Time Continues To Be My Enemy

Previous Total: $1243.82

Current Total: $1326.00

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 65 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges - 11 photos - 1 video - 1 Super 8mm movie - 3 books - 15 cards

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 36 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 15 hour 56 minutes

Time is my current enemy on this challenge. I just don't seem to have much of it anywhere. I'm not sure how much more organized I can get. I feel that I'm more organized and productive than I have been for a long time, but still don't have much spare time to work on this challenge.

Part of it is moving full time to the website as my main job. I could work 24 hours a day and still not do everything I want to do on it, so I find that I'm spending more time trying to make this succeed than i was doing my previous work. The inevitable result is less time to spend on the challenge. I'm not sure how I will address this problem, but I need to find a system that works with all aspects taken into consideration.

It isn't going to help that I have friends coming in for 10 days to visit. It's going to be great spending time with them and taking them around Japan, but it won't help out this challenge any.

I did have 9 cups sell the other day for a total of $186.59 - $21.03 in fees for a profit of $165.56. That gets divided in half which adds $82.78 to my total. I also put up another of the hunting badges on auction which takes $0.60 off the total. I didn't find the time to put on any of the items I had found last weekend which isn't a good sign. Hopefully I can spare a couple of hours this weekend to get them photographed and set up to put on auction.

I won't be making my usual weekend flea market rounds (that is how busy it's become) so that should free up a bit of time. I just have to remind myself to keep plugging away at it when I do have a few moments of free time. Back to work on the site....

Some Good Finds

Previous Total: $1313.82

Current Total: $1243.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 76 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges - 11 photos - 1 video - 1 Super 8mm movie - 3 books - 15 cards

Time Spent Since Last Post: 1 hours 13 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 15 hour 20 minutes

It was an interesting day at the flea market. I found what could possibly help me get a lot closer to the goal in an old book box. i had to do some digging through a lot of junk to find it, but when I did and hear the price, I grabbed it in a second. I paid $40 for a box that contained 3 books, a video, an super 8 film and 11 photos. Although the Super 8 movie and video are post war items, the rest are pre war and I think will sell well. The books aren't in the greatest of shape, but they still should have collector interest. I'll get those up this week.

I also purchased 15 Star Wars cards for $30. I'm not sure if that was a smart move or not. When the latest movie came out and there was hype left and right, they would have sold easily for $10 each, but now that the hype has died and there aren't any future movies to keep the fire burning, I'm not sure how well or if they will sell. They are rarer ones, but it is a toss-up. I don't think I'll lose money on them, but they aren't a sure home run either.

That took $70 off my total, but all these are mine so any profits will go 100% to my bottom line. They should make for an interesting week.

A Sliver Of Light In A Disappointing Week

Previous Total: $1256.51

Current Total: $1313.82

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 76 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 4 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 14 hour 07 minutes

Just when I though that that this week was going to be a complete waste, a glimmer of light came through to keep me motivated for next week.

While for the most part all my cups did rather poorly selling last week, there was one that basically saved the entire week which sold for over $60. This one helped make up for all those that sold for less than $1 and a truly depressing week.

After it sold, I looked at the cups that I still had and found that I had 2 more of the same pattern. Since it sold at a price that I was more than willing to get for it, I decided to send 2nd chance offers to the next bidders and as luck would have it, both of them purchased the second chance offers (here and here) for a total of $123.33. With $8.71 in fees, the total came to $114.62 and a happily added $57.31 to my total. Let's hope this is a harbinger of things to come next week...

The Week Ends Like It Started

Previous Total: $1205.45

Current Total: $1256.51

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 78 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 17 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 14 hour 03 minutes

I've had a number of things happen since my last post. As usual, to keep it all straight I'll make a post for each of them.

I had another 13 sake cups sell and it was gain not a pretty site. The total came to $108.54 which again just made me a bit of a profit. i guess I shouldn't really complain because there was a profit, but it wasn't what I wanted for the time I spent and to reach closer to the goal. Due to the low prices that the cups with chips and cracks are getting, I think the alternative strategy that I've been thinking about (only unique cups on ebay, the rest sold through the Internet at a set price) is the way to go.

The fees came to $6.42 for a total of $102.12 and my share coming to $51.06. It wasn't a good week for all the auctions I had, but I still came out ahead, even if it was by just a bit...

A Few More Auctions Listed

Previous Total: $1208.15

Current Total: $1205.45

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 91 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 38 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 13 hour 46 minutes

I went through a portion of the cups that I still have and cherry picked the best of the lot to put on auction. The ones that were a bit unusual that could possibly get collectors in a bidding war. That gave me 9 new cups that I put on for a cost of $5.40 and $2.70 to me. The rest I think I will list at a set price and see if they sell.

There are a number of countries in Europe that can't access my auctions because of laws regarding WW2 with German items. Ebay's solution was to block items in those categories even if they were perfectly legal like mine. I'm sure that collectors there would like the cups, but I haven't figured out a good way to sell them. I'm hoping search engines will pick up the ones I list and that will eventually get some sales. I'll have to think about how to approach that a bit more.

I did put a couple of unusual items up that will either sell for very little or a lot - you just can never tell. One is a whistle sake cup which you don't come across too often. Another surprise find was that one of the "sake cups" was actually a tea cup which is quite unusual and has the potential to sell for a bit - especially since it has a nice pattern on it and was made by Kutani. I just will keep my fingers crossed on them and hope that the decision to try the auctions was the right move.

Tomorrow's auctions ending look pretty miserable again. most cups are still under $5 which is never a good sign. I'm hoping that now that some people have purchased, they will want to add to save on shipping, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

A Bit Better, But Still A Long Way To Go

Previous Total: $1017.32

Current Total: $1208.15

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 91 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 17 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 13 hour 08 minutes

I had 7 bottles and 5 cups end and those were the only saving grace for this week. The total they sold for was $404.31 with $22.64 in fees for a total of $381.67 which gets split in 2 for an addition of $190.83 to my total. While today was a bit better, overall the selling of the cups has put me in a hole that will be difficult to crawl out of. There are only 2.5 months left and I still have an enormous way to go. I haven't given up completely, but I'm certainly not as confident as I was earlier.

I still have quite a bit of stock with my partner and now it is time for me to find some higher priced items that I can hopefully sell with a good margin. I will be searching hard this coming weekend.

Another Disappointing Round

Previous Total: $945.37

Current Total: $1017.32

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 96 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 25 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 12 hour 51 minutes

I will do this post in a couple of steps so that I can keep it all straight. The second batch of 26 cups sold, but they didn't do a whole lot better than the first batch of 20. I made a little bit, but a very little bit. They sold for a total of $155.48 with $11.58 in paypal and ebay fees for a total of $143.90. That gets divided in 2 for a total of $71.95 into the pot.

It was another disappointing round. Probably the only good thing is that I'm back above $1000, but a long, long way from my goal. I decided that I would alter my plan a slight bit. Most cups are going to go onto the blog site as I said before, but I will pick a few that I'm confident will sell well due to their pattern and past experience.

A Change In Tactics

Previous Total: $945.37

Current Total: $945.37

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 122 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 12 hour 26 minutes

Major change of plans. I spent an hour in bed thinking what I need to do to make this challenge work with my new time schedule. Looking at the auctions ending today, it's not going to be a pretty scene again. Instead of throwing more onto auction and hoping for the best, I'm going to relegate the cups to the blog that I set up and sell them at a set price. How and when they sell is anyone's guess, but it's better than selling them for little profit at all.

The other decision is that I will look to buy more items on my own. While the partnership has worked out well, I only get to add 50% of the profits to my total. It would be great to continue if I had more time, but since I don't, I need to concentrate on items that I can sell and wrap quickly myself. That will be the plan for this weekend.

Pretty Disastrous Day

Previous Total: $896.36

Current Total: $945.37

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 122 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 0 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 12 hour 26 minutes

I've been avoiding writing this entry as long as possible, but here goes. The auctions did not turn out well at all and overall we lost money when all the fees are taken into consideration. It was a lot of work for a negative return, but I guess that is part of the risk. Here are the numbers:

The 20 cups sold for $105.56 with $7.54 in ebay and paypal fees for a total of $98.02. That gets divided in half with adds $49.01 to my total.

Lessons Learned: Never, ever end auctions on a Sunday evening. Twice burned now and I'm not looking to strike out.

The verdict on the $0.01 starts is still out, but it looks like I may need to scrap it. The auctions ending later today also aren't doing very well. This is certainly a slump that I don't need at the moment.

That's because the decision to try and do the site and blog full time means I have little to no free time to work on this project. I love working on both, but they entail 16 hour days if I'm going to make them work. I will put in every spare moment I have into this challenge and hopefully in the end it will all work out. I sure hope I don't have to write another post like this in the evening (sweat dripping from the forehead with nervousness)

First Big Blunder?

Previous Total: $896.36

Current Total: $896.36

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 12 hour 26 minutes

Well, it looks like I may have made my first big mistake today. With 2 hours left for the auctions of 20 of the cups to end they are all selling for a grand total of $24. I need them to triple in price (have them all sell for $100 combined) just to break even on them which is definitely not a good sign. While a loss at this point won't hurt me in the sense that I can't go on, it will make it much more difficult to reach my goal, especially if the cups from the other auctions later this week sell the same way. My partner also won't be happy having to wrap all those packages for nothing.

I may have to rethink my $0.01 starting price on the auctions. I know doing so gets more people to look at them and this usually results in them selling for a higher price than if I set them starting off at a higher price, but when a day like this comes along, it makes me wonder if I should set them at $0.99 to start. I'll have to think that over.

Time to do something else to take my mind off this...otherwise I'll drive myself crazy. Will report on the final damage in a few hours.

Half The Cups Now Up

Previous Total: $902.36

Current Total: $896.36

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 1 hours 13 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 12 hour 26 minutes

Yikes! My total keep going in reverse. Actually, this isn't a problem because it's part of the price of doing business, but it's much more fun when the total is heading in the other direction.

I did get another 20 cups on auction meaning I still have 71 to get on. It won't happen this weekend, so I didn't reach my original goal of getting them all on, but I did manage to get half on and all the bottles. It should be feasible for me to get the rest of them on next week.

I will spend some free time I have this weekend to load photos into the sake cup blog I started to see if I can get some more traffic to that (and possible a little more income from advertising). Then when the cups sell I can let people know about the preview blog and maybe I can sell a few more that way.

Still not looking very good on the current auctions ending Sunday. Even the numbers on who is watching are way down. before I left, most had 8 - 10 people watching the auctions, now it's just one or two. I'm hoping that now I have more cups up it will attract a few more lookers.

More Listings

Previous Total: $905.36

Current Total: $902.36

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 0 hours 56 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 11 hour 13 minutes

I managed to get the 7 bottles from our stock on auction along with another 5 cups for a total of $7,20 in fees and $3.60 off of my total. That leave 91 more cups, the mini tray and hunting badges to put on which leads me to believe I won't have the time to get them all on this week. I'll shoot for another 20 or so cups tomorrow and hopefully I can have them all up by next week.

I'm getting worried about this last set of cups I put up. I was gone for a few weeks and that kind of let the regulars who were watching my auctions move away. While there are still 3 days before the first 20 cups end, they are all way below what I paid for them. Keeping my fingers crossed that they move up at the end.

Got word that some friends are going to be visiting from the US later this month. That will mean a few more days where I won't have time to work on this challenge as I will be showing them around.

It will be nice when the total is moving in a northerly direction instead of slowly creeping down as it has been this week.

26 More Cups On Auction

Previous Total: $913.76

Current Total: $905.96

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 1 hours 32 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 10 hour 17 minutes

I managed to find the time to list another 26 cups (total cost $15.60 divided by 2 = $7.80 taken out of my total) today, but that still leaves me well short of my goal of getting all the cups and bottles on auction this week. I'm not sure if I'll be able to manage it, but I will do my best and get as many as I can on.

The first batch of 20 cups isn't doing so hot at the moment. All have bids, but most are still at $0.01. I'll have to hope for a lot of last minute bidding or find that I lost quite a bit on latest purchase.

I've been finding that trying to get myself motivated to place these on has been difficult as of late. Part of it is the decision to do the site full time and trying to figure out how to make that work (and the extra time needed to do all the things I want to do). I have to force myself to work on this project. That isn't a bad thing, it just takes more energy than if the challenge was more of a priority. Even though I have to motivate myself a bit, it's still better than doing nothing at all and since the sites are a long, long term project, an hour or two here and there for this challenge isn't going to kill me.

Okay, enough of the rambling. Time to get to work on my list of things to do and prepare to list some more auctions tomorrow.

Back In Business!

Previous Total: $919.76

Current Total: $913.76

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 1 hours 20 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 8 hour 44 minutes

I'm back in business! At least for this challenge. I listed 20 auctions from the stash of sake cups which cost $12 (split in half for a total of $6 off my saving total). This is kind of an experiment too. I haven't had much luck with these auctions ending on weekends (they sell, but not for as much as they do midweek), but I thought I'd give it one more try.

Although it is a bit ambitious, my goal this week will be to list all 142 cups and the 7 bottles I currently have in inventory. If I can accomplish that, I'll have a good idea where I really stand with this challenge in the middle of the month when everything has sold. That means a busy week in the limited spare time I have, but since I was gone for that long period, it has to be done.

It would be nice if the cups could bring in about $2000 in profit which would add an extra $1000 to my total - keeping my fingers crossed there. It's difficult to tell with this bunch of cups. Most seem to be fairly standard patters and a lot of them come with chips and cracks which will keep down their selling price. As with most things put on ebay, a little luck in timing (having two or more people want the same cup) makes a big difference. I just need to stay focused this week to be able to get everything done.

If I can pull of the goal of getting them all listed, I should be in good shape and can take the next steps I need to reach the challenge goal.

3 Months To Go

Previous Total: $917.97

Current Total: $919.76

Inventory:

Half Ownership - 7 sake bottles, 142 sake cups

Full Ownership - 5 mini trays - 6 hunting badges

Time Spent Since Last Post: 1 hours 15 minutes

Time Spent Total: 1 day 7 hour 24 minutes

Three months to go and still not at $1000, although that is a bit deceiving due to the large inventory I currently have. I need to sell that inventory, however, to have it count for my total. I spent over an hour taking photos of all the new cups, cropping them and loading them onto my computer. Now that is done, I can begin listing them on ebay this week.

It's going to be an extremely busy 3 months if I'm going to reach the $5000 goal. I still think it will be possible, but it will take a concerted effort to pull it off.

The trip back home didn't help as it disrupted the routine I had formed. It also didn't help with the blog - since I wasn't updating it as much as I had been, the advertising total came in at only $1.79 for all the sites. I think I had hoped to generate at least $10, but hopefully I can do a bit better in October.