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04/27/2017 at 5:33 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17214
Interesting, but maybe not, that our processes are so similar. We all are always researching and looking for ways to be more efficient, so we probably see and read the same things.
Interesting on the camera side. That is one area I would like to upgrade at some point. The cell phones are great, but I know that certain shirt colors are going to be rough (pinks, light blues, light greens). PhotoScape will get them right (or pretty close), but I hate spending that time. I spend 3-5 minutes per item on the photo editing now, so if that could be less than one minute (just a check and quick crop) that would be nice.
Do you have a camera that you recommend that would be easy to learn to use? I’m trained as an accountant, so… 🙂
04/27/2017 at 4:00 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17205Linda: We have three different processes.
Veronica does the listing for non-clothing items. She will take a batch of items into the photo studio (extra bedroom) and photo 8-15 items, depending on how many are in the bin. Photos are taken on her phone. She will then take the bin to her computer, load the photos to her computer, do the photo editing using PhotoScape, and then list the items in the batch, taking any measurements or weights while she is listing. She will get about 10-15 items done each day with this process. I think it is the slowest because every item is unique, taking more time to select the right category, research, and fill in the item specifics.
For clothing, we have two processes. The first process is for us to list while on the road or at a later time. This is more time consuming (24 minutes per listing), but has more flexibility for employees. I take a batch of items to the studio, photo an item, and then fill out a written form I created that has all the information for the listing. Measurements, weight, color, item specifics, etc. The form has the unique inventory number (we keep this on Google Docs to access from anywhere), and when the photo editing is done, each photo for that item has the same number. Then anyone can get the sheets and the photo files and list from anywhere. Photos are done on the phone, downloaded to my computer, and I edit on PhotoScape. I usually do 8-16 listings in a batch.
The quicker process (that I just started to speed things up that will be listed immediately) is to take a batch of items to the studio, photo an item, and then create a draft listing for the item using the laptop in the studio. I enter all the information for the listing right there, only the photos and the pricing is left blank. Then I edit the photos from my computer in my office, add them to the listing, add the pricing, and list. This moves the listing time down to 10-15 minutes per listing (shirts are much quicker than suits). I do about 8-12 listings in a batch this way.
I track my time on each aspect of listing (Sourcing, Prep, Photo, Photo Edit, Listing, and Shipping) so that I can see how much time I spend on each part of the process. By doing this, I can analyze where my time is spent and how to make it more efficient. Photo, Photo Edit, and Listing are the biggest bottleneck, so I want to always look for ways to make it go faster, while keeping the quality needed to get the sales to come in quick with good pricing. I change the number of photos per item, amount of detail in the Item Description, etc. to see how it affects time as well as sell thru rate.
Let me know if you need any more info!
04/26/2017 at 3:32 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17145I agree on the photos. I use an outside editor as well, so that I can make sure the colors and lighting are correct on the clothes before I list. I could decrease my listing time if I didn’t edit so much, but I know the sales would take a hit. And at the end of the day, our job is to SELL inventory, not just grow it…
04/26/2017 at 3:16 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17143I agree. I shoot for 20-30 listings per day on the days that I list, but I don’t list every day. We like a weekly goal, so that if other things pop up, we can adjust.
04/26/2017 at 7:48 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17099100% agree. Process matters.
My old process was established to allow the photo process to be done by me, and the listing process by someone else (Veronica liked doing some listing only, I wanted a setup for a potential employee, and to be able to list on the road).
I created a new process where I can list while doing photos (drafts), then finish the listing after I photo edit. Between listening to how Ryanne uses drafts, and 10k on the Bay can get a listing in 6-10 minutes, I tried a new process.
Yesterday I did 20 items in 5 hours, while Veronica did 11 of her items. New process is starting to work, and will get tweaked further.
04/26/2017 at 7:01 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17089How much you can list per day is the biggest question when making this a business. My wife and I have a current goal of 100 per week, with that to eventually move to 150.
I focus on men’s clothes, and have had many days with 20 per day. I looked at my process over the weekend and was able to speed that up to increase my efficiency, so that I feel I could reach 100 per week on my own. We will see.
Veronica lists collectibles, and just started on jeans, so we think she can do 50 per week.
It can be a grind if you let it, so you have to look at what you want out of this business, what work you are willing to put in, and then focus on your process to make sure it is efficient.
04/25/2017 at 7:38 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17070Thanks for the tip. I will have to do some research on this. We stopped FBA last year because the fees were too high and the inventory fees were not making it profitable for the time and capital investment. But this gives me some thinking for boosting sales on another platform. Thanks!
04/24/2017 at 10:53 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17026I have wondered…what is the benefit of a Dymo vs a regular laser printer?
04/24/2017 at 6:57 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17017Week of 4/16-4/22
Total Items in Store: 1,448
Items Sold: 86
Number of Items Listed This Week: 96
Total Sales: $2,184.03
Cost of Items Sold: $445.71
Highest Item Sold: $49.83 – Hiltl Corduroy Pants (Troy wins this week, but Veronica still leads for the year 8-7)We had a bit of a rebound in sales, back over the $2k line. I know that some people are talking about a slowdown in sales, but we have not seen that yet. Typically this time of year begins a retail slowdown, so the worries start online, but this happens every year, so we don’t sweat it. It hasn’t really hit us yet, but it may be some of our business changes that are avoiding it so far (increased listing activity, more aggressive pricing, moving out old and stale inventory).
Regarding the late shipment issue, I can provide a little more information that may help why just printing the label on time, but not getting a scan, does not generate a “late shipment”. I talked with eBay earlier this year when I had “late” shipments that when I looked at the report, I could show that I printed the label on time.
The basic formula is that there are two deadlines that must be missed for a shipment to be “late” and the seller gets dinged. The first is printing the label AND getting the acceptance scan from the carrier within your handling time. If you print the label, but the first scan is AFTER your handling time (say from the USPS distribution center, or from the receiving post office), the shipment is “potentially late”. Then, if the package arrives within eBay’s “Estimated Delivery Date”, the shipment is NOT late. Only if that package arrives after the “Estimated Delivery Date”, then you get a Late Shipment ding.
Many people (Jay & Ryanne, I would guess that includes you) can have a process that prints the label within your handling, NOT get the scan within the handling time, but it ARRIVES within eBay’s Estimated Delivery Time, and you DO NOT get dinged with late delivery. This was happening to us for a very long time, so we have never worried about it.
But with Guaranteed Delivery, getting that scan is becoming more important, now that money is on the line…
04/24/2017 at 6:53 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling #17016LeeinTN: I’m somewhat new to the forums, so I have a question. When you say “Ebay to Amazon”, what does that mean? Is that items you purchased on eBay and sold on Amazon?
04/23/2017 at 5:02 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist #16951So, two basic thoughts that he has discussed. One is buy at $10, sell at $30 (gross), and net $10 (after shipping, fees, and paying employees). His math there works based on our model, but I have heard him say he plans to pay $2 for listing (and that means drop of the item, and the lister photos, lists, and drops off ready to ship.)
The other philosophy he has stated was to be just under market price at 75%, willing to go down to 50%, to keep his sell thru rate at 33% per month. There is some validity to that as well based on our numbers, as long as the research is good.
04/23/2017 at 9:19 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist #16937I listen to a lot of podcast and YouTube channels for reselling, and I just found the guy listing 10,000 items on YouTube. His channel is 10k on the Bay.
Jay & Ryanne: He listens to Scavenger Life. I went to his YouTube channel and started listening from the beginning. On Episode 3, he talks a little about his pricing strategy, and he referenced Scavenger Life and your pricing and store model.
Just wanted to let you know!
04/18/2017 at 3:48 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist #16751I totally agree. The numbers have to add up to the life you want. My wife was the one that pulled me into this life, as she took a job for a while working as a lister for someone here in Denver that was working eBay/Amazon/Etsy/Craigslist etc full time. I REALLY wanted to look at his books. As an accountant, and growing up around businesses, I could not see how he was profitable. Veronica was the only one that I thought was making them money (as every employee should be increasing your bottom line). That is when I first thought of being able to do this full time. So I ran my own projections and figured out how to do it.
After Veronica left him and we went full time, her old employer pivoted to more large items on Craigslist and unique on eBay. But with his overhead and labor, I don’t know how he can be profitable. The big advantage you and Ryanne have is the “free” warehouse space (no rent, but I realize you just built a new warehouse).
Good accounting, forecasting, and budgeting is rare in this space. You do a good job of it for you guys, and that was what I brought to the business for us. I LIVE by the numbers…cause they don’t lie…
And if you love selling cheap stuff a lot and managing all that activity…great. Do that. End of the day…make your numbers work for the life you want…
04/18/2017 at 2:32 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist #16748Actually, he really means 10,000 listings (not just items that are the same). Lots of clothes and small items (not like the stuff that you and Ryanne do), and they talk about his process, storage, listing, employees (he is at 2, wanting 3-4 more), sourcing, etc. I think there will be more of a challenge than he thinks, but he really has done some thinking on this and is cranking. Looking for $10/item profit. Will be interesting to track…
04/18/2017 at 1:06 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist #16745Listened to an interesting podcast on eCommerce Momentum today about a guy who has a goal to get to 10,000 listings on eBay by the end of this year. There is a lot of information in here, some I agree with, and some I don’t, but I like to listen to lots of different ideas to see what I can experiment with.
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