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Definitely interested. But take your time figuring out Google Hangout, because I’ve got at least 10 days of book keeping backlog to catch up on.
@T-Satt: I need to re-listen (for the 3rd time) to the interview you did with Jay. I want to try to understand concepts such as sell-through rates and forecasting. I’m comfortable with Excel and I use Quickbooks which I think will provide year over year type reports. I like the idea of having discreet numbers to shoot for so things are less overwhelming. But, until I’m up to speed on my financial education, I’m just trying to keep myself listing.
Speaking of financial education, based on the interview here with Mr. Collins some time ago, I switched over all my 401Ks to index funds and boy has that paid off in spades – I just can’t touch it for a few years.@Jay – Early! I’m 63 and was going to wait until I became Medicare eligible (65) so as not to have a gap in healthcare coverage. (I’m healthy but you never know when you are going to be t-boned by some crazy scavenger with their hair on fire trying to get to the Goodwill Outlet).
But I discovered that I can do Cobra for 18 months which will carry me till I reach eligibility. Cobra coverage will cost $640 a month – whereas Obamacare was quoted to me at $1,200 a month.
So I took the leap! $640 is still a lot, and I’m worried that I will flop at this as my sole source of income – considering I have trouble getting things listed but no trouble buying! Also I sometimes get “the gravy train is over” irrational mindset.
Nevertheless, I’m taking a chance and boy do I feel alive.@T-Satt and Geoff: Thanks! I’m definitely in the honeymoon phase! T-Satt – can you explain how to use the reply feature on this forum? I never can get my reply to come under the right post.
Total Items in Store: 487
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $697.90
Cost of Items Sold: $85
Highest Price Sold: $200 (Men’s fur lined trench coat)
Average Price Sold: $49.85
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $152
Number of items listed this week: 25So I retired from my part-time day job on Feb 1st. I’ve been doing eBay for approx 15 years but now I can do eBay as much as I want! Which is absolutely fantastic to me. That said, I struggle with shopping/listing balance (and always have). I can justify the shopping (at least in my own mind) but I really think I could double my sales if I just built an ongoing listing momentum. It seems I do ok for a while and sales really go up, but then something derails me and it’s hard to get back into the listing “flow”. The latest derailing was catching up the books to get ready to do my taxes. I think I really need to have a day devoted each month (like Ryanne does) to stay current with the bookkeeping. Anyway, lots of tweaks need to happen to streamline this now full time business (and my sole source of income) and I hope the lack of a safety net helps me keep it real going forward. Going to start posting my numbers once a week also, as the actual numbers make me face up to the harsh reality of my spending habits.
Love the Podcast. Hope you don’t tire of it because I think we would all be lost without it. Thanks again!
Caren
ebay store: thespeckledgoatllcCongratulations on Episode #400! Wow.just.wow.
I also wanted to link to a 5 year old conversation on this very forum where Breezy was audited by the IRS and explained what they wanted in terms of receipts and documentation for her eBay business. It was THE most helpful conversation regarding taxes. It’s from episode #88.
Scavenger Life Episode 88: What’s Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?
The info in paragraph #4 is hugely important for scavengers regarding COGS.
Thanks for the great Podcast – so much useful info in a no BS zone. You guys are one-of-a-kind!
Caren@IndySales “Nope, enjoy your unpaid item strike, bud.”
Love it. Seems only fair. PIA but there should be some consequence for these morons.In spite of my complaining, I do love the best offer option. Since changing all my listings to best offer my sales have skyrocketed. Half the day is spent hand wringing though! How long has it been listed? How slow have sales been? How far do I have to ship? How many feedback do they have? I’m still in Veronica’s camp of deciding case by case, but I have a feeling I’ll eventually come over to Team T-Satt & auto accept/decline, just to save my sanity. And if the new payment system eliminates the “please cancel” or “no longer interested” jacka$$es, life will be good!
I’m am perplexed by the buyers who make offers which I accept, but then they either don’t pay or send me a message such as “no longer interested”.
I have handled this two different ways. One is to ignore the “I’m no longer interested, please cancel” messages, and let the unpaid item process continue to resolution, i.e., I get a final value fee credit and the buyer gets an unpaid item strike.
The second way is to cancel the sale for the reason “buyer requests cancellation”. I get a final value fee credit and the buyer goes along on their merry way.
The first way gives me a sense of “justice” because there is the consequence of an unpaid item strike for the buyer.
The later seems like it just rewards the ridiculous behavior of making offers with no intention of paying (which seems to be rampant on ebay).
The first way takes a week before the item can be relisted. The second way the item gets relisted immediately with the potential of selling again.
I don’t know – the business part of me thinks option 2 is smarter. I’m in this to make money, not to teach a civics lesson. But man it really chaps my a$$ when this happens. And the instances of it seem to bunch up together. Maybe they don’t but it seems like it. Full moon kind of thing.
I wonder if the new payment system will eliminate this nonsense. It’s unique to ebay and completely unnecessary IMO.
Do you guys just cancel? Does it drive you nuts like it does me?
I know it’s only 1% of transactions, blah blah blah. But jeez. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?Not the laziest! But hey! Having time to be lazy is such a gift! I just retired last Friday from my nursing job and now I’m all Ebay all the time! And I STILL go down rabbit holes of research. So bottom line is I’m still spending all day and maybe getting 6 listings up. When I compare myself to Jay and Ryanne’s 20 listings a day, I SUCK SUCK SUCK. That said I am loving having all the time in the world. The time pressure is gone. One week in. Will update in 6 months! Hope I don’t turn into a cat lady!
Steve you are a rock star with all your electronics rehab. The rehab is half the joy right? I love taking dirty junky things and making them shiny new again and then selling them. There is a whole subculture of rehab/restoration you tube videos on everything from athletic shoes to antique typewriters. Nirvana. Some of them are headlined as ASMR. Causing tingling and such. LOL! Love this life. Love the dog and cat sequences at the end of your videos – wish they would go on for an hour. Stay warm! And if you can’t do that in North Dakota, wrap up in your vintage Pendleton blankets and vintage Woolrich goose down jackets and enjoy Marantz sounds in front of your fireplace with your fur babies.Jay would it be possible to do a cut and paste of the language you use in the email you send to the buyers that don’t pay after they make an offer?
I also really like the idea of sending it directly to their email address.
Thanks!
Caren
eBay store: The Speckled GoatAgree with T Satt. I finally found a way forward with my massive amount of unlisted inventory (from too much thrifting/garage saleing/goodwill blue bins). I cleared out my office/photography area/shipping desk COMPLETELY. Not ONE piece of inventory. I also went through the house and removed any piles of unlisted stuff. Took EVERY LAST ITEM to storage (I rent a 10X20 climate controlled storage unit).
Now, I bring home ONE storage bin at a time. Today, it’s men’s shirts. Since they are like items, the listing goes faster. Some things need cleaning or repair, so I do that too. But bottom line is that I don’t do anything else (with the exception of shipping out sales) until that ONE bin is completed.
This saves me from being immobilized due to overwhelm.
Pretty excited about this. Hope it gets me to 1 thousand listings (at 450 now) in short order.
Caren
