No, not the fuzzy sound or picture stuff. Nor the first-down-at-the-spot-of-the-foul kind. Not even the meddling-about-in-things-you-ought-to-keep-your-nose-out-of type. No, none of that. That would be too easy. The interference of mention is the hardest to clear up, as it tends to overwhelm all things. Sadly, we have all faced it at one time or another.
I really don't like it when life interferes with…life.
I think it's time to view the status of how things have gone in the eBay™ arena -
Items listed as of 12/31/2006: 58
Items sold: 14
The comfort in the above is that at least some things are in new homes. Additionally, 8 of those sold items actually came from the One Room first official one room, the attic storage area. Not too bad.
Total items sold income: $368.04
Decent enough, as that averages out to about $26.29 per item. Of course, averages are tricky mathematical beasts that do not have chaotic minds of their own. They can be wrestled down and manipulated, which makes the previously stated average a bit misleading, given that 6 of the sold items had only one bid, the lowest of which was 99¢. Of the multiple-bid items, the lowest was $2.25. We likes multiple bids, we does. Take away the high-ticket items that sold and things look gloomier. For now, I will stick with this manipulated average to do some math.
Insertion fees: $6.30
Final value fees: 10.70
PayPal fees: 13.33
Shipping actual costs: 101.00
Total items sold costs: 131.33
Adjusted items sold income: $236.71
The retirement fund is building!
Insertion fees Not sold items: 18.00
Adjusted income: $218.71
No worries. Even if it did cut the average price per item down to $15.62, that is still respectable. I mean, if that average retained across, let's say, a thousand more items, it would mean that I would be sitting on an average nest egg of... $15620. Nifty. Sadly, I'm more apt to get more 99¢ things sold than anything else, but even a thousand 99¢ items would bring in $990. At least I could pay for this year's MRI.
I don't like it, not one bit. Yet, in some ways I could be accused of resorting to it. I expect to feel worse than I do, too, especially after what I just did. I expect to feel like a hypocrite, because anyone who knows me knows how I feel about the general usage of it. It was something I was willing to avoid last night, but suddenly tonight I was willing to engage in it. Follow along.
Mom released her vast collection of VHS movies into my control, given that she hasn't watched a single one of them since Dad died, even after we bought her that new VHS/DVD combo unit (for which she owns no DVDs, and now no videos). The Mrs. and I went through the lot, checked against our collection, sorted out the "no ways" from the "maybe" and "definitely" videos, and agreed that what we didn't keep would be removed in one fashion or another. She and I watched one of the "maybe" tapes last night, thought it was decent but not a keepsake, and I listed it with the project stuff on eBay™. I recall chuckling a bit when I listed it, as the average listing price was something like $9 and average sale $20. I went to bed thinking there was no way that was a $20 movie.
When I woke up and looked at how things were selling this AM, I was amazed to see my 99¢ movie had a bid. It is hard enough to get $1 for a VHS at a yard sale (or two or three successive ones), so seeing it was sold after so few hours prompted that bit of info I noticed last night to pop back to the front of the thinking row. I researched, shrugged, said "hmmmm." I took a picture of the video and added it to the listing. I wasn't all that keen on doing it, but I did. If it helps sales shall remain to be seen.
You see, the video was called "The Legend of Walks Far Woman." According to IMDB, a 1982 TV movie made in 1979. Starring Raquel Welch. Mostly tame stuff for one of the famous sex symbols of the modern age, but I doubt it was her performance or her name that makes this video so popular on eBay™. I suspect it is the pictures that are generally attached to this listing, pictures of the cover art that are not available in stock. Cover art that sells, even if it does not reflect ANY part of the actual movie. I would think that I would remember this. I did tell you that the Mrs. and I watched the movie together, right? OK. So, what's the big deal? Welllllllll.......
I rest my case.
