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[Simon]

I bought a light box when I started with eBay. It had several LED lights on big stands and it was pretty unwieldy and I kept bumping into the lights. I replaced it with a lightbox that has dozens of built in LED lights in the top so there’s no need for lamps or stands or anything extra and it can be picked up and moved easily if needed. Here’s a link : http://www.ebay.com/itm/StudioPRO-Studio-All-In-One-LED-Product-Photography-Light-Box-Tent-Kit-24-Cube-/261751649276?hash=item3cf19d33fc:g:ux4AAOSw6BtVUoOv

[Simon]

Thanks for the suggestion @imjosh! I did exactly as you suggested and created a grease-monkey script to clear the background

(Though in the time it took for me to see your reply R&J have already changed the background to something a little more subtle anyway).

[Simon]

Here are my numbers for the week:
Total Items in Store: 1268
Items Sold: 31
Total Sales: $744.6
Cost of Items Sold: $91.85
Average Price Sold: $24.02
Average Cost of Item: $2.96
Highest Price Item Sold: $54.95 Lot of 6 Berkeley High School Year Books
Number of items listed this week: 74
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 195
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 84
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 14
Sell-through rate: 2.44%
# of Hats Sold: 11

I’m happy with these sales. The flow of sales were sporadic but they added up nicely. I had lots of free time over the Thanksgiving weekend so I did lots of listing and those new listings generated a number of sales. (You can see the impact of listing by comparing the Average Age of Sales to the Medium Age of Sales figure above).

I’ve been listing a mixture of new stuff and my tubs of death piles. Listing a bunch of low-value death pile items is boring (and goes against my goal of increasing my average order value) but it’s good to get those old things moving.

[Simon]

When my last inkjet printer died I bought an Epson Ecotank inkjet printers. The printer is more expensive but the ink really is dirt cheap. They sell it with 2 years of ink for the average user. I was using it to print labels every day so I had to get more black ink well before the 2 year mark. Another “2 years” of black ink goes for $12 on amazon

[Simon]

I got some good news on the weekend. The package that was picked up last Monday (in California) was scanned in North Carolina on Saturday which is close to it’s destination. That was the first scan that it’s had. I’d love to know why but I’m relieved that it wasn’t lost entirely.

[Simon]

Self employment tax isn’t currently 30%. It’s at 15% under 118K : http://www.accountingcoach.com/blog/what-is-the-self-employed-persons-fica-tax-rate-for-2016

[Simon]

You guys are brave for mentioning politics…

Here are my numbers for the week:

Total Items in Store: 1226
Items Sold: 24
Total Sales: $ 613.80
Cost of Items Sold: $72.53
Average Price Sold: $25.58
Average Cost of Item: $3.02
Highest Price Item Sold: $84.95 2 San Francisco Giants Bobbleheads
Number of items listed this week: 54
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 197
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 101
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 35
Sell-through rate: 1.96%
# of Hats Sold: 11

Back to a normal week for me after a bunch of high-dollar sales last week. My wife is still helping me list (mainly hats) which is keeping my number of new listings fairly high. With my current full-time job I have a long day so finding time to photograph is pretty challenging. These days I source on Saturdays and do lots of preparation and listing on Sunday. Recently I’ve been working through some death piles and trying to do something with boxes of cheaper items that I’ve had sitting around for a year or more. It feels good to clear those out and regain some space in my garage.

[Simon]

From everything I’ve read, APO/Military addresses are treated just like domestic addresses. You’re actually sending the package to some kind of military hub in the US and the military mail takes over from there. Media mail should be fine. It’s possible that you’re needing to fill out a customs for to send to an overseas military base so that may be the wrinkle.

[Simon]

Those are some pretty impressive numbers. How big was the collection of littlest pet shop toys that sold for $500+? That’s amazing?

[Simon]

It sounds like you’re doing a good job with your son. Those discussions about finances are important. I’ve never told my kids how much I make at my day job. I used to worry that they would tell their friends. I will talk to them about any other aspect of I thought they’d be interested. My kids now have jobs and I have been opening Roth IRAs in their names and matching their earnings with contributions to their IRAs. I’ve show my daughter how much it should grow if she leaves it untouched for the next 40 years.

[Simon]

@brian – on the day that slide rule sold, on my way home from work I passed a curbside recycling pile outside a business and they had a skinny 46″ long box full of foam sitting in the pile. It was fate! I added another box and shipped it parcel select. I hope it arrives safely.

[Simon]

My father worked for 40 years at the same firm. I guess I always grew up expecting to work in a regular 9-5 job. My dad was a bit of a tightwad and I think I inherited some of that tendency from him. I didn’t learn my about finances from my parents but I’ve always been interested in money and I’ve learned a lot about personal finance over the years.

Here are my numbers for the week. From a sales $ perspective, this was the best week I’ve ever had since I started selling on eBay about 18 months ago:

Total Items in Store: 1196
Items Sold: 34
Total Sales: $1274.3
Cost of Items Sold: $114.85
Average Price Sold: $37.48
Average Cost of Item: $3.38
Highest Price Item Sold: $349.95 4ft Pickett Slide Rule – bought at an estate sale for $10
Number of items listed this week: 53
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 197
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 79
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 16
Sell-through rate: 2.84%
# of Hats Sold: 18

Here’s one for the BOLO list:
Las Vegas travel brochures from the 70s – sold quickly for $34.95

[Simon]

I hadn’t paid for any services up until the last couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to a live auction of Railroad collectibles and I signed up for Worthpoint so that I could do some research prior to the auction. Worthpoint was great to help me research a bunch of expensive, rarely-sold collectibles. Being able to see years worth of sales helped me evaluate a lot of things and have some good confidence in what my bidding limits should be. I probably don’t do enough of that kind of sourcing to make the subscription worth keeping but it was great for that one particular situation. (I ended up being out-bid on most of the items but I was OK with that because I knew what I would potentially sell them for.)

[Simon]

I bought a bag at a yard sale and found a small bag of weed inside. I sold the bag and I think my teenage son took the weed for “research”.

[Simon]

I bought 3 packs of unopened Polaroid film that expired in 2002 at a garage sale for $1 on Saturday. All 3 sold by Sunday night netting me $60 (or $59 if you subtract my original $1).

[Author]

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