eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎02-09-2020

So I undertake some time consuming types of items to sell... lately it's Stamp collections, next month it's going to be junk coins assembled into auction listings, and there's a box of buttons of military uniforms that are in my office for my next experiment - this I can't lose on, they belong to the B&M store and very little was paid for them.

Maybe it's because I work full time, maybe it's because my job is stressful and dealing with making listings and organizing inventory isn't at the top of my list when I get home from work, but I just find there isn't enough time to do it all.

As I understand, some of you sell very time consuming items too (like clothing, lots of pictures, lots of measurements), I don't envy you, it takes time, and clothes take up a lot of space and are susceptible to poor climate conditions, stamps take up less space, but need to be stored in a climate controlled place.

So I'm wondering how you juggle and manage all the maintenance that's required to keep your eBay store open (sourcing, listing, photographing) on top of your every day life.

I don't think I had this problem until a few months ago... but last October work introduced an automation system that eliminated the need for a human to be supervising our work group. We now have software that keeps track of every second of our day, including how long we spend in the bathroom. Knowing a report is being created every day of my activities has made life extra stressful and less fun when I come home.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎02-10-2020

@chapeau-noir wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
So I undertake some time consuming types of items to sell... lately it's Stamp collections, next month it's going to be junk coins assembled into auction listings, and there's a box of buttons of military uniforms that are in my office for my next experiment - this I can't lose on, they belong to the B&M store and very little was paid for them.

Maybe it's because I work full time, maybe it's because my job is stressful and dealing with making listings and organizing inventory isn't at the top of my list when I get home from work, but I just find there isn't enough time to do it all.

As I understand, some of you sell very time consuming items too (like clothing, lots of pictures, lots of measurements), I don't envy you, it takes time, and clothes take up a lot of space and are susceptible to poor climate conditions, stamps take up less space, but need to be stored in a climate controlled place.

So I'm wondering how you juggle and manage all the maintenance that's required to keep your eBay store open (sourcing, listing, photographing) on top of your every day life.

I don't think I had this problem until a few months ago... but last October work introduced an automation system that eliminated the need for a human to be supervising our work group. We now have software that keeps track of every second of our day, including how long we spend in the bathroom. Knowing a report is being created every day of my activities has made life extra stressful and less fun when I come home.

C.
OMG, how old rusty Industrial Revolution is that? That's so backward - I'm not surprised it's stressful. I spent a large portion of my career cranking out copy being paid by the line, and it still wasn't as stressful as being mapped every second of the day.

As for sales - I block tasks. I sell mostly clothing, some computer parts and sports stuff, CDs, etc. but a lot of clothing. I work in groups of 10-12 items. For clothing, I always clean things when I get them in. After that, I prep 10-12 items, photo them, put the photos through post and measure them. Then I'll list 5 one day and 5 the next. That way I always have a group of listings ready to go if I get short of time one day. If you get a rhythm going, you can see how to block your own particular items. Blocking tasks is the greatest time saver for me.

I worked in high stress situations for years - the best stress-buster for me was some brisk exercise after work. At one point I had 20 contentious staffers who used to stuff my cubicle and yell over things like the Oxford Comma (I was a chief editor) and there was always some dayum problem, so I understand stress. I used to run stairs after work.

What we have at work is a phone queue. You get hooked up to it through your computer and you get calls. I average 2 calls a day, working for 8 hours. They have 50 people on this queue. Anyone not on the queue is doing something where productivity is measured. I get measured on both. I can't leave my desk while on the queue in case a call comes in, so I need to log out and indicate the reason why I'm logged out, and then log back in when I come back. We get questioned on why we are doing administrative tasks while on certain jobs (that only require you to sit at your desk and work, and take calls). I told my supervisor I have a million reasons for leaving my desk that are work related... getting and returning files to storage, delivering CDs and paperwork to other staff, getting supplies I need to work, going to the photocopier/printer, dropping stuff in the outgoing mail, and in my case most often, going to someone's desk to walk them through something - where I need to see their computer screen. So that being said, if I log out for a bathroom break it's tracking minutes and seconds. We're no longer allowed to go and get food from the cafeteria unless it's part of our lunch break (but we do get an hour, and I go home during that time).

I killed some stress tonight by spending an hour making dinner (with leftovers for a few days), and then I sat on my bed and worked on one of my stamp albums while sorting them by country/region into binders so I can add stamps later when this album is done. Of course I can only do stamps for an hour or two, and then I get a bit bored.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎02-10-2020

@chapeau-noir wrote:
You mention a notebook - is this hard copy? I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to just start transferring stuff to a spreadsheet if you don't already - that way you can sort items by any sort of criteria. I use spreadsheets for my computer peripherals and A/V stuff I sell - it has SKU, title, description, price, shipping and date sourced and listed.

ETA: It's a big time saver. You don't have to transfer current stuff, since you already have a backlog and that wouldn't be efficient, but you can start from here on in.

It's a hard copy spiral bound book. I go through one book every 12-18 months. I also keep notes relating to my bookkeeping clients and use it for scrap paper when I need to tabulate some numbers. So the book is useful. As for keeping inventory, I did actually put it all in a spreadsheet in 2018, but I didn't have time to maintain it. I'm not usually at my computer when I'm appraising inventory, I tend to like to lie face down on my bed resting on my elbows while examining my loot.

Since I have a pretty good memory, I can usually find the page I need pretty quickly as I remember roughly how long I've had the inventory. Once in a while I go through tins and baskets to make lists of what's in there, but I don't tend to have time. All inventory is in a zip lock bag with a price sticker to indicate my cost (for when I'm calculating profits). If for some reason I can't find the item in the book, because maybe I missed it, I have the physical item with the price on it.

C.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-10-2020

It sounds like you've got that set up, then - I just was looking at possible realistic efficiencies and little time savers.

I recall we had an 'efficiency expert' come into one place where I worked. We had a large roomful of transcriptionists, a couple of editors and me (chief editor) then our supervisor and manager - it was a pretty big operation. The transcriptionists were told that any time they had their hands off the keyboard, it had to be documented - in other words, they were told they needed to just type robotically. Because I was supposedly in charge of all the words, I asked "What if a term needs to be verified or an abbreviation looked up? What if someone needs to comb two reference books to find a particular phrase?" The 'expert' just looked blankly at me, then carried on as if I had spoken Patagonian at her or something. Since I had no authority save over the words, there wasn't anything I could do when my office cube filled up afterwards with understandably distressed staff. I even had people surrounding it looking down into it from outside because they couldn't wedge themselves in - a row of eyes peering down at me. Fortunately, we didn't follow all of the recommendation, because all of that micromanaging, in the end, took more time than to just do the thing. Then the manager was fired ROFL.

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

getitright1234 · ‎02-10-2020

When my sales are coming in, I work harder to find new things, list new things, and often reduce the price on old slow moving things. I love bring somewhat overwhelmed with sales. HOWEVER, when no sales are coming in, it is very hard to stay motivated, it is quite depressing, scary, and the level of stress is cringworthy. Despite having lots of things around the house to sell, I feel it is now harder to get sales.

My Sales do not as appear organic/natural. They appear to be on a fixed schedule beyond my control, they are cluster sales. If I were to go out and source 2000 high demand widgits, I still would not sell out largely because I feel my sales are on some control schedule, it is sad.

I often wonder just how successful are sellers are able to grow their business. At least when you go into your job, you know what you are going to earn for that day, no matter how stressful your work day became.

membersinceaug2001 · ‎02-10-2020

That work automation tracking system seems to be the norm at all BigCorp's these days. There's a 2 word term for it, I can't remember the name but it was created to track machine efficiency and is now applied to human workers too.

membersinceaug2001 · ‎02-10-2020

Yea, that automation thing I mentioned in last post is being used on us sellers too. At least on here and Amazon.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@steelernation2007 wrote:
Try giving an LED camera light a try. You can mount it on a stand and adjust how bright you want it. Or direct it where you want it.

Man... pictures are the bane of my existence right now. I've recently moved to green screen "chroma-key" and I'm starting to wonder if it is more trouble than its worth.

I've got a ton of lighting... tried all sorts of camera settings... and getting very inconsistent pictures that won't key out right.

Perhaps this sounds ridiculous but I don't really have the time to photoshop all of these by hand. I feel like I could hire a graphics artist and keep them gainfully employed all day every day just to get this done.

I've found some online services that return very acceptable results. However, for the volume of photography I'm doing it would cost me $200+ a month. I just don't feel ready to fork out that kind of money to blank out backgrounds in photos.

I spent a few days writing a script in imagemagick that does about 99% of the heavy lifting, however, its not nearly as perfect as the results I get from 3rd party sites. Even touching these up takes a significant amount of time.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@byrd69er wrote:
Actually, consider using incandesent flashlights (old style Mag Lite). An LED will cast a blue light. Incandesent is warmer, more natural.

That's absolutely true and although I have adjusted white balance I sometime get off results.

Personally, I feel I get better results under 6500K lights BUT I do have that blue tinge problem... sometimes.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@steelernation2007 wrote:
LED does not make blue light if you use the proper camera settings. There is a setting called "Fluorescent Light". I know, someone is going to tell me cell phone cameras don't have that. People should not be taking Ebay photos with a cell phone anyhow.

I wonder about this, though. I can sit down and take 5 shots of the same item under the same conditions on the same backdrop and get 5 different results.

I'm really beginning to wonder if there is something up with my camera although I never had these problems when I shot my photos on a white background.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@sin-n-dex wrote:
. He was hired as an efficiency expert to transform the company, and micromanagement is what he's decided he's going to do.

That's all I needed to hear. I would stage an exit, ASAP.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@chapeau-noir wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
So I undertake some time consuming types of items to sell... lately it's Stamp collections, next month it's going to be junk coins assembled into auction listings, and there's a box of buttons of military uniforms that are in my office for my next experiment - this I can't lose on, they belong to the B&M store and very little was paid for them.

Maybe it's because I work full time, maybe it's because my job is stressful and dealing with making listings and organizing inventory isn't at the top of my list when I get home from work, but I just find there isn't enough time to do it all.

As I understand, some of you sell very time consuming items too (like clothing, lots of pictures, lots of measurements), I don't envy you, it takes time, and clothes take up a lot of space and are susceptible to poor climate conditions, stamps take up less space, but need to be stored in a climate controlled place.

So I'm wondering how you juggle and manage all the maintenance that's required to keep your eBay store open (sourcing, listing, photographing) on top of your every day life.

I don't think I had this problem until a few months ago... but last October work introduced an automation system that eliminated the need for a human to be supervising our work group. We now have software that keeps track of every second of our day, including how long we spend in the bathroom. Knowing a report is being created every day of my activities has made life extra stressful and less fun when I come home.

C.
OMG, how old rusty Industrial Revolution is that? That's so backward - I'm not surprised it's stressful. I spent a large portion of my career cranking out copy being paid by the line, and it still wasn't as stressful as being mapped every second of the day.

As for sales - I block tasks. I sell mostly clothing, some computer parts and sports stuff, CDs, etc. but a lot of clothing. I work in groups of 10-12 items. For clothing, I always clean things when I get them in. After that, I prep 10-12 items, photo them, put the photos through post and measure them. Then I'll list 5 one day and 5 the next. That way I always have a group of listings ready to go if I get short of time one day. If you get a rhythm going, you can see how to block your own particular items. Blocking tasks is the greatest time saver for me.

I worked in high stress situations for years - the best stress-buster for me was some brisk exercise after work. At one point I had 20 contentious staffers who used to stuff my cubicle and yell over things like the Oxford Comma (I was a chief editor) and there was always some dayum problem, so I understand stress. I used to run stairs after work.
What we have at work is a phone queue. You get hooked up to it through your computer and you get calls. I average 2 calls a day, working for 8 hours. They have 50 people on this queue. Anyone not on the queue is doing something where productivity is measured. I get measured on both. I can't leave my desk while on the queue in case a call comes in, so I need to log out and indicate the reason why I'm logged out, and then log back in when I come back. We get questioned on why we are doing administrative tasks while on certain jobs (that only require you to sit at your desk and work, and take calls). I told my supervisor I have a million reasons for leaving my desk that are work related... getting and returning files to storage, delivering CDs and paperwork to other staff, getting supplies I need to work, going to the photocopier/printer, dropping stuff in the outgoing mail, and in my case most often, going to someone's desk to walk them through something - where I need to see their computer screen. So that being said, if I log out for a bathroom break it's tracking minutes and seconds. We're no longer allowed to go and get food from the cafeteria unless it's part of our lunch break (but we do get an hour, and I go home during that time).

I killed some stress tonight by spending an hour making dinner (with leftovers for a few days), and then I sat on my bed and worked on one of my stamp albums while sorting them by country/region into binders so I can add stamps later when this album is done. Of course I can only do stamps for an hour or two, and then I get a bit bored.

C.

I'm curious what it is you do? I was in charge of a call center for many years, and 9-12 calls from the ACD was a "typical" day. To add, there were other direct calls coming in as well.

2 calls a day sounds remarkably low but may not be if you average call is 3 or 4 hours.

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@chapeau-noir wrote:
You mention a notebook - is this hard copy? I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to just start transferring stuff to a spreadsheet if you don't already - that way you can sort items by any sort of criteria. I use spreadsheets for my computer peripherals and A/V stuff I sell - it has SKU, title, description, price, shipping and date sourced and listed.

ETA: It's a big time saver. You don't have to transfer current stuff, since you already have a backlog and that wouldn't be efficient, but you can start from here on in.
It's a hard copy spiral bound book. I go through one book every 12-18 months. I also keep notes relating to my bookkeeping clients and use it for scrap paper when I need to tabulate some numbers. So the book is useful. As for keeping inventory, I did actually put it all in a spreadsheet in 2018, but I didn't have time to maintain it. I'm not usually at my computer when I'm appraising inventory, I tend to like to lie face down on my bed resting on my elbows while examining my loot.

Since I have a pretty good memory, I can usually find the page I need pretty quickly as I remember roughly how long I've had the inventory. Once in a while I go through tins and baskets to make lists of what's in there, but I don't tend to have time. All inventory is in a zip lock bag with a price sticker to indicate my cost (for when I'm calculating profits). If for some reason I can't find the item in the book, because maybe I missed it, I have the physical item with the price on it.

C.

My initial impression is that this seems like an "odd" methodology but if its gets it done, who am I to judge?

equid0x · ‎02-11-2020

@getitright1234 wrote:
When my sales are coming in, I work harder to find new things, list new things, and often reduce the price on old slow moving things. I love bring somewhat overwhelmed with sales. HOWEVER, when no sales are coming in, it is very hard to stay motivated, it is quite depressing, scary, and the level of stress is cringworthy. Despite having lots of things around the house to sell, I feel it is now harder to get sales.

My Sales do not as appear organic/natural. They appear to be on a fixed schedule beyond my control, they are cluster sales. If I were to go out and source 2000 high demand widgits, I still would not sell out largely because I feel my sales are on some control schedule, it is sad.

I often wonder just how successful are sellers are able to grow their business. At least when you go into your job, you know what you are going to earn for that day, no matter how stressful your work day became.

Do you not keep these items in a specific area of your home?

I work from home, but virtually all of my inventory is either in my office space, or in the garage if it won't fit there. I do not generally store or process any inventory anywhere else in my home except those spaces with the possible exception of times like x-mas when I might have overflow.

I feel that it is very important to keep a hard line between work and home. Not just for the IRS, but also for your own sanity!

sin-n-dex · ‎02-11-2020

@equid0x wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
. He was hired as an efficiency expert to transform the company, and micromanagement is what he's decided he's going to do.

That's all I needed to hear. I would stage an exit, ASAP.

Easier said than done... I'm paid $5 an hour more than other companies pay for the same type of job. Everyone is supposed to get 2 weeks of holidays, but due to seniority at my company I get 6. They give me an hour for lunch, but most companies only give 30 minutes. My benefits cover my medications 100% (which would cost me $600 a month if paid out of pocket). I get $2500 a year in dental coverage (my co-pay is 10%), which I frequently need due to less than fantastic teeth. I'm 3 miles from work, so I can go home for lunch (enough time and close enough).

All of that might be worth putting up with a bit of difficulty coping at work. We are monitored for being on time (to the second) and not leaving before our scheduled time (to the second), which I know I will do fine at because I go to work 15 minutes early to take advantage of a breakfast sandwich in the cafeteria before I start work. I've noticed that in my group of 8 people I'm the only person who is at work on time... so I'm not too worried about my performance here.

And most of all, I know the job very well and won't have to learn a bunch of new systems and tasks. I've been on our team for 8 years longer than the next most senior person, so everyone comes to me for help with the more difficult tasks. (And there's a few things there that only I know how to do, another reason I'm not worried about losing my job).

C.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-11-2020

@equid0x wrote:
@steelernation2007 wrote:
LED does not make blue light if you use the proper camera settings. There is a setting called "Fluorescent Light". I know, someone is going to tell me cell phone cameras don't have that. People should not be taking Ebay photos with a cell phone anyhow.
I wonder about this, though. I can sit down and take 5 shots of the same item under the same conditions on the same backdrop and get 5 different results.

I'm really beginning to wonder if there is something up with my camera although I never had these problems when I shot my photos on a white background.

Have you tried a gray card?

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.