The number 2…The first listing

                              “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing” Warren Buffet

Some later day in January 2014.


The boxes were just sitting there in the living room in my one-bedroom apartment. We are very lucky to be able to rent this place. A big one-bedroom apartment in the middle of Birmingham City Centre for half the price of the average apartment of the same size in the same place. The landlady and her sons for some reason took a liking to us when we first viewed the apartment in March,  2012. We moved in one week later.

So far I have figured out that in order to sell the cups and glasses I must create an eBay listing. OK, I shall indeed create an eBay listing! I contacted and asked my favourite University Professor; 'ohh thy all-knowing' Professor Google. The Professor gave me 1.410.000 answers. How do I know which one to look for? Ahh seems like the Professor consulted eBay themselves and has given me my answer.

I opened the first link from my Google search. OK 6 steps to create a listing; I can manage that! This is easy.
So I need to 1) Click 'sell' at the top, 2) Select a category, 3) Choose a listing from; 4) Complete the form (well dud!), 5) Preview your listing and finally 6) List your item. I was very certain that I would be richer by the evening.

"You need a sellers account", said eBay when I tried to create my listing.
"Why was that not in the 'create your listing in 6' steps", I said to my computer screen whilst slowly realising that a third party might find my behaviour showing signs of mental disturbance.

'How do I get an eBay seller's account" I asked Professor Google again.
"You need to sign-up for a seller's account (you idiot). Confirm your telephone number with eBay, specify a payment method, make your feedback profile public and I also recommend that you get your Paypal account verified", the Professor answered without any real interest.

Wow, so creating a listing is not really 6 steps huh?. We are up to 11 steps so far.  Also Paypal? No one mentioned Paypal before, but luckily, I already had a Paypal account. 

'Haha! Take that Professor! Only ten steps."

Hmm, what does Google mean by 'verified'. I need to link my bank account to my Paypal account. Ohh great, we are back up to 11 steps. 

'Choose a title for my listing'. Well that easy; 'Aperol Spritz wine glasses'. 'Item specifics', it is a wine glass made of...well glass. Why do I have to give so many details? It says in the title what the item is. Skip this part.
'Add Pictures', so I need to add a minimum of 1 picture. OK, my phones comes out (I really do love my iPhone) and the picture is added.
'Buy it now' or 'Auction'. Well, how can I possible know which option to choose? I will just choose the cheaper one, 'Auction' is free at £0.99 starting bid. 
Hang on...Free? If it is free to list, I wonder how eBay make their money. Probably advertising revenue, I have heard that is big at the moment.
Shipping? I am not sure. 

"How much does shipping cost with Royal Mail?", I asked the Professor once again.
"Try asking Royal Mail Price finder", the good Professor replied.

"How big is the item?" Ehh small parcel should be enough. 
"How heavy is it?" Ehh not very heavy.
"Which service?" Ehh 2st Class is good enough.
Great, only £2.80! 

Shipping? £2.80
Return Policy? No returns thank you
Publish your listing? YES! The time was Wednesday morning 2:30am.
Great! Now I just wait for the cash to roll in.
And so it was that the cash did...not roll in.


Friday:
"HONEY!! I have got 'watchers'; people are actually watching my item! 4 people are watching my item", I yelled
"That's great sweetie, did anyone bid on your item yet?," asked my wife, Katherine, who was cooking a Thai Green Curry in her sweatpants and tank-top; looking absolutely drop-dead, heart-stopping'ly gorgeous. I paid her no attention or whatsoever.
"No, no one bid yet, but they are probably just waiting. I read that most people bid at the last moment."
Sunday:
"I GOT A BID!!"
"That's great, how much did they bid?", Katherine asked still wearing the same sweatpants. I cannot remember the last time I bought her a present or the last time she bought anything for herself. Please God, make someone bid, I really want to take Katherine out somewhere nice. You know she deserves it!
"They bid £0.99".
Tuesday Evening:
"Honey, the bids are rolling in! £3.20 now!".

The first box of 6 wine glasses sold for £3.20 + £2.80 shipping fee. It was no where near enough to buy my mom a present or take Katherine out somewhere nice, but at that moment it did not matter. I was hooked.

Describing the feeling of my first sale is impossible. Euphoria, exhilaration, joy. I could really make this work. It was a high I have not felt for a long time. It was a sense of accomplishment that I have never got from studying, from my work or from sports. I have actually make money from nothing. It was an addiction and I knew from that moment that I would be chasing the next high endlessly.


But, the 'high' is never real; you cannot build an empire on 'high's. The low followed soon after.

'WHAT!!! what do you mean it is not a small parcel? It is small!". I was at the self-service machine at my local Royal Mail branch. We were currently having an argument regarding the definition of size as men are inclined to do. Royal Mail: 1, me: 0. 
The wine box was classed as a 'large parcel' and the shipping cost was £8.00. I was £2 down after my first sale.

I could not build up the courage to tell my wife and to this day, she still does not know (honey ,please do not be mad if you read this blog. Remember 'funny' and 'sincere').

In retrospect, I would say that selling at a loss for my first item was the best thing that ever happened for my eBay 'career'. It was a harsh lesson but for someone like me (stubborn, thick and lazy), it was a wake-up call.
I still had 5 wine boxes and 2 boxes of Illy cups left. For my next listing, I made sure that nothing was left to chance. For the next listing, I used all the available free picture slots; gave as much item specifics I could and the description was fuller. From simply 'Aperol Spritz wine glasses', it went to include measurements, details of prior usage, origin and where they came from. The shipping cost was of course updated to reflect the actual cost. 
Most importantly, I realised that the timing of the auction affected the listing substantially. Would you go online shopping Wednesday morning at 2:30am? I made sure that the listing ended on a Sunday afternoon at 18:00pm.

My 2nd listing sold for £11.00 + £8.00 shipping fee.

The best part of managing to sell the 2nd listing for an actual profit was not actually the extra money. The best part was the way my wife looked at me when I told her. I could sense that she was genuinely proud of me and I felt determined. A determination to succeed, a will to see it through, I felt a drive to continue pushing. A stirring in my soul. I am becoming all poetic now and stuff, but seriously, for the second time in my life, I was sure I wanted to make something work and see it through. Mission: add 'successful' to 'funny' and 'sincere'.

January Sales:  £9.00.*

                                  “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing” Warren Buffet

*some savvy eBay will probably be thinking: "But you have not added the packaging material cost and eBay + Paypal fees in your equation". To you I say: Calm down, the story is not over yet, I will get to that later + I was not very aware of the fees yet at that time. Let me just end on a moral high! To be continued in 'The number 3..."

               

                                                    The Illy Cups

                              

Thank you for reading (if anyone actually reads this). I will be blogging about my Ebay seller experiences and about my efforts into building my Ebay store into a ‘real’ business. I expect to post one blog per week. 

Here is a completely modest, discreet, and 'ohh by the way' link to my Ebay store:Thorleifsson's Accessories. If you liked it, please add me as a ‘favourite seller’ and subscribe to my Email list for updates on the blog. Happy Ebaying!

When I was younger, during the Harry Potter craze, I really wanted to be an author, unfortunately, being lazy (and lacking any creative writing talent) got in the way, so please comment to make me better.

                             The number 1…The 'business' idea

                              “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important                                                        than the outcome.” Arthur Ash

Some day in January 2014.

“Can you please tidy the storeroom?” Said my boss. My manager, a decent enough guy in his mid-forties; tall and lanky with square glasses, sort of reminded me of a grasshopper.

Here I am in my late twenties with BA Law and MSc Business Management degrees scrubbing the floor in a dingy storeroom. I was technically hired as a Marketing Manager for a restaurant, although the work consisted a lot less of Mad Men and Christina Hendricks but a lot more of floor scrubbing and trying to teach English to the kitchen porter; a fat and bald Spanish guy.

I am not sure why 'fat and bold' is the only description I can give; it is quite offensive I suppose. However, it is the only thing I knew about him.A very nice and funny guy though, I think. He does not really speak English so I cannot be 100% sure but he always laughs so I just go with ‘nice and funny’ rather than ‘creepy psychopath’.

Looking back on how I ended up in this situation, I can conclude on one thing: the global economy definitely affects you. I finished my Law degree bang in the middle of the recent economic crises; long story short, I sent 200+ applications and not a single reply.

Panic swept in and having no idea what else to do with my - read: useless - fancy degree, I decided on studying for another fancy degree.

“Yay! More student loans”. Student loans; the nemesis of students worldwide.

But who cares? I am getting a Master’s degree and with the resulting pay increase, I can recoup my loans within a year! And so it was that it happened exactly....not like that.

I did get a good start though. Immediately after finishing the Master’s degree, I got a job which put me on just the lower side of the 30% tax bracket.

“Yes! Get in! My Master plan worked”.

I really am going to recoup my student loans within a year. But there was one problem: I absolutely loathed the job and its 15 hours long workdays. I lasted 8 months.

“Hmm, Marketing Manager for a restaurant, minimum wage but unlimited bonus.”

Sounds dodgy but I am really tired of eating baked pasta with vegetables. And so it was that I became a Marketing Manager for a restaurant teaching English to a fat and bald Spanish guy; funny but also a possible psychopath.

“Can you please tidy the storeroom?”

Yes, I am tidying the storeroom. What are these boxes doing here anyway? God, I hope there are no severed heads in there like in Se7en and if I opened it then...hang on...that would make me Gwyneth Paltrow and why would there be severed heads in there. I open the boxes; just lots of cups and wine glasses; Aperol Spritz wine glasses and Illy cups to be exact.

"Hi Bill (the manager), what should I do with these boxes with cups and glasses?”

”Just stack them somewhere and bin them”, said Bill the manager.

“I have never seen these before in the restaurant. Why did we buy them?”

”It is just marketing samples; they send it to us in hope that we will sell their products. You are a Marketing Manager, you should know this. Just bin it.”

Yes of course, the Marketing Manager just needs to finish scrubbing the floor first with chlorine then he will bin it for you. “By the way Bill, did I ever mention to you that I am allergic to chlorine?”

Should I break the glasses first? If I just throw the boxes in there will not be space for anything else. My God this is a complicated task; who knew cleaning a storeroom could be such a complex task. This is too taxing, I am taking a break.

I love my Iphone; it really keeps me in touch! But it also keeps sending notification of my friends’ - ohh so so - successful careers. Ohh, she a doctor now huh?

And he is an airline pilot? And this guy is doing really well as an off-shore platform engineer for BP. He used my notes for his Physics high-school exam and I frigging tutored him!

Damn you Facebook! Why are you telling me all this? Great, thank you Facebook, thanks a lot for letting me know that my mom’s birthday is coming up and I have no money to buy her a present.

Then I had a light bulb moment:

 

I could take these cups and glasses and sell them on Ebay! For the profits I could then buy more stock and this will be the start to an Ebay empire!

That is how I wish it happened.

However, me being me I went with: I could give my mom these glasses as a present. She will never know anyway that I found them in a dingy storeroom and was about to bin them! I could also give my friends these glasses as presents! BOOM! High five time, Christmas presents sorted.

Being broke brings out the worst in people.

“umm Bill, can I take these glasses home?” I asked

“Are you sure? Yeah whatever, just get rid of it”, said Bill rather suspiciously. Maybe he suspects something. Bill looked at me as if to he was trying to read me.

"Did you you finish the storeroom? Could you also make sure that you clean the cleaning equipment that you used", Bill finally said.

I have heard that in some countries they eat grilled grasshoppers. I wondered how that must taste like.

And that is how I ended up taking 6 boxes of Aperol Spritz wine glasses and 2 box of Illy cups home....on a bus. In retrospect, I probably should have taken a taxi but then again that stuff is too expensive. I needed the money to buy pasta and vegetables.

“What is all this stuff?” asked my wife.

In one word (or four): she is absolutely stunning. Raven jet black waist length hair and blue/greenish eyes on a round and diamond'ish' shaped face with lips like...marshmallows? (Note to self: learn how to describe human features). I, on the other hand, look like a cross-bred of...something that is really round which would be a metaphor for my head. (Note to self: Seriously, learn to describe human features).

In fact, I try with all my might to avoid going on night outs with her because of the look of disbelief people give me when she introduces me as her husband.

It is really quite frustrating to have to take out my phone (see I love my Iphone) and show a random guy my ‘couples’ pictures just to convince him that she really is my wife.

But thinking about it, I could just show them my wedding band; or even better, not convince them at all. Why do I even have to convince them anyway?

Hmm no, I have to convince them. Not caring and not convincing them would fall into the mythical realm of ‘being mature’. I have never been there yet.

“What are you going to do with all these glasses?” She was not mad or annoyed; rather she looked bemused. She already knew I was prone to crazy ideas.

Actually, I once asked her friend if she had any idea why my wife liked me in the first place.

The friend said: “No, I never really understood her taste in men.”

“You cow!”, I replied out loud in my mind

“But she said that she thought you were really funny and seemed sincere”.

I always thought that ‘smart’, ‘sexy’, ‘tall’ and ‘successful’ would top a women’s things-I-look-for-in-a-guy list. I never knew that ‘funny’ and ‘sincere’ would rank this highly.

“My mom’s birthday is coming up; I am planning to give her some of these as present. I found them in the restaurant storeroom, Bill asked me to bin it”

“So effectively you are planning on giving your mom trash?”

And the soundtrack in my head played "....and I ammm feeling gooood...Dum dumdum DO dadada DAA...I am such a bad son!

“Yeah, you are right. I cannot believe I thought to do this,” I said with every fibre in my bones and morals shouting ‘haha we told you so’.

“Sweetie, why don’t you try to sell it on Ebay? I just managed to sell some clothes on there. You could use the money to buy your mom a proper present”

Seriously, why was that not my first contemplation?

Because that is just me being me.

And so it was that I created an Ebay account to sell these glasses. It was not even my idea; it was not part of a carefully thought-out plan with business goals and targets. It was not a brave decision where I risked everything. It was not a hero on a mission.

It was simply a boy, hopefully soon a man, wanting to buy his mom a proper present.

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” Arthur Ash

                                                      The Illy Cups

                             

Thank you for reading (if anyone actually reads this). I will be blogging about my Ebay seller experiences and about my efforts into building my Ebay store into a ‘real’ business. I expect to post one blog per week. 

Here is a completely modest, discreet, and 'ohh by the way' link to my Ebay store:Thorleifsson's Accessories. If you liked it, please add me as a ‘favourite seller’ and subscribe to my Email list for updates on the blog. Happy Ebaying!

When I was younger, during the Harry Potter craze, I really wanted to be an author, unfortunately, being lazy (and lacking any creative writing talent) got in the way, so please comment to make me better.