Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
It appears to be an adaptation of a Picasso painting, Bouquet of Peace, minus the receiving hands. One like it sold on Etsy for $14 (at least I think that was the price.)
I have used ARA Gold in Dallas, TX to melt gold and silver, and I recommend it. https://www.aragold.com It pays 98% of gold karat value based on spot price of the day it is refined/received and 90% of sterling silver. It’s best to contact it first before sending as there is paperwork to complete. I figured that price was better than what I can get on ebay, once final value fees are deducted. I send unrepairable or monogrammed pieces, pieces that would not command more than scrap value on ebay. I’ve used it 4 times over the last 2 years and have been pleased each time, most recently last winter. You do have to pay to mail your gold/silver scrap, but it is no more than the cost of padded flat rate priority envelope with tracking.
Thanks to the forums, I began watching freecycle and other free sites a couple of years ago. I’ve had a number of scores ranging from non glamorous photocopier supplies and office phones to collectibles like lionel trains, a native american headdress, dept 56 buildings, vintage horse ribbons, antique chandelier parts, a set of turkey decanters (boy was that hard to pack and ship), and assorted vintage magazines among other finds. For me, it is a great supplement to alley finds, yard sale purchases and thrift stores. I’m fortunate to live in a big city where free stuff is plentiful and admit to trolling those sites many times a day.
Since I called ebay, I’ve noticed several more items where shipping labels indicated “Label Created” even though clicking on the tracking number gave the scans’ information. My metrics were impacted. I waited a couple of days and the information on shipping labels resolved to either “In Transit” or “delivered” and my metrics went back to 100%. I don’t know if the resolution is ebay fixing the bug or because I called several days ago and was put on “the list”.
When I talked to the rep, I asked whether this bug might be related to changes in the shipping label interface and he said while they couldn’t say for sure it might be.
I called yesterday about this too. I found that wait time if I called ebay was 3 hours; but if ebay called me it was 15 mins so I chose the latter option. The rep confirmed the glitch and said it would be fixed within 24 hours, and it has been as of this morning.
Rep said it was good that I called as that meant my store would be included in the review of the glitch and application of the fix. Don’t know how true that is, but the fix was applied overnight.
I had a lot of technical manuals removed from ebay recently even though I noticed others were selling identical manuals. Guess I was among the first in that week’s sweep of removals. Four manuals were dated 1944 published by the Dept of War and one 1945 Dept of the Army. The topics did not appear to be related to national security, but ebay used the regulations cited by Auction Kenny above. The topics were pest control, how to pack, furniture repairs etc. I sold them locally through Craigslist instead, it was a fast sale.
If you’re able to, take a ruler to the needlework and count the horizontal stitches on one row in an inch. If there are, I believe, 22 or more stitches in the inch it is petit pointe. If not, needlepoint. Doing this and getting the count of stitches is information you may want to include in your item description.
To combine reflections on thoughts from several postings
For me the gross sales = 10x COGS calculation is based on time available for listing and my (in)efficiencies in listing. I note that I don’t take into consideration time sourcing or transportation costs. It takes me about 15 minutes per item to photograph, research, price and list. And, my photos aren’t all that great. I list mostly items in the $20-$40 range. My COGS calculation is helped by those items with a $0 cost to me that I find driving alleys, cast offs from friends, and items around the house. I figured with time constraints related to a full time job, I need to work towards a goal. I could approach the goal from a time motion calculus instead and work to get my listing time down, too.
I live in Washington, DC proper. I love the Virginia countryside, spending time on grandparents’farms in Culpeper and Clifton growing up. But, my spouse is a city denizen, so no country living for me. Plus our jobs (that is until retirement) are in the DC rat race and, truth be told, we’ve liked it. I think we’ll be DC rooted until we can’t live in the house any more.
I haven’t done much scavenging off Craigslist. I’ve sold a few things, but haven’t sourced. I see this as a brave new world once I’ve retired and have more time. You all are right the DMV area can be a gold mine, especially because of the wastefulness of many of its inhabitants. I expect that this winter we’ll see the predictable move outs and ins that come with the change of every administration. Can’t wait to drive alleys in the swankier parts of town then.
I so appreciate reading everyone’s thoughts and approaches to online selling. Everyone’s lens is different, but each helps my focus. Thank you all.
Total Items in Store: 235
Items Sold: 8
Cost of Items Sold: $31
Total Sales: $255
Highest Price Sold: $46 (Men’s Pendleton Black Watch Wool Shirt)
Average Price Sold: $31
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $4
Number of items listed this week: 17Hi everyone, this is my first time posting numbers. My store is pretty small compared to most people here. Overall, this was a pretty good week for me. My store is about half clothes. After listening to the podcast for a couple of years, I started to branch out into collectibles and other types of items. My goal is to have gross sales 10x COGS and an average sale amount in excess of $30. Last year I came close, but no cigar. I keep track of my sales and COGS, but never quantified new listings by time period. Listing 17 items is a lot for me — before I counted them up, I thought it might have only been 5 or so. Putting the numbers down like this really informs.
Anyway, thank you everyone, and especially Ryanne and Jay, for this community.
Mr. Cardinal
I am nearly ready to go part time full time, if that makes any sense. I work full time now and am grateful for the job as the firm has been good to me for many years. My spouse retired three months ago and I have health insurance through her retirement benefits. We paid off the house a year ago and we are debt free I just need to figure when I can retire as unlike her I won’t have a monthly annuity. But, when I do retire, I don’t think I’ll be “working” or putting in 40 hours a week on ebay, instead it will be my main focus rather than the day job. Certainly retirement will be within the next 18 months and perhaps as soon as within the next six months. I relish the day when I can go to a local thrift store anytime I want, drive alleys at twilight the night before trash day and take short mid week road trips to scavenge in near by cities.
I like to watch baseball and birds, and I occasionally go to church. But, the name honors my Dad, who used to call me “long distance” and say “Cathy, Mr. Cardinal is at the bird feeder!”
Now, whenever I see a cardinal I think of him.
Looking forward to getting together in January.
Skycam, maybe we should postpone tomorrow to January and get together then with michael d. I’d be up for that. I have Christmas shopping I still need to do.
