eBay

keziak · ‎02-09-2023

Had a good Dec and Jan, pretty typical with books. The other good time of year for books is in August. For now it's likely to be more of a slog to get sales and fewer sales to motivate heavy listing. I'm thinking it will be a good time to buckle down and do inventory work. I also want to empty my storage unit but I said that several weeks ago and I'm making little progress with that. I need to make more of an effort to yank stuff out that I do not think will sell and toss or donate it.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-09-2023

@keziak wrote:
Had a good Dec and Jan, pretty typical with books. The other good time of year for books is in August. For now it's likely to be more of a slog to get sales and fewer sales to motivate heavy listing. I'm thinking it will be a good time to buckle down and do inventory work. I also want to empty my storage unit but I said that several weeks ago and I'm making little progress with that. I need to make more of an effort to yank stuff out that I do not think will sell and toss or donate it.

Seriously, just get a start on that last and momentum will take over. I'm having to purge my inventory, too - it's tough to get rid of stuff, but don't drown in the fallacy of sunk costs! I hate clutter and a friend of mine once told me that sanity is worth any amount of stuff.

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." – George Orwell

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎02-09-2023

Agreed.

We have to learn to be more like Elsa and "let it go".

Easier said than done, I know, but I'm starting on that journey myself. I'm more than tired of the "inventory creep".

Of course, there's also the caveat that just as I decide to toss something the darn thing sells.

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

chapeau-noir · ‎02-09-2023

^^ This right here. 😞

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." – George Orwell

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

yuzuha · ‎02-09-2023

@keziak wrote:
I need to make more of an effort to yank stuff out that I do not think will sell and toss or donate it.

See, I've often found that the things where I've gone "I have no idea why anyone would ever want this, but I'll list it anyway" are often the things that surprise me and end up selling within a week or two, so I don't toss anything anymore. A plastic shot glass from a local distillery? Sold overnight.

I figure that as long as I have more things going out than coming in, I'm doing fine on the inventory front. So far I'm managing to achieve that-- I got 7 new crane game prizes in this week and I'm shipping/have shipped 11 things out, so that's a net decrease of 4 right there.

... make that 12 things going out, haha. (We don't talk about the, uh... 22 prizes I still need to have shipped to me, shhh.)

chapeau-noir · ‎02-09-2023

But if you've had unsold inventory collecting up over several years like drifts of snow in successive blizzards, it does become pretty evident that no one is going to purchase the stuff. I'll list anything, but I won't keep it forever (particularly since I don't have a lot of room) if it doesn't sell.

There are some things I do keep because I do know they need to find their buyer, but many other items, if they haven't sold in three years, they probably won't. If I had more room I'd probably be more patient. Also, I'm trying to bow out of this and one reason is I'm tired of the clutter and want to take a new direction. Selling clothing is a hustler's game.

So I guess it depends on one's goals and what they sell, but as I'm always saying "I run a store, not a museum."

ETA: I get what you're saying about not trying to predict what will sell and not sell - I have surprises on that all the time - I'm thinking about purging inventory.

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." – George Orwell

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

keziak · ‎02-10-2023

I have a couple of big problems with the unit.

1. Optimistically buying specialty magazines only for having the first forays into selling them result in nothing. So what to do with the rest? Devote more time to listing them or purge?

2. Several boxes of science fiction paperbacks which I need to sort by author. Enthusiasm is low but I bought the darn things so I need to at least make some effort to list them.

Most of the rest is pretty much detritus like boxes of classical music CDs which I can't move since I am blocked on Amazon and I have little idea how to sell them here. I went through and separated the jazz CDs and sold them here but the rest need the heave-ho I guess.

Hubby would say take more stuff from the house to the unit but (a) stuff goes there to die, and (b) books I do not want to risk in an un-climate controlled space.

I'm neither taking stuff there or systematically removing stuff so I think it's utility to me is gone.