Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement

I just threw out last night two 13 gal. trash bags of old software discs. Now wonder, should I go pull them out, sort them and list?

I dumped old MSOffice suites discs, old MS Operating systems, a dozen photo editor programs, drawing-graphics programs, architectural design suites, printer install discs, etc., etc. maybe 50 to 75 discs along with the manuals or docs that came with them.

My thoughts were, all of these discs have been previously install and used. Even if the certificate number or the KEY is included will these discs still load if they have been used and the KEY used?

How would one describe them, something like used, KEY available but been used, or what. Is there really going to be a market for discs that may not load or install?

Any comments to clue me in if all those discs, even if lotted together, really have any value or should I just leave them in the trash?

Appreciate any input from our tech members.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

Ryanne.. Just checked those two negatives you mentioned in the pod-cast. So, I have a question. In both of those feedback comments, both buyers reference, that the item they received, in describing what they feel is damage, state that what they got does not match the photo.

So, one could assume they are admitting that the PHOTO looks good, does not have damage, they looked at the photos, they were satisfied with the item from the hptos they saw. Then in their feedback they both saw that what they got was damaged way more than the hptos.

So doesn’t this bring the situation down to just one main point. And that is that they are indirectly saying that you shipped them something other than what you were showing. You showed an item that was good and OK with them. You shipped and they now think you did a switch and shipped an identical item that was more heavily damaged.

again, with a rep, doesn’t this all boil down to their word against yours, period. no if and or buts. i liked what I saw, I bought, the seller switched and sent me something way more heavily damaged thus the seller is bad and deserves negative comments.

At what point does Ebay look at this and say, you have years of a clean record, these are harder to find items, what is the chance you have several of the identical item and are shipping only the bad ones as a replacement for the good photo one you still have.

One would think that Ebay would just catch on to this whole buyer process of claiming stuff like this and tell both seller and buyer it is one word against another. Both people are assumed to not be liars and scammers and just chalk all of these type of things up to being a wash and not let the buyer or seller post anything.

Just wondering about the whole topic of what I see is OK but what I got is not. Your word against mine thing.

mike at mdcg in Atl.

Total Items in Store: 398
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $117 + $25 free shipping
Total Sales: $409
Highest Price Sold: $56 (new pillow shams – paid about $30 a year ago)
Average Price Sold: $22
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 12

Sold a lot of low dollar, free shipping items this week but I’m happy for the sales. This weekend was much better than it has been. Interesting this week and I received an offer for 100 5 cent listings in any category. I haven’t received an offer like that in SO long.

I inadvertently created a few 30 day listings (thanks Ebay) instead of GTC. Today I got emails that they had ended. Then there was field you could click on that said it might have sold if you listed it for $x less – relist now for $x less. Interesting… I’m going to do it and see what happens. Also, I have had some success – maybe 40-50% with those emails ebay sends occasionally saying reduce watched items by 5% and we will email the watchers. A lot of changes at Ebay lately!

I haven’t finished listening to the podcast yet, but you just hit the part about yard sales. Yes, consider going into metro for yard sale season! Auctions can be expensive and you know good brands. Have a great week. We are hosting company today so I won’t be listing beyond a couple of items this morning. I’m making good money at my day job and handling a lot of life busyness and I miss being able to focus on Ebay.

Hi Again: I usually don’t post numbers for reasons I have mentioned before, but had a good week so thought I would share a few basics.
Sold 12 items for the last 7 days for a total $730.37 for the week
Avg. of $60.83 per item
Sales up 55.1% over last period
Sold $2,577 for last 31 days
Sold $6,320 for last 90 days.
Currently 950 items in our store

Just thought I would share a few numbers since we are sort of proud of this last strong week and second quarter. First quarter was somewhat stronger than this quarter. So hopefully we will clock in over a 1,000 items shortly and be ready for a strong 4th quarter.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

Great Podcast as always, thank you.

5/20 – 5/26

eBay Store totommyto

Total Store Items: 528
Number of items sold: 18
eBay sales (not counting s/h): $710
Cost of items sold: $51
Consignment payouts: $60
Highest price sold: $100 Diecast 1:18 scale car
Average price sold: $39.44
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $2.00
Number of items listed this week: 10

Etsy Store Oldfleatoymarket

Total Store items: 476
Number of items sold: 4
Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $67.90
Cost of items sold: $8.50
Consignment payouts: 0
Highest price sold: $21.60 old metal tackle box
Average price sold: $16.97
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $2.00
Number of items listed this week: 7

Still feeding off a huge buyout from 3 months ago or so. Process continues and getting down to lower value stuff. Can justify a good
Flea market run soon, couple weeks out maybe.

Take care.

I am really down on garage sales, I guess because it’s been a while since I found anything really good, and because they tend to be priced high in my area. But I will probably hit a few this summer.

Had a pretty slow week. But got some decent stuff at auction.

Sales: CAD$389, 3 items, COGS: $95 –> item profit: $232
Expenditures: $276 –> After-tax cashflow: -$9
Hours: 10.5, -$9/hr
Listed: $1450, 13 items
Notable sales: some expired toner bought almost a year ago, $31–>$180. Also a broken Trimble survey controller – rolled the dice that it might work & paid $59 at auction. It didn’t work but I still sold it for $130.
Listed some decent stuff this week. I got a big lot of POS equipment for $40 that is a bit beaten up but I expect to clear $1000 from it. Also a fancy commercial blender for $60, also beat up but I think I’ll get $500+.

Cashflow wise the past two months have sucked because we’re trying to sell a condo we once bought as a rental property. So I’ve eaten 2 months of mortgage payments at about $1200/mo and we haven’t had a single offer. This property was a big mistake from the getgo. We overpaid and it’s not very desirable. Our old house on the other hand is a great rental property and I’m very glad we kept it.

Store Week 5/20/18 – 5/26/18

Total items in store: 1676
Items sold: 19
Cost of items sold: $33.66
Total sales: $545.92
Highest price sold: $99.00 (Vintage trucker hat)
Average price sold: $28.73
Returns: 1 (size)
Money spent on new inventory this week: $48.18

I posted a question several weeks ago, asking what others do when they get tons of offers at once on an item they just listed. I took their advice and just sat on it for a bit, and sure enough it sold for full price the same day. They didn’t pay. When I relisted it, I tried it on auction since there was so much interest and it sold for about $2 higher. They didn’t pay either. So as I continued getting lots of offers, I was carefully combing through each person’s feedback and found that many appeared to have “fake” feedback and/or very similar usernames to people I had turned down. Most of these people’s feedback was very generic and most of the buyers had feedback from many of the same sellers. I was getting irritated and just turning most of them down. But then one person who looked super fishy offered $99 (asking price was $110), and I accepted. Worth a shot, I guess. Then after several days they paid! I’ve never been so happy to just be rid of something! Has anyone else noticed this problem with feedback that looks to have been bought? It seems like many of these unpaid items are trucker hats. I’m not sure what they are getting out of buying all these things and not paying. Once I had the same person buy the same hat 3 times under 3 usernames and not pay!

In other news, I went to an auction last weekend and bought a walk in closet and another full size closet FULL of men’s clothing! It’s taking forever to sort and wash it all (it’s kinda smelly), but there was some great stuff in there that will definitely make it worthwhile. Lots of wool. 2 blankets as well as Pendleton, Filson, Woolrich, and other nice stuff. The big closet was $7 and my total for everything was $46. Not bad!

I haven’t listened yet, but will do that tonight while I list …if the children let me. 🙂

Two notes, one personal, one about the podcast.

I only do monthly numbers so I won’t post May until next week’s podcast (preview: soft!) but I listed over 40 items this weekend to get my store to over 550 items for the first time ever! I’m going to list a lot in June and July in prep for the Fall/Winter. Hoping I can get to 750 by Sept 1st!

Also, regarding negatives, that sucks for you two. I just was looking at another seller last night (considering a purchase) and they had 8 negatives in the past year (they are a big seller like you guys), so, curious, I clicked through and all the negatives were on items in the $4-$20 range and every one obviously this seller would have taken care of. I felt bad for her, but, in reality, they probably don’t hurt her at all either. I would still buy from her, no problem. As you said Jay, there are just a small fraction of grumpy, petty buyers out there….

Great story today! I’m sure you didn’t wake up in the morning and expect to go haul some “trash”, but your lifestyle that you’ve worked so hard for allowed that. You had the time to help out, load up the truck, haul things away – which is exactly what your friend needed – and then also got a few hundred dollars worth of inventory as payment. Win-win for everyone!

Week May 20-26, 2018

Total Items in Store: 929
Items Sold: 17 (3 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $51 (10.3% of sales)
Total Sales: $495.48
Highest Price Sold: $42 (Cream – Wheels of Fire LP https://www.ebay.com/itm/202158718101)
Average Price Sold: $29.15
Returns: 0 (1 NPB though)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $400
Number of items listed this week: 43
Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $167.20 (33.7% of total sales), $8.36 fees (5.0% of sales)

Another week that “felt” much slower than it actually was, likely because 8 of my 17 sales this week were last Sunday. All in all, still solid and my COGS were very lower for me. Sold quite a few very low dollar items, clearance items, old items. So all good.

I took the long weekend & some terrible weather on Saturday to get to listing & stay productive. Got a nice chuck of items listed including some high dollar items (Nirvana Unplugged white vinyl https://www.ebay.com/itm/192552704391, George Harrison All Things Must Pass with the very rare poster https://www.ebay.com/itm/192552827060, and a couple Led Zeppelin bootlegs https://www.ebay.com/itm/192552221812 & https://www.ebay.com/itm/202324073310).

Also, forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I crossed a milestone that I cross each year and celebrate – my sales exceed my total cost of inventory. It’s always a great feeling to cross that threshold because I could sell nothing the rest of the year and not lose any money and also god forbid a disaster destroys my inventory or I have a medical emergency, I won’t lose any money.

Great podcast as always I just ordered one of those blue tooth adapters . I was wondering what podcast app you use on your phone . Mark

Made this for you guys

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by simplicio.

Enjoyed the podcast. Love those incidental encounters that a scavenger can take advantage of! I’ve enjoyed the many freebies I’ve gotten here and there from older family members downsizing, and have to be glad about the limited # of items given at a time, considering my space limits here…

Listened to the podcast while ironing a huge death pile, so ready for some steady listing this week (before taking another week off….out of town wedding).

Earnings are soft right now, but at least steadily so for me (for now; this is definitely not a static earnings game). I am readily accepting offers/negotiating to keep sales up, and am going to run a sale on boots and coats for a few weeks to see if I can shake some of those out of inventory.

05/20/18 – 05/26/18
Total Items In Store: 920
Items Sold: 27
Total Sales: $619.06
Cost of Items Sold: $60.19
Highest Price Sold: $80 – Vintage J Crew Leather Jacket: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Vintage-J-Crew-Black-Thick-Leather-Jacket-Coat-Bomber-Motorcycle-Med/323163016216
Average Price Sold: $22.93
Returns/Refunds: 2 – gloves for fit, and a partial refund to cover costs of a bag strap that needed repair
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $139.52
Number of Items listed this week: ~18

Scavenge of the week: Good condition vintage German Erzgebirge Candle Carousel; $12 at an estate sale.

Oh, for anyone that cares, and was following my lonnnngg return request case on a lot of 11 Corning Vision Ware cookware pieces….After a few too many broken record, scripted emails from eBay, it was resolved with me providing a partial refund to the buyer for the 2 broken pots (as much as I wanted to consider the return label paid for and provided as the partial refund…ugh), and then providing proof of that payment to eBay. It was painfully impersonal, and full of errors on eBay’s part in the facts of the case. So disappointing that a company that large that’s been around that long hasn’t ironed out an awesome and responsive customer service route. I worked for Airbnb for a while doing customer support, and we were trained well and allowed to have personality and humanity…you would think any modern company would have the same, but perhaps therein lies the issue!

Regarding negative and neutral feedback:

I get almost all of mine removed by the customers! Once in a while I’ll call eBay to remove erratic feedback, but if you treat it like any other issue, the customer is usually surprised and grateful and willing to remove it. And I’m so excited to have something to contribute to the podcast that taught me my business. Please consider the steps I take:

1. Treat the feedback like any regular communication complaining about an item. Message the customer: “I just read your note about __. I’m so sorry about that! Would you like to return it/ Would you like me to send you a replacement? No additional fee./ Can I offer you some money back for the hassle?” Don’t mention wanting the feedback changed.
2. Most customers will be surprised that you’re willing to resolve the problem, and will take you up on an offer for a resolution. Follow through the process, not basing it on, or even mentioning, changing the feedback.
3. Once you have sent them their return or replacement, message them again. “I just sent you the refund/return. Thanks so much for all your patience. Would you mind removing the negative feedback you left earlier?”
4. Send them an official Feedback Revision Request.
https://feedback.ebay.com/ws/BayISAPI.dll?ReviseFeedbackInitiate

I sold an old software disc almost immediately after listing a year or so ago (he must have had a search out for it since it sold so fast). It was an old CAD design software disc. The guy said he doesn’t like the current stuff on the market and he either misplaced or damaged the only one he had so he was so happy to purchase mine and he left great feedback…it was at the bottom of a box lot.

My hubby and I have always been very frugal. I have always cooked at home (I can’t see spending $15 for a spaghetti dinner at Olive Garden when I can make it for a few bucks at home). Every time I hear a restaurant horror story (someone getting sick, the health deparment shutting someone down, etc.) I am always glad I cooked at home most of our 38 years of marriage. I also feel I can better control fats/sugars/salt etc. when I cook it myself. We began investing our savings a couple of decades ago with a financial planner and at one meeting he told us that the biggest problem we will have with our money is spending it since we have always been such savers! I guess a nice problem to have. We both retired (on the same day) five years ago and we both continue to do some sort of work. My hubby works sesonally as an usher for a major league baseball team and I work security for the same baseball team, sell on eBay and work part-time from home from the government agency I retired from writing two online newsletters…so I guess we still keep saving money, but really enjoy what we do!

I’m not a huge garage sale gal since it can be a lot of driving around for little to show for it, but this past weekend we passed a garage sale on an old country road then turned around “just to see” and stretch a bit. I came across the hot air rollers for $3 that dance moms, pagent moms and cheerleaders like to use, so I picked them up. Just listed them for around $75, so we’ll see how quickly they sell (not a lot of money compared to the amounts J&R get for their stuff, but a lot for me!)

Thanks for the great podcast (as usual).

Very slow week until Saturday and Sunday when I made up for the slow sales. I had slow sales this time last year until kids go back to school in August. I thought the extra shoes I have listed would help, guess not. I am weighing options, as I have to get my income up to survive. I had a neutral this week from a Canadian buyer who was made about the import charges, hopefully ebay can remove it when I call one day this week. I have been busy cleaning old sneakers and can pass along some tips. To clean the mid soles and bottom soles of old sneakers, use a brass bristle brush with some soap and water. Works wonders. Thanks for podcast.

Ryanne, you might want to check if the dehumidifier is subject to recall. Our Frigidaire was recalled couple of years ago and they sent us a new one FREE in like 3 days. All I had to do was fill out a form online and upload a picture of the old unit showing the cord cut.

The recall affected a large number of brands and models because there’s only maybe 3 manufactures making consumer-grade equipment, so even if it’s not Frigidaire, it might be covered.

Jay, I no longer work for Airbnb. Dealing with unhappy or angry people (when else do you call customer service? and think of all the people who are less reasonable than yourself…) wasn’t something I could stomach day in and day out – but I would also recommend that everybody work in such a vein at some point in their lives. Gives great perspective, and trains you to be more calm, polite, and thoughtful when you yourself call customer support. All “AirCrew” at that time (2010) worked remotely from the HQ in San Francisco, at home on our laptops, but in an online group setting where you could easily connect with other staff with questions, etc. We did email and phone calls, and it was easy for anyone to reach us if they hit a glitch. Not sure if they still offer and easy direct line or email. They hired folks from all around the globe to cover the different time zones. They trained you at HQ for a week in small-ish groups before sending you back out on your own, using a great balance of training and team-building/fun – it made for a really great time with a diverse group of people. For me, it set a bar that I can’t understand other large companies can’t attain.

Total Items in Store: 1388
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Items Sold: $116.31
Total Sales: $1090.49
Highest Price Sold: $175 (vintage mahjong set)
Average Price Sold: $50.90
Returns: 1 shirt, $15
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $16
Number of items listed this week: 3

I had a good week and especially nice since I am on vacation back in WI visiting family and going to baseball games. One of the best tips I learned here was keeping my store open and extending the handling time.

I was just listening to this week’s podcast, great as always! I stopped just as Jay mentioned the conspiracy theories regarding the slowness of sales to put in my two cents worth. I know for us, the season we are in right now in Indiana is when most of the yard work has to get done, plus we just want to be outside! Our property is large and there are a lot of other responsibilities in our lives besides eBay as well, and I am barely listing OR buying right now. I’ll bet the same is true for a lot of folks. Add to that graduations and all the busyness of May, I am just never surprised when it’s “soft” this time of year. It always comes back!

Total Items in Store: 2147
Items Sold: 56 (2 Etsy , 2 Bonanza)
Total Sales: $1135.13
Highest Price Sold: $238 (Silver Plated Tea Service)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $190

It is funny to hear Ryanne and Jay talk about never washing their car, I rarely wash mine. I think it just a waste of money.
Clean the care, never. Instead of keeping up the the Joneses we should be keeping up with the Scavengers. We all know we can do better: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
We had a good week, some high value items. We are trying to do some retail arbatrage, going to Ross and Burlington and buying new clothing on clearance and selling it on ebay. One item I sold was a Ralph Lauren jacket, I bought it for $10 or $15 and sold it for $148. I was happy with that. The down fall to retail arbitrage for me is that I despise going into the Ross stores. They are so messy and gross they give me anxiety.
We also went to Idaho’s Largest Garage sale this week. There is a guy there we love to buy from, he goes to storage auctions and always has a ton of cool stuff. I found a giant bin with barbie toys and paid $15. Got home and found some cool stuff. Some vintage GI Joe, ninja turtles, and he-man. So I decided to put a bunch of stuff up for auction, just to see what happens.

I was away for the weekend and haven’t done my numbers yet, but had two comments on the podcast:

1. If someone buys two items with the same address and username, eBay should allow you to combine the two for shipping. They don’t have to be bought at the same time. There is an issue only if the buyer uses guest accounts where the account names don’t match. The caller should have combined the two within the bulk shipping tool so that the same tracking number was assigned to both items. I think he realized that and was trying to get the ding off his account. Not sure how to do that except to call again and hope for a more intelligent customer rep.

2. I also had a clean-out situation recently where I was able to get free stuff. I have a friend who works for a university. Her group is moving into a different building, but the group that moved out bought new furniture and left their old stuff. Her boss told her to get rid of the furniture by donating to charitable groups or friends who were going to use it and not sell it. I was able to go in and pickup office chairs, a bookcase, and an organizer. Then, last week, her boss gave her the go ahead for for-profit companies to take things. I picked up five large office typewriters that go for $100 or more on eBay. I’ll test and list them later – right now I don’t have the time, but that is $500 or more of inventory for free!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Sharyn.

Hi guys…

Wonderful podcast, as always. Thanks!
One thing I wanted to point out… you said ‘We laugh at the Joneses’ This comment came after a several comments re: your renters’ choice in car rentals. It’s as if in order to make your point, you did it at the expense of the nice folk who do business with you. A little judgemental & condescending… that’s how it came off.
Many folks might are frugal at home (drive a 12 year old car perhaps) and are spoiling themselves while on vacation…
T

Regular podcast listener, first time poster. I got laid off from my job about a year and a half ago and started selling. I’m very heavy into shoes/boots, which are about 65% of my inventory. Majority of the shoes are athletic running-type (Nike, Brooks, Asics, Hoka), basketball (Jordans), outdoor/hiking-type (Keen, Merrell, Chaco) or boat shoes (Sperry, Timberland).
Why I love shoes: I can get in and out of a thrift store very quickly and feel like I completely scoured the shoes. I’ll look at clothes occasionally when I have some time to waste, but for me it would take take me 10x longer to find the same value of inventory in clothes that I find in shoes. There are 2 large thrift stores with frequent inventory turnover that I hit every day (Mon-Sat), and usually buy an average of 15-20 pair per day. This takes me about 1 to 1.5 hours per day of shopping time.
Week of 5/20-5/27

Total Items in Store: 1,068
~~ 51% Shoes
~~ 14% Boots
~~ 8% Coats/Jackets
~~ 27% Other (Clothes, Misc goods)
Number of Items Sold: 85
—Ave Sales Price (w/o shipping/fees): $32
Total Gross Product Sales: $3,778
–eBay/PP fees: $468
–Shipping Costs: $580
–Cost of Items Sold: $840
Total Profit: $1,890
Highest Item Sold: $99 Asics Gel Noosa Tri Mens Shoes (new wo box)

I have listened to the podcast, but in typical fashion, just my numbers for now until I have time to respond to the podcast. Despite heavy listing, my numbers fell off the cliff.

Big Store (tj digs)
# items in store approximately 1350
# items sold 9
Total Sales (not including shipping) 119.09
COGs 6.73
Net 112.36
Average sale price 12.48
highest sold 26.99 Vintage Presto Model 406 Pressure Cooker 6 Qt Rack & Weight HIGHLY POLISHED MCM
number items listed 65

Little Store (dlggers)- nothing sold or listed

etsy (reclaimeddame) – nothing sold or listed

poshmark – nothing sold – 15 listed

Great podcast as usual. On the combined shipping issue. You can combine shipping on two different orders. I recently did it with no issues. I thing you just have to go through the bulk shipping page a note at the top of the screen even pops up telling you have orders that can be combined and you just follow the steps.

Also another great reselling podcast to listen to is resellingover4o, and another great youtube channel is thebinpickers they do haul and what sold videos.

I don’t use the bulk shipping tool.

When I combine shipping on two separate orders, I ship one and add the tracking number to the other.

Sold 14 items for just shy of a thousand dollars last week, pretty typical for my 850 item store.

For the caller question about combining shipping, I’ve copied and pasted the same tracking number for each sale without a problem, I know Ryanne has said she couldn’t use the same number when she tried, not sure why it worked for me on more than 3 occasions.

On the Keto diet, I read all about this around 2004 and it was my understanding that if you eliminated carbohydrates it would take weeks before your body started burning stored fat for fuel instead of carbs and of course you would have to continue eating that way to stay in ketosis. Is this still accurate?
I’ve found that if you look for studies on the food you like to eat you’ll often find approval somewhere and if you don’t eat too much you’ll lose weight. The formula of less calories in, more calories out is solid.
“Eat good food, not too much, mostly plants” -Michael Pollan

Some years ago, I did the Atkins diet and basically eliminated carbs from my diet for several months. I literally was consuming less than 20 carbs a day. I ate like a horse, eggs, meats and essentially any food without carbs.

The weight dropped off almost immediately and continued to as long as I was in Ketosis. I eventually got down to my high school weight peaking at a low of 160 LBS. I’m 5’11” and not a skinny guy at all.

The key is staying in ketosis. You can buy Keto sticks at the pharmacy that will report your level of ketosis. I knew of other people who tried it, but were unsuccessful, because they weren’t consistent.

It wasn’t the healthiest diet, but it did take off the weight better than any diet, I’ve tried before or since.

May 20 – 26
Total Items in Store: 1595
Items Sold: 20
Total Sales : $781
* above yearly average of $774
* WAY above 2017 total week sales of $285
Highest Price: $199 (Ward’s Natural Science Establishment Four Drawer Wood Flat Document Paper Cabinet)
Average Price: $39
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $53
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $319
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 17 (Ugh!)

I had another pretty average week of sales. And almost no time to take photos and list. I hate how busy it’s become on my end. Busy season at work, daily summer choirs and all this stuff happening with the new house… my life is turning into a cyclone. I just need to keep telling myself that in a month from now, things will be smooth again and we’ll be happy. At least I feel healthy again anyways. That was the worst part of the previous week.

We did find time to go to a killer auction on Saturday. Apparently, the elderly man that lived there was a retired science teacher, and major hoarder but in a good way. There was load of stuff, and it was all going for relatively cheap. I picked up a bunch of ham radio equipment that will probably make me over a thousand bucks. And I got a vacuum tube tester. It’s funny because I started looking for one to buy from Steven’s suggestion, but I really didn’t like the idea of shelling out up to $200 for a decent one. Lo and behold, I found one here and got it for $45. My only regret was not having a bigger vehicle. I had to stop buying these awesome box lots because there was literally no more room in the car.

5/21/18 – 5/27/18

Total Items in 4 stores: 2214
Total Items Sold: 79
Total Amount Sold: $841 (down from the past month or so)

# of Returns: 4 (2 doesn’t fit / 2 didn’t like it)

Higher Priced Items: Free People Top $56, StitchFix pants $40, Everlane Jacket $32, Lot of Pants $30, Misook Jacket $30, Eileen Fisher clothing $30

Average Price Per Item: $10.65 (ouch – still trying to blow out some older stuff)

Notes: My daughter hasn’t been photographing for me because she’s been super social with her friends because of the end of school; I’m hoping that this will die down by next week so she’s back to photographing for me. Our internet was out at the house for 4 days so I only listed 36 items this week. I do shipping from my office so that still got done, but having an internet problem is a big problem for this ebay thing – and pretty much every other thing. My husband said he’d come to an auction with me this Friday night so I’m hoping to pick up a table lot or two – this would be my first time doing that.

Have a great week everyone.

RR Store Week May 20-26, 2018

Total Items in Store: 1629
Items Sold: 36
Cost of Items Sold: $72.28
Total Sales: $691.68
Highest Price Sold: $55 (Armenian record)
Average Price Sold: $19.21
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $77.82
Number of items listed this week: 61

What a coincidence! I went to my first house clean out on Sunday. A friend of a friend is a total scavenger: eBay, antique mall spaces, Craigslist, swap meets, Offer Up…the whole gamut. He gets most of his inventory from doing these house clean outs. Since he usually gets the call for a job after the estate sale people pass, the houses he cleans aren’t packed with treasures. But he’s a quick turn-and-burn guy, and he seems to always be working deals. Our mutual friend invited me over, so I poked around for a while. Nothing amazing, but I found a few nice things. And it was super fun, especially talking shop with a fellow scavenger.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Paul

With regard to negative feed back, I have changed my strategy entirely. On my first store, I tried to fight it. And I always lost. From day one, which was September 2016, I always got the response from eBay customer service that the buyer had the right to say what they want. No matter what, this was always the case.

When I opened the second store, I took the opposite approach entirely. If the customer wrote me in complaint, my first line was always along the lines of, “you are completely right to be upset. You shouldn’t have to pay for this at all! I am terribly sorry this happened! I have already refunded you. Check your PayPal account and let me know that you received it please. As for the item, please dispose of it as you see fit. Perhaps donating it will allow someone else to get use of it, but you don’t need to return it to me. Meanwhile, would any of the items in my inventory work for you as a replacement? If so, please let me know and I’ll ship it to you at my expense. Please consider accepting my apology for my mistake. Thank you for your patience with me for my error. Have a blessed day.”

This has worked 100% of the time. I have buyers sending me money back, or a partial refund of my refund without me asking. Another buyer followed up with me to make sure I put the claim for my own reimbursement in for damage for an item that was shipped priority
mail and broke. I’ve had buyers gush in glowing praises over this approach.

Sometimes it’s nauseating to do, but typically an angry buyer is quickly disarmed with this approach. People who are initially vitriolic can be flipped to be your biggest supporter.

Also, I believe my sales fell off because I dramatically slowed the use of promoted listings, sales, and best offer. It irks me to have to pay even more in fees to eBay. I can’t see the need for advertising on a space for which I am already paying rent (in the form of insertion and final value listing fees). Hence my need to solve that issue for myself.

05/20/18 – 05/26/18

Total Items In Store: 2,382
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $60 (around)
Total Sales: $ 754 (651 for ebay + $103 on Bonanza and TrueGether)
Highest Price Sold: $ 200 (Strat-O-Matic Game)
Average Price Sold: $ 37.70
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 44
Number of Items listed this week: 0

I went up North in Northern Michigan for a long Memorial Day weekend – what a good time. Had some good sales while I was gone and picked up some nice items. My best find was a Vintage Fisher 202 Futura Series Stereo Receiver with a wood top for $6. I am going to list it for $175.

The wildlife was great up North. I saw Turkeys, Sheep, Deer, Ponies, Horses, and a porcupine (first time for that). We stopped at an Amish Bakery and an Amish Farm. Real nice people with seemingly simple lives. The guy who owned the farm had the job of making shoes for the horses – what a great job. We usually stop at an Amish hardware store – they have unique utensils there, but we didn’t stop there this time. If I could only get them on ebay.

The Strat-O-Matic Game was the last one I had. I had bought a number of games and cards in 2014 for $14.50 and I let them sit till Brian mentioned how well they sell. So I listed some then some more. With this last sell, I have grossed $872 (w\o shipping) on these. I will buy those again if I ever see them.

Has anyone else noticed an uptick with Bonanza lately? I made 4 sales for $162 in May on Bonanza. I only had 3 sales for the year prior to May.

Mark

Week of 5/20-5/26
Total Items in Store: 2,154 (Up 44% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 89
Number of Items Sold: 61 (Down 3% YOY)
(Includes 0 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 0 Amazon)
Weekly STR: 12% (Down 6% YOY)

Total Product Sales: $1,418 (Down 5% YOY)
Cost of Items Sold: $296
Highest Item Sold: $75 – Attilio Giusti Leombruni Cap Toe Ballet Flats
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and takes the lead for the year 11-10.

eBay Clothing
# Listed: 1,353
# Sold: 43
STR: 14%
ASP: $19.55

eBay Shoes
# Listed: 223
# Sold: 10
STR: 19%
ASP: $39.28

eBay Hard Goods
# Listed: 578
# Sold: 8
STR: 6%
ASP: $23.04

Etsy Hard Goods
# Listed: 158
# Sold: 0
STR: 0%
ASP: $0.00

We were up in Montana visiting my parents ranch, just got back last night. No listing, no sourcing, just moving irrigation water, working with animals, and relaxing.

Now back to listing!

Old Software / Old Computer / Old Games / Old Video Game Consoles and Games

Hello, there is a considerable number of people, mostly somewhat connected to computers industry, who collect Old Computers and many things that come with it: manuals, software. The same for video games.

So, there are thematic collections, for example Amiga 500, original IBM PC/XT or PS/2. They want the original software that would run back then, more complete the better, so one day they find installation disks, then the accompanying manual, so forth.

It is a good are to explore. Even books (the other day I sold a book something “running Lotus 1 2 3 on an IBM computer”, the other “Windows 95: advanced user guide”

I’ve sold all sorts of old software. The older it is the less likely that it requires a code to operate.

I have a friend who still uses his first computer, a Gateway probably from the 90s. There is a type of keyboard that he asked me to keep an eye out for, but I’ve never found one. It apparently goes for $150 on eBay, and he doesn’t want to pay that price.

One of my customers from the UK bought a zip drive and new zip disks from me so that he could fix up an 80’s era game computer. He said that the old 3 1/2″ “floppy” drives were starting to break down and were very expensive to replace. He had to slice up the interface cables in order to get it to work, so he knew what he was doing.

I sold an old drive (from the 80s or 90s) that was probably more of a collector’s item than anything.

Parasites?

Possibly who made this comment in the past is not fully aware of the biological significance of parasite entities, anyway I would describe Jay and Ryanne as recyclers, treasure hunters, repurposers, or even scavengers 🙂

Loose comparison: an aluminum can manufacturer today utilizes the highest percentage of the production material as recycled cans instead of raw aluminum, they are certainly no parasites.

In my Grad School I did Electronic Engineering and Computer Sciences. I had a BIG DREAM: work with recycling, and later with renewable energy. I took all somewhat related classes I could find.

In the first years I hear the story that made me fall in love. As summary intro, back then the Engineering school had 250 acceptances for Civil Engineering and other 250 for all others together. Not difficult to imply that many of these Civil Engineers would work in administration, operations, traffic, even sales. Some of them would go entrepreneur, always loved these guys, they had something I couldn’t – and can’t – have.
This one guy had graduated a handful of years before me. In the big town, you know, you have the unfortunate reality of the homeless. This guy decided to pay for homeless to bring him material to be recycled: glass, aluminum, tin, iron, 2 types of paper. He would pay per weight, under condition they were separated accordingly.

In a short time period, he had hoards (not sure if this word is appropriate) of homeless men and women lining up with material for him.

First he used a borrowed empty lot, then he rented a sort of unfinished warehouse, then he bought a medium sized truck and a while later a second one.

In Summary, back in 1983 or so he was the first recycler to formally have a recycling company and the first one to sell ideas to beer makers and others demonstrating the recycling process and cost difference. I have a couple of friends from college, they moved recently to Mexico, everytime we talk we remember how much I used to talk about this.

To finish. A few years later, for the same reasons above, the market has been really flooded with civil Engineers. A couple of them were very well succeeded in the food market: one created a brick and mortar natural juice parlor he named “The Engineer who turned into Juice”, right in the core of 5th Avenue.

The other, the first food truck I can remember, dedicated to hot dogs, the thing is the variety and alternatives to build your dog made him wealthy.

Love to tell my tales 🙂

Sharyn, GREAT IDEA, you made my day, I have a Zip Drive plus a couple of tapes here.
Possibly one or other peripheral too

GREAT CATCH THANK YOU

The only time scavengers could be accused of being parasites is if we are buying something whose worth its seller is completely unaware of.

Even then I am all right with that provided the seller gives their own price first and the interaction was initiated by them (they put on the garage sale or whatever), and I don’t have a duty to them (like e.g., an art appraiser would).

Most of our profits come from folks not wanting to incur the storage and transaction costs of selling their stuff for retail prices, which costs are considerable. We also add value by testing and warranteeing things we bought typically untested and unwarranteed.

Week of May 20 – 26
* Total Items in Store: 1163
* Items Sold: 14
* Cost of Items Sold: $19.90 + $? Commission
* Total Sales: $482.63
* Highest Price Sold: $140 Porcelain Lace Figurine
* Average Price Sold: $34.47
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5.75
* Number of items listed this week: 24

A little late to post my numbers. I was away for the long weekend. Huge difference compared to the previous week.

My highest sale, the figurine, is a local pickup / no returns. She wanted to wait for the weekend, so I haven’t handed it over yet. Hopefully that goes well.

Week of May 20 – 26, 2018
Total Items in Store: 217 eBay / 142 Etsy
Items Sold: 20 eBay / 4 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $36.00 approximately
Total Sales: $495.43 (eBay: $444.43 / Etsy: $51.00)
Highest Price Sold: $89.95 Lutterloh Pattern Making and Drafting Kit
Average Price Sold: $20.64
Returns: 1 due to shipping damage
$ Spent on New Inventory this Week: $13.00
# of New Items Listed: 24

Thanks to MyCottage I had my first sales event and I had $97.00 in sales due to the sales event. And I’m glad I got to try that out before the “14 days at the same price before you can have a sale” goes into effect. Oddly for the first 24 hours of the sale I had zero sales, which was the first time in 41 days I had no sales in a 24 hour period. But it looks like today might be another zero sales day, sigh. Summer is rollercoaster riding time I guess.

Week of May 24-30
378 items in my store
Sold this week: 9 items
Net Sales Total: $308
COGS: $55
Highest item: Kodak Vintage Photo Glossy Matte Extra Large Paper ($69 for 4 packs going GSP)

I have not listed too much lately, hence slow down. I usually average 10% sell through rate these days. I was at 15-20% in 2017 with less items, all clothing at that time.

Thanks for the sharing.

Items in Store 884
Items Sold 9
Total Sales $231.47
COGS $31.00
Total Profit $200.47
Average profit $22.27
Average sales price $25.72

I ran sales all week. Still had soft sales. Boo! Still no listing.
We dodged a bullet this past weekend. There was a freak flash flood in my neighborhood. An intense isolated thunderstorm dumped several inches of rain which caused the creek in our neighborhood to turn into a raging river. We are just slightly out of the flood plane, and I can attest to the accuracy of those maps now. The water stopped rising just a few feet away from my house just like the worst case map showed. Many of my neighbors have severe flood damage. I had to walk from several neighborhoods over to get to our house to get our animals out just in case because both bridges were flooded. By the time I gathered the animals and a bag of essentials, the waters were starting to recede. Whew! That was a stressful few hours waiting for the inevitable.

In regards to “keeping up with the Joneses”, we totally keep up with the joneses. I wear Nike Golf polos to work every day. My wife wears all the latest trendy clothes and shoes. My kids are all wearing high end Nike athletic gear and cleats. My son has a super nice Nike baseball glove. The difference? I pay $1-2 for each item rather than $50-100. It’s amazing how many really nice like new things I find at thrift stores. Even more amazing is that many of them make it to half off and 99 cent tag week. I don’t know how the “Joneses” can afford retail stuff.

I’m always on the lookout for bear necessities for the family.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Retro Treasures WV.

Growing up, the family that lived across the street from us had the last name of Jones. My parents would joke that we had to keep up with them.

The only resellers I ever had a problem with were people that snipe gaming items from stores. I used to collect video game stuff and every time stores were going to get limited quantities of something collectable the resellers would be first in line to buy up the store limit of that item.

It’s not fair to call resellers parasites. I know some people like seeing their items go directly to someone else who’s going to use it but that’s not always how life works.

I was confused about how to keep my Top Rated Status for Free Returns so I called ebay.

Carlo in the Returns department said that this is only for items you list now and going foward. I was confused on this point, I thought it was like 1 day handling, you had to update past listings. He said no, just offer free returns on new items that you list.

He also said that ebay will reimburse you for the label that you send to the buyer for the free return. Now that is something I haven’t heard anyone mention before. Has anyone heard this?

Mark

Mark: I would call eBay back on those two points. They are completely opposite of what I have read and heard about how this works.

My bet is that he is mistaken. Free Returns would need to be on a listing to get the discount on that listing. And the seller pays for Return Shipping.

Thank you for the podcast. I always am excited to listen to each one as they come out. I’ve been listening from the beginning, and even though you guys don’t know me, I feel like I know you. 🙂
June will be my five year anniversary of selling on eBay as a business.
This is the first time, I’ve really lost my ambition. I don’t know if its the weather, or all the recent eBay changes. But I’ve lost the excitement about scavenging. And I don’t feel like taking photos or listing. I guess it’s just five year burn-out. I sure hope my ambition and excitement come back. Has this happened to you guys? How have you come back? I guess, I just have to treat it like a job for now.

Anyway, here are my numbers from last week.

Date: May 20-26
Numbers:
Total Items in Store: 938
Cost of Items Sold: $224
Amount of Items Sold: 42 (+1 Poshmark Sale)
Total Sales: $1360
Highest Price Sold: $120 Harley Jacket
Average Price Sold: $32
Returns: 1 for $21
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 24

I tried to hit the thumbs up symbol. But it doesn’t appear to be working. Thank you for your responses.

T-Satt (and Retro): Ditto. I’ve been feeling antsy and pulled vaguely towards doing other things, but know I need to list. I’ll tell myself, just list 3 things and you’ve accomplished something. I’ll often find that snowballs into a few more listings, or at least a few more drafts that I can quickly do photos for later.

Silver: I’m reading “The Power of Habit”. Fascinating book. Working on those habits now.

Amazing how little habits can help or hurt you…

Love a book recommendation, thank you! 🙂

Thanks. Always wanted to read it…now I think it will be in a yearly rotation.

“The ONE Thing” is another great one for this business…

Same here about being burnt out.
Even seeing people mention how they’re preparing for q4 is burning me out even more, hah. Oddly enough, I sold a bunch of Christmas items last week.

That being said, I am planning to source all day tomorrow and then spend most of the week listing it with little additional sourcing. Work still has to happen, or bills won’t get paid.

One of the methods I use to help ease fatigue is to just stop working. Just shut my computer off, walk away from the desk and do other stuff for the rest of the night when I feel like I have done enough work. Then, I just start fresh again the next morning.

I actually don’t believe in the idea of pushing yourself with this sort of work. There will always be too much work to catch up on, so it’s really not worth pushing it to list just a few more things when you’re really not feeling it.

I feel after about 4 years of Ebay selling I’m forever jumping their mostly arbitrary corporate hoops every few months; with no uptick whatsoever in my business. My numbers take a dive every time their is a ‘seller update’ which I obediently observe and conform to, with ever decreasing results. I’m constantly upgrading photos (Pixel 2XL, best smartphone camera on the market, just a tip, incredible camera on this), inventory, sourcing, viewing ‘Solds’ in other venues… I am a student of reselling at this point. I do this 24/7 because I HAVE to financially. It was fun, a lot of fun, but increasingly depressing because of the hoops.

Not looking for a brighter outlook, just want folks to know that they are not alone in their burnout. 😉

Feeling the same way here. Summer doldrums? I use some of the same techniques to remotivate as those listed above: take a day off, force myself to list a set amount to get the ball rolling, force myself to work for a timed period, etc. But what I’ve found to be the best motivator is buying fresh inventory. Being excited about my “finds” makes me want to get them photographed and listed. Sometimes making myself just list from the deathpiles for a long period of time gives me the doldrums…