A trick I use to make it easy to age GTC items, manage Turbolister items

[ricarmic]

I'm sure there are a variety of ways people manage their items etc, but here is something I do that lets me:

-from within "My eBay" tell how "old" a GTC item is without opening it

-manage my "standard description text" in Turbolister.

The last digit of the price tells me what version the item is.

I started with $19.99 where the "9" was the current most recent version and worked my way down. Currently "1" is my most current version (so it would be $19.91).

So I can tell by the last digit of the price how many versions back it was (really can't tell the exact time as things like eBay changes, postal changes or other things causing wording changes to my standard text at unpredictable times).

This is most useful to me in Turbolisterland where I reuse a majority of my listings, so I know right away if all the "current" stuff is in it based on the last digit. Anything that has the current digit is superfast as I just change the pictures, verify them and off it goes!

The only drawback is that it is making my items progressively cheaper, 9c per item at the moment! At some point I'm going to have to roll over to "9" again - despite the fact it is years old, I still have "9" items running.

Anyway I put the idea out there incase it would be of use/help to anyone else......

[marnotom!]

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@ricarmic wrote:

The only drawback is that it is making my items progressively cheaper, 9c per item at the moment! At some point I'm going to have to roll over to "9" again - despite the fact it is years old, I still have "9" items running.

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Then you'd change the number in the tens place, wouldn't you?  So you could have $X.89" items.  😉

Or you might just want to write the item off and liquidate it from your inventory.

[ricarmic]

Hi marno!!! .....  Re 89c, yes I could, but I am too "cheap" to do that!!! (It turns into almost a couple hundred dollars across the number of items I sell in a year)

Regarding duration, I keep them till they've sold....some stuff has taken 5 years or more but eventually the right person comes along!!! (or a new product line evolves that it makes sense to fold/repackage them into)

[marnotom!]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Hi marno!!! .....  Re 89c, yes I could, but I am too "cheap" to do that!!! (It turns into almost a couple hundred dollars across the number of items I sell in a year)

Regarding duration, I keep them till they've sold....some stuff has taken 5 years or more but eventually the right person comes along!!! (or a new product line evolves that it makes sense to fold/repackage them into)

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Fair enough, although I would point out that selling your items a bit or a lot less expensively than you anticipated may mean you finally turn out that slow-selling item.  Even if you sell an item for $40 and you actually paid $60 for it, that's forty more dollars (before fees) for you to play with and with which to purchase new stock.

You just have to try not to make it a habit, that's all. 

[ricarmic]

Hi Marno...

I do not believe in discounting lots. Personal belief is that it gets folks in the habit of waiting to see how cheap it will go. This way the "watchers" see either someone else buy it or it still there at the same price.

If I do something with it it will come back with something else, or be sold somewhere else.....

[marnotom!]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Hi Marno...

I do not believe in discounting lots. Personal belief is that it gets folks in the habit of waiting to see how cheap it will go. This way the "watchers" see either someone else buy it or it still there at the same price.

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OK, but you said you've had some of this stuff for "years".  You honestly think watchers have that much patience? 

[ricarmic]

Hi Marno!

That is a good question, don't know the answer to that one.....probably not.....

[rykkm]

One thing to remember here. The more money you have tied up in inventory, the less you have for getting additional items. If you have had an item for awhile, a couple of years for example, it may be worthwhile to sell it at a slightly reduced price to make room. This is assuming it is not a one of a kind.

Also, watchers are ok and all, but if you sell via Buy It Now, I would wager that those "watchers", at least some of them, are competitors with similar or identical items using your listing to guage a price for theirs. If yours doesnt sell, they know to lower their listing price, which undercuts you if you relist at same price.

[ricarmic]

Hi Rykk!

I maintain my running inventory at the same level. In my "field", with the sources I have, it is easy to find more material. I have to regularly turn away folks now trying to sell collections etc, mostly because I don't have time to process, list, sell it as fast as I could acquire it....revising items also takes time....and usually the lots do eventually sell at the original price....

The price comment is interesting (interesting in a positive way) too - I never try to undercut everyone else, I look at what the range of prices are and depending on the availability/inventory etc I will price middle or high, the odd time lowest if I have a very good supply. In my years of watching and comparing, I regularly see/have customers buying material from me and competitors where my price is higher, and they are repeatedly doing this - ie they are not buying from me and then finding a cheaper competitor and then staying with them. My belief is that (in my field) buyers expect to increase the relative variety by purchasing from a number of sellers. So instead of selling the one/few items I am likely to sell  to the buyer at the cheapest price, I'm selling the same item/s at middle or higher price - pricing cheapest just loses me income and probably would not generate more sales - please note that this is my experience in my (stamp) categories, it certainly may not apply to other selling categories.

As a sort of ironic example, I sell to a number of ebay resellers who mark up the items and resell them on ebay. Between us we also have customers that are regularly buying from both of us, the buyer doesn't know of course they're buying from the original same source from two different vendors and paying more for material from the same source from my reseller....