I can't believe that its been 2 months since my last post. Life has been kicking me lately and it takes time to recover.
Sales for July and August were in the toilet...no...worse than that...they were all the way down to the bottom of the septic system or sewer or whatever your disposal system happens to be. I mean seriously low sales. It seems that the conspiracy theories are, well mostly just in my head. I look at each and every item I purchase or list and go over it with a fine tooth comb, figuratively. Some weeks I just couldn't bring myself to list low profit items. The next week they were all that I wanted to list. I was just as up and down as my sales.
Why so up and down? Ebay has at least paid the ebay bills and given me a little something to go in the kitty, but not much. There is so much that needs to be done that now was not the time for ebay income to dry up. And yes I do have a cushion between me and poverty, but it keeps getting thinner. I've gone from a memory foam mattress to a very thin quilt batt.
I know, I know, just keep putting things, anything, into the pipeline and you will eventually get something from the other end. Hopefully cash but you never know.
I have had a few good ebay sales. I finally sold the RC plane that I have had for several months. Full price and international shipping, so that was great . A bear to pack. I had to create a box and then it was 3" over the maximum length for shipping. I was worried when I took it to the post office. I asked about an upcharge for the excess length. Do you know what the clerk said? "Don't worry about it foreign customs never measure packages." What? This was 3". I was sure it would look like it was over to the trained "postal eye". So based on her comment I shipped it and it arrived with no damage and no additional charges. Lucky? Yes, I think so. I don't know how accurate the information from my local clerk was but I wouldn't want to do that on a regular basis. I might try to fudge on a package that weighed 4 lbs and .03 ozs because that amount would be impossible to detect by just picking up a package. But the 3" had me scared. The week I sold the plane ($249) I sold less than $100 in additional items. So while selling the plane was good, not much else sold. Good and bad. That is how everything has been lately. It almost seems as if ebay knows what you need to survive for the month and they just let that much trickle out of the pipeline. Not a conspiracy theory, just an observation
Or maybe I just shrink to what I have and make it go around. One of Mom's favorite sayings was that it didn't matter how much money you have you always "shrink or swell to make it fit". Well here's your notice ebay, I'm tired of shrinking.
I know all of us have lots of personal issues that we are dealing with. When its something bad it seems unfair and when its something good it seems like you are finally getting something you deserve. OK, life this past year has been filled with unfair I'm ready for the good stuff. Lots of the good stuff.
This past year has been full of doctor's offices, hospital tests and new and old meds. I'm telling all of you now Medicare sucks and never pays for everything. Of course it may be just me but $340 for a 15 minute office visit just to be able to renew your meds seems excessive. Of that amount Medicare only pays 80% and if you are lucky enough to have supplemental insurance they may pay $1-5 of the balance. That is $1.00 to $5.00!! Just multiply that by several visits per week and you now have my life for the past 6 months, more or less. That isn't counting the hospital visit and all the tests there. And nothing has changed. In fact things are worse. All of this is not for me, it's been happening to my SweetiePie. I just want it all to go away, for him to be back to his old self and we can get on with our life. But that ain't gonna happen.
I think most women handle a life changing diagnosis much better than most men. My SweetiePie can't accept the diagnosis. He has never had to deal with sickness in his own life any worse than a cold or flu. You take something for that and you get better. When your doctor say Parkinson's Disease you don't take something for that and get better. It works on your head more than your body at first.. At least that has been the case with him. I can't make him feel better since I can't read his mind. I know him better than any doctor will ever know him but I can't do anything and it's driving me crazy. And the worst thing is he has given up. How do you change that? I can make him get up every day and get dressed, take his meds and eat but I can't get into his mind and make him fight. And that is making me crazy.
Somehow ebay seems so unimportant to me now.
And yet it is more important than ever for me to be successful. I'm not old enough to start SS benefits and with all of the extra medical expenses dumped on our plate I need to step up to the plate and double my efforts to be successful. I've always done just ok on ebay but I've also wanted to do better. I always use the ebay money for things we need, not for extras. I know I have learned so much from blogs, friends and just paying attention to sales and that has given me better sales. But I need a more consistent income. And on the other hand I have less time and more to do. SweetiePie used to go shopping with me but I can't get him out of the house much any more and when we do get out he is ready to come home in 15 minutes or less. Not much sourcing in 15 minutes.And I can't go sourcing all day and leave him alone. There must be a way to do this without driving myself crazy.
I have been interested in sellers that buy from ebay and amazon and resell on ebay. That intrigues me and that might be a way to source from home. I plan to test the waters on that kind of sourcing very carefully and soon. Hopefully something will pan out.
Lucky for me I have a bunch of death piles. Unlucky for me they are from a while ago and are mostly low dollar stuff. But low dollar is better than no dollar.
Life goes on. All I want to do is make the highs and lows more like little speed bumps instead of the Rocky Mountains.
Treading water.
