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The big East Coast blizzard came and went. Honestly, as long as we have internet and the mail lady picks up packages each day, we could go weeks without leaving the house since we have plenty of food and firewood. We had a productive weekend while taking breaks to shovel paths around our property.

We had an average week of eBay sales, but also we did a below average amount of work. After having family visit last weekend, it always takes us a while to get back into our routine.

Jay drove 10 hours round trip to North Carolina to pick up a huge load of heartwood pine flooring for our new rental. 400 square feet for $350. Wow! Never know what you’ll find on Craigslist. Ryanne stayed home and took care of business.

We just booked flights for a month of travel in May for some video jobs we’ll be doing. This means we have about 2.5 months to get any eBay work done before our store goes on auto pilot. If you’re in the Seattle, Portland, or New Orleans area, we’ll be there soon.

eBay officially updated all our Seller Dashboards to their a new, cleaner look. Supposedly “more objective standards” will be used to determine defects. The new dashboard will tell you where you stand with these new requirements.

Marco and Mike emailed us about an app called Mile IQ. It’s a phone app that uses GPS to track your mileage for business so you can easily keep records for tax deductions. We haven’t used it yet but plan to check it out.

And lastly, Dan (who we interviewed recently) and I have been talking back and forth about keeping track of COGS or Cost of Goods Sold for tax purposes. He sent me the IRS rule that we think lets small businesses deduct inventory costs as you buy them vs as they sell. This is huge if it’s true. Another listener called this the Cash Method. Here’s the rule Code Sec 471.

IRS exception to required use of accrual method for small businesses:

The IRS has provided two exceptions to the otherwise required use of the accrual method by certain small businesses that account for inventories. One exception applies to taxpayers with average annual gross receipts of $1 million or less and a second exception applies to taxpayers in certain types of businesses with average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less.

Under the first exception, a qualifying taxpayer that has average annual gross receipts of $1 million or less is not required to use the accrual method or account for inventories under Code Sec. 471. Thus, such qualifying taxpayers will be allowed to use the cash method instead. If the qualifying small business does not want to account for inventories, then the taxpayer must treat inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental.

Comment
Allowing qualifying small businesses with inventories to use the cash method is intended to simplify the bookkeeping requirements for small taxpayers.

Please note that we are not tax experts. Research yourself or take this info to your CPA. Might save you the time of keeping track of COGS and just deducting inventory as you buy it.

UPDATE: Please read this thread to see different seller’s opinions on the issue of COGS.

Hope you had a good week.

Our Store Week January 17-23, 2016

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3899
• Items Sold: 28
• Cost of Items Sold: $113
• Total Sales: $1,396.30
• Highest Price Sold: $250 (Tumi bag)
• Average Price Sold: $48
• International Sales: 2 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $34
• Number of items listed this week: 53

———-
Bonanza: $15
Amazon: $35
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 874
• Items Sold: 12
• Cost of Items Sold: $25
• Total Sales: $411.90
• Highest Price Sold: $80 (vintage hand drill)
• Average Price Sold: $34.25
• International Sales: 2 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 15

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This week we devoted the show to all the good advice people contributed in the comments this past week.

• After we sold so much on Bonaza during the holidays, Anne suggested we experiment with signing up for their selling plan that supposedly pushes more traffic to our store. So we paid $70 for the month to see what happens. If we make $300+, then it’s worth $70.
• Andy posted news that USPS are raising their rates soon. Any seller that uses Calculated Shipping on eBay doesn’t have to do anything. Great news is that First Class Package Service is increasing from 13 oz. to 16 oz. Cool.
• Because our scale doesn’t show ounces very well, Chris the Dollar Flipper suggested that we use the free scale from Stamps.com. It’s precise for these small amounts and perfect to use when we travel.
• Like Sandy, we’ve been hoarding Regional C boxes that are being discounted. But she says that: “I called the USPS Small Business Support Office today (1-877-747-6249) and they gave me the number of the USPS Postal Store (1-800-610-8734). I found out that the Regional C box is now replaced with a regular Priority Box 14 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 11 1/2″ That is the same exact size as the Regional C box and they are available to order now. You pay by weight, not a flat rate or regional rate.” It’s a great size box.
• Cyndi aka AmazingTaste explained why eBay is asking everyone to insert product identifiers. 
• Eve told that Amazon was letting people into these gated categories without much hassle. We signed up for a $40/month pro account to get into many categories. Our FBA experiment will start this year. 
• Here’s a page of accountants that are friendly to online sellers and people like us who have unconventional income.
• I mentioned the article that explained that 2015 was the slowest retail year since the depth of the last recession (2009).
• Here are the Scotty label peelers that a caller mentioned for getting sticky labels off items. 

We appreciate the constructive conversations and debates. I know our business improves when other people share what works or doesn’t work for them.

And folks are slowing starting to book our Farmhouse for the spring and summer. We’d love to have you spend some time in the Shenandoah Valley. You can see (and hike) the mountains in our backyard that we see each day as we list on eBay.

Our Store Week January 10-16, 2016

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3884
• Items Sold: 22
• Cost of Items Sold: $303
• Total Sales: $1,452.08
• Highest Price Sold: $200 (Shell Cordovan Wingtips)
• Average Price Sold: $66
• International Sales: 1 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $23
• Number of items listed this week: 19

———-
Bonanza: $0
Amazon: $0
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 874
• Items Sold: 12
• Cost of Items Sold: $50
• Total Sales: $477.88
• Highest Price Sold: $200 (vintage Dansk cookware)
• Average Price Sold: $39.82
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 11

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We had a good, solid week of sales. A completely unglamorous week, but these are the weeks that make us a living.

We get regular emails from sellers who ask us about items they find. The person tells us how special the item is and how they can’t find it anywhere online. It’s so special that they can’t figure how much to price it. They don’t want to list it because they might undervalue it and miss out on unknown riches. Paralysis sets in.

Here’s what we always tell these sellers. Being too precious about anything is one of the worst mistakes we can make.  First, do the research. Rarely is there ever not something online to tell you how valuable an item is. And if there is absolutely nothing online, it could mean that it’s not that valuable. Sought after items are spoken about at length on the internet.

Second, you can always take it to someone who might know more. But when we do this, we think of it as an adventure. A fun way to do research. Questions are usually always free to ask. Paying for appraisals doesn’t make sense to us.

Third, sometimes rare items just aren’t worth much. It may be rare or even one-of-a-kind, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s valuable. Someone has to want it.

Ultimately, we can’t be paralyzed by indecision. We just have to list it. If we’re unsure, we put a high price with “make offer” see what kind of offers people send in. For every item we may have undervalued, we’ve sold 100 items for double what normal sellers might have made on the same items. The key is never be too precious about anything after doing the research.

In this episode, we mentioned the following links:

• We finally switched over to the new eBay Seller Hub. Things are in different places, but it’s pretty much the same. Cleaner layout.
• We signed up for a new eBay competitor, Vangoe.com. We’re trying them out because they have an importer that automatically pulls in all our eBay listings like Bonanza does. The site’s owner, Jeff, is responsive and looking for feedback.
• We posted another episode over at Shampoo & Booze if you want to hear how we’re learning to run a vacation rental business.

Hope you had a good week.

Our Store Week January 3-9, 2016

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3895
• Items Sold: 22
• Cost of Items Sold: $303
• Total Sales: $1,426.43
• Highest Price Sold: $300 (AA book)
• Average Price Sold: $64.81
• International Sales: 1 GSP
• Returns: 1
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
• Number of items listed this week: 20

———-
Bonanza: $90
Amazon: $0
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 879
• Items Sold: 7
• Cost of Items Sold: $15
• Total Sales: $528.96
• Highest Price Sold: $300 (Lot of brass hinges)
• Average Price Sold: $91.79
• International Sales: 2 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 34

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We had a much better week. Pretty consistent sales. We also sold a lot of weird items we’ve had for a while. Those are the best sales.

We talk about our concept of “slow business” which is just a twist on the whole Slow Movement.

“It is a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace. It’s about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting.” 

As we continue to sell on eBay and invest in rental property, we’re trying to make sure every step of the way feels sustainable. There’s no hurry at all. Death is coming no matter what we do.

Also, in the past, we were always looking for a sense of purpose and family in our work environments which was rare to find. Of course as we grew older, we realized that the purpose of corporations, companies, and businesses isn’t to make us feel secure or give us individual purpose. This is why we’re creating it for ourselves the best we can. We keep building our lives one slow pair of old shoes at a time.

In this episode, we mentioned the following links:

• Because of the possible extinction of elephants, we found out that eBay will remove any listing even with the terms “faux ivory”. Check out eBay’s policy here.
• Amazon continues to dominate online retail. This article sketches a picture of exactly how large their reach is, but it also notes that Amazon still make a very slim profit as it continues the race to the bottom on prices.
• Interesting article exploring the growing problems of returns in the US. Supposedly 15% of all online sales are returned vs 8% in brick and mortar stores. Many of these returns are simply sold off to liquidators, and much of it just ends up in the landfill. Cheap junk is cheap.

Happy New Year everyone. Put your head down and list.

Our Store Week December 27-January 2, 2016

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3899
• Items Sold: 30
• Cost of Items Sold: $210
• Total Sales: $1,841.41
• Highest Price Sold: $345 (pair of vintage wood chairs)
• Average Price Sold: $61.36
• International Sales: 2 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $25
• Number of items listed this week: 13

———-
Bonanza: $385
Amazon: $50 Book
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 852
• Items Sold: 7
• Cost of Items Sold: $20
• Total Sales: $229.94
• Highest Price Sold: $60 (vintage climbing belt)
• Average Price Sold: $32.84
• International Sales: 1 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 34

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We had a very modest Christmas week of sales. Started off slow and ended busy. So it all averaged out.

We stayed home for the holidays. No family or big celebration. Instead we cooked holiday hamburgers. Our favorite! But we also were pretty unmotivated this week. It happens.

In this podcast, we mentioned the following links:

• “Making a Murderer” is a new 10-part series on Netflix. Extremely addictive if you love true crime stories. Very frustrating too as you see the frame up of a most likely innocent man.
• In a recent chat session with Griff, he revealed that eBay now allows people to sell empty boxes. This was a big no-no up till now to avoid counterfeiters being to use real boxes, or buyers being confused they were actually buying an item and not just an empty box. So empty iPhone boxes will now be valuable.
• And as always check out our “Help Us, Help Yourself” page if you want to rent our vacation cabin.

Hope you’re having a great holiday.
 

Our Store Week December 20-26, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3920
• Items Sold: 27
• Cost of Items Sold: $95
• Total Sales: $1,095.05
• Highest Price Sold: $120 (vintage menorah)
• Average Price Sold: $40.55
• International Sales: 3 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $23
• Number of items listed this week: 31

Bonanza: $60

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 827
• Items Sold: 10
• Cost of Items Sold: $19
• Total Sales: $364.90
• Highest Price Sold: $50 (vintage fur collar)
• Average Price Sold: $36.49
• International Sales: 1 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 13

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As we said earlier this week, sales have felt quiet for a holiday season. But when looking at our week’s numbers, we did okay. Sometimes the facts are different from our perception.

Running our eBay business means we’re always solving problems. And there are always new problems to solve. The good news is that we get to solve our own problem. Much different than when we worked for other people who paid us to solve their problems. As we’ve used our eBay profits to start a vacation rental business, we get to have a new set of problems to solve. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

We mentioned the following links in the podcast:

• A caller asked about how to raise he seller limits. eBay has a page explaining how that works. As long as items are selling and customers don’t complain, your limits will get raised quickly in our experience. You can always call them too to get limits raised over the phone.
• Deb asked about how we actually shop together. Our methods evolve over time, but check our second episode to hear our techniques in 2013.
• We talked last week about how to identify vintage wool rugs. Was it made in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran? Here’s a good site that helps explain the differences.
• Looking for a new podcast to listen to while working? Try the new season of Serial where they try to figure out what happened to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Or this podcast about the Charles Manson murders.
• If you aren’t sick of our voices, check out our new episode over at Shampoo & Booze.
   

Our Store Week December 13-19, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3912
• Items Sold: 32
• Cost of Items Sold: $125
• Total Sales: $1,545.25
• Highest Price Sold: $200 (pair of resort wear shoes)
• Average Price Sold: $48.28
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 1
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60
• Number of items listed this week: 19

———-Bonanza: $15
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 829
• Items Sold: 8
• Cost of Items Sold: $8
• Total Sales: $226.92
• Highest Price Sold: $37(Chalkware faces)
• Average Price Sold: $28.36
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 1
• Number of items listed this week: 54

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Even though we didn’t list much, we had a good week. Our sales felt like the holiday season. Other than packing sold items, we were busy running around taking care of a bunch of other tasks on our house project. It’s a week like this that reminds us why we like having a a big inventory so sales keep coming.

It also reminds us that our success with eBay has come because we remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Instead of being angry we aren’t selling more, we’re grateful when we make the money we need to pay our bills + a little extra. This buys our freedom. The steadiness gives us peace. The slow pace keeps it all manageable. Perfect for us. We hope you’re finding the right pace as you run your store and hopefully pursue other projects (or raise a family!)

In this episode, we mentioned the following links:

• You have till December 15 to sign up for healthcare at https://www.healthcare.gov/ if you want to be covered stating Jan. 1.
• We wondered how people are enjoying the new eBay Seller Hub. We haven’t switched over and would love to hear if it’s useful.
• Ryanne mentioned the Burn Test video that shows how to determine if a rug material is wool or synthetic.
• After I mentioned his post on having F-You Money last week, Jim Collins contacted us. I asked him if he’d let me interview him. He said no problem and wondered what you guys might want to know. Check out his blog. Like all of us, he has lived a life trying to have the freedom to do what he wants. Any questions you want me to ask?

Our Store Week December 6-12, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3952
• Items Sold: 37
• Cost of Items Sold: $175
• Total Sales: $1,838.89
• Highest Price Sold: $260 (vintage chandelier)
• Average Price Sold: $49.69
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40
• Number of items listed this week: 44

———-Bonanza: 0 ———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 778
• Items Sold: 17
• Cost of Items Sold: $32
• Total Sales: $635.84
• Highest Price Sold: $160 (pair of King Sheet Sets)
• Average Price Sold: $37.40
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 0

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Big news in our household. After six months of quiet, but busy, behind-the-scenes work, we just bought another rental cabin this week. We discuss in this podcast how we’ll be using our eBay profits for the renovation, but you can hear the whole story over at Shampoo and Booze (+ see the photos). 

Here’s a great post by a guy in his early 60’s who has always saved money. He describes how he’s had a good life because he’s always had “F*** You” money. This is an impolite way to say that you have much more flexibility and leverage if you have enough money to walk away from anything. We’ve certainly found this to be true. And in fact, we find that opportunities can multiple because people realize we work because we choose to, not because circumstances force us into a bad situation.

We’re living a much better life than we were in 2008 before we started selling on eBay. Without any extra income, we’d were forced to take any job that came along. Our future was always uncertain. But as we built our eBay business, this extra money became the buffer we needed against uncertainty. And now building this rental business on eBay profits will give us even more leverage.

In this podcast, we mentioned the following links:
–Ryanne found a site that links to thousands of free online audio courses. Many are college lectures from universities like MIT and Berkley. Interesting to listen to while listing.
–If you homeschool kids, Khan Academy is an awesome site with free interactive courses on Math and Science.
–Josh sent us an updated version of his free shipping tool: http://www.flippertools.com/fitShipperListing/ Helps you figure out the cheapest and most efficient way to send a package.
–And if you missed our last interview, listen to John aka Resale Rabbit talk about traveling the country while scavenging and selling on Amazon FBA.

 
Our Store Week November 29-December 5, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3986
• Items Sold: 37
• Cost of Items Sold: $150
• Total Sales: $1,506.97
• Highest Price Sold: $250 (vintage blanket)
• Average Price Sold: $40.72
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 2
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40
• Number of items listed this week: 61

 

 
• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 741
• Items Sold: 16
• Cost of Items Sold: $95
• Total Sales: $476.84
• Highest Price Sold: $150 (three hard drives)
• Average Price Sold: $29.80
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 57

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Does it matter what I sell on eBay? How do I make the most money? How can I quit my job and live the good life? All common questions. The answer is not always so easy.

It’s obviously smart to sell items that are easy and cheap to find. When we started selling on eBay, we sold clothes. Lots and lots and lots of clothes. We had a couple thrift shops where we could buy clothes by the bagful for pennies on the dollar. It was a lot of work, but we also had a very low investment so could afford to make mistakes and still make money.

As we evolved as online sellers, we definitely felt the stress of “always be listing” in order to make a decent income. It started to feel like a job we didn’t like. As one smart listener said, we created a sweatshop for ourselves. We were finding items to sell for cheap, but we were also not making much profit on each item.

Plus, it felt boring. We knew what each day would be like. No surprises. If we’re bored, we don’t work as hard. If we don’t work as hard, don’t list as much. If we don’t list as much, we don’t make money. If we don’t make money, we have to start searching for a job where we work for someone else who tells us what to do.

This is why we began focusing on selling items that we enjoyed scavenging, researching, AND listing. In a country with so much excess and waste, why not treat it like an actual Treasure Hunt? We began digging and searching and having fun finding weird items that most people overlooked. We enjoyed learning about the history and use of these items. And we realized that many of these items would often make us a higher profit margin. But in the end, the most important thing is that we enjoyed what we did.

So does it matter what you sell on eBay? Yes and no. Everything sells. It’s relatively easy to be a successful online seller for short periods of time. The key is finding a way to make sure you enjoy the process day in and day out. Month after month. Year after year.

Our Store Week November 22-28, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3989
• Items Sold: 28
• Cost of Items Sold: $132
• Total Sales: $1,270.56
• Highest Price Sold: $300 (Mid Century Dresser)
• Average Price Sold: $45.37
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40
• Number of items listed this week: 37

———-
Bonanza: $20 (Dr. Pepper hat)
———- 

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 741
• Items Sold: 14
• Cost of Items Sold: $95
• Total Sales: $749.29
• Highest Price Sold: $200 (box of vintage model rocket parts)
• Average Price Sold: $53.52
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 50

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After noticing the gorgeous pieces of furniture that could be cheaply purchased at auctions and yard sales, we started an ongoing experiment with selling furniture on eBay. I guess most buyers don’t want the hassle of hauling furniture home? It’s perfect for us since we’re always trying to find the items that no one wants but can be sold for huge profits. For example, we paid $80 for two pieces of furniture and recently sold them for almost $1000.

The issue with selling furniture on eBay is storage and shipping. We have plenty of storage so that’s not a problem. We use “Local Pickup” on our listings since we don’t want to deal with preparing pieces for freight. We also list shipping companies that will give buyers free shipping estimates. It’s better for us if the buyer directly works out their own shipping if they choose to not pick it up themselves.

For the most part, we’ve had good luck. Buyers are willing to drive up to 9 hours ONE WAY to pick up unique furniture. People are nice. We make them pay by Paypal before they come so there’s no fumbling or last minute negotiations. Then we “mark as shipped” on eBay. You read the about strange nightmares online about buyers picking up items and then telling eBay they never did. We only make money. 99.9999999999% of people are going to be normal and nice.

But these past two furniture pieces we sold only because we offered to deliver them ourselves. Why? Because we didn’t want to lose the sales. So we spent Saturday and Sunday driving all day to the South and then North of our state. Wouldn’t recommend this delivery service regularly, but we had fun scavenging along the way. It was just another adventure.

These are the links we discussed in this podcast:

• We started a companion site called the Archive of All Knowledge. Anyone can find or add useful Scavenger info.
• Not sure when this started, but I noticed that eBay is now doing “Live Auctions”. I guess it’s their way to get into the higher end auction market? I had fun watching one of these auctions take place.
• As many people emailed, some guy was selling an piece of one of the original Bibles on eBay. What?
• A caller complained that eBay was creating duplicate listings in her store. We’ve never heard of this problem. Here’s the tool that helps you find any duplicate listings in your store.

Our Store Week November 15-21, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 4013
• Items Sold: 38
• Cost of Items Sold: $77
• Total Sales: $2,095.72
• Highest Price Sold: $375 (Vintage Bankers Chair)
• Average Price Sold: $55.15
• International Sales: — GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $65
• Number of items listed this week: 105

———-
Bonanza: $320
———- 

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 701
• Items Sold: 14
• Cost of Items Sold: $22
• Total Sales: $350.08
• Highest Price Sold: $50 (fold up piano)
• Average Price Sold: $25.00
• International Sales: — GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 34

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