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10/24/2018 at 4:02 pm in reply to: Thrift stores refusing to sell you items because they know they're good finds #50672
I find I have problems with items without a price on them. You get one of two responses:
a) they will do some research and try and get better than top dollar because you are interested in buying the item. Soon as this happens, I know I won’t be buying the item.
b) you get the thrift store employee Jay describes as underpaid and don’t care – they either ask you what you want to pay, or sometimes give it to you for free.
I find that for profit stores (Value Village, Savers) usually fall in category A, where charity shops fall in category B.
Just on lunch I went to a Value Village and found 4 of my favorite bread and butter items for $1 a piece on the same peg hook. It will be an easy 4x$20 = $80 in sales and will sell in a few weeks. Just need to add them to a current listing, or relist something that sold.
They only take a few seconds to find (I know it when I see it), add or recycle an old listing (maybe a minute), print a label and pack to ship (a couple minutes). I’ll make at least $15 for a few minutes work after fees.
10/23/2018 at 3:53 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50617Maybe I’m old-school or missing something, but isn’t physical storage cheap and photo files small? I have every single photo I’ve ever taken (including eBay listing photos dating back to 1996) stored in a folder on my computer, backed-up on an external drive and it is only about 5% full with everything photo from my 40+ years backed-up. I also buy a new SD card each time it gets full on my camera and save that as another back-up.
My iPhone also automatically backs-up all it’s photos in the same folder on my computer. I have a Windows computer and you can sync your iPhone by Bluetooth or USB cable easily. My camera also syncs by Bluetooh or USB as well. My back-up drive is USB and runs automatically when plugged in.
It’s all pretty effortless once setup, and no monthly fees.
I also don’t trust the cloud – you never know when it will go down or disappear or get hacked.
10/22/2018 at 3:13 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50561I think there is an evolutionary process that we all most go through over the years as well. What I sold on eBay in 1998 will not sell today, and some of the stuff I sell now didn’t even exist in 1998 or was considered worthless.
Then there are items that sold well in 1998, and still sell well today.
It’s a constant learning experience – I really can’t think of any practice I used in 1998 that I still use today for selling on eBay. You have to evolve to stay alive in this business if you want to make consistent income off it. Some of my best sales the last 2 weeks have been items I didn’t even know about 3 weeks ago…
10/22/2018 at 2:02 pm in reply to: Bidder trying to get discount and free shipping after auction ended #50554GSP does take account for any duty exceptions – there are plenty of items that I buy using GSP that have no duty, but have the extra delivery/import fees that Pitney-Bowes charges to bring the item from Erlanger, KY to Canada and re-ship using Canada Post.
10/22/2018 at 10:35 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #50528Winchester – really interested in your story! As a Canadian, that is the same age group (a few years older) and situation as you (2 professionals, married, no kids as well, but we have 6 cats….) and looking to go full-time anytime now.
The number of listings you have is amazing for working full time still – my wife and I are at about 550 as of this weekend, but we seem to sell as much as we find some weeks (which is great!).
We’ve already bought out next home. Currently living in the Niagara Region and moving north a few hours to cottage country in Ontario (Lake Huron) once dying company eliminates me.
Looking forward to hear how things go for you!
I use to get the odd Spam message in eBay’s message system – if I got one from Amazon, I would have thought it was some sort of scam and not from Amazon itself.
I’m not sure that eBay can do anything – it’s not that sellers/products are exclusive to them. If you look at the Brick & Mortar world, lots of retail stores deal with the same products and companies – should be no different for eBay/Amazon. If I’m a new business and want to sell Coca-Cola, someone who currently does can’t come after me for selling a product, nor can they go after Coca-Cola for trying to sell me a their product.
My dream space wish list – For me, I fix a lot of electronics and clean them. Right now I use our household Dyson, but would like a special vac that I could just reach for and the hose would retract when cleaning out dust from electronics. Also, when I dismantle some very dirty equipment or equipment that was from a smoker, I usually wash the parts in the sink or dishwasher – would be nice to have a sink nearby and drying area for my parts.
The cool new tech I would like is what some of the larger post offices in my area have – they have a machine that you put your parcel in, it weighs, measures, reads the address, and prints the shipping label you want for you in seconds. Would be cool to have something similar that integrates with the buyers address in eBay.
The problem is that many areas provide incentives and tax breaks to companies to attract them – in the end it is a race to the bottom that costs the community and the only winner is the corporation. When I read things about businesses like Amazon and the “HQ 2.0” they talk about building, and what various areas are offering to attract it, it scares me.
An extreme example is the Oakland Raiders moving to Las Vegas – they are taking money from schools, health programs, and the community to build a football stadium that will be used by a team maybe 10-11 times a year.
It makes me sick when highly profitable companies like Amazon, Apple, NFL teams, etc. rip off regular tax paying citizens to build facilities. I have no issue with an established local company that has paid taxes, and their employees have paid taxes asking for a break or grant for a reasonable local expansion, but the bidding wars some communities get into to lure jobs is sad. I’ve just sat at too many tables in board rooms where profitable private companies try to figure out how to weasel money out of government to increase a bottom line.
Thanks for sharing this guys – my new property has a 16′ x 40′ “garage” that really is an insulated out building with a garage door; and a pair each of 10′ x 10′ and 10′ x 12′ bedrooms and an unfinished basement (which I need to plan for adding new utilities) – probably an easy 30′ x 25′ I could use for eBay. We’re debating what to do with each area for each business we plan to have – however, I’m leaning to the basement for eBay work (would like to have a photo “studio” permanently setup to make that part easier, and I’m not sure how to heat the garage efficiently and it may have rodent access at the moment…).
Right now, I tend to fit about 500-600 items easily on two 4′ shelves that have 5 tiers, each tier with two bins totaling about 7-8′ in height. I tend to stay small at my current home because of space constraints, but you numbers give me a good idea of the space I need if going for larger items, and a larger inventory.
Very helpful for my situation. This would be a good chapter for a scavenger textbook – “How Much Space Do I Need For Storage”…
This is not a U.S. only problem – shipping form China to Canada is impossibly cheap as well, but I’m guilty of buying goods from China.
I’m curious to see what the U.S. does – Canada has some industries that are starting to become dependent on the Chinese market, and is probably too scared to push back.
Also, Jay has a point – if we want to add costs to Chinese goods, still nobody here will make them, and it will just end up costing us all more to buy items. In the end, it’s not going to bring back jobs, it’s just going to be revenue stream for the government, and potential affect goods going to China.
The Chinese people are starting to demand more pay, benefits, etc. – there are numerous documentaries I’ve seen on the topic (Outsourcing China is one) where the Chinese are starting to move jobs from China to poorer Asian and African countries. I think that China is going to be a past worry as they advance (similar to Japan’s rise from nothing) – it’s the other underdeveloped countries we need to worry about in the future.
Mark S – I like your format, so I’m going to copy it since it’s easier than pulling my numbers…
Gut Sales Report For The Week – great week – had some very expensive vintage Sony Walkmans sell this week, netted me almost $400 on two alone. Rest of the sales were average, but the Walkman sales really put me over the top.
My process improvement for the week – I ordered one of those Chinese LED 9″ x 9″ light boxes about a month ago that finally arrived. Trying to figure out the best way to use it for listings next weekend and what settings on my camera work best.
Scavenge of the week – this week wasn’t that exciting for me. Lots of $30 to $50 items found for $5 or less, but nothing that got my heart going. Best items were 2 pairs of new insulated rubber workboots for $5 each, listed for $125 (Retail is $200-$250).
Challenge of the week – I have a routine – I work full-time M-F, scavenge on Saturday, photo and list on Sunday. I recently bought a second house to move into once I lose my job, and with the various family commitments, I may need to slow down the odd weekend in November/December. Trying to figure out how to keep the same scavenging and sales pace with additional commitments. Also, as a huge F1/CFL/NFL fan, all my sports are converging on weekends – gives me something to listen to when listing though.
What I Learned – I’m not that much of a clothing guy except for sports jerseys, however, I’ve noticed that NWT pants are easy to spot at thrift stores. Found a vintage 1970’s pair of Sears jeans, and some vintage 1970’s Woman’s Polyester pants NWT for $3 each I’m giving a shot to see how they do.
@Doublythumbs – no shame in taking the safe road! Better to have peace of mind – especially when you know you have an exit plan. I’m still at a dying office job, but I’m so relaxed because I know it will end and don’t care what my future holds as I have a plan.
I’ve spent several years planning my exit – you really need to have everything figured out – turn over every stone (you mention a roof, but think about absolutely everything that may need to be replaced in the short term and longer term). It’s a lot of work to do, but once you know the numbers, and how much work you need to do to meet those numbers, you will reach a state of zen.
Good luck!
10/11/2018 at 2:44 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 380: What Do Lifetime Sales Really Mean? #50057Creating lots is a great strategy. I do this for several things on purpose. For example, every thrift store has a couple VHS tapes or blank cassette tapes – I usually pick these up for 10 or 25 cents, save them in boxes until I have 50 or 100 (even mixed brands/types) and sell them for about $2/tape in the end in a lot. Some of these tapes have huge value to sell alone, so it is worth the gamble and research (I sold a blank cassette tape for $200 once!).
Another lot strategy I have is I save broken items. For example, I buy/sell a lot of Walkmans – some are not repairable and I will save 5-10 and sell them all together as a broken/parts lot. At minimum, I get my money back for a risky buy that didn’t work out.
The anticipation of a life change and the anxiety of not knowing what exactly the future holds is interesting to hear. I also like that everyone does this journey slightly differently and has different situations to share.
It’s interesting to hear how others are supplementing online sales income with other business or job opportunities. The ingenuity and alternate paths people choose for other income sources while selling on eBay/Etsy/Amazon gets my thoughts going.
The support is great as well in this community. Family and friends over the years don’t get this business – and I listened to them for advice in the past that maybe wasn’t the best. They were ignorant of how eBay works, didn’t understand the internet, and still don’t. At least on this forum people have gone through, or are going through the same situations and have real advice.
One day, when it becomes “normal”, my wife and I will share our journey.
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