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I’ve found the challenges to be quite motivating (obviously :)), but I’ve also kept most of them to be “small bites”. I actually really don’t HAVE to do anything with this month’s challenge except for some research and thinking. One month was just to go to a few thrift shops. I could have gone to two and not bought anything and still say the challenge was completed.
Maybe go through the challenges and reduce the scope. I think someone wanted to list vintage patterns. Maybe change it to list one vintage pattern. Maybe that is all you do, but at least you completed the challenge.
Now, here’s a challenge: I won the challenge award two years ago, so I’m back in contention this year. Who’s going to take me on?
I assume you don’t have free return shipping on your listings. In that case, you do not have to pay for return shipping. The buyer has helped by explaining that it wasn’t a fault of your listing, but that they made a mistake. I would just tell them to return the item. If the buyer tries to insist on free return shipping, Ebay will back you up.
For the return item due to a wrong address, yes they will have to pay to ship it again. You will be able to give them your PayPal address and the cost of re-shipping, and then they can pay.
I listed 21 items last week.
@Amatino – that would work as a business plan. Sell one item a week for $800 or more!My challenge #11 is “Decide how I should list my old stamp collection”. This was something I did as a kid (probably pre-preteen) up to summers during college, and then I stopped. It’s a decently sized collection.
I have thought about it since I wrote up the challenge, and I need to do some research. The best way for me to do this, I believe, is to create a new store for only stamps. I would have a single shipping cost no matter how many stamps a person bought, and I would sell them one by one or in small groups. I could also add general ephemera that I find at auctions, and then I could keep up the store well into the future.
The problem is that I do not have the time to do that with my part time job and my normal eBay activities. What I need to do is verify that is the best method, and then decide if I want to sell off certain items and do the rest later when my job ends, or figure something else out.
I can sell everything off: one listing for my main international binder, one for my Canadian binder, one for my duplicates, one for special stamps, and so forth.
All I have to do for my challenge is just to decide. It would be nice to list a few things, but the challenge is just to come up with a plan.
Week of Apr 24 – 30
Total Items in Store: 1579 eBay, 37 Etsy
Items Sold: 15 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $21 + $144 Commission
Total Sales: $516.23 eBay, $0 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $225 for Gucci Envy Eau de Toilette Spray
Average price: $34.42
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 21I had a decent week, but it was helped greatly by a $225 sale of new perfume. It was also a commission sale, so my COGS are somewhat high as well.
I had let my Broad Porch coffee subscription run out last year. Several weeks ago, I started it up again. We finally finished the bag we were drinking, and now we are working through a bag of Southern Split. Delicious! I think Mr. Motivator is my favorite, but SS is quite delightful.
I recall visiting last summer and enjoying a wonderful breakfast, coffee, and meetup with Jay! Congratulations to a one year anniversary, and, as they say, “and many more”!
I looked through the Arcoroc glassware on replacements.com. I saw some similar plates, but not the same pattern and not the smoky gray color. I had assumed that Arcoroc glass is always marked, but that could be because I’ve only been able to identify the ones I had because of the markings. This set is unmarked.
Steve – Always such awesome sales on the vintage electronics. $75 for a dust cover??!!!
Last week, I had one buyer purchase three items languishing in my inventory for a few years. I didn’t necessarily take the initial lowball offer, but I did work with him because I was happy to get these things out of my basement. Here is one of the items; a silver plated tray from Morocco that had some damage from the feet being removed. I took an $18 offer:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184813946108
This poster was mounted in a cheap, ugly frame, so I removed it and just sold it as a poster. Paid pennies in a large lot of art I bought in a live auction, sold for $33.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184718636045
I purchased an online auction lot for some pretty porcelain pieces a few years ago. Included was a bunch of glass that I really had no interest in. Once I got it home, I realized that it was all part of a luncheon set for four. I considered breaking it apart and selling separately, but I just wanted it to be gone at all once. I rejected a couple of lower offers over the past year or two, but someone finally saw the value and paid $88. It was less of a pain to pack than I thought it would be.
I think that there is a three dot sort of thing “…” that you press, and there is a drop down menu where you can go back. I hope that helps?
You all know basic photography for making listings, so walking through the steps I made to get the banner should be no big deal. It really was just a trial and error thing.
I pasted a Imgur link below. The first photo shows the photo I ended up using, but you can see the full thing with the comforter I threw on the floor and all the stuff I put on it. The second photo is from a slightly different level looking down, and you can see it a bit better. Then, the last photo is the first time I tried it on the couch. The problem was that it wasn’t long enough and the painting and lamp were too high and got cut off. That is when I figured I needed a new location and wider blanket.
When you select “manage Store”, there is a button for “add a banner”. You upload the photo, which gets cut off at the top and bottom. You can move it around until you get it the way you want it to appear.
Some notes:
Amatino suggested the banner and description as a challenge, so thanks!
The painting I originally picked out, but was too big, is really my favorite art piece in my inventory. It just has correct balance and the colors have stood the test of time really well. It has a 1960 date on the front. I was able to research the painter, who was a commercial artist, and he listed the locations that the painting was displayed on the back.
The painting I replaced it with was also a published artist. One of her relatives/descendants contacted me a few years ago asking about the paintings in my inventory (I have two of the same painter, same house). She said she was interested in the paintings, but couldn’t afford them at the time. I would have negotiated, but she did not ask. I’m sure I have them listed too high because I am a disciple of Ryanne’s. LOL
Week of Apr 17 – 23
Total Items in Store: 1573 eBay, 37 Etsy
Items Sold: 17 eBay, 1 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $10.75 + $48 Commission
Total Sales: $372.95 eBay, $31 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $88 for Vintage 24 pc Anchor Hocking Depression Glass Sandwich Pattern Service for 4
Average price: $22.44
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 28I did a decent week for me. I was happy with the glass set sale. I wanted a decent price considering the amount of packing I had to do. It ended up not being that difficult. For some reason, both the glass set and the other item I had to ship out on Saturday both went to Arkansas.
@robb_ I have tried the new listing tool including using it twice with a video. I think it is a nice improvement. I haven’t moved to it permanently because it doesn’t have the Custom Label window, or at least didn’t have it when I used it last. I also ended about 200 listings yesterday and relisted with sell similar, and the new tool came up automatically. I really appreciated the ability to adjust the price much easier. So, I really liked that improvement.I listed 28 items this week. Still good, but a downward trend that I expect will go on for another week or two.
I also completed my challenge! On Saturday, I gathered a bunch of nice stuff from my store and put them across a couch against a blanket. The banner is really narrow and long, so it didn’t fit all that well. So, I relocated everything along a wall with a longer blanket and swapped a few taller things with shorter ones, and it worked. I uploaded the photo and the store description I wrote a week or so ago. Check it out:
The little indents on the arms make me think that it originally fit into a bigger rack.
Some nice high sales for you Steve. Always impressed with the record players.
I’m selling stuff for my neighbor whose wife passed away a few months ago. She had quite a shopping habit, but most are moderately priced items. However, he found a box with high end perfumes. Never heard of Royal Secret, but the unopened and sealed bottle sold for $139.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185349752757
Many times I buy auction lots not really knowing if anything is worth much. I bid the minimum of $1 for a group of bathroom stuff. I found two matching sets of bathroom accessories and sold them for $29.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185335337357
Years ago, I bought several wood barrels, and some were filled with old nails. One type of nail was the square handmade reproductions that I sold within about a year or so. However, I also listed these green nails, but they have been sitting around in my eBay store with no interest. I was planning to get rid of them, but my first sale convinced me otherwise. Maybe I’ll wait another year. Only sold for $5, but I’ve got lots of them.
If someone seems interested, you could give them the link to your store.
Also, I hit 2000 in my feedback last week. Fun, round number, but no change in the star color or anything.
@Amatino – Actually, I’m surprised I had a 60 listing week in the past. I think I list so much faster these days. I thought it was way above anything I had done before.
I listed 41 this week, still riding off that inspiration from last week. On one hand, I am almost through it; on the other hand, I have about 50 automotive books in my garage from the live auction I went to about two weeks ago. My husband took this week off, and I’m supposed to help him with some painting, so I might finish listing the housewares but just prep the books.
For my challenge, I wrote up my eBay store description. I haven’t uploaded it yet. For the banner, I’m thinking I just line up a bunch of interesting items from the store, take a photo, and then crop it to better fit the banner format. Anything else would be too complicated.
