Changing stuff

Well, the bonanza on Bonanzle was a bust. I didn't sell a thing.

So now I've made a change on eBay. With all the changes eBay has put into place lately, I decided it was time to reevaluate what I'm doing there. I did some figuring, and found that to keep a basic store open and have it be cost effective, I would have to keep 49 inventory items in it at all times.

Since I only have 15 items on line right now, that doesn't make any sense.

So I closed the store and converted everything to .99 cent-start auctions to try to get rid of it so I can start fresh. That also puts me at a better place in the search function.

So now I have a whole bunch of watchers and some bids. Go figure.

Making changes......

After giving it due consideration--like about 5 minutes' worth--I've pulled the plug on my eCrater store. The sellthrough on eCrater stinks, but people are making sales on Bonanzle and Etsy. Those appear to be the most viable competitors for eBay at this point.

eBay surely isn't making things easy for sellers. And they're creating a lot of ill will in the process. At the rate they're going, there won't be enough sellers to keep them going before long.

For what it's worth, I've put my entire Bonanzle inventory on a 50 percent markdown on Sunday afternoon only..........if you're interested, stop by the store at www.bonanzle.com/booths/artemistradingco.

Oops!

Today I was out in my little cargo trailer moving some things around to make room for the shipping supplies that right now are stored in my son's car. There's a lady here in town who loves to recycle as much as I do, and she saves bubble wrap for me--the last time I went I took my son's car and I never unloaded it. Somehow I thought he might do it for me......

Nah. He's going to leave it there until I do it. LOL!

Anyway, my son had unloaded everything from the auction Tuesday night into my trailer for me so I expected those boxes to be in there.

What I didn't remember is that I've put half a dozen boxes of other collectibles in there too.

Oops!

I guess I'd better get started putting stuff on line again!

However, I'm about to ditch eBay. They're making so many changes that are to the detriment of sellers that I'm just about done with them. They aren't worth the trouble.

A junk day

Summer has definitely arrived! It's hot, sticky, and rainy.

This morning Rick and I went to a couple storage unit auctions. Not a whole day thing, just two of them close to the house.

The first one started early. Definitely a no-no in this business. By law they're required to wait until the published time before they begin the auction because the people who own the units have until that time to come in and pay. However, she started at 9:25 instead of the published 9:30, so we didn't get a good look at the one unit that might have been worth buying.

That's a first. I've been to a lot of storage unit auctions that started late, but I've never been to one where they so flagrantly violated the law.

Other than that, it was just a lot of junk today.

However, I have my ledgers all caught up and I'm ready to start posting some good stuff on eBay again. Any minute now........

Almosts there.......

Wheeee! It took me longer than I expected, but I finally got everything from the "termite episode" put away.

Now I can start listing stuff on line again.

But first........

Don't you just hate "but first" jobs?

I have to clean up my ledgers and my inventory list. I got the eBay one done last night, but I still have a lapidary list to update. That will be my project for tonight.

Getting there.........almost.......

Cleaning up my mess

Tonight I resolve to get the clutter in my house cleaned up so I can start posting stuff on eBay again. I have been saying that, but I don't have to go anywhere this evening so I'm going to work on it.

That is, if my foot will let me. I have been battling plantar fasciatus in my right foot for six months, and this morning I took a walk. Now I'm hobbling again. So it's going to be to do a little at a time, as I can.

I'm tired of this! I love to walk, and I love to walk my dogs, and every time I try to do anything I end up barely able to walk for the next couple of days. So it's back to the ice, and continuing with my stretches. and I hope I can get through the evening.

The thing about this clutter is where it came from. I have three pieces of furniture that had been in someone else's house for a while, and when they came home they all had dry wood termites in them. I didn't know it for a while, so they were all full of stuff, and one is of considerable size.

I had to empty them all and my fiance Rick and my son Chris hauled them off to be fumigated. Now they're back and I need to put everything that was in them back in them. What a pain in the neck!

Time is the enemy

Oh, I am doing it again! Accumulating some great inventory but no time to put it on line! I have some Johnson Brothers back there, and some brilliant period glass, Mikasa, Franciscan......

Time is my enemy. I just don't have enough of it!

Holy smokes! When did I become a vintage article?

Back in 2001, I started selling antiques and collectibles on eBay. It really started out by accident; I had some Star Trek china and some old Johnson Brothers mugs, and I thought I'd see what happened when I put them on eBay.

They went like gangbusters, and I was hooked. I started working as a runner at an auction so I could learn more about what I was selling, and eventually ended up buying a 5x8 cargo trailer to hold my inventory.

But when I hit 50, it suddenly dawned on me that I'm as old as some of what I'm selling as vintage! When the heck did that happen?

More and more, the items that sell are things I grew up using. I guess that makes me at least vintage, if not an antique!

Well, it's still fun. I find lots of junk, some stuff worth selling, and a very few treasures. Come along and see..........