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Can’t find the one commercial I was looking for that this company had, but at the 2:45 mark you will see some big nuts!
This is a contractor supply store that is in every city around where I live. Wish I could find the commercial that use to boast in a loud voice “the biggest nuts” then in a softer voice “and bolts in Canada”.
I would think this is pretty common (maybe because of the engineering job I am in) as I’ve seen sizes even larger then this (over 10″).
You might be able to get someone looking at it for décor, but the shipping may kill any sales as any local contractor supply store that carries large nuts/bolts probably has these hanging around.
Do you know what size / threading it has? However, I figure someone that is looking for that detail would be able to find one locally instead of searching on eBay.
You never know…some buyer may have a XXXL Bolt looking for a mate…
My Goal this year has been to figure out the best balance between my job, eBay, and personal time.
I’ve been trying to keep a $2000 sales per month number but cutdown on the number of low margin items. So far it has been good – I haven’t hit the $2000 mark yet but should just exceed it this month (had a good first few weeks to April). However, the amount of free time has been good – the challenge has been finding enough high-profit items.
I’m spending about half the time I use to on eBay tasks by buying/listing less, but also getting efficient in what I buy and list, and how I ship things. Even though I spend half the time, I’m making about 80% of what I did when I would sell $10 items with low profit.
Thanks for sharing – I like the simplicity of the stand.
I agree with Amatino on the diffuser – it is life changing for eBay photography on reflective objects!
The “whiter” the light bulb lighting, the better – I use to struggle with old yellowish light bulbs for years until newer white lights (usually marked “Daylight” or “Sunlight”) came out.
For me, about 90% of the items I buy are from years of experience knowing the subject matter I’m selling.
The other 10% are just curious items I find that I look up on my phone in a quiet location. Of these items, I would say 2/3 are duds, and the other 1/3 are winners – and sometimes huge winners.
For example, I’ve been reading on the forum about graphing calculators – I found this box of school supplies with one in it for $2 at a local thrift. I looked up the calculator (along with a few others in similar lots) on my cell phone and one sells often for around $60. Bought that lot, listed the calculator, and it sold in hours.
My rule is that anything that is old with boxes/manuals, looks in good shape, or is a category I hear has good items in it (mostly thanks to this forum) I will take the time to look it up on my phone and build my knowledge. Even taking the time to look up garbage will let you know next time it’s not worthwhile when you see it.
As someone who buys using GSP often – I LOVE GSP!
I don’t think many Americans realize how many options they have for buying “stuff” and the selection they have that other countries don’t have. I just live over the border in Canada, and as a 6’5″ guy with size 17 feet, to actually have a choice of clothes and shoes from the U.S. is amazing!
The retail landscape here has very few players compared to the U.S. – including online. Take advantage of it as a seller with GSP.
The one example I like to use is T-Shirts – I wear a 3XLT shirt – here in Canada, I can get them for $45 each for a brand you never heard of. On eBay with GSP, I can buy heavyweight Hanes or other major brands for just under or over $10. With GSP, the shirt may be over $20 all in with shipping and duty, but still, I’m getting a “deal”, plus brand and color options I can’t get normally.
Quantity is an interesting factor. It saves a lot of listing time, as well when you can bundle a listing the potential profit is better for the time spent listing and packing.
I’ve had a lot of success on blank media lately (old VHS/Beta/Hi-8 tapes, audio cassette tapes, older floppy diskettes, etc) where selling them individually would be a struggle, however, in quantity they are good profit.
The return issue is what has kept me away from heavy items on eBay – also, I find it easier to sell those items on local classified websites where shipping isn’t an issue and buyers can check out the item in person before deciding against it.
I’ve been burned a few times with ridiculous INAD cases on heavy items where I’ve eaten the shipping costs on very heavy items. Personally, if I have to take a $10 or even $20 loss on shipping I can handle it. When it is over $50, and sometimes over $100, I can’t take the risk. Hence why I only ship lighter items. It just angers me too much to lose the shipping costs (and be asked to cover return shipping) and it isn’t worth the stress.
However, it looks like you are successful in the larger/heavier items.
My “grind” is up/down (I work full time) based on how I feel.
SOURCING – I work near three thrift stores (one directly across the street from my office) that I source from on lunches every week. I also go to another thrift store weekly when we get groceries (the grocery store we go to in the same plaza). About 1 or 2 times a month I’ll spend a day on the weekend driving to nearby cities to source for the day.
LISTING – I always list what I have the same week I buy it. I typically will crank up my stereo on the weekend, and do all my photography. I’ll then sitdown with my laptop and watch some racing/football on TV and list casually while watching TV.
SHIPPING – I get up every day 30 minutes early to get things ready to drop off on the way to work. If nothing sells, I’ll just relax!
I tend to slow down when I reach near 200 items listed and cool off my purchases until my inventory drops. I’ve gone over 400 items and it gets too hectic (especially for shipping if I have a lot of sales on a weekday before work). If I didn’t work a full-time job, I would easily ramp up again and would spend the work week sourcing/listing.
04/02/2018 at 2:58 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 354: The Long Game – 10 Years On eBay #36917Just compiled my numbers for the month of March:
Listings – March 1st – 101
Listings – March 31st – 122
Items Sold – 36
Total Sales – $1952.36
Total Expenditures – $609.02**
March Profit – $1343.34**Spent over $300 at Home Depot on supplies, and just under $100 on a box of 1000 large polybags. I built a system from the ceiling joists to hold my rolls of paper, labels, and bubble wrap. Also bought 4 rolls of bubble wrap. My actual inventory spend was $142.01.
An OK sales month – lots of higher margin/priced items sold this month which is my strategy for 2018. However, my profit is not near the $2000/month I like to hit. I am also spending a lot less time on eBay, but the per hour numbers this year are double what they were last year (I’m near $50/hour for the time I spend on eBay related activities for 2018).
MOST OF MY SALES WERE DURING EBAY PROMOS – there were several promos through ebay.com and ebay.ca this month that boosted my sales those days. I’m hoping eBay continues this practice!
It’s funny how many people think I’m never home as well because the cars are in the garage – it helps stop unwanted visitors when they don’t see my car or my wife’s car in the driveway! LOL!
I grew up with a hoarders in my family – I think it scared me from having more then I need. My extended family can have their own season of one of those hoarding shows.
Thanks Evan – it takes awhile to get to know all the shipping do’s and dont’s that won’t cost you money. You’ll have a few mistakes along the way. I’ve had a few costly ($20-$30) mistakes as I learned over the years.
I only ship very small items internationally (outside Canada/U.S.) as it does sometimes get out of control (both price and the package can disappear with foreign tracking).
For items under 1kg, you pretty much will be paying around $9-$12 for anything in the Windsor to Quebec City corridor – that is where most of my Canadian business is as the shipping is cheaper then anyone else can offer outside of that area. Under 1kg also gets you flat rates with U.S. postage for the Small Tracked Package option – which I think is around $19 this month.
Over 1kg is where the postage rates start to vary – especially to the U.S. I am always cautious with my pricing (I use Arizona for pricing my shipping to the U.S. for over 1kg items) but you will get the odd buyer from Hawaii or Alaska you will lose on, and someone in New York will be overpaying.
It will take some time to get your head around (especially the rates to places like Yukon, Labrador, etc) but calculated shipping will protect you.
I’m not sure how helpful your local Canada Post outlet is, but mine is great with explaining different rate changes and providing charts. I also use the Canada Post App a lot on my phone to look up things quickly.
Another way to save time is to use just a few different envelope and box size options – you’ll get to memorize them and they will help with speedier listings. I use a lot of the “ebay” envelopes Canada Post sells for $0.14 on there website – they are great for the price.
Anyways, feel free to ask for help – I’m on the board every few days and have way too much experience with Canada Post.
I was 100% USD$ up until about 5 years ago. Everyone tends to know what the local currency is worth compared to a $1 U.S.
I realized that I could play with currencies, and that you could make more per item if you were the only item in that currency.
It also allows me to play around with my listings a bit – for example, if I have something that is fairly common on eBay.com, I may be the only one that lists in CAD$ on ebay.ca – I can charge a premium to a buyer that doesn’t want to buy in USD$, and wants to avoid customs charges for shipping it to Canada. It also wipes out my foreign competition when a buyer selects they only want to look at items in CAD$ or in Canada. It gives me options on items that I can’t really compete with American or other foreign sellers on.
The options of currencies allow some strategies for non-American sellers – especially for “common” items.
For unique items, I always list in US$ to capture the biggest market possible.
Correct. You can play around with sites like ebay.de to see how your listings appear in a foreign language…pretty strange!
The numbers are insane! 1 in 11 pay $91.14 to store stuff they don’t want at home! WOW!
It amazes me what people “keep”.
I have a two-car garage on my house – and you know what is in it? Two Cars…for some reason people think it is amazing that I use my garage for cars instead of filling it up with junk!
I also enjoy it on House Hunters, or other shows that show people’s closets. How many pieces of clothing do you need? Some closets look like they have enough clothing that you could wear a different item every day for years…
Oh well, we have to remember a good portion of our customers probably are buying items from us that don’t need to, and maybe soon as they get it they bring it to there almost $100/month locker…
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