SecondMoonshot

When I started this whole endeavor, I tried to apply simple math in the projections. If I was selling $3000/month with 1000 listings, that if I double my listings to 2000 with quality products, then my sales would double to $6000 (fake numbers, but you get the point). My flaw I have realized is (I think) that the good quality items will normally sell faster given a competitive price and the weaker items will hang around for longer (often much longer) and will slowly trickle through sales.  So, even through I have double my listings, the good items are selling faster I am only seeing small % increments in sales as a result. This makes me things that I will soon if not already, be the bottle neck based on how much I can acquire and list quality desirable items. I knew that this would come eventually, but now I am thinking that I am going to hit this wall sooner than later.  I need to think about this a more and revise my projections and strategy. John

How do I Price listings? First I have to admit that there is not really a specific strategy that applies to everything. Factors which play into it: Condition Presence of original packaging / box and its condition How much the shipping will be (I don’t do free shipping) Is it an exceptional listing that represents the brand? Emotional value (to me or Zabrina), do we want it for display in our house for a while? Rarity or saturation Past experience with item or category Comps Sales history (myself and other sellers) How many similar items like it do I have? First off, let me say that, the more I do this, the more that I am improving and find I can do more pricing with minimal or no lookup. Once I a price an item, it absolutely is not set in stone but fluid based on number of watchers over time; the cost I paid (which really only influences higher value pricing) is rarely an influencing factor as I look at the cost of a whole lot and not single items. So some items might just get my cost ...

I thought I would walk through an example of the numbers of an actual eBay sale which covers all fees and see what the actual profit was. In this example, it was a Vintage 1950s Smith Corona Sterling Typewriter . It sold for $126 and buyer paid a total of $156.81. An item I got at OMT Auction in wonderful condition, provenance, and buyer got a very fair deal. So lets look at the numbers: Buyer paid:                    $156.81       (Item $126.00, Shipping $20.55, Tax $10.26) eBay Fees:                     - $21.65      (Final value fee $16.94, insertion fee 0.30, and promotional fee $4.41) Actual shipping:          - $16.43 My cost:                         - $5.00         ( I got it for $5 or so at  auction) Shipping supp...

I am closing in on my 18 month milestone of starting SecondMoonshot and my second career selling on eBay. Not so much a lessons learned, but a few things I like and some I don’t, some about eBay, some about life in general. In no particular order. eBay gets a lot of gripes on the forums, but for what they offer on the platform, I have no issues and fully support the direction they have taken. Likes In-person auctions: human interaction, meet new people, better people, better wins The thrill of finding a gem and paying little for it I get to spend time with Zabrina I get to drive around in my cars most days I am learning every day, keeping my mind active and feeling productive; by nature I am a workaholic; I will never know everything and that’s a good thing I run the business like I want to, treat customers the way I want to, every good decision and mistake is mine, I am solely accountable; I.e. if a customer is not 100% satisfied, they get a full refund plus shipping, no questions ask...

Zabrina moon pics. May's full moon, known as the Flower Moon, will blossom in the sky on Sunday night into Monday. John

I thought I would document what a typical week is like for me with SecondMoonshot. I’ll start with Monday and close with Sunday. This will be a live blog post and will update as I progress through the week of May 16th to 22nd, 2022. Monday Monday through Thursday are mostly days filled with posting new listing from purchases acquired over the weekend. I start the week with creating new listings on my iPad. I normally will have all the items filtered in the great room downstairs an sort between garbage, donate/yard sale and resale by Monday morning. Garbage goes in garbage, donate/yard sale goes in attic waiting for the next neighborhood yard sale, and resale goes into the office for new listings. Zabrina hates when I have the piles in the living room for too long so have to have everything moved by Sunday night.  Purchases will have come from One Man’s Treasure Auctions primarily, consignments I picked up the prior week, with an occasional estate sale or thrift store thrown in. I u...

Here is a second volume of framing projects, a continuation of Volume #1 .  For pricing estimation information, go  HERE . I think I picked up this Greg Smith (Walterboro, SC) photograph at auction. Had an existing preowned frame in great shape and also had TruVue UV glass as a bonus, better than the tacky navy blue one it had. Left the existing mat because it was signed although not a fan of black core. Added a black mat covering on back and affixed the bio. Left existing hardware as it was just fine. Estimated price for the refresh would be $19.   SOLD. For sale on eBay here . A couple consignment pictures that needed to have some new backing boards, dust covers and hardware. Glass, matting and frame are original. The japanese Mt. Fuji picture had a very old framing label that looked cool, so repaired with with document repair tape and added to the back. For some reason unknown to me, I decided I would not affix my framing label to consignment frames I refreshed.  ...