So, back to my business model. As you all know, and are likely experiencing for yourselves, business is slow right now. Very slow. I have a HUGE mess in my eBay room. We had a yard sale a couple weeks ago. I took ALL my eBay clothing off the hangers and off of my clothing hanging racks in order to use them for our yard sale. After the yard sale was over, I didn't bother putting the clothing racks back in, using the excuse that the building would be here any day now, and I would just have to take it all apart again to move it to the building.
Well, I didn't take into account the fact that the building would need a couple weeks worth of work done before I could move in.
I am about to bare my soul here. I know I have shown you photos of my eBay room before, but it looked nothing like this:
It's hard to get a good feel for the mess, based on this picture. But let me tell you ... it's about hip high. It goes literally from wall to wall to wall. The mess touches those boxes in the back by my red dress form. The mess touches those boxes in the upper left corner. There is a pathway from the door to the table (the white thing on the far left). It's a nightmare. These are my piles of listed clothing that I threw on the floor to use their hangers and hanging racks. It was a bad BAD idea to not hang them back up again. Aside from the obvious nightmare of trying to move and work around the piles, do you have any idea what it's like to find something when it sells????
So anyway ... bringing this all back to my opening sentence. I am trying out a new temporary business model. These clothes have to go. I love selling clothes. They can bring an incredible profit margin. But many of them I have had since January, February, or even earlier. I paid so little for them that I can slash my prices and still make good money on them.
Besides the issue of mess and storage, I am in desperate need of cash flow right now. So my new temporary business model is this: I have put all of my clothing 50% off in my store. I've started with just a 7 day sale to see how it goes. I'm hoping this will help with 2 goals: #1 - clear out some of the mess and stale inventory. #2 - get me some cash fast.
So far, so good. I have had 7 sales today. 5 of them have been 50% off clothing. Of course that means that now I have to find those 5 garments in that mess, but I am grateful for the sales. I am anxious to see what my sale does for my business over the next week. And I might even leave that sale on until I am ready to move to my building. Who knows?
I cant wait to hear how it goes! I have been selling consistently on eBay for about a year and have yet to open a store so I can't run sales which I really want to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you would share that picture with us. Your very brave. How exciting to have a brand new space soon of your business. Hopefully you will be able to clear out a lot of inventory before you move in.
ReplyDeleteLove your new outbuilding!
ReplyDeleteI empathize with you, as I am planning a yard sale for tomorrow. I got my crawlspace cleaned out and organized, but now my "eBay room" and the garage are both piled high with bins. And it's sooo hot in the garage that I don't want to go out there! BTW, I have that Fast Tracks Mega Bloks thing too! ;)
ReplyDeleteI sold a complete one last February for $49.99 + shipping, and I sold an incomplete one for parts (I called it an "expansion pack" - lol) last April for $18.10 + shipping. This one is only missing the stop light, so I'll go for $40.
DeleteSet it all on fire, claim electrical shortage, and file an insurance claim. It's your only hope. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a clear-out with your clothing sale. Your new building is super-cute. How big is it inside? I bet you can't wait to get it organised and get your mountains of STUFF inside!!
ReplyDeleteI have been having a MAJOR clear-out! Woo hoo! It's working! I have sold 18 50% off garments since I started the sale the night of the 11th. Yay!
DeleteOh, my building is 12 x 20 feet.
DeleteGreat sales! Can't wait to see your finished Ebay building!
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteI sell on ebay too and it has beeen slooow. But it can only get better right?
I have a huge messy office as well.
Ha! That looks like my room. Jealous of your new building!!
ReplyDeleteJust started following your blog. I'm already in love with it!
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar experience yesterday. I had a garage sale in late june to unload a lot of my excess stock. When I was bringing everything back into my "ebay(/etsy) room" I packed stuff in boxes and wrote brief descriptions on the outside. I thought I was organizing. I sold one of the items in those boxes. I was looking for it frantically EVERYWHERE. I was sad about the thought of refunding the buyers money, because I had made a huge profit off the item. Finally, I remember it was in one of those damn boxes.
Keep it up, can't wait to read more!
Thank you for posting that picture of your room!! I showed it to my room mate so that it will make mine look normal, haha. Love your building.
ReplyDeleteMelissa I just reorganized with everything in boxes also, but I numbered the boxes and wrote down in a notebook what is in each box. Sure makes it easy to locate. May everyone see much green in their future Ebay sales!!