Nowthatsjustducky's Rags to Riches Challenge 2015

[nowthatsjustducky]

Ever since I responded to a post earlier tonight recommending a new seller go ahead and start with a dedicated selling account and  try to attract buyers with professional looking listings instead of trying to rely on feedback received as a buyer to boost credibility, I have been mulling over a challenge I suggested in said post.

That said, I am now announcing Nowthatsjustducky's Rags to Riches Challenge for 2015.

The objective is to see how participants manage to build up a new selling account from scratch.  Rules and procedures for this challenge?  Hmmm.  Let's see here.

1:  Create a brand spanking new selling account.
2:  Log into the forums here on the new account and post in this thread:  give its i.d., the types of items that you will be dealing with on that account, the selling formats you will use, and other little policies you may implement (shipping, international or not, etc)
3:  Use that account only for selling so that there will not be any buyer feedback on it.
4:  Keep a tight record of the account's gross and net earnings.
5:  Check in regularly on this thread to give updates for various milestones such as:  your first sale on the account, first feedback received, achieving TRS, and anything else one may feel relevant.
6:  Once per month, perhaps around the 1st or so, give a status update with your current feedback and your gross and net earnings on this account thus far.
7:  At the end of the year, a final update to compare how the account fared throughout 2015.

Sound like an interesting experiment?  If so, I look forward to seeing a bunch of new selling i.d.s posting here.  Now to go finish setting up my new selling account and picking out the stuff to be listed this month.

[justsurplusgoods]

eBay needs to sponsor this, and offer prizes - yeah?

[nowthatsjustducky]

That would be pretty cool, if they did pick up on this and ran with it.  However, I have a feeling I am going to be lucky just to generate any interest in this among the seller community here as it is.

That said, time for the first entry now that everything is set up.  🙂

[clever-crow]

clever-crow

For now, fixed price only, and only listing items that do not generate an insertion fee for fixed price.  Additionally, I am keeping item values at $30 or less, and package weights at 2 pounds and under.

Anything that can ship First Class Parcel will be done as "free" domestic shipping.  All else will be calculated shipping.

I am also doing international, but not opting into the GSP, and I have a large chunk of countries excluded, just going with the ones I feel comfortable shipping to.  I am not specifically chasing TRS on this account, and have my return policy set to No Returns.  Handling time is set to 3 business days.

And this is indeed going to be an interesting challenge, as I am starting with a selling limit of 10 items per month.  Hopefully one of my next major updates will be announcing that those limits have increased.  This is going to be a very light first month for the Crow though, as I have a week long trip coming up near the end.  Therefore, this month's 10 items are going to be ony 7 day listings.  And until the selling limits exceed 50, I will not be doing any multi quantity listings, since each additional piece eats into the limit.

And now tp get my first two items up for the month (3 on Sunday, 3 on Monday, and the final 2 on Tuesday, the majority of which are being pulled temporarily from my Amazon inventory).

[snappyauctions14]

"However, I have a feeling I am going to be lucky just to generate any interest in this among the seller community here as it is."

Yeah.

You should try it the other way 'round....riches to rags. Get a LOT more participation that way, since so many have JUST that kind of experience here.....

[clever-crow]

Alright, I know this thread has been completely dead since shortly after it was started, but I am determined to keep up on this.

That said, I just had my first milestone on this account.  After a month and a half, the Crow has made its first sale, a Microsoft USB mouse for $30 plus shipping.  It will of course ship tomorrow before I head out of town for a week.

Surprisingly, there is no 21 day hold on the funds like I expected there to be.  Most likely, this account got linked with my others and since they are all in great standing, that meant there was no excuse for them to do the funds hold.

Sad that it took a month and a half to make my first sale.  I sincerely believe that is simply due to this account starting with a selling limit of 10 items; which makes it difficult to pick out just the right pieces to present for the monthly allotment.  The upside of that is that I will be more likely to keep cycling fresh material through each month instead of just relisting whatever does not sell.  Exceptions there are things that had watchers or had previously received inquiries (3 things total).  Those get one more shot this month before their spot in the monthly 10 gets filled with other goods.

Anyway, time to go ahead and get the mouse packaged up and ready for shipping tomorrow, then start prepping for my trip.

[newjerseypicker08836]

This sounds kinda cool but why dont you make it really interesting and limit the amount of starting capital to less than $50.00? That way everyone starts out in the same place?

[nowthatsjustducky]

Okay, a starting capital of $50 or less sounds like a good rule to add.  That one should be self fulfilling though, since peeps would want to limit such new accounts to inexpensive items anyway until the feedback and selling limits increase.

Now, can someone confirm that with the new fee structure, there is no longer any category limits for fixed price listings for non store owners (as in, all categories count toward the first 20 freebies each month?)  If that is the case, then my clever-crow account will be able to expand offerings beyond electronics and other things that were free to list...There is a Generation 1 My Little Pony sitting across the desk staring at me right now hoping to get listed this month.  If there is no insertion fee, then she gets added to the docket.

[ripcityresell]

This sounds so fun! 

I just wish I had the time. I work full time at one job, part time at another and I'm already selling on  3-4 accounts 😞 I have plenty of inventory that I haven't listed on any of them, but I just simply cannot squeeze another account into the mix. 

Good luck!

[clever-crow]

And second "milestone" has been reached.  That is this account's first feedback at last.  This is definitely slow going.  So far, this account has made a grand total of 3 sales.  Not sure how tha powers that be here expect new sellers to thrive when they only give a 10 item monthly limit initially.  Ah well.  Guess I just keep cycling fresh material through  as the goods come up.

[clever-crow]

Okay, I know this thread has been consigned to Apathyville, but what the heck anyway...

Milestone 3 reached, as of today (2015-09-04)

Selling limits have been increased with no effort on my part (as in calling eBay to get them increased).

I now have a limit of 20 items per month or $2000

Yeah, I know it ain't that impressive, but at least I can now take proper advantage of the monthly 20 no insertion fee listings (will take another increase before I consider utilizing the additional 20 auctions in collectibles.)

[lookng2015]

Keep at it ducky = )

I never participated because I already had too many IDs lol

And yes, some of them started with 0 FB.

[clever-crow]

And 3 months later, limits have been increased again.  Now can do 40 items per month or $4000 in sales.  Only 10 items per month away from this being a "normal" selling account...

[clever-crow]

And in the unlikely event that anyone is actually interested in this project, here is my first annual report on how it is progressing...

It is barely moving along at a snail's pace.

The first year for this account ended back on the 13th of March.  At that point, the Crow had made 17 sales.  The smallest sale was $7.95 plus shipping for a deck of Sailor Moon playing cards, and the highest was a Nerf Longstrike dart gun at $119.95.  Total gross earnings for the first year was $452.15.

18th sale just happened yesterday, a rechargeable Norelco razor for $49.95.

Monthly selling limits are currently still at 40 Items or $4000.  After the beginning of next month, I will go ahead and see if I can get the limits raised higher so I can at least take advantage of the 50 free listings and be able to do multi quantity listings without having to be too careful about using up the monthlies.

Feedback is only at 5 due to me determined to not have any buyer feedback tainting the numbers.  I have left feedback for 8 transactions, and currently only 2 are eligible to get feedback due to time limits.  My buyer for the razor will be getting his feedback soon, since he actually posted good feedback for me almost as soon as he paid (go figure).  The buyer for the Longstrike will get his feedback after I am sure he is satisfied.  That could still be a while though, since the package just cleared Brazilian Customs and is continuing onward to the buyer.

Perhaps during Q3, limits will be high enough to warrant opening a 5th Basic Store, after which I may make it a drop shipping account for predominantly "adult" stuff.

That's it for now.  Now back to the Duck, and time to get ready for shipping and shopping.  Got a live auction to attend tonight, and also need to hit Safeway to collect a Monopoly prize.  Won the 1 year of Redbox rentals last night.  😄

[usmc*usnmom]

Oh my gosh, how did I miss this??

I would have so took you up on this. It would have been fun!