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02/12/2019 at 12:42 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56860
Troy.. Had two conversations with Steve at SixBit. Online chat yesterday for about 45 minutes and about an hour this morning. Interesting. While SB does have some of the issues you and I discussed, they did say a few others I discussed last year with them have been implemented on their site. The ending and relisting items while they are both on Sale and also in Promoted listings at times will cause the Ebay API to report back the lower sale price as a new starting price, so be careful and watch as you end and relist items. If you had a 10% off Sale running and Promoted listings after your Allocation plan does an end then you relist it Ebay may show the discounted price as the new original price. If you may recall we had numerous posts here on SL last year about this. But SB does have a historical Highest price ever listed column like I had WL create and that column can be cross checked to make sure an ended and relisted item gets set back to it’s original price.
But all and all, Steve and also JC Ryan said they would let me extend the trial until I got everything customized in SB.
Then they do have the Shopify Store on the horizon so that will be neat. But it will be an extra cost tier. Something like a “TRIO PLAN” as opposed to the “Duo Plan” you are now using.Broke 1200 listing on Ebay… Few months late but over that barrier and will now target 1500 and have 456 cross posted now to Etsy. BTW have all 1200 on Shopify Store but still have not submitted to Google for a WWW go live standing as of yet.
Will probably take you up to convo on the SB set-up but only after I start on the customization of the home dashboard page, do my due deligence on the tutorials and then as I suspect hit a few road blocks.
OK, now back to Shopify University Training Sessions.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art.
02/11/2019 at 6:17 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56783Hey T-Satt. I haven’t looked in a while but years ago when we first started and rookies and would buy everything that wasn’t nailed down regardless of cost or if it would sell was approx. $21 per item.
6 years later our costs are about. $8.81 per item, but a lot of our items are at $40 and up. Now $8.81 is average. We get many items for less and that sell for higher than $40. But on avg. at last look about $8 per item.
Jay everything we ship is ceramics, pottery, glass, crystal. 8 to 9 out of 10 items is quadriple wrapped in our special cocoon process and most double boxed or coil rolled cardboard protection. so welcome to the clank, crack and break club of delicate home decor.
T-Satt had a good long chat with Steve at SixBit and have scheduled another live phone call tomorrow with either Steve again or JC Ryan. I haven’t made the switch yet because I am hammered with the two houses we are building. Those houses make the 6th business endeavor I am envolved with and with taxes right on me, I couldn’t muster to jump off WL right now, but it is coming.
Doctor told me today I am burning the candle at both ends and using a flame thrower to do it. She wants me to finish up the houses and not do any more. Slow down and take it easier. Sugar levels are high and so is my blood pressure. So maybe some calm computer work after taxes and I will get SB up and going. But I will have to train two people after I get everything customized.
And some good news, SixBit IS WORKING on a Shopify interface, so all three online stores will be able to be handled from SB. But no ETA on when they will be through with it, but it is being worked on after I talked with JC last time.
BTW, both houses are framed and ready for roughs electrical and plumbing. !!! π Jay I will update the Forum Topic on the houses and put in some of the financials to date. Boy thousand dollar bills go fast when doing construction. Bet a bunch of you guys know that.
catch ‘ya later…
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Same for us. We print out a sheet with the full listing and get it signed and also ask for some ID, either drivers license or ask for some other form.
We date it and state received in condition as described. Only had a few local pick ups though.
mike at MDCGFA
Yeah.. I remember way back in early episodes where Jay and Ryanne would get to the end and had no callers and Jay would ask for members to post questions on the board or call in. Haven’t heard him ask for participation in a long time.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Great Mark.. I printed the Matrix out and showed to wife susan and both Helpers. We all had a good laugh when one of the helpers said, “And isn’t this cute” is not on the list!
That is my dreaded phrase, that if Susan picks something up and says “isn’t this cute”, then it is going to get bought regardless of profit margin or buying cost. It usually means it will never get listed and BAM! it sits somewhere in our house or the glass collection.
And by the way, I never hear her say, “isn’t this cute about a full tackle box, an old hatchet, or an old rusty barn item. No, no nothing I would ever want to keep for just me!
We all had a good laugh and said we need to add that to your matrix.
mike at MDCGFA in Atl.
Bingo Ms. Julie. We stopped Free Shipping long ago for your reasons plus others.
Danni Ackerman was big supporter of Free Shipping due again for all the reasons one can find all over the internet. Listen to any of her older videos and her big reason is that most people can’t do the math, according to her. But we always had to include zone 8 on the USPS shipping chart to make sure all costs were covered.
A 5 lb. package to zone 1 [closest to us] was $7.19 but $20.40 to zone 8. So in went $20 packed on top of the cost of the item, just to make sure all bases were covered. Unfair to zone 1 customers.
Then put a 20% Sale on and your item costs is reduced by 20% but so is your Free Shipping padding we put on top of the item. So you are down $2.00
I have always said, there is no such thing as free shipping. We run a business, not a charity. In any big corp. world a shipping center is a profit center. That cost is accounted for some place.
The American way is spend a dollar and sell for $4. That is what entrepreneurship is all about. The free enterprise system is not built on spending an amount of dollars then give it away. The whole American system is based on selling one’s goods and services for a profit. The rest is marketing and advertising. Free shipping is an enticement to buy, the perception of a “Value Added”, but bottom line is still spend a dollar, sell for $4 and pay taxes on the $4 and you get to keep what is left.
Free shipping is the same enticement concept as offering a 20% Off discount, so as you say, why have to deal with all the shipping cost changes. Just build it in and then run some periodic sales and you will be offering free shipping or atleast discounted shipping in some shape or form and doing this is way less hassle than having to rework all your listings to account for increased shipping costs, every year.
Here is a great banner slogan. If you want something you have design to be built to last a long time, give it to the Germans, want that designed item reduced down in size to fit in your pocket, give it to the Japanese, then if you want 3 of them sold to a buyer who doesn’t need one of them in the first place at 4 times what it should cost, give it to an American! All in jest guys LOL π
Mike at MDC Galleries
Hey.. here is a couple of tests for you. My guess is they are molded resin then carved into after they are out of the mold.
Here is the first test for that. Take a larger sized needle. Hold it with a pair of pliers by the larger “eye” end. Hold it over an open flame, best if a gas stove top or candle. Get it red hot and then on the bottom in the middle [so the mark left behind looks like it was part of the making process] and push. If it is resin the needle will go in easily and you will also see some smoke come off / up from it. Smell the smoke also. If resin it will smell like burning plastic if wood it will smell like burning wood [of course].If still unsure from this test because the “feel” is new to you and you can’t gauge the resistance level of the needle yet, then a second burn test may help you. Do the same technique on this time use a metal carriage bolt about 1/8″ in diameter [they have a flat, bottom tip, not a pointed wood or sheet metal screw]. Hold the screw head with the pliers and get the flat tip red hot, just like a branding iron and agagin aim for dead center on the bottom. This larger, hot area will produce a bigger burn area and more smoke for the smell test. If wood you will definetly smell the wood aroma. Also, again, the mark left behind will look just like some sort of scar that was made by the artist during the mfg. process.
Another test is to measure the depth of the inside, rim to bottom of the cup and subtract that measurement from the overall height of the object. If that number is something like a 1/4″ to 1 inch difference, then that means you have a fairly large, solid mass of material between the bottom of the interior vs. the exterior bottom. This too usually means poured resin and also adds that extra weight [heaviness you feel].
Solid resin should be heavier than wood if it has larger solid areas.
Hope this helps some what
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atl.
01/28/2019 at 6:24 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 396: Guaranteed Delivery? How is that working? #56043I hear you. You are right most of our Home Decor items are larger and heavier. if anything fits a smaller box and very light, it usually hits the First Class and for such a small amount we are not going to drive to the FedEx facility for a small savings of cents vs. dollars, even though several years ago a FedEx full service center opened just a few miles up the road.
Thanks
Mike at MDCGFA01/28/2019 at 5:37 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 396: Guaranteed Delivery? How is that working? #56035Hey Temudgin:
Off topic here but you mentioning SmartPost and also JandR did in the podcast, every time I look at SmartPost it is always higher than FedEx Home delivery. Don’t know if it’s out TRS-plus discount but I haven’t used SmartPost in several years. Home delivery started being less expensive during last last rate hike we all went through several years ago.
FedEx Home delivery is usually a buck or two less expensive both for close zones or zones 7 and 8.
Do others see SmartPost as less costly than FX-HD and if so I wonder why?
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
01/25/2019 at 7:00 am in reply to: 1970's? Brass TP like holder but not… need help Identifying #55854Yep.. recessed tub-shower-bathroom wash cloth hanger and soap area. Not for giant bars of ivory soap, but moe dainty, smaller decorative soap. Probably designed more for the vanity, powder room 1/2 baths.
See a lot of these at our plumbing supply houses when we used to remodel houses.mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Hey…
I am Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta, GA IF ANYBODY HERE ON SL FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS OR SO DID NOT ALREADY KNOW THAT!!! LOL π πKindest Regards,
the management team at MDC Concepts, Inc.
Michael, Susan, Lisa and Christie
MDC Galleries and Fine Art
SmartParts Small Equipment Parts divs.And because of an original signup error I made by using a obtuse Handle name when I first signed up that Ryanne said she couldn’t change and I was stuck with it, I show at the bottom as “Huncrelan” …. Ryanne even made fun of my handle name a few times years ago. “Who is “Huncrelan”, what kind of name or whatever that is… Funny.
Laughing Out Loud, smiling and loving it. No shyness on my part here.
Our Motto: “Live to Create and Celebrate”01/24/2019 at 3:34 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 395: What Lifestyle Is eBay Supporting For You? #55802Nope. WL does not have those break outs in the sold tab. You would think it would because Ebay has it broken out like that and WL should be able to just map to those fields somehow.
Just sold, [ a custom field at my request=sold off Ebay=my stab at trying to get WL to let me track Etsy Sales manually], Unsolds and a few other abandoned fields where they were beta testing the Etsy and Shopify but those have gone dormant since they said they were not sharing any data with “outside” non-internal sources????I am still wanting to make the SixBit transfer but due to 2 of the 4 house lots selling and me getting those 2 under construction I haven’t had a moment to do anything but list, direct our 2 assistants and some accounting stuff. You may have noticed very little here on SL also. Just no time to read through 100+ SL posts and jump in to post replies. But things will get better early summer time wise.
List on everybody…
Mike at MDCGFA in Atl.01/24/2019 at 10:45 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 395: What Lifestyle Is eBay Supporting For You? #55758Only 1 or 2 a month if that. Most of our buyers all pay. We may have about a dozen packed items in our staorage area from years of unpaids. We are very lucky in that respect.
And we have unpacked an item or two and put back in place and then re-used the box on the next item.
Without diving into the details of last year yet, our Sales were about $25k on 450 items sold so Our avg. sales price is in the $40 to $50 range. Out of that amount of items of approx. 8 items per week no real volume pressure and most pay. Now when that doubles and it will, we will move to the pull, pack and process only the solds that are paid. And if paid after our store cut off hours it will be the next day.
mike at MDCGFA in Atl.
01/24/2019 at 10:25 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 395: What Lifestyle Is eBay Supporting For You? #55754I have a user made folder and when we accept an offer we type in the word sold in the “Notes” section of WL. Then because of the rule we created on the Sold Folder, it sees the word “sold” and places a copy of it in that folder. But yet the “Status” column in WL still shows the item as “Active”. This way we always have a short list of the “solds” but no payment rec’d.
I did this some time back, thinking if we had a bunch of offers we take and were waiting on payment we could be working on them while waiting. But that was back when I was hoping for a ton of daily sales and offers. After experience set in, we never sell more than a few things per day and we can keep track of that mentally ourselves. It was just wishful thinking we would have so many sales per day that we couldn’t keep track of it. And most buyers also pay rather quickly to boot. I guess I could actually just delete that folder.
Mike at MDCGFA in Atl.
01/24/2019 at 10:19 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 395: What Lifestyle Is eBay Supporting For You? #55751We have same day, next day shipping as we are TRS-Plus. I took an offer a little while ago and we are packing it right now, but no payment yet. But if payment is rec’d before 11:30 it will go out today.
We ship some items within hours of payment and that has been mentioned along with our cocoon packing technique in a lot of our feedback.
mike at MDCGFA
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