Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
These are great. Thanks for sharing. Just set the first one as my lock screen!
I’ll video it at some point in the next week or two and post.
We’ve got approximately 2,900 listings on shelves, rolling racks, and in boxes, and I estimate we could easily push to 5000+ without space becoming an issue.
The only thing I’ve got left to do is build a photography backdrop. It’ll be a floating/movable wall on casters. That way out photography location can change a bit as we figure out the most efficient layout for the space. I didn’t want to paint a section of the wall white for photography and then have to move it later.
We’ve been silly busy between moving, property maintenance, finishing the workspace, life, and all the while doing enough work to pay for it all. As a result I’ve been away from the forums a bit. Hoping to finally slow things back down in the coming weeks and get back to the forums!
Congrats! The wait is finally over!
It’s an incredibly exciting feeling leaving work for the last time, but terribly strange at the same time (at least for me it was).
Looking forward to your progress and set up!
Dorian brought us a boatload of rain, but that was about it.
On Poshmark, we’ve only had one sale so far in Canada, but are selling about one per day in the US.
Poshmark Canada has a similar shipping set up as the us. Not sure what the buyer pays, but as a seller, you print your label, slap it on and you’re done. No weighing/etc. Pretty easy.
The sales velocity doesn’t seem to be there yet though.
New home/workspace updates:
Existing workbenches/etc have been removed. The whole floor has been scrubbed and pressure washed. Cracks/etc in the floor are being patched. This should be finished tomorrow.
Still to do:
Diamond grind floor in prep for coating to be laid down
Lay down floor coating
Remove existing trim around windows/doors/etc
Prime/paint the walls & ceiling
Install new trim around windows/doors/etc
Replace light fixtures
Clean windows
Build photo backdrop/wall (this will be movable for the time being, so that walls can all be painted a uniform color)
Install WiFi extender in house
Move in inventory, and all furniture/fixturesWe’re slowly moving things into the house. Every second or third day we take a trailer load out and unpack it. We’ll hold off on moving ourselves in until the workspace is ready to Fock.
In the past week, I’ve had to buy a ride on mower (big lawn), and an atv with a plow (big driveway). I’ll be happy to get the workspace finished and us moved in to stop the bleeding and get to work!
Reselling updates:
We’re back to setting monthly listing/selling/etc goals, and August was a good month. Our August goals were:
– Get the main eBay store to 1,750 listings
We hit 1,752.– Get the second eBay store to 1,050 listings
We hit 1,060.– Get Poshmark Canada to 50 listings
We hit 104.– Get Poshmark US to 50 listings
We hit 97.– Find/add two new replenishable skus to Amazon.ca offerings
Added 2.– Find/add five new replenishable skus to Amazon.com offerings
Added 6.– Send 200 profitable books into Amazon.ca
Found/sent 202– Gross sales of $3,000 on Amazon.ca
Hit $4,107 for the month– Gross sales of $10,000 on Amazon.com
Hit &10,154 for the monthSeptember goals have been dialed down a bit to accommodate our move into the new house, and the time it’ll take to prepare the new eBay/amazon workspace. September goals:
– 1,800 listings on main eBay store
– 1,150 listings on second eBay store
– 200 listings on both Poshmark sites
– Send 125 books into Amazon
– Add two more replenishable skus to Amazon Canada
– Add five more replenishable skus to Amazom USInglewood, I hear you on the painful waiting for the end. When I left my job in March, I hung around for about six months from the time I decided to leave until I actually did. My main reasoning for doing so was an annual bonus/dividend that paid out in mid-February. It was about a $16k payment that I wasn’t willing to let go, just to get out sooner.
With regards to setting up your space, wounds like we’re in a comparable spot. I’m still working on our new space, and will post before/after pics when done.
August 25-31, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,749
Items Sold: 24
Gross Sales: $490.42
Cost of Items Sold: $55.20
Highest Price Sold: $44.00
Average Price Sold: $20.43
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 50Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 1060
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $137.86
Cost of Items Sold: $11.75
Highest Price Sold: $14.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $9.85
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $37.87
Number of items listed this week: 50Amazon.ca sales: $835.63 (Approx $250.69 net profit)
Amazon.com sales (USD): $2,409.82 (Approx $963.93 net profit)Haven’t listened yet, but will today while driving.
Business-wise, we have a pretty average week, though I did hit a new milestone. On amazon, I finally hit my arbitrary sales goal of $10,000 in a month. I ended up doing $10,154 in sales in August. Of that, profit works out to around $4,000 after fees, COGS, shipping, etc. That converts to over $5,000 Canadian.
On ebay, we were doing an average amount of listing, and saw a slightly below average level of sales.
Personally, we took possession of our new house on Saturday morning. The house is pretty much move-in ready, so today we’ll start moving our stuff over there slowly (we still have our current home rented until the end of September). On Sunday, I started work on clearing out the garage, and will start cleaning the floors/etc today in preparation for laying down a new floor coating, painting the walls and ceiling, and changing out the light fixtures. It’ll take two or three weeks to be completely done with the work there, after which, we’ll move the business in.
We signed paperwork with our lawyer for our new home purchase this morning. It was a bit of a gut check pulling a bank draft for $105k out of our savings, but we’re incredibly excited.
Final walkthrough is scheduled for Friday morning, with hopes of closing Friday afternoon. I’ve contracted someone to come and do the drywall finishing in the garage on Tuesday, after which we’ll prime, paint, change light fixtures, finish the floor, and then FINALLY move ebay/amazon/poshmark operations into a dedicated space!
August 18-24, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,722
Items Sold: 26
Gross Sales: $569.52
Cost of Items Sold: $57.20
Highest Price Sold: $55.00
Average Price Sold: $21.90
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40.38
Number of items listed this week: 51Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 1022
Items Sold: 13
Gross Sales: $166.27
Cost of Items Sold: $8.50
Highest Price Sold: $16.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $12.79
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 26Amazon.ca sales: $1,156.86 (Approx $347.06 net profit)
Amazon.com sales (USD): $2,679.83 (Approx $1,071.93 net profit)eBay is chugging along. We’re doing a bit more listing in hopes of hitting the goals we set earlier in the month (1,750 listings on the main store, 1,050 on our second store). My wife has continued to post our clothing items to poshmark in both Canada and the US as they’re being listed, and those accounts are both around the 100 item mark now.
Amazon remains consistent, and I’m SO close to cracking $10,000 gross sales in the US. I’m on pace to JUST hit it this month. I’ve been close before, but have never cracked into five figures. In Canada, text books have been flying out, and I’ve had a good month as a result.
Personally, we signed paperwork with our lawyer for our new home purchase this morning. It was a bit of a gut check pulling a bank draft for $105k out of our savings, but we’re incredibly excited. Final walkthrough is scheduled for Friday morning, with hopes of closing Friday afternoon. I’ve contracted someone to come and do the drywall finishing in the garage on Tuesday, after which we’ll prime, paint, change light fixtures, finish the floor, and then FINALLY move ebay/amazon/poshmark operations into a dedicated space!
To Jay & Ryanne, congratulations on your huge sale. Amazing. Good on you for holding out for the right buyer.
RE: The episode title;
I’ve been having cashflow/money concerns lately, and have really pushed us to work harder/smarter to help alleviate them. It’s really helped us to sleep at night knowing we’re pushing hard.
She’s been working bits and pieces on the business for the last year or two. Doing the odd listing on our main account, going sourcing with me, and she did quite a few listings on our smaller account. Just nothing dedicated or consistent.
She worked a full-time corporate management job up until three or four days before our cross-country move. The original plan was for her to get a job here, with the plan of only having to work it until our new house was paid off, and then she could decide whether to keep working or to leave and work on the business with me.
That would’ve given a bit more stability, health benefits, and would have given me a few extra years to grow the business before it would have to support/sustain both of us.
Something that I don’t think I’ve mentioned or noted since our move that’s of relevance:
When we got settled after the move, my wife interviewed for a position that we expected was a shoe-in. Since a friend that has some pull in the organization set it up, the interview just felt like a bit of a formality. She ended up not getting the job (we suspect a fair bit of office politics played into this). While it was a bit of a knock to our egos (mostly hers, obviously), we didn’t instantly have to panic. She looked for and applied for a few other jobs (mostly part-time), but for the most part, stopped job searching while we were house shopping. It wouldn’t have made sense to take a low-paying, part time job and then drive 30 minutes each way to and from work if we ended up buying further from the city.
Gradually, she’s taken on more and more of a role in the business as a result of all of this. She’s been listing on both of our ebay stores, and has also started listing on Poshmark in both Canada and the US. She helps me prep Amazon shipments, and has helped with the packing/shipping on both ebay accounts.
One of the best parts about seeing her get so involved is the excitement that listing and selling gives her. It reminds me of a four years ago when I was just starting out on ebay, and also of this past spring when I went full time.
Our current plan is to get set up in the new house/workspace, and to both work in the online selling business full-time.
Our new home is right between two very small towns (both are well under 2,000 residents), and 10-15 minutes drive to either. Once we’re settled, we’ll keep our eyes/ears open for part-time, casual work that interests us. At this point, we’ve been living on just our online income for about three months, with no issue, but having an additional stream or two of income, even if small would be nice, just for diversity sake. If nothing comes up, no big panic.
As with everything, life has a funny way of throwing a wrench into best-laid plans. Online selling has given us the ability to be able to navigate the bumps without losing too much sleep.
Yeah, I’ve already drafted a scale version of the space on paper, along with everything that will go in it. Tables, shelves, chairs, photo umbrellas, clothing racks, listing space, packing area, etc.
I keep moving things around and revisiting it. I’ll likely set it up in a logical progression working around the space. Receiving, unlisted inventory, photography/listing area, listed storage (shelves/racks), packing/shipping. Combined with the packing/shipping will be a few tables to unload, prep, and pack amazon inventory. Packing/shipping will be near one of the roll up doors so that when the weather is foul, I can pull my truck into the space to load/unload if needed.
The whole thing may change again before we move into the space, and it will likely change a few times after we’re in, but eventually, we’ll have it set up as efficiently as possible.
Thanks SCJ.
From the get go, we’ll continue using the existing shelving, clothing racks, packing/prepping tables, etc that we’ve got. Partly to keep costs down, but mostly because it’s all easily movable from one spot to another.
I want to set the space up to work as efficiently as possible, and that may mean setting it up, only to move and rejig things a bit over time. Once we’re content that everything is in the right spots, we may start building more permanent fixtures.
