Highlights From This Week's eBay Underground Discussions

Lots of good conversation going on again this week on eBay Underground! We are up to 848 members and growing daily!!  Please keep spreading the word. Let's see if we can't hit a thousand pretty soon here!

Read all about some members' concerns and fears about making the leap to opening up an eBay store. (*Picture is not intended to poke fun - there are very valid concerns and fears involved with making that decision!)

They may not be the most attractive shoes in the world, but they sell well! Come join our discussion about selling SAS shoes.

I know nothing at all about selling silver, but there's some great conversation and tips on the board this week!

One member learned the importance of specifying the method of shipping when accepting a return for refund. She told her buyer she would reiumburse him for return shipping, and he shipped the item back via FedEx ... for $15! It's so important to be specific in our return policies!

Have you got your bookkeeping all caught up for tax time? Here is where you'll learn where to find your tax forms from Paypal.

And finally ... who knew there was such good money to be made from these ugly little things?? My 3-year-old has a whole bag full of them. I'm gradually trying to sneak them away from him one at a time. Shh! Don't tell him!

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As always, if none of these topics interest you, feel free to stop by the boards and start up a topic that you'd love to learn about or that you'd love to share your knowledge about!

Featured EBUG Member - Rachael, The Thrifty Picker

Our group is growing by leaps and bounds! We have many, many new members. Some post often, some just read without posting much. I'd like to start learning more about our members, so I'm resurrecting an old blog feature. I re-present to you, our featured EBUG member feature!

This week, I've gotten to know a little more about Rachael.

Rachael sells on both eBay and Etsy (Vintage Dreams NE), and she blogs at The Thrifty Picker. Let's take a peek into her life:

My name is Rachael, I am 33-years-old and live in Omaha, Nebraska with my husband and Doberman dog. I graduated with a business degree from the local University and have earned an additional certification in the medical field.  I work part time in a doctors office and the rest of the time I thrift, blog, resell, and take care of my hubby, home, and dog.

How long have you been selling on eBay?

Since June, 2011.

Why did you start?

My mother cleaned out her attic and gave me all of my childhood items. Some I kept for my future children and some I decided to sell on ebay because they were considered vintage and/or collectible. I listed things like Barbie, My Little Pony, and vintage baby dishes. They all sold, and quickly too! About this same time I started to decorate our new home on a shoe string budget and came to love Goodwill, estate, and yard sales. While searching out décor, I would find tag-on or barely used clothing, and unique vintage items that I knew I could flip for a profit. That is when I really decided to give the reselling business a go.

I had a computer, internet connection, and a junky digital camera. I added a scale and some packing tape into the mix and I was ready to roll. The risk and overhead were low. I gave it six months and it paid off! I ended up well into the ‘green’ at the end of the year and that was even with buying my first DSLR camera and a bust form mannequin to better photograph my wares.

In the first 6 months of reselling, I opened an ebay and etsy store, and started a blog about thrifting. I have over 100 ebay and etsy transactions combined. I am just shy of power seller status on ebay. My blog began in September and I just reached my 60^th follower.

Do you remember the first item you sold?

On ebay it was a set of vintage Rainbow Brite lacing cards and on etsy it was a vintage Lucite necklace.

What keeps you going during slow sale periods?

Marketing my store and encouragement from other resellers.

When it is slow, I use that opportunity to create treasuries, tweet about items that have been in stock for awhile, and post on etsy team pages.

 When I first started my ebay and etsy stores, I met a few other resellers via the blogosphere. If I ever feel I am in a slump and want to hear some reassurance from others in the business, I send them a quick email or facebook message asking them to take a peek at my store for a quick critique or just ask them for encouragement.  I recently joined the Ebay Underground forum and find this helpful for tips and encouragement too.

Tell us about your favorite buyer.

I had an ebay customer who bought a vintage Precious Moments ornament that said “our first Christmas” right before the Holiday. She emailed me and told me she had received this ornament 30-some years ago when her and her hubby had just married. She was putting it on the Christmas tree and accidentally broke the keepsake ornament. She thanked me for having the item in my store and available to her as a replacement to the original.

Another favorite is an etsy customer from Australia (my first international order) who bought a vintage tag-on Mad Men style dress from my shop and then wore it in a vintage ‘look’ contest. She was so happy with the dress and she sent me a photo of her wearing the garment while on stage at the contest.

Tell us about your worst nightmare buyer & how you handled it.

Gosh, I haven’t had any terrible scenarios to date, a couple of annoying buyers/bidders though…

Back in August, I had a lady tell me a shoe was not as described. She said I listed it as a 6.5 but that she always wears 6.5 and this shoe was definitely not a 6.5, even though it was printed right on the shoe! It was a size 6.5 and I stated this in the description and they were new shoes so they weren’t stretched out. I assured her that I did not misrepresent the item and told her to send them back for a refund. She never sent them back and I haven’t heard from her since.

Another annoying one was a non-paying bidder who claimed he never bid on the item even though he outbid a few others for the item. He claimed someone hacked his account. The transaction was cancelled, and I relisted and sold it for more than I would have originally.

What was your best sale?

I found a pair of never worn, current style, Salvatore Ferragamo loafers at a yard sale for $6 (yes you read that right!) and sold them for $99 plus shipping. Woot!

What purchase for resale did you buy that turned out to be a big mistake?

I try to find my items for dirt cheap, so I haven’t lost big on any items.  But, I have vowed to be more picky going forward and to turn away chipped items or clothing with any sort of wear. I know now that pristine items can be found so there is no reason to settle. 

Do you have a niche? What is it and why?

Ebay: Tag on or barely worn designer clothing. I myself am not a label whore, I wear what fits and what looks good. But if I can find thrifted designer pieces, I am all over that, for myself and the shop!

Etsy: Functional vintage pieces. It has to look good and serve a purpose.  Kitchen items and clothing in good vintage condition make up the majority of my shop.

What is your favorite thing to watch for when you’re out thrifting?

For me personally and for the shop, vintage Pyrex.

Tell us one thing you have learned on eBay Underground.

The post on ebay store vs no ebay store gave me the knowledge and courage I needed to open my own.

Anything else you’d like to comment on?

What I have learned about reselling is that it is not just about listing, selling, and shipping. You also have to take good photos, write enticing descriptions, network, and keep up with trends and industry news. 

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Thank you for letting us get to know a little more about you, Rachael!
Be sure to stop by Rachael's eBay and Etsy stores to check out her goodies, and drop her a note on her blog while you're at it!

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If you'd like to be one of our Featured EBUG Members, please drop us a line and we'll get you on the schedule!

Highlights From This Week's eBay Underground Discussions

Here's a feature I've gotten away from for some reason...

Our boards have been extremely active this week. It's so encouraging to see more and more new posters and lurkers coming out of hiding! We've covered some great topics this week. Many are ongoing, so if you have any thoughts or information you'd like to add, please stop by!

• Several of our members have experienced several drops in their sales now that the holidays are over. A lot of buyers overspent for Christmas and have just gotten their credit card bills. January and February are a slow time for a lot of sellers. Come and read some tips on how to deal with slow sales during these months.  

• eBay Top-Rated Seller evaluations just went through. Several of our members were excited to announce that they have joined the ranks of Top-Rated Sellers! Join us in congratulating them! (Tina has a great 10-part series on how to become a Top-Rated Seller in under a year. Check it out!)

• There has been some GREAT conversation about our top must-haves and do-wants for our businesses. What do you use that you couldn't live without? What do you WISH you had to make your job easier?

• When is the best time to list certain items? Find out when our members list seasonal items.

• There are so many different photo editing software programs available. We've been discussing the pros and cons of quite a few of them.

• The all-important BOLO (Be On the LookOut) list - how do you organize yours?

These are just the highlights. There have been lots and lots more topics going on this week. And as always, if you aren't interested in any of these topics, feel free to stop by and strike up a new conversation!

The eBay Thrifter Is Up and Running!

It's not running very fast or very far, but it is running. My personal eBay blog is officially published as of today.  From this point on, We Sell on eBay will be group- and forum-focused, and The eBay Thrifter will be focused on my personal eBay business and day to day life of an eBay thrifter.

See you around!

Change Is A-Comin'

I am in the process of reorganizing this blog. It has changed directions from where I want it to be. In the future, it will be more focused on our eBay Underground forums. I plan to leave the personal and teaching posts off of here. Don't worry - I will be transitioning all of that content to a new blog, which will be unveiled once I actually find some time to get it going. 

My tentative plan for this blog is to make it more focused on the forum. I would like to feature one thread twice a week, along with a brief summary of the thread and my thoughts on it as well. Once a week, I will do a Top 10 EBUG Threads post, where I will give a brief rundown on the most popular threads from the week. I used to do that awhile ago, but for some reason I got away from doing that.

I would also like to do a Featured EBUG Member post once every 2 weeks or so. I used to do that too, and would like to resurrect that feature. If you are interested in being interviewed for that feature (free advertising!), please contact me.

All of the Fabulous Finds, Top eBay Moments, and general teaching and chit-chat posts will be moved to a blog that's more personal to me. There will be a clear division between this blog (posts about the forum only) and my personal blog (my day-to-day eBay and thrifting activities).

I hope you're willing to stick around and follow me once I make my move. I enjoy hearing from all of you and reading your blogs, and I look forward to catching up with you after the move!

Correction Regarding eBay & Paypal Fees

I don't know what the deal is with blogger lately. I haven't been able to reply to any comments or post my own comments all week. My comment page keeps freezing. Argh!

Anyway ... Anonymous commented here with some excellent information. I erroneously suggested that eBay and Paypal fees could go on the Commissions & Fees line of the Schedule C. They should actually go on Line 48 (Other Expenses), which will then get totalled up and put on Line 27.

That makes a lot more sense. Part of that comment pointed out that the IRS isn't going to be too terribly picky about WHERE we put the different expenses, as long as we explain what they were. That's what Line 48 allows. There is a space on Line 48 to specify the different expenses.

Thank you, Anonymous!

And no thank you, stupid Blogger. Let me comment on my own blog!

Schedule C, page 2 - Information on your Vehicle

I'm not a tax accountant. Read the instructions for yourself or consult a tax attorney. That should be the last time I have to say that :)

Schedule C
Schedule C Instructions

All that's left is information about your vehicle. Mileage is a BIG deduction. You'll definitely want to be sure and use it!

Line 43 - When did you place your vehicle in service for business purposes? This will be the date of your first shopping trip in your current vehicle, regardless of the year.

Line 44 - Of the total number of miles you drove your vehicle during 2011, enter the number of miles you used your vehicle for business, commuting, and other. The business line will be all the mileage from your road trips, thrifting stops, post office, trips to Walmart for bubble wrap, etc. ALL business-related driving. And here's a tip for this year: any time you're out running errands, stop into Goodwill. Whether you buy anything or not, you can still deduct the mileage for stopping to look. This way, you will be able to deduct the mileage for getting groceries. You should only deduct the miles from your house to the thrift store though. If the grocery store is 10 miles from your house, but Goodwill is only 7 miles from your house, you should deduct the 14 mile round trip to Goodwill, not the 20 mile round trip to the grocery store. But that's 14 miles you wouldn't have been able to deduct if you hadn't stopped in to shop.

The commuting line is for miles driven from home to work. The other line is for all other miles. You don't need to keep track of them, but you should have a pretty decent estimate of how many miles you drove total throughout the year, which you can use to figure out how many miles weren't business and commuting.

Lines 45-47 are simple yes or no questions. If you don't have a written record of your mileage, I suggest you make one. Hopefully you've kept track of when and where you shopped, so it would be very easy to create a written record. I use a pocket calendar. When I make a trip somewhere, I just jot the mileage down on the correct day. Then I add them up at the end of the year.

That is IT, folks! The very last section of the Schedule C is for "Other Expenses," but unless you have some extenuating circumstances, I'm pretty sure everything has already been covered elsewhere on the form.

Good luck with your tax forms this year. Remember: just take it one step at a time. If you get stuck, read the instructions. If you are still stuck, don't take my word as ultimate inerrant truth. Please PLEASE double check with a tax accountant if you are unsure.