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I agree TTT: Nice to slide back. enter data and listen to Pals Jay and Ryanne on an afternoon.
Interesting that SL has a little over 5,400 members and only 27 are logged in today.
I know it is Cinco de Mayo, but hard to believe that 5,373 members are either out drinking Tequila or at an afternoon church service. And I also won’t believe that over 5,000 people are out buying “STUFF”!!! Out playing Golf?? Uuhh no, don’t think so.
So like the game “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego” … Where is the World are 5,000 SL members??? Hhhmmm. I know where one is, T-Satt is home inputting numbers like always. For all the numbers he “crunches” got to take a day before the week starts to “DO DATA ENTRY”.
Nice and quite so thought I would have some fun and burn some real estate space before all the hard line number crunchers hit.
Finally made the transition over to SixBit from WonderLister and that took from March 26th until the first of this month. So about 6 to 7 weeks. But up and running with SixBit with help from the SB IT Team and some help from Troy. Just now starting to get things being listed the way we want. Much faster and everything we post to Ebay is posting to Etsy except for a line or two of cut and paste including all shipping info. and the photos. I will be getting with Troy to discuss getting all the shipping to run through SB.
Any sales made on either platform are automatically ended and SB has separate financials on both platforms.
So speaking of working together, wife Susan and I celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary on April 25th. We have been through and seen a lot in our half a century together. But we have been slow working together at our business the last few weeks. One reason, making the SixBit transition from WonderLister coupled with some bad news / good news personally this month.
My wife Susan got a positive result from biopsies done a few weeks back and it confirmed uterine cancer. But good news is, that the doctor said it was caught so quickly in early Stage 1, Level-A, that a full hysterectomy on June 12th will take care of it with no radiation or chemo. He is 98% positive and of course a round of biopsies after surgery will confirm it.
It was a relief to us both and I asked the doctor, will a two week sick leave from our Ebay Store be enough recovery time, he laughed and said she should be recovered in one to two weeks, barring any unforeseen.
So long for now.. Good hunting and picking…
Kindest Regards from Hot’Lanta
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine ArtCheck these two out. The one on the right has locks on the side, but without your photo, can’t really tell if it is a match. One on the left sold for $25 and one on the right for $20 but that was way back in 2009. Used the search terms padded briefcase presto locks [see end of link below]
I may be able to help further if as Ryanne says, you place your photo on Imgur.com and place the link in a post here. Once we see what your case looks like someone may be able to help you with more details.
https://www.worthpoint.com/inventory/search?query=padded+briefcase+presto+locks
Good luck
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
Mark S: This is what we have to do with our Etsy items. Someone will message us and make a verbal offer. Etsy does not have a formal offer system in place. We respond yes we will and we will edit the listing to reflect this agreed upon price. But be forewarned others may see the new lowered price so act quickly least you lose your chance to purchase. Then we lower the price quickly and soon after it is purchased.
So same principal as you are talking about.
As to Jay response, yes once an offer from a buyer is in process, the item “partially” locks out certain changes. But in the case above, I believe, since the offer was declined, then it became “unlocked” and full editing could take place.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Good catch RTWV: We have had a few try’s at snaring us with topics of Ebay issues. We either ignore or if they come from an Ebay account into our Ebay messages, tell them to take it up with Ebay or PayPal.
Some emails are similar to cell phone calls and we don’t even answer our phones anymore. Leave a message and we “may” return your call. In order to comply with Ebay wanting sellers to “respond” to customer inquires, on topics like that we say go to Ebay, we don’t know. Hope to see an order forthcoming.
I would just go and change the listing quickly before answering. Take off make an offer. Then a short quick answer that says, sorry for the confusion, the Make an Offer was an administrative over sight which has been now corrected. Our best price is the price as listed and is showing.
Then give it a few days and go back and change the listing by adding the make an offer back in.
Now to make sure you don’t get another offer from this person, make sure you add them to your blocked buyer list.
All of this only if you are truly afraid of getting a negative feedback. Otherwise take his offer or counter offer, sell it and see what happens. If you do everything right, there should be no reason for a negative. If it was a bogus reason for a negative, if you have done everything correctly, then call and get it removed.
mike at MDCGFA.
I am highly skeptical also of any of that information. We had 6 12×12 booths at the largest antique mall in the USA if not the largest around many other states. 110,000 sq. feet on two floors on two levels with 550 ++ sellers.
Our rent was $90 per booth. So for 864 sq. ft. we paid $570 per month or approx. $0.66 per square foot.
In metro Atlanta the more popular malls charge $300 per month per booth so if we had been at those it would have been only $1,800 per month.Now the rubber to the road statement. I was friends with the owners at the largest Mall and know that within the first 5 years there highest sales was $1.2 million dollars. Simple math showed us that if you take 1.2 million and divide by 550 vendors/sellers that comes to an overall average of only $2,181 per seller annually or approx. $182 per month. Now subtract the booth rent of $95 that leaves $86 avg. now subtract the COGS and then add in the 10% commission the owners take ontop of all sales and that means most people were in the red.
In my conversation over time with the owners I come to find they had an internal code called the triple digit club and the comma club. Come to find that meant any seller who made over 3 digits or $1,000 per month. When I asked how many members were in the “Comma Club” percantage wise the answer was less than 10%. So approx. 55 to 60 sellers made over $1,000 in Sales per month. Our highest Sales were usually about $800 per month and we had as many items [over 1,000] as we do in our Ebay store.
If you figure if those 60 sellers made more than the $1,000 that removed $55,000 per month from the total Sales. So the $181 dollars on the share and share alike number above goes even lower. Maybe even under $100. So if their rent was $95 per booth I then asked, how many Sellers don’t even make there monthly rent and the answer was about 90% of sellers don’t make rent much less cover their COGS.
The turn over rate in Antique Malls is very high and usually a complete turn over every year or two with the average stay being only 3 to 6 months they said.
My conclusion, which I told them face to face, the only people making money in the Antique Mall business is 10% of the Sellers and the Landlords! They both smiled and said I was correct. Now Now almost 8 years away from those days, that Mall still has not broken the $2 million dollars in Gross revenue.The gross rental revenue was $52,250 per mo. = $627,000. Subtract this from the $1.2 million that leaves $573,000 in total annual income from the dealers Sales. Divide that by the 550 Sellers that rent from them and that equates to approx. $1,042 per vendor and that is annually which comes out to about $86.00 per month. So these numbers, looked at both ways, equals my revelation that Booths are for suckers and not a viable business model or any one thinking of reselling used merchandise.
At $95 per month for a 12×12 is good if you need a storage for excess inventory, fine, but they make you ave to clean it, you have to spread out and display the inventory and you would get a whole lot more in a tightly, well organized space, close to your home.
So as Jay says, Online Auctions are for Suckers, so are Antique Malls. Those owners as they got to know me, siad I was one of only a few dealers that ran our booths as a real business. Most sellers. I can tell you as we got to know most of the dealers there and talked with them, most did not know what a P&L statement was, didn’t know how to calculate gross and net profit and most over 50 years of age [which most were] were computer illiterate. Had no idea of how selling on line was done. Cash in their left pocket was their income, cash in their right pocket was for payables and purchases. Anything left was profit.
We stayed 3 years and slowly built our online store. We worked our butts off to have booths, stocking it, dusting everything weekly, re-arranging everything weekly, a ton of work for about $8,000 annually. Now we do about $30,000 annually sitting in our pajamas, drinking coffee, inside our own home. Selling nline is using our brains and not our backs.
The mall owners always said to me that most booth sellers do it for the social aspects, visit with friends, enjoyed going to flea markets with their friends, and over all friendly activity of meeting at the mall and socializing daily and weekly. All the time, the owners were smiling all the way to the bank.
They also stated that not many sellers were on top of the numbers in such a business like way as I was and “jokedly” but still seriously, asked if I would not be so eager to discuss my “assumptions, revelations” they called it, to other dealers. Which I didn’t but I stated I doubted if many would understand what I was talking about anyway.
Another real life experience and learning lesson of this business and just my opinion…
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
Ebay has an alphabetical list of all of the companies that are onboard with their Vero program. There has been a link posted here on SL a couple of times and you can find it somewhere within Ebay’s information.
You can go to that list, click on the first letter in the company name A-Z list which are links and it jumps to the companies that start with that letter. Example: “V” and it shows you Velcro and other companies.
Be prepared there are hundreds of companies that are signed up on the Ebay Vero list. That means any of them could be an issue but as has been said here at SL before, some companies are more agreesive at looking for violations, even to the extent of having a company department or employees that do nothing but “search” for online violations of the use of their branded names. Velcro, John Deere [we have had a couple of these from Ebay, Banaza and even Etsy] and many others.
From the list you will see there are a ton of names and brands that technically sellers should not use, but as Jay has said before, it is just a matter if they are looking agreesively or not at all and to get a Vero from using their keywords or brand in your listing is like speeding. Many do it at times but only a few get caught and a ticket.
I suggest you start first by going to that list on Ebay and then book marking it. When unsure, just click a link and see if that company is on the list. Then it is up to you.
To have a list posted here on SL would be just a very slow build up of what is already available in complete form online. Companies like Xerox [you are suppose to say facsimile], many Johnson and Johnson products, [use talcum], Kleenex, etc., etc. but all these companies are on the Ebay VERO list.
And don’t forget the many brands that have tons of counterfits out there like Michael Kors, Coach, they also watch for VERO violations.
Just an opinion..
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
Right on T-Satt:
This was wife Susan’s Birthday weekend. So we did three days of straight field work and treated her to 3 long, mid-day lunches and celebrated her Birthday and a tribute to the old days of 3 Martini lunches. [Not business expensed though, like the old days! :-)]. We had a blast.Our daughter Kim joined us all three days. She asked, ‘is this what you guys do everyday. After we explained, she got it, but siad it must be nice. My reply, At 70 years of age, working for 50 years at 60 hr. work weeks, paying tons of taxes and now being retired for 5 years, Yep, we deserve a few indulgences. Unlike many of the 20 something who think they deserve everything, everyday, a few times a month or quarter is perfectly fine by us.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
That is correct. And when you print out your label, pack and add the real weight and dimensions all you will see is the actual charge to send that size and weight to Erlanger, KY. The label will have the customers name and a code on it but the address will be to KY. From there you can wash your hands of it.
Good eye Sharyn:
Yes, we also sell a few industrial parts that I have custom Mfg. as generic clones of actual OEM parts. After the 2008 housing bust and the start of the big recession we quit building houses and doing remodeling but to keep a business going I just transformed into a sub-contractor doing spray foam insulation. Since no houses were being built much, we focused on spray foaming the attics and under crawl spaces with spray foam insulation. 95% effecient as opposed to only 34% effeciency of fiberglass batts or blown in.In any case the spray foam equipment uses a few small parts that are filters and internal parts that are consumable. The filters have to be replaced in the guns often because they clog. They are wire mesh and the OEM Mfg charges almost $5 per pc. They are shaped like a thimble but straight walled. I found I could have them copied and made locally for about $.50 each. So since I am no longer in the Spray Foam business I still sell those parts online to other suppliers. Through Ebay I reach a national market. I Keep about 500 pcs. on hand in both a 60 mesh and an 80 mesh style. Basically coarse and fine and sell them in various size packs from 10 pcs up to 100 pc packs. Used to get close to $3.50 each for them but a jerk competitor [only one] started doing the same and of course it was a race to the lower prices until he finally hit the lowest price he could go, but we both still get over $2.00 per pc. If he ever leaves Ebay, of course up goes the price.
I also do this for a few other parts for spray foam equipment and also will be doing some yard equipment parts soon.
We sold locally for awhile and used the SmartParts name in those divisions. We have a private label based on that name. But I have very rarely used it here on SL. So good eye and good catch.
Mike
Amatino… I just had a mental picture pop into my head and made me laugh out loud. Even scared the cats.
I visioned you pulling up to an estate sale or auction on the tractor with a 12 ft. utility trailer behind it and yelling out to your partner, keep bidding, we’ve got plenty of room to go and I’ll keep the tractor running!! LMAO 🙂 The picture of you on a rig with a trailer loading up stuff from a sale and driving 8 miles back down the road to your storage just cracked me up for some reason. Sort of like when Jay shared his picture of all the wood flooring he loaded onto his small truck and hauled that back a long distance. Other drivers behind him must have backed way up or shot around him fast.
Just poking some fun, no offense or stereo typing intended.
Mike at MDCGFA
Sorry to hear that you have caught a touch of the “I can’t find that dang item” syndrome. Yep, it happens to the best of us.
I had two of the same items sell last week because we cross post and didn’t have SixBit up and running completely yet and it didnt catch it. So I had to cancel. But also have sold items that I also couldn’t find and had to cancel.No software in the world will help, even with individual SKU number’s if you pull an item out of it’s original bin for some reason, then replace it back into the wrong Bin. That is a Goof that nothing can help you.
In our case we just canceled the sale with a short letter of explaination that the item couldn’t be found and if we did find it down the road we would ship it to them for free. Guess what..we have found a couple of items months later in the wrong bin and we did look up there addresses and sent them the item for free. WonderLister, SixBit and East Auction Tracker EAT keeps there email and physical addresses forever, so no sweat to find there home addresses.
But sorry you had to deal with the issue, but if you ever want to step up to SixBit [which we are just switching over to from WonderLister, it automatically cross lists for us and also will kill and delete the item from another platform. And if you try to list the same item again using the same SKU it will alert you.
Mike at MDCGFA
We have both paid vehicles. Like Jay, we will drive them into the ground. They will probably last us for whats left of our life, but at that time will rethink going to just one.
But recently both cars did have to have some expensive repairs but comes with the territory. Over $2,000 between both of them but need at least car to haul inventory. Both are parked side by side, we use the bigger one mostly because of the trunk and back seat space. Can haul about as much as a small truck.
Our vote.. Keep both.
Mike at MDC galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
