Ep 196 || Opportunities In An Uncertain Economy

[podcast_team]

This week, Griff is joined by Kathy Terrill of Ilovetobeselling.com to discover some types of inventory best suited to weather a recession. And it’s a check in with Lynn Dralle of the Queen of Auctions to talk about the current situation for both her business on eBay and her consignment shop in Ventura, CA.

You got questions? Call us at 888 723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com.
Join the conversation
Take our podcast listener survey

Episode Links:
NPR Article on Consumer Spending Behavior
I Love To Be Selling w Kathy Terrill
Lynn Dralle The Queen of Auctions Website
Recurring Links:
eBay for Business Podcast
eBay for Business Podcast Discussion Group
eBay for Business Podcast Listener Survey
eBay Seller News Announcements
eBay for Business Facebook
Community Chat with eBay Staff
eBay Seller Center
eBay Help
eBay Local Seller Events
Seller Hub
eBay Events

Griff: I'm Griff and this is the eBay for Business Podcast, your source for the information and inspiration to help you start manage and grow a business on the world's most powerful marketplace. And this is episode 196. As you probably figured out already, there's no cohost for us this week. It's just me and you. And the topic this week is one I would rather, we didn't have to address, but Hey, ignoring it, won't make it go away. And that's the current economic situation with some of the highest inflation rates we've seen in several decades, along with the possibility even of a recession. Now I've been here a long time, and I remember years ago, then eBay CEO, Meg, Whitman explaining how eBay is by nature, a recession proof business. And I think it is, but that doesn't mean that sellers who depend on eBay shouldn't at the very least be prepared for what might be the first recession since the big one of 2009, 2011. Remember that one? Boy, that was something. And to that end this week, we're gonna talk to two sellers, Kathy Terrill, she’s gonna return to talk about what might be good product sourcing opportunities during a recession based on what real data shows buyers still seek out. And may shop for even during an economic downturn and I'll find out what one of our regular correspondents, Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions has planned for her dual business consignment and a shop and selling on eBay. What she's planning to do to better meet the possible challenges of an uncertain business climate in the months ahead. Brian's not here this week he's on vacation golfing in Ireland. Let's all feel very sad for Brian. Next week we'll be joined by Rebecca, she will join as our cohost. So we'll have our regular format. This week, as I said, it's just us. So there's no news this week. Coincidentally, except for high inflation and high gas prices. And there's no, you got questions which following Brian's lead has decided to take a short little summer pre-summer hiatus, but I guarantee will return next week. So rather than me just yammering on let's get started. First, we're gonna reconnect with our eBay selling guru in Manhattan from, ILoveToBeSelling.com.

Griff: If you're like me and you're paying attention to the financial news. Well, it isn't good. Let's just be right up front about it. Not only having really high inflation right now, and prices for everything are increasing, but now there's talk about a recession. And if you're an eBay seller, you're probably wondering what's this mean for me? Should I be worried? I'm not the expert on any of this stuff. And I think it would be better that we had somebody who does know a little bit about it. So please welcome our returning guest, Kathy Terrill.

Kathy: Hi, Griff. I'm glad you brought this up because certainly as sellers we've been through an awful lot, the past four or five years, right? There's just been one thing after another. And with the past few years, we really had no control. You know, there were just so many factors going on. It was really about people staying safe and staying healthy. Well, now we're facing potentially recession and we are certainly facing rather high inflation and it impacts our shoppers when things like the gas prices go up, I'm sure shipping's gonna go up one of these days and cost of goods, even when, especially if you're buying retail, if you're buying any kind of retail establishment, not so much thrifts, but more for the retail arbitrage people when you're buying and flipping from stores. And I actually found this really good article, maybe you can link to it. It was June 10th and it was NPR. And what they talked about was data that they have about how American consumer behavior is like right now during inflationary times. And so I dug right into this cause I've actually been searching these for a couple months now to sort of get an idea of what's selling and what isn't selling. So I can help sellers and sort of steer them in that direction because Griff you and I both know this, something sells on eBay every second of every day.

Griff: yeah, it's true.

Kathy: And that is true worldwide. How can I, as a seller source those things, cuz people are still shopping?

Griff: We're going into the typical summer slump though, as well, right?

Kathy: Yes, exactly. We're going to summer slump and we have inflation potentially recession. So what are people buying as we're heading into summer and interesting. One thing that's really selling well right now in the NPR article called this out is pet products because you might economize on yourself, but you sure as heck will not cut back on your pet! right. My pet, I gotta get them that new bowl or cooling mats. They have cooling mats.

Griff: Oh yes. I've bought them.

Kathy: Right. See, you can source them at thrift stores. You can source them in discount stores. You can source them at major retailers cuz they go on clearance. Because that style, that pattern of the collar, the cooling mat, the whatever it is, doesn't sell where you are, but it will sell on eBay. I sold some mats, this was a couple years ago. I found them on a thrift store. It's the mats that you put underneath the pet bowls.

Griff: They keep your floors from getting marred up.

Kathy: And getting all the schmutz all over it. And it was a brand name and it was brand new with tags. Somebody must have bought them and changed their mind or they bought them and they moved. I don't know. And I grabbed them and it was like about half a dozen and they sold, they were all gone within about three months.

Griff: The only thing I'll spend more money on than myself is for my two dogs so.

Kathy: See! And people go, okay, Kathy well, how do I find out one is if you don't own pets yourself, you can still sell pet products very profitably. Go into the pet sections in the various stores or go online to the big pet retailers and go through the different products. So that you're familiar, like cooling Mats. Absolutely. With the heat that a lot of the United States is facing right now, that would be a great thing to be able to source, but go and look through all the different categories so that when you're out and about shopping and you see something, man, you just flip out your phone and search it and see if it sells on eBay.

Griff: So I wanted to see if there was on eBay, something that I was thinking of buying for my dogs.

Kathy: What was that?

Griff: Booties that you put on your dog's feet?

Kathy: Oh, New York city. They're huge.

Griff: Yeah. Where they, they don't burn their little paws on the hot asphalt.

Kathy: In the winter, It's because of the salt and in the summer, Yes, exactly. For the asphalt. So that's a great one is the booties for the dog. And they come different sizes too because of the size of the animals. So that's a great one. One category that is actually surprise is still doing very, very well. And actually they say, well accelerate and again, this was the NPR article. People are traveling. And I do this when I'm in the airports, where was, I was flying Florida to visit friends. And I always look around when I'm in the airports to look at what do people have with them? The neck roles, people in their twenties and thirties like to travel in hoodies because they like to pull the hood down over their eyes when they're sleeping on the plane attachments to hold the water bottles right onto your luggage. And the other thing, Fanny packs! Fanny packs are hot.

Griff: Have they come back?

Kathy: Yes. And I actually searched. I was like, I'm doing my research because I'm gonna be on with Griff. I searched, you know, are they still relevant? Because I know they were hot a couple years ago. Sure enough, they are relevant. And in fact, doing my trustee research on eBay, 11,000 sold Fanny packs.

Griff: I've always said, you can dress up a Fanny pack. It's still bad fashion.

Kathy:

Griff: I know they're practical.

Kathy: I'll tell you where else I see them. Griff is here in New York. When people are skating, when people are biking, they will have a Fanny pack on. You can get them at thrift stores. You can get them in retail stores, check the clearance area. You could do online arbitrage, you buy on eBay and flip it. People throw lots of them in because they pick it up at a yard sale, whatever. They just wanna sell them. Or perhaps they're cleaning out their closet and they'll put together like six or eight Fanny packs. You look at it and you recognize a couple of designer. You're like, oh, I know what that is, buy it and flip it. And they're lightweight. Griff. Easy to pack. Easy to ship.

Griff: Yeah, I guess you're right. I I've never owned one. I figured my fanny was packed enough as it is. But who knows?

Kathy: Laugh> I bet there's eBay logo. Fanny packs.

Griff: Oh, you know, I don't know if that's true. I wonder if there were ever was?

Kathy: Oh, you know what? There are, there were from one of the eBay Opens because I have one, I have a neon eBay, Fanny. Now everybody's gonna be jumping on eBay. It was from eBay open. I'm pretty sure there's neon pink. I'm pretty sure I have the pink one. Cause I used to take it to the gym. eBay Open pink and there's neon green. And by the way, neon is very in. So look at eBay being on trend with that.

Griff: Oh. So I just look for Fanny pack Kathy.

Kathy: What'd you find?

Griff: Lululemon. A coach Fanny pack. Stranger things Fanny pack. Supreme. Supreme being that label that everyone wants. Harley Davidson Fanny pack. So there are brands. I'm tempted to buy one. Mark Jacobs. It's a beautiful red. You now you've got me shopping for Fanny packs, woman. What are you doing to me?

Kathy: Watch out. Girl's gonna get a Fanny pack. I've got two more tips for you. Everybody's looking to stretch their dollars, particularly when they're grocery shopping and people say, well, Kathy eBay again is great for collectibles. It's great for vintage. It's great for clothing. It's great for refurbished. It's great for sports collectables, but it's not really grocery. Aha. But certain grocery does very well on eBay and one that you can all source. It's a matter of finding the right stuff. So you're gonna need to do a little research, but a huge category on eBay is tea.

Griff: Tea?

Kathy: Tea is huge. And I'm a coffee drinker. Yeah. I love my coffee, but I do drink tea. I drink green tea in the afternoon and typically peppermint tea, which is how I got going, searching this. And I actually had some tea that I had bought and it just wasn't me. And it was brand new and sealed. So I had one box that I had opened and tried some and I went, mm, not really me and I had another box that was still sealed. I sold it on eBay and I got my money back. Wow. So this is another one. eBay advanced search. And I did my checked my solds, 30,000 sold tea items. Now that included teapots, tea infusers, tea accessories. Again, go on the big sites. There's plenty of big sites that sell tea. Go on eBay, check the solds. Look at Terra peak, but there's a lot of accessories for tea. But the tea itself, certain brands you may be able to get... let's say, we're gonna use Griff. Griff's Tea. So you may be able to get Griff's Tea in San Jose, but you're in New York city, New York. City's great. But we're having shortages on some things in New York at various stores. I can't get Griff's Tea. My local supermarket doesn't have it. And my local online supermarket doesn't have it. It's like, ah, but guess what? eBay has it because Griff is in San Jose. He has discovered that Griff's Tea does really well on eBay. So when he goes to buy his tea, he buys some extra boxes and he lists them on eBay and they sell. And it was actually, it was a major brand that I had the extra box it's sold, like within two weeks. And the other thing with the boxes of tea, it's easy to take pictures. it's like really? It's definitely something you can list with the app. Just whip your phone out. Right? Take the pictures. Upload. I love tea. It's so easy to list.

Griff: I did one grocery item two years ago during the start of the pandemic when Grape Nuts suddenly disappeared from the shelves.

Kathy: Isn't that fun?

Griff: Yes. And I went to Costco and bought several boxes and I sold them on eBay.

Kathy: See? I had some, it was Emergen-C. You know, the stuff that you put in the water?

Griff: Oh sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Kathy: And I had a box and it was a flavor that it just wasn't my favorite flavor. Again, the expiration date was still fine. Super easy to take pictures of boom, boom, boom. And that was sold again in two weeks.

Griff: We have Fanny packs. We have our dog booties, we got tea. What else?

Kathy: This is a fun one that I discovered it is called the lipstick effect. And this is from Priya Raghubir, I hope I'm pronouncing their name correctly. Who's the Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business says the lipstick effect is when consumer spend on small luxuries like perfume. Of course Griff I thought of you. Or high end beauty purchases, even in a downturn. This is one that I have sourced successfully and sell and do keep an eye out. Because here in New York city, we are a mobile population. And because of that, people will donate things to thrift stores and consignment stores because they're moving and they need to downsize. They don't wanna take it with them. Health and beauty is one of the categories that gets donated. Even things that are brand new and with makeup, it does need to be brand new.

Griff: You don't want, you can't sell use makeup on eBay.

Kathy: And it's because of hygiene. So if you're in an area that's mobile where people just move a lot, they will donate brand new. I bought that lipstick. I bought that eyeshadow. I bought the blush. I bought the perfume and I never used it cuz you know what? It just wasn't me. I changed my mind. I just don't feel like red. I wanna wear a coral now. Nail Polish. I got one of the the first store. It was a discontinued color.

Griff: Ooh, that's always good.

Kathy: The expiration was still good. It had it because it was a box. It was missing like two. So I got like 10 and it was a great price sold that, that also boom, out the door, like within a month. All those little treats because okay. I might not buy the dress, but I'll buy the lipstick. I'll buy the eyeliner. I'll buy the mascara. Because again, it's the lipstick effect. It's indulging in that little luxury, maybe a beautiful scented soap. That's what I'm gonna enjoy. So keep an eye out for those things cuz they can be sourced.

Griff: Good point. Yeah.

Kathy: Look for lots, whatever categories that you find, cuz you're gonna find categories that are strong sellers. Despite what's going on with the economy is go and look on eBay because people are moving. They are downsizing. The other thing is money's a little tight for them too. So they're gonna gather their unused makeup. They're gonna gather those really cute pet products that are still new with tags. And they're gonna put them in a lot because it's easier to sell it that way. They're gonna put a great price on it because they pricing it to sell and they wanna raise a few bucks to help their family. You spot it. You know what it is? Somebody puts together 15, 20 boxes of some wonderful tea that, you know, you can sell them individually for $10, $15. And they're doing a lot of them for like $30. And you know, you can double your money, you buy it off of eBay and flip on eBay. I'm sure eBay loves it. They're making money on sale number one and they're making money on sale number two, three and four. So absolutely. Don't forget about sourcing on eBay. Yeah.

Griff: And you know, I'd have another, before we end I just another word of advice and a tip I've lived through while working at eBay, at least three recessions. And in my lifetime, more than that, obviously. My experience has always been that it's that initial freeze up. When somebody goes uh oh, I'm unsure about what the future is gonna hold for my finances. I'm just gonna stop for a minute. And then it loosens up. My prediction is we'll see the typical summer slump. And some people may see sort of a choking up of sales, but I know that by the Fall, regardless of what the news is, people get tired of, oh, we're in a recession and they, they just go back to spending what they can.

Kathy: Yeah. And you go into back to school, we go into fourth quarter. But the great thing with the summer, because these trends are going on like travel is that people are shopping for that. And again, I know a lot of sellers do have unlisted inventory go through and look at it and go, is any of this, something that somebody could use if they're traveling because people will spend on their pets, you know, is there anything in here that is a pet item or when you're out thrifting consignment store retail, pet may be something you've never really looked at, keep an eye out because you can find some really great buys depending on where you are in the country and also educate yourself so that, you know, the variety of things that are out there like cooling mats that I think are probably doing really well in this heat. And like Griff said the booties for the dogs because of the heat.

Griff: I've been searching just now for Fanny packs for dogs. And I found one. So you can kill two birds with one stone.

Kathy: Oh course you did. I know too. There's those little funny sunglasses that people do cuz they put them on their dogs and they take pictures and put them on social media.

Griff: No. And it helps protect their eyes. Yes. I mean it might be cute, but it also keeps them for getting cataracts Kathy, before we go, I wanted to give you a chance to talk about where you'd like people to go to learn more.

Kathy: Oh, you're so sweet. . Thank you so much. So what I was gonna say is that while you are sourcing and listing and it may also be for listings that you have up, it's a matter of having them really optimized for eBay Search so that your items are discovered by shoppers so that when shoppers search they're able to find the items. And sometimes it's just like a little tweak here or there will do it. And I've got a free tip sheet for you. It's on my website. ILovetobeselling.com and it's Dominate eBay Search Tips, go to my website. You'll look for free tips and then you'll see Dominate eBay Search and just grab it. It's completely free. You just download it.

Griff: We'll put a link to it in the episode transcript as well.

Kathy: Thank you.

Griff: Well, Kathy, thank you so much. And we'll talk to you again before the year is out and find out how things are going in the fall.

Kathy: Thank you. I'd love to check back with you.

Griff: Kathy Terrill is well known lots of experience with retail, but also well known in the community as being an instructor and guru about selling on eBay. We'll put the link to her website. ILovetobeselling.com in the episode transcript for episode 196.

Griff: Two years ago, we were faced with an unprecedented unexperienced before pandemic. And just as we're climbing out of that, now it's time to think about the recession that may be on its way. And for some sellers may actually already be here. And joining me now to talk about the current academic impact of inflation and a looming recession is our good friend that we Trek in usually with really good news Lynn Dralle of The Queen of Auctions. Lynn, how are you?

Lynn: Hi Griff. It's so nice to be back. I'm really good, except that business sucks, but I'm really good.

Griff: You seem to have such a, an optimistic attitude about it.

Lynn: I do. I mean, what am I gonna do? There's only so much I can do and I'm gonna do what I can do and I'm just gonna ride it out. Like I think most Americans are.

Griff: For those of you who haven't listened to Lynn before, when she comes on our podcast, she has a kind of hybrid business where she runs a big consignment shop in Ventura, but she also sells a lot of stuff on eBay.

Kathy: Yeah, we do. And so just to give you an idea, you know, we opened the clothing store, we opened a clothing consignment store in the back on March 1st. And so March, April, and may we trended good. We were equal with last year, if not a bit above, but I'll tell you June, we're down eight grand and that's with both my stores. So for us to be down eight grand and it's the 16th of June, it's a really scary thing because we've added this whole new store too. That's bringing in quite good volume, but um, I would say the recession is here. It's definitely hit us. And the gas prices aren't helping and people are just afraid to spend money. And then my eBay business had been so good all year until just the last two months. I'm down about 35%, which it's a big hit for me to take that on both of them. So I'm looking at things that I can do to, you know, cut expenses. So what I would tell people too is Griff, You gotta look at your variable expenses.

Griff: What do you mean by variable expenses?

Kathy: Well, okay. So my fixed costs, my rent's not gonna change and my electricity and stuff stays pretty much the same, but my variable costs are my payroll and my employees. And that's what you've gotta look at. And me opening that new store. I have 10 people now on my payroll.

Griff: Geez.

Lynn: I know. And that's, what's killing me is that payroll cost is killing me. So I gotta scale way back. And I don't know if that means closing the store so that we are open less hours or if that means running with a skeleton crew one in front, one in back right now we have three people usually on it all times. So there's one in the front store, one in the back store and one that can go back and forth, may just have to go to the two people.

Griff: And you're just talking about the physical store that doesn't include your eBay business.

Lynn: No. And then if you look at my eBay business, I have Cindy who does my shipping. I have Mo my trustee assistant that I have forever who lists for me. And then this is gonna be really controversial, but I wanna talk about it today. Back in November, I hired a virtual assistant and Griff for the last two years, I'd been trying to hire someone to do data input. I even offered 20 bucks an hour to my kids and they wouldn't do it. I advertised everywhere. All I was doing was data input for my store. So anyway, I found this virtual assistant. She's amazing. Her name's Dolce, she works for me 40 hours a week. She does all of my data input. When I need a buying analysis for what to buy for the store. She does the spreadsheets. She's changed all my eBay, updating the listings. She works on that. She does it for my mother too. she is just such a joy. And this is something for people to think about. Think outside the box, how can you lower your costs? And I, I do wanna make it very clear that I tried to give this job to somebody here. You know, I really did. Hiring her though. It's it's a living wage for her. She does a really good job. I just taught her two weeks ago, had a list on eBay for me. So is that so cool?

Griff: That is pretty cool. And we should make it clear that virtual assistance, unlike a physical employee that comes in to work in your location actually does it all online.

Lynn: Yeah. All remote and like, I'll let her take over my computer at night. She works for me at night and I try to have tasks for her, but what's been so great with the eBay is I, I take my I sell sheets. I write up like a set of flatware. I take all the pictures. I put 'em in a Dropbox for her and I just shoot her a picture of the front sheet for each, like for the teaspoons, like we'll have five of 'em and I'll write 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I'll tell her the price points for each one. And I love it Griff. I wake up and I have like 35 new auctions and it's, it's really, it's a game changer. And I've been thinking and thinking, how can I get her to list on eBay? So I'm starting with the flatware. I'll probably move into coffee mugs. But I mean, those are pretty much no brainers. You know what I mean? I'll list the expensive antique stuff, but you know, the way I look at it, we have 17,000 things on eBay right now. And I love the new, the fee structure on eBay, cuz I don't have to end any of those. It doesn't cost me any extra money to have those and just let 'em sit there. So I've got stuff that's been listed for six and seven years and it sells, it will eventually sell.

Griff: Everything does sell eventually doesn't it?

Lynn: It does. It really does. You know, I just love that I can let all that sit there. And, and my goal is just to get so much listed with her help and Mo's help. And you gotta keep in mind that the business we're in used is pretty recession proof. You know what I mean? When something like this hits people, aren't gonna go into a new furniture store, a new clothing store and spend big bucks. They are gonna start looking for alternatives. And they're gonna look for the recycled, the upscaled, what we do in my brick and mortar. Plus they're gonna be shopping on eBay for some deals.

Griff: This is why you sound optimistic. You may be taking a hit now, but you're pretty sure you're prepared with your plan to meet whatever comes.

Lynn: We're totally prepared. And I love the new feature on eBay to Send Offers. I use that every morning and what I used to do was if it was over 16 months old, I would do 44% off. And if it was, you know, more recent, I'd do 22% off, but I'm bumping those up. I mean, I'm trying to stimulate my economy so you know, I'll offer 50% off or 35% off and it really does work. I I'm sure you use it all the time too. It's it's a fantastic tool.

Griff: Well, I gotta confess I don't. .

Lynn: What?

Griff: No, no, no. I do something different. I do something it's my own little surreptitious strategy. It's, I call it the secretive Filene's Basement strategy. And I think my buyers are figuring it out that every day I go in and if something has Watchers and not selling, I just lower the price every morning, a little bit and a little bit and a little bit and a little bit. And it's working pretty well. When I get an email from somebody who's trying to make an offer on something. I say, well, that is enticing, but I've got six people watching it and I'm just gonna keep lowering the price every day. And that usually gets that person to go, oh, I better buy it. Cuz I've had people come to me afterwards and say, oh, I should have bought that. My answer is, yeah, I guess you should have!

Lynn: you know, that's, that's a really interesting idea. I've never thought about doing something like that.

Griff: It's kind of a reverse auction. Psychology.

Lynn: Yeah. Cause that does, that really motivates people. I mean, it's not the whole competition thing, you know, I'm gonna buy that before somebody else does.

Griff: That's believe me. If the only reason I know it works is because I'm a victim.

Lynn: You are a shopper.

Griff: It works like a charm.

Lynn: oh dear.

Griff: Well, one of the reasons I love talking to you is because the word I think of all the time for you, Lynn is indefatigable. Nothing seems to get you down even when things are looking tough. And I really appreciate that. Thank you, Griff. I am pretty optimistic.

Griff: Yes. And I think optimism is the way to go. When you run a business, any interesting stories or transactions that have happened to you since we last talked?

Lynn: Oh man, we've sold some really interesting things. Oh, I was out in the desert and I picked up a Flow Blue, huge platter with a cow on it and it was cracked, but I'm like, you know what? It's such a beautiful piece. And I paid $10 for it. Put it up at auction and it sold for $165.

Griff: Yes.

Lynn: I know. See, and it, and it was something that was damaged, but just the beauty and the age was there and it was really rare cuz you never see Flow Blue with the farm scene like that. You know, it was really cool. So, you know, I've been going out to the desert and buying a lot of stuff out there. I got some White House Easter eggs out there.

Griff: What do you mean?

Kathy: They were wooden Easter eggs that they would give out at the White House Easter Roll. I think it's called the Easter egg roll or something like that. I got a box of 'em at this estate sale. I probably paid 20 bucks, but I've been getting a hundred and $150 each on 'em. I know. Right?

Griff: Are they marked with the white house emblem?

Lynn: Yeah. Yeah. They're yeah. I still have some in my store. If you wanna check 'em out. Just type in white house egg, but like some of 'em have Ronald Reagan. Some of them have Bush, some of 'em have, I mean they go back, you know, you know, the early eighties. So that was a super fun score. I love, I love stuff like that.

Griff: Anything else?

Lynn: Um, I was gonna tell you about some plates I just sold too.

Griff: What did you sell?

Lynn: Well, when I opened my store, oh my God. I can't believe it. Four years ago, my neighbor in Rancho Mirage had all this folk art an amazing stuff and she sent it all with me to the store, but she had these Wedgewood dinner plates with the hunt scene on, see everything's like farm and animals these days. But anyway, I had 'em on eBay for four years at 225 each. I finally got a best offer on two weeks ago, 175 bucks each for dinner plates, these four dinner plates, a $700 sale. Isn't that insane? It's harder and harder to find though it boy. Yeah. It's but when you find it, you gotta grab it.

Griff: And that you sold as one lot.

Lynn: No, I, I, I saw every plate individually. They were all different scenes. So like there was the hunt, the cry.

Griff: I see. Yeah. Did one person buy all of them or different people?

Lynn: Yeah. One person bought 'em all, but I, I was so happy to get $175 offer on those each. Yikes!

Griff: So Lynn what's on the agenda just for the immediate future, with your store. I know you talked about reducing hours and maybe going to a skeleton crew, but my question is, is this impacting the way you buy?

Lynn: Uh, that's a good question. You know, consignment is such a lovely business model because I don't have to put out any, you know what I mean? I don't have to put out any money. The stuff just comes in. I carry a lot of gift lines and I'm still ordering because they're still selling. It's kind of like people are, they don't wanna spend like the big money on furniture, but they're coming in, they'll pick up a book for $15 or a candle or, you know what I mean? So they still want that experience of shopping. They're just not spending big bucks. So I am still ordering in a lot of the cheaper gift items and they're moving. You know, you just gotta really keep your finger on what's going on and do analysis and analysis until paralysis because numbers don't lie. You know? And that's why I love this virtual assistant. Cause I'll just say, Hey, run me a spreadsheet. How much do I own in Cozzi baskets? And I own $10,000 in the store right now. We only sell 2,500 a year and that's way too much inventory. I'm gonna do a 50% off sale on those baskets and move the inventory to something that is gonna turn faster and sell better.

Griff: I was gonna ask you about consignment traffic. Do you expect that people will bring more stuff in as the economy slows?

Lynn: Really good point. Yes. And people get super attached to their stuff. And as a store owner, you don't want someone who's super attached to their item. You know what I mean? They're not ready to let it go. And so then they're like, oh, you gotta price it at a thousand dollars and in reality is it's worth 500. And so you get some really crazy consigns and we gotta be very careful and mindful of those people. And as the economy tightens up, yes, I got to be careful. You really just want people who are with their stuff.

Griff: That's me!

Lynn: I wish you lived closer.

Griff: Well, I should hire a truck and just bring down a bunch of stuff that I, just don't wanna face, but it sounds like you're overstocked already.

Lynn: We're pretty full. We're pretty full. But you know, if, if someone texts me a picture and it's something amazing, like a Pottery Barn table or you know, Restoration Hardware something I'll, I'll make room for, for, you know, most of the stuff you get is like pictures of old Oak, 1970s furniture.

Griff: No one wants that.

Kathy: Nobody wants. And grandfather clocks.

Lynn: Oh yeah. Right? Brown antiques.

Lynn: Yeah. Brown antiques, anything brown wood. That's all I get all day long texts of brown brown furniture and twin beds, everyone's like, I got these twin beds. Nobody wants a twin bed. These are things that do not sell.

Griff: Hey, I've got these twin beds. You also have a can of kerosene and a match because that's the best way to get rid of them!

Lynn: Totally. It's so sad. But yeah, nobody wants all that brown stuff.

Griff: Well Lynn, thank you so much for talking to us today. And we'll definitely check in towards the end of the summer and see how things are going.

Lynn: Sounds good. Thanks Griff.

Griff: Lynn Dralle, Sells on eBay under the Queen of Auctions. We'll put all of the links, both to Lynn's eBay store and also her website where you can follow her. Thanks Lynn.

Lynn: Thanks Griff.

Griff: As I noted at the top of the episode this week, You've Got Questions is on a week long vacation, but will return next week. So if you have a question you'd like answered on an upcoming episode, why not call it in on (888)723-4630 that's (888)723-4630, you can leave your question on the voice line there. And it's actually very likely we'll address it on here on the podcast, as long as it's not a personal account issue, which of course we can't really talk about because of privacy. Actually, if you don't wanna call that number or if you prefer, you can email it, your question to us at podcast@ebay.com, that's podcast@ebay.com. Now remember if your question is answered on the podcast, we select it and we use it. We'll send you a groovy, not too corporate, but okay a little corporate eBay for Business Podcast mug that unlike Bitcoin will hold its value. That is hold your favorite auto cold beverage for as long as you keep it intact, which means don't let the cat knock it on the ground. But if that happens, maybe we'll have another one we can send you. Over the summer in upcoming episodes we'll continue the conversation with you and industry guests to find more ways to better weather a possible recession and how not only to survive it, but how best to position and prepare our businesses on eBay to grow and thrive even in an uncertain economy. Remember there's always opportunities to be had. And as an eBay small business, you do have the advantage that bigger businesses don't have. You’re small, you're nimble and adaptive, and you can turn on a dime and be prepared to meet any business challenge that comes your way, including a recession. And we hope that we here at the podcast have helped and can continue to help play a part in that preparation.

Griff: Now, as we do every week, here's your three point podcast checklist. Number one, check the Announcement board for up to date seller news every day. Number two, this summer could be the time to explore new types of inventory to add to your existing product lines. Maybe it's pet supplies and maybe it's cosmetics, or maybe not. Maybe it's something we haven't even talked about yet. No matter. What's important is the exploration and discovery and how it can help your business. And number three, if you need to review anything in this episode, it's really easy as we do every week, check the transcript for this and all episodes. And there's almost 200 of 'em up there now. And you can find follow up in the transcript tab on what you've heard and you'll find the links that we referenced during the episode itself. We'd like to, again, thank our guests this week. Our good friends, Kathy Terrill of, ILoveToBeSelling.com and the Queen of Auctions Lynn Dralle. The eBay for Business Podcast is produced and distributed by Libsyn and podCast411.