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[Mark S]

T-Satt,

Oh, and I do my strategy at the computer operated gaming, not the dealer table.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

Not inside or outside.

My strategy has to do with the fact that in Vegas (and I think most places in the US) they use the American roulette table. There is a subtle but important distinction between ‘American Roulette’ and ‘European Roulette’.

Mark

[Mark S]

Now that I think sbout it, the way I do roulette is a lot like ebay. I buy things for next to nothing with very low risk. No 1 item will make me rich, but if I follow the plan, I can it least make a partial living or full-time living.

You do take a risk selling on ebay, but you do it anyway? Why? Because the risk is so low and you have seen it work time and time again if you follow the plan. That is how it is with me for roulette.

Of course there are the real risk takers on Amazon that Jay talks about. Now that can be high stake risks. I won’t do that either.

Mark

[Mark S]

Retro,

Yes, if I were you I would stay away. I am not recommending that people go out and gamble away. I have a very discipled thought out process that works. But that is not enough. You have to stick to the plan. I have found that when I veer from the plan, I lose a little money. Last time I was in Vegas was 2014, that’s why I would like to go back.

My plan is a proven plan but no one is going to get rich. No such thing as fool proof, but mine is close. But only for small amounts of money with low reward. My plan will not work if the plan is not followed. Stay away if you dont have a plan or cant follow a plan with very low risk.

Mark

[Mark S]

Jay,

I believe the veros go away after 90 days or so, maybe a year. I called to follow up on a vero and they said they removed it for me. So they do disappear after a set period of tome of 1 year or less. Of course that may vary by violation, seller, etc.

That is what i dont like about their Vero program- very hard to find info and they dont lay it out well on what happens.

Mark

[Mark S]

No houses involved here. $20 is my max to lose. My strategy is good, but I don’t take unneeded risks. It is not fun when you lose, so I keep it small and keep winning.

Mark

[Mark S]

Jay,

I never lost money when I played last time in Vegas except for a few dollars at the beginning be ause of how my strategy works. I am only talking about $20 or so to start. I came out with a little over $100 in the plus. So, not big winnings but never lost money. And after my first win, I was always in the black.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

Wish I were in Vegas. I learned how to win at roulette last time I was there. Can’t wait to get back. I don’t win a lot of money, but just enough to have fun and get some spending money

Mark

[Mark S]

6/10/18 – 6/16/18

Items In Store: 2,014
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $80 (around)
Total Sales: $885
HIghest Price Sold: $135 (Set of golf clubs)
Returns: 1
Money spent on new inventory: $21

I was bracing myself for a slow week, but that didn’t happen. Hoping the momentum carries into this next week.

Mark

[Mark S]

Sonia,

Thanks for the information. I was just in the process of getting a pair of Red Wings ready to get listed and now I have a lot more information to add to the listing.

Mark

[Mark S]

Hi Indythrifter,

” I’m struggling a bit learning to spot things that would flip for a profit but I’m hoping that will come with time trial and error.”

Unfortunately, we must all go through this period of learning. It never really ends, but it does get easier.

I think there is a hard way and a better way.

The hard way -just buy a bunch of stuff and don’t list it, just keep buying items without looking
them up and researching them. This is how I started out and it was not good. I wasted a lot of
money, space, and time try to get rid of them.

The better way – Look up everything you are not sure about before you buy it. You may want to set
a threshold like I will spend up to $1 without looking it up so that you save some time. But start
listing the items right away so you can see how they sell.

After doing this for nearly 5 years, it is really a lot of fun now. You just walk into the sales and you instantly know what to buy and for how much. Of course there are always items you have never seen before and you have to take a chance or look it up. And then there are those sales where the whole sale are things you have never seen before – then it really gets overwhelming.

Mark

[Mark S]

Katie,

I sent this to you at the end of the last episode, but I don’t think you saw it.

I am going to be down in the St. Pete FL area from June 29th – July 5th.

Remind me the name of the good pizza place.

Also, let me know if there is a good time to go picking.

Mark

[Mark S]

Julie,

They may offer you a sweetheart deal when you turn in my resignation in order to try and keep you.

Maybe you can play your cards right and push back a little now (no resignation letter) – just enough for them to see that you are willing to walk away. Maybe you can bluff them and they don’t call you on the bluff. But, in 3 months or less, there will be no bluffing needed!

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

The cycle counts may work. That is a lot less daunting to think about.

“execution is everything” – yes, very true. My problem right now is I can’t totally control my time and my lister’s time so plans can slip.

My plan is to take baby steps to get to my goal. In the end, the goal may change, but that is the goal right now.

I think I can fit 6000-7000 (maybe more) items in my house, basement, and garage. This is the safe place for me. 1. No external storage to deal with or pay for. 2. I can easily get to my inventory anytime day or night for questions, shipping, etc. 3. My costs are low.

I will stay at that point for a while and decide what I want to do and stash away money from my regular job and that. At some point I will need to decide if I want it to stay that way or grow bigger. Part of that decision will be if I want to go full time at it or not. I can still outsource listing, photos etc while at home which is what I am doing right now.

So, I will take it step by step, develop my processes, stash some money and decide what I want to do. At some point it will just make sense to quit my job. As Dave Ramsey says (about transitioning from your full-time job to your own company), it is like being in a boat, the closer you are to the dock, the easier it is to jump off and land safely. Meaning, if you make $5,000 \ month now at your real job, the closer you can get your company income to $5,000 \ month the easier the transition will be. So, that is one of my short term goals, make from ebay what I make from my regular job each month. At that point the world of opportunity opens up and I just have to decide what I want to do when I grow up.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

Thanks for your feedback. I am no where close to getting to this point, but this is how I visualize my final state for ebay. When I reach that point, I could go off and do other things as well.

I have to deal with all the issues you stated now, but I get your point. If I dont have a good process to handle it now, it will grow out of control at that size. I have a very good inventory system, but even so, an item does get lost every so often. I know i should take a full inventory check to ensure this doesn’t happen, but that is very daunting right now as a part timer.

So, my take away is to make sure on my way up to this level, I take the steps to solve these issues by putting processes into place.

Thanks again for your input. It is so easy as a small business owner to come up with plans. But there is often no one to check your ideas and challenge your assumptions. This forum is a good place for that sort of constructive feedback. Thanks again.

Mark

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