Resist the Temptation to Push the "Reset Button".....AGAIN....

Many of us do this.  Heck, I still do.  It's a nasty habit and leads to unproductivity.  It's called hitting the reset button on life.

I used to play video games as a kid.  I used to want to get off to the best start possible to set myself up for the best game possible.  So, when one little thing went wrong, I'd just hit the reset button.  I got really good at the beginnings.  I got really good at setting myself up for success.  But, every time I hit a snag or a challenge, I went back to the beginning where I was most comfortable by pushing the reset button.

It wasn't until adulthood that I started to realize that life does NOT have a reset button.  You have to muddle through the tough parts.  You don't get to start over when things don't go as planned.  The only Eminem song I respect is "Lose Yourself."  Think what you want about him as a rapper and musician, but these lyrics really ring true here.....

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo

My point is:  We all get caught up in this "resetting life" from time to time.  And, we get frustrated in why we never seem to arrive at our destination.  We never tap our potential.  We need to learn to quit reaching for the reset button....stop trying to tweak every little thing....and just keep moving forward!

I've been reading a lot of articles lately on eBay's search engine, Google's search engine, and optimizing for mobile.  While it's important to keep up with the times and stay on top of things, we must resist the urge to go back and tear everything down just to start over from scratch.  This is killing you!  Just apply your changes as you move forward.  But, keep moving forward!

You have put a lot into your eBay business, or your Amazon FBA business, or whatever career path you chose.  You have hopefully read from trusted, proven successes that it can be done.  That you can achieve your goals.  Trust the path you are on.  If you are like me, and are constantly tempted to tweak little things and start over again and again, I write this to you so you will see the encouragement to trust your path.  I hope you make the decision today to move forward instead of sideways.

Make today count!
Chip

Activity theory (Auctions vs Fixed Pricing)

Let's embellish something.  I read a statistic the other day about auctions hitting higher in search rankings than fixed listings.  Assume 1000 listings pull up and 100 were auctions and 900 were fixed.  And, 64 or something of the top 100 were auctions while the other 36 were fixed.  This means auctions carry a higher percentage of the top 100 and were over-represented based on pure numbers.  (I figure some of this gobblegook has to do with both new listing and ending soon bonuses, but whatevs.)

I also saw a video blog of a seller than lists auctions first and moves them to store after they don't sell.  But, she lists HIGH on the first auction shot.  She does this because she saw this over-representation, too.  And, because she swears it drives traffic to her store and keeps her numbers up.

Hmmmmmm.  Of course, this gets me thinking.

Why not list an auction, at YOUR price, and see if you can't flip a few things in a week?  So, I tried it today. I usually just dump things directly in the store with a Best Offer on them to cover my range of acceptance.  For example, a $25 shirt may have an offer on it for $20.  I don't care what it sells for in that range.

The auctions I put out there today were on some bigger ticket items, too.  I started the auction price at what I would typically put as my low offer acceptance.  If I felt it may work, I placed a Buy-It-Now on for what my original asking price would be.

This allows me to offer free shipping on auctions.  It also means since eBay dropped it's tiered auction pricing (where everyone used to fear going over the 9.99 mark) I can ask pretty much whatever I want.  I only need one bid......I don't need a war to start to get MY price.  However, the listing fees were higher.  In some cases, double.  I felt that's ok for the sake of experimentation, but don't know how I feel about it long-term.

The shirts I put out there were Hawaiians.  I put out two Reyn Spooners, a couple cheapies, and two Tommy Bahamas (one NWT).  These "should" get some attention at the least.  I'll be interested to see if a few of them sell.  If so, this will be one seriously quick way to get paid for some great thrift store finds.

Make Today Count!
Chip

Flip vs Buy and Hold.....some math

This is the constant question poking in my brain.  I don't think anyone short of Alan Greenspan could get the answer correct.....and he likely can't.  

It's the question that forms the very bedrock of your business model.  Do I charge less and burn that inventory out (aka WalMart), or do I charge more and make more profit for less work while risking holding onto an item for awhile and having to store it (aka Tiffany's jewelry)?  Which one makes more sense for me?

I'm a geek when it comes to breaking down things to their simplest form.  It helps me understand things.  Granted, nothing is black and white.  There are always shades of gray.........about 50 to be exact, right?

Well, I've finally put some rough work into the details.  Let's assume (yes, I'm about to make an ass out of you and me) that we have an average profit of $10 if we can unload an item in a month.  And, let's assume we will make $25 in profit if that same item is priced higher and doesn't sell for an average of 4 months.  Which is better?

I buy my shirts for $3, but let's use $5 for ease.  If I sell that first shirt for a $10 profit, I can now buy 2 shirts.  Provided I get them listed quickly, that next month I should make $10 on 2 shirts, or $20.  Now, flip it again and it's $40.  Again, and it's $80.  So, 4 months later, I have netted $150 in profit, right?  Seems like a no-brainer vs letting the item sit for $25.  After all, $150 beats $25 hands down.

Oops.  Look a little deeper.  What is your time worth to you?  It will take significantly longer to pack and ship 1+2+4+8 items (15 items total).  To make the same $150 the 15 shirts made me, I only need to sell 6 shirts at $25.  All I need to do is build my inventory up while I sit around waiting.  If it takes me an average of a half hour to source, list, pack, and ship each item (random time here, but worth knowing about yourself someday), that's 7.5 hrs for the 15 items vs only 3 hrs for the 6 items.  Translate that to an hourly wage, and we have $20/hr for the $10 profit model vs $50/hr for the $25 model.  Assuming 40 hours/week is all you want/can work, we have an income of $800/wk vs $2000/wk.

Look, I'm being overly simplistic here, but one person can only work so much.  There's only so much time in a day.  The difference here is working hard vs working smart.  The only trick is:  Are you buying items that can net you both $10 or $25 depending on how long you choose to wait?

I guess that's a topic for another blog post.....

Make Today Count!
Chip

Search Ranking Conspiracy?

I have been reading a lot about eBay and it's search engine, Cassini.  I will summarize what I've read someday after it all digests.  This may be the quickest way to insanity!  But, of course, like fools we read all we can anyway....knowing it will only serve to raise our anxiety levels.

Well, lately that has been happening to me.  I have been reading about search rankings, and found a theory called Rolling Blackouts.  This theory explains, however unproven, that eBay could possibly be rotating who is visible in their search engine.  This also can feel like it explains why our sales suddenly shut down for a few days and then come back.  None of this is proven, of course, and eBay would NEVER admit to any of this. But, one can't help but wonder.

Last weekend, for the first time since I've been reselling on eBay (I started in November 2012) I didn't make one single sale.  Neither Saturday nor Sunday!  It had to rolling blackouts, right?  Well, that or August's doldrums.  So, I decided to check it the only way I know how.....by looking up my items myself.  Yep, all there.  And, then I thought that if eBay put me on some rolling blackout there's no way they'd show it to me. Of course all my listings would show up to me.  And, of course, they'd appear high in the rankings, right?

How do you get around this?  Call a friend.  Someone that doesn't live close to you.  I have a friend in eastern Florida and another in northern Idaho.  I called them both.  I live in St. Louis, MO.  Can't get a lot farther away that those two spots.  I had them look up the same items I was looking up to see if we both got the same results in search rankings.  (This was actually really fun!)

I figured I would find my item ranked #6 out of 140 or something, and my friend would find it ranked #130 out of the same 140.  Nope.  She found it exactly where I did..........and ranked high.   Hmmmmm.  Now what?

I suppose it can't be a rolling blackout killing my sales, can it?  The point of all this is to tell you that I don't know how much there is to any of this conspiracy theory.  I'd really like to believe it because I'd like to have something to blame for poor sales.  But, the fact is, it's all likely a coincidence timed with a slow sales period.....summer.

But, rest assured, I'm going to overthink this stuff now that I'm back in the saddle and pushing again.  However, I can't get past the feeling that I'm trying to sell sand in the Sahara right now.  Lol.  Either way.........

Make today count!
Chip

Get in Line with Ebay's Requests

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to make my eBay items appear higher in search rankings.  With the switch over to and evolution of eBay's new search algorithms, Cassini, we need to pay attention to more factors than just keywords.

I believe, without being told, that one of those parameters is paying attention to "warnings" eBay issues.  Whether it be that your DSRs (Detail Seller Ratings) are low, or that your photos aren't the correct size, I believe we should hop-to and fix things before we agitate the powers that be.

Ebay now rewards us for being customer-centric sellers.  The more convenient we design our listings for buyers, the more Cassini rewards us with higher placement.  Ebay has made no bones about focusing on the buyer, and it behooves them to do so.  They don't want the buyer running off to Amazon or another rival.  Those sellers that get in-line with this concept will outperform the sellers that don't.  It's that simple.

I received a warning today that 2 of my listings didn't fit the photo profile eBay wants.  So, I'm jumping on this right away to fix it.  At the very least, I am pulling the listings until I have time to rephotograph them.  But, I also noticed eBay is giving me suggestions for 9 other listings regarding adding Item Specifics.  Well, it would probably behoove me to fix those, too.

In the recent past, many sellers (15,000 to be more precise) have been suspended or banned from selling on eBay because they didn't adhere to multiple warnings eBay gave regarding customer service.  I am just taking this one step further and staying ahead of the game.  I suggest you contemplate doing the same.

Where do you find these warnings?  I found them under the Selling Reminders section under the My Ebay tab.  This is what mine looks like.

When poking around your eBay page today, take a look in the Selling Reminders and see if you don't have anything to correct.  I will report back if I see a bump in sales after fixing these.

Make today count!

Chip