I think I underestimated how much time I needed to get caught up on eBay stuff...

[sin-n-dex]

So I'm finishing day 4 out of 9 of vacation.

On Day 1 I dealt with odds and ends (photographing stuff that was in progress just to get it cleaned up and packaged for sale - for instance stamps go into a bag with a chipboard after pictures to let me know they are good to go).

Day 2 was spent dealing with orders. In addition to my eBay orders I had three international orders on another site (my roommate's puzzles that he makes) to deal with. I'm getting paid for the space they take in my FedEx box that I send to Chit Chats which helps defer my costs, but to do that I need to spend an hour or so doing up postage and packing orders.

Day 3 was spent photographing jewellery (and then I found a whole bunch more of that this morning when poking around in the basement closet). I also took a bunch of pictures of other stuff, but pretty much the day was spent taking pictures. I did get 200 auction listings queued up to start Sunday.

Today I found a box from the B&M store that I didn't look at and it's filled with booklets of postage. It didn't seem like a lot of work until I started doing it, but these are tiny little things in a pretty big box. I also cleaned up some listings and got stuff up that has been sitting around.

And now there's around 3000 new photos on my phone to come off for the next round of listing, if I get that far before the week is up. (But I'm not taking the photos off until what I'm doing is under control).

I also spent some time appraising some stamps. The B&M store gave me some pages of stamps that all have high face value (Japanese stamps) and each page front and back is worth $40 FV. I expect to get $25 for it (the B&M store pays 25%, so that's a $15 profit to share).

I'm going to look in my stamps cupboard later tonight when I go watch TV, just to get a feel for what I left sitting around when I stopped doing stamps a few months ago. (Looking at it again makes me think about it and get motivated).

But almost halfway through vacation... I think I need a longer vacation.

C.

[duncanvr]

Hi Sin what is your VOT? Value of time. You should know what your time is worth an hour. It must be at least $50 an hour? I hope the B&M store are paying you for appraisals but it looks like they don't take into account your time. 25% is kind of low. Is the $15 profit on the Japan stamps after fees taken out by ebay? Working on stamps is tiring I do it all day so I know. Somehow you need the motivation in your case to sort through box lots and albums etc. 3000 photos now that is going to be time consuming not just to take them but to also sort them for listing. I think its time you got a pay rise from the B&M. The B&M must be thrilled your doing all the hard work for them and they don't have to sort and price the stamps themselves. As long as your making money that is good. But you need to be paid for your expertise. Maybe ask for 30% when was the last time you had a pay rise? And your covering all the ebay fees or the B&M? Is it not worth buying some of the other material outright and making all the profits yourself? That's how I do it buy outright. Selling for others is lower profits and does not always consider your value of time. Good luck.

[katzrul15]

Have you been able to at least relax a little?  

Soon you will need a few more days to rest up from your R&R  lol

[sin-n-dex]

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@duncanvr wrote:

Hi Sin what is your VOT? Value of time. You should know what your time is worth an hour. It must be at least $50 an hour? I hope the B&M store are paying you for appraisals but it looks like they don't take into account your time. 25% is kind of low. Is the $15 profit on the Japan stamps after fees taken out by ebay? Working on stamps is tiring I do it all day so I know. Somehow you need the motivation in your case to sort through box lots and albums etc. 3000 photos now that is going to be time consuming not just to take them but to also sort them for listing. I think its time you got a pay rise from the B&M. The B&M must be thrilled your doing all the hard work for them and they don't have to sort and price the stamps themselves. As long as your making money that is good. But you need to be paid for your expertise. Maybe ask for 30% when was the last time you had a pay rise? And your covering all the ebay fees or the B&M? Is it not worth buying some of the other material outright and making all the profits yourself? That's how I do it buy outright. Selling for others is lower profits and does not always consider your value of time. Good luck.

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For the most part, stamps I've been doing have been for me... but sometimes I didn't want to take the B&M store's stamps because I was afraid I would get stuck with them and I wanted to dump them back onto them if they don't sell.

I think the  main reason I don't put a high value of my time is because I have an interest in the hobby (even though I don't really collect these things), and keeping busy helps me cope with some pretty severe anxiety. If I didn't have the eBay stuff to work on I'd have to find a replacement hobby to keep busy. Before eBay it was jewellery making and sewing. Probably when I'm happiest is when I've drawn up a pattern, cut it out, and started seeing how it fits together. But I don't have creative energy all the time to do that.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Have you been able to at least relax a little?  

Soon you will need a few more days to rest up from your R&R  lol

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To be very honest, when no one is watching I snap a few photos and then rest my head on my pillow and look out the window. I just can't sit idle for too long, but at the same time I can't keep going like a steam engine either.

I take all my photos on my bed, so I do a bit of that and then chill. I have a big tree in my backyard that I like to look at through my bedroom window because of squirrels and such playing, and we have quite a few birds here too. I used to have a bird in the livingroom that I liked to watch but she's living with my exhusband who minds being bit a lot less than I do.

And let's not forget the three hours a night spent watching Star Trek (but truthfully I sorted out stamps while watching TV), but just the same, when I tired of that I just chill and watch TV.

So relaxing is happening and I'm not stressed, just feeling overwhelmed at the number of photos on my phone to deal with tomorrow. However, I have made very great progress on the pictures I took last vacation, now those things are being listed.

C.

[katzrul15]

You probably get so much more done that you realize.  It is one of the reasons I work from lists.  Otherwise, it doesn't feel like a lot was accomplished some days.

Spent over 6 hours today driving in the pouring rain for a customer.  We're waiting on a pizza to arrive.  I have not listed all week - tried to do some this morning and thanks to all the glitches.....no go.  Maybe that is a sign! 

(we have 2 bunnies - a dwarf and a mini-lop.  The mini-lop is a luv bunny.  The dwarf is known as "Merlin the Biter".  I put things in his cage with gloves on and tongs.  lol )

[sin-n-dex]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

You probably get so much more done that you realize.  It is one of the reasons I work from lists.  Otherwise, it doesn't feel like a lot was accomplished some days.

Spent over 6 hours today driving in the pouring rain for a customer.  We're waiting on a pizza to arrive.  I have not listed all week - tried to do some this morning and thanks to all the glitches.....no go.  Maybe that is a sign! 

(we have 2 bunnies - a dwarf and a mini-lop.  The mini-lop is a luv bunny.  The dwarf is known as "Merlin the Biter".  I put things in his cage with gloves on and tongs.  lol )

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Wow 6 hours of driving for a customer. Did you feel it was worthwhile? The only person I do lots of driving for is my partner (as in when he leaves his phone here, I'll return it to him even though it's two hours round trip). I don't even like to meet customers at a fast food place because that will take an hour out of my busy day just to save them postage.

I have some stuff in my listing folders to clean up (purses that need dimensions and the stuff in my "problem" folder - means I am missing info to do the listing and have to verify stuff, right now I have to verify I still even have these items).

Tomorrow my house is being cleaned by professionals (because I hate cleaning but hate to live in a dirty house too), and I think I will tackle the uncut sheets of butterfly stamps I acquired six months ago. I have some ideas on what to do with them now. I also need one last trip to the B&M store before the shop owner takes a few weeks of holidays (this is my big chance to get rid of anything that's sitting around my house that I don't want to be sitting here anymore... I tend to acquire excessive numbers of baskets, buckets and supplies over time).

And most importantly, deal with some 3000+ photos on my phone.

C.

[katzrul15]

I had to deliver a Surety bond for a construction letting tomorrow.  Their office is 3 hours from me.  Not something I wanted to do, just had to do, etc.

Well - you have a plan!  I applaud you and your ambition!

(3,000 pix would probably crash my phone - do you store in the cloud?)

[sin-n-dex]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

I had to deliver a Surety bond for a construction letting tomorrow.  Their office is 3 hours from me.  Not something I wanted to do, just had to do, etc.

Well - you have a plan!  I applaud you and your ambition!

(3,000 pix would probably crash my phone - do you store in the cloud?)

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Oh, I thought it was an eBay customer. OK, I understand now.

I have something like 20 GB of space. I actually delete eBay photos once they are moved to the computer (and when I do a lot of work I back them up on an external hard drive after I've gone through and removed all the ones that are no good).

I will get to that today, but need to mail all the Canadian shipments from yesterday and the day before and see the B&M shop owner for a few minutes before I move along to eBay stuff today.

C.

[gjs_16]

It's tough, self-employment means full time job, I have a hard time pulling myself away for more than a few to several hours.