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Brilliant photos. No idea who D’Erasmus(?) is.
05/04/2018 at 7:46 pm in reply to: May the Fourth Coupon, 15% off Minimum $50 purchase, good until 4 p.m. Pacific #39079Thanks.
05/04/2018 at 2:41 pm in reply to: Fed Ex Shipping Problem with Large Art- Customer Not Available to Sign -Advice ? #39066Thanks ebaymom for your hard won experience. I am sure you will help prevent another from going down this rabbit hole. -Daniel
05/03/2018 at 8:41 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Vintage ashtray stand, Leather jacket, Cabinet photos, US Marshal patch, $600 book #39016I have been listing listing listing and had a pretty good week. Here are some select sales:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/192517791934
I got this hat from one of my online auction experiences (which taught me not to trust online auctions). It was so dusty that I almost gave up on it, but I used the sticky side of tape to go over it several times and it cleaned up well. Even still, I was thinking of pricing it low because the hat band was so gaudy, but I found comparables were marketed as 1970s vintage blah blah blah and I doubled my price to $78 and was happy to get a best offer of $70.https://www.ebay.com/itm/192486856067
I went to an estate sale and no one had looked at the ties on sale (as usual) so I went through them and found several high end ties that I picked up for $0.50 each including this Gucci tie that I sold to a guy in NYC.https://www.ebay.com/itm/192518485469
At another estate sale, I found these etched high ball glasses that are really nice heavy leaded glass. The etched images are of “the hunt” with hounds and horses so I put a high price on them and was pleased to get my asking price hours after listing.https://www.ebay.com/itm/192518384350
I still have no idea what these blades are for, but they were from a crate full of pre-1920s tools. They look like the sort of blades that fit into a moulding or plough plane, so that is what I labeled them. I chose a price of $3/blade for a total of $27 and they sold in a week.Yes – “Rats!” was the first thing out of my mouth, (or some scatalogical version of the same). Thanks for the responses. I had it half figured out and needed conformation that my error was in selecting “LETTER”.
I looked at others’ listings and the solution I like the best is to put a flat rate on shipping of $1.50. I think this will avoid causing the buyer to have sticker shock at the actual cost of 1st class + tracking. I will make up the lost $1.16 on my end by boosting the price.
Always something new to learn. Thanks, Daniel.
MDC and Jay, I am interested in this new topic and will listen to the linked files later, but on the original post, I have a question.
Tsatt, your data suggests that there is a boost in sales on Day 1, Day 8 and Day 30. Is it possible that you made a majority of listings on Sundays? Perhaps I am wrong, but Sundays seem busier than other days of the week. If you are uploading a lot of listings on Sundays, you might see Day 1 and Day 8 as an artifact of the weekly cycle of eBay traffic.
Alternatively, if your uploads have been randomly dispersed over the 7 days of the week, and if you agree with me that there is weekly variation in eBay traffic, wouldn’t it make sense to upload your listings such that the day 1 “New Listing” flag occurs on the busiest day of the week?
Thanks, Daniel.
I got dada, I mean nada…
Welcome David. I am in Arvada, (about 3 ARCs away from you on the map). I work 40 hours/week at the moment, but I am scaling up once I retire in June. Actually, I have been scaling up for the last month or so and have increased my store by 50% in items listed in that time. If the invite for coffee or caarmels is open, I would love to join or alternatively could host a get together in my neck: dugans123@gmail.com.
@Katie – I think other metro areas may be closer to what you are looking for (affordable home in/near mountains and in/near large city). On the Front Range, Colorado Springs is more affordable than Denver and Pueblo is the most affordable (and least like a city). Ft Collins used to be affordable. If could live in a college town, consider Casper, Wy. On the other side of the mountains, Grand Junction would be the place I would look at and around for more affordable living close to mountains and city. Fruita and Palisade are both beautiful little towns, though they may already be ‘discovered’ gems – I am not sure of the prices there.
Best wishes, Daniel.04/24/2018 at 8:30 am in reply to: Hit the wall… 132 items listed and a ridiculous pile unlisted… #38234Amatino, thanks for outlining your inventory/storage process. Can you explain why your original process (R1B1#123) got so unwieldy? I ask because this is essentially what I am doing now.
It sounds like the advantage of your present system is that you can quickly consolidate all the “A”s together so if you have 99 items and items 48 through 74 are sold, you can move from two boxes to one box. Also, because you have things in categories (e.g. Books/puzzles/board games) you can find things even if they are not exactly where you expected them to be. Thanks, Daniel.
04/24/2018 at 7:34 am in reply to: Guilty Purchases – what do you buy for yourself for fun on eBay? #38230Some indulgences I have purchased in past:
-$80 North Face pants that zip off into shorts
-Timberland Smartwool slippers – not sure these are made anymore, but my first pair lasted ~10 years
-Seki nail clippers
-Canon 100 – 400 mm lens (this is a safari lens I took to Ecuador – bought low and sold back high on return – covered the eBay fees and shipping so I was able to ‘rent’ the lens for free)
-Copper tri ply pots/pansI am not sure. I shoot with 5000K lights on a neutral (white) background and with auto white balance on a Canon 6D. My experience is that autocorrect will make most of my shots better, but occasionally misses the mark (over exposes or puts too much contrast in usually). I think if I shot with more yellow (or blue) lights or on a natural wood background, it would be hard to color correct in lightroom. Most of the color selection is done by the camera at the time the photo is taken.
Here is before and after Lightroom autocorrect:
Lightroom makes the images “pop” a bit. I use it because it is part of my normal workflow for images and I am quick with it. I can also fix problem images (black fabric with dust, clear glass that looks yellow etc.), crop quickly, and correct things that are not level that should be. I would not do it if it added much time to each image or if there was not a gain in my images on eBay, but I feel like I am getting better results than without it.
I have an evolving process, so perhaps I will move past this too. Best wishes, Daniel.
Evolving process for me: I used to use an iPhone. Now like almasty, I shoot full auto (Auto white balance, aperture at 7.1, ISO at 800 and automatic shutter speed) on a Canon camera. I shoot as much as I can stand, the take the SD card to my computer (macbook with dedicated card reader). I put the jpg files into a temporary folder on my desktop. I then import them into Lightroom ($10/month from Adobe) do auto correct, crop, level then export to a second temp folder with names for each item. These are two separate steps that can be done in different sittings.
When I am ready to list, I use the laptop, scan the 2nd temp photo folder and choose what I want to list. I research then choose a listing category, title and upload photos. If I made measurements, I try to take photos of the measurements rather then record them on paper or in a file). If I am in doubt about the weight I also throw the object on a scale and record that with a photo. I write brief description, price, select shipping and list. Then move on to the next item (usually alphabetical).Olá Sonia. Bem vinda. Like you, I am a very part-time online (eBay) seller with a full time job and teenagers at home. I would love to have a look at your Etsy store if you are willing to share the name.
Best wishes, Daniel
Thanks for the feedback.
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