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Hi VikingSilver,
I never heard of the Mountains to Sea Trail. My husband is from Mt. Airy, NC and we have tons of family throughout the state. We aren’t runners but it would be worth exploring parts of it for shorter hikes the next time we’re in the area.Best of luck on your journey!
Julie
Unless I have a sudden influx of sales before midnight, today marks my worst January of sales in 5 years. But I’m not listing as often so maybe that’s a big part of it.
I did get a few decent higher ROI on a few sales:
Mid Century Carved Wooden Tiki Punch Bowl Set 14 Pc.
Bought for $15. I priced it higher than many that were already listed so it took over a year to sell. Sold for $120 with free shipping which cost me $35 since I sent it in two separate boxes.1970s Sears Country Coordinates 12 Pc Breakfast Set. Found in a garage covered in dirt in original box with original receipts. Paid $5, took a $70 best offer with free shipping which is going to cost around $12.
Both items were listed back when I was putting Free Shipping on everything. I’ve since started listing anything over 16 oz as Calculated Shipping, buyer pays. Too many postage increases, lowball offers & sales to California (the furthest zone from me) for me to offer Free Shipping anymore.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Julie B.
A mistake I made was failing to anticipate all of the unexpected expenses that seemed to constantly crop up back when I was a full time ebayer: Car repairs, vet bills for the dog’s knee surgeries, various home repair bills. It seemed like it was always something! I had to put a lot of it on credit cards (something I never would have even considered back when I was comfortably off). While I was able to make at least the minimum payments towards the debt each month, the interest rates were killing me and I could not chip away at the credit card balance before another unexpected expense would pop up.
So my advice is expect the unexpected. Pay off any consumer debt & make whatever home & auto repairs that you’ve been putting off before considering quitting one’s job for FT reselling. Live frugally even before you “need” to, so you can squirrel away savings for a rainy day.
I started watching him a few days ago too – I guess YouTube must have started promoting the videos this week. Fascinating to watch. The guy is not afraid of hard work. He found one of the ultimate hoards since the prior owner was an artist whose work is valuable. The average hoarder house probably wouldn’t be worth the work.
01/16/2019 at 10:35 am in reply to: Sellers hit with government shutdown? How are your sales? #55246I started hoarding money about 6 months ago instead of paying off a few things. I didn’t do it for any particular reason so it must have just been general uneasiness – I can’t be the only one. It’s a good thing I did – husband is currently working without pay. Interesting fact – some federal agencies are actually fully funded and have the money in their budgets to pay their employees but have been ordered not to (my husband’s agency for example). I think high ranking politicians on both sides want as many workers affected as possible because they think the headlines are helping their side (800,000 workers without pay versus say 1/2 of that).
As a former federal worker married to a current federal worker – these shutdowns have gotten really old. It feels like every 3 to 6 months we’re threatened with a possible shut down. There needs to be a law passed that in the event a budget cannot be reached by a deadline, gov’t agencies function at the prior year’s budget level. Then when the budget is passed, they can add or subtract whatever dollar amounts need to be adjusted to fit into their new budgets. But of course then politicians can’t use us as pawns so they probably won’t go for that.
Sorry for the rant – I feel better. 🙂
Thanks Clarity, I’ll def. give that a try when I’m out of Un-do!
Julie
The best stuff I have found and one of my top 3 reselling must haves is Un-do Adhesive Remover
Doesn’t smell. Dries quickly and without staining. One bottle lasts me over a year.-
This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
Julie B.
I’m not the type to strike up conversation with people but I would be happy if a fellow reseller approached me and started talking about it (provided it was semi-inconspicuous – I do like to try to keep my flipping business on the down low at certain smaller thrifts). Once I start talking about flipping on Ebay, it’s hard to get me to stop. I’m sure my husband and close friends would love it if I found someone else to talk shop with.
12/06/2018 at 8:27 am in reply to: WARNING: Classic shipping screen is giving incorrect higher shipping #52780Something wonky is going on with the buyer’s side as well. I had an offer last week from an international buyer which I accepted but between the time the buyer made the offer to the time they went to pay, the postage increased by $6. We corresponding through ebay messages about it and then when the buyer went in to finally pay, postage increased by another $14! Needless to say, buyer wanted to cancel.
November was my slowest month since March 2015. Back then I probably had 1/4th of the listings that I do now. Looking at my numbers, November of last year was pretty awful for me too. My store’s best quarter is always first quarter – go figure.
For any women’s clothing sellers on here looking for something to watch/listen to while you list – I just watched 3 YouTube videos by Empty Hanger about a recent estate sale score. She sells on Posh and lives in Atlanta. She hit the mother of all clothing estate sales last week. She spent $4k in two days on mostly Anthropologie clothes with tags attached in the $150 to $400 range. Almost every room in the house was filled with racks of clothes. Rumor is the original owner was either a shopaholic or was a buyer for Anthropologie. I’m green with envy.
Terminator vision! I’ve often fantasized about dollar signs popping up overhead at the thrift store above all the big money items. Then I would just have to run by and scoop up the items under the dollar sign. I think this means I’ve played way too many video games in my day.
D’oh! Sorry T-Satt – I don’t know why I thought you were in Georgia too. Brain fart.
Every year my sales peak after the holidays with Jan thru March consistently being my best months and March always being #1. I suppose its people using gift certificates, buying for themselves what they wish they’d gotten for Christmas & maybe people in the colder areas of the U.S. suffering from season’s long cabin fever staying inside surfing the net.
T-Satt,
I think the answer for me is to hire out the clothing photography. I don’t have trouble photographing most other items, just the darn clothes! I don’t want to worry about payroll taxes or liability of having someone come on site so the ideal situation would be to find someone to whom I can just drop off a truck full of pre-steamed, garments on hangers to photograph at their leisure. I’ll wait until after the holidays to find someone. The trick will be to find someone who can actually take good photos and is dependable (the hardest trait to find in someone these days).I know you are relatively close to me, do you think your photo guy knows anyone with his skill set that is in the NW corner of GA? I’m in Rome.
Thanks!
JulieI too am frustrated with the photography aspect of listing. It seems no matter what I try, there are just too many clothing items where the shade of the color in the photo is nothing like the actual item. I’ve tried different lighting setups, have moved to all areas of my house, have tried inside and outside, direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, no sunlight, semi-pro lighting kits, different bulbs, etc. I’ve tried different camera phones and digital cameras. My listing comes to a screeching halt for weeks all because I get so frustrated with the photography.
An efficiency that has saved me a lot of time is I source less often by going to a larger area that has more thrifting sources. I used to check the same stores over and over all week long in my current town. But I’ve found it’s more efficient to drive to the nearest city (Atlanta) and do all of my sourcing through several stores in one day. I come home with more than enough to keep me busy for awhile.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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