Reseller Summer Slow Down 2018

Online Selling June 11, 2018 1 Comment

It’s the “summer slow down” for most resellers. I don’t know why other resellers are saying it’s not when in reality it probably is. I mean it looks like they are working harder than before but making the same amount of money if it was any other season. So it’s really discouraging for new sellers or ones whose inventory isn’t geared toward summer.

My inventory in general isn’t geared toward summer. I mainly and I mean probably 95% of my inventory is clothing. Unfortunately a small percentage of it is geared towards summer so sales have slowed down for me. It’s really my fault for not being prepared but what can I say? Summer clothing isn’t something I live to find in thrift stores. It’s usually cheap( I mean material wise, not price wise) and thrift stores around me typically overcharge on swim swear.

This year I’m really not too worried. I haven’t mentioned this before but my husband got a promotion. This came with a nice raise so this summer I’m not too worried about hitting my goal. Now I’m focusing on streamlining my inventory by sending things that aren’t selling to thred up. I do donate too. It’s a nice little break I’ll be taking but I will be using it to better my inventory and learn more about other brands. The summer slow down for me is a great time to set some goals that will help me grow.

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Blast From The Past

Life June 2, 2018 Leave a comment

I met someone from my last “real” job. I went to a coffee,tea, and bean cafe after dropping my son off at day care. I notice the barista looked really familiar. I didn’t say anything but it really felt like a deja vu moment. After I picked up my drink, I sat down to read my book. Moments later the barista I was talking to asking me if I knew him.

I told him I did not know him personally and I asked him where has he seen me before. He apologized for bothering and said I looked like this girl he use to see everyday at the Palazzo Hotel. Then I said he isn’t completely wrong I did work at the Palazzo hotel but not for the hotel. I worked in one of their boutiques. I am someone he did see frequently when we both worked the grave yard shift. He was always the barista I went to for my coffee. We confirmed it with each other and I told him he’s not use to seeing me in regular clothes. I was in a black pant suit nearly everyday. We didn’t exchange too much words since he was still working but it was really nice to meet someone from my past work job.

I don’t keep in contact with very many people from my last job. When you work in a commission environment, you don’t make very much friends so just seeing a friendly face back then was nice.

Random Reseller Thoughts. Ebay & Poshmark

Running A Business May 31, 2018 Leave a comment

I’m currently dealing with an eBay customer that wants to return a dress. Now I said it before that I don’t mind returns. I just don’t like it when a customer files an Item not as described. Though that wasn’t the problem. This customer said she took off the tags in the customer comments and wants to return because it’s too hot for her because of her cancer medication. I already hated she had to throw in the fact she has cancer. I mean really? I know she’s probably lying and if she’s not, why would you return an item without the tags attached? I can’t sell the item for the best price I can get.  eBay said I have to accept the return and to call them. I will call them of course if she sends it back. Overall I have other shit to worry about. If eBay won’t compensate me for this I will have to let it go and just block this person.

Poshmark has been uneventful for me. I mean I get sales but I’m definitely loving the laid back feel of poshmark. For example to keep my ambassador status I need to have a feedback score greater than 4.5. I currently have 4.9 and this is when I already have 5 4 stars, and 2 1 stars. Glad no one sees my score and nobody hasn’t left me shitty messages so I’m not worried about that. Unfortunately Poshmark is not my main earner but I am loving the sales because it makes up for eBay’s slow sales.

Overall yes my sales have been slower. I expected this but hey, I’m still able to pay my bills, and pay down my student loan. I haven’t done my bookkeeping yet but it looks similar to last month.

Prison Mail

Life May 20, 2018 Leave a comment

Well this is a first for me. I just received my first letter from a state prison. My nephew wrote me a letter finally. I wrote to him the first week of May. He was still being processed from jail to prison. From what he tells me he is still in the “fish tank”. Which he will be for a while until he is officially processed.

I was so relieved and happy to hear from me. Of course I cried when I read it on some parts. This is the first time anyone in my side family has been to prison. He will be there for a couple of years until parole. He hasn’t been there long but I can easily tell you one thing.

Prison is expensive. Which is ironic because of the people there probably have NO money. I’m actually just talking about the fees I have to pay to put money in his account. My nephew has never asked me for money so everything I have given him is my choice. My husband’s too because he supports my nephew too. I don’t expect my nephew to call me because he has his mom (my sister) & his fiance to call. Plus I never pick up my phone for an unknown number. Phone calls are expensive. They charge per minute so that can add up fast.

Yes I know I’m in a position to be able to afford these fees but it’s just weird and their system is just a little bit archaic. Oh well that’s just my thought for now.

eBay $1800.00 April

Life May 10, 2018 Leave a comment

Hello. Just want to give you an update on sales. On eBay my gross sales was $1800.00. I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t work as hard as I should on eBay or poshmark. I haven’t totaled my sales on poshmark yet so that number would probably go up I am guestimating ( I know that’s not a word lol) at $2200-$2400.00. Overall I’m still happy with that number. Minus fees and taxes I was still able to pay my bills. I think you can guess from my last post my spirit is literally under a cloudy rain.

Which mean my posts will be more personal rather than financial. I don’t know. Having this blog is just a hobby for me. I do enjoy sharing tidbits of my life ( bad and good). Sometimes I wish I put more effort in to this because after posting I feel a little better.  Sometimes I even go back a few posts and look back what I wrote and realize I didn’t exactly waste time.

As for my nephew, I haven’t heard from him yet. I wrote him a letter a few days ago.  I hope he gets it. Some days I feel awful just doing normal things. I know I shouldn’t but when I’m doing simple things like going to the park, it makes my heart break that he doesn’t even have that freedom. I’ll be honest with you, from time to time I feel like I want to talk to a therapist. I talk a lot about it to my husband but he definitely has a one sided view that may not be the view I should be venting to.

 

Emotional Rollercoaster, Family Incarceration

Life April 28, 2018 Leave a comment

The past month has been an emotional rollercoaster to me. You see I mentioned before about an investigation in my family. It’s such a long story and the end result just brings tears to my eyes and question everything.

Here’s the gist of it. I have two sisters. They both have kids. One has a daughter, and the other sister has a son. I love both of them dearly. My sister withe the daughter filed a lawsuit at my nephew claiming he has been molesting and raping my niece for years.  I’ll be honest with you I was shocked and understood my sister with the daughter’s situation so I just sat back and tried to support her the best that I can. Yet I have my sister with a son.

My sister with a son was confused and understood what is happening. I think in the beginning she believed my niece at first but as time went on, the stories not making any sense, and just the way everything was being handled she stood by her son. I talked to my nephew more so than my niece because I was under the impression asking her about the case would trigger her depressive episodes so no one asked her anything. Plus I rarely saw her because she lived in another state.

It’s not that I don’t believe something is wrong with my niece, but her stories and all the people involved don’t match up. In the end, because my nephew doesn’t have the money ( my sister with the niece is married to a well off ass) he took the plea. That literally broke my heart. I respect his decision because that’s what him and his fiance discussed. Which is why I just haven’t been in the best emotional state.

It’s not just because of my nephew, but the sadness & depression between my two sisters has taken it’s toll on me. Its hard to support both sides. my nephew has lost ALOT of family support. The weirdness has developed and this doesn’t include the loss of friends too. His social circle has become smaller. In the end though I support my nephew more so than my niece.

I think it has really upset the family members that don’t support him but how can I turn my back on him without finding out the truth? Either way, no one wins in this situation. Except the lawyers and the court.

Mom Life & Reseller Life Quick Update

Life April 2, 2018 Leave a comment

Happy Easter readers! Just a quick update on mom life and my reseller life. I really shouldn’t call it mom life. More like parenthood life. My husband is very much involve in our son’s life. While I’m the one who spends most time with him, my son enjoys his father too.

Today I notice my son really trying to communicate with me more. It’s mostly gestures but it is something. You see he isn’t speaking up to speed so I’m trying my best to not meet his needs all the time. I spend so much time with him that it’s second nature for me to just do everything for him without him asking. This morning he gestured he wanted his favorite pajama pants instead of some shorts I put on him. Even though this involved longer time getting ready for the day, I was happy to do it.

It’s April 1st. For us eBay resellers this means the new seller update will take place. I really haven’t been paying too much attention other than I will be losing the 10% discount for being top rated seller. Now I think you have to be top rated seller plus for it. Not a big deal for me. I’m not willing to change my 30 days returns with buyer paying shipping back to sellers paying shipping back. Nope not worth it to me.  It’s such a big debate among resellers ( on IG at least) yet I stayed out of it mostly. I personally believe eBay made the changes for their own benefit. It’s nothing personal. It’s just business. This just means resellers like myself who specialize in used clothing is considered small potatoes. I’m sure other resellers in niche categories feel the same too.

We must move on from that and focus on making money. Luckily the income from poshmark helps. It hasn’t eclipse the income I’m making on eBay but it’s nice to have that extra sales push.