So much stuff! Need a plan!

[lagunamom]

We have acquired (mostly through deaths of relatives), an enormous amount of items of varying types over the past few years.   

They now fill 2 sheds, 3 1/2 bedrooms, and for now, the carport.  The items range from technical books to Steuben glass to furniture to new Lenox flatware and just about everything in-between.  I want everything out within the next couple of years so we can move.

My husband has done pretty well selling on Ebay (and I've sold a bit) as a hobby, but now we really need an efficient way of selling so we can breathe!  He initially went through items before he had them shipped home, but I feel as though the walls are closing in!  Some things are packed so tightly in rooms that you can't even get through to them; you just know they're there.

Has anyone else dealt with a situation like this?  If so, how did you cope?  We need a plan that allows for efficiency, and we need to sell faster than we had before because hubby was laid-off, we're just reaching retirement age, and this is a much-needed source of income.  We don't want to underprice everything so much because of expediency, but we do need to rid ourselves of this and fast.  Yard sales are not an option at this point. 

Thank you.

[slideshopper]

Personally I would recommend two large metro racks. One for items listed and one for listing preparation. Sort through and list similar items for the same night. This will give you the cross sell ability. If you have two similar patterns of China by the same firm or same time period you increase your chances of selling both that way.  

I firmly believe in under promising and over delivering. As an example I put 4 days handling but ship within two. This will show delivery prior to the expected arrival. Instead of putting two days, shipping in that timeframe and they are waiting at the mailbox going where the check is it, not thinking of a storm that went through slowing down everything.

[iankimmerly]

I have two words for you:

Donate.

Dump

Most of what you have is going to be unsaleable. Technical books will be dated. Furniture is difficult to ship.

We are moving across the country in October. Between January and March we took over 100 banker's boxes of books to the Friends of the Library Bookstore and to thrift stores. Dressers and bookcases and chairs went to Sally Ann, Vinnie and Value Village.

We put a lot of stuff out at the curb on Sundays. Our trash pickup is Wednesday. Most would be gone by Monday.

It's just stuff. If it will cost you to sell it, and eBay charges fees, get rid.

You will get a much better price for your house when it is almost empty. This alone will make up for the imagined value of all that stuff. There are two houses on our block that have been for sale since 2013. Ours sold in five weeks.

I understand that Americans can get a tax rebate for in kind donations to charities.

Here in Ontario the minimum wage is 17 cents a minute. Keep that in mind when you are handling something for the second time. And don't let there be a third time.

Once you get rid of the unsaleable, the salable will be easier to deal with.

[lagunamom]

We're not planning on moving for a couple of years.
Some things we might donate or give away, but as I explained, we need the cash, and hubby has made a healthy profit for what he's sold. Furniture can be listed as pick-up only.
The problem is overwhelm and bulk. Do you go through one room at a time, or do you try to find like items (such as books) and then put those on en masse? We have sold technical books that are dated, BTW. I thought people would jump on the brand-new Lenox flatware, but people wanted something nice for next-to-nothing.
Hubby listed for his parents' antiques business for years. You would be surprised at what people will buy.

[baycrestjewelry]

Just did a Yard Sale, everything sells for under $5. Watch the long range weather like on NOAA for a date so you can advertise in local paper. Have a large variety but make mention of items you want to focos on (i.e. books) in the add. Put up signs with arrows to your location. Don't bother with name brands just sell your junk and remember to buy pizza for your helpers. Best of luck.

[playitagainbabies]

My husband and I are collectors and pickers.  We recently sold a 2600 square foot house and now live in 900 square feet. We have a garage now so we store everything in there and bring in just a few boxes at a time.  We go through them and seperate into three new boxes. One for giving to charity, one for selling on Ebay and one for Selling locally.  It makes the process so much quicker if you get your items in ready to ship packaging before starting the listing.  That way, you can stay organized and you will always be able to calculate shipping while on the list your item page.  We gave about half of our things to friends and family and the rest that we didn't want to keep, we gave to the Good Will or Salvation Army thrift store.  Most charities will send a truck to pick up large items so all you have to do is call them.  As for getting the best price, do comparisons before you start making your listing, that way you can sell a little cheaper than the competition and sell your stuff faster.  I hope this helps, good luck and God Bless

[mrobind42]

If it were me, I would go through one room at a time. You said you had lenox flatware, what kind? Is it new or old. Do you have china? What condition is it in? Do you know who made it? There is a place called Replacements Ltd. They buy and sell. They have a huge showroom in NC, not that far from where I live. They also have a store on ebay. I'm telling you this because if you go to their website and submit a query on what you have they will send you all the information they have on it within 24-48 hours. You may even be able to sell to them; however, I would take my chances on ebay over that option. I love the place but their offers are really lowball. They are good decent people, but they need to make a profit as well. The idea someone else voiced about 3 boxes for yard sale, donate, and sell is a good idea.  You have three rooms...clean one out and seperate it into 3 sections. Everything you took out of that one room should go into one of those sections. If it's trash, throw it out, not everyone's trash is someone else's treasure. Immediately donate what is in that section, and schedule your first yard sale. List your ebay items in that room. Package them if you aren't going to offer combination shipping discounts. Then move to the next room. Your first room should only contain the ebay sale items. Repeat the process until you have one ebay room then try the rack system. List your ebay items as you go. If you and your husband do not have a basic store, subscribe, otherwise the fees will eat you alive. You cannot make a living selling on ebay unless you are smart about it. Open a seperate store for books...they are slow sellers, or so I've heard, so don't confuse shoppers with clutter. My store is cluttered at the moment...a yardsale and an ending auction will take care of that this weekend. Know what you have and what it's worth and then be prepared to sell it for a lower price than you originally wanted.

Now, a lesson I learned about buyers...they are cheap. Before I became a seller I constantly thought "why is that so high, it's ebay for heaven's sake" Now as a seller of NWT items only I think "Do they expect me to give it to them for free?" You are not going to get the value of Lenox flatware from ebay buyers. I know this because I collect Lenox chirp and I will not pay full price or anywhere near full price for it and that's china. The flatware is ridicuosly high. That's why it doesn't sell in the retail stores and then people buy it at 65% off, which for a hostess set is $21, and flood ebay with it expecting to get retail. It's not going to happen, so you will have to lower your prices. Charge shipping that is calculated by region and weight on heavy pieces and offer free shipping on lighter pieces. Be aware you will be charged fees on the shipping as well as the price of the item. This is true even if it's an international shipment. I learned that lesson this month. I was naively unaware that eBay charged for international shipping. Ebay penalizes you for charging shipping, yet they fail to understand that people will not buy if you add the actual shipping cost to the item. You need to figure out the profit margin you want and make it work.

I saw a comment that said to list ships within 4 days but ship within 2. You can try this but be aware that ebay will post a warning on your listing for buyers to see that says takes longer to than normal to ship. I ship same day with a cut off time. If you check my feedback I never get waiting for a check to arrive type of feedback, I get great feedback on shipping speed.

Ship in the mornings, it gets there faster. Ship it free if possible, less fees. If it's breakable use a light but sturdy box and package it well. If it's not breakable ship it in a bubble mailer. I think some are unaware of just how far an antique lover will drive to pick up something they bought. 

Above all else, keep moving ahead. Don't let naysayers bring you down. Be aware that eBay places monthly limits on how much you can list item wise and dollar wise. Be patient, be smart, and you'll get through the clutter to the good stuff. Then you can move it all out to the carport 

[mrobind42]

Wow! I just saw the date on the original post....just how long does stuff sit around in these forums?

[femmefan1946]

Be aware you will be charged fees on the shipping as well as the price of the item. This is true even if it's an international shipment. I learned that lesson this month. I was naively unaware that eBay charged for international shipping. Ebay penalizes you for charging shipping, yet they fail to understand that people will not buy if you add the actual shipping cost to the item.

If you are using Free Shipping (domestic) as your first option, you should not be charged fees on any shipping, even international. When you ship internationally, you should ethically also reduce the flat rate for shipping by the cost of domestic shipping that is included in the price of shipping internationally

For example.

You want $5 for the item and shipping to California will cost $5. The asking price becomes $10 with 'Free Shipping". You pay no shipping FVF.

Shipping to Canada will cost $10. The asking price remains $10 but your shipping and handling to Canada is $5. You pay not shipping FVF.

If this is not what happened in your case, call eBay and ask about their error.

The first post was on June 30, today is July 16. Doesn't seem a long time to me, especially since the original problem built up over several years.

[mrobind42]

This is true and I do not charge shipping within the US on the designer items I sell in the cooler months. However, I cannot offer free international shipping. It would add to much to the cost of the item. It is already hard enough to get people to pay the prices now. As far as the miniature's I cannot make a profit and provide free shipping as well. If I were as established in that area as others it may be a different story. There are some who have been in the miniature business for years and charge far more than I do even if you include the cost of shipping, yet their items sell and mine do not. I am not as established as they are. I do not charge a handling fee and if there is shipping overage, it is always refunded. I even refund the conversion fee they are charged. Why? Because it doesn't affect my bottom line. And I just think it's wrong. eBay is a global company, they shouldn't charge a conversion fee. There isn't one person on this site or in my life who can question my honesty or integrety. 

I cannot speak upon flat rates as I never deal with that nor can I speak upon the ebay global shipping thing because my buyers have told me they do not like it.  What I do know is that if you use (as I do) calculated by weight and region the charges of shipping to Canada are not the same as the charges to ship to New Zealand. And yes, the heavier the object is and the farther the country is the more it costs to ship it. Should you go to my store right now you will see some tools listed. Some are heavy enough to require priority mail, yet I provide free shipping on it. Why? Because the most I paid for any of the tool items was $.28, most cost around $.02-.03 cents each. The first item that sold paid for the whole lot. I'm making money regardless. Unfortunately, deals like that are few and far between. I'm telling you this because I know you will go look anyway and come back at me with shipping heavier objects free within the US 

You have been a seller on ebay for years...there have been a few changes for new sellers since then. Your advice is invaluable and I often refer back to it, yet to preach to always ship for free is misleading. If it's light, it is cost effective, if it's not it costs more than the fvf on shipping. Having said all of that, this couple are asking for advice on how to get through what has to be an overwhelmingly large amount of stuff. Everything I wrote was straight from my experience as a newbie. And I freely admit I am new, I have only been selling about 8 months.I was top rated plus by the end of my 90 days...and power seller by the end of the first five months. I think I know a little bit about what I'm talking about. I can remember that not that long ago you were telling me I wanted feedback for egotistical reasons. I explained then that I NEEDED 25 buyers to leave me feedback to achieve the top rated status. I believe that was back in January. Now I could care less if feedback is left. They are not new to selling, it seems as though they are new to sheer volumn. They need productive advice. Not a lesson on how to ship free globally. 

Respectively as always,

Robin

[mrobind42]

I looked at the wrong date...a newbie error 🙂

[femmefan1946]

Oh heavens no! Don't try to use Free Shipping for international sales.!

Use it for DOMESTIC sales (US for you Canada for me).

Charge your foreign customers a reasonable rate. Which to me means using Flat Rates because the Calculated Rate would be too high as it would overlap the already included domestic shipping.

I think I did this, but I do it a lot so  here we go again. Sorry.

You want $5 for your item. Domestic shipping with average $5. ($4.50 in your state/ $5.50 to the other side of the country eg)

So you post the item as $10 with Free Shipping.

Free Shipping is an advertising ploy. Like Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) which is really a 25% discount on the two items.

Now.

For non-US sales you DO charge shipping.

You want $5 for your item. You are already including $5 for domestic "free" shipping. So your list price is $10.

You will pay $10 for shipping to Canada. But the price already includes half that. So your Flat Rate to Canada is $5.

The special point about this is: you pay NOT shipping FVF on the Free US Shipping. Everyone knows that.

But

You also pay no shipping FVF on the international shipping. In fact you could keep that $5 US shipping and charge us Canadians $10 shipping and still pay no shipping FVF.

Remember it is the customer who pays for shipping in the long run.

I don't use Free Shipping very much. Most of my books are too large for Canada Post letter rates, and believe it or not, it costs me $12 to ship a  17x10x 2.5 cm paperback to Alberta, compared to $8.03 to the States .

I do use Free Shipping for my postage lots which I can discount as much as 25% off face, ship ExpressPost and still make a tidy profit. Partly because I use my own discounted postage.

BTW. Look into postage lots. US postage is widely available, mint full gum, for unbelievably low prices. Watch out that the stamps are at least 30 cent and up face though. Takes a lot of nickel stamps to make up a $10 postal rate.

[mrobind42]

Thank you again for your advice! Believe it or not, but I do not include the shipping price into my listing price when I provide free shipping. It's a cost I absorb and file on my income taxes at the end of the year. The tax break is far more profitable 

I also see what you are saying about be charged final value fees on international shipping. It's only because I am charging shipping on the miniatures within the US therefore I am being charged fvf for all of it. Well played eBay!

[mrobind42]

Is the calculated rate why I am constantly refunding overages in shipping?

[mrobind42]

I forgot to mention google profit margin calculator. It will help you find a gross profit margin. It will help with pricing your items. Just don't forget it's gross and not net. Then you will need to check the completed vs the sold of the item you are pricing. If they aren't in your price range, you'll have to adjust. As a much need source of income, you need to price to sell. Sorry to say this, but it doesn't sound as though you paid for these items. Take the cost of shipping the stuff home, add minimum wage per hour, and divide by the cost of what you are selling. This is your base price...move up from there, keep the final value fees in mind. Ebay has a final value fee calculator. It will be an invaluable tool for your situation. Just my opinion.