Scavenger Life

Summertime is here with the twin realities of slower sales but plenty of yard sales to stock up on new inventory. We have been loading up on boxes of cool items to list. After prices skyrocketed at auctions, we haven’t been to an auction in over a year and have now found ourselves back in yard sale world. It’s fun to switch methods of scavenging to keep it fresh. We chase items where we can get items cheap. The fun is finding items for the cheapest price (free!) that can sell for the highest price. Total fun.

This week we sold a pair of shoes found on the street of NYC for $140 and another pair for $55. I wonder if the woman who left old shoes in front of her brownstone imagined that a couple weirdos would photograph them to sell on the internet. Thanks for the $200. We’ve redistributed useful items.

We also sold three different parts from machines that Ryanne scavenged. Parts from an old humidifier, a broken coffee grinder, and a part from my truck. Total profit: $140.

Another eatery in our town closed down recently which means it’s more pressure on our coffee shop to offer a place to eat. For casual meals, our town can come to us or several fast food places. We like more business but a healthy town has multiple options for food.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
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Our Store Week June 19-25, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8847
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $1,001.09 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $761.48 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $25
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $140 (pair of women’s boots)
Average Price Sold: $38.07
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 50
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Tough week on eBay for us. Fewer sales and fewer high dollar sales. Just a week when no one wanted what we had to sell.

We did want to dedicate this week’s post to a big question/survey: immediate payment on offers. We accepted three offers this week and none of the buyers paid. We just got ghosted. What happened to eBay’s announcement that payments would be automatically charged once offers were accepted?

Ryanne and I each have a buying account. When we sends an offer, eBay asks her how she wants to be charged if offer is accepted. When I send an offer to a seller, eBay doesn’t ask for payment and I can pay whenever I want. So it feels automatic payment is on the buying side and must be still in testing phase?

Any experience on your end?

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 12-18, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8795
Items Sold: 16
Gross Sales: $683.66 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $477.64 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $22
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $55 (cast iron muffin pan)
Average Price Sold: $29.85
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

We liked this week because we were selling almost five items a day. Felt busy with lots of fun sales. A postcard, a set of sheets, men’s clothes, women’s clothes, some burlap bags, an old joke book, whiskey glasses, an Ikea light, a single antique playing card, a set of meditation tapes, a plumbing kit, a skinny tie, an antique soup bowl, an apron, some bookends, a hardcase to store LPs, a beer stein, a ceramic coaster, a silver spoon, and a basket. We made about $1000 after eBay fees, taxes and shipping.

This is the kind of detritus that we find out in the world all the time. In the trash. In little shops. Yard sales. Everything unique and no duplicates. These items cost us almost nothing, but we had to sit on them for a long time, waiting for the right internet person to come along. Millions of humans constantly searching online for the thing that will complete them. We’re here for it.

As Spring has blossomed, our little coffee shop has suddenly become the hang out spot for the town. We experimented with an evening pop-up event where we served some different Asian food. The whole town turned up! It was a fun night and has given us ideas on how to expand our hours.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 5-11, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8616
Items Sold: 31
Gross Sales: $1,374.32 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,040.51 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $68
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $125 (set of whiskey glasses)
Average Price Sold: $33.56
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

This week we sold twice as many items and made three times the money as last week. What changed? Nothing. As long time sellers, we have to remind ourselves that sometimes people just don’t want our stuff. And then other weeks, the coolest, weirdest items sell. It’s the long game.

One of our most satisfying sales were two discontinued IKEA window shades. We found them in the NYC trash while walking to dinner one night. They were new in the box, so we carried them to dinner 🙂 Discontinued IKEA items always sell well because people need to replace or match. Sold for over $200.

We’ve been having a lot of fun lately scavenging in the way we started. Finding places that have items that no one wants. It’s a challenge to determine if we can put these “worthless items” into a different context for an audience who will buy them. Our knowledge/research is what makes items valuable. It’s what we find fun and makes money with little up-front risk.

On the coffee side of our lives, our cafe is doing gangbusters business now that spring/summer is here. After being opened fora year, we’re also seeing a surge in locals making it their neighborhood spot. It’s our dream come true.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 29-June 4, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8684
Items Sold: 29
Gross Sales: $1,754.83 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,236.60 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $240 (antique pewter mug)
Average Price Sold: $42.64
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
Number of items listed this week: 40
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

We came home from NYC this last Thursday, so our store was mainly on vacation mode. We’re convinced while it’s nice eBay allows items to still be for sale, their algorithm affects search results.

Some satisfying sales are a pair of men’s shoes we found in NYC quickly sold for $100. And a stack of Seventeen magazines from the 1980’s Ryanne found have been selling quickly.

With Spring here, we’ve been finding a lot of stuff for free/cheap. We’re diving deeper and deeper into the long tail. Hope you had a good week.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 22-28, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8617
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $750.47 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $471.11 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $38
Cost of helpers: $0
Highest Price Sold: $100 (men’s ankle boots)
Average Price Sold: $33.65
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 30
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)