speedy listing?

[keziak]

Until recently my main site was Amazon (books and media) and now I"m only on Ebay and it takes me around twice or more time to list here which frustrates me. Sometimes people are interested in more of what I am selling and unless it's a small amount I have to say please make me a Saved Seller because I am not sure how quickly  l will list more of a certain thing (example: wood working DVDs, thank goodness for patient repeat buyers. Also Osprey books).

Any tips on speeding up the listing process? I use a template for my TOS and trying to mostly use the description field for condition and use the other item specifics for title etc. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

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@keziak wrote:

 The time and energy for work is so limited as is time and energy for other pursuits.

Like making my jam from your garden bounty! 🤣🤣

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[chapeau-noir]

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@keziak wrote:

My dislike of the SYI form is all the redundancy. I was inputting the title and author in three places. I am experimenting with using the IS as much as possible and not repeating the same information in the description, only the condition. It helps some. 

To be honest, I find listing so boring and tedious that it's very easy to let myself keep busy doing other things including errands because "after all, I work from home". 

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I've had jobs like that - just grit your teeth and get 'er done. I would keep telling myself that if I churned out this mountain of copy this morning, then I would be done with it. The feeling of being free is worth it!

[keziak]

Well today I spent the time going through my inventory which is important since I have a ton of books on the shelves that are not listed. Mostly because I only had them on Amazon but plenty that based on the slip I put in each book that I supposedly had on Ebay over a year ago. This gives me books to list, others to hopefully get trade credit at the used bookstore, and precious shelf space.

I have many boxes of books to shelve, another thing I need to "just do it". 

[fbusoni]

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@keziak wrote:

Any tips on speeding up the listing process? I use a template for my TOS and trying to mostly use the description field for condition and use the other item specifics for title etc. 

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@keziak 

I too list a lot of books and yes, it can be tedious.  For photos, I take a minimum of 8 -- all six sides of the book, the inside cover page, and the page showing the date of publication.  (I do not sell books with any defects like underlining, which would require additional pics and explanation.)

I have some stock phrasing that I use for most books; I have it saved in a .txt document on my hard drive and just copy and paste it (I don't use templates, perhaps I should).

It's a lot of work, but over the years I have had scores of terrific sales that have paid for my entire inventory a couple of times over.    In other words, the extra effort can and often does pay off.   My son wants to start an eBay account and I will be giving him a hundred books or so that I've not sold.   (What a relief! 😁)

And yes... I have found that it is CRITICAL to get away from the computer and eBay for at least several hours each day.    Or even to take a break entirely from listing for a day or two. 

[keziak]

I took a staycation in February and while I shipped I didn't list and it was lovely.  One thing I should be doing at this stage in my working life is raise the minimum price of stuff I sell and don't hang onto the rest. I'm not doing so great with that so far.  Squandaring precious time and energy on cheap books just because I have them. Possibly if I ever get my present supply listed I can be tougher with myself about anything I bring home.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The books you choose to list often dictate your attitude toward listing.

My selection methods reflect who I am and what interests me, they do not reflect what I happened to find on a given day.

The type of research I do prior to listing reflects the nature of the book or related item. I love buying. I often love listing, what I hate is packing and shipping.

There is no hard and fast rule to how many pictures I take. If I am working that day with my flatbed scanner, it is likely to be fine or better condition books and a single cover scan is all I do.

If I am working with my other scanner which is really a digital camera built into a stand, there are more likely to be multiple scans. I can do 8 scans with it in the time it takes to do one with a flatbed. That is even though I do more color adjustment with that device.

Specialist booksellers seem to enjoy listing more than generalists. They did even when they were preparing mail order catalogs. Perhaps its because most of us rarely list any fiction (except perhaps in what we write 😀).

[keziak]

Back in the day I specialized more, especially crafts and needlework. I had no problem finding saleable books in that category at library sales. But overall the value of such books has collapsed so even if I go to a sale (I avoid most now d ue to excessive crowds) and I find the books I know they aren't worth buying.  I also like cookbooks but have only one good source for them. so mostly it's whatever I can find where  I scout.  The point of scouting is to find single-title books and media. I have many boxes of stuff that needs to be lotted up for auctions.

[reallynicestamps]

For most of my SF/F books I would scan only the front cover. My buyers were readers not collectors, although there is a market for Freas or Franzetta covers.

For my philatelic books, I will scan a couple of random interior pages, to give the philatelist an idea of the coverage and the quality of the illustrations.

I did more scanning with knitting patterns, but like @keziak says, the market for those has almost disappeared with only the occasional '50s or earlier baby patterns moving at all.

[keziak]

I had a somewhat interesting experience with the patterns I got (tons). I sold many small lots of them that were vintage reproductions. Once those were all gone I tried selling the general women's garments and when that didn't work out gave up and worked on other stuff. Then I got tired of the boxes taking up space, broke down and listed a largueish lot which sold. LIsted another, sold. Then I had a woman tell me she'd buy all the rest despite a lot of duplicates so I shipped a heavy box to her. Meanwhile I donated boxes of them to a local craft store. So I am out that money but I made so much based on what I paid for them I am fine. Glad to not have all those boxes around anymore. I know I will feel the same once I sell or donate a lot of dishes I bought.

[reallynicestamps]

Good plan. Sell what you can and when you have paid the procurement cost, everything else that sells is a profit.

So when sales slow or stop, take your profits and dispose of the unsold stuff however you can. Including batch lots, wholesaling and bonfires.

Now if I could just convince DH of that.

[chapeau-noir]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Good plan. Sell what you can and when you have paid the procurement cost, everything else that sells is a profit.

So when sales slow or stop, take your profits and dispose of the unsold stuff however you can. Including batch lots, wholesaling and bonfires.

Now if I could just convince DH of that.

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[keziak]

I am doing some early "Spring cleaning", hauling off stuff I have come to believe won't sell. My problem is that every time I tell my DH that I've done this he just points to other stuff still there.  So I just have to rely on your's truly for any atta girls.