61 days and counting

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow

 

As both an online and pseudo brick and mortar merchant, I already can feel the pressure that the silly season brings, and my internal Christmas clock tells me that my window for listing is diminishing rapidly even though it’s not even Halloween yet.

 

Walking through local stores doesn’t help, either, because many of them already have decked the halls thanks to the power of full-time employees, while in the multiverse of Barry’s Books (Amazon, Ebay, and two antique mall booths), it’s just me and Ella, and I’m only part-time.  I’m used to the pressure of listing on deadline, but this year we not only have to merchandise the two booths, but also decorate them as well. None of it is hard work, but the sheer volume leaves me feeling a bit overwhelmed.

 

Thankfully, Ella has a plan, at least for the booths.  The goal is to move much of the everyday merchandise out on or around November 1 (after a week-long 25 percent off sale), and to move the Christmas decorations, toys, and our Disney stuff in.  As for online, I’m trying to squeeze in quality listing time between doing everything else. 

 

Speaking of Christmas, the U.S. Postal Service has published its "mail-by" dates. To ensure that holiday mail and packages are delivered in time for Christmas, the post office recommends the following mailing/shipping deadlines:

Dec. 2: First-Class Mail International
Dec. 2: Priority Mail International
Dec. 10: Priority Mail Express International
Dec. 15: Standard Post
Dec. 17: Global Express Guaranteed
Dec. 20: First-Class Mail
Dec. 20: Priority Mail
Dec. 23: Priority Mail Express

 

Notice that the first deadline is just over one month away.

 

Sales lately have been lackluster, although Amazon picked up a bit after I listed a bunch of books several weekends ago.  Ebay has been slow, as usual, which I attribute to not having the time to list enough items.  One sale that I did have, though, was interesting, at least to me.  I sold my last box of Silicone Pad Scar Treatment that I purchased on clearance from Kmart (sniff, sniff … I miss Kmart already) to a buyer from Spain through Ebay’s Global Shipping Program.  The buyer paid $14.99 for the item, and then paid an additional $17.94 to have it shipped overseas.  She really must need that treatment.

I hope this product actually works for the buyer ... she paid a bunch to get it

This weekend, Ella and I decided to concentrate on what we have instead of going out looking for more. Of course, this left me with the jitters as I skipped a small book sale last night.  I might have to cheat, and scan some books during my lunch break today.

 

Have a lucrative weekend, everyone.