301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

gallygirl

Have a great Christmas Mr B & family.

PS, I reckon I've found the real reason for the cardboard

Verbatim

Merry Christmas Mr B

Hope the totals will look good and that you'll have time to post them. Do understand that there are other more pressing things though.

euronorris

MrBloater wrote: »

Wow, ebay sales ended up being crazy - 21 over a weekend, but some of the international buyers are now querying the postage - my insistence on sending everything out recorded is not going down too well in corners of Sweden or the Czech Republic. Have been beavering away behind the scenes and have bought a couple of internet domains to pursue my web plans, still haven't done the final stats for the month but have been inspired by this hoaky quote that got emailed today to Mrs B - "Life is for living, and to live it to its full extent generally takes persistence and tenacity. It's just that it's equally sensible at times to recognise that we've more on our plate than we can deal with. When that happens, to extend the metaphor, for goodness' sake don't pile more on - and preferably offload some of what's already there. If the next day or two are looming over you with impossible demands, recognise that impossible means just that. Impossible." And so, to add to the running and the calculating of the finances, I must also put my ever - diminshing prescence on this thread to one side for a while, as it's another thing on my plate that I don't have time for at the moment. Merry Christmas to all the readers, I hope to be back soon and back on form, but just in case the plate doesn't get cleared for a while may I just extend my sincere thanks to all of you from myself and my family - you have inspired, challenged and supported me in ways I did not know possible.

I can't be certain about Sweden or the Czech Republic, but UK Recorded Delivery means nothing here in the Netherlands. Basically, once it's left UK borders, it is no longer recorded by Royal Mail. I think this is also the same with UK Special Delivery, but I am not 100% sure.

So, it may not be worth paying extra for the recorded delivery. As far as I am aware, the only way to ensure delivery is recorded is to use a courier service such as DHL or UPS, which are very pricey.

Anyway, just came across your diary and it looks great. Your attitude has been amazing and I wish you, and your family, luck and strength to keep going in the right direction. Avoid Bluewater....tempting as it is.....it bleeds you dry, I know!

Lara44

Haha Gallygirl! Merry Christmas Mr B and all the family

Shower-of-roses

A very happy Christmas to everyone on the Bloater blog. I'm off on a very non money saving holiday over Christmas with the kids, parents and ex husband...aggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

MrBloater

OK I admit defeat - try as might to have a break from this place, it claws me back in with the sheer sincerity and goodness of the posters. In between everything else I was able to do some serious numbercrunching on the ebay front, proving to myself and Mrs B that all the hours spent listing and cardboarding have been worth it - to date the pure profit on the 87 items I have sold has been £647. Profit being a loose term as obviously they all cost money way back when, but this is the stat having deducted the ebay final sale fees and the paypal expenses, oh and the time when I went wild and paid 10p listing fees for 14 records. Having gone through the data extensively, I present Mr Bloater's top tips for selling vinyl on ebay.

1. You might as well list it at 99p. The biggest single earner for me was an album that got £48. There were only 3 bids on it.
2. Numbers of watchers means absolutely zip all. Had an item with 15 watchers (at 99p) that had no bids when it closed.
3. Honesty in descriptions helps. I am alarmingly honest in mine and it's meant that 100% of my buyers have given me 5/5 for description.
4. I send everything first class recorded signed for because the top end price of the postage for vinyl (£4.00 UK) allows me to.
5. But only cos I make my own packaging. But it goes down a treat with the buyers, as it's more robust than the packets you can buy. Also, the low-fi homemade look has its own charm - and whilst eBaying is a faceless thing, I can't help but think that personality helps with the whole transaction.
6. CDs - forget it. It is more worthwhile flogging them to musicmagpie.

The £647 has certainly helped us out of the hole we were in - and with approximately another 300 records in the shed I am hoping to (despite the law of diminishing returns - cos I've obviously cherrypicked the real good stuff to go out first) hit at least £1250 and maybe even get to the holy grail of £1500.

After the records dry up I have a few boxes of tech to try punting out - what I have to keep reminding myself when the frustration kicks in is that the time I am spending on the ebaying isn't time that I would be earning money any other way so everything is a plus. It also sets a good example to the kids -DD knows I took up the Sky offer of all movie channels for 2 months at a fiver a month because that nice lady in Hounslow paid £15 for an old McCarthy LP of mine. If, as already seems the case, the Bloater family vote for the movies to stay at the end of the trial period then they are going to have to help me raise the necessary £12 a month from eBay or other means as it is not coming out of our monthly budget.

Running? Nah, not til after Christmas. A Boxing Day run is on the cards, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it - I lost the enjoyment factor of running and that's had a detrimental effect on me. Plus has meant all the local psychos have been able to go about their early morning badness unchecked. Bloater will be back on the streets. Hopefully next post from me will be with ALL the stats - however uncomfortable they make me feel, on both the debt, and the weight (cue ominous music).

miggy

Lovely to have you back - and £647 is a very impressive amount. :T:T:T

beanielou

Great to see you.
Have a fantastic festive season~you & yours deserve it.

Butti

Which ominous music were you thinking of?
Jaws?

:eek:

Verbatim

A total to be proud of. And thanks for the ebay wisdom. (I have a load of vinyl from my late father-law to sell. It's all jazz of the Benny Goodman Fats Waller (sp?) variety. I need to know how to dispatch, when to list etc so your experience has been useful.