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Old Sep 10, 2009 | 02:53 PM
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Default Just when I thought things couldn't get worse...

....things are better than ever!

Concrete work has been horse **** for the past 6 months. Barely enough work to keep the doors open. Needless to say I haven't been working much and have been going out of my mind. I was going to start looking for something else, but didn't want to give up on the family business.

Well now in a change of events I'm going to be doing my own thing. Over the years I got myself the title of the ebay guy around our shop complex and now I'll be privately selling items for about 10 different clients. At first I wasn't sure if I could make enough money to profit from this, but just in the last 3 days I'm getting more interest than I can handle.

For the past 2 weeks I've been working for myself, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but so far so good. I make my own hours, even though I'm usually working 10-12 hours a day. I can take a 4 hour lunch if I want, nap, come online, etc. Today I'm working on my business card layout and spent the better half of the day setting up new accounts for things online.

Not to mention the bodyshop guy (one of my clients) is actually working on my car. So as long as he keeps his *** in gear I should have it on the road in no time. Times have been rough so its nice to have things looking up. Just wanted to share with you guys.
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 03:24 PM
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Congrats on the up swing.

I wish business would pick up for the dealers. It is scary slow, and the winter months are coming which is even worse for us.

Half my Miatas paint job is sponsored by cleaning out my garage onto e-bay LOL
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 03:35 PM
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'Grats Vash. Good luck with the new business.
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 03:41 PM
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didnt read it but, a guy i know makes good money in his concrete budiness doing gov't bids. have u thought of that? all he does it govt jobs
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 04:03 PM
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Thanks guys!

All the government work around here (for the most part) is union. We are not union. We have done jobs for the city, nearby towns, maybe a couple over the years for the state, but for the most part we do residential stuff. We've done big commercial jobs like Best buy and Home depot before, but in this economy there's not alot of new construction going on around here.
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 04:04 PM
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That's great. Hoprefully it works out the way you want it and you become successful
Old Sep 10, 2009 | 04:07 PM
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I test concrete and soilwork for a geotech firm... Small world. Good luck on your new path.
Old Sep 11, 2009 | 08:15 AM
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Thanks again guys

I'll be having a meeting with a guy that owned one of the now closed GM dealers and he's just sitting on a shitload of parts. If I can get him as a client.....I could stay busy for months. Hopefully he's interested. A good buddy of mine has known the guy for 30+ years and said he thinks its a perfect opportunity for both me and his friend.
Old Sep 11, 2009 | 10:40 AM
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Get into healthcare!

I'm sure there will be tons of work there with the new plan coming out.

You could get a job on one of the death panels, or providing free insurance to illegal aliens, or providing government funded abortions to pregnant teens, or enforcing the new mandatory circumcision law for all males. It's all in the bill - Rush said so. He said we should just read it and we'll see.
Old Sep 11, 2009 | 03:47 PM
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why the **** did you make that comment it was a decent thread until you threw your views on politics..... GTFO!
GL with your new business vash I've made some awesome profits on Egay!!!
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 11:09 AM
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Just got back from running around since 7am trying to ship out the first batch of parts I sold and come to find out I fucked up.

Just today I had to eat close to $50 in shipping charges because I didn't charge enough. I've shipped probably over 200 items and really never had a problem. But shipping seats, bumpers, windows, etc is a totally different world.

I'm planning on taking the time now to do some math and make myself a shipping map with rough estimates on it. I need to make sure this doesn't keep happening, otherwise I'll be working for free.

So far so good. Had a couple transactions take place in person with cash money, so I saved myself some time having to ship fenders, seats, and t-tops. Not to mention ebay fees, paypal fees, and my time.
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 11:18 AM
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please post your ebay selling secrets so I can get rid of all the crap in my basement.
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 11:56 AM
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Originally Posted by y8s
please post your ebay selling secrets so I can get rid of all the crap in my basement.
I find I get the most interest as far as people watching and bidding by listing everything at $1 with no reserve. Some things I sell I slap a reserve on it, but most of my auctions are $1 and whatever they go for, they go for. This past week I brought in $1900, and there's still more to go. Cost me roughly $100 for the fees.

I feel like putting a reserve is basically saying "Up for bid is a ___________, but I'll only sell it if you give me what I want for it". Ebay is a gamble, its all about the bidding. Sometimes you get fucked, but sometimes you bring in 5x what you expected. I sold trans am seats for $455 which was about double what the guy wanted for them. But on the other hand I fucked up and let a Chevelle bumper go for $1.
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 02:27 PM
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yeah i've heard that. plus it keeps the site an auction site which is good.
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 02:34 PM
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The more you do it the better your gonna get at it and bring the big $. How's your car looking for the meet in oct?
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 03:46 PM
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Originally Posted by miataspeed2005
The more you do it the better your gonna get at it and bring the big $. How's your car looking for the meet in oct?
Thanks man. I have my doubts, but I think it should be on the road by then. ******* guy has alot of nerve. I'm doing all this work for him and he keeps my car in the corner like its not important. Ohh he's only had it for a year now....

On a side note. Can anyone explain to me how in the **** to make MS excel do the math for me to save time. I am doing autosum and trying to make it understand what I want it to do but I keep getting a NULL error. Ready to throw this ******* monitor out the god damn window.
Old Sep 18, 2009 | 04:17 PM
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Sounds like things are improving, good to hear. I was a power seller last year and it feels good when the buyer is so happy they email you 3 times just to thank you after the sale. Right now I probably have close to $2500 in parts and general stuff to put on there. But you did give me a new idea!
Old Sep 19, 2009 | 11:28 AM
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Originally Posted by zoomin
Sounds like things are improving, good to hear. I was a power seller last year and it feels good when the buyer is so happy they email you 3 times just to thank you after the sale. Right now I probably have close to $2500 in parts and general stuff to put on there. But you did give me a new idea!
Thanks man! I actually just got the email today telling me I was eligible for the bronze powerseller status! I knew I was getting close to meeting the requirements, but I didn't think this soon.

Now the next step is to have business cards made up and start handing them out at all the local bodyshops and mechanic shops.
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