Some New Year's Resolutions - Learning from my Mistakes I have spent the last few weeks mulling over the issues related to my larger presence on eBay. In earlier times, it was fine to scrounge for packing supplies; boxes, bubble-wrap and peanuts. NOw as I have incresed my listings and sales it just doesn't work anymore. I decided I had to step back and develop a whole new way of thinking about these things. I needed to have a plan to be sure that I always had the supplies I needed when an auction ended. I also decided that I wasn't getting top dolar for my inventory and I often wasn't making enough for my time. After spending some time looking at what I was doing, I felt I had enough experience to do the kind of planning that needed to be done. BUt to do it well, I had to develop some guidelines for myself. I decided on a few basic premises; a few New Year's Resolutions:

• I had to stock up on, and rely on USPS boxes whenever they were the best choice for my customers. Since I sell lots of "smalls and collectibles," it often doesn't make sense to insist that a buyer pay the minimum Priority Mail fee for a piece of Jewelry, for instance, but that whenever I had an item weighing over 13 ounces (including packaging), I would apply Rule #1: Look first to USPS packaging, and only use non-USPS boxes in special cases (more about those special cases later).
• I sell many, many fragile items, so double boxing is the most common practice for me. I found that in estimating weights for the Postage calculator, I often UNDER estimated the final weight, costing me money. So Rule #2: spend the time to make good decision about packaging and do accurate weight estimated BEFORE the sale, not after.
• I needed some predictability about supplies inckuding especially cardboard boxes, bubble-wrap and packing peanuts. I had been relying on my contacts in offices and in the local "ReStore" recycling center. with sporadic sales, this was adequate, but as my listings and sales became more steady and predictable, these resources just could not guarantee to have the things I needed when I needed them. I decided that I had to find a commercial supplier. I will have much more to say below about THAT odyssey, but I had to adopt Rule #3: Find a steady commercial supplier of packaging materials
• I decided that one of my failings was to sell things too quickly, with no idea what they were, or what the (eBay) value was. I decided that I had to be patient and to do more research. I have purchased many books at flea markets, auctions and used books stores, and developed a very robust "Favorites" list in Internet Explorer. My wife had graduated to chief researcher and has helped me to follow Rule #4: Don't sell anything until it has been researched and identified, and I have some reasonable idea of it's worth.
• Finally I loked over every sale for the last twelve months to identify patterns that were not in my best interest. I decided that there were too many items with fabulous returns on my investment of MONEY, but very little return on the investment of my TIME. For instance, an item bought for 10-cents and sold for $1.00 (net after postage, if any, and all fees) is returning a sterling 1000% on my investment. BUT, lets say I can list 40 items per week, then my $4.00 investment becomes $40.00, and over a year, as much as $2,000. The works out to about $2.00 an hour. Great profit, horrible business plan. I'm now targeting items selling (net) for $10.00 to $50.00, on average, with profit magins of around 500%. With my background in country auctions and estate sales, it is not as hard as sounds to line these things up. SO, Rule #5: I will keep my eyes on the net income target, not the percentage markup target

Returning to my Roots Even before I was selling consistently on eBay, I had the good fortune to be mentored by a country auctioneer. I worked my way from runner to ringman, and eventially I became a licensed auctioneer, acting as a backup to the fellow who taught me. It would take days to summarize all he taught me, bu the one thing that stands high and apart from everything else I learned is that being honest and honorable in ALL things was the surest way to become a long-lasting success. People in the country auction scene came and went, but the ones who were there for the long haul were all people I could trust implicitly. Those who tried to "put one over" on someone, or who felt that it was alright to lie to certain people, to cheat on their sales tax receipts or to is represent certain types of items fond, over time, that they had trouble buying the choice merchadise, and they had trouble finding the best buyers for their wares. And soon they moved on to other, less interesting phases of their lives. BUt the honest people became known for their integrity and they were the ones who were sought out when good merchandise came to the market, and who could command the best prices at their sales. Skeptics will say that in a rural and very personal environment I grew up in, these things were important, but in the huge bazaar of eBay with near total anonymity, and literally millions of buyers to lure, these qualities are outdated and useless. SOme sellers would say that they don;t care if the EVER have a repeat customer, because there are so many new ones out there. I maybe wrong, but I believe that a few dozen loyal customers, will bring more profit than 200 skeptical strangers, that no part of eBay us so big that yo can hide all of your sins from the people who are really motivated to buy your specific type of merchandise. So I have always put customer satisfaction first, and trust that sales will follow. SO here are my (renewed) New Year's Resolution in this important area:

• Rule 1: Be as clear as possible about the total cost of an item to the buyer.
• Rule 2: Set fair prices that cover all of costs of buying the item, selling the item and shipping the item
• Rule 3: Be honest with my customers, with my suppliers, with eBay, with PayPal.
• Rule 4: If I make a mistake I must do three things, admit I was wrong, offer no blame to anyone else and suffer the consequences graciously.