Tired and Frustrated with Shipping? - Let me share a story

[fatcat]

Personally I do not bother with less than 100% ROI after all fees/costs and less than $50 profit per unit sold. That second qualification is crucial for the investment to pay me my overtime rate for listing, packing, shipping, storing and customer service. Most are content to give their labor away for free. Not sure why since they certainly would not do that for a day job. After you account for your labor that 20-30% ROI quickly becomes a loss.

[Bold-Arrow]

Personally I do not bother with less than 100% ROI after all fees/costs and less than $50 profit per unit sold. That second qualification is crucial for the investment to pay me my overtime rate for listing, packing, shipping, storing and customer service. Most are content to give their labor away for free. Not sure why since they certainly would not do that for a day job. After you account for your labor that 20-30% ROI quickly becomes a loss.

Maybe because by the time you realized that 50$ profit per set, someone would have made 100$ flipping sets on a 20$ profit . Yes it is more work , but once you have a system going it is not that big of an issue .

[Ciglione]

 

Personally I do not bother with less than 100% ROI after all fees/costs and less than $50 profit per unit sold. That second qualification is crucial for the investment to pay me my overtime rate for listing, packing, shipping, storing and customer service. Most are content to give their labor away for free. Not sure why since they certainly would not do that for a day job. After you account for your labor that 20-30% ROI quickly becomes a loss.

 

For me that is ok... my wife does all the packing.

[Brickshopper]

20-30 Roi is not a loss when its 20 percent roi of 100,000. Thats making a living. Also making 20 % roi flipping and reinvesting grows our inventory exponentially we will make more in the year or two even with less roi but it is labor intensive

[StarCityBrickCompany]

20-30 Roi is not a loss when its 20 percent roi of 100,000. Thats making a living. Also making 20 % roi flipping and reinvesting grows our inventory exponentially we will make more in the year or two even with less roi but it is labor intensive

Reinvesting is not exclusively just for flippers - You can also make 100% and reinvest (and then, still have time for life).

[imirish11]

Average return on investment (ROI) is the arithmetic average of the total cash returns divided by the initial investment. It is useful for quick calculations and specific securities, but does not account for compounding returns.

 

• Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is derived from the future value formula with compounding interest. It accounts for compounding returns.

•  

• Internal rate of return (IRR) is the discount rate at which the NPV equals 0. It is used because it allows for easy comparison between investment options and is easy to understand.

•  

• For all three methods, the higher the average rate of return, the more attractive the investment is.

•  

• If your Net Income Earned per unit of time is greater than or equal than the value of your next best opportunity available to you, then the decision to invest in such a venture was certainly worth it. Since each of us have different opportunity costs, enforcing your opinions as to which ROI% may or may not be worth others' time is simply a fallacy of composition.

•  

[stoltzjl77]

Reinvesting is not exclusively just for flippers - You can also make 100% and reinvest (and then, still have time for life).

Yes, but you have to have the cash at the start (this point has been made many times but bears repeating). It's great if you are sitting on a pile of cash that allows you to spring for 20 FB's and get no cash return for 6 months or 5 years or however long. Or if you have 20 41999's because you were already investing when those were available - that's great! But for those of us who don't, it's not an option to spend $10,000+ and then sit on it for 2-3 years. So yeah I've spent a lot of time chasing small profits over the past 6 months, but in the meantime my long-term inventory has grown to $5000+ (starting at zero) and all my financial obligations are taken care of. It works for me.

 

There are dozens of ways to do this, everyone has their own strategy, and I think that most of us would like to reach the point where we're getting maximum ROI for minimum effort. I really appreciate all the investment advice here. The "resellers and quick flippers ruin the market" nonsense is highly irritating. If you believe in market theories, don't worry about those who are making poor business decisions - the market will take care of them for you.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I see this thread has morphed into something else..lol

In all cases , you are good man for posting this . I'm pretty sure many of us get so involved in our businesses that we get consumed by it. I used to jump with every daily deal notification, I turned those off a while back ( though I will probably turn them back on when we hit certain occasions). It made a lot of sense, for me at least, to get a step back every now and then and take a breather and enjoy something else - I play soccer- or just do nothing and have a lazy day with the family .

Cheers

 

Love soccer. I need to start playing again.

 

Working on getting a new label printer....you use this to print shipping through PayPal?

 

Yeah its pretty simple. You just change the 'label preferences" when you print to Dymo 400 series and it does it. It was pretty simple.

 

I used the google.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Yes, but you have to have the cash at the start (this point has been made many times but bears repeating). It's great if you are sitting on a pile of cash that allows you to spring for 20 FB's and get no cash return for 6 months or 5 years or however long. Or if you have 20 41999's because you were already investing when those were available - that's great! But for those of us who don't, it's not an option to spend $10,000+ and then sit on it for 2-3 years. So yeah I've spent a lot of time chasing small profits over the past 6 months, but in the meantime my long-term inventory has grown to $5000+ (starting at zero) and all my financial obligations are taken care of. It works for me.

 

There are dozens of ways to do this, everyone has their own strategy, and I think that most of us would like to reach the point where we're getting maximum ROI for minimum effort. I really appreciate all the investment advice here. The "resellers and quick flippers ruin the market" nonsense is highly irritating. If you believe in market theories, don't worry about those who are making poor business decisions - the market will take care of them for you.

 

I hear what you are saying, and certainly appreciate your comments (sorry about irritating). My comments were meant more as a response to the "flipping is better" argument.

 

It is great to hear that you've done so well.

[justafrog]

The "resellers and quick flippers ruin the market" nonsense is highly irritating. If you believe in market theories, don't worry about those who are making poor business decisions - the market will take care of them for you.

 

 

This is exactly right. People may be happy making $1 (and even that's generous - there are a good number of folks so bad at math they're happy for years actually losing money - but as soon as their own financial rubber meets the road in the form of spouse aggro, real life finances hitting a bump, or just getting tired of the hobby of buying high and selling low, they'll fade out. A certain number of them will always be around, they're an unavoidable by-product of the free market, like smog in industrial areas.

 

Look at them like gamblers - they remember their wins, they forget their losses, and although they may prevent me from selling a minifig at the price and speed I want sometimes, or someone else from selling a set at the price they want that month, they are not legion enough to make LEGO selling untenable for those of us at the top of the heap in selling smarts.

 

My life in books is the same way - folks who sell them for a penny on Amazon hoping to make 10 cents per book on the leftover shipping allowance when all is said and done. Lots of poor-me booksellers say they've "killed" the market. They haven't. It just takes selling a little smarter to keep winning.

[Anakinisvader]

 

<p>

Average return on investment (ROI) is the arithmetic average of the total cash returns divided by the initial investment. It is useful for quick calculations and specific securities, but does not account for compounding returns.
&nbsp;

• 
  Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is derived from the future value&nbsp;formula with compounding&nbsp;interest. It accounts for compounding returns.
• 
  &nbsp;
• 
  Internal rate of return (IRR) is the discount rate at which the NPV equals 0. It is used because it allows for easy comparison between&nbsp;investment options&nbsp;and is easy to understand.
• 
  &nbsp;
• 
  For all three methods, the higher the average rate of return, the more attractive the investment is.
• 
  &nbsp;
• 
  If your Net Income&nbsp;Earned per&nbsp;unit of time is greater than or equal than the&nbsp;value of&nbsp;your next&nbsp;best opportunity available to you, then&nbsp;the decision to invest in such a venture was certainly worth it. Since each of us have different opportunity costs, enforcing your opinions as to which&nbsp;ROI% may or may not be worth others' time is simply a fallacy of composition.
• 
  &nbsp;

&nbsp;


Are you Sheldon Cooper?
 

 

[fatcat]

20-30 Roi is not a loss when its 20 percent roi of 100,000. Thats making a living. Also making 20 % roi flipping and reinvesting grows our inventory exponentially we will make more in the year or two even with less roi but it is labor intensive

 

So that is $20k gross profit, but what did you pay yourself or your employee to run the operation? If the answer is zero then you do not have a business or an investment, you have yourself a hobby.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

So that is $20k gross profit, but what did you pay yourself or your employee to run the operation? If the answer is zero then you do not have a business or an investment, you have yourself a hobby.

 

In terms of what? Taxes? 

 

If you take the profit of all of it - its a profit, not a hobby.

[stoltzjl77]

Back on topic (sort of), the DYMO labelwriters are awesome. DNIIM had a post on this a while back and I had been considering for a while - last month I went in for the 4 XL, mainly because I do a lot of overseas business on BrickLink and with the 4" max label width it allows me to print off the customs label. No question it is worth every penny (I bought an open box one from Amazon WH). Cutting and taping sucks - peel and stick (and no ink refills!) rocks! It works with Amazon's shipping system and Stamps.com flawlessly.

 

Lately though my PayPal labels have been getting stuck in between purchase and printing - the "Print Label" popup window opens but never finishes loading. I have the latest version of Chrome which is what I've always used for PayPal as I've had trouble with PayPal in IE. Anyone have any suggestions? I had to void a couple of labels this past week because I simply couldn't get the PP Print Label popup to load. Definitely a stressor...

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Back on topic (sort of), the DYMO labelwriters are awesome. DNIIM had a post on this a while back and I had been considering for a while - last month I went in for the 450 XL, mainly because I do a lot of overseas business on BrickLink and with the 4" max label width it allows me to print off the customs label. No question it is worth every penny (I bought an open box one from Amazon WH). Cutting and taping sucks - peel and stick (and no ink refills!) rocks! It works with Amazon's shipping system and Stamps.com flawlessly.

 

Lately though my PayPal labels have been getting stuck in between purchase and printing - the "Print Label" popup window opens but never finishes loading. I have the latest version of Chrome which is what I've always used for PayPal as I've had trouble with PayPal in IE. Anyone have any suggestions? I had to void a couple of labels this past week because I simply couldn't get the PP Print Label popup to load. Definitely a stressor...

 

I can't get them to work. I have had to redo several as well. Something is broken with it.

[stoltzjl77]

Is it working for you through the multi-order system, or not working at all? I can get them to print from IE, but IE won't let me set up the DYMO properly so I end up cutting and taping paper labels. I don't do a lot of eBay business so it's a minor frustration but even as a flipper/parter-outer I do place *some* value on my time LOL.

[justafrog]

If you're only using PayPal labels for eBay shipments, switch to importing the eBay sales to Stamps.com instead, very easy and Stamps will upload your tracking numbers back to eBay.

 

Or, consider using eBay shipping instead. On your "My eBay" page you'll see a selection for "Shipping Labels" on the left of the screen, go to that and you'll see a link in the first paragraph that says something like "print up to 50 shipping labels at a time". You can print a scan form using that bulk process just like on PayPal.

[stoltzjl77]

Thanks for the tips! I just started with Stamps.com so I'm still learning everything I can do with their system.

 

I *was* using PayPal for BrickLink orders as well, but since it isn't working I've switched to Stamps.com for those. It is only slightly less convenient. I do hope PayPal gets their issue resolved...

[Fcbarcelona101]

In terms of what? Taxes? 

 

If you take the profit of all of it - its a profit, not a hobby.

 

I have a very rewarding hobby then, lol.