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Another great episode!
I was wondering about the guaranteed handling time. In one of the seller updates earlier this year EBay mentioned being able to set up a cut-off time for what counts as a day. Basically a way to set your schedule so that you could say that you won’t guarantee something that comes in overnight for shipping the next day. Or that you could say its fine M-F, but not on the weekends, or some thing like that.
I’ve looked for this a few times and haven’t been able to find it. This would help me out in terms of the new guarantees, so I wonder if anyone has seen it / used it?
May 28 – June 3
Total Items in Store: 761
Items Sold: 19
Cost of Items Sold: $26.50
Total Sales: $531.86
Highest Price Sold: 160.00 for one of my own paintings
Average Price Sold: $28.00
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $120.00 (super week at the auction)
Number of items listed this week: 47I haven’t been able to post my numbers recently because I have been quite busy the past few weeks. A lot of family / work stuff, but also my store has really started to take off and I have had my 3 best weeks in a row.
So obviously very happy about that.The backup plan is a great topic and one I think about quite a bit. Since I am really still less than a year into doing eBay I am trying to build in the backup plan from the get go.
I see eBay as just one part of a kind of patchwork approach to earning an income. I am focusing a lot of energy right now into ramping eBay up. At the same time I am continuing to work on building my art career, and I am planning on getting back to teaching drawing and painting next year. I have a number of other things in the works as well in terms of selling online and using both that and my art to springboard into other things. It gets complicated and I have a notebook devoted to it, but the key is that I want to have a lot of components in the patchwork.
For me that provides a kind of safety/backup plan as well as preventing me from getting bored or burnt out with one thing.
Yes this has been my experience as well. If I hold the camera pointing at a 90 degree angle from the floor then it orients correctly. There is a point which I can tip the camera forward where eventually it will stop orienting correctly and then require you to rotate the picture afterward.
It took me awhile to figure that out and it was only the discussion last week that got me testing it.
May 7 – May 13
Total Items in Store: 661
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $8.50
Total Sales: $309.61
Highest Price Sold: 60.00 for box of Canon Toner
Average Price Sold: $19.35
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $15.90
Number of items listed this week: 76Once again a mostly slow week blew up with a few days of great sales. Found 2 boxes of OEM Canon toner for $2 each at our local restore and they sold quick and for a great amount.
I was all set to go to the rain date of a local multi-family yard sale on Saturday – and it rained harder that day then on the original. So, hopefully soon.
My numbers for the week:
Total Items in Store: 601
Items Sold: 15
Cost of Items Sold: $8.50
Total Sales: $325.02
Highest Price Sold: 29.00 2 boxes of 1981 Phillies Cards
Average Price Sold: $21.66
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $43.10
Number of items listed this week: 44Very strange week with a lot of slow days and then doing half of my sales on Wednesday.
I had planned to hit a few yard sales on Saturday, but it mostly rained or threatened to rain so lots of folks had called them off, or just weren’t out. So, I hit the auction on Saturday and came out with a few neat things.
I got a huge box load of ceramic figurines made in occupied Japan at the auction for a buck. I have already been selling quite a few of them, and it looks like it may be a nice steady stream for at least a while.
I’m hoping to get to more yard sales in the coming weeks though as I have seen quite a few signs popping up around us.
Thanks for sharing this T-Satt. Really great to see how you are organizing. Gives me lots of ideas to work in the space I have. The filing cabinets are a great idea.
April 23 – April 22
Total Items in Store: 572
Items Sold: 17
Cost of Items Sold: $11.00
Total Sales: $348.33
Highest Price Sold: $50.00 Robotech Perfect Collection CD
Average Price Sold: $20.50
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $37.50
Number of items listed this week: 38This week felt strange with a day of nothing followed by a day of 5 sales followed by a day of nothing and then more sales. Happy that all together it was a pretty good week.
I’m also gradually transforming my basement into a storage space and somewhat of an office. Last summer I had repaired parts of the basement and waterproofed – and now its like another room in the house. Very happy about that. I have added a lot of shelving (nice metal shelving that I paid $20 for at a closing office down the street), a few filing cabinets (used for book storage), a table I made myself to use for shipping and packing.
Still debating and calculating how I want everything set up, but I love reading about everyone’s systems here on the forums.
I’ve also heard these as the 3 legs of the stool that we have to maintain or we risk falling. I guess that gets back to always trying to keep things balanced, which is tough. I’ve been a bit maniacal lately, and my sleep and health have been the engine left unattended, so I’m working on getting that back in order.
It’s always nice to remember how big an effect little things can have. Whether that’s taking a walk every morning, or making sure you list at least 1 thing everyday. They add together, they snowball, and things move along faster than you expect.
I haven’t gone through my numbers yet this week, but I know it was very odd. One day nothing, the next 3 or 4 sales, and then the next day nothing again.
I am one of those who has a 40 hour a week day-job, and another 10 to 20 hours a week doing freelance work. A family and bajillion related responsibilities. I have very specific goals that I am aiming for with my Ebay business. The 1st of which is getting rid of our mortgage, to then be followed up with leaving the day job.
I think it’s all about keeping those goals in mind and then being very disciplined with what I am doing. Giving up a few things now to hopefully have them more in a year or two.
That said, it’s rough. I have been working at a furious pace the past few weeks though because my wife and kid are out of the country for a few months. So I have set the goal of 1,000 listings by the time they are back at the end of July. I’m trying to be focused with it and I think I’m on pace. But I’m afraid its my storage and organizing that is falling behind – so I need to get in on that.
Good luck getting ready for your trip, and I hope you have a good time as well. I’m looking forward to listening to the podcast this evening as I list up a new pile of items I picked up at auction.
Total Items in Store: 551
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $2.50
Total Sales: $340.85
Highest Price Sold: $28.00 1978 Mego Superman Doll with a broken leg
Average Price Sold: $26.22
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $33.40
Number of items listed this week: 52This week certainly slowed from the past two. With everyone discussing the summer slowdown on the forums here I have been on the lookout for it. That said, still a good week for me numbers wise.
Total Items in Store: 512
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $6.50
Total Sales: $412.15
Highest Price Sold: $68.65 Vintage Robotech Jet Toy
Average Price Sold: $20.61
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $63.60
Number of items listed this week: 32I had a pretty busy week in my store (and elsewhere…). I think this may be the 1st time I’ve sold 20 items in a week, and it was a lot of little items I put up a few months back. Not a lot of money on those things but then I had a lot of higher priced items go on Friday and saturday. Lots of toys from the 80s.
Great podcast this week Jay and Ryanne. Got me thinking about things both Ebay and otherwise.
I really wonder about the idea that baby boomers have a lot more stuff then GenXers or Millennials. I’ve thought so at times, but then I’ve met folks my own age (er…GenX) and younger who are really into stuff. Records, toys, car stuff, and on and on.
But I do feel the relationship to stuff has changed. My wife and I like to keep our stuff minimal and our lives simple. We try to raise our daughter with the idea that doing things, and experiencing all kinds of things is better than just getting the next toy. I feel that a lot of people around us feel pretty much the same way (perhaps self selected?).
But my mother and others in her generation always seem to use stuff as a part of regular experiences. So that one can’t go out with grandma without getting some kind of thing. There is always a gift, or a little something, that has to be added in to an experience.
Perhaps that is too controversial. Getting down on Grandmas 🙂
As for my week, I finally crossed the 500 mark for my store. A little something to celebrate.
Total Items in Store: 501
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $4.25
Total Sales: $352.81
Highest Price Sold: $38.50 Vintage copy of Dreamwever 8 w/ serial not in box
Average Price Sold: $19.60
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $8.40
Number of items listed this week: 58I had the opportunity to go crazy listing this week. My wife and Daughter are in Japan for a few months, so I have a kind of 2nd bachelorhood. Trying to keep myself busy so I don’t miss them too much.
Sorry to read about the break-in. My wife and I went through one a few years back, so I know how you how it goes. Definitely good to have some extra money around , and it’s good to have something to keep you extra-occupied I think too. It keeps me from falling into worry and anger about what I should have done, etc.
My best week on Ebay yet, ends my best month on Ebay yet!
Total Items in Store: 460
Items Sold: 17
Cost of Items Sold: $0 Most of these were things found, owned for ages, or given to me
Total Sales: $435.30
Highest Price Sold: $78.00 a terra-cotta ocarina branded by Mujiryushi (MUJI) in Japan. Sold it back to someone living in Japan.
Average Price Sold: $25.58
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $138.00 – I had a chance to go to a toy auction, so I threw down a bit of cash and hope to start making it back soon.
Number of items listed this week: 34I really appreciated the talk on having goals. For me the goal sort of led to selling on Ebay. Basically my goal right now is to pay off my mortgage. And in turn paying off the mortgage is part of a larger goal of creating more freedom for both my wife and I to focus on our art-making. We’re both painters and work day-jobs, care for our family, and make art. And of course I run this Ebay store. So we have no time and our mostly sleep-deprived.
I sympathize entirely with being at a job and feeling like your time is just being wasted away. I have a great boss right now, and easy-going work situation and a decent salary. I should feel pretty happy I suppose, but I don’t at all. There are times when I am at work inventing things to do when I have at least a thousand I could be doing at home on a daily basis. I could right many long paragraphs about that, but I’ll spare you.
Suffice to say that I see Ebay as almost an outgrowth of my art-making. I always like having funky objects around to practice drawing with and play with sculpturally. Being able to sell them off after I’m done with them makes all kinds of sense.
Hopefully as I keep growing this I’ll get our mortgage paid off asap.
March 12 – 18
Total Items in Store: 420
Items Sold: 15
Cost of Items Sold: $2
Total Sales: $327.78
Highest Price Sold: $52.00 – Set of Vintage McCoy Kitchen Canisters
Average Price Sold: $20.44
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $1.06
Number of items listed this week: 26Happy to say that my sales bounced back significantly for me this week. Sold nearly twice as much this week as last for whatever reason. I try to keep my head and emotions down and just keep listing things as best I can. I have a goal right now to get over 1000 items in my shop, and I am trying to focus on that as my metric for success.
Of course the money coming in is important, but it isn’t my sole source of income yet, so I feel I can focus on just building the shop to what I want it to be.My family will be out of town for the next few months, so I will hopefully really be upping my listing game as well in the next few months.
I’m very new to this, and so far I haven’t encountered anything I would consider scammy. That said in the few months I have been doing this seriously every month someone has purchased something and then not paid for it.
There’s nothing wrong with this per se, but I just find it weird and outside my experience. I don’t think I have ever purchased something and then not paid for it. I can imagine a lot of reasons this would or might happen, but it just seems odd that it recurs so frequently. Who knows.
