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I haven’t received the full frame camera yet, so I’m not sure how I will have it set up. The ideal EF lens for it is OUTRAGEOUS, so I will have will have to wait until I thrift it…..and I will…eventually.
Currently I just use the standard 18-55mm kit lens on the cropped sensor cameras. The articulating arm and zoom allow me to get pretty much any photo I need at any distance. The only down side, is the zoom is the only feature not controlled by the mac, so it has to be done by hand….which is the long reach I am hoping to eliminate.
The photos are automatically stored in the pictures folder on mac. The photos are named by Date/timestamp so if I am shooting on two macs they put themselves in order automatically upon import. I usually just use iPhoto for basic edits and maybe cropping that I couldn’t get quite right on the camera. Then it’s just drag/drop into my GarageSale templates.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
07/08/2019 at 4:33 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 418: Brick & Mortar Store Is Not For Us #64680Similar to my strategy. I want to grow my store to 7000 items by January 5 (26 weeks). I have 6104, and need 896 more. 896/26 = 34.5. So every week if I list at least 35 more items than I sold the week before, I will reach my goal.
This Side by side layout allows for me to utilize both cameras at the same time for full shots or flat lay, depending on the shots required. This is also useful for two photographers, using a hand-off system.
I have a Canon EOS Rebel XSi set up in portrait mode. Thrifted this DLSR for $6, and it had under 5000 clicks when I found it! Overhead for flat lay photos is a Canon EOS Rebel SL1, which has a few extra features (mainly 1:1 shooting capability) that make it my choice over the XSi for this position. The new camera full frame will likely be moving into this position when it arrives.
Each DLSR is tethered to a macbook pro with a USB cable. Using the Canon EOS Utility, the camera can be operated in live view mode and adjustments are made easy with on-screen controls. When the subject is ready the shutter is actuated simply by pressing the spacebar.
Final shots after minimal editing.
07/08/2019 at 4:04 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 418: Brick & Mortar Store Is Not For Us #64668Lol, I’m not so golden. I tried to add photos to my post 6 times and nothing.
I got it. It wouldn’t add the pics if I used the img tool, so I just copy/pasted the URL directly into the reply field.
Photo Set-Up at The SEAM Store
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
07/08/2019 at 11:05 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 418: Brick & Mortar Store Is Not For Us #64635Sure, I can put something together. Someone remind again me how to add photos here.
07/08/2019 at 8:35 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 418: Brick & Mortar Store Is Not For Us #64615Week June 30 – July 6, 2019
Items in store: 4092 Listings for 6104 Items
Items Sold: 62 Items
Gross Sales: $3653.08
Highest Price Sold: $250… Edward Green Shoes
Lowest Price Sold: $2.75… Shoe Laces
Average Price Sold: $58.92
Cost of Goods Sold $193, Plus consignment
Number of new items listed this week: 70 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $75
Repeat Customers: 6Pretty slow this week, but could be worse for a summer holiday.
I decided to buy another camera this week. My main camera has over 200,000 clicks and has just started getting a little quirky. It straightened up with a little cleaning, but it’s only a matter of time at this point. I have a backup that can fill-in in a pinch, but it’s missing a couple of my favorite features for tethered shooting, and I often need to use two cameras at the same time. Ideally, I would have 3 cameras, one on vertical, one overhead, and one free-hand.
Since it was time to buy, I decided to upgrade to a full frame camera. Full Frame cameras can be ultra pricey, so I picked up one up secondhand on ebay, hopefully it will workout until I can manage to thrift one. The idea is that, when used overhead in my customised photo booth, the full frame camera can be mounted at a lower height than the cropped DSLR, making it easier for the user to reach without over-stetching/straining/twisting their back. It the moment, I have to really stretch to reach it at some settings, and my wife has to get on a step stool and reach. Neither of which is ideal. Can’t wait to see if this improves things. I will likely have to do more cropping during post editing, but I suppose a little added crop time is a good trade off for less back pain.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
Week June 23 – 29, 2019
Items in store: 4091 Listings for 6108 Items
Items Sold: 68 Items
Gross Sales: $4232.54
Highest Price Sold: $391… LVC Leather Jacket
Lowest Price Sold: $12.39… Tie
Average Price Sold: $62.24
Cost of Goods Sold $225, Plus consignment
Number of new items listed this week: 97 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $330
Repeat Customers: 10Yesterday we made a dry run to the school where my wife will be earning her master’s degree. The program doesn’t begin until January, but we wanted to get a feel for what the 65 mile drive was like during the AM and PM rush hour. So, we headed out at 6AM and headed home at 5PM, with thrifting filling the time from 9AM-5PM. Once school starts, I plan to head down with her once a week and hit the shops while she is in classes. I usually thrift all day on Fridays, so switching to Mondays will be a big change. I will have to have all my weekends packages ready to go on Sunday night. The stores may be a bit more cleaned out from the weekend, but the area is more urban and the thrifting should be better.
Still trying to grow the store to at least 7000 items by the end of the year…only 892 to go. Growing the store is easy this time if year, but it will surely get a bit tougher when fall rolls around.
Just barely missed my $20K sales goal for June, but I’m still on track for the year at the half way point with just over $125K so far.
They are SKU’d chronologically and numerically, so I just keep them in order through the entire process and also when they go into inventory storage. I like to do the photos first, because that’s my best light for identifying flaws that need to be mentioned in the listing.
Indeed, the nice thing about this is there are hundreds of ways to make it work for your own personal style, schedule and work flow. No way is wrong.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
I like everything about it….except the upcoming new subscription fee. They upgraded all their templates designs to be ebay compliant and mobile friendly, but just list with plain white description….since ebay hides them on mobile and no one reads them anyway. Lol. Plus, after that mess a few years ago, I’d rather not have any code in my descriptions at all.
Main advantage for me, Speed of listing. Once you set up your main Master templates (I set mine up with a seperate pre-filled template for each type of item I sell) listing is just titles, drag/drop photos and field hopping for item specifics. The nice part is you can jump in and out of working templates quickly with clicks, arrows and tabs. Since the templates live on your Mac until you launch to ebay there’s no load time, and you are instantly in the next working listing. No need to save and exit one ebay draft and then load into another one. This makes it possible to group small tasks on batches of listings, which increases speed. I will typically work on about 15-30 listings at a time, usually in groups of similar items.
Here is the flow for 15 Sport Coats
-Prepare items and take photos.
-I may make a few basic photo edits in mac ‘photos’
-In GarageSale, I select my Master sport coat template, which is pre-filled with my sport coat shipping rates/options, and a generic description with blank measurement field, and make 15 copies. These 15 copies are my Working templates.
-Next I drag up to 12 photos into each of the templates. The photos upload almost instantly….depending on my mac storage at the moment.
-Next, I title all 15 items based on ebay’s titling recommendations.
-Next, I measure all 15 jackets and put the measurements directly into the awaiting Working templates, and filling out any basic details or damage notes in the description.
-Next, I do the item specifics for all 15
-Next, I price everything.
-Launch.Beyond that, there are a ton of other features for inventory, shipping, messaging, smart group tracking/reporting, bulk live listing updating etc. I really should use more of these other features, but the listing speed has always been the main draw for me.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
Week June 16 – 22, 2019
Items in store: 4044 Listings for 6070 Items
Items Sold: 70 Transactions for 82 Items
Gross Sales: $4176.69
Highest Price Sold: $397.55… Two sport coats to the same buyer.
Lowest Price Sold: $10.99… 1920s photograph.
Average Price Sold: $50.94
Cost of Goods Sold $312, Plus consignment
Number of new items listed this week: 91 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $80
Repeat Customers: 6Incredibly non-productive week due to a few technical issues. When I used my iPhone to open a numbers file this week, I unknowingly saved a few of my consignors sales records to a newer version. Of course, the new version of numbers wouldn’t work with my preferred older OS. So I had accidentally forced myself into updating to Mojave, which had some negative effects on my main MacBook, the worse….causing me not to be able to use it to shoot photos from my usual tethered setup. I think I can do a memory stick upgrade on this one still and make it work better, but that’s a project for another week.
After a day fooling with the update, and getting my backup MacBook up to speed with the photo hookup….my camera lens began to malfunction and needed servicing. I was able to do it myself, but it was more time spent than I like.
After I finally got moving with photos, I found that the Mojave upgrade also played havoc with GarageSale compatibility, so it’s been slow going as I find work-arounds for simple tasks that are currently glitching. Good news: The next GS version is in beta right now, so the fix will be around the corner soon. Bad News: It comes with a hefty price increase. What was $69 one time license, with $20 occasional upgrade fees (only 1 or 2 in the last 5 or 6 years) will now become $15/month, every month. Sigh….Everyone wants a piece.
Meanwhile back at the ranch. My wife discovered a yellow jacket nest in one of our large patio planters, where we eat all our meals. She is allergic, so I was automatically selected to battle the swarm. That battle still goes on. I’ve been shopvac-ing them up in sessions. I plan to excavate tonight after dark. Wish me luck!
Needless to say, I didn’t get much accomplished this week. Didn’t get any listings up until Friday/Saturday….but we did get out on the lake for a few hours of kayaking.
06/18/2019 at 11:51 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 415: Importance Of Being Honest As A Business Owner #63652Yay, good thing I copy/pasted that long one…it got eaten by the thread again.
06/18/2019 at 11:50 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 415: Importance Of Being Honest As A Business Owner #63651@Jay, it’s actually $49/mo if you scroll down to the bottom section.
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The Dirt:
I used Webinterpret several years ago when it first came out as a 3rd party application, but it did not work with auction format, which was my primary format at the time. So, I was eager to try it again when the promotion came out.
I believe I opted in to the promo in October 2018, cross listing to every site except Italy, due to customs regulations that prohibit the import of Leather goods, Shoes and haberdashery….which is literally my entire store except a dozen items.
After satisfactory results, I opted in to the Pro version some time in November, so I could get my entire store translated.
My account was suspended for 3 days because web-interpret crossposted an item that was illegal to sell in France. so if you use this service be very careful the items you list, and be aware that ebay holds you responsible for mistakes made by this third party.
I’m fairly happy with the service, though they claim with the Pro version that you can list on about 12 sites, but to actually list on the additional sites cost very high insertion fees, some times up to 50 cents a listing. I’m sure these items would have sold anyway either domestically or internationally, so it’s hard to say how much of an increase there has really been in overall sales, but there has definitely been larger percentage of international sales.
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The Cleanup:
Total international sales through Webinterpret since Oct 2018 in USD : $27,561
Total subscription and selling fees paid to Webinterpret (in addition to normal ebay fees) since Oct 2018 in USD : $1255, with another invoice coming up in a few days.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
06/17/2019 at 3:42 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 415: Importance Of Being Honest As A Business Owner #63604Brian. I’m not too sure about that civil war story. I think that might be a local rural legend. Hanover shoes and the farms weren’t established until about 35 years after the civil war ended.
06/17/2019 at 2:02 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 415: Importance Of Being Honest As A Business Owner #63591I ran a test on this about a year or two ago for 4 or 5 months. I stopped using GTC, ended and relisted a different small section of my store every day 10 days and then relisted them in 10 days when they ended, to utilize all 10000 of my “free listings” Honestly, in my case, the small increase in return was not worth the extra daily task. If I had a smaller inventory, or fewer items with multiple quantities, I would have been more likely to keep doing it.
Granted: this was also tested long before the GTC requirement was ever mentioned, so it’s not really an equal experiment. I believe it makes a difference, and gives a boost just the same as any listing change, sale or promotion.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
06/17/2019 at 11:00 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 415: Importance Of Being Honest As A Business Owner #63573Hah, you graduated with my wife, Holly. That’s so funny.
She said she already thinks she knows who you are, and that you are already friends on facebook….the one with the house keys. lol
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
The_SEAM_Store.
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