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Sell Thru Rate. It is a measurement of how much of your inventory is being sold within a timeframe
Very strange that they would suspend you right out of the gate. We were suspended once, but that was after a second item was found counterfeit (They warned us on the first and we removed it. I thought the second one was real, but it was just a REALLY good counterfeit.)
There is a VERO list out there of items you should stay away from (not sure where, but I’m sure someone has the link). Other than that, you are really at the mercy of someone reporting you for a VERO violation.
If an item is something you want to sell repeatedly, I would do as much research as possible on how to spot real vs. fake.
After all expenses (which would include the employee and an outside storage unit in 2018), we would net $75k pretax. We would drop down to a 30% net margin at that point.
That forecast is based on keeping the same STR and ASP each month as 2017. I’m hoping to improve the ASP vs last year, but I don’t have enough facts to make a prediction I can rely on. Inventory purchases each month are tied to the number of new listings that month, at an average of $5/item cost (a good average for where we have been for the last 2 years).
Thanks buddy!
That would be on my list, to hit up as many folks as possible, to meet folks in person and get to spend time face-to-face with our online family!
You hit one of my thoughts for 2019…moving from LLC to Chapter S. I think at that time, the value would be there for us to move. Need more research, and a good CPA and Lawyer to wade through that.
I’m our accountant now…but I know my limitations…
I’m happy about all the people that placed their orders on 1/1…it wasn’t just us!!! 🙂
As for us, we still use Quicken for Home Business. I’ve been on Quicken since the mid 90’s, so hard to change. If I were to go up, the next level would be QuickBooks, but I really don’t need anything that robust at this point.
SixBit, Quicken, and Excel are working good for now…
For us, I think it will be hard to have a “Twin”, but I can make sure to present our listing goal for each week along with the actual listings that we did.
Wilderness camping for 80-90% of the trip. Only staying in motel when I go into town to resupply.
Really looking forward to it. If it goes the way I hope, I’m looking to do the Appalachian Trail in 2019-2020. Then I REALLY have to set the business up to run without me…being gone for 5-6 months and all…
I think your goals sound fine.
1000 listings growth for the year is a growth of about 20 listings per week. So you have to list 20 more items per week than what you sell (on average). Very reasonable.
And if you are “doing more of the same”, meaning listing the same type of items as before, then the dollars make sense as well. Always tougher to set a sales goal, as we have less control over that side, but if you back into the listing side (which you do control) and you hit those goals, the sales should follow.
We have one goal, $250k in Sales, with the same net profit percentage that we have now. That is a BIG goal for us, and requires an employee to do it. It boils down to listing 250 items per week. We can get to 150 on our own (if my contract job stops getting in the way!), and the employee gets us the other 100. So while we want $250k, our goal to hit is 250 listings per week (of the same things we are doing now).
MY big problem is my only other goal this year, hiking the Colorado trail. I will be on the trail for 4 weeks (so no listing, no sourcing, nothing). I have to list and source from now until July (when I start) and have scheduled listings in SixBit to cover that time I’m gone. If our employee works out, they might be able to cover some of that as well…we will see.
I love setting goals (usually one BIG one, I like to focus), and I always keep them in perspective. I like to set big goals, so that if I still miss them, I’m farther along than if I set a small goal and made it. And I never beat myself up if I miss it. I don’t set my value in whether I meet the goal or not…but in how much I learn and grow by trying to achieve it.
“Drill downs should be done on a need to know basis”
Yep. 100% right. I don’t think you have to do everything, just what you need. And I enjoy sharing what we do in case it helps others to ask questions.
We have seasonality as well (another reason that I track by week and by month), with summer being our low point. So I use the past to help forecast the future, to know when the lean months will be and a good estimate of how much to expect so that we can cover those months. I also use that as a challenge to find something that sells well in the summer to smooth out the seasonality.
And low STR and low ASP…yeah, not what I want to see. But you can’t tell unless you track. Or, you can go for it if you like it…just know going in that if you want a good monthly income…that will take a lot of storage to get there.
Since we are covering our mortgage on our house (bought when I was making a LOT more than I do know, but still manageable), and trying to cover for 2 boys, I don’t like leaving too much to chance. If it was just Veronica and I, our burn rate would be much lower. But I feel that I have an obligation to be successful for my wife and kids, so I do everything I can, and look for all the data that I can, to make that happen.
Agree.
I also look at the numbers this way. If I love selling red shirts for $5, how many does it take to make a living at it? And how many can I list in a month? How long does it take for them to sell? How big of an inventory does that require? How long will it take for me to build up that inventory?
Those are the questions I look to answer…and only the numbers get me there.
