2018 Goals . . . falling short

It has been over a month since I posted my goals for 2018, so I thought it was time for an update . . . or to confess my lack of progress, I guess.  I am hoping posting this will help hold me accountable, and the next time I check in I will have more to report.

Listing

(Goal) My small manageable goal is to list 10 new items each weekday and 5 each on Saturday and Sunday.  Ideally I will list 10 each weekday and schedule 2 each day for the weekend (totaling 10), leaving my weekends free from listing.  Somehow this rarely seems to be the reality however.

(Update) I bumped my weekend listing up to 10 each day too.  Most days I am able to get 10 new listings up, but I was only able to pre-schedule ALL of my weekend’s listings once, the first week after I posted my goals.  Since then a variety of things have come up (I was sick, my son was home sick a couple days, there have been a couple inservice/holidays which means my kids are out of school, I was out of town for several days, I have been working more shifts than normal at my “real” job, etc) that feel like they conspire against me getting ahead.  And right now there is the threat of snow where I live, which means we may end up with a snow day tomorrow or Thursday, another day without school. Such is life.  And so I have been listing on the weekends too.  

Selling

(Goal) I would like to gross $60,000 this year.  $60,000 divided by 365 days = $164.38/day.  When I am listing consistently my sales are often in that range.  Again, doable.

(Update) I miss this sales goal about twice as often as I hit it.  Just one of the areas in which I need to make progress.

Shipping

(Goal) I ship within one business day.  I will continue to do so.

(Update) Done.

Sourcing

(Goal) Part of the reason my listing goals are so low is that I am currently doing almost no sourcing.  Now, that’s not to say that I don’t have items to list.  I definitely do.  Items that have been hanging around unlisted, for I don’t even want to say how long, that I need to get through.  The thing is, there is often a reason I haven’t listed those items yet, that they have been set to the side.  There is a flaw, or it needs new batteries, or needs to be cleaned up a bit, etc.  So it takes me longer to get the items ready, and photographed.  I am finding some really great items in among some low-value items.  But, it’s a process.

(Update) I am currently thrifting once each week (picking up maybe 30-40 items), all of my other listing is from previously purchased inventory.  It’s a slow process, but I am making progress.

Inventorying

(Goal) At the beginning of every year I go through all of my inventory.  After the first month of being listed most of my listings are set to GTC, so sometimes things hang around quite awhile.  I’m okay with that.  I really believe pretty much everything will sell eventually, and some items take longer (especially plush, which I love to sell).  But I do need to go through it occasionally, ending listings, selling as similar, freshening things up here and there.

(Update) I have only inventoried two totes.  I really need to make progress on this, but it falls to the bottom of my to do list when I am feeling behind on everything else.

Keeping Records Updated

(Goal) There are a lot of spreadsheets and options out there to keep track of eBay sales.  I have tried a few, and Easy Auctions Tracker is my favorite.  It downloads all of the information for the last three months, I just need to input how much I paid for the items I sold.  The trick is to keep it updated.  And, updated is a loose term, but I’d like to keep my sales spreadsheet current within the last 30 days, so I don’t have a lot of work hanging over my head at the beginning of 2019.

(Update) I am finishing up taxes for 2017, so I haven’t been focusing on 2018 numbers quite yet.  I did renew my subscription to Easy Auctions Tracker, so I will be able to download all of my info easily.

Just for fun

(Goal) I printed off a list of the 50 states.  I am going to see how far into the year I get before I have shipped a package to all 50 states.  It’s totally just a curiously project.  I’ve been thinking about doing this for several years.

(Update) I am behind on this too.  I plan to update it at the same time I work through my 2018 tax info.

Blogging

(Goal) I’d like to blog more.  It is something I enjoy doing, but among all of my other goals it often gets shuffled down my list of priorities.

(Update) I am blogging a bit more.  I have so many things I would like to blog about, it’s just finding the time to do it.

How is your progress working towards your goals this year?  Better than mine, I hope!  Onward and upwards, right?