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Totommyto, writing a manual on how to do your own job is the pits. But since I knew I would be quitting, I began writing it months ago. You’re right though that it won’t be anywhere near adequate for someone who’s taking over my position. Some things just can’t be taught from a book.
I have put some thought into becoming a contract worker when I first played with the notion of quitting. The one issue that would make it unfeasible is money. Long story short, as a official employee I get paid by the university. As a contractor, I would be paid by the department (because our space center isn’t an official part of the university, we just rent the facility in exchange for a cut of any profit). And there just isn’t any money available for hiring any contractors. Hell, there isn’t even any money for upgrading our own technology. Which is one of the main reasons for leaving in the first place. I can only duct tape a computer so much…figuratively speaking.
But also I’m tired of the tech support gig. It’s time for a career change.
Feb 10 – 16
Total Items in Store: 2098
Items Sold: 31
Total Sales : $1,120
* above yearly average of $921
* above 2018 total week sales of $712
Highest Price: $180 (Subzero Refrigerator Louvered Grille Vent Cover)
Average Price: $32
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $36
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 31I had a pretty profitable week despite not listing a whole lot. I was actually amazed when I just did my numbers. It felt way slower than it was.
Thanks for the shout out on the podcast this week! My name is Dan by the way. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here before. Yes, I gave my notice a week ago and they’ve been working me to the bone since then. My boss and coworkers are kind of freaking out because nobody besides me has taken the initiative to really learn the technology that drives my department. And that’s really big problem regardless of me leaving or not. So this past week I’ve been training a temp worker as much as I could about networks and videoconferencing and our space simulator and how it’s all connected. They even had me write up a guide book on how to do my job. Which explains the low amount of new listings this week…. I’m absolutely exhausted by the end of each day. But this is my last week so I told myself I’d take it easy. I doubt they’d fire me for that.
No active scavenging this week, but I was given a NOS floor scrubber motor to try and sell. It came out of a supply cabinet at my dad’s job. He bought it from them for scrap price (less than $5) and I think I can turn it over for around $600. For all the things he’s given me to sell without asking for anything in return, I’m going to take him out for a nice dinner sometime soon.
02/15/2019 at 12:39 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Vintage German microphone, Calvin Kline sunglasses, Spectacles, Healing Ointment, Doc Marten redux, Cocktail shaker #57033Your cat seems so playful! I hope to get a pet cat one day soon. I also had a somewhat slower week. Here are some interesting highlights…
Here’s a good example showing that it can pay off to make low risks when buying things in thrift stores. This is a rainbow light machine. It a simple contraption. It has a light bulb inside which shines on a prism and directs that light through a slit and projects onto a wall. I had no idea what it was or what it did when I bought it at a thrift shop for a dollar, but for that price it was an easy gamble. Turns out that there weren’t any others for sale, and actually very little information about it online. So I set a high price of $50 and it sold within a month.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303012934998At a rummage sale, I bought a bag of misc keys and keychains and doodads for $2. One of the items was this key that had engraved Mattel V-RROOM. Some research showed me that it was for a vintage toy hot-rodder motor. I figured something that specific would be important to somebody, so I listed it for $30 and took a BO of $20 after a couple weeks. I love little things like this. Easy to list, easy to store and easy to ship.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303045643723Here’s my big sale of the week. I acquired this Casio electric keyboard at a yard sale for $5. I was worried that it wouldn’t work but sure enough it played fine after putting in 5 ‘D’ size batteries. I listed it high with best offer and had a bunch of lowball offers start pouring in. But I held out and after about a month it sold for full price of $140.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303023445175This was a great little sale. Furniture hardware doesn’t seem to be flying off my shelf like it use to, but it still sells here and there. This extremely weathered and rusty drawer pull/cabinet handle sold for $16. I probably only have a few cents into it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30283653507302/13/2019 at 9:08 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56949Thank you, Suzy! It means a lot to have all of this support from this community!
02/13/2019 at 9:07 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56948I’m glad you mentioned this, Sonia. When I lost 45% of my inventory during a flood a couple summers ago, my CPA definitely advised me to give him all of that data and we reported it on my taxes.
02/13/2019 at 9:04 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56947Thank you, Inglewood! I truly appreciate the compliment! It’s been quite the roller coaster for me, that’s for sure. And you’re right… listing is very therapeutic!
02/12/2019 at 7:27 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56898YES! That’s really exciting news! Good luck Retro!
02/12/2019 at 7:20 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56897YES! The FU money is soooo worth the many hours of hard work! And that feeling of controlling the conversation is invigorating. Knowing that my job no longer has power over me makes me just want to tell everyone off. I mean, I won’t because burning bridges is never a good idea. But I’ve been at least a little defiant here in the last couple of days.
02/12/2019 at 7:12 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56894Jay, I’ve listened to every podcast starting on episode 1. You and Ryanne have been my greatest inspiration. I recall from the podcast some of your harder times and how you’ve powered through it. And now you’re making more than plenty of money for a comfortable lifestyle. That’s absolutely where I would like to be in the future, and in a way we’re almost there now. Thank you for the kind words and for all you two do!
02/12/2019 at 7:07 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56893Thank you Troy! Yes, I will be listing my heart out for these next few months for sure. It’ll be so great to put all my focus of eBay for a change instead of the few hours every night after work. I’m saving your email and may just hit you up if I have any questions.
02/11/2019 at 8:24 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56802Sharyn, I went to an estate auction of a decanter collector. There were literally hundreds of them for sale, and all full! While I wasn’t there for the decanters, I did buy a large cardboard box of “collectable bottles” of all kinds of whisky for $50. The auctioneer made us promise (wink wink) to pour it out when we got home because legally he wasn’t allowed to sell liquor. So I pour a little bit out in a glass every now and then. 🙂
02/11/2019 at 8:16 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56801Feb 3 – 9
Total Items in Store: 2087
Items Sold: 25
Total Sales : $788
* below yearly average of $920
* below 2018 total week sales of $1,038
Highest Price: $140 (Casio Casiotone MT-65 Electronic Keyboard)
Average Price: $32
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $41
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 25I had kind of a slow week on eBay. Slow in sales and also in listing. But I’ve got some great news for everyone. I put my two weeks notice in at my job!!! I’m officially going full time with eBay! It feels like such a relief. That place was degrading at such an accelerated rate. I said I was going to stick it out until at least May when the university may or may not close down, but it just seemed like nobody was giving us any answers to whether that would happen. And I think the last straw was when I was given yet another hat to wear by being given the task of taking over the website development of our department. I just finally snapped. You can’t keep loading more and more job roles on a person while paying them an entry level wage with no raises and expect to keep them. I was nervous afterwards wondering if I made the right choice, but all my fears were laid to rest after a hellacious day today. So the next two weeks are going to suck big time while I train a person (who was “volunteered” to take my job temporarily) how to do a job which took me 4 years to learn, never mind my past tech job experience and my tech related college degree. But I’m going to keep my head up high and will look forward to walking out on my last day knowing I’ll never have to deal with them again. I’m so excited for the future!
Also, regarding the missing product identifier thing from the podcast… I have around 50 or so which eBay reminds me about every month or so. They’re all from when I parted out that refrigerator. I’ve been ignoring it, and the parts continue to sell. Maybe in the future, eBay will crack down and de-list things like that, but for now they still seem to find their way to buyers.
02/07/2019 at 4:11 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Kodak cameras, Coleman cooler, Weejuns, Moto X boots, Magnavox B&W TV, Zenith record player, 8mm Tape rewinder #56601Oh, you’re right. Here’s the correct link to the photos…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303039029608
That’s a good point about what people back then would most likely want to photograph. If only they knew what would be considered valuable now days.02/07/2019 at 2:31 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Kodak cameras, Coleman cooler, Weejuns, Moto X boots, Magnavox B&W TV, Zenith record player, 8mm Tape rewinder #56581Great sale on that BMW repair manual! Manuals of all kinds have become one of my favorite things to find and sell. And that typewriter is almost the same model as the last typewriter I’ve sold… and will continue to be the last! It just isn’t worth it to me with the cost of shipping these dang things! Though I did recently score an antique Royal Magic Margin typewriter at an auction, but I’ve decided to keep it. It weighs close to 30 pounds!
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