SecondMoonshot

No pictures yet, but on January 22, 2022, I will be moving over to a larger 20’ x 20’ climate controlled storage unit, effectively doubling my storage capacity. More to come on the progress. This should cover me for 2022 and targeted growth. Shout out to Mike at Public storage at 12030 Stickman St, Wake Forest, NC. I will need to invest in 6 additional shelving units at about $60 each, but shouldn't need much else. Beard is coming in nicely too. John

Today sometime between 2am and 8a EST, SecondMoonshot crossed the threshold and has 100 followers on our eBay store. It took almost exactly a year. I am still enjoying this as much as when we first started. To celebrate, I ordered T-shirts for all the family members. The logo was designed by my daughter, Carrianne using the Adobe set of graphics tools. A small refresh on the logo: John

Zabrina trying her hand at some handmade candles. First batch came out very nice and professional. Will use as gifts for now but may list in near future. Thoughts welcome.  Zabrina is wants to keep the candles as natural as possible, using organic and safe oils and use recycled canisters where possible. She is using a high quality all-natural soy wax. She is experimenting with wood wicks although finding that they need to be primed in wax prior to adding the wax in the candle holder. John

Ok, I have come to a point where I can either move to the next level or stay where I am at. I knew the answer before I asked the question. I have to wait for 4 or 5 years for Zabrina to get to her spot (she’s actually way ahead of my spot financially, but she has her goals and will to support her in that). Since starting this venture, I have become attached to growing this new effort as a formal business, and I am having a blast, no doubt about it. Since we started, we have built an inventory of 1850 listings, learned the general landscape of estate sales, relationships, and operations. What I have ultimately come to the conclusion of is that an optimal shipping methodology will not linearly nor exponentially grow your business. For this type of business, almost all of the burden relies on you’re instinct, abilities, and fast learning on proper picking and product selection. Not saying we are great at this, because we are not, but I do believe that we are constantly improving at a very

The storage/warehouse unit is pretty much 90% filled up. Have some extra space if I need it on a top shelf on one side where I am keeping packing supplies. The boxes that are in the middle are a bunch that I got from a JMS estate sale for practically nothing and use them regularly for backing board, custom boxes, picture boxes, etc. and great as most are heavy duty double-wall. The roll of craft paper I got at a recent JMS estate sale as well for $5. I am actively looking for a real warehouse in the 30 mile radius, but its going to be tough to find something reasonable, actually thinking a loft apartment in downtown Wake Forest or surrounding small town might be equally as good. More to come. John

I have been wanting to do a Blog post on my overall strategy on approaching eBay and growing a new business. Remember, this is somewhat new to me and most of my approach is defined from my general street skills, pragmatic approach and some general research.  There was a fundamental mid-term goal which was to generate on a weekly basis, enough income to support the business, pay normal bills like mortgage, utilities, etc., reinvest a bit. I am still in the growing phase and about 50% towards the general goal and expect I will achieve it sometime early to mid 2022. I don’t know if my strategy is good, bad or average and same as what everyone else is doing. There was some research early on about the basics of eBay selling and “tips and tricks” which you might gather out of this, but some is just me and a few ideas that align to my objectives. When I started selling with a few of my old comic books and other items, I would track the average item price and work with that. Then when I starte

Pretty big day for SecondMoonshot! My daughter got into an accident (minor in the end, but put her vehicle out of commission). Turns out she needed to borrow my car for a few weeks, and so when she came to pick it up, she dropped me off at the local Public Storage for me to swap out another car. I asked her to hold on to let me look to see if any new units have come available as they are at a premium over summer months but what!!!! Finally got a 10x20 foot storage unit climate controlled. Mike at the Stickman St, Wake Forest location was awesome as always and what I truly love about this sight, seems simple, is they have LIGHTING! I have called around to practically every storage facility in the 30 mile area and this is the only one….likely due to initial construction and Public Storage probably acquired them. But either way, works for me. Even better, this is where I also store two of my cars (technically just 2 in a 10x30 foot unit), point being..I am familiar with the location and i