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[Mark S]

Mike,

No problem. I will have to get the Silver soon if things go as planned.

As a developer, I prefer to query the database directly. But that is good to know.

Mark

[Mark S]

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

But it did not work for me because it came back with a message that I need at least a Silver subscription to use this feature.

Mark

[Mark S]

Well, Big companies also use spreadsheets.

But as companies grow, then tend to rely on more industrial strength tools, like databases. The reason why is because you write it once, test it like crazy and then you have a proven tool you can use over and over again.

[Mark S]

Mike,

I suppose you could do what you are describing. Although I am not seeing any easy way to export as a .CSV file. Where is that functionality?

Actually, the database is much faster and is great at number analysis. This is what all the big companies use. The database can do stats on millions of records if needed. But, the main thing you get is speed and accuracy by using a stored procedure (that has been tested). My queries are virtually instant and they should be accurate every time. Also, I can get any data that I want, not just the data that is available in the GUI.

However, if you go the spreadsheet route, which is what most people know, this can be time consuming (but could be better in some ways) and you are always open to errors in a manual process like that. Also, you may not have the data that you need.

Mark

[Mark S]

Note: the “Listed for the period” is thrown off by the fact that I add the number of listed items with the number of solds. Since this is items with many multiples, that gives a “Listed for the period” more than the actual number of listings that I have. Maybe I can work on that issue.

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

My covergirl make up is the closet thing I have found to that unicorn with the exception of “Readily Available”. Here are my stats for the make up. It is small, easy to ship, easy to store, low cost, high profit, sells quickly:

Start Date 2017-06-21
End Date 2018-01-05
Expression covergirl
Listed for Period 129
Solds 57
STR 44.186
ASP 37.44
Oldest UnSold Jun 16 2017
Latest UnSold Jun 29 2017
AvgDaysToSell 132
AvgDaysInInvForUnsold 167

Also, I make about $5 on average for the shipping. I started with 633 pieces across 54 listings. I paid $150 for it and it has a potential of about $10,000 with the money I make on shipping.

For the slow moving inventory (what of my big issues), what type of report do you think would be best for a summary level, then for a detail level?

Mark

[Mark S]

Hi Mike,

Actually it is neither. I don’t think Wonder Lister would ever give anyone access to their code.

But what I do have is their database that they give to you with all the tables, data, etc.

This would make no sense to most people, but I do Microsoft SQL Server coding for a living and this is the database they use.

So, I looked at their tables with the data in it to see how it was set up. That alone was a chore. I’m still trying to figure out where everything is and what they call it.

Then, I wrote SQL Server Queries to slice and dice the data the way I wanted it. Then, to make it easier to send to other people, I created what they call “Stored Procedures”. The stored procedure accepts parameters and then my queries act on those parameters.

For example, here is an example call to my stored procedure:

exec WonderLister.mjs.Stats_For_DateRange ‘2017-03-01’, ‘2017-12-31’, ‘shoes’, 1, 1

This will provide stats on all listings that have ‘shoes’ in the title for the date range 3/1/17 – 12/31/17. It gives the following information back to you:

Start Date
End Date
Expression
# Listed for Period
# Solds
STR %
ASP
Oldest UnSold
Latest UnSold
AvgDaysToSell
AvgDaysInInvForUnsold

In addition, those last two parameters tell the procedure if you want to see the detail behind the summary. The first ‘1’ will give you the Active listing detail, the second is the sold detail. So, to test this, you could take the detail data and copy it to a spreadsheet and slice it like I did and you should come up with the same numbers I did in the summary. That is how I tested it.

I do this coding in SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio). This is what the developers at Wonder Lister probably use. This is a developer tool.

If I had access to their windows program code, I could ask for the input parameters and then make a call to my stored procedure and display the results in their GUI (graphical user interface).

But, that is where you could help. If you think this is useful, you could ask Wonder Lister if they would consider doing what I described in my last paragraph – I would provide the stored procedure. Then this functionality would be available to everyone who uses Wonder Lister.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

That makes more sense with the shipping in there.

Looks like you have a much lower ASP than I do, but you have a way higher STR.

Do you think there is a direct correlation there?

Also, I was thinking of adding other procedures for WonderLister. More of a “Store Health Dashboard” that would give you an indicator where something may be wrong. For example, I ran a query to show which items have had less than 100 hits in the last 7 months. I was surprised at that.

Any other ideas for the dashboard? The idea here is to show what is good and bad. Then you can drill down into it if you see an issue at a high level.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

I ran those numbers through my forecast spreadsheet and it says you should net $135,000 based on what you said. That is about 55% of gross.

Why would you only net 30% of gross?

Mark

[Mark S]

Rydell Relics,

Also we have the records in common. I can relate to that. I have several thousand that I need to get around to listing. The problem is that like you said, most don’t sell for much.

However, I picked up a mid-century Blues LP a while ago and saw that it is worth over $200. I believe it was in good to Very Good condition so I should be able to get close to the $200, just have to get around to listing it.

I used to sell at the Record shows, so I remembered that the Blues Records sell really well and I always have a BOLO out for them.

Mark

[Mark S]

Rydell Relics,

We have something in common, my dad sold barber supplies for a long time.

I have a lot of the supplies and haven’t got around to listing most of them. But some are way cool and a lot from the 1960’s and 1970’s. I have a vintage barber pole glass from the 1970’s. I have some Shaving Mugs listed. I have some New in the package 1960’s combs that I have been selling. I have a lot more.

We should exchange stories on this in the future.

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

Did you see the email I sent to you? It has a lot more detail.

Nark

[Mark S]

I should have mentioned that was for the period 03/01/17-12/31/17. 03/01/17 is about when my WonderLister data began.

Mark

[Mark S]

So I coded that. Here is an actual example of shoes that I found in my store from WonderLister:

Maybe I should lower the price so they sell faster.

Expression Shoes
Listed for Period 252
Solds 60
STR 23.81%
ASP $31.69
Oldest UnSold 03/03/14
Latest UnSold 12/14/17
AvgDaysToSell 274
AvgDaysInInvForUnsold 494

Mark

[Mark S]

T-Satt,

It dawned on me on the way into work this morning that I have access to all the data in WonderLister. I can slice and dice this data anyway I want and set up date parameters because I code this type of thing for a living. I just have to set it up once and then I can use those queries over and over. I can share them with you and you can run them against your WonderLister database. The categories are a bit wierd in WonderLister, so that may be a challenge.

What I am thinking is something like this:

Date Range: 12/24/17 – 12/3017 (or whatever range you want)

Category #Listed #Sold STR ASP Oldest Listed Newest Listed Avg Days to Sell
——-
Shoes
Clothing
etc

I can even drill down more into shoes, like Mens, Womens, Golf Shoes, Vintage shoes, Casual, Flats & Oxfords, etc. This could get a little complicated, so I think I will just start out simple.

Mark

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