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I agree, there would be no issue to ship in a polymailer for jeans.
The reason that we use the PFR (Padded Flat Rate) is the cost. $6.30 (for now) to ship jeans that are always 1-2 lbs. In a poly, you are looking at over $7 and up to $9 via Priority, and that is the cheapest.
If the item is marked as shipped, go into the item and select that you want to print another label. Select that you want to print this as from another location and add the address for where it currently is. Then when it is paid for and you are at the print screen, save the PDF and send to the buyer who has the item.
We have had this happen before, and the other option is to send the buyer the address, ask them to ship it for you, and you reimburse via PayPal (plus a little extra for the trouble).
Jay and joeMEZZ nailed it.
We are actually removing this from our hard goods now, as many of them are going to our outside warehouse (storage unit). We are boxing these up and they are ready to ship when they go over there, so we have actual dimensions and weight. That is a thought if you want to go down that route for hard goods.
Week of 12/31-1/6
Total Items in Store: 1,658
Number of Items Listed: 66
Number of Items Sold: 62
(Includes 0 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 1 TrueGether)
Weekly STR: 16%Total Product Sales: $1,732
Cost of Items Sold: $333
Gross Profit for Week: $1,099
Highest Item Sold: $89 – Harris Tweed Handwoven Scottish Wool Tweed Sport Coat
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and starts the year in the lead 1-0.eBay Clothing
# Listed: 954
# Sold: 43
STR: 19%
ASP: $29.13eBay Shoes
# Listed: 91
# Sold: 2
STR: 9%
ASP: $29.96eBay Hard Goods
# Listed: 704
# Sold: 19
STR: 12%
ASP: $24.67Etsy Hard Goods
# Listed: 123
# Sold: 0
STR: 0%
ASP: $0Starting out the week behind in our listing goal (150). Only good news is that it is because of my contract job needing me for three days. We were also spending a lot of time getting moved into our storage unit. We are about 40% into a 10′ x 30′ unit. Shelving is in, labeled, and Veronica and my oldest son were packing and labeling items for them to move. Our process is that hard goods will get packaged up and ready for delivery, labeled with the name and SKU, and taken to the storage unit. When the item sells, we print the label, go to the unit, attach the label and drop off on the way home. Process started this week with two items selling that were over there. Veronica liked that hey, they are already boxed and ready to ship!
Retro: Yep. That is us too. I buy the 9×12 poly in lots of 500 right now. Lasts about a month and a half.
I wish they would do short flats…
Again, it will depend on what you want to see. And there will be a difference between multi-quantity listings vs single quantity.
Mainly for me, I know that the last time we did the analysis, our average days to sell was 120 days. OK, then maybe I would want to detail that out at the category level. What is my average days to sell by category (Clothes, Shoes, Hard Goods, etc.). Then I would also like to see the STR for each of those categories so that I can try to benchmark that against the industry standard somehow. Just because I know MY numbers, I need to have some context to that to gauge performance.
After I can get what I expect for what the “benchmark” days to sell is for that category, return to me any items that are not meeting that criteria. Then I can decide if action is needed, and what that action should be.
Is it seasonal? Is it unique? If so, maybe I just have to sit on it. If not, let’s recheck price, photos, listing, keywords, etc. to see if it needs some love. If you are using GTC, I would definitely end and relist after tweaking so that it is refreshed and gets back into Best Match. We are 30 day listings, so we never go “stale”, but maybe the market has changed. Maybe it is missing info. Just needs to be redone.
Just my thoughts.
As a general rule, usually there is a relationship: Higher ASP, lower STR. But not always. Most of it depends on what you are selling and how good you are at selling it.
Craigslist hunter is really good at having high ASP (over $100 ASP for the year) and a high STR (I can’t see that as reliably, but I know he churns through a lot of items he is listing). I realize that he is cherry picking what he lists from his store, and with a huge following, his items get a lot of eyes. But still to be very respected.
I don’t like being caught in the trap of believing that there HAS to be that relationship. I like to keep looking for the diamonds (high ASP and high STR). Unicorn hunting is much more fun! Though I haven’t found a true unicorn. You know, that thing that people tell you they want to find: Small, easy to ship, readily available, low cost, high profit, sells quickly. Why can’t we just find that to sell?
As for your dashboard, the important piece of the database to me would be slow moving inventory. I started using that with SixBit now. We run 30 day listings, so I can’t sort on old listings, but I can sort my data by SKU (oldest) and by last modified (so the last time the listing was updated). We are using these tools now to routinely look at old inventory and make decisions on how to get it to move.
The $250k number is including shipping. From there (on a cash basis, not accrual basis):
Inventory Purchases: 23%
Shipping: 22%
Fees: 15%
Labor: 6%
Other: 4%A recent podcast with Ashley Haddin (I think) was the same amount. We are with American Family.
Welcome!
I love Steven Wright…
“Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?”
No problem at all.
I came from a business perspective that is used to Inventory Turnover, but the reselling community likes Sell Thru Rate better. They are the same measurement, velocity of sales.
If you have a 20% STR, your Inventory Turnover is 2.4 (.20*12). This means that you sell all of your inventory 2.4 times per year. With a 33.3% STR, your Inventory Turnover is 4.0 (.333*12).
You can use this to benchmark your “industry” standard by checking some places on the web. RetailOwner.com/benchmarks has multiple benchmarks for different types of retailers. Men’s Clothing is around 2.3-2.5, which is a 20%-22% STR. General department stores are over 4.0, so their STR is closer to 33%-35%.
After you see what your STR is, you then decide what you want to do with it. Match your industry? Beat your industry? Use it as a benchmark to improve in the future (without lowering Average Selling Price…no cheating!).
I love numbers and metrics, but I love even more using them to drive change and improvement.
Yes, that gives you the rate per week. Units sold divided by total listings.
I calculate for both the week and the month. To keep them on the same rate, I take the weekly sales, divide by 7 then multiply by 30. That is a month’s worth of sales at the weekly rate. THEN I divide by the total listings.
