The following rules will apply to this years Challenge:

1. The 2009 Garage Sale Challenge will run from May 1 to September 30, 2009. Only inventory purchased between those dates will may be included in the Challenge. Inventory must be sold by October 18, 2009 to be included in your final results.

2. Inventory may be purchased at garage sales, thrift stores, book sales, estate sales, auctions, flea markets, swap meets, or from antique shops. Purchases can be made in your area or from sales or stores you visit when traveling. NO merchandise from wholesalers or drop shippers is allowed.

3. All sales must be made on eBay or Amazon. No other sales venues qualify. If you choose to use only Amazon or only eBay that is fine.

4. Whether you choose to use only eBay, only Amazon, or both, you may only use one seller ID under each venue for qualifying inventory.

5. You must set a personal goal of an exact dollar amount of NET profits they want to achieve by the end of the Challenge. Don’t just pull a figure out of thin air. Take some time and come up with a figure that you feel is achievable but will require you to stretch a little to attain it.

6. At a minimum, you must factor in the following expenses when determining your net profit:

• Actual Sales price of the item sold (No handling charges may be factored in.)
• Inventory cost
• Listing fees for eBay
• Final value fees for eBay or all associated fees for Amazon
• PayPal fees if applicable
• Mileage expenses calculated at $.55 per mile (see the note about mileage expenses at the bottom or the rules)
• Any incidental expense associated with a sale, i.e. repair costs, refurbishment costs, etc.

7. To participate you must register by the start of the Challenge on May 1, 2009. Registrations must be made via an email sent to mailto:theauctionrebel@gra.midco.net. Your registration must include the following:

• Your first and last name
• A valid email address you check regularly
• The eBay and/or Amazon seller ID you will be using (your seller ID(s) are for verification purposes only and will not be shared with anyone else)
• Your net profit goal for the challenge
• The User ID and password you intend to use on the Challenge blog (it is important that these be something you will remember because they will also be used for something additional once the Challenge begins and I don’t want to spend time every day dealing with lost/forgotten User IDs and passwords)
• If you want a link to your eBay auctions/store and or Amazon listings included in the Challenge blog’s blogroll, you will need to include links to them

8. A separate blog has been set up for participants at The 2009 Garage Sale Challenge. You must post your net profit goal there, along with your weekly purchases and a breakdown of your weekly sales, expenses, and net profits in a fashion similar to - the example seen here. Your portion of this information sharing portal must be updated at least every other week.

9. In order to post to The 2009 Garage Sale Challenge blog you will need to register there. If you haven’t already done so, here is what you will need to do:

• Go to the The 2009 Garage Sale Challenge blog.
• Register - At the bottom of the menu on the right side under “Admin” there is a link to register. Fill in a user name and email address. You will need to use a valid email address because your password will be mailed to you.
• You can read the blog without being logged in, but to post there you will need to be logged in. You will find a link to log in and out under “Admin” where you found the registration link.

At the top of the blog there is a link to “Tutorials”. Nothing is there yet, but within the next couple days there will be short tutorials showing how to post to the blog, how to insert photos and links into your posts if you want, and how to use a table to record your progress.

Mileage Note: Last year the mileage deduction figure was $.505 per mile. Some participants felt that figure was excessive and took too big a bite out of their profits. The reality is that transportation costs are a large part of this kind of business and if you are serious about building a part-time, or full-time, eBay business, those costs have a definite affect on your true earnings.

If the IRS will allow you to deduct $.55 per business mile you drive, you can be certain that in actuality it is really costing you more than that when you factor in gas, oil, tires, depreciation, and wear and tear on a vehicle. I encourage you to keep track of your actual mileage and use that figure to determine transportation expense. If you don’t, you aren’t painting an accurate figure of what your real profits are.

If you are interested in participating, but have additional questions you can ask them in the comment section below or email me and I’ll answer them.

Photograph by Leigh Blackall

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