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That is very interesting! I love Tetris, but you’re right on the money– it gets tiring playing every time you have new stuff coming in or sold stuff going out! Ha! I don’t know how good I am at estimating spatial needs, but I think a little less Tetris is in the cards for me, and soon. Somehow I’ve kept adding and adding to my garage when I thought I’d surely max out at 4k items… and yet here we are rounding the corner to 8k! In part, that’s because I’ve been sourcing a lot more small collectibles and jewelry by purchasing big lots online since quarantine first started. It’s a little more lower dollar items than I prefer, but it has definitely resulted in fitting 8k items into my garage setup.
I am about to help friend totally eliminate a jam packed 10×20 storage unit from her life (and estate clean out she did on her own) and will be consigning many of those items in my store… and they are mostly not palm-of-the-hand kind of items. I think that’s what’s going to push me to get a unit myself, because I suspect we might be listing up to half of what is in hers. I’m hoping with some careful organization I can get a lot into one and still keep everything fairly accessible… I’d love to keep growing my inventory AND move some of the stuff out of my garage if I’m going to be maintaining an external unit from now on! Time will tell, indeed! That’s happening this week, so I’ll be sure to report back as this thing unfolds!
Just curious, do you think in the future you’d build back up to needing a 10×10 space, or are you currently content with your baseline inventory number?
OH MY GOSH I meant to also mention that Time Away was AWESOME! I used it the second week it was available and it was a dream! I think it took using it for the first time for me to fully understand how it interacts with handling time — that I can still set handling time in business policies and it all works together in beautiful harmony! Seriously the best. Also, my managed payments kicked in today finally, so wish me luck! So far the end-of-the-year changes rolling out seem to be more good than trouble; good job, eBay!
I certainly will — I’m waiting on a few copies to have on hand! Thanks 🙂
October 25-31
Active Listings: 7790
Items Sold: 64
Gross Sales (including shipping): $1475.85
Cost of Items Sold: $50.81
Highest Price Sold: $108.90 (Vintage SUSIE LEE Mohair Sweater)
Average Price Sold: $23.06
Returns: 0
Sourcing Cost: $280ish (two auctions and a couple of spontaneous Goodwill runs)
AHA! Finally prevailed!
Hey all! I love Mad Max vs Star Trek… this resonates very deeply with me. I love the positive perspective of the Star Trek lens, and I love that it’s being talked about! Sometimes it’s easier to find common ground among the negative, and that’s certainly part of human nature, but it’s not the healthiest (or the most fun, ha!).
In any case, it’s been a WILD time lately! I have been terrible about getting around to posting on the forum, mostly because I’ve been so stinking busy! October was my biggest month yet on eBay, and I was shipping and sourcing like crazy. It’s been great, even if a bit exhausting. Oh, and getting the last few days of items packed and shipped was a little extra challenging since our power was out for three days up here in north GA (finally restored last night, thank goodness!).
On top of all of that, my book finally came out yesterday! Hooray! It’s about my transition from running my private therapy practice to full time selling on eBay and the why and how of said transition. The goal is just to give an example of my own personal experience with this, much like the Scavenger Life Podcast has served me on my own journey! It’s called “Miscellaneous” by Anna Packer and is available on Amazon. Hooray for finishing a big project!
I’m just under 8k active listings right now, and I’m trying to hit 10k by the end of the year, so it’s probably still going to be crazy town for a while if I want to reach my goals. Probably going to be venturing into additional storage (not at my house) for the first time at some point this month. Even so, I am going to try to be better about posting my numbers every week and participating more on the forum. I have been a mostly silent member of this community for years, but I love and appreciate it so much that I want to contribute value as much as possible. I certainly have received tons of value just being a passive member for so long! Hope everybody (and their stores) are going strong this week!
PS I am struggling at the moment with getting my numbers posted without weird formatting issues… I will comment on this with my numbers momentarily. Standby!
Hey! Yes, it’s about eBay and kind of my story of getting into it…it will be available to anyone and everyone once it’s officially out! I’ll mention in on here when it’s available 🙂
Oh and I forgot to mention… I’ve also had some super annoying trouble with eBay send, similar to what Ryanne described on the pod episode this week. I already changed all of my listings back to global shipping because the process is so much smoother almost every time!
Hey all! Great podcast this week; I listen every week though I haven’t been great about reporting my numbers for the last few weeks. I so appreciate everyone (consistent, or inconsistent like me) who post their experience and numbers on the forum. It’s seriously such a great source of encouragement!
Also, you guys rocked my world on the podcast this week talking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. As a licensed professional counselor who practiced privately with therapy clients in my former life (before full time eBay, haha) I think about that concept ALL THE TIME, especially related to my own transition to full-time-ish eBay work as a way better fit for my life!
I’ve been pressing ahead, listing like crazy and working with a new helper too. I’m trying to get to 10k active listings by the end of the year… I’m at about 6350 right now. I’m not totally sure why, but it feels like a big milestone to me and I think there will be a lot of good stuff in the journey there as well as on the other side, speaking of self actualization! Sales haven’t been super great, but not terrible either. It feels a little tight as I’m now paying my new helper for photographing 400-500 items per month and the sales haven’t caught up to my higher inventory quite yet. It’s an adventure; it’s got to be at least a little bit scary. I’ve also just yesterday turned over my final author proof of my book about the function of my eBay store to my publisher… it’s hopefully going to be in print in the next week or so! Eeeek!
Wishing everyone a satisfying and productive week as we all gear up for the holiday season!
Loved the podcast this week! I love it any time the ideas of never being too old to try something new, just getting started, and putting in the hard work are reiterated. It’s inspiring every time (almost as inspiring as the legendary “road burger” – LOVE it, haha.) I’ve been absent from posting my numbers the last few weeks, but I’m back in action this week. Been doing tons of eBay work, just not getting around to the forum in time! So, here’s my week last week:
July 19 – July 25
Total Items In Store: 5005
Items Sold: 30
Gross Sales (including shipping): $987.43
Cost of Items Sold: $32.52
Highest Price Sold: $127.66 (A revereware pot from a yardsale! Woohoo!)
Average Price Sold: $32.91Not a bad week; it felt a little bit slow, but not terribly so. I’m really wondering how fall/winter are going to be in terms of sales, as I’m sure many of us are! Here’s to another profitable and enjoyable week of life for everyone! Cheers!
I meant to mention that! No cars, only a few rows of steel shelves with inventory and about one row of shelves for our personal stuff. Our laundry “room” is out there too, so there is no chance of cars being in there anytime soon!
Hey everybody! Just looking for a little company from my fellow scrappy/creative people as I brainstorm about this:
I’m going to be working toward doubling my inventory in the next twelve months (going from 5k to 10k, trying to max out my anchor store subscription and finance a couple of big life goals).
One of the things I’ve been doing to prepare for this is tightening up my inventory storage so I have a clear picture of where there is still space in my current storage setup, consolidating and whatnot, AND part of that process has involved replacing some ratty old bins and cardboard boxes with beautiful clear totes so I can actually see my inventory without pulling out the bins, wrenching off the lids, etc. I am loving that upgrade already!
Currently, all of it is in my 2-car garage on steel shelves and *mostly* in plastic totes. I’m always amazed how much more stuff I can fit in there when I tweak my organization as needed, but I’m certain I’m going to officially outgrow the garage before too long as I’m pushing for this big goal in throughout the next year.
So, two questions for which I’d love some fellow brainstorm power:
1. What other storage considerations would you consider if you were in my shoes (even getting a storage unit or something–there is a decently priced climate controlled option about half a mile from my house)
2. What other considerations/aspects should I be thinking about/planning for while preparing to kick it in to high gear and double my inventory?
Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thanks for playing 🙂
June 21 – June 27
Total Items In Store: 4741
Items Sold: 58
Gross Sales (including shipping): 1203.36
Cost of Items Sold: 37.32
Highest Price Sold: $74.47 (Slide Scanner)
Average Price Sold: $20.74
Returns: 2
Sourcing Cost: $0Not a bad week! Lots of low dollar items selling, but I’ll take it. I loved the conversation on the pod this week; I tend to fall on the optimistic side of “nothing here” as well. I’d love to live in a place with a little more “nothing” someday, in fact. One of my dreams is to buy the farm I grew up on (no longer owned by my family) and live there again. One of my favorite places on earth, surrounded by lots of nothing! To me, space is one of the hottest commodities of all.
