Dreaming of that cottage by the sea

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi caz,

Lovely for you to pop in. I’ve followed your diary for a while now as I noticed we had similar set-ups. I really enjoy reading - you inspire me to keep going.

I’ve been running my online business for about 10 years but only in 2 year chunks between other ventures. The bay is so volatile that I’m too scared to invest too much time or money in any one stock type.

The rules keep changing and you are at the mercy of buyer’s whims, eb*y’s one sided decision making and aggressive competitors. I’ve been through books, collectables, clothing, stationery and craft. Each have their oddities but I stay until the category dies and then move on.

At the moment, I’m struggling with two issues:

this on/off sales pattern…either loads of sales or nothing. So many sellers are complaining that there has to be a bug in the new search. The only thing I’ve found consistently generates sales, is creating new listings. It seems to push my whole account up the search rankings and I get sales on items that have had no interest previously. Other sellers have suggested moving from ‘good to cancelled’ to 30 days, so I’m moving over all my listings without watchers to see if that makes a difference. Currently, I have Top Rated Seller ranking which I think helps but won’t be able to keep this when the rules change in the autumn.

It’s the express shipping which is the sticking point.Mostly I ship items same day but I want the freedom to go out for the day, if the opportunity arises, and post next day. I always upgrade postage from 2nd to 1st if this happens and the buyer is none the wiser. Obviously if they’ve paid extra for next day delivery, they are not going to be happy so I’d rather not make the promise.

Secondly, buyers who use the mobile app and just select items via the picture and not read the title or the description. When they receive their item they still don’t check against the description or contact you but leave bad feedback stating ‘not as expected’ which you are then stuck with.

When you point this out to them (very tactfully), they just go quiet. Customer support are no help, they just say try and persuade the buyer of their mistake and to agree to revise feedback. I thought there was a new rule preventing poor feedback before contacting the seller, but doesn’t seem to have been implemented yet.

Anyway, best get on …I’m volunteering in the sunshine today …might as well whilst the sales tap is turned off and the weather is nice.

Glad to hear the tap is on up North…so have a good day…and perhaps the flow will work its way down the country later today.

Take care…Cottie

cazmanian_minx

I know what you mean - I think there's going to be huge upheaval when the new Top Rated Seller criteria come in. I'll lose it too, as there's no way to offer free P&P on a 99p pack of beads and still be fairly priced for people buying £50+ of stuff on the same order.

I thought that buyers couldn't leave negs without contact first as well, but I got one the other week (which I'm still annoyed about, as the three neutrals I have on my account - the only non-positives in 12 months - are about to drop off in 3 weeks' time!) and it was the first I'd heard of any problem with the item.

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi Parsniphead, Nice for you to join in. If there is anything you want to know about being self-employed – do ask.

I’ve been registered as self-employed for about 10 years now. I’m just a sole trader (not a limited co) and not yet reached the turnover requiring VAT registration, so it’s relatively simply for me.

You need to get organised paperwork wise (an IN and OUT ringbinder plus a spreadsheet) and a good accountant will easily pay for themselves by knowing how to put the right figures in the right boxes for the tax man. I asked mine what info they needed and built my spreadsheet accordingly.

It doesn’t stop you from taking on employed work at the same time ..you just need to keep details of all money earned and any tax paid on it. Last year I had 2 part time jobs, 1 temporary job and my self-employment income. It all goes into the pot, you get a final figure and then pay the appropriate tax.

I don’t have children so don’t claim any sort of benefit /tax credit so can’t comment on the effects of going self-employed on those.

You do need to inform the tax man that you are self-employed within 3 months of starting and start paying class 2 national insurance, which is about £10-£15 a month via direct debit.

Depending on your trade, you might need business insurance. I have public liability and product liability insurance which isn’t essential but I think worth it for peace of mind. I sell at markets and craft fairs and some organisers ask for it. I belong to the federation of market traders which includes these insurances as part of the membership fee.

You need to check that you are allowed to run a business from home (if you are) and gain permission from your landlord (if renting) and the local council. This isn’t normally a problem as long as it’s just a home office and you don’t have clients/customers visiting.

Good luck on your venture. Which business area were you thinking of going into?

Cottie

parsniphead

Thanks cottage, that's really nice of you.

It's been such a long time since I was self employed I have spent a lot of time recently getting my head around tax etc. I used the simplex d bookkeeping system before and I can remember how to fill that out quite well (it was my Sunday afternoon treat);).

I used to do just dressmaking, wedding dresses and prom dresses mainly. I have recently started work on a folksy shop and also want to sell my range and some of the leatherwork I do. Sorry to offend any veggies. I have also been designing ranges for boys. Since
having my little on I have found it difficult as most boys clothes tend to be very sporty and I'm not keen.

10 years is a long time, that's fantastic. I'm very much biased towards independents, chain stores are so boring.

I hope it keeps busy for you.

Parsniphead

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi everyone,

Decided against doing a bootsale today. Strong winds and intermittent rain wouldn’t make it a pleasant experience. Perhaps doing indoor table top sales have softened me.

Online sales are still pretty dead – coming in little spurts, then nothing for most of the day.

My task of switching from Good to Cancelled over to 30 day listings is almost complete. Only a few listings left on the old setting now but these are my best sellers so I going to leave those. I can’t risk forgetting to manually relist. Too early to say whether it is going to make a big difference long term but I have relisted a couple of items that had been on there for months without interest, and they sold within a day.

One thing I must remember is that the listings reset their quantity when you do a manual relist. E.g start qty 10, sold 6, remaining 4. When you relist, it automatically sets qty to 10. Major bug if you ask me…but for some reason eb*y think this is correct. I’m going to keep a close eye on this otherwise major stress if I over-sell.

My new strategy is to give all items their 30 days to sell.If they sell ( and are multiple quantity) they will get relisted. If not, they get saved and perhaps will get another chance at a later time, maybe a different season. Of course, if eb*y offer another of their free listing weeks for business sellers, then they can all come out for another play. Not sure whether the bay will be doing these in future, now that we have a monthly allocation of free listings…but we can live in hope.

I should be able to send another £100 to my bills account tomorrow morning.

I’d like to send at least another £400 (not incl tomorrow’s payment) before month end.

Today’s plan:

List stock bought yesterday. I’ve photographed half of it so need to get at least that far.

De-cluttering house -I’ve completely emptied one room ready for a deep clean..so best get on with it.

Perhaps list some of my larger bootsale level stuff for the week on the bay or gumtree. There are a few pieces that would take up half the car so would help if I could shift without need to lug around.

Baking – I’m trying to restart activities I used to enjoy doing but stopped when moved in with hubby. He is so fussy that I stopped making anything interesting and it does get me down sometimes. So, I’m going to start baking for friends. I meet up with friends several times a week and thought I’d perhaps start a tradition of bringing a cake. You never know, perhaps when he smells something nice, it might inspire hubby to try something new...although I doubt it. I haven’t baked for years but I’ve bought enough ingredients to have several attempts –so here goes..

Quite a list…so best get at it.

Take care

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi there,

Well, managed a fair bit of my list – got the room thoroughly cleaned. Not sure how long it will last but hopefully at least until the next inspection by the letting agent (I hate those..reminds me how much we are throwing away and how restricted we are as what we can/can’t do to the house).

All my new items are listed and some have sold already.

No baking and no listing on Gumt*ee. The first I’m blaming on not wanting to prep food for friends after spending all day with my hands in disinfectant…and the fact that I wore myself out by over doing it.

Sales still spurty but this 30 day listing method seems to be better. I’m finding 2 benefits already – when items are close to ending, they display their end date/time and appear to get sales in the last throws similar to an auction. Also, it refreshes their search rankings when relisted and they are getting more exposure than an auto-relisted ‘good till cancelled’ item.

I’m also finding that I’ve had a huge increase in multiple item purchases. My theory is that other sellers are moving on to the new model and starting to offer free postage for the revised top seller requirements. I’ve decided not to go for it and continue with offering a paid for postage service at cost price and a combined postage policy of ‘pay for the first item’s P & P and all other travel postage free’.

Financially – ticking along. I’ve calculated that I need £140 to get me to the 14th July so I’m going to aim for that by end of month and then everything else is going to get thrown at the bills account until I’m up to date. That account has enough in it to cover obligations to the 21st July but then I need to put at least £900 in it. This has to be done whether I have the money or not. I’ve worked out the amount I need to raise per day and it should be achievable but if not, I will use my overdraft.

A couple of friends want to me to help them out this week on days I normally go out and spend money so that will reduce outgoings…

So, time to get up, do a bit of packing and some listing before popping out to post office and meet a friend for my weekly 50p tea and biccy catch-up.

Take care…Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Happy Thursday everybody,

Well, I’ve managed to raise the £140 to get me up to the 14th July, which provides a bit of breathing space.

I’ve now to raise £250 to cover the rest of July’s personal bills and £900 to go into the bills account. Should be possible but need to keep the nose to the grindstone.

I’d also like to raise an additional £300 to be able to pay my car insurance in one lump at the beginning of August. Logically even if I don’t manage this, it would make sense to go into my free overdraft , rather than pay the insurance company’s interest rate to spread the payment. I’m reluctant to use my overdraft though – just in case I apply for a mortgage in the next year.

Last night I decided that I need to add a few more goals to my diary. Not money saving as such but for my sanity.

I’ve been working very hard recently and spend most of my days in front of the PC and eating junk food. I feel sluggish and to be honest, I’ve not been looking after myself. So last night, I switched off the PC, had a long bath, did a bit of preening, and tidied the bedroom to make it more comfortable (fresh linen, fluffy towels, etc). I also did a few tasks that I normally fly around in the morning doing…I call this ‘helping out my future self’.

The final thing I need to do, is build in some treats/ days out…but without impacting the budget. A bit of thinking required on that one.

Must get on…take care…Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi there diaryland,

Things ticking along – if a bit slowly here.

I’m down to £195 to raise for July personal bills and still a couple of days of June left - so hope to take another big bite of that before the month starts on Monday. I already have enough to get me up to the 15th. I want to get as much out of the way as possible, so I can throw everything else at the house bills account.

Helping out my future self: I’ve been packing my day’s sales before I go to bed and it really helps save time in the morning. Means that I’m ready to go first thing - either to go out if I get a late opportunity or to settle down and start working.

I’m also trying to look after myself a bit better. I find this quite difficult. I read somewhere that you should try and treat yourself like a well-loved best friend. For some reason, I have no difficulty spoiling my real friends but won’t do it for myself.

Fun for July: I’ve had a look at my favourite coach company and found a couple of trips I’d like to do. The first is a big county fair but I shall drive to this one myself and my friend will probably help out with petrol costs. Just the admission to pay and refreshments. I could take a packed lunch but part of the fun is trying out local produce, so will build it into the budget. Also there is a trip to where I used to holiday as a child. I’d love to go look round but part of me is reluctant and wants to keep the memory intact. Part of the memories are very specific to my age at the time. There was a junk shop that my parents like to look round and in the corner they sold rolls of teenage magazines for 10p. I remember the thrill of coming out with several bundles of Jackies and Blue Jeans and looking forward to hours of reading in the caravan.

Finally, I’ve just received details of the summer volunteering events, which has really cheered me up. I’ve felt a bit flat lately and have begun to doubt my lifestyle choice. Yes, I have freedom to go off and do things but recently, no money to enable this to happen. I’ve volunteered to do 2 weeks of stewarding shifts in late July/early August . Don’t know what it will entail (not sure the organisers know themselves yet) but hopefully it will be out in the sunshine and meeting interesting people.

Best get up and at them. Haven’t decided what the plans are this weekend but with an imminent house inspection visit (grrrr) it will probably involve blitzing the house and garden.

Have a good weekend, take care, Cottie.

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July goals: Personal bills £55/250, house bills £0 / £900,car insurance £0 / £350

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi diaryland,

I had a good weekend. I must admit I didn’t do any house/garden de-cluttering. It was lovely weather so I spent most of it pottering around bootsales. I took £100 out at the cashpoint but only bought items which I know I could make a good profit on. One item I bought for £2 and should be able to sell for £70…so happy that my investments will pay off. I should be able to recoup half of it in the next week so will put at least £50 back tomorrow and the rest hopefully by next Monday.

The only downside to my weekend is the resulting throb of sunburn....and the thought that I’ve got to spend the rest of my week sorting out the house.

I had an idea yesterday which I need to spend some time researching and thinking about. I really want to get back on the property ladder. Mainly to ease my retirement and also to be able to make where I live my home (decorate, to my tastes/ enjoy the garden/etc). The prices round here are eye watering and it will be years before I can afford somewhere I actually want to live in. I should really start with a flat and move up through but flats are not really suitable for me as I have pets. Plus even flats here are over £200k and would still require me to find a pretty full-on job to get a mortgage.

I have been thinking of returning ‘home’ - the place I moved to after Uni, which is a lot cheaper . However, I love it here – I have built up a group of friends and the location is stunning.

Psychologically , part of me would consider going back as admitting failure. Up till now I looked at it as a choice, either I can live in a gorgeous place but have to rent

or

move back, be able to buy and eventually gain a rent/mortgage free retirement but perhaps resent giving up my friends and the location.

Yesterday, I was talking to my parents about my brother who hates where he lives but is short-term disabled so will never be able to afford to rent anything but a small bedsit in a crummy area.

My idea is to buy a cheapish place where they live and rent it to my brother. He gets a place to live away from the local low-life so he can live in peace without daily abuse. Perhaps when he is feeling better, and gets back into work, he can start to slowly buy the place off me . My parents then get the re-assurance that he has a roof over his head and if he wants to move further down the line he has some equity to take with him. I get a foot back on the housing ladder, a long term investment with somewhere to sell or even live in my retirement .

Issues:

I will still need to get a full-time job to be accepted for a mortgage. Will buying that house be enough motivation to do this? I know the satisfaction of living in my own house will make me get up every morning but doing it whilst still living in rented? Not sure.

Will my brother be able to claim housing benefit and pay rent to a family member? On the one hand,they have to pay for him to live somewhere but I want to make sure that everything is above board.

Future – what if my personal situation changes and I need the money tied up in the house? Oh for a crystal ball! I think that buying that house has to be better than buying no house and prices getting further and further away from me.

Anybody had experiences of renting to family and/or the benefits system?

Time to get up and get some of this new stock listed.

Have a fun day...Cottie

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July goals: Personal bills £112/250, house bills £0 / £900,car insurance £0 / £350

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi there,

Another day gone and very little de-cluttering done. Well, I emptied one box that I had placed in my new deep-cleaned room, so it’s back to being clear again…but can’t really re-claim that.

Did a bit of listing, met with friends and did some voluntary work. A friend bought me drinks but the latter cost me £7.60 in parking fees and refreshments – but it was my 1st local ice-cream of the year and it was scrummy.

Financials –busy day online so I’ve just got £89 to raise to cover all my personal bills for July, then I’ll be on to attacking the bills account.

Pay it forward – I packed all sales last night before bed so I’m ready to get down to it today (as soon as I persuade myself to get out of bed, that is).

Plan for today: list new stock that arrived yesterday, meet friend for 50p catch-up, and then must concentrate on blitzing house. Aiming to do upstairs today.

Take care….Cottie

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July goals: Personal bills £161/250, house bills £0 / £900,car insurance £0 / £350