The use of Crypto for insane ROI is the real meat of this sandwich if you will (I’m hungry which is why that’s ended up there).
The volatility of the crypto market is second to none, hundreds and thousands of % pumps often followed by 95% crashes. Its certainly not for the faint of heart and it goes without saying:
This is not financial advice, do your own research and due diligence and only invest what you can afford to lose.
In fact I would go as far to say if you invest in crypto at the moment from an emotional point of view, assume its going to $0, zero, zilch, nothing.
But…. if it doesn’t (and the technologies here to stay in my opinion) you are witness to the birth of a new Macro trend friend.
Just like I thought the same thing about lithium back in 2015/16 (and still do with that running for many years) its very early in this trends adoption or even value relating to actual utility.
I didn’t reap the rewards of my early lithium insights until 5 years later.
How early in Crypto?
Well I once heard a fantastic metaphor which aptly describes this. Imagine you are one of the sheep. One day you get separated from the flock and end up going over a rocky mountain path which winds down and opens out onto a magnificent meadow. This meadow is lush with grass and basically an all you can eat buffet. There is a small catch though, there are leopards which roam nearby and there is a chance you will get eaten, especially alone.
There’s the rub, your early so you can experience those astronomical life changing gains (eating all the fresh grass you can) but also experience death (loss of capital) from getting eaten by the Leopard (rug pulls, investing in shitcoins).
Had the whole flock arrived at once all of the grass would have quickly been consumed but here you are able to eat to your 4 part stomachs desire.
In my opinion, right now, there’s 3 or 4 sheep in the flock grazing, the rest haven’t arrived yet, but they will in due time.
I can count on fingers still how many people I know physically outside web3 (whole different story that one) who actually own crypto. How about you?
How early then really?
The answer is I am not entirely sure.
You will note that there’s currently no timeframe on my goal and that’s partly because its tied to this market.
You see Cryptos in a bear market right now and there’s potential for the stock market to go either way in the near future still.
The Crypto market can still go down from here.
So why am I writing about this at this moment? Well during times of max fear and pain it is concurrently the time of most opportunity. The issue is emotions get in the way and buying things after they have already dropped 90% might seem like a good idea but if it drops another 50% can you handle that? Its hard to buy during these times. Everything’s negative, news, social media.
So its tough most definitely but the risk is skewed asymmetrically at the moment on a long term basis with maybe 50% more downside but hundreds of % upside.
Remember the market is also forward looking and by the time the narrative changes and becomes positive you would have already missed a significant move up.
So for now I continue to chip away each week using dollar cost averaging.
Alright, so what am I buying with my book proceeds?
Primarily: Casper $CSPR
The Casper Network is a decentralized layer one Proof-of-Stake blockchain built off the Casper CBC specification. Casper is designed to accelerate enterprise and developer adoption of blockchain technology today and evolve to meet the needs of the future. (From: https://casper.network/en-us/)
Why am I buying it?
Open architecture make it easy for developers to build on it using languages already familiar with.
Upgradeable smart contracts.
Institutional Partnerships.
Below / On Key Technical Chart Levels (at time of writing).
Hosting as Davos means relationship building opportunities with many billionaires.
Secondary: Hbar $Hbar
The Hedera proof-of-stake public network, powered by hashgraph consensus, achieves the highest-grade of security possible (ABFT), with blazing-fast transaction speeds and incredibly low bandwidth consumption. By combining high-throughput, low fees, and finality in seconds, Hedera leads the way for the future of public ledgers. (From: https://hedera.com/)
Why am I buying it?
Has a governing Council made up of huge companies from around the world.
Fast.
Cheap.
Multiple Use Cases.
Below Key Technical Chart Levels (at time of writing).
My first purchases have been completed into Casper using proceeds from book sales thus far around 4.5c USD.
Fingers crossed I can quickly sell the rest of these books before things really take off.
Use the links above to go and check out each project.
In my opinion buying now and then doing nothing for a few years will get this done and pay off my student loan.
Again not financial advice, just a reseller on the internet having a crack.
Once upon a time there was a reseller who was heading towards becoming a hoarder.
The love of item sourcing was so strong that the death pile was ever expanding.
It’s no surprise that almost every reseller loves sourcing, who doesn’t like finding treasure?! The rush is sometimes much greater than the attached monetary value, and other times its the inverse with perceived value simply tied to ones own nostalgia and emotions. Lastly the potential discovery of a gem that many others might have missed.
The biggest issue I have always struggled with so far in this reselling journey has been converting all those amazing finds into actual real $$$. The concept is dead easy. 99% of everything found has potential to make some decent money but the follow through with getting stuff actually listed has been somewhat lacking. I say somewhat because I do list quite a few items, I just tend to gravitate towards the ones I enjoy within my own operations. I have 3 categories or buckets that I could group my items into:
Items that I really don’t mind listing, perhaps even enjoy. Some book niches, old vintage computer games, other unique items. I actually get through these items at a decent clip.
Items that I don’t mind finding but hate listing. Clothes are the perfect example of this. I did outsource most of this process however I’m in a transition period to a new photographer at the moment which will hopefully work out. When this workflow is going smoothly getting this stuff listed can actually be very fast (and also quickly add up outsourced costs here too).
Items that have potential for some really good returns but require additional work in some form. This might include cleaning or testing. Think old camera equipment, video players, electronics and such. Here I often procrastinate or defer due to time investment (I’m very time poor, currently, and for the foreseeable future) and also I think a big part of sitting on this sort of stuff is dealing with higher value item returns, or even more simplistically, the fear of these even occurring.
Anyway, I have digressed a little, one day I walked into the storage unit and had a momentary sense of panic. Perhaps even a mini panic attack you might say. There were vestiges of sourcing missions everywhere, stacked haphazardly at multiple heights. I had recently installed 6 shelves in the storage unit which had all the listed inventory arranged and accounted for but even with this installed there was still a huge mess.
I mentally decided that this would be an excellent time to hit pause on acquiring more items, also known by some in the community as a sourcing ban. I have attempted this a couple of times before but never really succeeded for more than a couple of weeks. Previous iterations of this concept have often triggered simply by knowing that I have been buying more than what has been selling which was easily viewed by reference to my monthly summaries. Being that I hadn’t collated data for these in quite a while (the time to do this became a bit of a roadblock here and I worked out this was costing me around $1000 a year vs actually listing. Good news though, I have recently been able to 95% automate all eBay and time tracking data meaning these summaries will be returning again soon!) so this time I knew I needed to get a little smarter with how I implemented this ban. I decided to pick a date and attach a reward goal at the end for additional motivation (in addition to other motivating factors including getting a heap of items listed and hopefully a heap of additional sales).
I ended up deciding that 55 days was the answer being the exact number of days until the Garage Sale Trail 2020 which would also serve as my reward post sourcing ban. Being that I had a huge 2019 (on the Garage Sale Trail) and picked up some great items I thought this would be an excellent chance to have a big spend up after not purchasing any inventory for almost 2 months.
The Metrics and Targets
Daily Listed Value
At a rough guess I figured that I probably had over $10,000 in unlisted stock and probably closer to $15,000 if I got literally everything listed. After mentally estimating potential numbers I immediately followed with a further thought “That is a straight up ridiculous amount of cash just sitting around”.
I chose a number that I thought I realistically ‘Should’ be able to get to on most days and instead of a daily listing number target that many others might focus on (I.e 10 items per day, a common number often used a a benchmark in the greater reselling community) I took a $ value amount instead which was $300 listed value per day.
This could be made up of a single item for $300 or 30x $10 items. Whatever worked to get to that $300 figure.
Time
I allocated around 2 hours per day on average to get items sold packed first and then focus on listing. This figure is pretty accurate during the workweek but less so on the weekends. I still work full time in a role that has become more and more demanding as time has progressed (in a good way mind you) so this is really about what I can get to without having significant negative / adverse impacts on the family. (This could be debated at times and is a topic for another post).
I had down time of:
2 Days Working Away.
2 Days Sick.
5 Days Carers Leave (Looking after Sick Family).
The AFL Grand Final Day.
The $5 Challenge Admin Day.
There is 11 out of 55 days where I wasn’t able to list due to physical location, time constraints or consciously chose not to list.
I spent a Half Day one Saturday with Manga Listing for 5 hours but otherwise most weekends I tried to list both days but I often failed in this regard with family time the main priority.
This left effectively 44 days of listing available.
The Results
I started off very well in the first couple of weeks while initial motivation was high and item values were also high. I quickly found myself over $2000 ahead, more than double my weekly target of $2100 after just week 1.
After just 2 weeks I felt noticeably lighter when walking into the storage unit. Just a little less stressed or anxious.
The sickness (both my own and the families) thrown into the mix at different times did impact motivation significantly I think and as the days wore on I found myself definitely losing motivation to list.
From a sourcing perspective, while I was getting listings banged out I had no real inclination after the first week to go sourcing. I do have to drive past 2 different Op Shops to get to my storage unit so I found that an interesting insight. However like a junkie I did have a few occasions over the 55 days where I did do some sourcing. These occasions came after the bouts of sickness which rolled me out of my listing rhythm. I cannot say what was the direct cause of slip ups but it was probably a combination of losing the listing momentum combined with a good old thirst for some treasure hunting! Had I not gotten sick I think I could have completed all 55 days.
In comparison with the preceding few months however what ended up being sourced was almost nothing in comparative dollar terms. As in the last 30 days while getting around to writing this post has been over $800. That’s a huge difference obviously.
I did however make it through the half way mark all the way to 34 days without sourcing even a single item which I’m pretty proud of. I actually came unstuck in part to the wife who wanted to go to the Op Shop for some baby items.
She twisted my arm…and I was kind of saving money by doing so…
I spent the sum of $14 on only the highest quality items, even putting a few back on the shelf. I made a mental deal with myself to list these items the very next day, which I did, turning $14 into $135 Potential. Sold one item the next day which paid for what I had spent. I’ll call that a win.
This seemingly justified event seemed to release the kraken though.
I spent $5 on a mis-priced listing whilst actually searching currently listed items to gauge price (minimal completed listings available for reference). The items I came across were the same price or better than I would find in an op shop and included delivery. Yes please, this may have been a sourcing ban but I’m not going to leave easy money on the table particularly when it is sourced in mere seconds!
I picked up some Free Books Day 39 from a family member which turned out to be a bit of a bust. There was promise of a few old speedway ones which emotion prevailed and these were no longer leaving. Fair enough. There was another box which had already been picked through though (I was told this), so in the end I ended up taking a big old box of books to the op shop and kept only a few. I did sell a couple the next day for $30 cash so all was not lost and there’s some interesting ones which will fetch some good money but could take years to sell. All in all this was not a good use of time.
I spent $10 at Salvos on an insane amount of DVDs and items. The team at the shop recognised I hadn’t been shopping in some time so were very generous. This little lot will turn into over $350 eventually.
By Day 41 and my motivation to list was definitely waning.
Day 42 I had to take some general items from the house to the tip and I gave in and brought about 25 books in my favourite niche from the Tip Shop for $10. This is a similar concept (to me anyway) as buying some baby clothes from the Salvos. I already have to go to the tip anyway so why not at last try and make some money for having to do so and at least effectively pay me for my time.
Day 46 Post Gift. On this day I some good general life news and celebrated by heading back to the local Salvos again. I spent $31 on a large selection of DVDs and games. Brought a set of xmas placemats which I sold a couple of weeks later which paid for everything.
Day 48 Visited the Vinnies Clearance Outlet Plus Sammy’s $21. I picked up some puzzles and a couple of block prints. I later sold 2 old Holden puzzles alone for $95 combined within 24 hours…
Day 49 Weekend mission $36 spent at the local honey hole. Some of this was for baby again but came away with a couple of items for reselling as well including a vintage VB Singlet from the 90’s which should sell very well.
The Grand Summary Total
The 44 equivalent adjusted days listing value came in at $11,783 which is the equivalent of $267.80 per day…
Not too shabby and very close to target on the adjusted basis.
I did spend $138 on sourcing in the second half of this challenge, of which this entire amount was recouped in sales prior to the challenge ending (and then some).
Sales during the period? Interesting question though I haven’t loaded any sales data in for quite some time using the form. Now that I have this process automated (see an upcoming post on this) I will be able to easily calculate this next time. Using the hugely accurate bellwether (not) of the 90 day eBay app tally, all the extra listing didn’t really give me a massive boost. I should add that it has been very consistent though hovering around that 10K 90 day total for a while, without running and sales events for months now.
Lessons Learned From This Process
This is a great time to complete this heading into Q4 to really get some listings cranked out. This process has been so valuable that I intend to repeat this exact same experiment again next year in August and September (the seasonal months where my sales tend to take a dip). By doing this I may flatten out the curve a little.
The unit needs to be a little more organised. Ever since moving in I have had plans to custom build my own listing and packing desk by enlisting some help. I haven’t quite got there yet but I found at times I was being slowed down packing items which in turn reduced the available time for listing. A big part of early next year will be getting this space setup. Some design concepts first then execution.
Poor planning – Lighting Fails x 2. I had 2 days (See Day 31/55 Instagram) where I had intentions of listing but ran into problems with the batteries for lighting (the unit has no power). Although the days weren’t total losses being able to do other tasks they certainly were not as productive as they might have been otherwise. Perhaps a third battery might be a good idea moving forward.
List the most rewarding first. This seems like common sense but it definitely helps get a bit of a roll on. I spent a lot of time particularly in the early days with some high $ amounts. I found these days very easy compared to a day of listing say 7 DVDs for $100 and thinking geez I have along way to go to get $300 for the day. On days like these a single $80 odd dollar item can make all the mental difference and help get you over the line.
Love me a multi listing. Experimented with a couple of multi-listings over this time and sold a couple of items. When I do find a good replenishable with variations this will come in handy. The entire concept is really great, 1 listing with number, type and price variances.
Stretch Targets are great. Setting super ambitious or high targets will help elevate your overall performance. I didn’t end up succeeding in hitting my target of listing $300 a day but I did still end up listing more than $1472.80 per week on average for the 8 weeks. As a pert time seller I have to be pretty happy with this amount.
Business Policies. If you are not using them you should be. I’ll readily admit I didn’t use these for a long time and when I changed over to using them I had to spend a bit of time fixing all the existing listings up and matching them etc… Now that they are set though they speed up listing on the phone a lot! These also played an important part in setting up my record keeping automation later by keeping the naming conventions the same. Once you get the hang of these you will never go back I promise.
It may seem somewhat counter intuitive but this year I want to slow the growth down a little bit to spend more time focusing on my newly expanded family with the addition of a little one just recently.
Growth for the sake of growth is not necessarily directly correlated with increased sales, profit or happiness, it took me 20 odd years to realise that time is just time, and much more valuable than money.
My own growth this past year whilst not exponential has been pretty steady and I’ve gone from only around 100 listings at the end of 2018 to almost 1000 at the end of 2019.
Rapid growth can also have some other problems particularly relating to cash flow. Some good examples are companies that grow too big to fast without implementing the systems required to effectively achieve sustained growth along with the cash flow required to support it. This growth explosion can often come at the expense of the company with resources stretched too thin or decisions made on anticipation of business contracts which fail to come to fruition. Chaotic growth can cause business failure, particularly with small and medium sized.
I felt this year I have done a reasonable job of managing cash flow with only 2 months of the year being negative due to inventory purchasing, and only slightly so. There’s also been a fair amount of infrastructure been acquired. Items like thermal printers and rolls, post office box, a second phone number, accounting consultation fees, tubs – many many tubs, bulk purchases of satchels to save on cost per item but there’s still a cost up front. All of these things add up probably towards $1000 I would think. In 2020 there will be far less of these which will improve net profit. That saving alone is the equivalent of 2 extra house payments.
Sales this year have been up and down but definitely improving each month. Cash flow has been the same (up and down) and I have spent very heavily on inventory at times, so much so that it might actually be possible to hit my upcoming listing targets for 2020 without even sourcing for half a year (or more).
That’s how big my money pile of unlisted items currently is.
There’s hundreds of items ready to be listed and sold. Just gotta do the work.
If your reading this it may seem like madness to have that much stock, you gotta list things to get paid, your leaving money on the table and all that jazz and yet, this is only partially true.
Maybe you even think it is just laziness, procrastination, hoarding or a combination of all three.
Nope, none of the above.
You see, I had always planned this to occur at this point in time like I had before, when I first started reselling, to have a huge cache to fall back on. On this occasion however it’s all about the upcoming time availability and not the money. I am literally not going to have the time with my family commitments to get much physical sourcing done over the year and honestly of course I would rather spend time with my beautiful wife and daughter.
There will still be the odd sneaky look here and there naturally, I’m only human after all! I am lucky to have 2 locals op shops that can provide cheap quality stock when I need less than a 5 minute drive away. I can also work in some lunch time loot missions during work hours when convenient.
The other interesting point to make here is that because of this upfront effort in sourcing so much in 2019 leading up to the birth I anticipate that actual net profit for 2020 is likely going to double or more.
This is due to the available time I will allocate to reselling being focused on listing instead of sourcing, the flow on effect of this change is minimal inventory expense. In 2019 I have maybe had the ratio of time utilisation at 70% / 30% in favour of sourcing. 2020 will see the inverse of this with sourcing dropping to 30% or less of my time available .
I’ve learnt a lot during this past year and tweaked things as I’ve gone on the fly. I’ve tried new niches and ideas and gotten some things right and others wrong. I do learn best from mistakes and this business is very forgiving initially with low cost of entry to play the game.
By stepping back a little bit in 2020 I think I can get further useful systems implemented, tested and reviewed to make even more effective use of my limited time. I am a pattern person by nature and have a real passion for process improvements, indeed my university degree focused on just this, information systems. Even in my own little reselling world I have identified several areas I can already improve upon in 2020.
My mission statement for this year:
Clean Up Time Leakage
Conduct Efficient Sourcing
Always Put In The Work
Consistent Listing
What is the figure that I need to hit each day? Really it should equal either the steady-state turnover of the store or sustained slow listing growth.
Being that I’m still just under 1000 listings and paying for 1500 with the store it makes sense to try and get to this max number quickly and then scaleback if required.
I sell on average between 2-3 items per day (when listing consistently). Therefore I need as a minimum to list this amount per day to keep a steady level, ideally sitting right on max free listings if possible. So extrapolated out that’s 1100 listings for the entire year just to spin the wheel.
Really I need to bump this up to 5 per day minimum which equates to 1825 for the year to get some low solid growth.
The initial plan is to set the minimum target each day of 5 listings and then anything above that can either be added to the target of 1500 to get there a bit quicker or scheduled for future days to ensure that new items are getting listed each day to satiate the mysterious eBay algorithm.
Branching out into other platforms needs to become a priority this year also, I have seen too many posts lately about how a couple of small isolated incidents have canned peoples eBay accounts. This is not just isolated to eBay either with Etsy also setting some ridiculous service metrics to be abided by or face suspension potentially triggered by only a couple of misdemeanors.
These platforms also have to look after the sellers or they will go elsewhere.
My competitive advantage vs peers relates to my speed of listing using technology shortcuts including auto complete, templates and use of additional software such as auto hot key to semi-automate listing.
It makes sense that I spend more time cross posting to Etsy, Facebook marketplace and Depop. Indeed I already have Etsy and Facebook Marketplace scripts competed so I can quickly build a listing and replicate it across multiple platforms.
There are other pieces of software such as List Perfectly which can assist with some elements of cross posting but of course they come with a pricetag and limitations tied to price tiers. I get more or less the same functionality as some of these software packages for free as well as other aspects such as the hot strings and other scripts that can help. Still it may be worth a trial of this (or others) service to give some insights on potential improvements to my own script functionality.
Halfway through the year I realised I could shave a few seconds of the way the existing script was operating at the time and I calculated this equated to an extra two listings per hour which doesn’t seem like a lot but when you’re spending hours upon hours listing things it really matters to the bottom line. It’s the equivalent of an extra $20 an hour (assumes $10 per item net profit). That’s $7280 over the year.
Another example from 2019 was setting up startup launchers which make getting into the listing frame of mind easier by removing that initial friction. For example my computer takes only seconds to turn on and get to the desktop thanks to the SSD. I can then double click the auto hot key script then use a single shortcut combination to open all the browser windows and folders I need to get listing instantly.
My current launching script opens instantly and logs into:
EBay template page
Sizely template page
Australia Post business account page
Working folder containing photos
Sourcing Theory
Peratos Principle
There’s a theory you may or may not have heard of called Peratos Principle which says: 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts.
The most common examples I have seen used for this principle relate to business customers. By focusing on your best customers whilst simultaneously culling your least valuable (in time commitments or problems for example) you can markedly improve your business results.
This same principle can be applied to reselling. I have been to a huge number of different Op shops over Perth city in 2019. It became apparent that a select few tended to yield either better high value items on occasion or were consistently better priced than others.
So you can probably guess where this is heading. By focusing on just these high yielding shops in 2020 I can dramatically reduce my physical sourcing time whilst still maintaining good returns.
Digital Sourcing
It makes total sense for procurement to be completed without leaving the house.
In 2019 I set up search shoves automated using Auto Hot Key. The script when triggered automatically searches Facebook, Gumtree etc using predetermined search strings running all queries instantly. This all allows quick survey of relevant results without wasting time with the inputs.
2020 will also be more of the same but expanded upon to capture more specific niches and key words. I will also be adding some additional text expansion to assist with procurement questions.
The other addition for this year will be online auctions. I will be very selective with what I pick up but it is an option.
Garage Sale Sourcing
I will potentially check out convenient local sales if driving by.
I will however complete both days of the garage sale trail coming up in 2020. 2019 was a great example of what could be achievable when routes can be planned with efficiency. I only did the one day in 2019 and came away with a full ute load for minimal cost.
Network Sourcing
Another aspect I will explore will be sales leads by networking with op shop‘s and other previous contacts made. This was originally the reason I wanted to get business cards made up so I could get some deals coming to me. Over the last year and a half I have gotten to know quite a few people who work at some of the op shop‘s including managers and some know that I am a reseller and some may correctly assume. I’m still a little bit undecided whether I will make this known at the op shops I intend to frequent for the year but this will be very relevant for ones that I may happen to pass by for example during a lunch break on a work day in a suburb that I wouldn’t usually go to. I can certainly see less harm or risk coming from doing this this way. I’ll add a side note here that I have set up a separate Skype number that relates just to the reselling business, and this way I can still use my own phone and the number will go to it.
Patterns Identified In 2019
Inventory Management
It became apparent over the course of the year that I was running out of space in the room I was operating out of.
I spent up big when the stock was there, but found myself begin to forgo larger items due to space issues.
It got so bad that I was literally stepping over stock to even get to my computer or exit the room. This of course also meant that when I had to find something to ship I knew what tub it was in thanks to the SKU system but I still had to move a whole bunch of items including unlisted stock also in tubs to get to it which is hugely inefficient.
I felt physically pained when having to do this and having to continually move multiple tubs to access one costs precious time. Every time I faced this problem it wasn’t a huge time sink in isolation but the cumulative easily aggregated into at least a couple of hours of dead time. Dead time is the devil to be vanquished.
Some plans for 2020 include:
Transition more items into the shed. I can still fit another few tubs here.
Install a new racking system outside that I can put tubs on. I’m thinking of using this as my death pile/money pile to give me a visual reminder of what needs to be listed and also stop me from more sourcing until this is done.
Implement regular consolidation of existing tubs to maximise tub usage and therefore overall physical inventory footprint. This can be easily done visually, consolidated then the SKU updated. I’ve been toying with a digitised way to manage this but more on this another day.
Streamline Packing
Another process I identified during the year that needs tweaking was improving my packing processes. This thought mainly revolved around the efficiency of getting items picked and packed to just be better organised with where required tools and equipment are located and how work spaces are set up. I cannot convey how frustrated I have been sometimes when looking for a pair of scissors that have been misplaced by someone and not returned. This results in walking around the house trying to find where the scissors are and failing that trying to find an alternate pair, as crazy as it sounds I’ve probably spent over two hours this year just gone looking for some combination of scissors, tape, boxes, eBay tape, dymo labels, measuring tape, etc…
The fix, well a few fixes actually:
Wall mount some hangers where the common tools will hang. Like the back of the door.
Create a secondary emergency caddy as a backup.
Ensure that point 1 is remedied ASAP should items become missing.
Pre Printing Thank You Labels. As it sounds, simply have these printed from the Dymo ahead of time.
Of course being better organised also has the benefit of identifying earlier when stock levels are running low on consumables. An example is bubblewrap which can be brought in multiple places nearby but usually at a higher cost along with the required time value to go and pick it up so it makes sense to better plan ahead this year and order early.
Another goal for the coming years to see if I can source a cheap supply of bubble wrap and other packing materials. I have seen some previous posts on some of the reselling groups which may have some good leads on this, for example places which carry a lot of parts, car service centres, bike shops, etc…. may have excess materials that can be sourced for free or minimal cost. Anything that can be found in this matter will be a direct cost savings to the cost of goods sold.
Going Green
The rehoming items often second hand is great. I love the idea of rescuing items that might otherwise become trash. Even more so that I can get paid to do it. The packaging of these items to get them to where they need to go does however create a lot of plastic waste.
So I’ve been researching how I can improve this aspect of my business.
There are compostable bags, etc that can be used and even bubble wrap.
More research is required but I will be making this a priority this year to get some some (if not all) of these implemented. Looking to create a sustainable business.
More on this soon.
Get Help
At the moment I am just one man band on a part time schedule with the reselling due to full-time work commitments. I am a little envious of other reselling couples who it is obvious to see have some synergies in their work processes and practices to get things done. This coming year I would like to get some extra help with the business. I already started in 2019 to outsource some of the photos for clothes and other items which has already helped a lot but this is still a cost as I am paying a sub contractor to do this.
If only I could convince my wife that this could be a viable alternative to traditional work which would still allow her to stay home and look after our baby girl….
So she doesn’t know it yet and she probably won’t read this post either but I’m going to try and get her involved this year in someway, likely taking photos to start with for easy items such as media, books etc and then go from there. I guess the other thing that would probably help me a lot would be the odd trip to the post office or even helping with shipping.
Indeed this is part of my own five year plan to grow this business enough, to a point where perhaps she could go back to work full time and I could stay at home do the school drop off‘s etc and fit all the reselling in between a school day. That right there is the end game.
Health And Wellbeing
This one is pretty straightforward.
Whilst working away doing FIFO I was a nice trim 80 odd kilos doing double boot camps and eating whatever I wanted to. Fast forward to the job back in the city which has been predominantly desk bound for the most part combined with minimal exercise and a couple of really nasty flus this season has left me overweight and extremely unfit a combination not experienced since the early 2000’s when I used to smoke and drink too much combating undiagnosed depression at the time.
Now I have some extra motivation to get this area of life in order as within a year I will be chasing my little one around!
The remedy to repair the damage is:
Do exercise
Eat better
Sleep better
Just as I need to make time for my own business as in the reselling I also need to make time for my own health each and every day to work out a balance that works for myself and the family. Easier said than done but I’ve already started.
Collaboration and Innovation
So there’s a couple of collaboration projects I will be working on this coming year, details are sketchy at the moment.
I also have some meetups with fellow Resellers planned, the first of which will be late January.
I’m planning to get more YouTube content created as well but yet to see where I can fit this in just yet.
As far as innovation goes high on my priority list is creating some google forms which can function as registers of sourcing, returns completed, inventory consumables purchased etc… the point of setting this up is to make tax time far simpler. A google form can be easily used on mobile and can make that record keeping that little bit easier.
Conclusion
2020 is shaping up to be an exciting year. Although the only metric I have locked down is the 5 listings a day I have a feeling that even my turtle growth plan is going to reap excellent results.
July was a steady month that had significant deviation from the norm with a huge reduction in inventory purchasing as part of “No Buy July” and some severe time restrictions.
I took part in the listing challenge that @2aussiethrifters laid down at the end of June and this helped keep listing somewhat consistent each week and briefly pushed through 800 listings. This was made much easier by limiting sourcing and I was so close to completing the whole month without doing any whatsoever. I came unstuck in the final days when visiting a couple of Op Shops to find baby related items (for the impending little one). My reseller brain took over and I could not help but see items that I knew would easily make money, so much so that all of the baby items being purchased would easily be free. The resellers curse at it again.
And yet, even with the above minor purchasing slip up (if I can call it that, I had a massive score detailed down below) this months results still managed to top last months resulting in a new record profit of $1765.45 and positive cash-flow for the month of $1605.45.
Time Restrictions
I spent a large chunk of time this month completing and submitting my tax return including getting some further advice from the accountant which will set up this coming year to enable next years return to be completed much more efficiently.
“No Buy” July was excellent, I got a bunch of old stock listed that had been sitting around and I found myself heading home after the day job and be pumped to get some listings up. Going straight home also allowed some extra time to take quality pictures while there was still some decent light in the afternoon.
Like I said earlier I did break my rule but I had a solid reason. Later in the month I had a fantastic day which just kept getting better so I just rolled with it. To kick it off I was rewarded with a $200 voucher from work for good work performance which was a nice surprise. After work I decided that I had therefore qualified to end my “No Buy” July early (I have heeeeaps of stuff still to list…) and call past a couple of op shop’s on the way home.
The first one was a nonevent with a couple of generic bread-and-butter items. The second however I managed to find, finally, something that I was really stoked with. I came across a whole clothes basket full of posters. They caught my eye because one had been unrolled and glued to the window displaying a fantasy style scene. I check listings and solds on eBay and there’s quite a variance but they should fetch at least 10 each and they are all part of a set so would be able to sell in groups also. Anyway, the sticker prices were a mess and there were so many different ones (stickers) I could not actually tell what they wanted for each one. The basket had $4 on it in several places, the posters themselves have 3 different prices $8, $25 and $20 (this one being the original price). They were all from the 1970s and I guesstimated there were about 50 in total. Anyway, I ask what the price was to a near by clerk and he didn’t know, goes and gets his manager and asks. She comes back and says $2 each and I was like “Ok, what if I I was to buy the whole lot”, you know the old Frankie Fritz bundle trick (American Pickers reference). She pauses for about 5 seconds then says $25 for the lot. I stay cool and agree (while freaking out internally), head to the register to pay immediately where she tells me they are all old store stock. Oh yeah, I didn’t mention they are all sealed with the wrapping still. I get home and count them out and turns out I was waaaay off, there’s actually 93 in total.
At $10 each there’s almost a $1000 right there and I think I can get more easily if I’m patient. And of course I only need to make about 5 listings with multiple amounts available.
Lastly to top it off, right at the bottom of the basket is a small vinyl trim floral pattern roll, made in Canada still in its original packaging. These are super hard to find apparently and if I sell this for just $25 which should be easily achievable , the posters were free.
So I ended up spending $160 for the month which works out to be roughly 10% of the cash flow and I am totally ok with that. Over the last few months after reviewing the numbers this seems like the sweet spot to maximise profit when factoring in sourcing vs time vs money, for now anyway.
The Stats
Listings were up, sales were up but the total value listed isn’t increasing by much. This leads to a bit of a conundrum. As a part timer, I am reaching the limits of time that can be allocated without ruining other parts of my life. My wife actually made the comment a couple of times this month that I seem to have found a good balance. So then, what can be done to improve things from here?
Focus on higher value items with larger returns. Seems instantly logical but unless you are looking at the numbers how will you know. My recently created new spreadsheet tracks additional metrics such as Return On Investment (ROI) but also Gross Profit Per Hour (GPPH). It’s the gross profit per hour which is the interesting metric as once time is factored in it becomes easy to tell if a particular item is worth picking up. A good example are board games, they sell and I have sold some nice ones but the time taken to list and then ship is far more compared against say a book or a DVD. Once this is factored in (time) it can become apparent that I would have made more with an hour at work. Profit is still profit yes, but focusing on those higher value items is critical when extreme limited time applies.
Spend less time sourcing but still get sourcing done. How? Source online and get delivered. Thinking about this, if I spend 2 hours driving to some thrift shops on the way home from work I will likely find some items. I am guessing that if I spent an hour looking online I could probably find some items to flip and then have an hour spare that can be used to list. I have had some success with this to date so will continue to put more of a focus on this.
Lastly, get some more listings up! Again I’m running into constraints as I have sold almost as many items that have been listed. So ideas to get around this? Get some help. There are always certain aspects within jobs that people hate doing. For me its taking photos of clothes. I don’t hate it per se but its definitely not my favourite activity involved with this type of business. So then, logically, I can outsource this to someone local to take some quality photos and measure up batches of clothing. Will start looking for someone suitable and see what happens.
What Else Got Done This Month
I did end up modifying the “Thank You” labels to add some style to these labels and now I am actually starting to get feedback come through with positive comments specifically on packaging so I guess it is definitely helping. You can never quantify it but I feel like this will help reduce the amount of returns and problem buyers over the longer term.
Still yet to get into the YouTube space. There hasn’t been enough time available to make this happen yet. Considering using Instagram in the mean time.
Still to make and distribute the business cards.
August Focus
The focus for August is split into 5 distinct areas.
Continue the listing mission. I definitely noticed a pickup in sales related to the increased listing activity on the back of the July Challenge. At the very end of July I slacked off over the course of a week and surprise surprise sales dropped straight off into the first week of August.
Reorganise inventory to maximise space utilisation. I have a bunch of inventory stored in a couple of bookcases which is a legacy from the early days. I need to get all of the items stored here re-stowed into the bin system. By doing this I will be able to fix items which were Pre-SKU and simultaneously increase inventory storage space.
Sort The Business Card. This one should be relatively easy to get done. I plan on perhaps getting out and doing some sourcing later in the month (depending on sales) and really need this card to be able to hand out.
Increase knowledge on precious metals and jewellery. There are literal gold (and silver) mines out there. I’ve been doing some research on expanding my knowledge into this area.
Find a part time helper to get some scale.
And do all of this while working every weekend for the month at the day job. 100% commitment.
It has become quite evident that many thrift shops are very much aware of eBay over the last couple of years with a lot of the donated stock not even making it into the actual thrift shops anymore and instead are being sold on eBay out the back. This, in my opinion, has both good and bad aspects.
Obviously, for the charity that the shop represents, it’s great, more money coming in to support a good cause reflected by selling items at closer to prevailing market prices.
On the flipside, (pun intended) for resellers, this makes finding quality items for good prices much much harder with many items now priced either just high enough to not work to resell or priced at some astronomical level based on an eBay current listing – not even a sold listing. Either one won’t work for a reseller.
It still baffles me why some of these shops are doing this. The foot traffic through each store is minuscule in comparison to eBay’s reach. Some of the items priced in this manner will sit in the shop for months wasting space and therefore providing no benefit to the charity either.
I recently came across a pair of shoes which had obviously been donated and sold for $10 previously (it was still written on the shoe). Yet for some reason, the Salvos store had slapped another $9 on top and was asking $19?!
Sometimes items end up in a glass case with a handy eBay printout with the price. Maybe at times, the items price has been discounted a little compared with the eBay listing price and other times not at all (and excludes the built-in shipping cost)!
No Money In This Glass On The Shelf At $9…
Hidden Traps
There are some advantages to having someone else do research for you. Often all of these “special” items are collected in one place for easy viewing. I now often head straight to the glass case at the front of the store to see what treasures (or supposed treasures) lie within. I have managed to collect the odd bargain (even overpriced) this way which I will cover how further down.
What is extremely important to note with the thrift shops pricing like this is although they may “research” an item, they will often get it so very very wrong when it comes to quality Vs price overlooking critical defects and faults. It is critical to:
Check the condition.
Check it again.
If the item is damaged does the price reflect this correctly or has it been priced like it is new or like new?
As an example, one day I came across a nice Brooklyn watch in a glass cabinet with a price tag of $50. It looked almost like new, had the plastic protector still on the front and even came with the original box (See picture below).
The Brooklyn Watch
I got excited and went through current eBay listings to find the same model, found it, and it said perhaps it might sell for $120 new. So far makes sense, even at $50 there might be some money in it. I asked if I could get it out of the box to look at. It looked legit sitting all neatly in its box but I still had to check. Once I had I flipped the watch over I was disappointed to see some gouged scratches on the back of it.
Would there be any money left in it at this price?
Brooklyn Watch Located In A Salvos
It was a Friday and I said to the cashier that I liked it but would need to think about it some more (code for:I need to research it more) and asked whether they could hold it till tomorrow morning which would have been Saturday. She said they could so no problem but only until lunchtime. Fair enough.
After I got home I did some further research and found that I could buy this exact watch delivered brand new to my house for $80. There was no margin left on the scratched watch that I was in any way comfortable with. I phoned the next morning and let them know.
A few days later, I went back to the shop and let the same lady I had originally seen know what I had found and posited what price they might realistically expect to sell it for. They said thank you for the feedback and that they would pass this information on to the manager.
Over 3 months later this watch was still in that shop and still priced at $50! Facepalm…
Another recent example, I came across a few graphing calculators all in the same shop that were complete in boxes with instructions. Someone had obviously done some “research” as they were all priced between $15-$30 far from the usual $2. Some of these graphing calculators can sell for really good money depending on the brand, TI or Texas Instruments as a great example. There was still enough of a margin to warrant further inspection so I opened them up and every single one had defects of some kind. Heavy scratching, missing cases or manuals. The $30 calculator had a broken cracked screen (though it did turn on I suppose)! A new one of the same model retailed for $80, would someone pay over $50 for this to make it viable to resell? I pictured myself as a student displaying a crapped out calculator for the world to judge me about, nope, it didn’t make sense. I sighed, wondered how long these would sit for and put them back.
Taking Advantage Of This Trend
Although on face value it might seem like there are fewer opportunities with this shift in thrift shop behaviour there are still a few ideas for you to consider.
Learn Where To Get What Items Where. Over time it becomes easier to identify where good deals for particular items will be and minimise wasting your time dealing with overpriced items. For example, if one store sells cheap electronics and often has games, another is expensive all round but does have cheap ties and a large selection of books at reasonable prices.
Take Advantage Of The Promotions When They Come Around. Keep an eye out for coloured tag discounts or other special store deals.
Sign Up To The Loyalty Program. It is obvious but as a reseller spending a fair amount of money in some of these places instore credit can really add up quite quickly and will decrease the overall cost of goods sold (COGs). I have a Good Sammys Card that once stamped 10 times gets me 50% off. I can even handle some of those ridiculous prices when I have this bad boy in play.
Ask For A Discount. The best for last. One of my favourite sayings is “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”. You will be surprised how often this will work. At the end of the day, the stores do want to sell items. Often I will find items in those glass cases that have been “researched”, I will offer a price that will work for me and if they agree, great, if not I thank them and move on. A recent example of a pricing mismatch was 2 board games. The first was a Backgammon game in a nice leather case and in really nice condition selling for $19. The second was a Mahjong game also in a leather case and very heavy. The Mahjong had tile sets that were still wrapped in plastic meaning they hadn’t been played. Inexplicably this game was only $7. Financially it only made sense to buy Mahjong which should sell for around $80 (currently priced at $99) but I wanted the Backgammon board as I play this every Christmas with the brother in law and wanted a new set to bring this year. I asked politely if I could combine the 2 board games together for $20 and success I have a brand new Backgammon game for holiday fun and will make $60 profit (and keep the Backgammon for free) after I sell the Mahjong.
Initially, when I sat down to write this months summary I was feeling like the month had been a bit of a failure, to be honest, as the monthly cash flow ended up turning negative. However, as I reviewed the last months summary for reference I realised that I actually got quite a lot done in the end with massive increases to active listings and dollar value listed.
Novembers Improvement Focus – Listing Photos
Last month I wrote about improving the listings photos quality in November.
This remains high on the To Do List.
However, I did indeed focus on photos in a different way this month and took action to find a better way of transferring them from my iPhone to my computer without having to plug in and download them through windows (which is not user-friendly at all). I did some research and came up with using Google Photos. I created an account and went to work taking a massive batch of listing photos only to discover that I then had to wait for them to upload to the cloud before I could then redownload them again to use for listings.
The big night of listing I had planned one evening ground to a halt instantly.
The next day I discovered that whilst connected to Wifi (at work) that these photos were uploading to Google Photos at almost 5-10x the speed when compared with at home. Yes, work has a very good connection, but 5-10x? Something did not seem right. I went home, ran an internet speed test and was dismayed when the results showed 12mbs download and only 400kbs upload! It was the 400kbs upload speed that was killing this process. The next day I modified my internet plan to the next tier up for an extra $10 a month and now uploads are at 12mbs. I should have done this earlier. Now I can batch photos and upload / download them ready to be inserted into listings in minutes.
All this might seem counter-intuitive initially but it actually works quite well. Why not use your phone to make the listing seems your already taking the photo you might ask?
Well, I decided against this mainly because:
Typing on the phone is much slower than using my auto hot key script on the computer.
Creating a new listing through the eBay app can be slow at times, waiting on the eBay backend.
All the photos have to upload to the eBay app and save before I can move onto the next item. (This has gotten better with the new app but I still end up waiting)
I also realised that this new speed would also improve my listing speed with less time waiting for photos to upload and save into the listing itself. This has made a huge difference in the end as it is the step where my Auto Hot Key eBay listing automation stops.
Whilst waiting for the photos to upload I can now select (and check) the correct category, compare the price is accurate against other listings and then be pretty much done with the listing. Total time for each listing can be around 3 minutes on average (remember I already have the photos batched and ready to go at this time).
You can see the difference in this months listing stats down below.
The Stats
I crushed my listing for this month compared to last. Total combined active listings rose from 274 to 392. That is an increase of 118 or a 43.06% increase! Not bad!
The total $ value amount listed also rose dramatically from $10500 in October to $13737.23 worth of items listed. That is a value increase of $2873.23 and 27.36% for the month. I have to be pretty happy with that.
Sales were definitely better this month compared to last averaging 1 per day.
This month I spent $521.75 on inventory and got some great items. You can see a sample of my sourcing day this month here. Unfortunately, I also went a little bit too hard on this and ended up pushing my cashflow negative for the month.
I did not meet the goal for the month obviously but the additional inventory will serve me well over the coming months.
Listing Strategy
This month I had scheduled an annual leave day like usual and spent the entire day out around the city sourcing items. The budget was $160 for this mission and should see a return of $1000 eventually. The full mission can be reviewed in the post here.
This month I ended up spending a lot on inventory. Definitely too much but sometimes its hard to walk past a bargain. For example, just a couple of days ago I went into a Vinnies and they had 2 really nice ties for $2 each and a HUGE set of fantasy books all going for $1 each. I should be able to get at least $5 a book profit MINIMUM on average so it was like having $150 just sitting there…
Anyway, being that I would actually like to start hitting my target of $200 profit minimum per month I have decided that I will try the following:
Use the annual leave day this month for listing or business process improvement/development.
Have a “No Buy” December, meaning just that, do not spend any money on inventory this coming month. “No Buy” November had a better sound to it but I thought of it too late Of course!
It is coming up to Xmas anyway so more time with family is good.
I still have a heap of items to get listed.
The profit for the month will hopefully exceed $500 (with no inventory costs) which will make up for November!
The other thought I had is that post-Xmas (January) should be a great time to pick up some of those “unwanted gifts”.
On the Xmas theme, I decided to modify my handling time back down to 1 business day in the middle of November in the hope of spurring some additional sales leading up to Xmas. At this time I cannot say that I have noticed much of a difference, to be honest.
Auto Hot Key
I continued to work on Auto Hot Key during the month adding a couple of hotkeys which manipulate text in some way. These were mainly to streamline day job work processes but are still applicable at times during listing. Examples include:
Auto capitalising first letter of each sentence. (Auto)
Change a whole text string so that each words first letter is now capital. (On a Hot Key). I use this for my eBay title within my Auto hot key GUI.
Example: “Change AWhole Text String So That Each Words First Letter Is Now Capital.”
Change a text string so that selected word(s) are UPPERCASE. (On a Hot Key)
Insert a bullet point (On a Hot Key). I had to spend a lot of time working with excel in the last couple of weeks and there wasn’t an easy way to insert a bullet point that wasn’t instant! This was super handy.
Delete the first few characters of a string and replace with a bullet. This was to replace numbers with a bullet point so I did not have to waste time renumbering multiple lists I was working on (and continually changing). I had hundreds of cells to modify so this was awesome to get working. (On a Hot Key)
I will post all the code in use for these in my next Auto Hot Key post.
The 20 Year Business Book
So this month I made it a side mission to revisit my published book after listening to a Pat Flynn Podcast. Basically, everything I could have done wrong to initially market my book I did! Not surprising there… I learn best from making mistakes.
The main points which glaringly stuck out to me were the cover design, where the advice was, if your book is very different from all others in the same category it will turn people off. Mine was extremely different in contrast.
The other was the description which I also revisited and refined.
As part of the whole process, I also decided to review the entire manuscript and run it through Grammarly to check spelling, punctuation, grammar. I was staggered with the results, to be honest. I ended up fixing several errors I cannot believe were not picked up in the first place edit!
This tool when writing is like having 3 editors at once working for you. It won’t get everything perfect (as it is still AI learning) but it really is powerful. Where was this when I was at university?!
This is the new cover below, I encourage you to check it out if you are looking at alternative incomes or not relying on a 9-5 job heading towards retirement.
Business Improvement Ideas to Explore in December
The main Business idea I have in December is to review the inventory storage system. So far it has been working ok but it is beginning to unravel a little with items left haphazardly Which are beginning to pile up. It is time to reorganise again with scale in mind. I am quickly approaching 500 listings and am seriously looking at going to 1500 next year (the next store tier). Judging how my space currently looks with 400 items I need to address this sooner rather than later!
Recently I have spent a substantial amount of time absorbing any and every podcast I can find relating to running a business selling on eBay and I have been quite surprised just how upset people are getting when a return or some other issue arises.
Sure, it’s annoying, you now must give the money back from a sale that you have made. Perhaps already having contemplated what that money might do for your life (particularly if this was a large sale).
You now need to spend time dealing with a problem, time that certainly would be better spent elsewhere.
Maybe people just need to vent their respective frustrations to the world to feel better, a collective frustration.
There certainly are some learnings that can be had from some of the stories but in the simplest of terms, these problems and issues need to be thought of as the cost of doing business.
After all, people are going to change their minds, people will buy items and then not pay, some people will even try to run scams.
Perhaps my own previous experience frequently trading the stock market may offer a different mindset to combat the angst I often see on Instagram and frequently discussed during podcasts.
People who make consistent returns in the stock market from frequently trading stocks (I.E a day trader) accept that not all stock trades they make are going to be successful.
Most people who attempt to trade the stock market will lose money. Some get lucky on the first trade(s) and think it easy, only to give all the profit back on further trades or even by overtrading with fees and commissions gobbling up profit.
Without a proper trading strategy and excellent money management plan, an amateur is doomed to fail in this endeavour. Day trading although often portrayed as easy, is hard work requiring substantial amounts of planning and research.
It is extremely hard to make money and to be consistent. Just think if it were really that easy everybody would be doing it.
A while ago I took an online day traders course as a good friend had signed up for and I borrowed his login details to have a look and complete to see if I could glean some useful information.
The most useful things I absorbed from this course related to emotions and risk management.
Emotions need to be controlled and managed through the trading strategy. Amateurs tend to hold stocks once the trade had turned bad and they began losing money in the hope it might turn around later. Sometimes this might work but often this delay only served to magnify the losses incurred.
The thought of losing money is so powerful that they simply hang on.
Indeed, I have experienced this myself giving back to the market almost $100,000 of paper profits (in real money, not on a demo account). I got emotional with my view of this particular stock and it cost me dearly. I didn’t lose money as such, but it cost me all of the potential profit. I did not manage my risk well. The flipside of this is that I learned several valuable lessons which will serve me well in the future.
Anyway, the trading strategy outlines signals and methods to enter a trade, signals to exit. All that was required was to follow the strategy to the letter. If the trade went against you and hit your stop loss you got out preventing further loss. No emotions just like a robot.
The idea is to win more than you lose letting winners run and cut losers quickly. Amateurs tend to do the exact opposite of this.
If you win 66% of the time and you make $300 per trade but you limit your losses to only $100 every trade, then for every 3 trades assuming you win 2 and lose 1 you come out $500 ahead.
That’s the basic principle to become consistent. It really is like the old saying 2 steps forward and 1 step backward (though in trading it can also be far more backward steps whilst learning). Find trades that will make you money and cut your losses short. The other part of risk management related to trade size allocation as a % of overall capital (usually 1-2%) if you are curious.
I use these same principles when operating my eBay business.
Issues raised cost me in time.
Returns cost me in both time and money (example an INAD – Item not as described).
These events when they occur are in effect the equivalent of losing trades.
There is no point in getting upset when these events occur, there are many others successful sales which will offset the occasional losing one. I have accepted this as the cost of doing business using eBay.
In some circumstances, even after resolving your problem you can still make a profit, something you cannot do with trading! For example, I sold some physical software on an eBay auction a while ago for $2. I was expecting into $40-$50 range for the final sale. I was extremely disappointed at the time, a bad mistake on my part. The buyer, however, did not pay (a common problem for many), I opened and closed an unpaid item case, relisted the item as a buy now and sold it for $40 the following day.
Just like a trader’s strategy, there are steps to take to ensure that you can increase your chances of simultaneously keeping eBay sales and prevent them from turning into problems later and minimising returns.
Create honest, detailed and accurate listings.
Clearly describe any faults or defects, take pictures of the faults.
Offer great customer service when these things eventually happen to limit chances of negative feedback.
Once this mentality is accepted you will be surprised just how calm and relaxed you will become in the face of problems. It is this calmness that allows decisions to be made quickly and effectively resulting in being able to get on with things that really matter.
eBay Store Settings: 10 Business Days Handling Time
This was the first time I have left the eBay Store “On” in vacation mode whilst working away.
I had another 8 day stint working on a construction project up north and as per some insights from the Scavenger Life Podcast I have been listening to I changed my handling time (using the bulk listing tools) to 10 days and away I went!
For the first few days nothing happened as I realistically expected but then one morning I got to site at 5am and to my surprise had a sale notification come through immediately followed by the payment. The sale was nothing to get excited about, a bundle of 4 books that I will make around $12 on after shipping and fees etc….
It was however proof of concept and I took the additional step of contacting the buyer to notify them that I was away and when I would return. Anyway since that initial sale I have had one almost every day since.
My sales total for the week whilst on eBay Vacation ended at 5 items sold for a total of $165 gross (before cost, shipping and eBay fees), $114 net (after COGS). Not bad for doing absolutely nothing to do with listings while I was away.
Now to get home, package everything up and get it posted.
This month is going to be a strange one with the eBay store on vacation mode again in another weeks time. This time it will be for 2 weeks meaning I will have had the store set as away on Vacation for 75% of the month!
Yet, I have the sneaking suspicion that I will still be able to meet my monthly target for sales (and profit). This really goes to show this reselling could be a viable long term business. I can only imagine (currently) if I had 10x the listings at say 3000.
Imagine going on holiday for a week and having $1500 in the PayPal account on the return, more than many peoples average wage here.
That is the goal eventually I am slowly grinding towards.
Transitioning out of a full-time job into my side hustle full time is my end game.
For the moment my reselling journey consists primarily on eBay with 95% + of side hustle income coming from this platform at the moment. It is after all where my focus currently goes so this makes perfect sense. What happens though if my access to eBay goes down for an extended period of time or something even more serious like an account suspension perhaps for too many VeRO infringements.
I would be in big trouble should that occur, so it is obvious I need some other platform to provide income should a worst-case scenario come to fruition. I should note here that this idea applies to all platforms. Another example would be listing 1000 items on FB marketplace and then having your account hacked one day. Separation of platforms provides a level of protection and I see many are doing this already with eBay, Poshmark, and Amazon the primary three.
As for my own diversification, I have begun experimenting with other platforms and have successfully sold items on Gumtree (a local version of Craigslist) Facebook Marketplace and even Instagram. The Instagram sale surprised me a lot with a payment on faith alone for an epic t-shirt I had found which I had actually planned to list on eBay. Didn’t even get that far.
I have experimented with Etsy somewhat with my own created products but so far that has been a flop.
A 2nd eBay account as a contingency for a catastrophe:
I have resurrected my wife’s eBay account and this account currently has 40 odd items ticking over on it. The primary purpose is to grow its feedback score and listing potential on the chance that one day should the main store get shut down for whatever reason I could port the main store over to this one and effectively carry on. There are tools available to be able to do this. I have not explored it any further than that as obviously I want to avoid that at all costs! This eBay account is just the account with free listings so does not cost anything additional (except for higher fees). Who knows maybe as a side benefit one day my wife will also catch the reselling bug and she will have a great eBay foundation to start from.
Free to list or reduced fees:
Platforms like Gumtree and Facebook marketplace are free to list items and you don’t have to pay those completion fees which eat into your profit returns. The downside is there is no real protection or dispute resolution should you run into a problem.
The right product for the right platform:
Consider this real example from a couple of weeks ago. I found while out thrifting an 80s Kentucky Fried Chicken Coleman Drink Cannister. It is in good condition and I paid $8. The going rate on eBay when I checked it was around $30 including shipping. If I list it on eBay it looks like $30 – $8 (cost) – $3 (eBay Fees est) – $13.80 (Shipping) = $5.20 profit. Not very good to be honest.
However, this same item listed on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace for a local pickup at $25 ($5 less than eBay) gives me a flat $17 profit.
Its 3x more valuable for me to list this item on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace vs eBay. This is certainly the case for larger items which are cost prohibitive to ship.
I have started thinking in these terms now when looking for items to source with regard to what platform they will work on.
Amazon 126 (A-Z) FBA:
Amazon would be a great marketplace to get into and in particular, if using Amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon where Amazon handle all the logistics after you send your initial items to their warehouse).
The problem for me, however, is that I am in Perth and to ship items to Amazon (which is in Melbourne) is daaaaayum expensive. So much so that I ran some numbers on books which I thought I could easily find and resell. If I sold ALL of them I would make $600 which seems ok but doesn’t include initial shipping or storage costs at the Amazon warehouse… This $600 could easily whittle down to $300 for around 40 items. Again, not terrific.
So, it’s no use, right? Well not exactly, it just means to have any hope of making it profitable I must find lighter items to send. Recently I brought a few items of Jewellery off eBay to flip, specifically men’s vintage jewelry a very niche category. I could send hundreds of jewelry items to Amazon for a low cost so this is the direction I am leaning towards with this.
Amazon has a signup bonus for new sellers on its marketplace in the Australian jurisdiction, so I have until December to amass enough light product, sign up under the offer and then ship to Amazon. After that, it will be a refinement to see if I can make it viable on a long-term basis.
Thrifter.Me 