Setting Up an eBay Room/Workspace

[southernfriedbelle]

Going to work on organizing a work space for my eBay sales. Would appreciate input on what other sellers have done or have found to work for them regarding designating a room or area in their homes for this purpose. Photos welcome!

[southern*sweet*tea]

I have a desk in the living room and stuff scattered around the house in bookshelves and boxes, and keep all but a handful of packing supplies in the shed. Does that count?  

[fern*wood]

I wish I had one work space or room.  It just keeps evolving (actually expanding) even when I try to stay reined in. 

I only have around 600 listings, which I try to keep in one or two rooms.  I also keep all my shipping materials in one room, with an attempt to segregate regular USPS boxes from flat rate/regional ones.   The plain brown boxes (in which I can't say no to when I see one) are stacked however they fit.  In the center of this room is a card table to use to pack on.  I have a shelving unit for tape, tissue, etc. 

My computer and listing area are in one corner of my bedroom.

[myclosettwoyours]

What works for me is dedicating the spare bedroom in my home as my ebay room.  

The wardrobe system, which is the back-drop to my photos is where I store inventory...Sliding doors revealing shelves of numbered bins.  All clothing folded neatly.  How do I know which item is where?  In the "Special Notes" section of my listing, I place the bin number corresponding to that item's location.  So when sold, I refer to the number and go straight to the item.   Tissue paper, labels, postage scale and things of that nature are stored in a 5 drawer cabinet next to the desk in easy reach of the desk/shipping department.  

All of my ebay inventory is confined to my designated work-space so as to not lose or damage anything or create clutter.  

I hope you found that helpful and I am wishing you much success!  

[llllady]

Let's see...

Kitchen table for photographing and packing.

One spare bedroom (okay, it used to be) for boxes and unlisted items.

One spare bedroom (yeah, that one used to be, too) for listed items, completed packaged and sitting on shelves.

My office (what used to be my bedroom) with stuff scattered everywhere that I have not "logged' yet into inventory.

Now, tell us again.  You want to try to set up one room?  I think you asked the wrong people!!!!!!!!

[keziak]

I have a shocking ebay/Amazon house and don't even have to deal with bulky items like houseware and collectibles. I've just had a major cleanup of boxes and packing supplies in the basement which I tossed or gave away, then got bookcases off CL and set them up in that area. Voila, more shelving for books. 

My goal is to get caught up with listing and remove boxes from the family room and  upstairs former office. I now work on the PC in the dining room so that space is bombed with books needing to be listed. 

I fail to see how all of this would fit in a room, given inventory storage, inventory being listed, computer and printer,  office supplies, packing materials, and area to process the mail. 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@llllady wrote:

Let's see...

Kitchen table for photographing and packing.

One spare bedroom (okay, it used to be) for boxes and unlisted items.

One spare bedroom (yeah, that one used to be, too) for listed items, completed packaged and sitting on shelves.

My office (what used to be my bedroom) with stuff scattered everywhere that I have not "logged' yet into inventory.

Now, tell us again.  You want to try to set up one room?  I think you asked the wrong people!!!!!!!!

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Tsk tsk. And you were chastising me and now the truth is revealed....! 

OP, I can only tell you what NOT to do. That's let it expand to exponential proportions. Ahem. 

[timemachine777]

I don't work out of my home, but if I had too. Last choice would be my garage, only because it's not heated, and winter are very cold up here, below 0 a lot. My basement would be my first choice. Even a laundry room would work and the washing and dryer could be used as a table, just put a sheet of cardboard over them. 

Dinning room or kitchen would be next. Living rm last. If you have a spare room, bingo. Confine everything in there. Keep your Scotch tape, Packing tape, Elmer's glue, scissors, and pens, etc. in a small box. Organize your boxes, and find some place to put them in easy visual reach. Pluck and go. Keep newspapers in boxes, and a big roll of 1/4" bubble size bubblewrap.

The thing is to keep everything together as much as possible. I wouldn't want people coming into my home and seeing a mail order business being run out of it. Who wants to be married to online sales 24/7 as they walk from room to room in their home. I know people that do this, and it looks like they live in one of my storage rooms.

Just make sure everything is in easy reach so that your not spending wasted time setting up and tearing down every time you have to ship something. Time is money. It doesn't take much space to pack most items. I once had to repackage an item in the passenger seat of my truck.

The bin was too full. The top package fell in a puddle of nasty slush water while I was setting the bin on the PO's loading dock platform. And yes...I keep basic packing supplies in my truck. They don't take up much space. Hope this helps.

[llllady]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@llllady wrote:

Let's see...

Kitchen table for photographing and packing.

One spare bedroom (okay, it used to be) for boxes and unlisted items.

One spare bedroom (yeah, that one used to be, too) for listed items, completed packaged and sitting on shelves.

My office (what used to be my bedroom) with stuff scattered everywhere that I have not "logged' yet into inventory.

Now, tell us again.  You want to try to set up one room?  I think you asked the wrong people!!!!!!!!

---

Tsk tsk. And you were chastising me and now the truth is revealed....! 

OP, I can only tell you what NOT to do. That's let it expand to exponential proportions. Ahem. 

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Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  I still have a long way to catch up to you though! 

[klassic*kids]

In the residence I work out of I use the guest room with a huge closet for most of my inventory: hanging up, or on top shelf of closet, or in 3 large bins on the floor of closet.  They're mostly children's clothes and are all organized by size and gender.   

Also in that room is a armoire that holds all my poly jacket/bags (I don't use boxes so don't need a lot of room for shipping supplies).

Then there is a second bedroom/computer room where I have my scale, scissors, tape.  That's where I label the packages and get them all ready to ship!

Organizing is one of the things that did take me awhile to get a handle on when I first started selling.  I wish you luck in getting up and running!

[buyselljack2016]

I am fortunate in that I have lots of room.

Computer and printer is upstairs in the corner of the living room.  I have an extra computer that at some point may be set up it the shipping table to possibly reduce trips up, and down the cellar stairs. At this time the item is packed, box marked with contents, and weight, then taken upstairs to log the sale into my notebooks, and print a label. Sometimes a list is made, and labels are taken down to put on the boxes/envelopes after printing.

I purchased (on eBay ) a used desk (under $10) with local pick up, from a community college surplus.

I set it up in my cellar (direct walk in at groung level from my garage) with my digital scale (purchased on eBay) along with my back up digital scale (purchased on eBay for less than $10, shiping included).  The scale is set up on a pedestal to keep it out of the work area, and allow for longer items to be placed on the scale without interference from the perpetual mess on the desk.

Some of my common sizes of shipping boxes a shelved under the desk. Back stock of those boxes,  other size boxes, and extra roll of bubble wrap are stored on nearby shelves. Priority boxes/Flat Rate bubble envelopes have their own section on the shelves.   I have a box with various manila bubble mailers (recycle from my wife's eBay purchases) to use as needed.

Other boxes are stored flat by approxinate size on shelves.  I source many boxes from a local hardware store, (great for large cardboard when I need to make a custom box)some grocery stores, and my mail order addicted sister-in-law. Some used boxes are stacked and nested ready to use rather than breaking them down.

Tape gun with box sealing tape, tape dispenser with narrow tape, box cutter, pen, markers, scissors, tape measure, and AM/FM/CD playre are on the desk where they are handy.

2-3 extra rolls of packing tape, box cutters, markers,  priority tape, and priority stickers are kept in a drawer.

I have a large box with scrap pieces of white styrofoam that I sometimes use when packing.

I have a bag with bubble air packs for fill.

I have a large bag of packing peanuts.

A stack of recycle newspapers is nearby.  Some precut 1/2 sheets are at the packing/shipping desk.

I have a roll of  12" bubble wrap on a rod

My plow truck does not fit in the garage with the plow on, and does not need to be in the garage in the summer anyway, so one stall of the garage is about 50% dedicated to storing eBay selling items.

There are shelves with boxes by category, and seller( wife sells to have money to buy DVD's, books, cigarettes, and nail polish.)

Once processed, (logged into inventory, and photographed) they are placed in one area to await boxing and shelving in the approiate area once listed.

[timemachine777]

I just looked at what you've been selling. So I need to add something very important. You need a clean space. Void of any animal fur also. I would also suggest buying large plastic bags  for oversized magazines in bulk. I don't sell clothing so I don't know what a good source is for strong inexpensive garment bags. I would take a guess that many on this board would however. Nice dresses BTW.

[songbirddu7]

Ya'll so organized! 

@myclosettwoyours:

I check out your listings. Good pictures. Precise descriptions/relevant measurements.

I usually skip over TOS. However, I read yours. Your TOS make me feels like I am dealing

with a true blue merchant who is proud and knows her pricing/products well.

-

Giorgia the other 1/2 of Lucas

*still rollin' with the punches*

[keziak]

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@timemachine777 wrote:

The thing is to keep everything together as much as possible. I wouldn't want people coming into my home and seeing a mail order business being run out of it. Who wants to be married to online sales 24/7 as they walk from room to room in their home. I know people that do this, and it looks like they live in one of my storage rooms.

<<<<<<<<<<<

So true! In my dreams the ideal house would have a walk-out basement with area for a workstation, shelving for all the books,  area for incoming books, and mailing supplies. All on the same level as the car, all collected in one place away from living space.  We won't be moving any decade soon so I am working on getting a better grip on things, a primary goal being to purge the family room from boxes of incoming books.  

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[myclosettwoyours]

@songbirddu7 Thank you so much for spending some time looking at my listings and giving me such positive feedback.  I appreciate that very much.  

I looked at your listings and if I were 1/2 as good as you... You my friend, are a true professional. Which makes your comments on mine ever more special.  Thank you for that.

I try not to be over priced as the clothing market is fully saturated and I am happy with my price points.  I run sales quite often and am completely thrilled in that my buyer gets a fabulous piece at a great price. 

Sonia