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Thanks. I’m looking for efficient use of space as well as quick retrieval when it is time to ship. I know I could ship a shirt in under two minutes with this process, getting me back to listing quicker. And if my boys need to ship, or an employee if we need one, they can ship quickly too.
I have my moments…not many of them…but I do have them.
Filing cabinets came to me for shirts when I was working in accounting before I went full time eBay. I keep my eye out at yard sales and try to pick them up cheap. Already in their inner plastic and ready to ship. Very efficient storage solution.
We use the SKU field in eBay to do two things. 1) it links up with our Easy Auctions Tracker spreadsheet to track what has sold and what is still in inventory. If you need an easy solution for $50/year to track your inventory, this is it. 2) We add the location of the item to the end of the EAT inventory number. So if I put a casual shirt into drawer C10, the SKU may read 6379-C10, 6379 for the EAT number and C10 for the location. Go to drawer C10, find the shirt, ship it.
Veronica now also does this for non-clothing items, numbering her racks 1, 2, 3, etc. We could add shelf to the location later (Rack 2 shelf 3 would be location 23) but for now, the rack is sufficient.






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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
T-Satt.
Beth, I completely agree with your thinking on inventory. High inventory is not always a good thing. Inventory is as you say, invested capital. You were in purchasing, I was in accounting, but we would get along great!
For items that are mostly a commodity (for me, that is men’s clothing), lower inventory and high turnover is a smarter route (in my opinion). If tastes change, different products come out that change buyer behavior, prices change, etc., you don’t want to be sitting on inventory that you can’t sell. In these areas, sell through rate and profit per hour of work are the key metrics to me. This is why I track daily and analyze weekly these types of metrics.
Other items that are more vintage and collectible will tend to be longer tail items, so the sell through isn’t as good, but the profit can be worth the wait. Jay and Ryanne make a lot of money in this area, but the invested capital is higher, due to the lower sell thru rate. Time invested in listing and shipping isn’t as much of a factor here (though the time to properly pack is a definite thing to consider if something is worth your time).
I completely agree with you. It is all in what your goals are and what life you want to lead.
Veronica likes to stay with the collectibles, although she has started to list jeans to give herself a recurring item she can find when yard sales are slow. I don’t mind the men’s clothing, as you can find some home runs in there, and I can listen to podcasts and music while I photo and list, so it doesn’t feel like work.
And because you have such a large inventory, I would guess that you could forecast your numbers on a spreadsheet. You have such a long prior data stream, as well as such a large inventory, that you could predict your months pretty closely using monthly average sales price and sell through rates. Just my guess, but if you wanted to, I’ll bet you could. I use my forecast to help forecast the income for tax planning purposes, so it helps a lot. Plus, when I see that our sell thru rate is lower than the norm or what I forecast, it gives us time to think about rotating inventory, changing pricing, etc. It is all in what you want to do!
Thanks! Makes a big difference when you can see what the future will look like. And if you suddenly fall short, you can investigate to make a business change.
Amen. We work hard to keep our regular carrier happy that picks up our bins every day. Worth the time.
Business is 90% People, and 10% Numbers. And this is from an Accountant that should be offended at that statement…but it is true. Good relationships are EVERYTHING…in many aspects of life…
Amen on that! List something every day, exercise every day, and spend time with loved ones every day. If we could all do that, soooo many things would be better!
Amen. That same process let’s us ship in a very quick fashion, so we can get back to listing!
An “undocumented feature”…
Call eBay.
Yep. I have a link to the PDF for First Class Commercial that discusses the 14-16oz rates.
The 14oz-16oz for First Class is a Commercial Pricing agreement. We get it because we are with eBay. So if you need proof for USPS, their Pricing Agreement on October 16, 2015, bottom of Page 3 discusses First Class packages, top of page 4 shows the 14, 15, & 15.99oz FIRST CLASS rates.
Link to PDF below…
I get cranky quicker now that I am older, and I would have taken my package back, while asking her to show me evidence to back up her statement. At the same time, using my phone to show her the USPS web site that defines 16oz for First Class.
4 kids is crazy! We stopped at 2, since we wanted to stay on man-to-man defense…didn’t want to go to zone…
I remember reading somewhere that there are the engines that we fire on in life: Work, Family, and Health. And we always seem to focus on 1, maybe two at a time, and the third is always forgotten for a while. I seem to do that all the time, one engine always neglected for a while.
Amen Andrew. Good luck with the goal! Just don’t burn yourself out either. Have fun on the journey, because in the end, it is always a journey!
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
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