When weather threatens your eBay inventory!

I so thought I had my act together back in July when I wrote this blog post.  Who knew that a short month and a half later, a hurricane and tropical storm would threaten my business!

I have my eBay inventory stored in what, up until now, was always a clean and dry basement.  I never imagined that my basement would flood.  While I was on vacation in mid August, my neighbors told me how it rained like buckets when we were gone…they were kind enough to cut my grass because it had grown so long in a week.  Then the following week came Hurricane Irene, two weeks later came Tropical Storm Lee.

With the first storm we lost power and in came about 5 inches or water (covering 1500 square feet of basement space).  Anything in a bin started to float and then tip over.  Our shoe bins on the lowest shelf were threatened so we quickly started to move that inventory first…in the dark.

My hung clothes did not get wet as I thankfully did not have anything hanging that low, however I did have to raise them to a higher bar just in case.

The “just in case” came the following week with Tropical Storm Lee who gave us a total of 8 inches in our basement.

The stress of seeing that much water coming dangerously close to our stock was immense.  I put our stores on vacation as I couldn’t imagine finding anything while trudging in boots to search for inventory. It felt unfair to my customers.  I worried about the smell of water…..

Here you can see the water line.  This was about 5 inches of water.

The next storm would be worse bringing in 8 inches.

Here you can see some of my inventory hovering precariously over the water resting on my boys weight bench.  Yes, that's debris floating off to the right....

The next day we were able to rent a powerful sump pump and get out the water.  My husband and our boys worked tirelessly in cleanup and we purchased two heavy duty dehumidifiers to get the dampness out of the air.  Fortunately, that worked and my clothes were not affected.

Since the storm, we have moved things higher “just in case”.  We plan on investing in a heavier duty sump pump for our home.  Hopefully, this will never happen again.

All is back to normal now and my husband and I feel as though we've learned a valuable lesson.  Moral of the story, if you have items stored in your basement, be wise and plan for things like this.  There is nothing worse than scrambling in the dark with water all around your feet and ankles trying to save your personal belongings.

Storage Solutions for the Online Seller!

This subject has been talked to death by online sellers, the reason being that it’s a constant struggle.  Usually the lack of space parlays into clutter.  It’s tough when you don’t have adequate space to stay organized.  But it can be done; you just have to get creative.

 First, I recommend designating one specific area for eBay storage.  Other sellers on our eBayUnderground Group have recommended investing in a small storage shed, which could be a great idea if you don’t have room inside the home.  I personally use my basement, it’s clean and dry.

 Here are my suggestions:

1.  Utilize ALL the space.  That means floor to ceiling, and not just the perimeter walls, but the interior space as well. 

I've got floor to ceiling storage space for my kids clothes, utilizing interior space.

2.  Group like items together; toys with toys, glassware with glassware, clothes with clothes, etc.

 

Here I'm trying to group like items together.  Not just that, but I'm not hiding anything.  Each time you sell something, you don't want to have to hunt it down.  If you have to constantly handle inventory, by moving it around to search for something else, you are wasting valuable time.

3.  Buy or make storage fixtures.  Now this is the part where you are investing in your business.  You don’t have to spend a fortune, we are all resellers, and believe me…there are plenty of used fixtures out there.  OR, if you have something specific in mind you can get your handy hubby to build something.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, just efficient.

I purchased this grid at a going out of business sale, along with the hooks to display items.  Everything is off the floor and in plain sight.

My hubby built these fixtures with some 2x4 and pipe.  It's not fancy, but it works for my storage needs.  I could have used floor racks, but I needed more space.  In this section I have 3 bars, floor to ceiling.  They are not full, so I have room to add to my inventory.

Hubby needed a place to store the bubble wrap.  The floor is not an option, the table was not an option (that's wasting your table space) so he created a dowel to hang the bubble wrap.  More importantly, he doesn't have to move it when he needs it.  He can just measure out what he needs and cut it.

Here we store shoes.  These shelves I purchased 15 years ago at a going out of business sale.  That retail company used them for back room storage, as do I.  Then we have the shoes tucked in their own shoe box and the boxes are numbered for location purposes.

4.  Label your stock so that it's easy to locate once it sells.

Once we list an item, we will make a note in My eBay.  Use the drop down menu to add a note as to where you are storing your inventory.

I don't really recomment hiding your inventory under the bed!  :)

I just sold these shoes and I know exactly what bin to go looking for them in!

5.  Make sure you have room to grow.  It's great to get everything organized for what you have listed now.  But what about new inventory?  Try to think ahead of what your needs will be, based on what your listing goals are.

Do you have a great idea for inventory storage?  Leave a comment below or join us in our group discussion here!