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We keep it simple. List the furniture as “local pickup”. We will also add in the description that the buyer can use a 3rd party shipping company like http://uship.com. This way the buyer can figure out the best way to get it.
We only list expensive ($500+) items on eBay since sophisticated buyers know how to arrange shipping. If its less expensive furniture, we just sell on Craigslist or Facebook locally.
People need something to believe in to justify their own irrationality.
I should post this to the top of the blog. I know we’ve had experience meeting (usually older folks) who are utterly confident that what the have is almost priceless.
I even see it in owners of old buildings on the main street of our small town. They are obsessed that their property is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars…even though they havent improved the property is decades. Blind to any comps. Building is crumbling into the ground. But they are sitting on a goldmine.
Its so awesome you can store such a huge inventory in a relatively small space.
–Do you have your own long term collection that you keep for sentimental value, or because you think they’ll grow in invetsment?–I assume you follow all these sports and see who’s playing in the big games to judge who will get popular (like Burrow). Is that time consuming to juggle finding and repricing who you think will be popular in a period of time?Have you guys been asked to switch yet? Right now it’s in beta. The plan, is to make the listing experience the same between the phone and the desktop.
We haven’t been asked. Do you like the new listing experience (other than video?)
Are we expecting any big changes? I feel we’ve had a good run the last 18 months without any break in the Force
I think the general rule of thumb is once, the money is earned, it’s reported to the IRS. It’s always our job to show the expenses that offset the income.
This 100%. eBay or any company does not do our expenses for us. They report to the IRS what money was given to us. That’s why good business people are all about expenses.
I know these aren’t easy to make so appreciate it. I remember Half Price Books when I grew up in Texas. As a student, I’d take my books/tapes/cds there to get pennies on the dollar for spending money (wasn’t a smart scavenger then). I’m surprised they can still survive unless they also sell their books online.
“As I suspected, the 1099k includes all sales figures EXCEPT sales tax. It will be your job to assess all of the shipping and fees paid to eBay as an expense against that income.”
This is good info and makes sense. So nothing has changed. We’ve always had to keep track of shipping and fees. You have thankfully confirmed that the new taxes are not part of the equation.
For a lot of sellers, shipping is actually net income because of the difference between eBay shipping discount and charging the buyer the retail postage cost.
From hat I remember, you left your last job to focus on scavenging and you were unsure if it’d work. Have you built up enough steady sales to feel good about being independent?
One of my goals in life is to be gentler with myself. Stopping to do something I enjoy throughout the day: a warm drink, a good book, a little nap.
you deserve it. we all do.
Took some trash to the dump and as I was pulling in, the truck dumped out a bunch of stuff and I noticed it looked like the contents of an older persons house.
Finding stuff to sell in the trash is really the most fulfilling. It is incredible/scary to think of the hundreds of tons of good stuff put into giant holes each day.
True. Just curious if he’s said a number. $10/hr to list 100 items a day (5 days a week, 4 weeks a month)seems not worth it. That’s not a chill day. $20/hr seems better but still tough for being a robot.
Low wage jobs churn through staff. If he’s paying high wages to keep people, just means his net profit goes down. That scavenger equation is brutal.
3 people x $20/hr x 8 hours a day = $480/day in labor (before the employer’s side of W-2 taxes). $2400/week. $9600/month.
Labor is the most important (and expensive) line item in our coffee shop.
He’s got a super refined process so the people that work with him don’t have to think about anything. They create 300 listings between the three of them 5 days a week.
You have any idea how much he pays people? Any job that is demanding (like listing 100 items a day) will likely need to be well paid. But he also might be a really good guy which does go a long way.
