2

[Country Lane]

She helped me out..

Filled a 24′ encosed car hauler with equipment and furnishings from her warehouse when they liquidated it. Perfect stuff for my new operation that is 1% the size of hers 🙂

[Country Lane]

I guess I hadn’t realized that the square program will also cover the workers comp. How mcuh does that end up costing you? Have you compared it to just purchasing a workers comp package through an insurance firm?

[Country Lane]

I think the Zebra printer is the greatest thing ever. I find it shocking that you didn’t find it useful.

[Country Lane]

I started using SixBit around the holidays. It has a big learning curve, but ultimately I think it provides me with much faster listing capability. I started using it because I hired my first 2 employees and it seemed like the best way to keep them separate from my actual accounts while allowing them to produce for me.

I can have employees compartmentalized into assembly line jobs like photographing, listing, storing, etc… The photo editor isn’t very handy, but I usually use windows photo viewer in conjunction with stored photos.

It does not do everything I need it to do, but so far it works pretty well. I think the one thing that listing online does better is suggesting categories. You seem to be on your own with Sixbit.

Templets are nice. The “sell similar” or “duplicate” function is nice. You can customize what information from old listing is reutilized in the new one. I’ve had information accidentally held over from old listings when selling similar on ebay that has caused me trouble.

Having your catalog offline is nice for searching through your listing for sell similar options. The search process is pretty buggy, but you can manage.

I like that you can list hundreds of items offline and set them to upload at your convenience. This helps when you realize you have goofed up. Sometimes I get into a daze while listing and can make mistakes. It is easier to catch it and correct offline. When you have listings ready to load you can view a lot of the information in a grid fashion so you can tell if something is different and shouldn’t be. Like shipping option, missing a storage location, pricing, sales tax, etc…

I don’t think that the item specifics are quite as good as doing online. They seem more canned than on ebay. Let’s just say I’m not convinced that all the info I add offline makes it to the listing.

It allows you to keep track of inventory locations fairly easily. I like that I can list everything and then go back and add storage locations before I actually submit the listings.

Pick lists are pretty nice too. You can print a sheet with items you have sold, inventory locations, and photos of each item. Nice for times when you come back from vacation and have many items to find and ship. It will also bulk print packing lists.

I still keep an offline Excel spreadsheet of everything and sixbit can export the data to CSV which saves me tons of time adding new listings to my spreadsheet.

I guess the moral of the story is I think it makes you more efficient even working alone. Even if ebay works today you are only an update away from total ruin of your current system. I started on the phone and they screwed up the app so bad it was unusable. Then I listed online until I quit getting emails for every listing I put up which was how I got my records. Went from 100% to 0-40% of new listings sending me emails. So far Sixbit has kept me separate from ebay’s inability to code and debug.

I also have a Mac, but run Windows 7 on a virtual machine through it. Gives me the ability to actually use the computer. Zebra printer, Sixbit, other handy programs. WIsh I had never bought a MAc.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Country Lane.

[Country Lane]

I use the numbered box system that one of the guys on the podcast mentioned and did youtube video on. I cannot remember his name off hand. I keep all of my listings in an excel spreadsheet with a column for storage location so i can find it. I started using sixbit recently for two reasons. one, eBay is screwed up and can no longer consistently email me when I list an item. This has been going on for months and they cannot fix it. I used to use those emails to copy the title, price and item number into my records. Second, we are trying to hire people and sixbit provides a way for them to list and do other work without having access to your actual store which is handy.

Th point is, sixbit also has a way to store item location in your database and you can print pick lists for your daily sales which are organized by location and even have photos of the item you are looking for. This is super cool when you have a lot of items to ship. I suggested that they have an iphone or ipad app that would integrate with the database and allow you to see photos better and check off items as you pull them, but apparently that is outside of their programming capabilities right now which is a bummer.

I use uline economy storage file boxes mostly. They are fairly cheap and stack well. I write the number on 2 sides of the box and lid and if the box has room for stuff in it I turn the lid around as a visual indicator that I can put something in it. I have also found that if you can get those industrial shelving units that are about 3′ wide and 12″ deep you can fit 4 medium flat rate boxes on a shelf with the flaps folded in. That is handy for small items. So I label them like A1 through A whatever fits for a particular unit.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.

[Country Lane]

That was it, I called that number and it was like heaven. Apparently my store hasn’t updated the pages yet to link me to anchor support.

Thanks for the help.

[Country Lane]

The only items I list with calculated shipping are those that will not fit in a flat rate box or go first class. It seems that most of my items I can look in sold listings or active listings and figure out what the total price someone is going to pay is. Be it calculated or free, the total is the same. If I am able to list it for that maximum price and I am able to ship it cheaper than flat rate that is more money in my pocket, but at least i know what the worst case scenario is. My calculated shipping I try to price the item so that it is only a good deal for people in my region. I’m in Indiana and I want my price to be say $2 cheaper than the free shipping item if a person in Ohio buys it. If someone in California is interested the shipping makes it not feasible for them. So i know if I sell a calculated shipping item to California or Hawaii that I under priced my item.

[Country Lane]

I got pushed up to a supervisor and I asked them about it. They said the special support was just cutting in line to the usual reps.

[Country Lane]

Michael D,
Yeah, I’m not sure what the breakdown in material labor really is. This was a bit of a rush job with the impending winter weather. The building itself with concrete was 70k. That’s with the whole thing insulated and the warehouse lined. I’m having someone else do drywall in office. Things like fill stone, hvac, lighting etc… are really adding up.

[Country Lane]

Ok, let’s try this again. I have a contractor building most of it. I’m doing the electrical, network and plumbing. I’m hoping to be all in less than $90k.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.

[Country Lane]

I’m with you on the go big or go home. I don’t sell near what you do, but am currently in the process of putting up this building exclusively for eBay. It has a 60×44 warehouse and a 27×44 office space. I’ve recently hired my first part time employee to help and hope to hire more once I have the space.

I’m having the worst time with the pictures. I’ll try again later.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Country Lane.

[Author]

Posts