it felt even slower. Life outside Ebay unforgiving so I’m hoping it’s a better week on Ebay. I did manage to sneak out Saturday intending to shop at the tile stores, which were closed by then so I went late to two estate sales. Didn’t buy much but interesting. One was a clear the decks divorce sale at a gorgeous property with a city view. Amazing furniture at fair prices but the little stuff left was way overpriced. For example, they had one of these Dansk Teak Ice Bucket priced at $90 and not in great condition. Another “Moving Miss Daisy” (love that name!) run by some fun gay guys who obviously know their stuff and also price high. I’m going to have to learn the ropes later when I clear the death piles. I guess estate sales might also be about finding what other people are missing. And building relationships and finding the right companies or family run sales.

Have a great week.

[twizzle]

Get well soon Ryanne!

[Sharyn]

Oh, no, strep throat is so painful. I hope Ryanne is taking antibiotics! I had strep several times as a kid and a few times as an adult. Thankfully, I haven’t had to deal with it for a long time now. Maybe I’ve built up my immunity.

Anyway, I track your sales, and I’m jealous as I’ve had one of my worse weeks in the past year or two. I had three days with no sales. Not sure what happened, but I’ll stay away from conspiracy theories.

Week of Aug 19 – 25
* Total Items in Store: 1219
* Items Sold: 6
* Cost of Items Sold: $4.80 + $6.76 Commission
* Total Sales: $117.51
* Highest Price Sold: $30 Hand Thrown Vase
* Average Price Sold: $22
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 16

I refrained from any sourcing this week for two reasons.

The first is that my parents are visiting and brought a packed SUV of their friends’ stuff. They live in an active adult community, and their friends downsize by giving me stuff they don’t need.

Second is that I am helping a friend set up an online auction who wants to sell her house next year. I spent two days last week working on it. The auction will happen late September, and I will get paid a commission.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by Sharyn.

[Brian Treasures from Grandmas]

Feel better guys!

Week August 19-25, 2018

Total Items in Store: 928
Items Sold: 17 (1 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $101 (17.6% of sales)
Total Sales: $574.96
Highest Price Sold: $80 (Panasonic Cassette Transcriber https://www.ebay.com/itm/192173670562)
Average Price Sold: $33.82
Returns: 0 (1 I can’t find though)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
Promoted listings test: 8 sales, $281.99 (49% of total sales), $14.10 fees (5.0% of sales)

Interesting week for sales, sold some things I thought I’d never sell even with deep discounts. The high item above, the transcriber, took about 3 years. Sold a lot of boxing 8mm reels (https://www.ebay.com/itm/191757318785) which was my oldest listing in my store from 2014 (sold 2 Muhammad Ali reels out of the lot almost immediately after listing 4 years ago, the rest have sat without an offer), a Rolling Stones coffee table book that I’ve had for at least 2 years (https://www.ebay.com/itm/201932103737). All in all, a nice average sales week in terms of volume & dollars plus got my COGS back under 20%.

No actual new listings, although I’ve been pruning my listings over the past week in prep for the upcoming busy season.

[Amatino]

Empathy to Ryanne! Hope you get better soon. Quick tip – eat marshmallows! While it’s actually the marshmallow root that does the trick, even the modern marshmallows help to relieve that awful scratchy feeling. Dunno why, but it has always worked. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Geoff]

Speedy recovery!
So I was away all last week – so I did not list much and my store was on 5 day handling. Relative to my inventory size sales kept up well transaction wise, average sale was pretty low however (highest sale was only 30 bucks.) Spent about 500 bucks sourcing this weekend and have a lot of inventory to list.

Also had a first this past week — i have a woman (think it i a female) requesting for a partial refund PRIOR to receiving an item – complaining about an imagined hole in the handbag that she seems to think my finger is covering up in my picture. Not sure where she got that impression as I list out any flaws pretty straight forwardly and there is no hole, so maybe she has been burned a lot by sellers… or maybe she is on of those petty scammers. Not a big deal either way – she can return if she wants, any time things are a bit fishy i take the partial refund off the table right away but leave full refund for any reason after the item gets back on the table.

8/19/18 – 8/16/18
Total items in store (beginning of week): 328
Items sold: 11
30 day sell through (rate): 14.37%
Total Sales: (no shipping): 177.58
Average price: $16.14
Cost of items sold: $21.26
Average cost per item: $1.93
Gross profit: $156.32
Highest item sold / best sale: Coach Leather Zoe Hobo 30.34 paid 6.67
New items listed: 2

[jimi]

Total Items in Store: 1604
Items Sold: 32
Cost of Items Sold: $125.69
Total Sales: $968.96
Highest Price Sold: $179(German made cuckoo clock)
Average Price Sold: $30.28
Returns: 2 return requests – not returned yet
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $99.50
Number of items listed this week: 87

Hope you are feeling better soon Ryanne. Never fun being sick.

I decided to go all in on the promoted listings last week and it may have paid off. My ad fees were $54.25 but I got a decent bounce in sales so probably worth it. Also got a couple of return requests and one was for the $179 clock of which I sold as “untested selling as is” – so of course the buyer starts a return saying it is defective and does not work. Not sure what is going on there.

I hope everyone has a good week of scavenging and sales.

[Steven S]

Get well soon Ryanne, have some carbs haha.

[Doublythumbs]

Aug 19 – 25
Total Items in Store: 1711
Items Sold: 26
Total Sales : $977
* above yearly average of $782
* above 2017 total week sales of $250
Highest Price: $100 (Pelican Black Gun Rifle Hard shell Case)
Average Price: $38
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $214
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $214
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 48

I’m so sorry about your strep throat, Ryanne. I’ve had that before and I know it’s not fun. I hope you make a quick recovery!

I had a very good week for sales. It’s crazy how it seems like something happens on the backend of eBay and it feels like the flow of sales can just turn off and on, week by week.

My COGS is really high this week mainly for the Pelican rifle case I sold. It was a rookie mistake on my part. I got caught up in a bidding war at an auction a couple summers ago and ended up spending over $150 on this case thinking I could flip it for double my money. Well I found out that people don’t want to spend a lot of money on a case that already had the foam cut out to fit a specific gun. After about 2 years of it being listed, I finally took a $100 offer just to get it out of my storage. I’ve since learned to be able to let things go at auctions if they’re not dirt cheap.

Speaking of auctions, I went to one on Saturday. They advertised all these old toys from the 80s and 90s. A lot of Kenner type stuff still in original packaging and so forth. When I got there, none of that was to be found. Apparently, the family was notified of it’s worth and pulled it all at the last moment. Ugh! I probably wouldn’t have been able to touch any of it anyways because all the nerds came out of the woodwork for this one. LOL!

[Retro Treasures WV]

Items in Store 1144
Items Sold 19
Total Sales $548.00
COGS $56.25
Total Profit $491.75
Average profit $25.88
Average sales price $28.84

Felt like the week was on ebay cruise control as we had a lot going on. We started Homeschool back up and all of our kids were in the WV Cupcake Festival pageant. 3 out of 4 won their age divisions! The 4th should have won, in my entirely unbiased opinion. 😉 Now they get to do a bunch of parades over the next year.

I listed a bunch of shoes this weekend – 40 pair! It never ceases to amaze me at how plentiful used shoes are in my little corner of the world. It is soooo hard to pass on a good deal for shoes. I bought 10 pair at a single yard sale on Saturday. I have become a lot more picky about what I buy in regards to brand, condition and price. And yet, I think I buy MORE shoes now with all my added conditions. I even broke my cost rule yesterday and paid the bloated Guuci Goodwill price of $16 for one pair. Why? Because they were a pair of rare vintage Nike Basketball shoes in near mint condition. Did you know Scottie Pippen had his own signature shoe? I didn’t until yesterday. Search “Nike Air Pippen” and you’ll see why I happily paid $16.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Oh and no worries on the lack of podcast this week. You all deserve a week off here and there even if you weren’t sick.

Get well soon!

[MMVI]

Get some rest and get well soon Ryanne. (Unsolicited advice warning) If you take an antibiotic regiment, consider following up with a month of a good probiotic supplement.

8/20 – 8/26
Total Items in Store: 1101
Items Sold: 16
Sales: $1,008.98
Cost of Items Sold: $120
Highest Price Sold: $200 (antique sign)
Average Price Sold: $63.06
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $50
Number of items listed this week: 100

Low number of sales but that was offset with a solid ASP. Been receiving a noticeable increase in offers over the last couple weeks, hope that will translate to more sales at some point in the near future.

I have been working on listing items that just seem to take forever to get listed. I have a couple extra days off from the day job so I intend to take advantage and get a solid amount listed this week before the holiday weekend.

[Simon]

Hope you feel better soon Ryanne!

Here are my numbers for the week:
Total Items in Store: 2514
Items Sold: 39
Total Sales: $909
Cost of Items Sold: $122
Average Price Sold: $23.3
Average Cost of Item: $3.15
Highest Price Item Sold: $59.95 Canon 104 Toner Cartridge
Number of items listed this week: 68
YTD Sales: $29497
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +18%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 315
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 135
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 52
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.55%

Pretty decent week. Nothing amazing. Just a steady stream of lowish-value sales. I spent a little more time listing instead of buying on the weekend. Next weekend my daughter is coming to visit so I wont get much listing donw. I’ll also have to move a lot of my ebay storage out of her bedroom. That’s always fun. 🙁

Hope everyone has a profitable week!

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Get well you guys. I hate sore throats. I just suck on the Halls metholiptus drops. That menthol seems to numb it up a little. And yep, antibiotics from your Dr.
Jay, heard your crackly throat last week also. Everybody here says that handling all the used stuff we do that we all need to wash our hands often and keep hand sanitizer up here in the office.
Take care and get well soon.

Hit two estate sales this week and got a lot of really good stuff. About 50 items for an avg. of approx. $3.40 ea. All got quick entered into WonderLister and one of our assistants, Christie, is working on the listings now.

Sales seem to be bouncing on back after the Summer Slow down. Thank Goodness.

Have a return request this week for a lg. metal urn. Buyer said it was “broken” when she opened the box but no external signs of damage to the boxes [double boxed]. How does metal “break”. Who knows, but Hassle Free returns issued a return label anyway. Will see what that is all about after we get it back and inspect. Then of course the refund comes.
Hate to get returns on items that take a long time, like over an hour to pack up using our “cocoon” method. They never return it packed the way we did in sending things to them. Slap it back in the box, push everything down and back it comes. Ugghhh!

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art

[pythonesk]

Ugh, strep is the worst. Get well soon Ryanne, we miss your voice!

[Ryanne]

thanks everyone! i’m eating lots of delicious popsciles. so there is an upside. still packed and shipped all my ebay sales to go out today! had to just muscle through it.

[Brian Treasures from Grandmas]

Rockstar

[Idahoarder]

Store Week 8/19/18 – 8/25/18

Total items in store: 1782
Items sold: 19
Cost of items sold: $31.03
Total sales: $639.13
Highest price sold: $125.00 (Antique bird pin cushion)
Average price sold: $33.64
Returns: 1 (changed mind)
Money spent on new inventory this week: $21.10

Well, the kids are back in school and I’m hoping to finally get back on some sort of schedule and get some work done. As much as I hate to see summer go, I’m ready for fall. Today it is cool and rainy here. It’s a nice departure from weeks of 100+ degrees and air thick with smoke from wildfires. Hooray for fresh air! And the transition into fall seems to have sales picking up for me too! I’ve been selling a lot more in the last couple of weeks and I’m listing like crazy. Looking forward to more!

Hope you’re feeling better soon, Ryanne!

[Tacystouch]

Hey Ryanne, Hope your feeling better soon. Why don’t you give those marshmallows a try and let us know if they work. Never heard of that before.
Get well soon!
Love you guys

[ebaymom]

Hi Ryanne,
Hope you feel better soon – missing the podcast is like missing my favorite TV show – guess I’ll have to listen to reruns this week! 🙂 I’ve got a minor sore throat too – but I think it is a cold not strep – still sucks though..

Here are my numbers:
My Store Week August 19-25, 2018

Total Items in Store: 1122
Items Sold: 13
Total Sales: $250.23
Cost of Items Sold: $20.49
Highest Price Sold: $36.58 (Danskos on Bonanza)
Average Price Sold: $19.25
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 30

Hope everyone has a good week… I’ve done a lot of experimenting with Promoted Listings these past few months and I have tried all different percentages ranging from 3%, 5% all the way to 20% (which is ridiculous.. but at times I was feeling desperate.) I can say that I have gotten MORE sales with using a lower percentage (3% to 5% range) rather then “trending rates” or “trending + x%”.. go figure… I do see an uptick in sales with promoted listings but from now on, I’m sticking to lower percentages (not more than 5%) and will be trying to only use this feature if there are multiples out there of whatever I have listed. We’ll see what happens. I don’t want to throw money away for nothing, even if it is only a small amount.

On another note, does anyone else see under Tasks on their Seller Hub Overview Main page – “Match with eBay catalog product or provide valid product identifier” ? I have a handful of these on vintage electronic items like old Dryer Cords and parts that do not have UPC #’s. My only option is to submit a new entry into the catalog – which I attempted to do. It was an annoying and painful process. I had to select “Does not apply” for many fields and then submit detailed pictures – it took several minutes and then… my submissions were denied the next day because the photos were not what they were looking for ?!? So, I doubt I’ll be making any more submissions. Not sure if I should ignore this task (which is what I have been doing) or if I should remove the listings – (if it is going to lower my search ranking in some way) – but for now, doing nothing.

[Sharyn]

I had two items that needed product identifiers. One I was able to find an exact match, but the other had a slightly different part number than what was available. After I starting the process of adding a new product identifier, I decided it was too much work and selected something close enough.

[Mark S]

2018-08-19 – 2018-08-25

Site: US / Feedback 1161 (Red)
Neutral Feedback 2.00
Positive Feedback 425.00
Total Items In Store: 2430.00
Items Sold: 13.00
Cost of Items Sold: 50.00
Total Sales: 544.93
Total Fees 92.63
Net Sales After Fees: 452.30
Highest Price Sold: 169.99 (Bible)
Average Price Sold: 41.92
Buyer Shipping $ 130.96
My Shipping $ 0.00
# Days so far 6.91
Avg. Daily $ 78.86
Proj. Week $ 552.03
# Items Listed 8.00
$ Listed 289.92
ASP $ Listed 36.24
ebay Final Value Fees 57.11
ebay Fees Allocated 11.90
Paypal Fees 23.62
Fee % of Gross 17.00
# items being watched 1073.00
# items watch count >= 10 17.00
Avg. Item Hit Count 506.00
Refunded # 1.00
Best Offer # 4.00
Best Offer $ 103.00
Best Offer ASP $ 25.75
Money Spent on New Inventory: 59.00

Ok, I went a little crazy adding to this report, but I can actually think of more things to add to it. I could add the names of my sales that are active, items that sold via promoted listing, YOY, $ spent on materials, $ spent on contractors, mileage, etc. Then give a net $ of what you took home at the end. But of course this still wouldn’t give you a true net number because I would need to add a percentage of my monthly expenses: ebay store $ per month, GoDaddy, WL, and Storage Unit fees. This goes back to that cashflow discussion from last weeks podcast.

Note: that I entered the description of highest price sold: “(Bible)”, actual amount of “Cost of Items Sold”, and “Money Spent on New Inventory” by hand, these were not calcualated by the report.

So, now I know where to find all the data in WL for these data points in the report. That sets me up for the end of the year report and for other drill down analysis as needed.

I will post below about my “cycle count” experience.

Mark

[Mark S]

This past week I have felt like Benjamin Martin from the movie “The Patroit” as he expressed his feelings in the famous opening lines: “I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear.”

That is what happened to me this week when I started moving all of my listed clothing (and doing counts) on to a new double tier clothing rack – Extended Height Double-Rail Rolling Z Rack Garment Rack with Nesting Black Base by Metropolitan Display. You can find it on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Extended+Height+Double-Rail+Rolling+Z+Rack+Garment+Rack+with+Nesting+Black+Base+by+Metropolitan+Display

This clothing rack is a beast and I highly recommend it. You can really save a lot of space with this one if your ceiling will support it, you need about 81″ in height. But the rack was not the issue.

The issues were correcting bad practices of the past: (and I am calling the fix below “best practices” for me for right now)

1. Had to move the clothing from all sorts of different garment bags to my standard black, 33 Gallon Trash bag (from Sams Club).

2. All Garment bags have to have a sticker with the lot # on it and tape over it so it doesn’t fall off – preferrably from the printer, but a hand written one will do.

3. All Clothing must be on an appropriate hanger with a white marking tag that clearly states the Lot\item #

4. All Clothing must be listed on ebay (ok, T-Satt, you got me on this one. The very first item I checked was not listed and there have been several more.) I had to set those aside to relist.

5. If the clothing is listed on ebay, it must be in the garment bag. Good on this so far.

6. Merge these garment bags with the ones on the other clothing racks so that they are in order by lot # (same as container #, but on a clothing rack. My COGS lookup table will keep track of which items are hanging up and spit that out to my pick list report.)

7. Put all the new garments bags neatly and tighly (but not too tight) on the new rack location so as to conserve as much space as possible.

8. As I am going through the clothing and it has be listed more than a year or so, decide if it needs re-priced. If so, note that and reprice later at the computer and of course add the sku\container # in the right spot when you do that.

Are you exhausted yet reading this? I didn’t want to touch these items more than once, so I figured I would cover all my bases when I went through them. It is almost like starting all over.

It wouldn’t be so bad if this were just for 15-20 items, but this is for several hundred items. I am still making my way through all of this.

Mark

[T-Satt]

Mark: I understand and appreciate all this! One suggestion if your clothing is shirts, pants, sweaters, suits, or sport coats (anything but heavy jackets)…

Store them in clear poly bags with the SKU taped on the outside. More compact, can put in bins/boxes/file drawers. Easy to ship that way…

The only listed clothing that we have on hangers are leather jackets and the like. Even suits and sport coats do well (when folded right). I learned the “right” way to fold a sport coat jacket, and works like a charm. All protected in plastic, then in a plastic bin, just waiting to ship (takes 1 minute to ship our clothing).

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

I am glad you understands and appreciates all this, because this is a big deal for me. But, I think when I am finished I am in a much better place. I think it will do the following:

1. It will make clothes easier to find.
2. I will have confidence that everything I have on that rack is listed.
3. There is nothing listed that I won’t be able to find on the rack.
4. I will be able to print on my pick list that these items are on a garment rack.
5. Better use of space. Also saving a lot of space because of the new improved rack. I may get
another one to save even more space.
6. Uniformity among the bags which will make it easier for someone else to find the clothes.
7. Much better overall organization that gets me ready to scale the business – very important.

Mark

[Mark S]

That is really bad English, “I am glad you understands and appreciates all this, because this is a big deal for me.” It should read, “I am glad someone understands and appreciates all this, because this is a big deal for me.”

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

I am trying to look at all aspects of my process to see where I can make improvements. The problem is that I can make these going forward, but it is painfull to go back and adjust what I have already done, but I guess that is the nature of this beast.

Anyway, I will keep making improvements. I think I can greatly improve the way I process items from the time they come in the door from buying them to the time they are placed in their “final” storage location. What is your process for this? I think Mike enters his items directly into WL. I don’t think that would work for me. I like to let items collect a little so that I can group like things together – such as 20 pairs of shoes to list at once.

My idea is to write a Windows program that has a Master\Detail which asks for a buy lot #, date purchased, and address at the top Master section. Then, in the detail section, have a list where you enter each item and the price paid. Then, have the program associate the master part to each detail and put it into the database like that. Then, have the ability to go back and put these items into a Listing Lot by clicking on a check box. I still have to handle the items more than once, but given that I am trying to group like items over a period of a few weeks, I don’t see a way around this.

Mark

[T-Satt]

Mark: Sorry for the long delay in responding. Really busy before we drove up to Montana, and been focusing on ranch stuff and time with the family..

Our process is pretty straight forward. When it comes in the door, we separate the items into groups (Clothes are hung up, Shoes gathered for cleaning, Hard Goods ready for cleaning). The clothes are subcategoried: Dress Shirts, Casual Shirts, Short Sleeve Shirts, Outdoor Shirts, Fishing/Hiking Shirts, Suits, Sport Coats, Jeans, Dress Pants, Casual Pants, Shorts. I like to do these in groups of at least 10, as then I am in a groove doing the same thing and it goes faster. We will create the listing, adding the price and the SKU at that time (we have a Google Doc for the SKU that we share, as a backup to SixBit of inventory as well as help us know what the next # is to use). SKU is written on a paper tag with a string to attach to the item

After that, clothes and shoes are given to our photographer. On clothes, he does the steaming, photos, and folds and puts in clear poly bags with the SKU tag taped to the outside. SKU also has location for ease in putting away when we get them back. When he does the photos, the first photo is the SKU tag so we know what listing to add the photos to. When we get the items back, we put away, add the photos to the listings, and schedule them in SixBit.

So, we don’t put the items into SixBit until we list them. This means we have “uninventoried” items in the house, but I don’t worry about catching that up until December for Tax Time. Then, we will create a quick listing in SixBit with the Title and Cost so that we have good info for Tax Time.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Mark, we too appreciate where your head is at. And having an organized system will do what you state. But also almost any good, thorough, well thought out SKU, storage and organized system will accomplish all 7 of your goals.

We have all of our inventory from 6 closed down antique booths all in numbered bins, numbered rows, numbered shelves and each item has a tag with our SKU number. That single 23 charcater SKU number also tells us what item it is, what we paid for the item, where we bought it, how long we have had it, what storage facility it is at [garage, attic, basement, booth, or paid storage unit].

We can be a thousand miles away and tell in an instant if we should accept an offer and what the Gross Profit Margin is and if it is time to accept an offer. If an item sells we can text one of our assistants and with that SKU number they can go and pull, pack and ship any of our 1,100 items in a few minutes.

But that organization came from years of working in the manufacturing industry and having to track thousands upon thousands of fullfillment parts for Stanley Hardware, Home depot, General Electric, Westclox, Walmart and dozens of other clients. All we did was crush down the “system” and incorporate that into our small business.

We could even use a scanner and generate barcode tags if we wanted but no need for that heavy expense. we just do a hand written SKU tag during our quick entry process as we unload and bring items into our office to begin the process.

The main point is good for you, you got a system and it seems to be the thing for you. Just remember to take your time and log and place everything correctly. Inverted numbers are demons, clean your glasses 🙂 and be careful where you replace anything if you pull it for some reason. Organization is key to a good clean process, and always remember what some of us talked about a few weeks back… KAIZEN !!!! If that eluded you do a SL search and check out the discussion. Fellow Six Sigma Lean Mfg. guys on here know exactly what it is and most likely apply KAIZEN Daily to their processes.

Good Luck Buddy,
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDCGFA

[Mark S]

Mike,

“But also almost any good, thorough, well thought out SKU, storage and organized system will accomplish all 7 of your goals.” – Yes, I didn’t mean to imply that I had found the ultimate system, I just meant that I was getting organized. These 7 things were probably more for myself to remind me of WHY I was doing all this. It is painful, but I have to remind myself of what I will get in the end – work with the end in mind.

Yes, I didn’t even know what “Flow kaizen” was but yet I think that is what I am talking about. I looked it up at wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen) to read more about it. But of course it doesn’t have specifics for ebay sellers on how to get there. I think this was my question to T-Satt on how he does it because I know he is very intentional on his efficient processes.

Mark

[T-Satt]

Mark: I think that the key is to just make new improvements as you go. Like you, I hate to touch things twice. When I first started the improvement path, I wanted a way that I could be the “troll in the cave”, cranking out photos and filling out a Listing Sheet with the data needed for the eBay listing. Then Veronica (or I) could take the photos and the listing sheets and list from anywhere. But then I noticed that I had to write the data and then TYPE the data a second time. Don’t like that.

So now when we do our listings, we have a laptop connected to SixBit in the Studio. Type it one time while handling it during photos (measurements, color, etc) and drop the photos in later. This is why for us, the Photography was best to outsource. He can work on his own time, at his own studio, doing a better job than we can, while we handle the items for listing. In my mind, the most efficient process for this business is that the person doing the listing has to have physical contact with the item. Otherwise, work is duplicated. The only caveat with that would be if all the data can be shown in the photos, or the item is new and can be looked up on the manufacturer’s web site.

Going forward, when we get a lister, they will work at the house. Although, I have a process where we drop the items off to the lister, they connect to SixBit to create the listing, then drop the items off to the photographer, he puts in the photos and shipping weight, and he drops off to us for storage and we price and submit the final listing. That way the other people can work on their own time, don’t have to be at our house, and we keep cranking…

[T-Satt]

Mike: Completely agree. We have a little bit of “knowledge” in our pricing. What I love this year is using Google Remote Desktop so that I can get to SixBit from anywhere. We had a couple of items I wanted to work on while here in Montana, and I could do that on my laptop just using Google Remote Desktop to connect to my computer in Colorado. So even though SixBit isn’t in the cloud, I can do work from anywhere. I’m thinking of having our photographer do that with the photos as well. When he is done, he can drop them in the listing (as well as the weight of the item).

[simplicio]

Hope you guys get well soon.

Pretty tediously slow week for me, with not that much time for scavenging. Wife & I did have a great time horseback riding on our anniversary though.

Sales: CAD$235, 4 items, COGS: $51 –> Item profit: $137
Expenditures: $121 –> After tax cashflow: $31
Listed: $1115, 15 items
Hours: 6, $6/hr

[SilverFoxFinds]

Was just visiting friends in DC over the weekend, and the hubby is suffering what he started thinking was a sinus infection. Apparently something had been going around his office…. Makes me glad I’m the only one in this office! 🙂 Feel better all who aren’t!

After the previous week’s sad showing, this past week picked up nicely, and I had 10 sales over Saturday & Sunday to pack up when I got back from DC (they will be split between this report and next week’s, diluting the celebratory #s).

08/19/18 – 08/25/18
Total Items In Store: 915
Items Sold: 13
Total Sales: $732.22
Cost of Items Sold: $65.60
Highest Price Sold: $250 – Climbing ropes/bag/slings, etc (sold on commission); $135 – lot of 150 pcs vintage and antique linens of all kinds (took best offer on $150)
Average Price Sold: $56.32
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $45
Number of Items listed this week: ~25

Forgot to mention this in a previous week: I got a message from a recent Buyer who apologized for just having left a negative review for me; it was meant for another Seller from whom she had bought a very similar pair of shorts. She asked me to send her a Feedback Revision Request, which I didn’t know existed – did you? I asked her about it, and she sent me the following link from the help pages: https://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback.html

Fairly automated. There might be some review on eBay’s side, but maybe not. I sent the link, she re-wrote her review, and it was processed quickly. Sharing for FYI and in case it can be used by others after communicating with Buyers who are willing to change their reviews – show them how easy it is.

[Cali Debs]

I have listened to you faithfully pretty much since you began this podcast. Even though I don’t post much, I just want to let you know that I look forward to the podcast every week. You two are my favorites. I want to wish Ryanne a quick recovery. Strep throat really sucks. With that said, I wish you two great sales this week.

Sincerely,

Debbie Keith

[Itemsfromthesouth]

Wishing you both a speedy recovery.
I miss Ryanne’s laugh, Jay’s smooth voice and all the knowledge shared!

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Something just crossed my mind. Ryanne didn’t pick up and eat any body abandoned food did she? LOL haHa :-). Hope ya’ll are feeling better today.

mike at MDCGFA

[T-Satt]

Mike: Funny! 🙂

We were coming back from the mountains this weekend and saw a full McDonald’s bag on the side of the road…and looked at each other and chuckled…

[Marie in Florida]

Hope you both feel better
3 weeks into my Premium (1000item) store. I couldn’t make myself post last week’s numbers. On the 2nd week I sold 1 whole item for a whopping $12. At least this past week I made 5 times that. Going upwards. Just had a $70 saled
So not what I had hoped. But I had 407 items listed, more than ever before. I’ve been very occupied with family-3 major moves of immediate family this month. One hospitalization.
Goals met- 1)More listed at the end of the week than ever before
2) I sold my cheapest item for $3.50! An unused preschool book that I almost pitched so many times. I decided to lower the price until it sold. Now I won’t do that with my long tail R&J type of items. But the things that I’ve had up since 2015, that I would not buy again, lowering the price. Two other items-small sized J Jill and Columbia shirts have been in my longest 10 item list. They both sold within 24 hours of lowering the price. So worth it to get the bottom stuff out of my closets

[The Thrift Raider]

Hope you’re feeling a little better by now Ryanne, strep is really awful.

Sales have definitely picked up a bunch compared to last month, and I’m almost up to where I usually am. Doing a lot of cross posting to Etsy and it’s finally paying off. I still have a ton to list before Q4, so I’m gonna try to hit that hard in the next couple days.

[mickdog]

Since you guys are taking a week off (get well Ryanne!), I don’t feel so bad not posting my July numbers until now! 🙂 I have had a busy summer which I may post about later, but quickly, it has been overall a good sales summer for me.

My Monthly Numbers for July:

I had a horrible July last year and I almost doubled my numbers this year! Probably have 250 more items in my store now as compared to then, which helps the bottom line.

51 sales (another good month)
$ sold (minus shipping): $1265 (goal $1k, still above!)
Per sale average: $24.80 (goal over $25, ok, but sold a lot of low value patches)
cost per item average: $3.53

Items in store peak for month: 700 another new record!)

Returns: 1 (well it was a low value item and I let him keep item but refunded fully, due to a mistake I made in the listing). Also one partial return on a broken plate of three (still made money on the sale after refunding a third), AND the woman bought another lot of bowls from me afterward (which didn’t break) AND gave me positive feedback, woohoo!

Biggest sale: Aramith Granite Stone Collection Belgian Billiard Pool Ball Set for $100, https://www.ebay.com/itm/192557266865 , paid $20 at my favorite thrift store).

Sold many of the patches I’ve been listing and other bread and butter items. Listed as much as possible but slowed down in August (more to come as to why!). Ramping back up now for the fall/winter rush!

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey did anyone see the new [I think] ad from Amazon about buying clothes? I was having lunch and was half listening and watching but the jist was a box arrives and a guy brings it into his house / bedroom. Opens the box saying something like, just have got to have a selection of something to wear this weekend, or whatever something like that. Didn’t hear it all. He opens up the box and it has several folded shirts, sweater, tie, a few other things. he pulls them all out, try’s them on in front of a tall mirror. Smiles and puts a few things over on his bed and the rest back in the box and the Big Caption over reads Only Pay For What You Keep and Return the Rest!!.

I didn’t catch it all but then it struck me, is Amazon advocating buying clothes on consignment like the old stamp collecting companies used to do? Are they going to let you select a bunch of clothes, get them shipped to you, you try them on, keep what you like, send the rest back and then they only charge your card after you send them back or something similiar?

That is oing to put the hurt on a bunch of clothing sellers. Order up 30 clothing items, Amazon sends them to you, try them on, send back what u don’t want and pay for what you keep.

The stamp companies used to send collectors envelopes of mint stamps off of a want list you would send them. They would let you go through them, keep what u wanted and send the rest back. Only catch was you had only had a few days to make the return or you got invoiced for the whole lot.

So wonder what Amazon is up to? Did anybody else seen this ad yet? What are the details I missed? OR DID I JUST MISS the whole thing and got it totally wrong??

Just curious.

[Ryanne]

are you sure it was for amazon? sounds like one of those mens clothing clubs like Trunkclub or something.

[Cali Debs]

https://www.amazon.com/primeinsider/tips/prime-wardrobe.html

This is what MDC Galleries must have seen on TV.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

I think that seems like it. I also am sure I saw an Amazon logo on the side of the box. again, not paying full attention until it dawned on me what the concept was. But it was a full blown TV ad.

But just think if Amazon really starts pushing this. Full scale TV campaigns could change the way shopping is done. You think Malls are dieing and declining now. So now, order up a box full of everything, what the kids may need, what you and hubby or wifey may need, maybe a gift or two and a few chocies for that special dinner function Friday night. Use what you want, keep what you want, then just drop the rest back in the box and a return label is right there. Put on your porch for pick up.

A SL slogan is “List It and Forget It”. Well, now the new Amazon slogan .. “Order it for FREE, Wear it for FREE, Send it back for FREE!”

They can’t even use what software companies use. Put in a package and then say if you open the package you have to keep it and pay for it, because they say you get to try it on to see if it fits. Boy talk about abuses to this system, especially if you just need a fancy blouse, outfit or suit for a special occassion. Who says how “long” the garment can stay on for the try it on portion. So try it on at 5PM go to the special function at 7PM, back home at 11PM, then back in the box for a return.

Who wants to buy used clothes on Ebay, even for $9.99 like Cyndi’s Amazing Taste store when you can get anything or everything you want on a short term loan program.

At least in our niche or hard goods, home and interior decor, the buyer is not going to want to buy altar or side table decor, keep it for 3 days just to look at it, then pack it back up the way it needs to be to keep from breaking then returning it. I think, long term, clothing sellers may have an even harder sell to the public.

But just my opinion, and that and $1.75 will get you a third of a cup of Starbucks coffee! LOL 🙂

Michael at MDC Galleries and fine Art

[Mark S]

Mike,

ebay may have an answer for this: Order x number of clothing items from 1 ebay seller, pick what you want, send the rest back.

What would ebay sellers do if that were to happen?

I think it could go 1 of 2 ways: 1. Sales increase greatly when someone does this with your store, or 2. They take advantage of it like you were saying and you have a mess of returns to deal with and very few sales.

I am not sure how that would work for us. Any thoughts from the clothing sellers?

Me, I do sell a lot of clothing and shoes and I might be open to this for a repeat customer, but I would be cautious about new buyers.

Mark

[T-Satt]

I’m a bit nervous about the clothing game as well, and this Amazon bit is a part of it. I also have my youngest son buying clothes from cheap China sellers for $5 new + Free Shipping on Amazon and some other sites (talk about disloyalty! 🙂 )

The clothing game is definitely getting harder and harder to maintain decent margins on the used side, and lots of players in a lot of categories now…

[Geoff]

T-Salt – you would be a great watch guy : )

[Mark S]

Mike,

I do remember stamp collecting companies sending you stamps to look at.

I used to do that! I loved it as a kid. I still have those stamps stashed away in my stamp album.

Mark

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

So di I. We are in the process now of creating listing templates for the whole US Mint single stamps from about 1925 forward, complete. Also have plate blocks from about 1930 Mint forwad along with some full pages.
I listed and sold the Citation world stamp album a few months back. Listed for $400 took $200 for that but not many stamps in it and most were used, canceled.

We think we are going to list by year so about 60 years [60 listings] on the US Mint Singles and then about 50 listings on the US Mint plate block. The intersting thing about US Mint stamps is they still retain and have their face value. An 70 year old $0.02 [2 cent] stamp is still worth 2 cents today and the same goes for all the newer stamps as the prices go up per stamp. A mint page of $.25 stamps is still a $25 dollar value. Now add to that the collector or delaer value.

I have a subscription to the Scott Catalog and will list everything by the Scott’s number and list them at 60% less than the catalogue prices. So, don’t know how much everything is going to come out to but we will see.

Already have some US Commemorative Albums listed by year in our store. Maybe about 10 or 12 or so.Will be a wait and see.

[Sharyn]

I did the stamp collecting thing as a kid as well. My kids weren’t interested, so the stamps and stamp books have been sitting there for years.

Maybe some day I will sell them. I have some first day covers and new pages / blocks that will have some value. I don’t know what I will do with the rest. I could sell them page by page, or another thought was to auction off my large international used stamp collection in one listing.

[retiredtreasures719]

Okay you two, I swear by good old fashioned chicken soup! Hope you are feeling better. eBay is taking a bit of a back seat for me this week also. My dad had two dr appointments already this week and fried his hearing aids by putting them in a glass with water instead of his hearing aid cup (he is legally blind so things like this happen). My husband has a blockage in his right leg, so Thursday we go to the hospital for an arterial roto-rooter treatment.

On the EBay front, last week was pretty good. This week has been a bit slow, but considering the above, that’s probably a good thing. My highest sale last week was 3 IKEA Henriksdal chairs for $100. I know I could have held out for more, but I only paid $1 for all three. I bought them to use, but my husband disliked them so much I was highly motivated to sell them. I had to store them in a friends garage so he didn’t put them out on the curb!
eBay August 19-25
Total sales. $264.93
# sold. 19
Avg. sale. $13.94
Returns. 0
COGS. $14
$ spent on new. $18.50
# listed. 21
Highest sale. $100 3 IKEA Henriksdal chairs

[Sigilini]

Wishing you a SPEEDY recovery.

https://imgur.com/a/lW40GgX

[Attic Threads]

Feel better soon! Hope you are able to take it easy.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Here’s a new one on me.

I have noticed that WL is including in a list of standardized Item specific a field for the Cal. Proposition 65 Act. I assume this may now be showing up on regular Ebay listing forms as well.

Here is alink to what is suppose to take place as of August 30th. Question is, now are we suppose to identify the materials older, vintage items are made of and state if the content in the material, resign, plastic contains any harmful or possibly toxic ingrediants?

Here is a link to an article about it. https://www.law.com/therecorder/2018/07/05/new-prop-65-warning-requirements-are-coming-on-aug-30-are-you-ready/?slreturn=20180730195500

Just curious and wonder what others know of this.

Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[Temudgin]

Regarding sales to California, ebay resellers do not have to identify or analyze used items to comply with Prop 65. We cannot, however: obscure, alter or remove any existing Prop 65 warnings on any item, fail to include in the sale any Prop 65 warning materials that we do have with an item, or knowingly introduce any listed chemical into an item without providing a Prop 65 warning to the buyer.

[Mark S]

Mike,

Yes, I just began seeing this on the item specfic section in ebay.

I just ignored it for now.

Mark

[buytikiselltiki]

Hope you are feeling better!

Just got a prop 65 letter at work – to have on file.

Complying with this rule selling junk is – nigh impossible

[Jay]

You got a Prop 65 letter for eBay? (list of dangerous chemicals in items)
Or you’re just saying it’d be impossible to do it for eBay?

[buytikiselltiki]

My company has a legal response ready in case it comes up.

There’s no way I want liability if some obscure item from 60 years ago doesn’t meet some criteria. So – impossible for me to comply.

Pretty much impossible for me to comprehend, honestly…

[buytikiselltiki]

And missed temudjins post earlier. Ignore.

[Wallabee]

Missed you, Jay and Ryanne, but I consoled myself by listening to episodes 5-11 while painting my bedroom. I really should be listing.

[Wallabee]

Missed you, Jay and Ryanne, but I consoled myself by listening to episodes 5-11 while painting my bedroom. I really should be listing.

[Rydell Relics]

RR Store Week August 19-25, 2018

Total Items in Store: 1561
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $15.65
Total Sales: $381.62
Highest Price Sold: $100 (1950’s Paris cabaret program)
Average Price Sold: $21.20
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 1

[Author]

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