Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Selling on eBay › Trash Elf Twins Challenge 2018 Thread #2 From Week 19 (May 7-13)
- This topic has 122 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 8 months ago by VintageTreasures.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
05/11/2018 at 1:16 pm #39692
The first thread was becoming so large, it was unwieldy. Starting a new thread for easier posting.
For those who want a quick reference what TETC is about: we have piles of stuff that aren’t listed. Piles of stuff is “dead money” because if they’re not listed, they’re not selling; ergo – Death Piles. The goal of this thread is to motivate you to list every week so that you:
(1) don’t add new purchases to the Death Piles (DPs) and
(2) clear the DPs that you already have.We pair up as “Twins” to create a more personal challenge. Listing trends reveal the best pairs. For this reason, twins might be reallocated down the line if the trend shows a bad pairing.
If you wish to join the Challenge, you need to post your listing numbers every Monday. If there’s no single for a new Challenger, s/he will join a pair and they become a triplet.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! And we’d love to have new Challengers! ๐
-
05/12/2018 at 10:02 pm #39758
I’ll be the first to post….ZERO! As you know from my last post on the original thread, My daughter ended up in the ER last Sunday. Well, that turned out to be a virus, a stomach flu…ughhhhh. She has been sick for the last 6 days. Needless to say, my attention was diverted. Thanks to all those who wished me well. Hopefully I will have better news to report next week. thanks! Marjean28
-
05/14/2018 at 9:31 am #39839
Jeez, only one item this week. Some of the lack of listing was seeing old friends and taking a full day off for mother’s day, so happy reasons. My contract work is busier too. Would love a full day to list! I’m really lucky to have had decent sales the past few weeks while basically not listing. I’ve been taking all offers and saving for taxes.
-
05/14/2018 at 12:05 pm #39864
My numbers for this week May 6 – 12, 2018: 30 new listings. I was still out of town on Sunday the 6th. Sunday is usually a pretty solid listing day for me, so that didn’t help with my numbers. Then I had trouble getting back into the groove of listing after having fun for most of the previous week. Hopefully this week will be better for getting some listings done!
I hope all you Moms out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day! My fur baby decided my Mother’s Day gift was to vomit on my blanket while I was asleep under it on Mother’s Day morning. Nice! -
05/14/2018 at 1:08 pm #39874
I listed 7 items this week. None of them are from last year’s death piles.
I have to say, most of the death pile items on my list are things I bought this year that need work. I only have maybe half a dozen items that are from last year. So, I made good progress! It is hard to report large numbers of death pile items when there isn’t much left!
Although, I should add, I have a box of clothing that I want to send into a consignment place, but they aren’t taking in new items right now. If too much time goes by, and they just don’t start taking new items, I might have to sell them myself. Then, I’m like 60 or more items in the hole! Nooooooo!
-
05/14/2018 at 8:50 pm #39929
May 7-13, 2018: 36 listed
I’m getting over a long cold. I hope to pick things up this week.
-
05/15/2018 at 9:35 am #39954
Wow, you guys are awesome! Marjean, hope your daughter continues to improve.
Zero for me as well. I’ve been going flat out off-eBay. I have a Student Showcase in 3 weeks and am making 3 costumes (top, bottoms, and belt) and, for example, one pair of harem pants has approx 1,500 crystals on it, each one applied individually by hand. It has been a looooong couple weeks of late nights, early mornings, and hole-y fingers! Fortunately, my array of other commitments all came to a close this weekend, so now I’m just down to the Showcase. I’m hoping to get a couple listings in this week, and have been fortunate to have orders continuing to trickle in, plus each week I do a relist of all my ended listings. Helps to keep the shop alive.
Looks like ice_queen has dropped out. I will need to adjust the pairings, but would like to give it another week to accurately see trends.
Week 19 (May 7-13)
-
05/20/2018 at 8:02 am #40456
Hi Trash Elves!
I have such a stock pile of goods now, I’m nearly entirely overwhelmed. On top of my death piles, which are really larger than I thought upon closer examination, 2 of my sisters are unloading their death piles on me, and there are more to come. I have a sister who just moved and is downsizing, and although she got rid of a ton of things before she left Washington DC to move to Chicago, there were more things she discovered she needed to get rid of upon her arrival to her new smaller home.
Then there is the case of my other sister, who is an excellent thrifter for herself! She has gone to the point now of picking up things from the store and not ever using them and now they are coming my way. Its not exactly hoarding, but it’s retail therapy gone awry!
My husband just calls them piles and when he thinks he is being funny, he’s one of those midwestern guys with sarcastic humor typical of Minnesota, he’ll just call me piles, or drop the word piles into the conversation and start to laugh. At least we aren’t fighting about it! ๐
Despite picking up a full truckload of goods from my thrifting sister, I managed to have a pretty decent week listing. That’s because I completely switched my listing process away from using the phone app or even listing on the desktop version of eBay. I now add my listings to a spreadsheet and load them up through eBay file exchange. It’s working really well for me.
So, for the period of May 13-19, I listed 107 listings. The great things was that it took me half the time it normally would.
Happy Listing! Marjean28
-
05/20/2018 at 10:00 am #40465
Hi Fellow Challengers!
For the week of May 13-19,2018 I listed 58 items. So a pretty good listing week for me, but I’m feeling burnt out now, so I need to get my mojo back!
Marjean28 – I have a question re: your sister’s donations to your piles. Will you give your sisters any of the proceeds? My wonderful sister gives me awesome items to sell, but I give her the money minus the fees (my decision to do this, she is actually just giving me the stuff, but she is also paying to ship the items to me). And I give her “credits” actually, not cash, to use towards hotel & car rental when we meet up to go shopping together. So it’s a big win for me! I get to see her, spend time with her AND shop for inventory! Just wondering how you handle it with your sisters.
Happy Listing and Selling to All!
-
05/20/2018 at 10:00 pm #40491
Amatino – I don’t know if you meant to create a new topic for each week, but I figure I’ll post here since others have.
I listed 27 items; 2 were from death piles
-
05/20/2018 at 10:13 pm #40493
Vintage Thrifter, I donโt give my sisters anything. These were simply generous gifts from them.
-
05/21/2018 at 10:36 am #40528
Simply no time for Ebay this week. Zero for me. This week isn’t looking great either, but I’m hoping to list a bit. Also, happily I need to do some consolidating of my inventory in storage after clearing some of it during the past 6-9 months.
-
05/21/2018 at 11:14 am #40532
I did 92 listings this past week ending on May 20
-
05/21/2018 at 12:54 pm #40549
I thought I would come back from my trip and list like a mad woman, but it hasn’t worked out that way. A combination of worse jet lag than usual, and spending the weekend in the ER with my mom complicated things. Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans!
I listed 10 items this week, on Etsy, all from death piles.
On a brighter note, we did manage to find the ONE thrift shop in Venice AND figure out that it opened at the odd hour of 4pm. I found a stack of vintage linens and he found a couple of cool shirts for him. Another happy moment (among many) was discovering a morning one-day flea market a block from our hotel room where I found yet more vintage linens, including several lovely vintage aprons. Very happy to bring back all this loot in my suitcase! I love scavenging while travelling!
-
05/21/2018 at 1:30 pm #40554
Sharyn, yes, this is the new thread. The other was getting too big/long.
Vintage Lacy, does this shade of green look good on me? ๐
This weekend we had our “Spring” street sale (Spring? In May?) and I managed to offload a few items that I just didn’t want to bother shipping. Yay! However, a friend of mine offloaded onto me 4 (read that and weep!) boxes of mostly glassware that she’s getting out of her storage area following her separation pending divorce. I really didn’t want any more stuff, my DPs are seriously overwhelming already, but I didn’t have the heart to say no, considering her situation. So my DPs are growing, not shrinking. Even worse, listing this week was zero too. ๐ On the positive side, the Student Showcase is now only two weeks away, and I am inches away from finishing the first costume. Literally inches… I have 3″ of beading left! ๐ I’ve done both harem pants for the other two costumes, and am halfway through the bra for one of them. Just the straps and some tassels and the bra is finished, with luck, by tonight. Phew! Then one more top and I’m done. Oh! Wait! I still have my costume to work on! *head smacks on table*
It seems that ice_queen has definitely dropped out, so I’ll have to reconfigure the pairings and create new sets. That means I have to recount the points column. I’ll post the new spreadsheet in a little while.
-
05/21/2018 at 1:39 pm #40555
-
05/27/2018 at 1:30 pm #41050
Posting early bc it’s a zero for me again this past week. My final week of Chaos before everything comes to a head next Saturday. It’s my largest Student Showcase so far, costumes must be completed by Friday for the Full Dress Rehearsal, and I have all the admin work for it too. On top of that, I have Financials due for the Board, and my other job just upped my work schedule from one to two days a week. Oh, and my husband just started a new business that requires I do his financials for him too. How come “a plumber never fixes his own pipes” doesn’t work for bookkeepers?
On Death Piles, I just received two huge carloads of stuff donated by my community. Some of it is meh-quality that I might just drop off at Goodwill, but there are some really cool things. 1950s stuff, motorbike helmets, Bose speakers. Can’t wait to get listing! I was hoping to start listing this week, but my TDL is up to 42 items already today, over half of which have to be completed this week, so it’s not likely. Hmmm… perhaps if I move ‘sleep’ from Must Do category to the If I Have Time one….? ๐
-
05/27/2018 at 1:51 pm #41052
I am traveling this weekend, so I made sure to count before I left. I listed 24 items and three were death piles.
One of those death piles items sold very quickly for $140, so it’s like, why did I wait so long?
-
05/28/2018 at 1:15 pm #41131
I listed 30 items and 10 were from death piles.
It felt great to be finally listing again. I especially love when you list something and it sells within a few hours! I went to the bins Friday, as a treat. So yeah, more to list because I did crazy good there.
Good luck Amatino with finally winding down your huge project…I can only imagine how wonderful it’s going to feel when you are done!
-
05/28/2018 at 1:54 pm #41134
12 items, 2 from death piles.
-
05/28/2018 at 3:45 pm #41140
24 items for me.
-
05/29/2018 at 10:05 am #41182
Congratulations folks, you did excellently this week!
Marjean and Katie, post your numbers and I’ll put them in. ๐
-
06/04/2018 at 9:08 am #41601
Good morning and Happy Monday!
VERY happy Monday for me, LOL! The show was a great success and folks really enjoyed it. Here are a couple photos. https://imgur.com/a/VslSBms
Ceteris paribus, I’ll start listing this week, my last week of zeroes! ๐
-
06/04/2018 at 11:57 am #41630
Congrats on making such lovely costumes. Don’t beat me this week. “)
-
-
06/04/2018 at 9:47 am #41612
Awesome photos Amatino, you did an amazing job on the costumes, they are gorgeous!
Slow listing week for me, just 22. Summer doldrums but hoping for a more energized work week this week.
Happy listing everyone!
-
06/04/2018 at 11:55 am #41629
Felt good to list. I did indulge on a couple of thrift stops, so mostly listed that. 12 items, 2 from dp. I managed to squeeze in listing a couple of items 5 times this week, so I like that. I expect to have a slower time at my contract job during the summer and to be listing more. ๐ I really need to reorganize my inventory and get back to listing a box of similar dp items.
-
06/04/2018 at 12:28 pm #41634
Amazing costumes! Amazing photos!
When I was younger, I sewed quite a bit. I made myself an Indian Squaw outfit and a futon cover when I was newly on my own. Since then, all I’ve done is repair and sewing my son’s patches on when he was in Cub Scouts. I just don’t have the time, and I can understand why you haven’t been able to list for so long.
I listed 29 items this week, with 3 from death piles.
-
06/04/2018 at 12:52 pm #41641
Wonderful costumes! You do beautiful work!
I have never made clothing but I used to be a folk art doll artist years ago and still love fabric and needlework. I got away from it when I opened my brick and mortar but I do know just how labor intensive it is!
I went to a fantastic vintage show in Spokane called Farm Chicks this past long weekend and did some picking along the way too. Great weekend, but no listing, alas.
I did 6 listings for the week. None from death piles. This week I’ll be putting it in high gear and hopefully do much more.
-
06/05/2018 at 10:43 am #41729
Thanks for all the kind words. It was hard work, but the end result was worth it. The show was such amazing fun and the ladies surprised me with a thank you gift box that was very generous.
ChristineR, you’re a whole 5 points ahead of me! I’d have to whoop you five whole weeks in a row just to break even! ๐
It looks like KatieScott and Marjean have dropped out. I’ll keep them in one more week to see if they pop back.
-
06/05/2018 at 11:04 am #41730
Thanks Amatino. Wow. I feel like half of the year is almost gone but I’ve only listed 272 items, and some are multiples. Makes me realize how much I was overbuying before when I started. It’s been a particularly busy Spring outside of Ebay. Summer should be better so hopefully I can get those numbers up. Thanks for tracking us.
-
-
06/05/2018 at 11:34 am #41732
Interesting that so many of us sew or used to sew! I’m not sewing much currently but it’s been a major hobby during my lifetime. I will say that I’ve sometimes not had the greatest results with fit in garment sewing. I’m picturing those belly dancing outfits having major costume malfunctions during the performance if I’d been the one sewing them – lol!
Vintage Lacy I’d love to see the folk art dolls you used to make! And ChristineR do you or have you ever sewn?
-
06/05/2018 at 12:10 pm #41735
My mom taught me as a kid and I’ve dabbled with my daughter, but no. It would be a nice sense of accomplishment to physically make a practical project like that, but I just don’t have the time. Sometimes I think it would be good to have a hobby like that, but really Ebay is my hobby with the bit of time I have for myself. I love to analyze and learn. I haven’t even read a book for the last several years…
-
06/05/2018 at 3:21 pm #41763
Is it too late to sign on?
I had a huge death pile, but have made significant progress the last three weeks. The problem started when I began to realize what better brands of clothing to sell. My piles of Levi’s and Chico’s started to acquire dust as I found new more desirable items. It got to the point where I had about 12 Ikea bags full of “dud” merchandise that had value but not enough for me to passionately pursue it.
Enter my college age son who starts his junior year this fall. (my main reason I sell on eBay)…
He came home and I trained him how to photo and list. I pay him every Friday for 100 items listed that week. It’s been three weeks now and he has listed 300 death pile clothing items. I have him through August and I see us finishing the death pile totes in about two to three more weeks.
Going forward I will only buy after I list everything that I sourced. Valuable lesson learned.
Last week between the two of us we listed 140 items.
This week so far we are at 60.
-
06/06/2018 at 10:52 am #41819
AtomicStar – welcome to the group! We’d love to have you! Just post your week’s listings every Monday and we’ll pair you up with someone who matches your trends.
Regarding my sewing, it’s my therapy! LOL! I discovered that working 15 hour days makes me less productive, not more, so it’s tools down at 6PM. I feed the menagerie, tidy up, and then it’s therapy time. It took me a while to set myself up with a sewing space that is organized and well arranged, but I can go there now and work on a project of my choice. Now that the costumes are done, I have to finish the shorts for my daughter and grandson, and then will do some patriotic quilted table toppers for 4th of July gifts that are sort of obligatory (long story). Finally, I need new clothes and will be working on my wardrobe. I don’t sew every day, but most weekends and quite a few evenings. I find the creative process relaxing. I usually have an audiobook running in the background and can keep myself happily occupied for hours.
-
06/11/2018 at 9:04 am #42123
The week started out well, but then petered out with other stuff taking over as it progressed. Bah humbug! Still, I managed to list 19 items, all DP, so I’m happy!
The race is ON, ChristineR! ๐
-
06/11/2018 at 9:27 am #42132
Hi, I was happy to finally get back to listing and should get some time this week too. Life is calming down and I had to rewrite my to do list since I got some things done. Listed 17 items, 7 from death piles and I’m clear of newly thrifted items so filling up a box from the piles this week.
-
06/11/2018 at 12:06 pm #42161
Congrats Amatino on getting back into the swing of listing! I too was able to get back into it and listed 34 items, 5 from death piles.
Went to a KILLER estate sale Saturday and scored big time and went back on Sunday for another round, when they were practically giving stuff away. Not well organized with almost no prices on anything, but in their credit it was a true hoarder sale and they were just almost overwhelmed with the sheer volume of stuff to deal with. They tried to sort it to the best of their ability, but there were many boxes not even opened or sorted everywhere. A true digger sale, which I love. The plus side to this is that there was tons of great vintage goodies and with nothing being priced people weren’t buying as much. The downsize is that while waiting for it to open yesterday I ventured around the corner of the garage and saw a huge mound of what appeared to be garbage but on closer examination saw that they had just been throwing stuff there they didn’t want to deal with. Some was paper garbage type stuff but I saw boxes of books, pool sticks and things like that. I grabbed a vintage tin can that was easy to access, but what a shame that lots of treasures are going straight to the dump. My fingers were itching to plow through the mound!
-
06/11/2018 at 1:25 pm #42175
Hey there Trash Elf Twins!
First of all, thanks Christine for answering my sewing question: I had a feeling you too had sewn at some point in your life. And Amatino I totally get going into a sewing room and being happily occupied for hours, that creative flow state is amazing to be in – hours pass like minutes!
Of course now that I dismantled my sewing room and made it my eBay room I’m itching to get back to sewing, but unfortunately I don’t have anywhere to set up my sewing room now. What I wouldn’t give for that super big house we had back in Chicagoland, but of course I’m much happier living here in the mountains being retired than I was when I was working the city.
Anyway, enough rambling, I got my listing mojo back on Thursday and I listed 35 things last week. Sales kind of stink though, which always hurts my motivation, so fingers crossed I can keep my mojo going.
Vintage Lacy, I’m so envious of your hoarder estate sale, that sounds like it was amazing!!!
Wishing everyone a great week ahead!
-
06/11/2018 at 1:33 pm #42177
I thought that this past week was going to be about finishing up the previous week’s purchase and then testing and listing some death pile items, but that didn’t quite happen. I saw boxes of books at my neighbor’s curb. Their house is under contract, and they will be moving in a few weeks. I grabbed all the books, which were easy to list.
I created 38 new listings, but only one was from my death piles.
My plans for this week and next will be on those death pile items that need testing. In addition, I have finally realized that the clothes consignment shop is just not going to take in new items for quite some time. I now have more than 60 pieces of clothing (most are death piles) to list. I want to go to an auction on Thursday, but, hopefully, I’ll limit my purchases.
-
06/13/2018 at 9:37 am #42375
Wow! How close our numbers are in each set this week! ๐
Wonder what happened to AtomicStar? Looks like we lost Marjean and KatieScott. ๐
Only 3 weeks left until mid-year, folks! How are your goals looking?
-
06/13/2018 at 12:31 pm #42388
I did some organizing, passed on a church sale so halo for me. My daughter is around more often and sometimes with her friends in the pool, plus I have multiple drop offs so it’s hard making money at my job and on Ebay. We sat and watched a movie together yesterday after work/camp for the first time in a long time. But, 5 times I squeezed in a few listings last week, so I was very happy with that. Having a chopped up schedule really, really goes against my grain, but going to try to keep pecking away at Ebay over the course of the week. Also, it’s been encouraging to see space open up and to need to consolidate. I’m making progress and have cut way, way back on shopping. Good luck to you!
-
06/18/2018 at 8:58 am #42711
You’re welcome VT. I love to buy vintage fabric to sell even though I don’t sew. I’ve been lazy about listing it too so I have three boxes of death pile fabric. Does this category do well in summer? I’ve sold some craft kits lately (my favorite thing to list and ship).
I listed 27 items this week, 16 from death piles. Felt really good to get back to Ebay.
-
06/18/2018 at 10:19 am #42719
I had a number of non-eBay activities divert my attention last week. Then, a friend offered two office cabinets to help store inventory, for free, and my weekend was basically dedicated to bringing those home. I did do some photography, and I went to an auction on Thursday, but I did not get to listing at all.
So, put me down for a big fat zero!
-
06/18/2018 at 11:07 am #42731
Morning all!
ChristineR, you gained back the point you lost last week! ๐ This week I ended up being away for the entire day 3 days out of six, and spent two of the remaining dealing with property tax protests (we live in one of the highest property tax counties in the U.S., coming in the top fifth in the nation.) So my listing total for the week is… zero. Dagnabbit!
On the positive side, I’ve found a local teenager who is keen to photograph my clothes for me over the summer. We’re starting with a tote of only 20 items, with an option to build up to a maximum of 100 per week. This means I can focus on photographing other items that I prefer to do, as I really don’t enjoy clothes. I’m not sure how it will impact my listings, as I still have to do all the work, prepping the clothes, doing the research, taking measurements, etc., but the photos will be done for me. I’m going to create scheduled listings of each one, and then can upload the photos when I get them. At worst, it means I’ll have 20 additional items to list eventually. At least, I’ll have 20 listings per week. At best, I’ll have the 20 clothing items plus whatever I manage to get through myself. I really hope this works out! My goal for the year was to list 100 items per month and, with only 228 listings so far, I’m less than a quarter of the way through my “goal year”. With a little help for the summer, perhaps I can catch up and clear my clothes death piles. That will be bliss!
-
06/18/2018 at 11:42 am #42742
Happy Monday morning to all,
My goal I set for myself this year was to list 50 items a week, building up to 75 a week. 15 a day isn’t too hard, right? Right. As you can see by my previous numbers life gets in the way. However, I really knuckled down this weekend and listed 60 items. Really pleased about that.
That crazy good estate sale from last weekend…well I stayed up real late on Sunday night because I had a brilliant thought and couldn’t sleep for thinking about it. I decided to ask the estate sale promoter if she’d be willing to donate the remainder of the estate items to a fund-raising rummage sale that I am in charge of that happens the end of this month. It’s for an old Grange Hall that always needs to do fund-raising to stay open. It’s a vital part of the community.
She said yes, so I spent all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday over at the sale packing up the leftovers and hauling them to the back room of the grange. Packing and hauling, packing and hauling. I bought 75 boxes from u-haul and used them all, plus some of my own. There was SO much good stuff left over…it’s going to be the best dang rummage sale ever! I was happy to do the work and do get the side benefit of getting to pick the sale before it opens….but it sure did eat up my week.
-
06/18/2018 at 5:44 pm #42761
Hello Trash Elf Twins!
I had a pretty good week for 6/10 -6/16/18, I listed 42 items. Vintage Lacy: 15 listings a day, wow! If you keep that up I’ll sure be hurting for points in this challenge! Luckily the motivation and camaraderie of this challenge is way more important to me than the points:) I really admire that you had the guts to ask the estate sale promoter for the left-overs at the end of the estate sale. I don’t think I would be able to talk myself into asking even though I know it would totally be a win for the promoter to have someone pack up and cart away all the unsolds. Imagine what she would have had to pay for an employee to do all that work!
ChristineR, I’m with you on the craft kits, those are my favorite things to sell also. So easy to photograph, list and ship! And I’m salivating over your boxes of fabric, although I’m not sure why since I have sooo many boxes of my own fabric waiting to be listed… I haven’t kept track of how fabric sells seasonally. I do know that most of my sewing buddies buy fabric all year long, and so did I when I was sewing a lot!
Amatino, goals? I’m supposed to have goals? Kidding! I guess mine are to list every day. I haven’t achieved that goal yet! And to buy better (higher listing price) inventory and be pickier about what I buy (rather than get caught up in the “it’s so cheap” buying frenzy). Working on it!
Wishing everyone a great week!
-
06/18/2018 at 8:25 pm #42770
My ears perked up when y’all started talking vintage fabric. I’ve had a love affair with fabric for many years. I do quite well with it on Etsy. Sold a piece of Christmas fabric just the other day. Haven’t put much of it on Ebay yet.
Vintage Treasure, 15 listings a day is a pretty lofty goal and one I am most likely not to meet…but one can dream. I too am enjoying the camaraderie and challenge! Thanks for the compliment…I just figured the worst thing she could say was no. But my gut told me she would appreciate the help in getting it out of there and she did. I kept expecting more workers to show up, but it was mostly just me, packing, and her husband throwing stuff into the enormous dumpster in the driveway. You should have seen the massive pile on the side of the house that they just threw there, waiting for the dumpster. I kept picking through it when I had a chance…pulled an old radio, a couple of old metal sprinklers, some old ephemera, a Charlie’s Angel puzzle…it was driving me nuts the stuff they were just throwing away. I finally had to just let it go and be happy that at least I was able to rescue as much as I could from the house. At least half of that would have ended up in the dumpster too. They just didn’t want to deal with it. I really had my scavenger hat on those days!
-
06/18/2018 at 8:54 pm #42776
I’m working this afternoon on a whole box of cartoon character coffee mugs from my earliest days on Ebay when I was scared to ship much else. Talk about eating your vegetables! I feel pretty determined to list myself out of this hole I made if it’s $10 or more. The next time I list I will switch it up to something I like better. I did list some patriotic stuff today, including some fabric.
-
06/19/2018 at 10:48 am #42819
Week June 11-17 https://imgur.com/ta1Tgwf
VintageTreasures, you really said it well. I find this thread so motivating and encouraging, even though I’m on the bottom of the pile. You guys are such fun to check in with each week!
ChristineR, that fabric! Drooooooool….
-
06/21/2018 at 4:19 pm #43085
Hey Twins!
ChristineR I love the fabric you listed, it’s gorgeous and so timely with 4th of July coming up. Oddly enough I also listed some fabric but mine is all the $5-$10 variety. I’m so impressed with your store, mine is filled with junk in comparison, I’ve really got to stop buying stuff because it’s a quarter. Time to pony up!
Wondering if anyone is up for a mini-challenge within the challenge? As a motivator? I’ve personally lost all my will to list after one sale yesterday for $11.00 and zero sales so far today… Any ideas? Maybe pledging to list 5 of your most put off items in the next week or something like that?
-
06/21/2018 at 9:31 pm #43128
Thank you for the very nice compliment VT. Sales are slow this week for me too.
I’ve been doing some finer organizing of my piles in new boxes and made a list of items by type with some general goals about when they are best to list over the course of the year, eg. ahead of holidays or back to school, etc. One of the bulkiest items I have are afghans and vintage bedspreads. I’d be up for a challenge of listing them. I think I have 7 or so. It’s not my worst listing / packing type, but definitely I’ve been putting it off. What I’m most dreading is super fragile 60s thin glass ceiling light shades and vintage tabletop lamps.
-
06/22/2018 at 11:59 am #43162
My husband is gonna LOVE you guys! He’s been on my case about the death piles in the garage. This mini challenge will be right up his alley! LOL
How about you nominate specifically what you’re going to list in the next week; number and type, and then you have to list them?
I have six computer fans that have been sitting under my desk for nearly a year now.
-
06/22/2018 at 12:14 pm #43166
Oh, I love you ladies! I’m so glad you are up for a mini-challenge! I think I will do large items, I have a few vintage suitcases, some puzzles and a doll that are taking up so much inventory space! And a couple of these items I’ve had for 5 years! Can we start the mini-challenge this Sunday? I will do 3 puzzles, 2 vintage suitcases and 1 large doll. And then if I sell that stuff I can fit in new inventory – LOL!
-
06/22/2018 at 12:28 pm #43168
I’m going to be on vacation next week, but maybe I’ll join a mini-challenge some other time.
In that vein, I would like to report extra early on my listing since getting online will be more limited on vacation. I finished up earlier and am ready to pack now.
Anyway, I listed 41 items which includes 4 from death piles. Sounds like a lot for me, but I didn’t list anything last week.
Funny, but one item was a printer. I found it didn’t work, so I listed the paper tray and the instruction guides, which count as two listings! That’s one way to get ahead in this challenge!
-
06/22/2018 at 12:34 pm #43169
Yes, let’s do it starting Sunday morning. I would love to price to sell and clear this bulky stuff out. I could literally pick up an afghan every visit to the thrift store and I like to rescue them because of the work someone put in. But, unless they are really exceptional and I’ve cleared most of the piles, I don’t think I want to store them. I have a bunch of baby quilts too. Same rescue weak spot but I think people are less inclined to buy used baby stuff and they get a lot of new gifts.
-
06/22/2018 at 1:57 pm #43175
I am up for a mini challenge. I will call my pile โstuff I shouldnโt have bid onโ and I will list at least 5 things from said pile by Monday night thanks for the kick in the pants!
Tam -
06/22/2018 at 5:42 pm #43223
Wonderful – let’s go, starting this Sunday! Tam you are ambitious! I was thinking I’d list my 6 things within the week of 6/24 – 6/30.
-
06/24/2018 at 6:07 pm #43359
I’m going to have to make a correction! Turns out my computer “fans” are computer power supplies!
So my mini-challenge is 6 computer power supplies. ๐ So far, managed to research them and create preliminary drafts!
-
06/25/2018 at 12:41 pm #43431
Enjoy your vacation, Sharyn!
Last week I created new drafts for the clothes that my local teenager is photographing for me. Dunno if this is going to be such a time saver, it felt like it took longer to create the drafts than it would have if I were doing the photography myself! We’ll have to see how it works out. So my actual listing consisted of 2 new items and 2 returned items. Just turned on free shipping and got two returns in the same week. Not a happy camper! To add insult to injury, one of the returns was a belt where the buyer gave me a lecture about sizing correctly, and how Medium fits her with all her other belts, but this one isn’t a Medium! What bugged me is that my listing clearly states the measurements in the title and in the items specifics, as well as the Medium that is printed on the belt. Grrrr…
Anyway, low listing number for last week, but 20 drafts created, so I’ll have a good listing number for this week. Yay!
-
06/25/2018 at 1:14 pm #43438
I listed 20 items, 17 from piles. Time to hit the afghans – ugh! thanks for the challenge. My daughter is here sick today so I might get in some listing as I’m home from work.
I did go to the college rummage sale – not much to resell – and bought some gorgeous ’60s Sascha Brastoff pottery at Goodwill. Fun! but after the afghans it’s my policy to list the new stuff, so other piles will wait.
I’m doing some finer organizing into banker’s boxes by type and I feel like it really helps you feel a bit less overwhelmed. I also have my list of seasons I want to list certain types of items in. Bite size pieces and a plan.
-
06/25/2018 at 11:18 pm #43549
Oops! Forgot to post my numbers! Dismal week last week, I lost all motivation and didn’t list anything new for 4 days straight. 18 new listings for me last week, I hope to do much better this week!
-
06/26/2018 at 1:19 am #43560
I love the idea of the mini challenge and even decided what I needed to list for it (1970s womens jumpsuits) …but things got away from me so I hope to join the mini challenge soon. Very busy working on the rummage sale over last weekend and all this week, but I have a big pile of stuff already planning to buy. That’s the upside…getting first pick on all the goodies.
I had to push a couple of late nights to hit my main listing goal…but I did it.
50 items listed last week.
Hope everyone has a great week!
-
06/26/2018 at 6:59 am #43565
I was fairly unsuccessful in my quest to diminish my death pile this weekend. Wanted to list 5 items, I listed 1. But I did move some stuff around…
- This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by tam from Tam's Vintage & More.
-
06/27/2018 at 10:42 am #43709
Week 25. EEP! Next week we are half-way through the year! Eek eek eek!
-
06/27/2018 at 4:52 pm #43757
Congratulations Vintage Lacy on hitting your week’s goal of listing 50 items, I am very impressed! Sounds like you have enough on your hands right now without joining this mini challenge…
Sharyn I hope you are having a wonderful vacation! To you both, I hope there will be more mini-challenges in the future that you can join. I know I’m going to need the extra motivation to get my “I don’t want to list any of that right now” death pile listed!
Just checking in to see how the mini-challengers are doing. I’ve listed 2 puzzles, 1 vintage suitcase and the large doll so far. How’s everybody else doing?
-
06/27/2018 at 6:08 pm #43761
Lousy so far, but I hope to make it back to listing by weekend.
-
06/28/2018 at 11:28 am #43832
I’ve done five out of six. Turns out #6 is a high-ticket one, so I have to take some time to clean it up nicely in order to get max dinero. Here are my five.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183291536752
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183291564412
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183291588410
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183291590728
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183291594493Thanks for this challenge! These would have sat for another year without the kick in the keister. I just didn’t feel like the hassle, and now I feel really good about getting them done.
Vintage Lacy, I used to have a goal of 25 per week, and it kinda fell by the wayside. I’m thinking I should get myself back in the saddle and do what it takes to get there!
-
06/28/2018 at 1:28 pm #43853
ChristineR & Amatino: Thanks for your responses! ChristineR I’m sending you super strong motivational vibes for this weekend, and Amatino – good job!!! For me those computer thingies would sit unlisted forever, I’d have to do so much research to even figure out what they are – LOL! Your photos are great BTW.
I’m still at 4 mini challenge items listed, but I did send one more puzzle to the donate pile, does that count? I have a feeling I might be stuck at 4 because I just hit an estate sale a half mile from my house and OMG! All the stuff I love to sell, low dollar, but totally in my wheelhouse, old sewing patterns and craft kits galore! So I may end up sucked down the rabbit hole of researching those – they fill the entire back seat and floor of my car ๐ Thank goodness my husband is out of town, so I have time to find a place in the house to put it all!
-
06/28/2018 at 8:42 pm #43919
Thank you! I just finished listing all but one and the last one is unattractive to me. I really did not enjoy that but I’m happy they are listed! It’s funny how much you can like buying something but then not enjoy listing it. Lesson learned.
-
06/29/2018 at 12:21 pm #43974
LOL, VintageTreasures, I feel your pain! We passed a sale this week and I resolutely refused to stop there. I just can’t handle any more stuff in my life until I’ve cleared my DPs. I’m sure I have easily 1,000 items waiting to be listed. I just have to clear it before I buy a single thing!
Except… maybe… those shoes! And oooh, isn’t that mug awesome? oh look! That gorgeous shirt is on sale and it’s a big name brand! Uh…. shakes head… I’m so hopeless!
๐ ๐ ๐
-
07/02/2018 at 9:59 am #44174
Thanks Vintage Treasures…I wish I could say I did as well last week but all I can report is ONE measly listing. I guess one is better than none. I spent over 60 hours working at the rummage sale and I am exhausted. LOTS of physical labor, but it was well worth it as the sale made over 4 thousand dollars, which is phenomenal considering 95% of the items were priced at 3 bucks or less. I also scored big time on picking the sale, with more than two van loads of treasures. It’s going to take me all this week to sort and figure out how/where to sell all the finds.
Amatino, I find I do best when I set a goal for myself each week…so many listings in each shop. I don’t reach it a lot of the time, but it’s something concrete to work towards. I may reach the listing goals in half the shops but not the others but it still feels good.
Vintage Treasures and Amatino, I totally get the urge to buy more, even with so much to list. Picking is really just so so much fun. My friend Tina who does the booth shows with me has convinced me that we need to do a road trip to explore the bins by the airport tomorrow. With the rummage haul covering half my garage space it’s the last thing I should be doing, but I am going anyway. ๐ I am hopeless too!!! I justify it by knowing that my picking season will end by the beginning of October, because the estate sales will be few and far between and I will have both my big show, and my vastly increased online shop sales to contend with. I don’t do much sourcing 4th quarter, if any.
-
07/02/2018 at 10:43 am #44181
I was on vacation, so I wasn’t able to list anything.
Right now, I’m packing up all my sales from the time I was away. I had 16 sales, so not so bad.
My parents met up with us on vacation, and they gave me several boxes of stuff and some art from a friend of theirs who is downsizing. They have more to give me when I see them again in August.
-
07/02/2018 at 11:16 am #44191
Listed 9 items on Ebay. I’m not counting my Mercari experiment as those are our own items not really piles. I did list my afghans per the challenge and decided to donate a couple. Hope they move out soon! Thanks ladies.
-
07/02/2018 at 6:30 pm #44262
Hi Challenger Friends!
Woo-hoo, I listed 53 items last week (my hubs was out of town, so I had more time to list). I really wanted to go to the Denver Goodwill Bins last week (I’ve only been once for about 20 minutes) but I was too busy even with my husband away for most of last week. My volunteer work and social life kept me hopping.
Vintage Lacy thanks for sharing your ambitious goal of 50 items per week, it inspired me to try for 50 listings last week! And you made me laugh when you shared that you got 2 van loads of inventory last week but you still plan on going to the bins. I’m right there with you in spirit! I thought about going back Sunday for $10 fill a bag day at the estate sale where I cleaned up last Thursday; but my limited storage space stopped me, or maybe the fear that I wouldn’t get it all put somewhere by the time my hubs got home ๐
Amatino and ChristineR: excellent job on listing your mini-challenge items! As predicted, I got stuck at 4 of the 6 I wanted to list due to the excitement of new junk to list. But they were still 4 of my biggest items so it will make a difference in freeing up inventory space if they do sell.
Thank you to everyone for playing along on the mini-challenge and congratulations to everyone who took part in it, I declare us all winners!
-
07/04/2018 at 10:40 am #44402
Whoo-hoo! One of the large items I listed as part of the mini-challenge just sold!
-
07/04/2018 at 1:19 pm #44445
Sorry for my delayed posts. It’s been one of those weeks where you don’t wake up and say “Good morning, Lord” but “Good Lord, it’s morning!” Living on a ranch is wonderful, but when things go wrong, they can be time consuming, backbreaking work, in 100 degrees on a hot Texas day! Phew! ๐
Listed 10, including my 5 from my mini challenge.
It turned out that having someone photograph for you is hard work to set up. I had to prep the 20 items she was to receive and create an inventory list, then get them to her, then get them back and check the received photos for quality, then prep the next set which was to be 40 items as she asked for more. The 2nd batch got prepped a lot faster as I worked out the kinks, but still took some time. And then, when I went with the second tote-full, she quit. She didn’t quit by text or email, not wanting to be rude, but waited for me to get there to “break up in person” (paraphrased.) I honestly would have preferred she sent me a text. It would have saved me hours of work and a 20 mile round trip! I was steamed about the wasted time and gas, even though I didn’t have a problem with her quitting. I was disappointed, but things happen, you know. Just… so much time gone, plus travel time, plus gas… for a Dear John? Grrrr…
Oh well! Life is what happens when we’re making other plans! LOL
-
07/04/2018 at 1:31 pm #44451
HALF WAY!
26 weeks down, 26 weeks to go.
My goal for the year was 25 per week, so I should have listed 650, but only achieved 242. Now, at the halfway mark, I shall create a new goal for the year. Current active listings are around the 500 mark. I would love to make it to 1,000 but I know I’m not going to get there. So I shall make a new goal of 750 active listings, or a minimum of 10 listings per week. Surely I can list two measly items per day? ๐
-
07/04/2018 at 2:27 pm #44460
Thanks Amatino for your work keeping up the challenge! It’s a bit depressing I think to see how little I was able to list over the course of a half year, but on the other hand I have definitely made progress on the piles and cut shopping to a minimum. I’ve been able to consolidate my inventory because I’ve seen room open up! ๐
Unfortunately, I’m still feeling overwhelmed by stuff right now! Ebay listed and unlisted are all stored in my garage and one closet. Also in the garage is stuff to sell from my dad’s house as he gets ready to make a move plus all of our family photos. Now we are about to remodel our kitchen and have to pack everything in that room up. Ugh! My kids are also at transition ages, I’ve recent changed clothing sizes (unfortunately) and we just really need to keep cleaning out. I’m not at all a person who enjoys clutter.
Good news is that I think I shall be cured from overbuying to resell ever again! I saw a post on Facebook that a lady just up and donated all of her death piles to get a fresh start. I vowed not to do that so I will only buy the things I don’t mind listing that are worthwhile going forward. No pain, no gain! As a reseller, it’s somewhat hard to donate items that I can make $10+ on and yard sales have been hit and miss. I’m really hoping Mercari works out for some of my piles because I can really get a lot listed over there quickly. Happy 4th!
-
07/04/2018 at 2:46 pm #44462
@Amatino – I vote that you try the 10 items a week goal. The reason is that the goal of 750 active listings could be difficult if your items sell very quickly. That’s a good thing, and you don’t want to not miss your goal because you did so well in sales!
Question: Am I winning because I have the most listed (587), or is Vintage Lacy winning because she has the most number of points (10)? Or are we both winning? ๐
@ChristineR – I hear you about not buying something you don’t want to sell! One thing I’ve learned though, it might be OK to buy extra stuff if you process it quickly and donate what you don’t want to deal with. I buy box lots at auction, so I get more than what I want to sell. As long as I go through it and get it out quickly (either donated or at least in a pile), then I’m OK.I say this because I started this year with TONS of stuff. I found that I had much that really wasn’t worth listing, so I just got rid of it. I should have started sooner, and it wouldn’t have been such a weight on my shoulders.
-
07/04/2018 at 4:37 pm #44473
Thanks Sharon. Yeah, I feel like maybe I’m being a bit too stubborn about it. I don’t have box lots, I purchased it all intentionally (except the items from my dad’s our our house). I decided under $10 or with condition issues and it gets donated. I just didn’t realize back then how long it takes to list and how much better stuff is available. It’s so easy to source around here and for the most part, I really only have time to list what I actually like myself. Just because you can make money on it, doesn’t make it fun to list.
Amatino, I vote for 10 a week too. My goal is to up the times per week I sit down to list.
-
07/05/2018 at 6:27 pm #44533
Amatino, I think Vintage Lacy and I got switched around on the # items we listed last week. Having joined the game so late I need all the points I can get – LOL!
-
07/06/2018 at 12:16 pm #44600
EEP! So sorry, VT! I’ve changed it and it will reflect correctly next week! HUGE apologies!
… grovel grovel grovel…
@Sharyn The year isn’t over yet. Ain’t nobody won nuthin’! ๐I’m like ChristineR – stubborn! I don’t want to let it go! But lately I have been opting to donate stuff that I can see up front is low value or more hassle than it’s worth. For example, some stuff is great, but to pack it up and ship it is going to be far more bother than what I’m going to earn for it. So I’ve been letting it go to the local thrift store, or trying to sell it on FB or CL or the local street sale. Items that are seriously low dollar (less than $10) but more than FC shipping, I sometimes just donate too. Not worth the hassle. But there are items that I will list if they’re low dollar and under a pound. If it’s quick and easy to ship, I will list it. Most of these listings I do as quick and dirty listings, using my phone and not fussing with the photos as much as my OCD self would like. It’s the OCD part that nails me, TBH.
-
07/09/2018 at 10:21 am #44850
Amatino, no worries, and no apology needed – Vintage Lacy and I have pretty similar names, I totally see how a mix up could happen!
New listings this week for me: 76! Love those sewing patterns as far as listing: so fast and easy to list! Downside is they are super low dollar items which brings my ASP way down. It’s always something ๐
-
07/09/2018 at 10:31 am #44855
Sat down 4 times to list – yeah! Listed some on Mercari that I’m not counting. Listed 24 on Ebay, 9 from piles.
-
07/09/2018 at 11:18 am #44869
In answer to my own question from last week: it can be incredibly hard to list 2 items a day! Listing for last week: zip. Zero. Nilch. Nada. Yuck!
I’ve had so much thrown at me last week, I’m reeling. And The Hubs is on my case about those Death Piles again. And finances are in a crunch, so I really NEED to be listing. I think I shall just consider sleep and food as hobbies and squeeze them in only when I have a couple minutes spare. Like… on weekends! Ugh!
-
07/09/2018 at 12:34 pm #44880
Vintage Treasures–congrats on listing so much! You are blowing me out of the water! I too sell patterns and I find they do even better on Etsy. I sold one for $10 yesterday and another for $24. Not bad for a twenty cent investment for each. I agree..they are fast and easy too.
Way to go ChristineR! Glad you found the time…it was a holiday week which I am sure complicated things for everyone too.
Amatino–hang in there. I am sure you will do better this week. I had high expectations for myself last week and fell very short. I only listed 19 items, which is a far cry from the 50 goal I have. Things got away from me too. But I must say I did take some much needed time to work on the book. And I reached the half way point with it….first draft is now officially half way written. That feels good. Best wishes to you Amatino for having a much better week this week all the way around.
-
07/09/2018 at 12:45 pm #44884
I, too, had a slow week. I only listed 5 items; however, I have good excuses:
Just got back from vacation
July 4 holiday week with my husband off Wed – Fri
I was given several art pieces which require a larger box than what I have in stock, so I had to order new ones. I have pictures taken, but I don’t want to list them until I know I have what I need.
I have two cabinets and a shelving unit that I had to organize. I got the cabinets for free because a friend was helping to get rid of furniture in a large office building. I bought the shelving unit about a month ago before I knew I was getting the cabinets.
Hopefully, I can list more this week. I shouldn’t have any of the above issues getting in my way, but life happens and it’s summer!
-
07/09/2018 at 11:13 pm #44979
ChristineR, you’re not counting your Mercari listings? Should I have not been counting my etsy listings? I assumed if they were new (not cross posted or relisted) listings they counted. The vast majority of my listings are ebay but my counts are not accurate if I shouldn’t have been including etsy. My bad?
Vintage Lacy, as well as having similar names, we sell some similar things! I agree that sewing patterns can go for more on etsy, but I sometimes go for the bigger audience, faster sale with ebay instead. Some patterns I couldn’t give away on ebay have sold on etsy though! And what is the subject of the book you are writing?
Amatino – you can do it! Just list one thing, your easiest thing, ASAP, to get the ball rolling!
I forgot to say that I listed every single day last week, which might be a first for me! This week is jam-packed though, so I’m not expecting this week to be like last week.
-
07/10/2018 at 12:42 am #44981
Vintage Treasures– It’s a psychological thriller. I closed my brick and mortar a year ago so I could finally free up some time to write. Up until that point I had written primarily poetry and prose, but I have 5 or 6 books in my head clamoring to get out. This is the first one. It’s a pretty simple story line (with 2 major twists) so I thought I would start with it. The others are more complex.
I’m heading to Michigan this week, and while it’s with romantic intentions, I also plan to do picking while I am there. My numbers will be low this week too.
-
07/11/2018 at 12:04 pm #45141
Oh my dizzy stars! How did I not post this week’s figures? I totally just …. didn’t!
That’s it, I’m plugging my brain in for a factory reset!
Sorry folks! ๐
Hmmm… I’m looking at my imgur account and wondering if it wouldn’t be easier to just put up numbers, seeing as there are so few of us?
Amatino – 0 – YTD 242 Pts 10
ChristineR – 24 – YTD 369 Pts 16etc.
Or do you like the pictures?
-
07/11/2018 at 12:10 pm #45142
Amatino – I say do whatever is easiest for you.
-
07/11/2018 at 8:11 pm #45189
I agree with Sharyn.
-
-
07/11/2018 at 8:10 pm #45188
Feel free to count Etsy listings for sure. Mercari is so quick and dirty and I’ve still had not sales, so I’m not counting. It only took me an hour and 15 minutes to post 30 listings, where I’m much slower on Ebay. So just an experiment.
Happy news that I am selling off some death pile coffee mugs I listed a couple of weeks ago! Yeah! Maybe I’ll list some more after we get back from vacation. I’m out of the contest next week and going on full vacation mode.
-
07/12/2018 at 2:51 pm #45255
I love selling mugs. So easy to photograph, list, and ship!
My best was a Cattlenan’s Steakhouse mug. Ugly little brown thing, but I was given it for free, so *shrug*. Listed and sold for $8 plus shipping, with a thank you note from the buyer that he was so relieved to find it as he’d broken his brother-in-law’s much loved one by accident. Made my week! I certainly would never have picked it up, but as it was donated, it felt really good to be useful!
Happy vacation!
-
07/16/2018 at 5:22 pm #45566
Hello Twins!
41 new listings for me last week.
Wishing you a great vacation week ChristineR – enjoy!
Wishing everyone else a great week too!
-
07/16/2018 at 9:32 pm #45589
I listed 16 items this past week. No death pile items. Better than last week, but still not so great.
There is just too much going on, and this week is going to be very busy. Next week, however, my daughter is going to be in a sleep-away program, and I’ll only have to deal with my son. Maybe that will help?
Starting the second week of August, my son will be done with summer camp, and I’ll have both kids at home. Help?
-
07/17/2018 at 12:59 pm #45648
No listings for me for last week but I did have a marvelous time in Michigan and came home with two very heavy suitcases chock full of picking goodies. Our best pick was when we were out on one of the penisulas and saw a sale sign down a dusty country road. The sign said SALE with a happy face drawn next to it. It turned out to be an estate sale and I scored an old quilt, old linens, old kitchen stuff and more priced at almost giveaway prices and my boyfriend scored a huge mound of items from the tool shed for a grand total of 15 bucks. The deceased owner had worked for Michigan Bell for many years and had lots of old telephone related gadgets. My bf listed one of them on Ebay yesterday and it sold in 3 hours for $200. So much fun!
I am back in Oregon as of yesterday afternoon and back to daily business. Hope to get a LOT listed this week.
Have a great week everyone!
-
07/17/2018 at 7:03 pm #45683
Hey everyone and happy week to those of you lucky enough to be on vacation!
None for me either for last week. Still trying to resolve the bombshell from 2 weeks ago. Sigh…
Wow, Vintage Lacy, how awesome! I’m not allowing myself to go shopping until I clear the death piles. Not happening at the moment. It’s going to be the new Millennium at this rate!
Sharyn, how about… https://www.seventhgeneration.com/raising-kids/50-ways-keep-your-kids-entertained-summer ๐
-
07/17/2018 at 7:05 pm #45684
P.S. It’s over 100’F here. Had to share this!
-
07/23/2018 at 10:05 am #45947
Zero for me this week, but it is the last week. I’m already working on listings, so the drought is broken.
Wish that could be said of our weather! ๐
-
07/23/2018 at 11:09 am #45953
Amatino – We have a possibility of rain predicted for every day this week. It’s a good thing, but my son is in summer camp, and I’d hate for him to go to a water park on a rainy day. Last year, all the rain happened on the scheduled on-site or movie days, so I congratulated the organizers for being so proactive! ๐ A water park is scheduled for tomorrow with 80% chance of rain, so not so on the ball this year!
I listed 29 items, which is up from the previous 3 or so weeks, so I’m happy about that.
I’ve not done anything with death piles recently, and I’m not sure I’ll get to any of that this week.
-
07/23/2018 at 11:40 am #45961
Sharyn…what I wouldn’t give for a prediction of rain this week! It’s going to be in the upper 90s for us all week and I have my Plucky Maiden show on Sunday. It’s indoors, which isn’t bad in itself, it’s just the loading in and loading out in hot weather that’s killer. PLus just getting my rig loaded up for the show. I feel your pain Amatino!
I listed 45 items last week. Hope to do as well this week.
-
07/23/2018 at 1:30 pm #45976
PLEEEEEEEEEEEZ send some rain my way, Sharyn! We’ve been over 100’F for the past two weeks and we desperately need some. I’m happy to share, no need to send it all! ๐
I’m with you Vintage Lacy. Hot, dang hot, and more hot!
-
07/23/2018 at 3:11 pm #45990
yeh, for some reason, someone seems to have mixed up June & July weather here. June was hot! July, warm.
-
07/23/2018 at 3:56 pm #45991
Zero for me. We just returned from vacation. I just bought two items to resell while away. The house is a disaster due to the remodel and my daughter has a pretty short day camp, so listing will be a challenge. But, we’ll see… We don’t have home air conditioning in my town because the weather is very mild almost year round. Only a handful of weeks in July and October that it gets really hot and this is one of them. Doesn’t help with the motivation. Stay cool friends.
-
07/24/2018 at 7:10 pm #46063
Did y’all get the “We’re sorry. Here’s what’s happening now.” email from eBay? I’ve managed just over 200 listings all year, and now they want me to do 200 in 4 days??? Sheesh! ๐
I’m going to give Vintage Treasures the rest of today to post her numbers, and then I’ll put up the schedule tomorrow.
Anyone wanna take the 200-in-4 challenge?
-
07/24/2018 at 9:04 pm #46071
I didn’t get the message, but, when I’ve received the 200 listings offer in the past, it would mostly go to the listings that renewed during the time of the offer. I guess if you don’t have that many items listed, then it won’t help much.
I guess this is an incentive for you to list this week!
-
07/25/2018 at 12:03 pm #46108
Vintage Treasures didn’t post, so I’m doing the schedule.
Gonna try to list 200 items in the 4 days by using my phone to take only 2 photos of each item, then will go back and edit the listings to bring them up to my standard quality.
-
07/25/2018 at 5:09 pm #46134
Sharyn, I had 105 GTC items that I’ve been wanting to change to 30 day for a while now and, when I read that the 200 listings works for relisting, I figured YES! Now’s my chance! Ended my listings, and relisted my first 50.
Got charged. ๐
So I guess the offer is for 200 NEW listings, not relistings.
-
07/25/2018 at 5:30 pm #46135
Ok… it listed the rest of them at no charge. And my Overview tab shows I’ve used 118 of my 200, so it must have triggered on the relistings as well.
Thanks for the info, Sharyn, looks like it does work. Now I can try to ensure I never lose out on listing offers again.
-
07/27/2018 at 11:17 pm #46315
First of all I want to apologize for not posting my # on Monday!
I left for eBay Open on Monday and I thought I would post on Monday morning before I left, but we stumbled upon a house for sale, saw it, put an offer on it and put our house on the market on Sunday. So I ended up carrying 50 bankers boxes of eBay inventory from the 2nd floor bedroom I work out of down to our garage in the hours before I got on the plane on Monday, plus I tried to get my very messy house ready for showings while I was in Las Vegas!
In all the tumult I completely forgot about bringing my password with me so I could post from Vegas instead.
Anyway, with all the getting ready to go to Vegas and house stuff I only listed 12 last week, and probably this week is going to be a zero with all that’s going on. I really need to get on my closets before some nosy prospective buyer opens one and gets killed my the avalanche of my unlisted and hidden eBay inventory.
-
07/28/2018 at 9:53 am #46325
I forget now, but do you live in Florida? I seem to recall a few folks in this challenge are from FL. What is spurring the house purchase? Are you expanding your eBay space? Looking for something smaller? Or just moving to an area that you like more?
I will have to make a trip to eBay Open some day. For as little as I make on eBay in a year, the expense is hard to swallow. However, my mother- and brother-in-law live in the area, and I really should make a combined visit/business trip.
-
-
07/28/2018 at 8:32 pm #46354
Hey Sharyn, in answer to your questions: I live in Colorado. As to what is spurring the house purchase, I just was never crazy about the house I live in now. Although it’s lovely, it’s just not really my style. Yes, I am expanding my eBay space, and I wanted a bigger house overall than I have now, with better mountain views. The house we are buying is newer, with better finishes and it’s 1/3 bigger (not including the basement) than our current house. We don’t have a basement or a usable attic in the current house. I think and hope I will like the area I’m moving to more. So I’m stoked and excited but as everyone knows it’s pretty stressful to keep your house in perfectly clean condition for showings. We’re hoping to get an offer really quickly, we had 10 showings in the first 2 days. Fingers crossed!
-
07/29/2018 at 8:41 pm #46390
I hope that you sell the house quickly. We bought/sold a house in 2005. It was a while ago, but I remember the stress. It’s not something to brush off. Good luck with it – I hope it sells fast!
-
-
07/29/2018 at 2:28 pm #46376
Hey, VT, congrats on finding a new home, empathy at preparing for the sale and move. We’re now in what I fondly call “our forever home” after moving in excess of 6 dozen times in my life. I kid you not!
I’ve added your numbers for last week to the schedule. If you don’t post again before Tuesday I’ll put in you in for zero for this week… with commiseration!
I’m posting early as I’m done listing for this week. I did a bunch of relists, moving all my remaining GTC over to 30 days and cursing eBay for my lost photos. I’ve got 5 listings left where I need to find the photos or do new ones.
New listings added up to only 20, but seeing as I’ve had a spate of zeroes for the past few weeks, I’m happy with that number. I’m planning to list daily now going forward, I’ve created a new photo set up to allow me to post linens and bedding, ahead of new school year moves, and it’s working out for flat clothes photos as well, so I’m thrilled and motivated to clear my clothing Death Piles. Everything I’m listing at the moment is DP. I’ve totally stopped buying until I clear old stock.
-
07/29/2018 at 5:54 pm #46385
Thanks Amatino! You can go ahead and put me down for zero for this week, that’s my #, sad to say. I do feel pretty good (so far) that after moving most of my inventory from the second floor to my garage, I’ve still been able to find the items to fulfill the few sales that I’ve made this week.
If anyone ever wondered if listing every day has a big impact on sales I can say for sure that it does! I think I’d listed (at least 1 new item) on eBay everyday for the last 3 weeks previous to eBay Open. And the week before I left for eBay open was my highest grossing week ever, $800 something, which is really great for me. Then the week of eBay Open was probably my lowest grossing week since I’ve had a store. I posted zero new listings during eBay Open week. If I can manage I’ll post the stats on both those weeks as a FYI for everyone, but that depends on how many showings we continue to have…
Eeek! 6 dozen moves! Did you even unpack all the boxes inbetween moves? I think I would have just hauled them packed from place to place!
-
07/29/2018 at 8:50 pm #46391
I actually had a good week of listing. I listed 45 items, 2 of which were from death piles.
And what a death pile those two were. I had listed a vintage Western Australia police uniform almost two years ago when I was quite the eBay newbie. eBay took it down, of course, and I didn’t know what to do. Some time later, I realized that I could list the patches with no problems. I finally got to doing it, and I realized the buttons were OK as well. I read up on the policy to make sure everything was Kosher.
The reason I had such a productive week was because my daughter was attending a 9 day program at a college. I still had my son at home, but mostly I just need to drop-off/pickup from summer camp. My daughter has many more activities. So, I won’t be reporting a number so high for the rest of the summer, especially since summer camp ends in two weeks!
-
07/30/2018 at 11:49 am #46413
LOL. Yes, we did actually unpack between moves. Crazy, I know. But I’ve become an incredible packer and it’s an effective way of not having a huge haul of clutter in your home!
I was a military brat, so we moved every couple years. I kinda got a bad case of itchy feet from that and, when I left home, wandered a bit, moving house every time a six-month lease came to an end, sometimes just to another suburb, other times to a complete new city. Then I married a Marine and it was back to the every couple years stuff. The last time I actually sat down and counted up the moves I remember, about 10 years ago, I’d moved house a total of 52 times. I’ve lived in 4 different countries since then, and moved in 2015 to this new place. As we’ve actually bought it, I’m hoping we stay, but I’m struggling with a bit of wanderlust. I’ve threatened the hubs with selling the house and buying an RV and becoming a permanent transient, only without needing to pack boxes! ๐
-
07/30/2018 at 12:38 pm #46417
Congrats Sharyn on the listings! You scorched me this week for sure. I only did 14 listings, as I spent most of my time getting ready for the big show yesterday. It was a fun show and I did well but I was hating life having to pack up and load my rig in 98 degree heat. That was 2.5 hours I was sure glad was over when it was over. Ugh.
Amatino, I can’t even imagine. My last move was 6 years ago into this house and it was the move from hell. I hate to admit it but there are still a few boxes in the nether regions of the garage that are unpacked to this day. I have a friend who’s husband inspects carnival rides all over the country and they lived out of a motorhome for years…until they finally settled down in a coastal town in Texas. She liked the nomad life.
VT….congratulations on the new home and good luck with the move! That’s an interesting statistic on listing and its impact on your sales. My bf swears by it and tries to list at least a couple of things each day. Perhaps, this might be the kick in the pants I need. Thanks.
It’s going to be scorching hot again this week so all the more motivation to stay inside and list. Next week I am going on a picking trip to California so it’s going to be low numbers. No complaints though…I love my road trips.
Have a great week everyone!
-
07/30/2018 at 3:07 pm #46444
I listed 17 items, mostly death piles.
Actually mostly vintage pyrex I had stowed away in a hard to reach kitchen cabinet. Only keeping one set of pyrex Butterprint and one really cute set of hazel atlas. Some of the less desirable stuff I just put on facebook. Good luck with the packing and move VT. I can’t imagine how disruptive to Ebay after just packing the kitchen… -
07/30/2018 at 11:25 pm #46494
Wow, y’all were quick this week! ๐
Yay! I got a point!
ChristineR, do you find that selling stuff on FB works for you? I put large, unwieldy items up occasionally, but hadn’t thought about stuff like pyrex.
Sharyn, I wonder if you can sell the uniform now that you’ve scavenged off it. Like as a “for parts or costume dress up”? An outfit for Halloween? I didn’t actually know you couldn’t sell a police uniform. I see military stuff all the time, why are cop items different?
-
07/31/2018 at 7:41 am #46506
Amatino – Yes, I certainly could have sold the uniform separately. I had one of those thread cutter things in my hand, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the patch off that way. The thread was very tight and the stitches close together – definitely done by machine. I thought that maybe they were glued on, and so I cut them off. Cutting the threads might have left big holes as well. I’m not concerned. I’m glad to get them out of my death pile.
The pants, though, are fine. I’m not sure they were even part of the uniform to begin with. I took photos, I’ll need some measurements, and then I can list! They will be part of next week’s report!
-
08/07/2018 at 8:29 am #47011
Hey Twins!
5 new listings for me last week; I haven’t had time for much of anything besides cleaning and packing. I haven’t even heard the podcasts or read the comments since returning from eBay Open. Hope to at least catch up with the Challenge comments soon!
Hope you all are doing well and enjoying the last month of summer!
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.