Challenge Rules

1. The 2008 Garage Sale Challenge will run from May 1 to September 30, 2008. Only inventory purchased between those dates will may be included in the Challenge. Inventory must be sold by October 12, 2008 to be included in your final results.

2. Inventory may be purchased at either garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales, auctions, pawn shops, flea markets, swap meets, or from antique shop. Purchases can be made in your area or from sales or stores you visit when traveling. NO merchandise from wholesalers or dropshippers 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
• 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 $.505 per mile
• Any incidental expense associated with a sale, i.e. repair costs, refurbishment costs, etc.

7. To participate you have to register with me by leaving a comment on this blog post or, if you have blog posts delivered to you by email, you may choose to register by responding to the email containing this post. Since I realize not everyone reads the blog, or their email, on a daily basis, registrations will be accepted until May 11, 2008. Your registration must include:

• Your net profit goal
• The eBay and/or Amazon seller ID you will be using

If you don’t want your seller ID’s made public, you can mail them to me separately and they will not be shared with anyone else.

8. Prior to May 1, I will provide a way for each participant to share their goals and their progress with other participants and readers. This will probably be either a forum or a community blog. You must post your net profit goal there, along with your weekly purchases and a breakdown of your weekly sales, expenses, and net profits similar to what I did last year – see example here. Your portion of this information sharing portal must be updated at least every other week.

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.