I have developed a "STATUS" tracking sheet that helps me follow every item (whether at auction or being sold) from beginning to end, from initial listing, to re-listing, to getting and giving feedback - even to switching the listing on other sites. It is attached to the front all paperwork for a given item and it gives me a one page at-a-glance STATUS of that item.

It saves me from missing deadlines on NPB and FVF refunds, overdue payments, overdue answers from buyers, and selling the same item twice by mistake.

This STATUS form is only a half sheet of paper, but it contains my summary of information needed to keep all auctions moving along to completion. The key piece of information is the item number assigned to it by eBay, ePier, Carnaby, Yahoo, SellYourItem, or any other venue. I also include the date listed so that I can see how long it's been on a given site. Maybe it's time to move it to another venue. Also, if I list an item on more than one site at a time and it sells on one site, I'll know the other sites to visit for canceling those duplicate listings.

The importance of documentation is to prevent confusion and mistakes. So far, good documentation has kept me from

• mailing the wrong item to the wrong bidder,
• accepting double payments,
• selling the same item (I've only got one!) twice on different sites,
• accepting incorrect (and usually too small) payments,
• missing deadlines for getting refunds on FVFs, and
• being unable to figure out what to do with a check that appeared in the mail with no clue as to what it's for.

I print out and keep some or all of the following items for the life of the transaction and 6 months the sale is done.

All Important Correspondence with bidders - this may include the notification you send congratulating the winning bidder with Final Bid and S&H. I keep a copy of their response especially if contains their address. I've had buyers move and forget to put in a forwarding address. Other buys send me the wrong address and wrong ZIP code.

The Listing Confirmation page - this page is the one that shows you've successfully listed your item. Print out a copy of the listing verification page when you first list an item - mostly for the Item number. It can then be inserted in or attached to the object that is for sale. This is important if you have several of a similar item, but they're not identical. You don't want to mail the wrong item to the wrong person. UPDATE: Now that I'm better at this, I don't print out this page any more - I just make a note of the item number on my status sheet.

The Listing Confirmation e-mail - E-bay sends these to you within several hours after you list your item. Keep a hard copy only if you don't archive it in your email. I only keep this email archived for the life of the auction. Once the auction closes, you don't really need it anymore.

The Auction Page on Closing Day - Printing out the entire e-bay auction page the day the auction ends ensure that you will have all relevant info you'll need for future dealings with the winning bidder, especially their ID, email address, winning bid amount, date the auction closed, title, item number, etc. At this time, I only print out the first page.

The Closing Notification e-mail - E-bays sends these to you within a day of the close of your auction. Print this one out only if you don't archive the email. I archive these now rather than printing them. Most of the information you need can be saved from the Auction Page print-out as noted above. I archive this one rather than printing it out. After a month or so, I delete the older ones.

Print out everything that you would need if your computer crashed: all correspondence, notifications from e-bay, and the auction page the day the auction closes. If your computer system crashes and you lose everything, you will have hard copies of the important stuff to work from. I've hauled my packets to the library and other places when my internet connection was down. Hard copies have been a real life saver.

About once a day, file the items above with the appropriate Item packet. eBay currently only allows a search of about 10 days, so a lot of data can't be retrieved easily. Other sites are more forgiving.

The entire packet stays together until the last action is completed (I get the money, ship the item, and give feedback). Then the whole packet is stapled and archived and held in a stack for about 6 months. Every 6 months I throw out the oldest stuff (it's on the bottom of the stack).

Keep several working file folders or pockets at hand. My most important ones are for auctions in action.

At any given time, the auction item packet with its attached STATUS sheet on top is in any one of the first four of these. Within each folder, packets are generally ordered by date so that the oldest ones are on top (I want to be sure they don't stay in the folder too long). Label the face and the edge of the folder for ease of identification. Consider color coding for quick recognition and retrieval.

1. In Progress (open auctions) - filed by date awaiting the auction to close.
2. Awaiting an Answer - filed by date, oldest on top - Stays in here until I get an answer from the winning bidder. After 3 days, you have to act on these and send reminders.
3. Awaiting an Address - filed by date, oldest on top. Although I ask for an address in my opening e-mail, the bidders don't always comply. This is usually not a good sign. I expect more NBPs and follow ups before these will be successfully completed.
4. Awaiting Payment - filed by date, oldest on top. If they are nearing 30 days, you have to act on these or risk not being able to get a refund.
5. Awaiting Feedback - filed by auction number. I leave them here until I receive feedback. I used to send a reminder, but have stopped doing this now that my feedback is over 1,000. Every 3 months or so, I take out the ones that are 90 days or older and move them to the Closet Out Stack. After 90 days, you probably won't be getting any feedback.
6. Closed Out - filed by date. This is a massive box of old transactions where I've gotten my feedback, basically an archive with the newest stuff on top. After 6 months, I throw the oldest stuff away (on the bottom).
7. Items That Didn't Sell - filed by date, oldest on top. They are here in case I decide to list again in the future either on a Free Listing Day or on another site. There's a wealth of historical data there for me on the STATUS sheet.
8. Problems - filed by priority. This file includes buyers who write me to say that they never received their goods or that the goods were damaged upon receipt. I review this folder every day or two to see if I need to follow up on any of the items.
9. Financial Records - filed by site name (eBay, HDC, ePier, etc). Occasionally I print out my Account Status from eBay and file it in the eBay folder - I like to examine it for refunds, double billings or other errors. I have a separate folder for every site I sell or auction on.
10. Research - Articles, web sites, and items I'm looking into for future expansion or ideas.
11. Receipts - I keep all receipts from the post office and for any items I purchased in regard to this e-bay endeavor. Since I go to the USPS daily, I keep each month's receipts in a separate large envelope.

It's important to keep track of the money. Otherwise, how can you tell if you're making money or just working hard for pennies? Your spreadsheet doesn't have to be worthy of a CPA, it just needs to track your income and expenses.

My simple Excel spread sheet serves to track all my sales. There is one line or row for each item that I've listed. Each row is color coded so that I see at a glance which items

(blue) sold on commission for someone else

(green) which ones I have received money for,

(more green) which ones are mailed/completed,

(yellow) sold on Half Dot Com,

(white) which ones are still open awaiting closure, money or mailing,

(purple) which items the bidder failed to pay for, and

(brown) what I spent money to buy and didn't sell.

I have columns to break out costs of postage, listing fees, selling fees, sale prices, Pay Pal type fees, S&H prices, etc so that I can analyze my costs of doing business. Then there are columns for the final bid price and the S&H price. A summary column shows whether I made or lost money on the item and how much.

After 2 years, I've found that my biggest expense is always US postage. The fees to e-bay are actually one of my smallest expenses. My net profit so far is running evenly at 75%. My percentage of successfully completed sales is running at over 95%, but dropping. But times are changing, and so is the economy.