Vacation required
Vacation, all I ever wanted. Well, not really all I wanted. But I still had fun.
The Flipshark family took a trip down the Jersey shore for a week. We brought the kids and the dogs and the beers. We soaked up the rays, but luckily not too many. It was nice after a few years of craziness to finally get away.
And naturally I turned off the eBay store so this month might be the anomaly to ignore in the grand scheme of reselling. But that's not to say it was all bad!
By the numbers
Spend: $228.52
Gross profit: $836.07 (vs. last month $1,104.82)
Net profit: $607.55 (vs last month $749.04)
Listed on eBay: 51 (43 last month)
eBay rating: 99.5%
What Sold
Highlights
Making moves
Before vacation took a flying dropkick to my motivation, I did manage to make some moves. To keep the progress going for a future weekly newsletter, I made a new email address (flipsharkfigures@gmail.com) and used it to create a new Mailchimp account.
Less time but still listing
Even with one less week for selling, I surprisingly found the drive to list more than last month. Instead of setting a low bar and trying to list one or two items every day, I found it's much more effective to batch over the weekend. I just set aside an hour or two and photograph everything I can, write out the details, and prepare to slowly publish the listings each day of the coming week. So far so good.
Just do it
Plus, I bit the bullet to list a few things I had been stalling over. I had a stack of expensive DVDs just sitting on my living room coffee table for months because they had a few light scratches and I didn't know what to do. But I finally got fed up and you know what I did, I listed them. And they sold!
A few friends and I were hanging out in my living room of toys this past month and talking about dating. One said, as a suggestion, I might need to seek out someone more attuned to cosplay or reselling themselves because, as I heard it, my living space can be a bit overwhelming. I'm no 40-year-old virgin, carefully displaying toys in their original packaging, but I can agree that it's a lot. I've shifted from minimalism pre-reselling to a maximalist storage space. It's definitely interesting to look at, but maybe not the sexiest. With all that being said and taken to heart, I finally asked myself some difficult questions about what to keep displayed and what genuinely needs to be sold. And I made a dent, selling all of this:
If it's satisfying to list and sell something on eBay, it's doubly satisfying to finally list something on Facebook as a last resort and have it sell. And if that thing is large, even better. I cleared some serious floor space this month by selling some Lego Duplo pieces off my kitchen floor.
Fails
You might remember I bought a collection of allegedly unopened Lego sets months ago. Well, I finally got around to trying to list the largest of the four, and, wouldn't you know it, it was opened before. One of the Lego bags inside was slashed and all the minifigures were missing. Essentially useless.
I didn't have much recourse because it was a local Facebook deal but I did feel the need to inform the seller. I didn't curse her out or demand a refund, but, like a harsh parent, I said I was disappointed. She seemed unfazed and naturally dodged the blame. She said it was her understanding that they were new and that's how she sold them. Thank you very much. Chalk it up to a gamble, I suppose.
Too good
Facebook Marketplace started disabling my ability to ship toys because I've made over $600 on their platform this year. Apparently after this threshold, they need my tax information. I only found this out after a number of potential buyers told me (and bought from me anyway via Venmo). Fingers crossed this is resolved soon.
September already?
But, seriously, where did August go? I didn't complete as much as I wanted to in terms of launching my weekly newsletter. As a matter of fact, returning from vacation provided a long uphill battle to get back into the reselling rhythm. I still have this suspicion that people could benefit from a regular research-based newsletter, I just need to start doing it.
Going forward
Because a weekly newsletter is easier said than done, I think I need to start smaller. Why not do the research I need to do to educate myself and start sharing tidbits on Instagram? I can educate myself and other resellers over the Internets, and then turn around and make something more concrete on my website later on. Recycling is good, right?
Also, I feel like I've swayed back and forth with my monthly listings totals. I just do what I can so I don't drive myself bonkers with numbers. But this golden rule struck me one day this past month and I think I need to use it going forward - List more than you buy or you'll be buried.
