155: A Game Changing Way To Source and Sell on eBay: Create Your Own Crafts - Judy Harper

eBay has been Judy Harper's side hustle since December 2002. She started with selling used collectibles, books and clothing and has expanded into new handcrafted items. Interesting Notes Everything started when Judy was cleaning their house one time. At that time, it was not practical to have a garage sale, so she listed the items on eBay. When she ran out of things to sell she started grabbing things from her kids' rooms. To increase her inventory, she started going to the estate sales. Later on, she makes her own items to sell. She was a sewing teacher in a fabric store where she did all kinds of other things. She made little things and started selling it on eBay. She learned to sew as a child. She took professional sewing classes in college. When she worked in a fabric store, she took more instructional classes. Her sewing skills grew over the years. Judy has a full-time job now. eBay is only her second job - a side hustle. She is comfortable having a job and a side hustle. She does not have any help in running her eBay business. She puts 10 hours a week doing eBay and it brings her the extra money she needs. She contracts with somebody to do her accounting and to repair her sewing machine. She keeps eBay manageable. She sells every day during the week. She ships to make sure that everything goes out in time. Every Saturday she makes her crafts and can knock out 30 to 40 items. She would do first the special requests. After which, she would move on to making items that would run out of her inventory first. Most of her ideas for her crafts started off with somebody saying "this would be a good idea" and then she tries it. At other times, she gets inspiration from the people who made special requests from her. This week, someone requested her to make a special need handicapped bibs made of towels. One of the interesting requests she had was last week. She was making handicapped bibs for the handicapped people. The buyer requested if Judy can make some that are water-proof. Luckily, Judy found a material suited and sewed it into the front of each bib. If it works Judy might add it to her inventory too. She also makes sleep masks. It started when she met her husband 10 years ago. Her husband goes to sleep with sleep masks on. Upon the request of her husband, she made him a sleep mask made of something comfortable like a blanket. Since then she has made sleep masks and sells them on eBay. She also makes and sells towel beach wraps. She sells them in the Spring before everybody goes on a beach vacation. She also sells a bunch in the Fall before everybody moves into their college dorms. She doesn't sell them in the rest of the year. A few years ago, scarves were in. She had a whole section in her store with hundred of scarves in different fabrics and designs. It did well but went out of fashion. She stopped making them and closed the section down. She still buys clothes that looks good at the local Goodwill. She still buys books at the Estate Sales. Those are items in her store. But the majority of her items are the ones she made herself. Judy enjoys going to the estate sales. She hits one early on a Saturday morning. If she finds something funny, she will get it and put it up. Her husband is retired, disabled and loves sports cars. On a regular basis, they would go out for a ride. When they come home, something is sold while they're gone. That's the way they make money! With what she earns from eBay, she is able to pay some bills and stash some in her retirement account. Her retirement account is her security. Fifteen years from now, she does not want to be one of those poor widows trying to live by herself. At present, Judy helps a widow sell a Jazz CD collection. The collection belongs to the widow's husband who passed away last year. After expenses, Judy would divide the profit. When Judy collected $100 on the widow's money, Judy would take it to the widow's house and pick up another box of CDs. Judy can only do so much as long as she is still working full-time. At some point, she needs to put some more time on eBay to get more inventory. If she gets to the point when she needs to or wants to retire for some reason, eBay is a great option. Advice, Tips, and Tricks You can go to estate sales and buy a bunch of books. You can go to a Goodwill and pick up some used clothing. You can get all the stuff listed and start making your own stuff. But if it is your own stuff that is selling, that is where you put your energy. She uses a chart to keep track of her goals. Every week, she evaluates her business. She would look at her last 90 days sales and see at what rate is she selling each one of her categories. She would then check her inventory level and figure out how many days before she runs out of stuff. The items that she will run out first are the items that she will make first. She uses Best Offer. She believes that if someone is interested to buy her items, she needs to listen and consider the offer. When sourcing at the estate sales, she gives herself a specific budget. She will go through and view all the items. By looking at them, she knows what she is going to bid on. She would tell herself that she would not go over this amount for this. Buying something at a low price is where you can make money. If you buy at a high price you've lost your profit. Quotes "My own stuff that I am making is selling better than the used items I am picking up. So that's what I do more of!" "Oh, I love doing hand-made crafts. I did it as a hobby long before I made money out of it." "Learn from the experts!" "The solution to business is to find the need and fill it." "There is only so much I can do as long as I am still working full-time." "When you have more inventory, you sell more." "People do not plan to fail. They fail to plan." - Ron "You make money on the buy, not the sell." - Ron Contact Information eBay Store: Judy's Collectibles and Clothing Sponsors Solutions4Ecommerce 3DSELLERS eCom Chicago Norila Digital Marketing

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155: A Game Changing Way To Source and Sell on eBay: Create Your Own Crafts - Judy Harper is an episode from So You Wanna Sell On eBay by Ali Young & Ron LaBeau.

This episode is 33:33 long.

This episode was published on Aug 28, 2018.

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