The Slow Selling Season & Hot Buying Season

I don't know about you, but things are fairly slow for me this time of year in the selling department, but it's the hot season to buy. Yard sale season is in full swing here in Pennsylvania, and there are a lot of great finds out there! Remember, if you have an eBay store, things sell at all times so don't hold your seasonal merchandise, get it listed.  In the past few months I've sold Halloween, Christmas, winter and summer items.

Right now, if you don't have a lot to ship, it is a great time to look at your older listings that just aren't moving.  A while ago eBay increased the title characters so you have a lot more room for keywords. As I've mentioned before, your title is very important and it's the best way for buyers to find your listing. Use as many characters as you can!  Consider taking some time this week to review your listings and make some title changes for the older ones.  While you're at it, make sure your return policy has been updated too.

On to shopping (my favorite subject), I was at a thrift store today and they were having 50% off linens. I love linens but don't sell older or antique linens since the market dropped on them several years ago. So why was I excited by the sale?  I love to find used or new character bed sheets, especially vintage!  Did you know that crafters use them? They are also used by custom clothing creators.  Not every character sells, and honestly like everything else on eBay, there is no rhyme or reason why some sell and other's don't.  A few weeks ago my friend Wendy from wwbrosky found this vintage Huckleberry Hound sheet for $75!

Other characters to look for include The Smurfs, Peanuts Gang, Star Wars, Super Mario, Gizmo/Gremlins, Sailor Moon, some sports teams, KISS, DC Comics and lots more! When you're shopping, check out the linens too!

Happy Selling,
Jackie

A Whole Lot of Panic Going On! Plus VHS Tapes

I am a member of several eBay related selling groups and I am hearing a lot of panic from sellers that just received their 1099 from Paypal.

Normally I wouldn't write a blog post about the same thing twice in a row, but I decided that sellers really need to take action so the same thing doesn't happen this time next year.

If you didn't keep good records last year, don't make the same mistake this year. Visit Easy Auctions Tracker and purchase a spreadsheet so you can track your sales, profits, inventory and more.   Truly it will save you hours of time and reduce your stress level.  I don't know of anyone that likes to file their taxes, so the easier you can make it for yourself the better.  Easy Auction Tracker pulls in all of your eBay sales information including the shipping amount that you charged, the actual cost of shipping, the buyers information, date of purchase, date shipped, and so much more.  You can keep track of your inventory, your mileage, and track any sales that you took on consignment. You only need to input the cost that you paid for your items. Do it now!

On to selling, lately I've been buying blank *sealed* VHS tapes if I can get them pretty cheap.  I sell them in lots of 7 or 8 for $25 to $30 depending on the brand.  The prices will likely rise as they become harder to find. 

In addition, if you research VHS in completed sales, you'll find that Horror movies do pretty good! I have a friend that specializes in VHS horror movies, and he'll buy them for .25 each and puts a lot of 4 to 8 together (depending on subject) and sell them for $20 to $40 a lot. 

If you can find the more rare horror videos made by Unicorn Video or Big Box Video you can get $40 to $50 per tape if they are in the original clamshell case.  Right now not much is showing in completed items, but around Halloween they are hot little sellers.  Take a minute to browse the VHS section at thrift stores and yard sales and flea markets.

Happy Selling (and record keeping),

Jackie

Last Minute End Of Year Tips

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Sales were great this year for me on both eBay and Amazon.  As the new year approaches, there are a few things that I would recommend doing now:

• As many people ordered gifts online, email family and friends and ask them for their boxes and packing materials. Post on Facebook asking friends to save them for you. It works and it's wonderful to get  free packing pillows and bubble wrap!

• Get your receipts and expenses in order now so you don't have to panic in April.  Remember, you will be required to report eBay income of $20,000 or more or if you've had 200 or more transactions. Even if you didn't hit that mark, you should still track your income and expenses. You DO need to know how much you make and how much it costs you to sell on eBay!

• I would highly recommend purchasing Easy Auction Tracker for 2012. This year the spreadsheet is able to import all of your sales information including the actual shipping charged. The only thing that you have to input is your cost for each item sold (that is how much you paid for the item).  They have other new features too and believe me, this spreadsheet is well worth the money!  As I mentioned before, I've used a lot of other spreadsheets (I've been selling for over 11 years and I've always tried to keep track of the income that I've made) and there is nothing that compares to Easy Auction Tracker in my opinion.  Plus, the owners are super helpful and give 5 star service!

One last thing, it's time to set some goals for 2012.  One of my goals is to write an informative blog post twice a month. If you have anything you'd like me to feature, please leave a comment below. 

I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year! Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to selling and blogging more in 2012!

Happy Selling,

Jackie

Getting the Most from eBay's Free Auctions

Hello fellow sellers, it's been a while! I've been very busy trying to keep up with sales, shopping, family and holiday prep that I've neglected my blog. Sorry about that!

Back to business, lately eBay has been running a special offer for free auction listings, sometimes with free Buy It Now.  I have found this to be very profitable and hope that they keep up this trend.

I am not a big fan of auctions, they were great in the early days of eBay, but in the past 5 years or so, more people just want to buy it rather then wait to see if they've won it at auction. I prefer to list my inventory at fixed price and just wait for the right buyer to come along. However, since eBay has been running the free auctions special, I've been dabbling with some success.

Here are a couple of tips to utilize these freebies to the full extent:

Dig out all the unlisted stuff that you're not sure of the value.  Try it at auction, just don't start it at $.99; your opening bid should reflect the minimum amount that you are willing to accept for this item. Don't be upset if you only get the opening bid.  I sold these boxing gloves hoping that they would sell for about $30, but they only got one bid. It's OK I got them for free:

Tuesday night I listed 19 items at auction. Some of them I've tried to auction off before, but now I've lowered the price with the hopes to just unload them. Other items were things that I've acquired but am uncertain how to price.

My sister gave me a stack of games last week to either sell or donate -- my family donates unwanted stuff to me, then I sort, research and either sell or donate to a Thrift Store will 100% of the profits staying with me.  Anyway, one of the games was called Peanut Panic from 1994. I couldn't find it in eBay's completed or in Terapeak.  So last night I figured that I would take advantage of the free auction and started it at $14.99.  Well this morning it is up to $41!!  Honestly, I considered donating it because it really doesn't look like anything special. Here for is a link so you can watch it with me, and below is a photo:

My auction ends on Sunday, so if you have this game, wait to list it so you can see what people are willing to spend!

If you have an eBay store there are some do's and don't's when utilizing the free auctions. Don't expect that items that have been sitting in your store for a long time will suddenly sell at auction without changes. Auctions no longer give storeowners better exposure, so if it's not selling for $20 at fixed price, it's highly doubtful that it will suddenly sell at auction.

If you decide you want to do a clean out of your eBay store, take the time to edit your titles now that you have an additional 25 characters to work with. Also, since you may only get the opening bid, price the item so you'll still make a profit or at least make your money back if it's a dud.

For items that's you've only had listed at fixed price for 2 weeks or less, let them ride for another 2 weeks. You've already paid the listing fee for 30 days; changing it to auction style means that you didn't get your money's worth from the fee you paid, making the auction not really free. Hope that make sense!

Finally, this is a great time to branch out into a different product line.  Have you thought about selling clothing but aren't really sure? List a few items at auction, if they don't sell or if you decide that you don't like photographing clothes then you didn't lose the fees that you would normally pay to list.

Happy Selling,
Jackie

Gearing Up for the Holidays

It may still be August, but now is the time to get ready for the very busy holiday season.  The last thing you want to do is to run out of prime necessities when you have a large stack of orders to ship.

Make sure you have a large supply of the boxes in all sizes.  Order from USPS now if you use Priority Mail boxes. They can take 10 days to arrive during the holiday season, so stock up now!

If you ship clothing or soft goods, consider using a poly mailer instead of a box.  They are easy to store and come in a variety of sizes. Here's what a poly mailer looks like if you're not sure what I mean:

I buy my bags and poly mailers from The Paper Mart but you can find a lot of shipping supply sellers on eBay too.  Another popular place to get everything from tape to boxes is Uline.

Stock up on tape and bubble wrap or whatever padding materials you need.  I keep a large supply of packing peanuts, bubble wrap and blank newsprint so I have some options depending on what I am shipping.  I always make sure my item isn't banging around inside the box; it shows that you care about your buyer's item IMO.

I love the Scotch 3M packing tape, it's thick and I rarely have to "pick" at it to get it started if it ends up back on the roll.  BJ's Wholesale Club has a coupon right now for $5 off an 8 pack on 3M tape if you have or know someone that has a BJ's membership.   Last month Costco Wholesale Warehouse ran a similar deal and hopefully they will run it again before the holidays. Whatever tape you use, buy a large supply so you don't have to fight crowds during the busy shopping season.

I place a high percentage of my items in some sort of plastic bag for protection in case the box gets wet. I have a lot of different sizes of zip-top bags and cello bags.  I use these for everything from toys to shoes and believe me it's worth the money. If a mail carrier leaves something out in a huge water puddle doesn't mean the buyer isn't going to come screaming at you because the item is ruined.  It may not be your fault but it becomes your problem!

Finally, consider getting some of your personal holiday shopping, planning and chores done early so you can enjoy the season.  I try to write my Christmas cards and buy gift in advance so I'm ready and not stressing about everything I need to do to ensure a great Christmas for my family.

Happy Selling,

Jackie