Question
What changes did you make in 2003?
did they work or not work?
what are you thinking would work this year for you?
What do you think would work for someone with a smaller or larger operation than yours?
here is our largest change in 2003 that worked for us.
in 2003 we started tracking the cost of a batch of items vs the individual item, at first it was an experiment, but it is now a system we use on most items.
We would list 20 items in a batch
record the cost of the batch, which is all expenses involved..pp, 3rd party listing fees, ebay fees, FVF's.
then track what the first go round sold for....
then relist, and track that info...
look at the odds n ends left, ....how much was made, these are now freebie listings with all expenses paid against them, so relist them. Whenever you take the notion.
if you track a batch vs an item it actually changes the bottom line and your attitude.
we only remove something when we are tired of listing it.
We also are now using the automatic relist option, to throw the stuff right back on, and surprising, it works.
Used to be we would wait two or three weeks to relist, now we toss it back up, and it is surprising how many bidding wars are on relsited stuff.
There are more little changes but this is the largest one. ...which is more a change of our attitude than anything.
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Answer
Try to list consistently. Even if it is a bad week, as a rule, the next will be great.
I have always felt relisting was a valuable tool. It just depends on who is looking for what, at what given moment, and if your items are there when they are lookinghttp://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Try to list consistently. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
amen to that one
PACKIE....did you hear her secret to success????
http://community.here.com/infopop/em...on_biggrin.gif
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Setting small, easy to manage goals. I tend to set unrealistic expectations for myself and then beat myself up for not reaching them.
It's extra tough with the baby around. Depending on her day, my workload varies dramatically.
So realistic goals is my motto this year!! http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.
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gabs,
I'm glad you posted that about batches vs individual items. It's something I had given some thought to looking at instead as well and think I will try that for at least a month this year. I've always been of the opposite mindset but times and ebay are a changing.
You know in terms of relists, I was actually this year going to try waiting until it had scrolled off of my completed auctions lists before listing it (30 days or so) so lookers couldn't see it had gone unsold or regulars wouldn't get tired of looking at the same thing if they looked at your completed auctions for the last month (or do buyers even do that??). but it sure would be nice to set sold! to automatically relist any unsolds thus saving me time (money!) so maybe I'll give that a whirl also. Of course, jan through jun are always my best months so the true test is jul-dec.
I'd really like to hear others opinions/experiences about the immediate relist also.
I have a ton of things I'd like to change this year and am in the midst of trying to make a list. I have set down with the new fee schedule, assumed everything was paid with pp to come up with a total fee for price breaks of 5.00 and up by one dollar increments (only looking at up to 10.00 so far). I just feel like I should stick with my goals of over a year ago to not list anything under 9.99 even if I have to combine several like things. I HAVE come pretty close to that goal at least on first list, figure on relists whatever I might get all the work is now done. But I think I need to make it an unbreakable rule and then maybe look at inching that up to at least $15 start.
I just bought two box loads of costume jewelry for 10 bucks so think I'll try your as a whole approach to that just to see http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif I already have a bid over 10 dollars on just one necklace so I know its all profit from now (which is how I usually look at box lots). but, one thing I've wondered if I should do. Say take a box like this, track exactly how much time I have in it including time at auction and then get a closer amount of wages per hour type of thing. But when you sell so many different types of things like I do (and I think you do too) it would cost me quite a bit I think to do JUST that box at a time in terms of scanning, cleaning, yada. I tend to switch things when I get bored or tired of something in particular. Lately it has been linens, I'm so darned tired of the washing and ironing. So I'm putting up mostly china and glass right now. Eventually I'll get tired of the packing and switch back to easy to pack linens but it's not all about one type of item is more profitable than another when you do this full time, right?
Talking about minimum start price of auctions (and I know I was the only one!) I've seen ppl say several times that their minimum start for an auction has to be 20 or it's not worth it to them. I agree that it is easier/better/more profitable (probably) to sell 10 $100 items than it is to sell 100 $10 but one thing I've wondered though, CAN you sell 10 one hundred dollar items instead of 100 ten dollar items, especially in this economy?
Up until this year my average auction ending price has been 20 dollars anyway but I think it dropped this year and will need to look and see. My str has gone way down from 75% plus on first list. It got as low as I think 25% this summer but picked back up this fall and winter but need to see how the summer affected my year overall. I watch other similar sellers and 50% has become the norm for even the better sellers in my categories (though maybe not the very best in a category but 75% seems to be the norm even for them unless it is at give away prices).
Was wondering other opinions as I look at my game plan for this year. Start moving over to high(er) end items which means more invested in money and research but less in cleaning, finding, preparing, etc. I have to admit I've always been more willing to invest 100 in several small items and take a chance with my hundred bucks than invest it all in one item!
back on topic, well I finally switched to a listing program and not just an after auction management program and though I like sold! I can see the potential to improve my system even more. but it did definitely help. sold! just runs too darned slow for me to be real pleased with it but he is supposedly revamping it from the ground up so looking forward to seeing what he added.
Speaking of sold, which I can use for my website sales also (if I ever get any). I need to get better at tracking what I have listed, whats unsold and what is listed on my store. It's not the website that is the problem (until I get sales ahem) but it's my ebay store. The way it works on sold, I have to go in and edit the original inventory item to relist as a ebay store item instead of as an auction. Well, under the unsold items section I'll have a unsold auction item for that item. So, if I decide to pull it from the store and relist it as an auction I now have two items for that item in the unsold section and I have actually listed and sold things in the store or vise versa because I forgot to delete the first unsold listing out of unsold when it sold and forgot it sold so relisted and oh crap, sorry but I don't have the item you wanted so badly http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif did that make sense? I have to be doing something wrong. Otherwise I'm going to have to list it once in auction, then relist in store if not sold and delete that unsold auction listing before I list it again! and leave it in the store until it sells but I like to flip them around if they've been there awhile.
That made no sense did it?
I switched from quickbooks and entering every single sale to ms money and entering only a total of sales for a month but still itemized expenses from downloads from ccs and bank statement. I still download and keep in a database every sale and details from sold! though and have started numbering things with the type of item in their inventory number in the thoughts I could do more with this database in terms of percentage profit etc. to offset what I lose with quickbooks so will see how that works (for instance if my inventory number that sold created is 600 I name my number China600 or Jewelry600). Anyway, going away from manually reentering all sales and checks etc. has saved me a TON of time. And I'm already ready to do my year end taxes so I didn't have to give up that speed I got from quickbooks (my older version of quickbooks could not download from the internet).
One goal for 2004 is get isdn or satellite DARN IT. and of course if I am not the least bit more productive I WILL be blaming it on you http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif I remember your hey mels look here thread!
I am ANY DAY NOW going to start on my new addition that INCLUDES a two car garage oh my gosh! yes, it is actually about to happen after a couple of years of planning! god willing and better weather. and a great room that will have a brand new kitchen, living and dining room. can you tell how thrilled I am??? I decided to forget the two story addition though since the upstairs would have been for ebay as I thought a garage on the same level would be so much better (after some great comments of ppl on here).
If anyone wants to look they'll find a thread about 2 years old where I was asking opinions on how big I should build a storage barn just for ebay http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif that has now morphed into an entire new wing!
That will give me almost 1700 square feet PLUS a two car garage! I only have 800 square feet now. I GOT to have a better bottom line next year just because I have room for more inventory! I plan on having a room JUST full of packing stuff I can buy in bulk now http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
That addition will be my greatest change to my business this year. I'll report back next January if it helped or not http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
well maybe not the biggest change . I'm applying to become a foster parent. I've been thinking of adopting for 5 or more years now (really though since I was a kid) and this is a baby step in that direction. If I can't ebay around a temporary kid, I can't around a permanent one. And I'm not giving up this job for anyone as long as it pays the bills. so that's another huge business change. By this time next year I might be either broke or have lost my mind (or both).
I bought me a HUGE new computer desk for my christmas present to replace two traditional desks crammed together. Oh wow, no more having to move stuff off the scanner to use it, no more having to dig out my card reader to read my camera card, I even have a shelf for my laptop all to itself (another goal for this year, get that puppy repaired, I really miss it). The only problem is this is the kind that sits in the corner with two big arms on either side so the monitor sits in the middle back in the corner and so I have a huge desk surface but the monitor is too far away for my reading glasses and too close for my regular near sited glasses. It really sucks getting old http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif
I set up an area that is a permanent photography area, huge table, different colored backgrounds and 6 utility lights with reveal lights in them. The photos I get are awesome especially from a 4 year old olympus 1.3 megapixel. I might not even bother upgrading my camera this year as I planned. Instead, I want to buy one of those ezcubes that everyone here raves about. But now I can grab some things and immediately start taking pictures. Throw the background color I want on, turn on the lights and I'm ready to go.That saves me half an hour minimum every time I take pictures because before I had to clean off a table, hunt up my backgrounds and set up the lights (and then take it all down).
New for 2004, as soon as I list a linen or jewelry etc. it gets put immediately in its own ziplock bag and a sticker is put on with sold!s inventory number. I was sticking all hankies and smaller linens in one ziplock and takes forever to hunt through dozens to find a particular one plus I've again accidentally listed one I didnt' have (or couldn't find)! I think I will also immediately put a sticker on glass and china unless very unique also.
I ditched directv this summer partly because I couldn't justify 45 bucks a month for three channels or so I watch but also with the tv off except for after 9 pm I get lots more listed. I miss all the decorating shows but I have more money to decorate now that they aren't distracting me anymore http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
Back to what I did in 2003, this is more along a personal line but in december (I know actually 2002) I bought two new puppies after my 18 year old dog died and wow it is so much funner to stay at home now doing this all day long with these cute little guys around. My other dog had become so sedentary the last 3 years or so I had forgotten how wonderful this is. Plus, I just have to buy them bones and toys so gives me another incentive to list more http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif
I know there is more I hope to do but this is getting long and another goal is to cut back on the long winded, rambling posts on here http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif
Mel-
Answer
drive by post mels, sorry, you have a lot of info in that post that needs addressing, but I'll get to it later.
Two things I wanted to comment on...
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I agree that it is easier/better/more profitable (probably) to sell 10 $100 items than it is to sell 100 $10 but one thing I've wondered though, CAN you sell 10 one hundred dollar items instead of 100 ten dollar items, especially in this economy? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
yes,one can sell 100 100 dollar items easily enough, BUT, and this is a big but....those 100 dollar items are going to cost 40 dollars a piece approximately, unless you really know your stuff and have oodles of aucitons and yard sales around you with no other ebyaers in your niche.
or 1,000 10 dollar items might cost you anywhere from 25 cents apiece to 2 or 3 bucks maximum....
and out of a thousand items probably 100 will go over 25.00 if you buy well....so figure out that profit margin sweetie
and the fun is in the hunt, not in the sale.
and the second thing is...
you inventory system is an accident looking to happen.
smalls, well actually everything gets an inventory number at the time the picture is taken. Smalls get bagged and tagged and all similars put in a container at the time....no ifs and or butts about it....then all you need to do is look for the inventory item number.
We use a letter number combination, which tells us everything we need to know.
time is money, and this helps in the time factor.
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I agree I have to figure out some system with sold!
If I only sold through auction, it would be a breeze. leave stuff in the unsold section until ready to relist it, relist it and then delete it from unsolds. no duplicates.
but with the way sold works, you have to go back to inventory manager to relist it in another format from the original list. if I list it first as an auction, it doesn't sell, go in and create a new one to list in store it's easier to leave the unsold auction in the unsold section because then if I want to take it out of the store and relist as an auction, I only have to hit relist. otherwise I have to go into inventory manager again and relist from there as an auction. I don't have to create the ad from scratch, just change the format and list. Sold! just runs so slow that I try not to go back to inventory manager to relist from if I don't have to.
I'm hoping that is one of the things he changes, so you can go to your unsold list and relist from there in a different format from the original. If that isn't going to be a feature of the new version, then I'm either going to have to change programs or figure out a better way to use the sold! program.
In almost 8 years of selling on ebay now this is the first year I've ever sold something already sold and shipped but it happened 2 or 3 times this fall after starting to use sold http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif
He's supposed to be releasing the new version soon. If he doesn't change some things, I'll probably be back on the market for a program or service. The one thing I really liked about sold! was you could schedule an auction without paying the fees but the program is so buggey I almost need to be there with it when I have auctions scheduled anyway. I may go back to spare dollar, I really want that scheduling feature where I don't have to wonder when I'm at an auction or out for whatever reason, wonder if my auctions are getting listed?
I really like so many other things about sold http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif why doesn't someone create the perfect auction program?
Mel-
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This information is from another thread that I started.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> We had a 6% decrease in total sales.
We had a decrease of 8% in our sell through rate.
Our average sale increased by $1.00.
Our ebay fee's increased by 1%.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
With that information, I also plugged in the new ebay price structure, and that will increase our fees by another 1%.
So my goal is to cut my spending with ebay by 2% which will meet my goal. The best way that I see that is to improve sell thru. Not sure how yet, but I WILL do it. Lowering starting prices is NOT the answer in my opinion.
Two things that I am doing are to improve efficiency.
First:
I am going to build a new "shipping department". I am going to change the whole layout to lessen the time required to ship.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Going to change the layout of my counter to an "island". This way I can walk around the whole thing, this should help on larger packages.
<LI>I have purchased a scale that ties in with our UPS software.
<LI>Going to build dispensers for all shipping products. Bubble wrap, paper, boxes, tape, etc. If we need it for shipping, it will be at our fingers.
<LI>Going to have a shipping computer set up, so that I can do EVERYTHING right there. Currently I have a shipping computer, that can do some things right there, but then I have to go to a different computer to do others. [/list]
Second:
Finish my "ebay" room. We started this last summer, but I ran out of time/money. Since it isn't heated yet, it isn't seeing much use yet. I have three walls up, need to get a fourth, doors, insulate heat, shelves etc. This will be a designated area just for ebay with "locations" for each item. This location will be listed in our auction management software. This should improve our inventory control. Since ebay is a smaller portion of our business and started with some odds and ends, we never have had a great system for managing where a item is. No problem if it is a "fresh" item, but if it is older relist, it can be a challenge (time) to find it. This should eliminate this. Right now, it's kind of find a hole to stick this in, since room is tight. (How with 12,000 sq ft http://community.here.com/infopop/em...s/icon_eek.gif)
I am also going to evaluate our buying habits. This year I started purchasing more items "for ebay". Prior to this most items we sold on ebay were items from our non ebay inventory, or things that did not fit our non ebay inventory, that we acquired with our other purchases. Basically I just figured them as free except the labor. I might just kill buying things for ebay unless it is a total steal. Thus, Ebay may become a smaller portion of our sales again.
I will hopefully be able to keep my help that I have hired, because that has been wonderful.
As you can see, efficiency is where I am concentrating.
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hi mel, not sure why you are having those issues using TimberCreek Software's SOLD! (http://www.timbercreeksoftware.com) - My understanding is that once an item ends unsuccessfully, the quantities reserved for that listing (single or dutch) go back into the Inventory pool and become "Available" again.
I manage my web store inventory, http://www.tekgems.com, and eBay listings all from SOLD!. If I have four blue widgets and I list them all on eBay, my web store is "out of stock" because none are "Available". Sometimes the counts are wrong because of the eBayPoster program, but you can fix by Recalculating the Quantities.
On a more general note, I've given up trying to figure how much profit I make on each item. Its too stressful! If I buy 50 of something, I calculate before hand how many I need to sell to turn a profit. After I've sold that quantity, I don't worry about the rest - its all profit. Now I have less worries thinking this way! http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif
· tekgems web store
· eBay Listings
Answer
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The photos I get are awesome especially from a 4 year old olympus 1.3 megapixel. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Mels,
That is very adequate for ebay. You only need a "better" camera than that "Pixel wise" if you want to print, enlarge photos.
Lens and zoom which are capable of taking closeups are what you need for ebay.