Finally! I was going through withdrawals. I need new inventory laying around ready to be listed otherwise I start feeling panicky. Not that I couldn't spend hours tweaking my already 1000s of books, I just need that new stuff to help my listing fix. I don't even have much time to list it but it needs to be there, just in case.

I'm so excited about this batch. I bought tons of Taunton Woodworking, Home Improvement, and Architecture books. It was an expensive buy for me but it's great stuff. If you are interested in these subjects I will be adding new titles all week. I already have some listed and plan to run several more tomorrow evening.It's all stores or Buy It Now auctions - no bidding crap. 

Woodworking

Home Improvement

Architecture

I have excellent multiple shipping discounts AND my shipping max's out at$4.95 so you can order 10 monstrous books and shipping will only be $4.95!

Sunday is here again, auction night. I do 98% BIN auctions because I have mutiple quantities of items not to mention I hate bidding on auctions myself. So, do I really need to do auctions only on Sunday nights? People buy my items all week long. I just don't seem to have the time to figure out all the stats. I do know some stats, like my average sale on eBay is around $8.50, and of course I know how much I pay for my stuff. I know what my last 30 day sales are on eBay thanks to My eBay. But there's some stats I don't know that I should:

Does the 30 day sales figure under My eBay include my shipping charges?
Does eBay charge a FVF on shipping?
Does paypal charge a percentage on shipping? I'm pretty sure they do because they deal with dollar amounts
How many auctions can I run and still make money?
What is my sell through rate on auctions and what is the non-selling stuff costing me?
Can I run BIN auctions any time/any day without impacting my sell through?

Currently I run 50 - 100 auctions per week. I have no idea what my sell through is on a weekly basis. I know, that is sad. But really, I don't have a lot of time and I know I'm making money. And, it's not all that easy to figure out stuff that takes concentration with a 1 and 4 year old running around. Whenever there's a sale day I run 500+ auctions, depending on the sale. My sales always shoot up, but my sell through rate is poor on those auctions. I don't know how poor, but it's poor.

My usual modus operadi is to take a new book that I think is auctionable and run it on Sunday. I give it 2 unsold weeks in a row and it goes into Stores. That seems to work pretty good but how much is it costing me for those unsold books I thought would sell? Store listings are now going costing more to sell than auction listings but what if that auction listing doesn't sell for 2 weeks? How much does that cost vs. putting it in my store right away? How much faster will it sell in auctions vs. stores? During the last sale, which was auciton format only, I listed a book I have muliple copies of. I have one listed in my stores for $9.99. I had 4 bids in auction style bringing the sale price to $18.50. I sold 2 more copies via Second Chance. This is while my book is listed in my stores for $9.99! How come none of the bidders bought that one?

Wow! This is like journaling, this is my first blog post ever. I hope I can keep it up. Maybe I can learn something about myself.

I have been selling books on eBay since May of '98. Long before I had kids. I worked for my dad (he says he worked for me) at his bookstore and was looking for a way to boost revenue. He still has my user name c-olson. I quit working for him in 2002 when I had my first born. I thought I would give up the book world for good. After a year of trying to do the whole full time Stay At Home Mom thing I was dying inside. I tried the whole bit, MOMs Clubs, Childrens Museum season passes, Zoo season passes, playgroups, playgrounds, I was missing something inside my soul. It was a business. I needed a business to make me feel whole. I knew I had to approach my dad gingerly on this one. I am the one who set him up online, I am the one who found him several sources for books, I am the one who created his software and found the bookselling sites but it was his business. I wrote him an e-mail (bad move) about what I wanted to do. Sell books online from home. I read it to DH, he thought it was a great e-mail. I hit the SEND button. Oh boy, dad was NOT a happy camper. I was going to ruin him, he was going to go broke. I was going to get to all the good books first and put him out of business. How could I do that to him?

Fast foward 3 years:

Dad has realized that are a lot of books and a lot of customers in this great big world. We e-mail each other everyday and exchange tips, ideas, sources, and even what our sales for the last 30 days are under My eBay. 

My life? Some strange force in the universe told DH and I we should have another child, so that's what we did. So here I am, a SAHM of a 1 1/2 and a 4 year old, with a love for business and my kids. Both of them tug at my heart and soul. To balance this out I have put the kids in PT daycare a few days per week. I enlist some 11 year olds to watch the preschooler on the days he's home for a few hours while I work because this is a 7 days per week business, even if it's only a few hours per day.

For some reason I can't get over the guilt of putting my kids in daycare part time to work at home. Aren't you suppose to work at home so you can stay home with your kids? I guess I need to accept the fact that I need balance in my life. I am obessed with business and I love my kids like crazy but I am not the full time SAHM type. While other moms are clipping coupons and reading Parenting Magazine, my bathroom is filled with Fortune Small Business and Money Magazine. Some day I hope I can open a bookstore. I keep going over it in my head and have even called several vacant spaces to get rental rates. $22.00 per square foot they want! Holy Cow! I can't afford that plus stock an inventory. Also, I really don't want to work full time and NEVER see my kids. Maybe I can grow my online business until they are in school and take inventory of my life at that point. Meanwhile, I will try and improve my business by staying ahead of the competition (my dad? joke) trying new gimicks, finding new sources, and investing in inventory.

Right now: My 4 year old is throwing a tantrum because he is WAY overtired. He is screaming I AM NOT TIRED! I'M JUST TOUGH. I have handed him off to DH who will bribe him to lay down in the coveted Mom & Dads Bed with the sound machine tuned to Frogs. I will try to stay away from the computer for at least a couple of hours and do something other than check my e-mail for orders.