SecondMoonshot

I have been looking for a better safer and more professional looking DIY free book mailer I can make from available free cardboard boxes and stock. I worked out this method which I think came out well and offers lots of protection and can be used for albums, puzzles and anything that is generally ridges and square or rectangular. Hope you find this useful.  I have made a few changes to the design, primarily to not have the seam in the middle but have it cover the front (or back) completely, that way the tape goes on the edge and have an additional 1” which goes under the front flap. This makes it look much cleaner, easier to seal and a nice blank space for your shipping label. I used this design to ship a signed art print which I wanted to ship flat with the mat board. It worked better than any packing option I have used prior and super rigid. Once you get the hang of the dimension offsets, it looks truly professional. And a finished book ready to ship. John

My first YouTube video review… I had to return due to a defective battery which lost its charge after 5 minutes. New one is better but still only lasts for 30 minutes, I will get an extra battery at some point. A variety of different tips are also available. John

If you have been reading some of my blog entries regarding shipping, you will have recognized I am very cost conscious. Today, Z and I went to Costco for a few weekly groceries and I got heavily distracted by the large blank cardboard sheets between the product layers on the pallets. I ended up with 17 sheets only to realize that we had driven the Porsche 911 and had no way to get them home without folding. So folding we proceeded to do, and of course I had a great up front parking spot so attracted a few chuckles from the peanut crowdI’m sure. I will use these for backing boards and when I need a custom box, mat board backing sheets for the Logan cutter, or book backing blanks. Again, these were free. The Costco clerk told me as we approached the register they were $1 a piece…yeah, funny lady…she got me.  Ok, I kind of look homeless. Sorry, this is me, for better or for worse…currently for worse. An even more extreme example, fortunately we had the SUV this time, probably 20+ sheets.

I am going to use this to document damaged shipments going forward. I went back and found a few other damaged shipping items and added them to cover all of 2022 and 2023. Almost all damage is via UPS Ground. Considering moving to FedEx. Roughly my damage rate is 0.5% as I ship about 200 packages a month and have less than 1 damage a month. #8 - Feb 17, 2024 Well, went ALMOST a year with no damaged pictures, but got this one today that was shipped via UPS Ground and was approx 33" x 40" x 5". It was a large signed and numbered Tom Darro print, "Woman Who Dreamed of White Wolf". Honestly, don't think there was much more I could have practically done, it almost looks like it was just dropped flat pretty hard from the shatter pattern. Of course will do anything necessary to compensate customer and discussing options they would like to take. #7 - Mar 16, 2023 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic XIII Ice Figure Skating Poster 20” X 30” #SH This was a poster shipped U

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 supplies:     - $2.00         (Ballpark, but bubble wrap, box, it was heavy item…roughly close) My time packing, etc.    (Priceless, so wont include that here as it will skew the numbers) Profit:                              $111.73 If it were an international order, there

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 usual