eBay: July 2018 $1200 in Sales

$ Monthly Progress August 12, 2018 Leave a comment

I just realized I haven’t really given a monthly progress in sales since April this year. So here it is. eBay $1200 in sales ( this includes shipping paid) and $493 from poshmark (this is before the 20% fee). It wasn’t too shabby. I said a few posts though that eBay glitch is still making itself comfortable in my store.

I can’t provide solid proof but I feel eBay hides the small sellers stores more so than the big time ones. It is what it is. Judging from other instagrammers who went to eBay open, my inklings are easily agreed upon. It does put a “bad taste” in my mouth but I’m still selling. I can be bitchy about it but at end of month it is income coming in.

Maybe in the future I will find another platform but overall I’m still sticking with eBay for the time being. Poshmark is another platform I sell on. I’m happy it has been working out well for me. The “extra” sales really helps with all the unexpected bills.

Anyways this is a really short post. I’m off to do some tax related data. Btw I don’t really share my eBay/Poshmark stores. I don’t want people to really use me as a guide to learn about the selling platforms. There is other sellers out there who do share every little of their reseller life. Overall everyone’s experience is different due to personal financial needs, inventory, time, lifestyle, etc.

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Family Drama: When Someone Wants Your Address

Life, Thrift Finds August 5, 2018 Leave a comment

I blocked my least favorite sister again. This time I had too. My patience was thin. I’m never close to my sister but I did feel sorry for her. This is the one I’ve always had trouble with. This is also the one with her son in prison. Lately for the past few months she has been going through depressive episodes. I totally understand but that doesn’t mean she can use her situation to manipulate me into helping her. I’ve always said no to whatever she asks. I have always been a listening ear but I had to say no to:

1). Borrowing money ( she never pays people back)

2). My niece staying with me twice a week for a few months ( that never pans out, she told my sister repeatedly she will move out but ended up staying with her for FREE for YEARS)

3). Using my address so my niece doesn’t have to switch school ( she currently lives with her dad but doesn’t want to switch schools because of her friends).

Now I said no to all of this because I don’t want to, and also my husband doesn’t want to. Immediately she responded that it’s sad that people who are family are willing to help her, but not her family. I immediately texted her the next time she gives me a sense of entitlement attitude me I will block her. I just blocked her. She obviously doesn’t see the errors in her ways. I’m just blocking her for a few months… maybe longer. My other sister has somewhat contact with her but she’s giving her crap too.

I’ll be honest. It’s been great not listening to her. Most of the stuff she has been “depressed” about are self inflicted things, or things that normal everyday people go through. I swear I think she has signs of narcissism or is a sociopath because she has always been like this.

eBay Glitches & Drop In Sales

Running A Business July 28, 2018 Leave a comment

Just to let you know my sales have dropped. It seems eBay finally passed the torch of glitches to me. I don’t I was listing considerably less, but I did try to keep it “busy” in a sense. Perhaps my June of not listing as much affected my sales as well. Let’s hope August picks up. Last year I think I did close  to  $2400 on eBay. This year I’m barely scraping by with $1200. Thank goodness my husband and I have been squirreling away as much savings. Though that’s savings has dropped because of lack of sales, having to replace my back windshield ( Some ass of a kid through a rock), remove a tree ( lightning destroyed my tree), and other car problems. I’m glad poshmark has been same for me. I think I did  $400 as of now so that helped a lot.

Glitchy eBay: I’m Not Paying Attention

Online Selling July 7, 2018 Leave a comment

I’m late in the game in commenting about eBay’s recent glitches. To be honest I haven’t been paying attention. My priority at this point is focusing more on my husband transitioning into his new position. This involves me doing more chores, some of his chores, and watching my son more.

Deciding to take a break (just not listing as much) was definitely the right choice for my family. If you just stumbled here, I will tell you a little more about my husband. My husband does suffer from anxiety. According to his therapist it’s mostly from him trying to suppress his ADD to get by. He doesn’t take pills which was agreed by his doctor. Recently he received a promotion in to management. He has never worked in a management position but has closely worked with his past bosses. Which did lead up to his promotion.

Of course as his wife and best friend, I already knew about his anxiety. I knew it was going to be an issue (it has) and this involved me just picking up the pieces when they fall. Overall we did hit some bumps along the way, but he is doing fine. I would go more on what I experienced but this is more about eBay lol.

I haven’t really been paying attention. Actually, my sales are a little up compared to last year ( if eBay is still accurate in calculating numbers). I did experience similar glitches. My photos went missing, my views were not showing, etc. I couldn’t even do a proper inventory. eBay isn’t my only selling platform so I wasn’t too sour about the glitches. Poshmark still has been making sales for me.

Do I think eBay will fix things? In my opinion, yes. This is just an opinion. I could be wrong. I don’t have some personal relationship with anybody there so bear with me. I think they are doing all this because summer is historically slow. They did lay off hundreds of people during this time which involves probably going through their investigations of making sure things will try to stay the same.  Which of course ANY company knows that’s not always possible. It’s business unfortunately.

People assume eBay support the little seller but I know they won’t. I personally don’t think we won’t get a refund for all the glitches. The only time they have refunded on their own mistake is after they are sued and settled out of court ( dirty I know but that’s common).

Of course it puts me in a bad mood in all of this but I will still sell. I don’t really look at eBay as my own business anymore. I’m in a way still working for “the man” but in my own schedule with my own risks. Right now, before 4 quarter starts I am going to find better inventory, and list them.  I will also focus on getting rid of dead inventory.

eBay Now. Short Post On Changes

Online Selling June 24, 2018 1 Comment

So I just want to post on some changes on eBay. Due to my account not tweaked to get their 10% off discount my overall fees have gone up. Fees in general can vary depending on your store type, and how much you sell. It would be a LLLOONNNGGGG AAASSSS  post that goes in to detail on how much fees are but I’m not going to do that. I will just share my number as of now.

For eBay my fees caculated (not including shipping) is roughly 17%. This is probably because I made a bunch of low auction sales. Most people abide by the 15% rule of eBay fees but they are not taking to account that the lower per item sale, you pay more fees. Losing my 10% off discount pushed my average of 13% fees to now overall of 17% fees. Starting to really come close to the standard 20% fee for poshmark ( don’t forget the $2.95 flat fee they take for sales $15 and below). I hope some resellers who come across this post double check their fees taken out if they are on eBay. Of course the increase in fees ( by losing my 10% off) puts a bad taste in my mouth. Yet it is still a platform I’m able to bring income to my family.

Reseller Summer Slow Down 2018

Online Selling June 11, 2018 Comments: 2

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.

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.