posted on September 26, 2004 04:52:45 AM new
I am wondering if anyone has the same problem I have. I think..and this is an estimate..may be longer.. that I have so much stuff to put on ebay that it would take me approx 5 years if I listed 8 hrs a day 6 days a week to get it all on.
I have two bedrooms in the upstairs stuffed full, my living room right now has some stuff plus more in a downstairs bedroom. Then the garage has about 20 tubs/containers full.. the whole back wall of the garage is full of records, 2 back rooms behind the garage stuffed full, the attic over the garage..full plus there is another attic over the house that some of the things in there are ebay items.
I think I am in big trouble. Besides..I work outside the home 32 hours a week so have to list at night and weekends.
And silly me I keep going out looking for more. Do you think I need psychiatric help?
posted on September 26, 2004 04:57:48 AM new
Wow, what can I say?
I have one room dedicated to eBay stuff and a small office. My family would have me committed it I allowed it to spill over into the rest of the house.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on September 26, 2004 05:51:58 AM new
LOL Parkman, I feel the same way.....
I dont think I have THAT much stuff as I have mostly the one ebay room, some in the kitchen, L/R and some in boxes in my bedroom closet. But yeah, some days it seems almost overwhelming and I'm never going to get it listed! And Like you, my favorite part is going to find MORE!!
It can be a dangerous addiction like other addictions. There is, I think, a high to finding something special at a cut-rate price. But we are not alone. All the dealers and collectors I know say the same exact thing! They dont do ebay, but they have rooms full'ostuff. I do believe it is a bit of a sickness if it gets out of control. (But who determines when it gets out of control for each individual? Like that post on that lady from that other board with unopened boxes of stuff from ebay. Yeah, now maybe thats def out of control.) I have reeled myself in for the most part from doing marathon weekend G/sales etc. But its still my all time favorite way to spend a day. I truly cannot afford it anymore and cant seem to look without buying 'something', so its best for me to not even go.
Ah, the peddlers life we live. But I bet at least you are probably not a poor peddler like I am. Sometimes I think this business is worst than a stuggling actor or something! Seems for every hit you get at makeing a profit on something good, there are at least 20-30 misses inbetween. -dont you think so?
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[ edited by neroter12 on Sep 26, 2004 05:55 AM ]
posted on September 26, 2004 06:18:49 AM new
So true Neroter..I think that for every great find there are a lot of not so great finds..I have lots of those. I think if I could sell everything I have for a very low price I would be a millionaire...it is just taking the time to get it all listed.
Our children are grown and out and I tell them they can't move back home since there bedrooms are now full of ebay stuff.
I try to think of this as a hobby instead of an addiction. Good way to fool myself huh. I need to work my way through one room at a time and have a huge yard sale with the not so great items..bet a lot of ebay sellers would show up and buy them thinking they were going to make money.
posted on September 26, 2004 06:36:55 AM new they can't move back home since there bedrooms are now full of ebay stuff.
LOL!!!
And yes, I've often thought too if I could list some of this stuff at .01 and make 2-3 bucks on the shipping x's a thousand items....that would okay! Actually, I'd probably have to make 4.00 on the shipping on top of postage to cover fees and make a profit.
Yes, too on thinking its a hobby. But some days it's about all I give my time too it seems. If I am not out hunting, I am on here searching, listing or reading books, or 'getting' organized. - More like moving stuff around! (My father always used to say he was 'getting' organized and i'd tease him then how come he never IS organized? lol. But now look who's talking!) But I enjoy it, so it cant be all bad
I've been up early this am. Uploaded my pictures and got some things ready to go. Pushed it and am a bit worn now. But still, I am fighting the urge to go 'tramping' again today! I kid myself that its a nice day to walk about. yeah, right! Maybe I will tell hubby lets go to the movies or something today!
[ edited by neroter12 on Sep 26, 2004 06:38 AM ]
posted on September 26, 2004 06:43:42 AM new
I've been going through my Ebay stash and have more to sell at a garage sale/flea market than on Ebay right now.
For one thing I need to get rid of it all in a hurry. We are getting ready to put our house up on the market and buy a larger one that is a fixer upper.
I won't have time to list much once we get the new house because we'll be busy fixing it up. Once we get it liveable I can start relisting on a regular basis. The house we're in now is 972 sq ft and the one we are hoping to buy is over 2000 sq ft. I will have lots of room in the new house to accumulate Ebay stuff. Right now I don't want to move what I have. It's bad enough moving our other belongings.
I've been trying to put my items in lots to move them faster.
posted on September 26, 2004 07:03:06 AM new
Yikes Meow--If I had to move I would be in big trouble with all of this stuff. My children have nightmares about us dying and leaving them with all of this to deal with. My daughter tells everyone if we die to make sure to come to the visitation at the funeral home as she will set up tables and give everyone free gifts.
I know what you mean neroter..I get up on Saturday morning and think I shouldn't go out to the garage sales but most of the time I end up going out and adding to my stash.
posted on September 26, 2004 09:04:11 AM new
This is such an interesting thread. I just have one Ebay office with stuff in it, but it's a large room, about 20 x 15.
I'm trying to whittle the piles and shelves full of items down to realistic numbers, but it's hard, and I keep finding more things Out There.
Parkman--one suggestion: Rather than start with one room that's full of Ebay stuff, you might think about selling the things you're sure will do fairly well. Perhaps when those better items are sold, you'll have a good idea what to do with the leavings.
A book site I read faithfully says that most of us who sell books are saving the best ones and selling the others, but the author says book prices will never be higher, even for the rare books, but are steadily going down because of the larger number of sellers out there. I have a hunch this is also true of any collectibles.
And. . . this is easy for me to say, right? I haven't succeeded in doing what I've just typed!
I do think it can easily be a sickness for us. I find myself thinking, by dang, I want to get to those sales FIRST so nobody else will get the good stuff. Even with a roomful of stuff here at home! It feels rather acquisitive, greedy, to me, and I don't like that feeling at all.
Somebody! Stop us before we buy more!
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Andy Rooney on Vegetarians: Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter".
posted on September 26, 2004 10:08:55 AM new
My husband says we should have the children come over on Friday afternoon and throw the keys on the roof and hide the ladders so we can't go anywhere that is not within walking distance on the weekend.
Roadsmith..that suggestion about selling the best first is a very good idea. I should do that and yard sale the rest.
It still would probably take me a long time but no telling what hidden treasures I might find that would bring good money.
posted on September 26, 2004 10:53:40 AM new
Parkman - could we be long lost twins? If you need psychiatric help, so do I. I have a basement full of "treasures" I think I'm going to resell someday. In addition to the basement, there's 1 bedroom that I've turned into an Ebay room. I have records in my garage too - although I usually sell them at a b&m mall. I also have a full time job, so obviously I can't spend 8 hours a day listing.
I made a goal to finish selling all of my vintage costume jewelry by the end of this year. But yet in the last couple of weeks I bought more jewelry.
I also get torn between selling individual items (like jewelry, postcards) or larger lots. I figure there's a greater potential for profit with individual items - but lots would be so much quicker.
I think I'm trying to reduce my inventory - I had a big yard sale earlier this year and I had a local auction house pick up 5 pick-up truck loads of stuff. But I know I still have a ridiculous amount of stuff.
posted on September 26, 2004 11:38:31 AM new
MANY MANY years! My ebay stuff in pictures (tucked away under tables, desks, etc) each box holds about 1000 postcards - I didn't photograph "my Store" or current listings:
and we bought more than a 1,000 new ones yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!
** lets hope this works!
**********************************
Sig files are too much trouble!
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
[ edited by neglus on Sep 26, 2004 11:39 AM ]
[ edited by neglus on Sep 26, 2004 12:01 PM ]
[ edited by neglus on Sep 26, 2004 12:03 PM ]
[ edited by neglus on Sep 26, 2004 12:07 PM ]
posted on September 26, 2004 11:57:28 AM new
I'm too ashamed to post my own pic of my Ebay room. My Ebay room is my garage, my office, and a 22 ft cargo trailer in the back yard! I spend probably 10 hours a week "organizing" it, so I can walk thru it and then Saturday comes and its back to piles of stuff in the floor.
As for it being a sickness? Yep, I think it is. I have tried to break the habit for years. Manage to do pretty well for a few months and then fall right back into it.
Used to be a B&M dealer and swore I would go cold turkey when I stopped selling. That was 7 years ago and I still have the majority of what was here 20 years ago -(
[ edited by ltray on Sep 26, 2004 12:05 PM ]
posted on September 26, 2004 12:08:15 PM new
As I see it, you don't have a selling problem, you have a buying problem.
Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine
posted on September 26, 2004 12:13:05 PM new
I shop in spurts. I have an SUV, an ebay room, 2 large closets, and a 1/2 of a fairly large room in the basement full of ebay items to list. The other 1/2 of the basement room and a little alcove upstairs is where I keep the listed items. If I didn't shop for 3 or 4 months I could maybe get it all listed. That's my goal as I've moved it all last November and again this past June and thought "how silly was that". So...I'm going to try and not shop till after Christmas and see if I can't get caught up with it all.
I did pretty well this summer as I can count the number of garage sales I went to on one hand.
I will go to the library book sale next weekend however as it's only twice a year and I come home with some wonderful things.
posted on September 26, 2004 12:41:49 PM new
Well, I am starting to feel better now that I am finding out there are other people like me including my long lost twin Cherished, neglus and ltray. I guess it is an addiction but maybe we are helping other people since we give them money for all this stuff and it may help them pay their bills. That makes me feel good about buying all this stuff..hope it makes some of you feel better also.
posted on September 26, 2004 01:05:43 PM new
A bedroom, a two car garage, a 10 X 13 storage area. The wife put her foot down on the plastic and neon signs. I have records, and books, and figurines, and stuffed animals, and first day covers, and comic books, and pictures, and music boxes, and more playboys and such than I ever thought I would own. My daughter has a mantra when we go to storage, "Oh my God, what could we get for this on eBay?" I tell them it's my revenge, they have to go through it all when I die. At least if they want to pay for my funeral. ;-D
Hebrews 13:8
posted on September 26, 2004 01:06:08 PM new
You guys realize that you are discussing what I am actually living right now right? Since I am getting ready to move out of the country in early 2005 I am currently in the process of selling everything I own (I'm taking a computer and clothes only). Also since I am getting ready to leave and she is getting ready to move to a new house next year, my mother has decided to call in the "I'll help you ebay it" favor. Full basement, garage, storage units, guest bedroom full of "stuff" accumulated from deceased relatives and a matched set of pack rats. I've been at it for nearly two months and am determined to be done by Christmas. I 'll let you know if I succeed.... or crack up first.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on September 26, 2004 02:39:04 PM new
I thought of something that I was tod in a marketing class in college. What is the cost of "money"? The longer your inventory sits the more your "money" costs. In other words, look at it this way. If you are borrowing $$$ to buy inventory, then you are paying interest on that investment. Do you figure that into your selling cost? If you don't, you may be losing money on your sales. It works the same if you are paying for the inventory out of your own funds.
Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine
posted on September 26, 2004 02:56:25 PM new
Gosh ... How I can relate!!!! I have thousands and thousands of patterns piles completely around me in my dining room/office. And I keep buying them! I am trying NOT to look at any others so that I can get the piles down. It's a paper hazard! Plus, we got notice that we cannot renew our lease and now we must move. So add all of my ebay stuff to the direct sales stuff that I still have a closet full of as well as boxes and boxes and I have my work cut out for me. We're supposed to be out by 11/30. The apartment complex sold out and now they are turning them into condos. Figures!
posted on September 26, 2004 03:05:10 PM new
I could keep busy for a solid month, I'm sure. After that, I'd have to make some effort to find more stuff.
My problem is that so much of my stuff has a very low per-item value, I just don't have the incentive to spend huge amounts of time on it anymore.
The stuff I have in my "backlog" has been the SAME stuff that's been in my backlog for two or more years. New stuff I get listed right away ;(
--------------------------------------
We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
posted on September 26, 2004 03:14:48 PM new
"My problem is that so much of my stuff has a very low per-item value, I just don't have the incentive to spend huge amounts of time on it anymore.
"The stuff I have in my "backlog" has been the SAME stuff that's been in my backlog for two or more years. New stuff I get listed right away ;("
Replaymedia hit it right on the head here, for me--and maybe some of you folks. Things I acquired three or four years ago, which I feel dispirited about because I don't want to take the time to list them, knowing they won't do much at all--but I'm unwilling to let go of them.
I, too, tend to list the stuff I get now, right away, because I have a better idea of what they'll do on Ebay.
I don't think there are many people are there in the Real World who would understand the dilemma some of us face! I'm glad you all are there for me. . . .
-------------------------------
Andy Rooney on Vegetarians: Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter".
posted on September 26, 2004 03:23:11 PM new
I probably have several years of stuff stacked up. I don't feel so bad now that I see other people have the same 'problem'. I lost the family room, guest bedroom, and half the living room to eBay stuff. Still, I can't resist the lure of that next auction, yard or estate sale. I tell myself I need to buy when it is there or I will run out of things to sell. I don't think that will ever happen. I organized my computer room early this year with shelves all around and they are still full of what I put there in March!! Plus new goodies. I have a six shelf unit full of boxes of jewelry, 4 shelves of linens, over 1000 hankies, plus assorted knick-nacks, glass, salt and peppers and on and on and on. I love selling and buying but I'm kind of overstocked. I agree it can be overwhelming. Sometimes I just don't know where to start. I should just grab a box and list until it is all gone. If it is not worth much I could toss it into the 'store' for 3 cents a listing.
posted on September 26, 2004 03:36:12 PM new
when we moved to a new apartment last december, i moved all of my ebay stuff into our overflowing rented garage. after five months of paying garage rent and not listing anything from it, i sold it all to a flea market dealer.
that left me with my vintage jewelry collection. this has taken over my apartment. i have 3 armoires, 12 large jewelry boxes and numerous rubbermaid tubs full. every closet and cupboard has some jewelry in it.
i have promised my husband and boys that i will clear some of it out but how? i sort it and resort it, then put it back. every once in a while i will sell a lot without looking too closely at it. then i lose nerve again.
the really funny thing about it is....i wear no jewelry...too alergic!!!!!
posted on September 26, 2004 04:15:36 PM new
Sometimes I am ashamed of myself because of all the stuff that I have and because I continue to buy more. My bedroom is so full that I can't even sleep in there anymore. I have to sleep on the couch in the livingroom. That is after I put the stuff that is on the couch onto the floor. I have stuff stuffed into every nook and cranny of my allready tiny trailer. I have a free storage locker at my brothers house in another town 40 miles away and it is stuffed full also.
I am not so sure that this is such a great thread, as it has caused me to once again take another look at how I am living. LOL
Yes, I do believe it is a sort of sickness to be such a packrat.
I long for the time when I first left home and struck out on my own many many years ago. I had a van, 2 buckets of carpenters tools, one small box of mechanics tools, a foam pad, a sleeping bag, one change of clothes, an extra pair of boots, a warm jacket, a baseball cap, a fishing rod, a small tackle box, a small Coleman stove, a Coleman lantern, 1 frying pan, 1 pot, 1 coffee pot, 1 spoon, 1 fork, 1 knife, 1 coffee cup, 1 canteen, 1 folding card table, a small bag with my toiletries in it, a small 22 caliber pistol and a couple of Louis Lamour books. No cellphone, no computer, no refrigerator, no microwave oven, no couch or other furniture, no debit cards, etc.
posted on September 26, 2004 04:35:12 PM new
LOL, YS. At first I thought you were parodying the story posted here a few weeks ago.
I too long for the days when I moved my whole apartment in my van. Since getting married again, I have been working on getting back to living with less. It was bad enough navigating thru my stuff when I lived alone. It is just plain annoying to do it with someone else in the house.
I think it will take me about 3 years to Ebay, yard sale and donate all the stuff in my house and storage trailer. We just sold the house I owned before we married. In 2 weekends, I managed to sell most of the stuff in that house , but we still moved a 22 ft cargo trailer and a garage load of stuff into his house. I should be having garage sales, but the hurricanes give me a good excuse to goof off on weekends. Luckily GS season lasts all year here, so I'll probably start having sales again in November.
We hope to be RVing in 5 years, so my main job for now is getting rid of stuff.
posted on September 26, 2004 05:09:09 PM new
parkman
Welcome to the over buy club. What I would do in your case is put most of your stuff on a real life auction and get rid of it that way.
Take control over what you buy, in other words become more selective in what you buy to resell. More is not always better.
Hope your insurance company never will see the inside of your house. Lot of luck.
posted on September 26, 2004 05:25:31 PM new
It's time for alot of you to hit the swapmeet,,,,AS a SELLER. Purge stuff you THOUGHT you were gonna sell on e bay and NEVER will,,,,,,,Because you will NEVER get around to it and what was HOT 4 years ago is moot today. Think REAL HARD when you buy in the future from now on. I dumped $400.00 of stuff today at the Long Beach MC show. Glad I did. Not even a DENT shows. hahahahaha. TONS of stuff.
I just heard today there are 500 would be sellers TRYING to get in at the local College swapmeet. I SAW with thine own eyes a seller pay $3000.00 for a months rent for spaces today. Why would I care to know or watch or have any knowledge of that CASH transaction from a distance? Because the SELLER owes me I saw this weeks $100.00 go bye bye....Darn! Point being there are ALOT of people needing and wanting to dump their stuff at the swapmeet.( swapmeet management hno longer has any HEART,,,CASH Now! or BOOT! yer gone) A use to be e bay seller chatted with me at LB today. He sold CARS on e bay. Not now,,,,burned by pay pal.
