Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Selling on eBay › Solution for Snowbirds
- This topic has 31 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by
Mark S.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
06/19/2019 at 8:34 am #63722
A long while ago I had asked if people had a way to run sizable eBay businesses when splitting up their residences in two different states. We will be living in Maine for 6 months and North Carolina for 6 months. My husband and I have debated how to do this for months now and he came up with the solution. Every 6 months we will pack everything up in a pod and send it to the other state. Such a simple solution, not sure why I didn’t think of it myself. So if you are thinking of snowbirding down the road, this might be a solution for you as well.
-
06/19/2019 at 8:42 am #63723
–How much would it cost to fill up a pod and send it from DC to FL and back again?
–Would a pod hold all your inventory? -
06/19/2019 at 8:45 am #63726
@Jay I’d have to look into the costs, but I have friends who have used the pods to move and they said that it was affordable. I have to find out what affordable means. I have 2,500 items currently in my inventory and I think it will fit in one pod. If not, I can auction off a portion of the lower value stuff to make room. I want to move more towards accessories, perfume and jewelry as time goes on, so I think it’s doable.
-
06/19/2019 at 8:52 am #63727
I think its a smart idea because you can keep your entire inventory.
But we wont know if its a good solution till we know the costs.
https://www.pods.com/moving-services/long-distance-moving
(I dont want to entire my email to get a quote).If you’re down in Florida for five months out of the year, you’d need to split the cost back and forth over those five months. You have a very healthy business so I bet the costs could be defrayed.
-
06/19/2019 at 9:38 am #63731
Seems like the hurdle is not so much the cost but securing inventory for travel while ensuring it stays organized.
-
06/19/2019 at 10:04 am #63734
As we are having multiple moves this year, we decided that we would limit the size of most of our items to “shoebox” size or less to make it easy to store and transport until we are permanently settled. The larger/bulky items are a pain to keep moving and storing, and were in our opinion not worth the effort. We were able to sell most of the large items in a yard sale and donated the rest – it makes life much easier to stay small when moving a lot.
I’m sure most people aren’t in this situation, but if you are a snowbird or travel frequently it would be neat if you could have a storage container/trailer that was purely for inventory – just have it moved between locations as you go! Shipping is cheap if you have a container these days.
-
06/19/2019 at 10:21 am #63735
Yeah, if we were to be snowbirds and wanted to sell on eBay, it would be worthwhile to invest in a large trailer we could tow back and forth in our truck.
We have too much stuff to fit in one trailer, but I can imagine having a “traveling inventory”. You can fit a lot of items in a 4′ x 8″ area.
Instead of emptying out at each location, you just park it and pull stuff as items sell.
-
06/19/2019 at 5:39 pm #63763
I don’t think it’d be all that easy, logistically. The stuff would be sliding all over, and if you fill the whole space with bins or inventory how are you going to get in and find stuff that sells?
I guess the way you could get this to work would be a numbered bin system with enough space leftover for access and strapping to keep the bins in place.
If I were going to do that as a lifestyle I’d probably have a carpenter custom-make some shelving sloped toward the trailer walls with hitching locations for rope or something.
-
06/19/2019 at 5:43 pm #63764
Thats what I was thinking. You kit out the inside of the trailer into organized shelves. Everything is solid and won’t shift when driving. You would sell out of it all the time.
A 4′ x 8′ trailer is only $2k and can be pulled by even a smaller truck (like my Tacoma).
-
06/19/2019 at 5:54 pm #63767
It really wouldn’t be that big a deal.. The carnivals and trade shows do it all the time.
Yes shelving would have to be built. Yes you would have to secure the containers with straps or load bars, so the containers wouldn’t shift. It would have to be done with a plan.
You may want need to leave an aisle in the middle for access, but can fill it up with stuff while travelling and empty that section after reaching your destination.
The key to making it a success is to drive correctly. Don’t make any sudden moves, stops, starts or turns and leave plenty of room ahead of you for braking.
If in doubt, ask a trucker. They do it all the time.
-
06/19/2019 at 5:57 pm #63769
Yeah, guys around my area pull these trailers full of tools when they work on houses. I bet you could easily hold a 2000 item store in the trailer if properly organized. Nothing too big and can be stacked on each other.
-
-
-
-
-
06/19/2019 at 11:22 am #63739
So I priced this out assuming a move to Ft. Meyers Florida from West Virginia.
U-pack service would only provide 5′ of storage space in a trailer and would charge $2281 to deliver to Florida. GAH!!!
A quote from PODS for Washington DC to Fort Meyers Florida was $3283.96 for a 16′ container and up to 1 month storage. Holy Schnikes!
The best option is renting a U-haul and driving it yourself.
A 26′ Uhaul truck rented one-way with 5 days usage and 1193 included miles is only $941. Price just goes down from there if you need less.
You can add a two wheel tow dolly for $100 or a full car transport trailer for $215.The third option is buying a large enclosed trailer. You can get a tandem axle 18′ trailer for less than $5k. If you were doing this twice a year every year it would be the best option, but…
To do option 3 you will also need a vehicle capable of hauling that big of a load. If you don’t already have that then your costs go through the roof. You’ll also need to store the trailer when not in use, either on your property or pay to leave it at a storage facility. You will also have to pay taxes and registration.
The best benefit of your own trailer is that you can outfit it to fit your inventory. You can build shelving to hold everything and design it to hold stuff in place while moving. You could even design the storage with a walkway down the middle so you wouldn’t even have to load/unload – just leave it all in there at all times.Bottom line, Uhaul and drive yourself is the only true viable solution if you don’t want to invest in the infrastructure of a trailer and possibly a towing capable vehicle. If you already have a tow-capable vehicle then buying your own tandem axle trailer is the best bet.
-
06/19/2019 at 12:37 pm #63741
In California trailers can be registered with permanent plates which cost $10 every five years ($2 a year). Liability insurance follows the tow vehicle, so no specific insurance coverage is required.
The real cost is only the trailer cost and maintenance.
You could even install shelving and use it as a storage unit when parked.
-
-
06/19/2019 at 12:06 pm #63740
We do have a tow capable SUV. BUT I am pretty sure we would get divorced from yelling at each other backing it in and out and what have you. I might have to learn how to do this.
-
06/19/2019 at 12:48 pm #63742
Here’s another idea. Could you have two separate stores on eBay? Lets call them the “Maine” and “North Carolina” stores. Store items for each store in Maine and North Carolina. When you are in Maine open the “Maine” store and close the North Carolina store, and the inverse of this. Granted half your inventory would be off the market for 6 months each year, but that might be preferable to the shipping and organization costs of moving inventory back and forth.
-
06/19/2019 at 1:05 pm #63743
@utahbill No for two reasons. Each property will be rented out for the 6 months that we aren’t in each of them. Both homes are in vacation areas. One at the beach for summer rental and one in the north for ski season rental. So leaving the inventory back will take up needed space for rental income. And even if we did that, we can’t shut the stores down for 6 months from what I can see with eBay policy.
-
06/19/2019 at 2:49 pm #63750
So about these houses you own – does the rental income offset the house payments of both houses? Are you living for free/getting paid to have two houses?
This is genuinly interesting to me – this is the life I’d like to live!
-
-
06/19/2019 at 3:31 pm #63757
@retrotreasures That is indeed the plan. We are currently researching properties in both states. We go to Maine this summer to evaluate properties there. Our hope is to find properties with an established rental history. Our NC house will rent from 4-5K per week in the height of the season and about 3K in shoulder season. That should pay for the house for the year. (we haven’t bought a house yet, this is based on current available properties) And then the Maine house will rent for a bit less, but will cost significantly less, so we hope that one will pay for itself as well. Worst case scenario we have to pay whatever doesn’t get covered by rent and we expect the worst case would be a few thousand a year per house which is fine. I will still work full time and my husband will be semi-retired, so this would be an optimum arrangement because it will allow us to save a significant amount of money even in our “older” years.
-
06/19/2019 at 5:17 pm #63762
$5k/week is incredible. How many weeks is your high season?
Unless this is a million dollar mortgage, seems you could pay off a yearly mortgage in just a couple months at that rental rate.
-
-
06/19/2019 at 5:46 pm #63765
@Jay June through October. The summer months for the families visiting the beach and September & October for fishing. Not sure what fish is “in season” in September and October, but apparently it’s a very popular time to fish in NC.
-
06/19/2019 at 6:41 pm #63779
@Jay IF all weeks are booked. As you know, that’s not a sure thing in the rental business. That’s why we are taking our time finding the right property with a long and loyal rental history. We also have to be prepared for a hurricane making the property unusable for a time. Completely possible with coastal homes.
-
06/19/2019 at 7:02 pm #63781
Ah, I thought you already owned a working rental in NC. My bad.
Good news is that you’ll likely be booked 90% in the busy season. I know we are.
It’s the downtimes when everyone struggles to stay booked.But even if you’re 50% booked during the five month busy season, then that’s still 10 weeks.
At $5k/week, that’s $50k.How much do these houses go for in that area? $350k?
Even borrowing the whole amount at 5% for 30 years, that’s only $1,879/month.
About $23k/year.Anyway, it’s all doable if you plan like I know you’re good at!
-
-
06/19/2019 at 7:22 pm #63782
@Jay The houses we are looking at are oceanfront and around 650-750K. We are also retired military which has its benefits when it comes to borrowing.
-
06/19/2019 at 7:38 pm #63785
@ryanne Nope, it’s actually pretty decent for the area. Topsail Island. But we’re looking for a large house that will demand a large rental price.
-
06/19/2019 at 7:41 pm #63787
@Jay yes, we won’t be “making money” with the property per se, but we will most likely not have to pay a mortgage once you figure in rental costs.
-
06/20/2019 at 10:23 am #63798
Put everything on 10 day shipping, fly home to check on your property 3x per month to ship, rack up the sky miles take the tax deduction? Maybe you could fly Space A from the nearest military base?
I don’t know if your basecamps have cheap flights, but choosing a retirement location with the intent of commuting for ebay/Airbnb biz is interesting- flights from seattle to Phoenix/vegas/Ca are under 200 RT x 18 = 3600.00 + 18000 sky miles/flying upgradesWhat level of monthly profit would it take to make this worth the ass pain? hmmm.
This is a great topic to think about, thank you. Options for snowbirding- -
06/20/2019 at 2:50 pm #63805
@BigSally the logistics of that makes my head swim. I’ll let my husband chew on that. Interesting thought! Although I have an anchor store and the amount of packages I’d have waiting would be dizzying.
-
06/20/2019 at 10:46 pm #63812
I thought about this in case this became an issue ir Something I wanted to do.
My best idea for this was to purchase 2 26’ uhaul like trailers and put all of my containers in them.
Then, when you get to the 2nd location, you just keave the majority in the trucks if possible. Then just pick items from the trucks as they sell AMD you ship. When it is time to move back to the 1st lication, you are already Packed and ready to Go.
I would drive one truck and my wife could drive the other.
May have to fly 1 way 1 time to get a vehicle to location 2.
This was the best I could come up with. Optionally you could unload the truck at each location bit with my inventory size, that would be a ton of work and require St least 2 trip to the Chiropractor!
The main down side for this plan is the cost of the trucks up front. But, if you bought good used trucks, you may be able to get 2 of them for around $25,000 which would pay for itself in a short smoust of time.
Mark
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.