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Greetings, y’all! Hope you’re all warm and happy this winter, unusual as it has been.
Last week VT mentioned that she got a stunning number of items listed, and some great sales, because of a challenge with her eBay Bestie. I’ve been thinking about it all week, and wanted to tell you about my eBay Bestie. (Most folks would call them an Accountability Partner, but I like eBay Bestie!) I started the TELC 5 years ago because I wanted to improve my listing numbers, but it was only when I got a personal eBB that things began to turn around.
My eBB has a larger store than me, her current monthly sales totals are my future goal totals, we don’t sell the same stuff (although we both sell used/non-homogenous.) She’s been selling nearly 2 decades, I’ve been going less than 6 years. We’ve never met, we don’t even live in the same state. She has a professional light kit in a basement, I have a DIY lighting system in a cabin. She was using a phone, I was using a camera, when we started – but I’ve recently capitulated and changed sides, mostly due to PhotoRoom. If we were both members of a mentorship group, we would never have been matched up!
However, due to our commitment to each other, we have both seen a huge increase in our respective businesses. She has doubled the size of her store (okay, she lists WAY more than me!) Last year I listed more than I have since I started the TELC.
The key to a successful Accountability Partner lies in respect and boundaries. You have to know how to push the boundaries and not cross them, and you have to respect each other enough to want to honor the commitment. You need to want to not disappoint your Bestie by not reaching the bar they set for you. Or by not trying to reach the bar – some bars are set a little high, and sometimes life intervenes. Your Bestie needs to know when to support your hard times and when to swing a cudgel! Some days my bestie has to pull out the big bat and beat my stubborn head around the ears so that I stop making excuses! LOL
When we first started, we made an agreement that we would be honest with each other. No silent resentment and hurt feelings. If one of us offends the other, we say “Ouch! That hurt!” Then we explain what the other had done to offend, or why we took offence, and we would clear it up, apologize if necessary, and go on. Your accountability partner can’t be some stranger on the web, you need to be honest and vulnerable with each other. You’re going to become friends, or it won’t work. How else would they know when to push and when to just be there for you? We have managed to offend each other a few times, but this honesty policy has been refreshing and our salvation. We’ve worked through our issues and grown stronger because of it.
One side effect of having a Bestie is that, over time, they might pick up on problem areas that you haven’t noticed. Or have been quietly trying to ignore, because you find them daunting! My Bestie picked up on my erratic listing stats. She noticed that I don’t list every day, and this week, she pulled out that huge club of hers and challenged me to list 3 items every weekday. Wow and ow! She hit me right in the gonads! I absolutely, positively need to list every day, but I have so many rea… excuses, let’s be honest! I told her she was mean, she knows my weekly listing goal is only 10, which would be 2 per day! But she wouldn’t budge; she knew I needed to get over that hump. (She isn’t mean, she is exactly what I need, that push to jump out of the nest!)
This week had multiple very late nights, sometimes getting my 3 listings up right at the last minute – but I did it! 15 listings for me for the first week of the new year. I would not have achieved that if she hadn’t been there for me. Best of all, on top of the euphoria of achievement, I learned that I can make it happen. That push to extend me past my comfort zone helped me to realize that a little more dedication is all it takes. Now I have to just add perseverance, and I’ll might even double MY store this year! 😀
It used to drive me nuts as well. Absolutely looney! So I removed Best Offer from my listings. Folks message me offers now, asking if I would drop the price to $xxx, but I seldom get the “lowest” question. If they have to go to the trouble to send me a message, it’s more work, so I think it weeds out the trolls.
Brand new spreadsheet created and updated.
Phew, you guys, what a busy start to the month!
VL, I know you told me last year what your goal was to be, but would you tell me again in this thread so that I have it altogether? Everyone else, please would you send me your goal for your weekly listing number so that I can update your goal section in the spreadsheet?
Please remember, last year’s winners cannot win this year. At the end of the year, if the winner is a previous year’s winner, then the next highest will take the prize. So you can still be a weekly winner, as VL is this week, but you can’t be the annual winner.
Go forth and list, y’all! Get those Death Piles cleared before you get taxed on them!
Good morning, everyone! Sorry I didn’t get to post yesterday. Poor Felix got fixed! The vet called and said “I’m 15 minutes away, are you home?” so it was a frantic runaround trying to get the kitchen counter cleared for surgery and then find the cat. Isn’t it funny how they always know when the vet is coming? It was 5 minutes for the anesthetic to work, 2 minutes for his pockets to get picked, and then 4 hours of me stressing over his limp form, then watching over his wobbling attempts to move around and cleaning up upchuck. All is good, however. He’s running around like LooneyTunes, which is why I’m up at 2AM. Grrrrr….
It was a rough week last week, so only 10 listings up for me.
Well done, JR, on starting the new year with something up on the board! My sheet is printed and under my keyboard, so I can fill in my daily numbers and so that it’s a constant reminder that I need to be listing. Also, I use the back for all my notes and bits and bobs. At the end of the month, it goes into an envelope (I have a pack of 100 10×13 inch from OfficeMax.) I can then refer back to notes, or see what I did over the month, work out numbers, etc. I may add in scribbles on total sales per week too, just so that I can see my progress.
VT, 127 death pile items listed! Woot woot! AND nearly a third of them sold. How awesome is that? Go you! What a motivation to get those piles gone!
MyCottage, yes, Monday to Sunday, numbers on the next Monday. Welcome to the board!
Sharyn, I went through a phase of electronics and decided it was all way too much work! LOL. Well done for sticking through it.
VL, good luck on your goal! We’re all rooting for you and cheering you on!
JB. that’s freaking scary! So now we have yet another tax to worry about! Talk about a motivation to get Death Piles listed! However, did you know that Georgia has a Freeport Exemption? “A handful of states offer some form of Freeport Exemption for goods that are stored within their state but ultimately will be shipped to other states. Among states offering this kind of tax relief are Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.” Source
Jaepete, sorry to hear about your divorce. That’s very stressful. Sending best wishes that things will improve in the year ahead.
Hey, JR, my eBay Bestie recommended this YouTube Video on building a custom photo booth for clothing. Maybe it will help you too.
Mind blown! It never occurred to me that coupons could be stacked! Thanks for the great info, MyCottage!
I’m so glad you posted this! So many times we get hung up on the end product, when our focus should be on just getting it listed! Congrats on a great sale!
What a year! VT, I’m so sorry to hear about the fires in your area, but my respect to you for donating your eBay money to those impacted.
The December challenge was a bust, with only VT and I listing anything. VT listed 5, so she gets the win, and I listed 3, coming 2nd. No third or participation points.
The final totals for the Challenges; in 3rd place with an excellent effort is VL with 34; in 2nd place is last year’s winner, Sharyn, who clocked in with 38. And our 2021 Challenge winner is Vintage Treasures, with an impressive 41! Very well done, VT. I will be contacting you regarding your prize shortly. This is the last year with a Challenger prize, so I’m giving some thought to what it should be!
Now, for our listing winner… drum rollllllllll….. (or should that be rrrrrrrroll? 😉 ) we have something that has never happened before! We have a TIE! Both Julie B and Vintage Lacy clocked 19 winning weeks! These two have raced neck and neck the entire year! Wow, what a tennis match it has been and now, even the photo finish doesn’t reveal even a nose ahead (I can mix sporting metaphors with the best of ’em! LOL) Well done to both of you, a great achievement! JB, please will you email me at snratoni@yahoo.com with your address?
Well done to everyone for a great year’s work. I actually listed more this year than I have in the previous 3, so I’m very happy. Can you believe we have been at this for FOUR YEARS? Yup, we start year 5 now! Amazing! You can view the spreadsheet at the usual link, and you can access previous years by hitting the tabs at the bottom.
Time to move across to the new thread. Thank you all for your participation.
THIS THREAD IS CLOSED!
New Worksheet for you!
In honor of the new challenge, and because I found it incredibly helpful last year, I’ve amended the worksheet I produced last year and created a Monthly Planner that includes a space for your Challenge. It provides a block in which you can write your daily listing numbers, a To Do block, a Notes block, and something new… a DAS.
Now what, by my muddled mind, is a DAS? It’s a focus point. The acronym stands for Decision, Action, Satisfaction. (Yeah, I know, bear with me!)
Instead of writing out your goals, for example, as “Tidy that shelf”, and then working out how to do it, DAS demands far more. If you want to tidy a shelf, you have to look at the stuff on the shelf and DECIDE what to do with it. Do you want to keep the stuff? Put it in a box? Donate it/sell it/move it to a different shelf/set it on fire and roast marshmallows? Only once you have made your decision, do you take ACTION and get it done accordingly. Finally, in the satisfaction phase, you tweak whatever actions you have done to fit the polar bear plunge real life takes joy in tossing you into, and then finish the task to its full completion, before sitting back, putting your feet up, lighting a cigar, and wondering when the heck you started smoking and why it looks cool but tastes so disgusting!
It’s not as easy as it seems. I put it to the test yesterday and it’s quite a humdinger. Tidying up is something you do when you’re trying to make the place look good for company. DAS is what you do when you’re ready to deal with that space once and for all! It’s a whole different mindset and I LIKE it!
If you don’t want to use the DAS, please ignore and enjoy the rest of the worksheet.
I ended with a bang, 18 listings up, which included my travel ones.
Post all your numbers here for last week, and tomorrow I will list the final winners and close the thread, and we’ll all move over to the new 2022 thread.
Just FYI! Please post your numbers in the other thread, this one only starts from today. You will post here next Monday.
Posting because it’s unusual to have two threads running concurrently.
December challenge is over! Please post final numbers today.
At the very last minute, I managed to get 3 travel related listings up, one a map, one a book on mountain biking trails, and one a pilot’s radio handbook (if that doesn’t count for travel, I have no idea what does! LOL)
Okay, folks, this is the last time I will upload my full sheet for you, but here it is “in action”. The first number drawn in January is 12. If you’re using the sheet, you will write J or Jan or whatever you wish to put in under the Month column. The note section is personal choice: make a note of what you need to do, what you have done, what is left to be done at the end, it’s YOUR sheet. The done block at the end gets a whopping check mark on the last day of the month if you’ve managed to finish your challenge.
MyCottage, copy and paste the imgur link as text, not as a link. So just put the link into the body of your message as if it was text, not using the hyperlink option. Then it should populate as a picture.
My January challenge is to sort and tidy my packaging supplies and boxes. Himself has been bugging me forever to break down the boxes, but my biggest problem is how to store those poly bags. They’re always folded, and when you pull one out, you get a gazillion that you then have to try to shove back. Grrrrr… Anyone have any suggestions? 😉
Good luck, everyone!
