Just thought I'd start a fun topic since none of us have the burden of shipping tomorrow (well in the U.S. anyway). Where do you live, and how does it affect your sourcing, pricing, shipping, and day-to-day, round-the-house tasks involved with eBay selling? I know the locations of a few sellers here but only a few. Be as vague or specific as you like, although the name (and the SIZE) of your town/city might be a big factor.
Me: Mobile, Alabama.
Pros:
Although not in the perfect center of the country, Mobile is pretty close to central, at least East-West-wise. This ensures I never have any major sticker shock for shipping labels.
True cold, ice and snow are almost never a factor; I just trotted my ship-outs to the mailbox, barefoot. 🤣
Thrifting/antique/junktique/general picking is ABUNDANT, FABULOUS, and CHEEEEAP! (at least compared to what I see in Youtube videos of other pickers around the country-makes me feel sorry for them, honestly). Mobile is the nation's 14th oldest city, so there's lots of old stuff here, and being deep-South, the cost of everything is just lower overall.
Here's a video of just the CA-RA-ZY jewelry rooms of one of my favorite antique malls. Yes the owner's name is literally Jewel, ha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SGGiDhY63o
Cons:
Although I have a great mailman, Craig (should've put him in pro's list), at my actual post office is Brenda the desk clerk from Hades. I have detailed some of her many evils in other posts.
Sales tax is high, 10% in-city, 8% of which is Alabama-wide, so even when I source from other sellers on eBay, the total often makes me gasp.
Now, here's the one that made me start this thread. Mobile is the rainiest city in America -oops, CONTINENTAL America ( @inhawaii I'm sure you've got me beat there). Not only is it rainy; it's humid ... just ....ALWAYS humid whether hot or cold. I call Mobile 'Vietnabama' because it reminds me of what my dad described of Vietnam. This causes a myriad of problems including year-round mosquitoes and many other bugs that may not be vampires but monstrous in their own right, also mold and algae, and daily confounding things like:
paper jams, because after I peel off one label, the blank one is on a sheet that immediately does this:
because the air in the house is like this:
So what's a gurl to do? Turn on the a/c, on New Year's Eve, when it's already a tad chilly?
Yes. Yes that's exactly what I must do, and REMEMBER to do, at least an hour before trying to print. 🤣
