The Way It Was...

I have dabbled with a few methods of getting rid of stale inventory.  As a result, I have learned quite a bit about the different methods.  I have learned a little of what works and what doesn't.  I'm no expert....believe me.  But, I can share a couple of tidbits today.

As I started this reselling on eBay gig, I was having fun building my inventory and number of listings.  Things started selling on a consistent basis and my confidence grew.  However, so did my stale inventory.  As the months went by, I could start to see what may not have a prayer at selling.  What to do?  

I tried dropping prices.  I dabbled with Markdown Manager.  I have even been running what I thought was going to be the solution....Ki Markdown.  This ingenious little program uses Markdown Manager to put items on sale either randomly or by age or by pretty much whatever method you want.  The sales can be set to recur daily, weekly, monthly, again...pretty much whatever way you want.  I thought, "Why not put things on an increasing sale as they age?"  You know, like retail stores do.  I constructed 30 day, 60 day, and 90 day sales.  I noticed a bump in sales of older things, but not like I had hoped.

Nothing worked as well, for me, as this method I'm about to share...........AUCTIONS!  Yes, the old-fashioned eBay auction.  But, with a twist.

If I have stale inventory (and that definition varies for us all) over 6 months, I move it to auction at "cost + shipping."  Yes, with all the DSR talk lately, this is a risk.  It exposes your shipping cost DSR to being rated. But, you don't have to charge normal shipping prices, either.  If something is going to cost you $3 to ship, you can charge $2.  That insulates you as well from the whackado buyer hellbent on leaving you a bad rating.  To do this, though, you need to know your cost.  There are many "eBay fee calculators" out there.  Just search that term and find one you are comfortable with.

I simply price the auction to end on a Sunday and detatch any emotion I have with the item.  This works well because we all know we usually get only one bid.  I don't care.....I recouped my cost.  I'm out nothing.  Ok, ok, maybe I'm out a couple of listing fees.  But, I look at it as recouping some cash to go out and hit another homerun.  Sometimes, I mark things up a buck and start the auction at that price.  Sometimes I mark it up a few bucks.  But, the best way for me over the months has been moving things to auction and pricing them at my cost + shipping.  Any multiple bids I pick up are gravy.  If I get a bid, I can't lose money.  Auctions also bring different buyers to my storefront to look around for other possible values.  

Think a little about this.  I could go on and on, but don't want to bore you with long blog entries.  If you are like me, you suffer from UDADD (UnDiagnosed ADD).  I'm not much on pretty blogs and pictures to entertain you (although I'll try and play a little).  I'd rather keep things ridiculously content-rich so you come back knowing you'll learn something.  Or, at the very least have something to think about going forward.

Make Today Count!

Chip