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Just re-read most of this thread, and wanted to update: We’re still using the same system, but now use the custom sku field for tracking. Makes it MUCH faster/easier to find sold items.
Currently at 32 shelves, five clothing racks, and sixteen boxes of trucker hats.
I can recall one of the early episodes where I first noticed Jay’s stutter. Pretty sure it was a Jay/Mikey episode. At first, I thought it was done on purpose, until I heard it later again. Ever since, I’ve realized that it was something that Jay was dealing with, and it’s been a non issue for me.
I have always been impressed that when it happens on the podcast, Ryanne doesnt edit it out, and that she doesn’t jump in to “rescue” Jay.
Jay, good on you for not making such an effort to avoid combinations, words, and phrasing that generally leads to you stuttering anymore. It must be absolutely exhausting putting that much thought into a conversation. Do you, stutter and all!
Was doing some personal traveling/sightseeing on Tuesday/Wednesday, and picked up a lot of 94 more embroidered souvenir patches from an antique store for $40. We’ll list them in our smaller store for 6.99-9.99 plus shipping. They’ll take a few years to sell through, but will eventually pay for our entire two day trip and then some.
If using a box, 8x6x4 is my favorite size for hats. For most, if they’re under $20, and are foam/mesh construction, I usually toss them in one of the ebay branded padded mailers. Keeps them under 4oz, so shipping via FC is very cheap. I’ve shipped a few hundred this way, without issue.
I’ve followed them for a while on instagram. They sell some great stuff, but this is the first I’ve noticed anything about the food truck. Too cool!
It’s been WAY too long since I’ve shared my numbers here, and I’ve been less active than usual. I’m back!
January 20-26, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,605
Items Sold: 26
Gross Sales: $587.78
Cost of Items Sold: $58.00
Highest Price Sold: $45.00 (jean jacket)
Average Price Sold: $22.61
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60.02
Number of items listed this week: 25Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 927
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales: $109.92
Cost of Items Sold: $11.00
Highest Price Sold: $18.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $12.21
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 8Amazon.ca sales: $477.84 (Approx $143.35 net profit)
Amazon.com sales (USD): $2,124.04 (Approx $849.62 net profit)As mentioned elsewhere, now that we’ve moved across the country, and are closer to family, we’ve kind of been milking the summer. We’re still working on the business every day, but have been taking afternoons/evenings/weekends whenever we feel like it to spend time either visiting with family, exploring our new surroundings, or house shopping, etc. We’re coasting a bit, and it feels good (temporarily).
Ebay sales have been decent, considering how little effort we’ve been putting into listing. Another thumbs up for long-tail selling, and front-loading the work!
Amazon sales have been consistent. No huge swings there, just a constant stream of items being sent in every few days, and a commensurate stream of money flowing into our bank accounts every two weeks.
Hope all is well with everyone else! I’ll be making a concerted effort to be around the forums a lot more going forward. I’m also relatively active on instagram (@thecanuckreseller) if anyone cares to follow along there. Drop me a note if you follow me so that I know who my fellow trash elves are!
Nothing from the conference is online that I’ve seen to date, though there are a few Canadian Facebook groups for Amazon sellers with some knowledgeable people in the PL space. It’s not something I ever really entertained as an income stream, so I may not be the best person to ask though.
With the private label stuff, there was talk of click funnels, targeted messaging, advertising campaigns, keyword ranking, etc. A lot of that stuff made me glaze over a bit, largely because it was completely foreign to me, and because it wasn’t pertinent.
Retail arbitrage is still very alive and well. The majority of people at the conference were either doing retail arbitrage, or online arbitrage it seemed. There were around 125 in attendance, and I’d estimate that 1/3 of them were full-time in the ecommerce space.
Been a bit since my last update, sorry!
We’ve been kind of milking the summer, and being close to family. We’ve been coasting for a bit. Just dialing things back up over the last few days.
The amazon conference was great. I was right in thinking that the private label stuff went way over my head. The retail arbitrage/etc stuff was great. There were some SUPER smart people there, and it was really refreshing to be able to spend a few days with like-minded people and talk ebay/amazon.
We’ve been listing VERY little on our ebay accounts over the last few weeks. Just a trickle of items here and there. We’ve been slow to get our rented house set up for photography, but are 90% set up now. Should be doing some listing again over the next few days. We’re currently sitting at 1,603 items on our main account, and 928 on our smaller account.
Sales have been relatively good, considering it’s summer, and we haven’t been listing. I shipped today, and had 17 items to go out since Saturday.
Border crossings have been going REALLY well. I’ve been crossing over to Maine every three business days to ship. It’s about an hour drive each way, but the border agents know me now (as “the ebay guy”), and I haven’t run into any problems. Just today, I got confirmation from them that I can also start taking my amazon shipments across which is huge. The shipping savings there could save me $200-400 per month at my current volumes. I’ll try it for the first time on my next crossing.
On the personal front, we’ve spent some time with both of our families, and have been house shopping. We’ve found a house that checks almost every one of our wants/needs in a property. Just doing some number crunching and meeting with the bank tomorrow to explore purchase options, and then we’ll likely make an offer on it.
Amazing update. Congrats! The selling of your place, and being mortgage free on the new one must feel amazing.
I get the beaver tail and dq thing. They’d both be a problem for me if they were nearby too. Haha
Currently in a hotel room in Toronto. I flew up yesterday for an ecommerce conference. It’s mostly Amazon focused, but the wealth of knowledge that some of these people possess about all things online selling is immense. I’m certain I’ll get value out of it, but suspect that a lot of the private label/etc talk will go over my head. Mostly looking to network, and to discover new angles that I can slowly implement into my own business to make it better long-term.
On the eBay front, I’ve dropped my handling time back to 3 business days and the sales have started to roll back in. Planning on making my next border shipping run on Tuesday, as I don’t get home until late Monday night. I’m going to have to play with my handling time and shipping scheduling to make sure that I’m consistently hitting the TRS metrics while still selling enough items, and not having to make more trips across the border than needed. For now, I think 3 day handling should give me anough leeway to make the trip twice a week or so.
“JOB” is only a four letter word if you dislike what you’re doing.
Like Jay said, keep the ebay thing rolling. Keep building it, and use it as a back-up plan for the future. I can really give you the confidence and leverage to exit a job you dislike, or to ease the burden when a job goes away.
Hey Inglewood. That’s how I’m planning to approach the border. Complete, blatant honesty, and everything by the book. No Nexus card here. I’ve said for years that I should apply and get one, but never got around to it. With that said, my regular border crossing is VERY small. I was the only vehicle that crossed in the ten minutes that I was there.
As for the move, we’re close to done. At this point, almost all of my hard goods are still in boxes. I sold/gave away all of my shelving in Calgary before we left. I was hoping/planning to pick up new ones here on the cheap at thrift stores and garage sales, but haven’t had much luck. I just ordered some that are scheduled to arrive next week. Then everything can finally be unboxed and shelved.
