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James I have usually 2-3K listings at any given time. So I’m not sure if that makes me a volume seller? I guess volume is subjective.
I’m mostly a clothing seller. While I’ve seen a decline in some areas of clothing, there are plenty of strong selling brands even if preowned. My 4th quarter was not great. I was down quite a bit from 2017, but this month has been good. The same as Jan. 2018. On average I sell between 6k-10k per month in the clothing and accessories category.
You do not automatically have seller protection if you have free returns. A buyer can file an INAD and that protection poofs out of existence. This has happened to me several times and they have all been false INADS.
I didn’t put anything in the box. I wasn’t even looking for a country of origin. She never even asked. And now this goes against my service metrics. I’m really starting to hate humans. 🙁
I’m at .33 with two INAD cases, but that will update to 3 soon with this morning’s BS one. I know my rate is low and it shouldn’t bother me, but it does when the INADs are false.
Sonia,
Our accountant goes by cost of goods, not total inventory. He tells me what info to track and what numbers to bring in. The rest I don’t worry about. I have an LLC and file as SCorp, but that’s about all I know when it comes to the tax side of things.
Jay, I share your thought process. I do keep an annual record book for my sales and that’s about as fancy as I get. I know that I can spend X a month and that I need to make Y per month. I don’t keep an inventory database because I’m just not that organized. My sole goal is to finish paying for my son’s college and he graduates next year. After that I think I will sell off the clothing aspect of my business and concentrate on things that are more interesting to sell. I will say, I have Go Daddy Bookkeeping which has been a Godsend.
I am so sorry to hear this. Did you have the word Lego in the title? I’m curious why this got veroed too.
My focus for 2019 is to find the truly desirable items. My business model has always been buy the bread and butter cheap and sell it for a modest amount. And that does work, but it’s becoming so long tail that the model isn’t producing as fast as I need it to. It’s taking about 6 months to sell a Loft shirt these days. If I buy that shirt for .50 and sell for $15, that’s great ROI, but it takes too long to sell. So from here on in, I’m moving towards the brands that I know are harder to find. Now that my son only has one year of college left, I have the luxury of not needing to kill myself at this. My goal has been to make 100K gross each year and now I can not have that crazy pressure. My heart goes out to all the people that rely on this for their sole income. The pressure must be immense. It’s soul crushing to have a bad sales day on eBay when you need that money to stay afloat.
I have cross listed to Poshmark and the sales are pitiful. And all the sharing is just absurd. When it comes to secondhand, eBay is still king. I have friends who work for corporate retail and their sales are down too. I wonder if people just aren’t spending as much in general? Looking at our household, my husband’s company isn’t issuing raises or bonuses. He works in the corporate world and sees that this is happening elsewhere as well. Pay isn’t increasing while living costs increase regularly.
Another thought….
I went to the mall last weekend (shudder) because I needed a new pair of jeans. White House Black Market fits me best. I own several pairs which I’ve worn for the past four years. These jeans are now $98 each. Holy crap. As I walked around other stores, I found that nice sweaters at Ann Taylor and other nicer mall stores are also close to $100. When did clothing get so expensive? You’d think second hand would be the natural choice. Our stores on eBay should be booming!
I keep telling myself, one more year. My son is a junior in college. I only have one more year of needing decent sales. After that, whatever I make is great. But for right now, I need eBay not to tank. I’ve tried Poshmark, but it’s horrible. All that sharing for very few sales. It’s maddening. I need eBay to rally.
Aperture, for my business model, $4 to $25-$30 is pretty much my thing. I’m super happy with that roi, but I run a volume business. My return rate is 2.5% which is ok. Thrift stores are my normal, but once a month or so I get a volume buy with my auction house connection which gives me items .50 to $1 which really makes a difference to my bottom line. There’s this youtuber I watch on occasion who drones on and on about being proud that he sells nothing under $35, but yet he had a $400 week last week. I sell lots of $20 items and had a $1400 week. So I’ll sell those lower dollar items because they pay the bills.
