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02/26/2019 at 4:45 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 400: Tax Season Advice for Newbies from Strangers On The Internet #57742
Excited for you @Doublythumbs…
You also bring up a good point – we lost our internet during the wind storms on the weekend (don’t know if anyone saw the wall of ice going over the shoreline on the news where Lake Erie goes into the Niagara River – that was just by my house!) but it fried our internet and power. Our router that the cable company supplies just died with the constant power outages and surges.
We called up our cable company to replace it, and they told us it was going to take 2 weeks!!! The other option was to drive an hour to pick another one up, so since we were heading that way anyways, we picked one up.
It go us thinking though – what critical issues could arise to shut us down? Without the internet, we have no notifications, listing ability, or options to print labels. We needed to come up with a contingency plan – not only for the internet, but other important/critical “things” we need for our business.
It was something we didn’t think of before, but now have a plan for some of the major issues like internet loss that we can work around if necessary. The loss of it for even a day there was crippling!
02/26/2019 at 3:51 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 400: Tax Season Advice for Newbies from Strangers On The Internet #57728With a LLC, don’t you have to pay taxes twice though? Once as the LLC, and once when you “pay” yourself from the LLC (therefore, paying tax on your business then personal income)?
I had someone on the weekend ask if I combine shipping, which I had no issue doing.
They then responded with some very long convoluted story asking me to place 14 items of mine on hold for them until they get paid either this Friday or next Friday and they can try to get a new credit card form their bank after they get money in their account that to buy them…
Not sure what the end-game was for this person…didn’t respond.
Wish eBay would build some sort of spam filter on messages…would love it if they could get rid of buyers form countries I do not ship asking questions.
There is a way to do it – I just haven’t done it but have seen it when I’ve bought various electronic parts – they have a pull down menu where you can choose options, and it changes the price and shipping price on the same listing.
I just had a buyer last night with a Florida address, but told me in a message that that isn’t their address and provided me an address in Cyrillic writing in Russia to send the item to….
Ugh…
Cancelled the sale.
I like the pool noodle idea…it got me thinking of some ideas…
I think the hollow pool noodles (that have about a 1″ diameter hole through the middle) would be the best. What I’m thinking is you can put in some rigid wire or metal strips to make the legs bend how you want and hold the shape.
I’m also thinking the 1″ hole would be good to mount with. You can build a small platform with two dowels or poles sticking up, and stick each noodle leg on a pole to make it stand up.
Mannequins are super plentiful lately where I live – every major store that had them is dead (Zellers, Target, Sears all closed in Canada the last several years – 1000’s of stores with maybe 100 mannequin type items from those 3 chains alone plus all the smaller chains with mannequins closing – a real glut in the market!). It seems every thrift has a few for sale – but with pants you really need to get the right size and “butt” to make them look good…I like the pool noodle idea vs. having a bunch of lower torsos hanging around…
I haven’t used PL’s because I feel that most of my items have little or no competition, and my pricing, condition, or location will make the sale.
I find it odd when promoted listings show up in search results for items I buy – sometimes the promoted listing appears below the actual listing, and when the search result only brings up 1 item, the same item appears twice. In some categories, I just find it annoying to have the same items come up over and over again in the search results.
I’m not sure where else PLs show up – I get a lot of banner ads for eBay on other websites, and they just show items I looked at – not specifically promoted items.
Also, all the “studies” or “tests” I see on promoted listings seem too vague statistically, and don’t show a net increase in $s, just sales over a short period. Would like to see some really good data over a longer period (1 year) of almost identical items, the total cost, and the total net income gain/loss by using PLs before using them.
I’m hitting that mental barrier now with needing to upgrade my store subscription soon…for some silly reason the $40 extra a month in fees messes with my mind – and I can’t reasonably justify it!
The lack of social interaction is a motivator for me to be in this business…after 25 years of working in offices, I’m looking forward to not having small talk!
That movie has been my life the last 10 years…lots of ownership changes, nobody knows what is going on, lots of people let go, hired, let go, hired, let go…and now I sit in dead manufacturing facility with about a dozen others people scattered amongst a huge building that once employed over 600 people getting paid to do nothing but make sure that a door opens at 9am and is locked at 5pm M-F.
My main task is to count dead inventory once a week…which doesn’t move at all so my count from months ago is still the same this week.
My favorite thing is the new corporate overlords that own us like to send out emails with a signature that includes:
#dreamjob
LOL…
02/14/2019 at 10:00 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56965I don’t like the option to make offers to watchers…I feel it is a race to the bottom. Buyers will catch on and start watching items and wait for a deal.
I also don’t like that I may get bombarded with emails from sellers with items I’m watching offering very small discounts (e.g. $1 of $50). I just feel the spam will turn off some people from eBay.
02/14/2019 at 9:54 am in reply to: How can I get customers to read and look at pictures for this item? #56964Replying to my own comment, but I think I may be right – I looked at IKEA USA’s website, and I think there are more locations just in Toronto then all of the U.S.
Surprised how few locations they have in the U.S. – the nearest one to me is in Pittsburgh, about a 6 hour drive away – no wonder all the “local Americans” hop over to our IKEA stores.
02/14/2019 at 9:50 am in reply to: How can I get customers to read and look at pictures for this item? #56963I’m surprised as well…IKEA is in every city in Canada, and the thrift stores are filled with IKEA stuff…I’ll have to take a closer look next time I’m out. I’ve gotten rid of IKEA items over the years without thinking that someone would want them – they were very cheap to begin with and didn’t think they would gain in value after being well used.
I think it must be an American thing – I know the local IKEA near me is just across the border from a major U.S. city (Buffalo, NY) and they don’t have an IKEA near them, but New York licence plates fill up the parking lot at the Canadian IKEA. I think IKEA must be harder to get in the U.S. or they have a lot fewer locations in the U.S. compared to other countries.
02/13/2019 at 10:22 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56915@Doublythumbs – just so you know, you are also an inspiration to some of us on the same journey. You may be a few miles up the road from some of us, but it’s great to hear the success you are having (and even the struggles) as it helps with our confidence. Glad you are sharing your experience!
Jay’s advice is great – any time I feel down, I just get listing and it takes my mind off things, and at the same time I’m working for my future. I feel the last few months that I’ve been pushing very hard has been a very happy time – and my friends and family have noticed a positive change in my attitude. Hard work does lead to happiness!
02/12/2019 at 10:11 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56841Not having the issue myself with US buyers (made a couple sales to US buyers overnight) but did have an issue with an international buyer (Denmark) who couldn’t complete a transaction. I’ll let you know if I hear from anyone on my end.
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