eBay Adventure – Making Money on Labor Day

                Labor Day is a federal holiday where I have done absolutely nothing (and I am proud of it!). I know that I am an entrepreneur but I am all about having days off! Labor Day is Labor Day! So you can imagine my surprise when I receive a bid for one of my shoes. Immediately I accept the bid and this being a repeat customer pays the same day. I ship the item Tuesday morning (Income generating activity always come first in the morning!). This is the very first time that I have made money on a holiday. In addition, I am very thankful that PayPal has released last week’s money on Labor Day because I need all of my money no just some of it!

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure – Sales Solve Everything

                Sunday I uploaded new items and started promoting them all over social media. I also made a $1000/week goal accompanying my new merchandise. I thought that it would take some time to get a sale but, nope, out of nowhere came a sale and payment. Usually, I would have to wait 1-2 days for payment. Buyers would inundate me with ‘please’ give me 1 more day to pay. However, receiving the money is great because now I can prepare the item for shipping. This sale also moved me beyond the whole negative review thing because someone wants to buy from me. The only downside is that I will ship it out Tuesday because DC has a 115 heat index. I am not passing out in that because I will have to also go to Staples and re-up on boxes and tape. Like I have said in the title, ‘sales solve everything!’

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure – New Merchandise = New Sales

                Yesterday I added some new merchandise onto my eBay store. I felt that it needed an overhaul and new blood. I added three new Stuart Weitzman shoes including the Saxony sandals. I promoted it on social media (Periscope, Twitter, Blogger and Instagram). This morning out of nowhere, I receive a sale. It also comes from a new repeat customer. I am very happy about it. I will ship the item tomorrow (I have no boxes and it is currently a DC heat index of 115 degrees). The great thing is that PayPal will release my money in one week.

                I am also thinking about relisting my Stuart Weitzman and doing video to highlight my merchandise so that people can see it. I am upping my livestream video game because I think that this is paying off. There is still over $2000 worth of merchandise in my decluttering process. I will move them.

                This new sale has been a learning experience about strategically using social media to generate sales. In addition, I will keep promoting my eBay store on Periscope. I know that I am getting a lot of reach out of it. I am very happy that I am off to a great start to this 30-day cycle.

Visit my store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure – Two Months In

                I have been selling on eBay for 60 days and have experienced every single imaginable incident (happy customers, unhappy customers, fraud). I have managed to sell nearly $2000 worth of items and have learned so much about how to operate a store, how to properly price my items, how to market myself and my store, stand up for myself against people who abuse eBay’s buyer protection program and the fraudsters who want to make a buck off of you.

                I have learned early on that my customer only wants to buy shoes so I have stopped uploading clothes. Instead, I have placed all of my clothes on Depop and started marketing that online platform. In addition, I have learned the importance of taking a copious amounts of photos, answering customers’ questions and shipping the items the same day I receive payment. Initially in the beginning, PayPal held onto my money for 21 days. Now if I ship on Monday, I receive my money two days after the customer receives her merchandise. This is big when I need the money to pay bills!

                Another thing that I have learned is how to properly price things. I have learned that the hard way ($177 in insertion and other fees during my first month). I have reduced or increased my price to sell 17 items in two months. In addition, I have leveraged social media namely Instagram and Blogger to generate awareness for my store. I have blogged eBay Adventure just to chronicle my experience as a newbie eBay seller trying to declutter her condo; and, the people love it. I am genuinely happy that so many people love reading about my journey because I have learned a lot along the way. Furthermore, photographing the blog post and uploading it to Instagram has spread like wildfire. Instagram enables me to share on Facebook and Twitter so I have three major social media outlets. Moreover, I have an eBay Pinterest board and have been on Periscope and Snapchat showcasing my latest additions. Overall, I must say that I have gotten some sales based on social media and blogging.

                Finally, I have experienced some bad things which happens. The bad customer and fraudsters have taught me not to believe everything that someone tells you on YouTube. The YouTubers will tell you that eBay always protects the buyer; however, that has not been the case for me. I offer no returns and promptly ship all merchandise.

I do have new sales goals for this new 30-day cycle. They are to move $1000 per week and to start working on devising my new fashion line. Now that I have gotten the hang of eBay and online selling, I am ready to take this to the next level.

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure – Staying the Course

                I awake this Monday pissed at the fact that my store has been hit by fraud. I still have to mail out these four packages. I get up very early at 5:30am (which is rare) to do my daily walk and baby – it is 81 degrees (Accuweather says that it feels like 89 degrees!). I can only imagine what 9am will feel like when I have to go to the post office.

                I combine the two purchases and one thank you card for my repeat customer. I am thankful that I have every tape and surplus boxes to mail so that I won’t have to go outside. Since I have so many boxes, I have to pack them into my rolling suitcase which works wonders. The suitcase makes it organized (I have noticed that I am one of the few people who have everything ready when I am in line at the post office.). I have noticed that because I am shipping to the West Coast, USPS wants more money. This means that I have to set a domestic shipping flat rate like I do with international shipping. I have to make a profit you know. However, dropping off all of my packages equal income generating activity which has calmed me down a little bit over those fraudulent buyers!

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure - The Sales Keep on Coming

                I have decided to keep riding my good fortune by relisting my other Stuart Weitzman shoes. I have received an email from someone about my hot pink Logoflame soles. Immediately I take the photo and send it back to her. She has placed a sale. This past Friday I received bids for both my red and hot pink Logoflame pumps. I accepted the hot pink Logoflame and made a counteroffer red Logoflame which was accepted. In addition, out of nowhere another pair of Stuart Weitzman pumps has sold at the buy it now rate. I am on fire! Also I have received a sale for my black flats. Moreover, I have seen that I have a new repeat customer. I am happy about developing a new clientele. In between Friday and Saturday I have sold 6 pairs of shoes. This has never happened to me. My biggest accomplishment is PayPal is releasing my money in less than 1 week. I know that this is because I always ship out my merchandise within 2 business days. I don’t care what the weather is (and it right now feels like 108 degrees in DC), I ship as soon as I receive payment. This is why I have 6 5-star reviews in less than 6 weeks on eBay. Hey, the customers have paid for the goods and shipping, why not just mail it out?! Finally, I have learned so much from operating this only store.

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6

eBay Adventure - Crossing the $2000 Threshold

                No sooner than I upload the two $500 shoes, people start looking at them. Also eBay message decides to go down in the middle of someone offering me $300 on the spot for one of them. Why me? Why must eBay go down in the middle of a transaction?! This cannot be my life! Yes, I am decluttering but hey the money is good (nothing beats something coming in!). Once eBay comes back up, I feverishly try emailing that buyer only to realize that two buyers have already made the $500 bid. This means that I have (once again) met my $1000 weekly goal. However, this is different because I have had the courage to sell them at a higher market value. Oftentimes, I have sold below market value just to get the money but this time I have priced my two transactions fairly. Below is the screenshot showing me crossing this threshold. My biggest lesson is to sell my items at market price instead of it being a fire sale. People will pay for it.

Visit my eBay store here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/carljenkin_6