Time To Hammer Down

Previous Total: $917.97

Current Total: $917.97

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

Well, I didn't do anything on my trip back to the US so I find Oct coming up and still a long way to go to reach my goal. I will be putting in some extra time to try and make up for my absence and lack of doing the challenge while I was away.

This is one of the reasons I don't like ebay as a permanent job. While the money isn't bad in certain areas, if you take some time off for vacation, your income stops including about a week on either side of the vacation. That is because you have to wrap up all your outstanding auctions before you leave and then it takes another week before the auctions begin selling again after you return.

It's time to hammer down and get to work on all those cups. I'm off to take pictures now!

Big Purchase

Previous Total: $1167.97

Current Total: $917.97

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

I'm back under $1000, but it was due to a big purchase. My partner and I invested in 120 sake cups for $500. That comes to just under $4.20 per cup (which is under our target price of $5 a cup that we set) and we figure that we can earn a minimum of $10 per cup so hopefully we'll more than double our investment on that. It could be quite a bit more if a few of the cups are popular and fetch a bit more than expected.

I haven't done anything on generating money since heading back to the US. This weekend is already filled, so it will have to be next week that I begin getting things in order. If not, when I return back to Japan I'm going to have a ton of things to do.

Due to this time where I haven't been able to work on the challenge, I'm getting a bit nervous about whether or not I'll be able to meet the goal in time. I'll wait and see what happens next week before getting into a panic...

Airport Secret

Previous Total: $1167.97

Current Total: $1167.97

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 22 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

I'm currently at the airport waiting for my flight to take off. I didn't get the number of photos I wanted to upload which means I will either have to find things while I'm back home to list or figure something else out. I'm not worried at the moment, but that will change if I can't figure out something and have no income for the challenge for the next 3 weeks. Completely off the subject (hey, I'm bored waiting for the plane to board)...

I figured out something quite interesting quite by accident. I always bring a few snacks when I head to the airport since food at the airport is so expensive. As I was wandering, I found out that airports in Japan have a special area for the airport employees so they don't have to pay the outrageous prices. The store was completely out of the way - down a maze of hallways and basically not marked at all, but the prices were half what they were charging at other stores. Anyone was allowed to purchase items there (I asked) - the challenge was finding it. I'm sure 99% of people don't know it exists. I wonder if they have similar stores in the US airports...

First Preview Sake Cup Sold

Previous Total: $1131.82

Current Total: $1167.97

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 22 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 7 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 09 minutes

A good omen. My first cup from the sake cup blog sold for $75. No ebay fees, but take out $2.90 for paypal for a profit of $72.10. Divide that in 2 and it adds another $36.05 to the total. It will be great if I can get a steady stream of people to purchase the cups from the blog before going to ebay.

I still need to decide what I'm going to do over the next 3 weeks while I'm away. If I don't come up with a plan, making the goal will be quite difficult...

Mother Nature Foils Plans

Previous Total: $1131.82

Current Total: $1131.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 02 minutes

The plan to get all the items onto the blogs before leaviong looks like it isn't going to happen. We had a hurricane come through Japan and I got to spend a few days preparing for it and cleaning up after instead of working on the challenge. Nothing compared to Katrina, but enough to put me behind schedule.

Since I leave for the US in a couple of days, I'm going to have to come up with another plan to generate some money for the challenge while I'm gone. I guess the 10 hour flight will give me plenty of time to think.

Setting Up Preview Blogs

Previous Total: $1131.82

Current Total: $1131.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 45 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 6 hour 02 minutes

As I mentioned previously, I will be gone for a few weeks and won't be able to list items on auction like I have been. Since not doing anything isn't an option if I'm going to make the goal, I'm going to try the following plan of action.

I spend the last 45 minutes setting up a number of free blogs that I will use to preview the items I have to sell. The plan is to get all my current inventory on the sake cup blog before I leave. I have also added similar blogs for medals and flags. Medals and flags are my "base salary" - they are what allow me to spend basically a full amount of time on the site while still being able to pay the bills. I was doing them before the challenge started so I have not included any of them in this challenge for that reason.

While I won't count the sale of any of the items on those 2 blogs towards the total, I will count any advertising income that the blogs generate since I would not have created them without this challenge. These should be extremely easy update - since they are preview only, detailed descriptions won't be needed since they will be geared toward those collectors that already know their stuff - and should get a decent following from the collectors as soon as they know the blog exists. That means all I need to do is load up the photos and set a price.

I'm debating whether to add 8% of each sale for the medals and flags to the challenge total. That would be what ebay would charge for a final value fee if I listed them in my ebay store which would be the obvious place to do so. I will think more about that.

To recap, I now have 4 blogs dedicated to this challenge:

1. The $5000 Challenge Blog
2. The Sake Cup Blog
3. The Japanese Medals Blog
4. The Japanese Flag Blog

I will see how these go over the next month and if they are producing income, then I might even consider expanding (again, time will be a big factore here). Time to start filling up the blogs with items...

Temporary Change Of Plans

Previous Total: $1131.82

Current Total: $1131.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 5 hour 17 minutes

I'm going to have to change my current plan of action over the next few weeks. I will be heading back to the US for 2 weeks and during that time. I won't be able to list on ebay due to logistical problems. That could leave a large dent in my total if I don't do anything during that time, so I need to sit down and think how I will approach the challenge during that time. If nothing elase, I'll spend time laying the groundwork and getting everything prepared so that when I do return, I'll have everything all ready to go.

I'm off to a flea market in about 30 minutes and hopefully that will add a bit more to my inventory.

More Sake Cups Sold

Previous Total: $1064.69

Current Total: $1131.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 23 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 5 hour 17 minutes

I had 11 more sake cups sell today for a total of $149.10 with $14.84 in ebay and paypal fees for a profit of $134.26. That gets split in half for $67.13 to be added to the total.

The older WW1 cups don't sell near as well as the later cups - I'm sure that it has do do with the color and scenes depicted. The earlier cups are basic usually in gold while later cups are much fancier - but the truth is that the earlier cups are much more difficult to find.

Off to find some more inventory.

The First Of 5 Hurdles

Previous Total: $994.73

Current Total: $1064.69

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 34 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 23 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 5 hour 17 minutes

I hit the $1000 mark! Only $4000 more to go. The flag from the trunk sold right in line of what I thought it would sell for at just over $50 and the hunting badge came in at just over $20. They totaled $76.22 with $6.26 in ebay and paypal fees for a profit of $69.96.

I will be heading to a flea market tomorrow and see if I can find some more items to keep the challenge on track.

August Advertising Income

Previous Total: $990.51

Current Total: $994.73

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 34 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 1 flag - 7 hunting badges (one)

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 4 hour 55 minutes

The two blogs that I set up ($5000 Challenge and Sake Cup Blog) generated $4.22 in advertising income - not a whole lot, but better than nothing. Considering the sake cup blog was only up a few days and still hasn't been set up properly and the $5000 Challenge blog is a simple cut and paste job, I'm happy with that amount for now. Especially since traffic to the two is minimal at the moment. I would like to see that increased to $10 this next month if possible - will work on that.

Nearing The $1000 mark

Previous Total: $876.33

Current Total: $990.51

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 34 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 1 flag - 7 hunting badges (one)

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 4 hour 55 minutes

In addition to the sake cup set and the trunk items which I had full ownership of, I also had 11 sake cups which I had half ownership in end. Again, one cup made the listing worthwhile selling for $103.50, well above what I thought it would sell for. The 11 cups sold for a total of $260.38 with $32.02 in ebay and paypal fees (those two companies must be enjoying this challenge as much as me!) for a total profit of $228.36. That gets split in half with my partner for an additional $114.18 into the saving pot.

That brings me to nearly $1000 - I will pass that mark today when the rest of the auctions end. That gives me 4 months to earn $4000 if I'm make the goal. Finding more lots and big ticket items I can sell for a nice profit will be esential in order to make it.

With a good solid money base now, it will allow me to take a bit more risk to go with my gutt feeling on items that may turn a big profit since it won't mean absolute disaster if they don't sell well.

Gotta Find More Trunks!

Previous Total: $450.40

Current Total: $876.33

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 45 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 1 flag - 7 hunting badges (one)

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 4 hour 55 minutes

The trunk of items I purchased for $50 was extremely kind to me on auction. In fact, a number of the items went for more than what I paid for the entire trunk even though all the items were in poor condition. i will have to keep my eyes open for more deals like that in the future.

The best move I made was seperating the wool coat and the wool coat cap into seperate auction. The wool cap went for a surprising $61.99 while the coat only went for $36. I don't think the combined 2 would have gone for nearly as much. That more than made up for one of the undergarments that sold for $0.01.

All the items from the trunk sold for $474.29 (with the flag not counted which will be ending today) with ebay and paypal fees taking away $48.36. That adds another $425.93 to the total which basically doubles my current profit for the challenge. I need to create more days like today!

Wooden Sake Cup Set

Previous Total: $368.96

Current Total: $450.40

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 45 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 1 flag - 1 pair of pants - 2 under garments (one & two) - 3 belts (one - two - three) - 1 officer's cap - 1 pair of gators - 1 winter coat - 1 winter coat cap - 2 helmets (one & two) - 7 hunting badges (one)

Time Spent Since Last Post: 4 hours 11 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 4 hour 55 minutes

I will be making a number of posts to update the account - mainly for my own sanity and keeping things straight. The last couple of days have been busy and I remember why it's nice having a partner to wrap the items - while the gains are better for me doing it on my own, wrapping is by far my least favorite part of selling on eBay.

First, the sake cup set. It sold for $87.77 with $6.33 in ebay and paypal fees for a total of $81.44 to add to the pot (and about a $30 overal profit on that pick).