Lucky I didn't make a new year's resolution to blog more. Naughty me!
I did make a new year's resolution - to lose weight and to not drink alcohol for 3 months.
Bottom line - my doctor will be taking a blood test at the end of the 3 months to check certain levels in my blood. That is the thing that will stop me from cheating. Not one glass of wine, she said, or it will affect the test results. It will also be nice to see my cholesterol, which is a little high, go down to a healthier level.
I figured, seeing as I wouldn't be forking out the money for the plonk. I may as well use that to re-adjust my diet.
I chose Lite'n'Easy. With this great diet, they deliver ALL the meals to you - breakfast, lunch & dinner. I only have to buy milk. No more wandering around supermarkets at a loss at what to eat, and buying junk food.
I have even been eating ~ *shock* - fruit and vegetables!!!!
I am happy with the results so far.
At the end of week 3 - I have lost a total of 4.8 pounds / 2.2 kilograms so far. I'm taking measurements too, for the weeks when I don't lose as much - so I can hopefully see that my thighs are getting smaller. :-)
Only 9 weeks to go. *SIGH*
Of course the last two weeks, my sales have been atrocious.
Total cost of Lite'N'Easy for the one week - $131
Total sales on eBay last week - $120. And the previous week was no better.
Not even mentioning all my other bills. I'm not paying off the postage I put on my credit card, and the balance is beginning to grow. I'm finding it hard to get that extra money in my Paypal account to cover the $20 per month rise in my eBay shop fees.
I made the tough decision to cancel my Quikflix membership (my only treat that I give myself) to try and cover that.
I had a serious clean-out of books over the Christmas break - and got rid of about 200 the ones I was sick of the sight of. I am over books. Only sure sellers and bulk lots from now on.
In an effort to shrug off the doldrums, I decided to sit down and scrutinise my competition on the videos side of sales. I scrolled through the videos sold and saw that the major seller was selling the same videos that I had up for double, sometimes triple my price. My jaw dropped.
He had one photo of the video, with a generic description that said nothing about the condition of the video. Lots of his titles were wasted with the words "a rare find' in all of them. Most of the videos were described as "Like New". I sneaked at look at his previous sales and couldn't believe the prices he was getting.
My listings have photos of the video - front and back, and of the video itself. It has a detailed description of the video and it's condition.
We are both Top Rated Sellers, and Power Sellers. His rating is at 100%, mine at 99.9%. My postage is cheaper than his. I don't get it! Colour me confused!!
What the hell am I doing wrong?
So I jumped into my store, and on my categories for the videos. Some of them I raised the price, and added a Best Offer accepted at my previous selling price. I added a special offer of - Buy 5 Videos - Get Free Postage.
So far it hasn't helped much. It's still school holidays here, so perhaps everyone is spending their money on keeping the little monsters amused. I could find excuses until I'm blue in the face.
In the meantime I try very hard not to get discourage, and keep my head down, and my (hopefully slightly smaller) arse up, and just keep listing, listing, listing.
