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If I could not find comps to base a price, I would put that up for $150 with best offer if it were mine.
12/18/2018 at 10:05 am in reply to: Crazy Buyer trying to scam me or rightful owner of my estate sale finds? #53607I learned a lesson years ago that applies to ebay as well.
My wife and I can crochet. My wife is very, very good and can make anything from scratch without a pattern. I am…passable and can do the grunt work of just banging out rows.
Anyways, we used to make crocheted items as presents. We made a baby set for a friend as a shower gift – a blanket, a hat, and a custom elephant rattle toy. 2 years later we saw it still boxed on top of their refrigerator.
There were other items for family that we’d soon see at their yardsales and it always hurt.
The nail in the coffin was when we made a blanket that we spent countless hours on for my mom….she opened the lid of the gift and said “oh that’s nice.” I had to basically force her to even take it out to actually look at it. I was PISSED and swore to never make anything as a gift for friends/family ever again.
I loved the items my wife made for me and would request things for birthdays and Christmas. Her wedding present to me was a greek puzzle afghan that is still my favorite blanket. I’ll likely be buried with it when I die. One year she made me a custom Mario plush doll and a pillow with a pixelated image of pacman on it. I posted pictures of them to an arcade group I was a member of, and people started asking if she would make them things.
Before long, we were making tons of items and my wife was even featured in an arcade collecting magazine. We sold very expensive one of a kind items to people all over the world. We consistently received messages from folks who were incredibly thankful, and these items were prized pieces of their collections. Multiple repeat customers too. Eventually we got busy with more kids and didn’t do it anymore. It felt GOOD to create items that were actually appreciated…and by complete strangers at that.Anyways, how this relates to ebay…
Giving things to friends family is 9 times out of 10 never appreciated. Yet, I can sell a used item rescued from the dump to a stranger on the other side of the world for an obscene amount of money and they will sometimes take the time to write me a personal thank you note to let me know how much it meant to them that I was able to provide this item to them.
The books you were selling…or those photo albums mentioned above that the family didn’t want… somewhere in the world will be someone who will see them, buy them, appreciate them, and have some intended use for those items that will bring meaning to those items.
That is a really powerful motivator for me to keep selling used junk on ebay. Because in reality, it is a treasure to someone and I like knowing that I am able to connect people to their personal treasure, whatever it may be.
So don’t fret when an entitled person comes along demanding your items for free or cheap. Don’t feel bad to ignore their rude messages or about telling them the price is firm. Eventually that item will land with the person it belongs to in its “second life” as a treasure.
They are going to bankrupt themselves trying to enter the US market. I posted some links in another thread on here last week detailing financials of all the online players like ebay, posh, mercari, and etsy.
I know everyone talks about these other companies “killing ebay”, but when you look at the actual numbers, all these other companies combined are just a drop in the bucket compared to ebay.
The only real potential competitor is etsy. Their growth is very impressive, and the more they branch out the better it will get.
12/17/2018 at 3:13 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53549Oh man…this state is sooo bad off….more than I really ever understood. Copper theft is just one small part of much larger issues.
I’m currently serving on a Federal Grand Jury. I’m learning waaaaayyyyyy more about the issues of our state than I ever wanted to know.
This statistic really starts to paint the picture of how dire the situation is:
https://wchstv.com/news/local/grandfamilies-program-goes-statewide-as-number-of-grandparents-raising-grandkids-increase12/17/2018 at 10:44 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53514Mine has been defaulting to flat free shipping and “new in box”. It is absolutely irritating! I wish I could fix that.
12/17/2018 at 10:42 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53513An immediate cancel request is a blessing. I happily cancel/refund them immediately.
I’d much rather an immediate cancellation request than someone has an offer accepted and then sits on it without any form or communication until the unpaid case closes. Those really irk me.
Last week I had one that still bothers me though. Someone used Buy it now on a $3000 item I had. Since it is listed for pickup, I can’t require immediate payment. They waited almost 48 hours to finally say they didn’t want it anymore.
I wasn’t going to wait on the non-payment case – I was just going to cancel after 48 hours.
The thing that REALLY bugs me though is that the sales bar graph and all my selling stats on the My Ebay home page are badly skewed because of it. Even though the sale is cancelled, that $3000 sale is still counted in all the stats.
12/17/2018 at 10:37 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53511I guess I more specifically meant taking 2 weeks off from shipping. To be able to confidently decide “we can afford to miss the last week of Christmas shipping” is a big step.
And I agree, listing while sitting idly on a train is not work – it’s fun!
When we go to Columbus for weekend sourcing getaways, my wife will drive home while I create listings. It’s just good use of idle time.Really the best part of this business combined with the wonder of a smart phone is how much of the business can be managed in the spare idle minutes of the day.
My shirt sales are dead. I don’t even bother shopping the shirts right now.
12/17/2018 at 8:59 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53490In the end, everyone HAS to do something to ensure they survive and thrive. What we do, how we do it, and how good we are at it…all on a spectrum…
Some people sell on ebay, but here in WV some people wonder into abandoned mines for scrap copper. If only they knew ebay was much more profitable…Oh well. More for me!
12/17/2018 at 8:44 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 390: Building a Business to Build a Life #53483Items in Store 1052
Items Sold 35
Total Sales $968.00
COGS $183.00
Total Profit $785.00
Average profit $22.43
Average sales price $27.66
New Listings 14Man, I got stopped at the 1 yard line again in regards to crossing $1k with bread n butter items. The last few weeks my pipelines have been really paying dividends. Two pipelines in particular – my smartwool socks bulk buy, and my big pile of Dollhouse furniture from a closing Kmart. I’ve sold a ton of both. The profit margins are only like 3x-6x, but they are multiple quantity listings that are easy to pack/ship. In the end profit per hour wise, they are incredibly profitable.
J&R, I think it speaks greatly of the life you have built for yourselves that you feel confident enough to take off 2 weeks at Christmas. Congratulations!!
I agree it is pointless unless you have a reason to track your data.
I want to know what my process capabilities are. Tracking my hours is a key piece of data for that.
I’ve been turning chores and work into fun since I was a kid. Work is just a state of mind.
I love our outlook on this business – it is so refreshing! You and Ryanne convey an authenticity on here and in your podcast, which is why it has grown the way it has. I was hooked the first time I listened.
I concure that I debate with myself about many aspects of this business as to what is work and not work. This is not just a business to me – it is my hobby, my passion, my relaxing exercises, etc. It is soooo much more than “work”.
I am going to track my hours now, and I will count the times even when I’m “having fun” doing work. Why? Because I want to quantify the true time I put into what I do as research for doing this full-time.Will I make this exercise a game and make it fun? Absolutely! Do I like logging my time at my day job? Absolutely not. Do I look forward to keeping an ultra accurate account of my time doing ebay and will even make a sweet spreadsheet with line graphs that only I will ever look at? ABSOLUTELY!
You’re forgetting the salary of the manager/CEO that designed the systems used to train and oversee those $15/hour jobs. Tons of skill and knowledge involved there – even more so than the sourcing knowledge. To be honest, that job can be farmed out too at an even cheaper rate than the other jobs.
12/14/2018 at 2:56 pm in reply to: Crazy Buyer trying to scam me or rightful owner of my estate sale finds? #53371You went way above and beyond on this one. She is projecting her anger/frustration onto you. If I were you I would stop engaging. The deal is done. Next.
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