TLDR: HOLY &@#^, SELLING PARTS REQUIRES SOOOO MUCH STORAGE SPACE! AHHHH!
Man, the amount of time I spent on this...
I am quite ridiculous when it comes to creating systems. It isn't unheard
of for me to put together an entire system (one that works), and then totally
scrap it unused because I thought of something that would make it better.
LEGO Parts ... man, I knew there were a lot of them, but holy-moly...
When I decided to start selling, I initially put polybags in topless boxes, much
like a file cabinet. I knew THAT wasn't going to last long.
I then moved on to Akro-Mills drawers, and wisely only used every other one,
to give myself room to grow. Less than 2 weeks in, and I filled every drawer.
Also realizes the small drawers were not going to be sufficient for larger bricks
and higher volumes, so I started working in the medium drawers. They filled quickly
too.
OK - I need bigger. I looked at some of the higher-end drawers, and ultimately
ordered one of the Really Useful Drawer towers. Man, those things are great.
And adding in the craft trays?
I've been trying to integrate those in for over two weeks now. I just made
my FIFTH order from them, because I can already see a need for more if I am going
to continue to add lots. Still have those Akro-Mills drawers on the walls too.
I'm scared - I am about to max out all of my allotted space. I sure hope
THIS is enough room to hit that 10k lot level! I am also very eager to be able
to finish reorganizing so I can go back to parting out sets..
TLDR: HOLY &@#^, SELLING PARTS REQUIRES SOOOO MUCH STORAGE SPACE! AHHHH!
+1
LEGO Parts ... man, I knew there were a lot of them, but holy-moly...
There are only 84,299+ parts what’s the big deal
I'm scared - I am about to max out all of my allotted space. I sure hope
THIS is enough room to hit that 10k lot level! I am also very eager to be able
to finish reorganizing so I can go back to parting out sets..
I have about 113.22 sq ft of space to work with most of it is taken up with tables.
I should have room to sextuple my current store inventory. This would involve
60+ akro-MILS and ~63 shoe box sized boxes. This is what I would consider my
max but if I get that big. I would probably be able to squeeze it in further
but that’s for future me to figure out.
When you do run out of space then start buying more valuable stock to max out
your $ amount for the space you have.
I have about 113.22 sq ft of space to work with most of it is taken up with tables.
I should have room to sextuple my current store inventory. This would involve
60+ akro-MILS and ~63 shoe box sized boxes. This is what I would consider my
max but if I get that big. I would probably be able to squeeze it in further
but that’s for future me to figure out.
When you do run out of space then start buying more valuable stock to max out
your $ amount for the space you have.
Oh, that's all? What am I whining about?!?!?
I think I have about 45 sq ft expressly dedicated to storage. I can find more,
but it wouldn't be in the same "flow." Which might be ok at some
point. Work areas are elsewhere and kind of mobile. Probably wouldn't be
able to convince the wife to let me have more until I start getting regular orders!
Well, I am sitting on a mere 8 Akro MILS drawer sets and 5 (2 more incoming)
9 drawer towers of the Really Useful Boxes. Hopefully that ends up being enough
to work for at least a little while. If this system works like I hope, expanding
won't be so difficult when the time comes.
I have about 113.22 sq ft of space to work with most of it is taken up with tables.
I should have room to sextuple my current store inventory. This would involve
60+ akro-MILS and ~63 shoe box sized boxes. This is what I would consider my
max but if I get that big. I would probably be able to squeeze it in further
but that’s for future me to figure out.
When you do run out of space then start buying more valuable stock to max out
your $ amount for the space you have.
Oh, that's all? What am I whining about?!?!?
I think I have about 45 sq ft expressly dedicated to storage. I can find more,
but it wouldn't be in the same "flow." Which might be ok at some
point. Work areas are elsewhere and kind of mobile. Probably wouldn't be
able to convince the wife to let me have more until I start getting regular orders!
Well, I am sitting on a mere 8 Akro MILS drawer sets and 5 (2 more incoming)
9 drawer towers of the Really Useful Boxes. Hopefully that ends up being enough
to work for at least a little while. If this system works like I hope, expanding
won't be so difficult when the time comes.
Got to be interlocking/modular like the brick we sell
figuring out storage can be fun! I've been thinking of getting some of those
large open-concept drawer things to replace my boxes with at some point in the
future and am hoping that that in combination with about 7k drawers should hopefully
hold me for a while but yah storage can get big quickly
figuring out storage can be fun! I've been thinking of getting some of those
large open-concept drawer things to replace my boxes with at some point in the
future and am hoping that that in combination with about 7k drawers should hopefully
hold me for a while but yah storage can get big quickly
I keep waiting for the point where I do sets and ALREADY have a slot for a piece
most of the time. Doesn't seem to be happening too quickly!
figuring out storage can be fun! I've been thinking of getting some of those
large open-concept drawer things to replace my boxes with at some point in the
future and am hoping that that in combination with about 7k drawers should hopefully
hold me for a while but yah storage can get big quickly
I keep waiting for the point where I do sets and ALREADY have a slot for a piece
most of the time. Doesn't seem to be happening too quickly!
TLDR: HOLY &@#^, SELLING PARTS REQUIRES SOOOO MUCH STORAGE SPACE! AHHHH!
Man, the amount of time I spent on this...
I am quite ridiculous when it comes to creating systems. It isn't unheard
of for me to put together an entire system (one that works), and then totally
scrap it unused because I thought of something that would make it better.
LEGO Parts ... man, I knew there were a lot of them, but holy-moly...
When I decided to start selling, I initially put polybags in topless boxes, much
like a file cabinet. I knew THAT wasn't going to last long.
I then moved on to Akro-Mills drawers, and wisely only used every other one,
to give myself room to grow. Less than 2 weeks in, and I filled every drawer.
Also realizes the small drawers were not going to be sufficient for larger bricks
and higher volumes, so I started working in the medium drawers. They filled quickly
too.
OK - I need bigger. I looked at some of the higher-end drawers, and ultimately
ordered one of the Really Useful Drawer towers. Man, those things are great.
And adding in the craft trays?
I've been trying to integrate those in for over two weeks now. I just made
my FIFTH order from them, because I can already see a need for more if I am going
to continue to add lots. Still have those Akro-Mills drawers on the walls too.
I'm scared - I am about to max out all of my allotted space. I sure hope
THIS is enough room to hit that 10k lot level! I am also very eager to be able
to finish reorganizing so I can go back to parting out sets..
Not at all an issue, if done right...
By way of example: this is far more space than needed for our (albeit higher
value) current inventory:
Total 90,927 items in 3,243 lots in 155 categories.
My store inventory total value (Original Price): US $115,596.45
My store inventory total value after sale (Category Average): US $99,447.87
We also run our other online Trading Card interest within the space. In other
words, we could do with far less at this point. It’s all in the organizational
skills acquired
By way of example: this is far more space than needed for our (albeit higher
value) current inventory:
Total 90,927 items in 3,243 lots in 155 categories.
My store inventory total value (Original Price): US $115,596.45
My store inventory total value after sale (Category Average): US $99,447.87
We also run our other online Trading Card interest within the space. In other
words, we could do with far less at this point. It’s all in the organizational
skills acquired
Oooh... clean And not too much room at all. I am resisting using boxes with
lids as much as possible. I thought drawers would be better for speed. But this
system is probably wiser and easier!
By way of example: this is far more space than needed for our (albeit higher
value) current inventory:
Total 90,927 items in 3,243 lots in 155 categories.
My store inventory total value (Original Price): US $115,596.45
My store inventory total value after sale (Category Average): US $99,447.87
We also run our other online Trading Card interest within the space. In other
words, we could do with far less at this point. It’s all in the organizational
skills acquired
Oooh... clean And not too much room at all. I am resisting using boxes with
lids as much as possible. I thought drawers would be better for speed.
can confirm. (for me at least) the slowest part of any order is parts i have
to take from boxes. drawers are significantly faster (if your pulling large orders
with dozens/hundreds of lots)
By way of example: this is far more space than needed for our (albeit higher
value) current inventory:
Total 90,927 items in 3,243 lots in 155 categories.
My store inventory total value (Original Price): US $115,596.45
My store inventory total value after sale (Category Average): US $99,447.87
We also run our other online Trading Card interest within the space. In other
words, we could do with far less at this point. It’s all in the organizational
skills acquired
Oooh... clean And not too much room at all. I am resisting using boxes with
lids as much as possible. I thought drawers would be better for speed. But this
system is probably wiser and easier!
Never go back to drawers from the system we've developed with both speed
and ease in mind. But to each their own, as they say.
By way of example: this is far more space than needed for our (albeit higher
value) current inventory:
Total 90,927 items in 3,243 lots in 155 categories.
My store inventory total value (Original Price): US $115,596.45
My store inventory total value after sale (Category Average): US $99,447.87
We also run our other online Trading Card interest within the space. In other
words, we could do with far less at this point. It’s all in the organizational
skills acquired
Oooh... clean And not too much room at all. I am resisting using boxes with
lids as much as possible. I thought drawers would be better for speed. But this
system is probably wiser and easier!
Never go back to drawers from the system we've developed with both speed
and ease in mind. But to each their own, as they say.
+1 what might work for 1 might not work for another so its best to try some options
and see what works best for you
Never go back to drawers from the system we've developed with both speed
and ease in mind. But to each their own, as they say.
Looks like we probably do the same method; bins with further organization inside.
They're arranged alpha numerically by type and size (B 11, B 12, B 13 for
brick 1x1, 1x2, 1x3. P for plates, T for tiles, etc..)
Then in each bin they're bagged by color and/or if they're decorated.
It's very flexible and scaleable IMO. The other nice thing is something
I've noticed over time; people generally buy a several different colors of
the same part. So when someone orders 20x White, Black, LBG and DBG 1x4 tiles,
I only have to pull one bin. You could probably do this with the Akro bins too
but I don't think they sell them in the sizes I would need. The lids barely
stay on for about 40% of my 6 quart bins and I'm phasing in 12 and 24 quart
bins as we speak.
Instead of chucking them, I'm now using all those old 6 qt bins for a new
sorting method I'm trying out.
You have had 17 orders so far. Before spending too much on storage systems, I'd
work out what methods work for you based on cheaper options (old boxes for example),
even if it is less efficient at this stage while you work out whether running
a store is going to be worthwhile long term. Efficiency isn't that big a
deal at such an early stage if you are packing just 1-2 orders a week.
You have had 17 orders so far. Before spending too much on storage systems, I'd
work out what methods work for you based on cheaper options (old boxes for example),
even if it is less efficient at this stage while you work out whether running
a store is going to be worthwhile long term. Efficiency isn't that big a
deal at such an early stage if you are packing just 1-2 orders a week.
Too late, already spent
Ordinarily decent advice for sure. I don't plan to stay this small. I have
a good amount of inventory to go through and list just yet, and I find it far
easier to develop a system that can scale well quickly, vs having to reinvent
the wheel. My goal is 10k parts listed by October. Might make it, might not,
but anything I can do now to organize all that more easily is a win.
Better to spend the time doing this now when I am NOT getting a lot of orders.
Store's only open now because... why not?
You have had 17 orders so far. Before spending too much on storage systems, I'd
work out what methods work for you based on cheaper options (old boxes for example),
even if it is less efficient at this stage while you work out whether running
a store is going to be worthwhile long term. Efficiency isn't that big a
deal at such an early stage if you are packing just 1-2 orders a week.
Too late, already spent
Ordinarily decent advice for sure. I don't plan to stay this small. I have
a good amount of inventory to go through and list just yet, and I find it far
easier to develop a system that can scale well quickly, vs having to reinvent
the wheel. My goal is 10k parts listed by October. Might make it, might not,
but anything I can do now to organize all that more easily is a win.
Better to spend the time doing this now when I am NOT getting a lot of orders.
Store's only open now because... why not?
Do you put more than one lot in a drawer? If not maybe try putting 3-5 low quality
lots in the same drawer it saved me ton of room
If your storage area is small, what you need is a couple of these, I know there
expensive, but once you used these, you'll never go back to using anything
else!
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