Some problems are good problems to have...
Summary: sin-n-dex shares their experience of a recent surge in sales after acquiring new inventory of banknotes for their shop. They mention that while handling numerous custom orders daily is challenging, it has led to substantial sales. Other participants, including caldreamer, lakefor94, and luckythewinner, congratulate them and offer advice on pricing and managing inventory. The discussion highlights the balance between a traditional job and the demands of managing an online sales venture, with sin-n-dex acknowledging the benefits of their full-time job alongside their eBay activities.
So I've been having difficulty to find time to do things this week... like listing, paperwork (logging all the sales for the shop), and processing new stuff.
A few months ago I posted on a few threads about slow sales, and many suggested my inventory was well picked over and to "get new stuff". Well that's what I did.
The shop let me run amuck in the store after I was shown all the areas I could search, and within 10 minutes I stumbled upon some bins of banknotes. Seems they had banknotes in bundles and partial bundles, and trouble finding customers to buy the notes because there were so many. I claimed them for my store, and it's gone completely nuts.
The thing that's making it hard for me to do stuff is all the custom orders that have been cropping up. When I list one and it sells fast, and then list another one, buyers are figuring out I have many of some of these notes and requesting quantities and what not. Thing is, I have only been able to find time to deal with one customer's custom order per day. Seems like many messages are being exchanged (which I know lots of sellers here don't like), but the messages lead to a $150+ sale, so I'm good with that, but I can only focus on one customer at a time.
These are all good problems to have, and I don't mind one bit. If you see my recent sales you'll notices it's almost all banknotes, these are all from the new stock I got at the shop a few weeks ago.
Looks like I will have a busy weekend packing custom orders.
C.
luckythewinner
·1 week ago · EditedCongrats! This sounds like yet another example of slow sales where the problem was not eBay hiding / denying / limiting, but rather a simple adjustment to the seller's inventory.
That aside ...
When buyers see an item and I get multiple requests for custom orders and quantities and "what else do you have", that is a signal to me that I need to check that I am not pricing too low. If you only have time to handle one customer a day, make sure that one customer is paying for that privilege.
sin-n-dex
OP1 week agoYes it did seem as though I had nothing anyone wanted for a while, but they seem to want the notes.
I'm pricing based on previous solds, so if those solds were too low, then I've copied the error. I did up the prices on things that sold very fast when listed (where I had multiple copies), trying to find that "sweet spot".
I can only do one custom order a day because I work all day, so that leaves me just a few hours. To not get mixed up on what I'm doing and be able to respond quickly I handle the one customer's messages in between other tasks on my computer. But at the same time focus on the request. Last night's customer purchased $400 in items, it was $167 the day before and $698 the day before that. This is all more than I normally sell in a day, so I think it's OK.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 week agoI feel you on the not enough time to do everything. Especially when you (finally) get around to listing some stuff that's been sitting and find it flying off the shelves as it were.
Working a FT jobby job will do that to you.
I work 5 graveyard shifts a week and still have to find time to do all the ebay stuff and hopefully some time for sleeping.
sin-n-dex
OP1 week agoEven if every day on eBay were really good, they can't give me things a FT job can (like dental care, prescription coverage, which for me is worth $1200 a month). When I take vacation I get paid for time off. On eBay you only get paid when it sells.
I spend just about every evening working on eBay stuff and lots of time on the weekends. If it flies off the shelf it has to be packed, if it's sitting idle then it's time to list more stuff.
lakefor94
·1 week agoCopy that, C. Backing up my existing, longer term listings with new listings has always been the ticket for improving cashflow. Never has it not worked.
lakefor94
·1 week agoLove to hear that cha ching. Glad you got things rolling your way, @sin-n-dex
Nice.
caldreamer
·1 week agoGood for you. I am glad to hear your business is going great.