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 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..."
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.
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