Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet

Tagged: Mercari

This topic has 104 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by T-Satt.

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- 10/21/2018 at 7:10 pm #50472
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  We traveled to beautiful San Francisco for a video job, while our store still runs on extended handling time. Big question of the week, can we trans
  [See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet]
- 10/21/2018 at 7:40 pm #50476
  Winchester38
  Participant
  Location:
  @winchester38
  Haven’t listened to the new episode yet, but my numbers this week:
  
  October 14-20, 2018
  Store 1
  Total Items in Store: 1,392
  Items Sold: 9
  Gross Sales: $383.95
  Cost of Items Sold: $32.80
  Highest Price Sold: $125.00 (Vintage advertising tin)
  Average Price Sold: $42.66
  Returns: 1
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $67.65
  Number of items listed this week: 41
  
  Store 2
  Total Items in Store: 518
  Items Sold: 7
  Gross Sales: $63.14
  Cost of Items Sold: $1.75
  Highest Price Sold: $15.99 (vintage farming pamphlet)
  Average Price Sold: $9.02
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 12
  
  Amazon.ca sales: $122.40 (Approx $30.60 net profit)
  Amazon.com sale: $490.00 (Approx $122.50 net profit)
  
  Still working on ramping our ebay accounts up further. We passed the 1,900 total listings mark this week (two stores). Well on pace to hit our goal of 1,950 total by the end of October, and trending towards hitting our goal of 2,200-2,300 listings by the end of January (when I hope to give notice at my day-job).
- 10/21/2018 at 10:11 pm #50482
  ebaymom
  Participant
  Location: Ohio
  @ebaymom
  My Store Week Oct 14-20, 2018
  
  Total Items in Store: 1140
  Items Sold: 16
  Gross Sales: $286.30
  Cost of Items Sold: $27.26
  Highest Price Sold: $42.69 (Women’s Sweater)
  ASP: $17.89
  STR: 6%
  Returns: 1 (GSP sale – so yay, it’s working! Immediately paid and immediately asked to cancel…)
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $58
  Number of items listed this week: 15
- 10/21/2018 at 11:08 pm #50489
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  2018-10-14 – 2018-10-20
  
  Site: US / Feedback 1197 (Red)
  Neutral Feedback 2.00
  Positive Feedback 446.00
  Total Items In Store: 2497.00
  Items Sold: 22.00
  Total Sales: 652.57
  Total Fees 137.22
  
  Highest Price Sold: 50.00
  Average Price Sold: 29.66
  Buyer Shipping $ 237.00
  Avg. Daily $ 93.36
  
  # Items Listed 56.00
  $ Listed 2899.51
  ASP $ Listed 51.78
  
  Fee % of Gross 21.03
  # items being watched 1114.00
  # items watch count >= 10 20.00
  Avg. Item Hit Count 532.00
  Best Offer # 8.00
  Best Offer $ 246.56
  Best Offer ASP $ 30.82
  Money Spent on New Inventor: $86.00
  
  Gut Sales Report for the week: Sales were ok. Sales have slowed to a crawl since Thursday. I listed more than usual this week. My average hit count has gone up a lot.
  
  My process improvement for the week: I received my new photography equipment this week and got it set up. Awesome! For some reason the new equipment gets me excited to take pictures. I had a setup for smaller items, but this one is for large items. I also found that when I improved my shipping supplies, shipping became fun again also.
  
  Challenge of the week: To motivate my lister, I said I would pay $5.50 for each item listed between now and the end of the year.
  
  What I learned: Two things.
  
  1. Don’t cave into high prices.
  
  This is a good story about not caving in too bad pricing. I went to this estate sale and just wanted some CD’s for myself. I picked 5 CD’s and 4 VHS tapes that I thought I could sell. The lady said they were $20. I said no and turned to walk away. Then the price immediately went to $1 per CD and $.50 per tape. I put back one of the CD’s because it had 3 in it. I ending up paying $6. I think that lady was just throwing out high prices to see what would stick. So, morale of the story is don’t fall for high prices just because they are asking those high prices. Use the best negotiating technique – walk away. They may not come down in price like they did for me, but you won’t overpay.
  
  2. Vetting the estate sales has really paid off for me. I put in time to determine which estate sales to go to and it has been paying off. Sure, you can always find something at most sales, but I am looking for good mega picks that will save me a lot of time. I had a mega pick of high end shoes (Average selling price of $75.88 on 9 pairs of shoes\shoe horn and average buy price of $5.73) this weekend. The funny part of it is below:
  
  This story really struck me as funny. I went to an estate sale where most of the shoes in the walk-in closet were high end mens shoes, but really dusty. That in itself is not uncommon, I see that all the time. But what was funny was that this guy kept all of the original boxes and I found about 30 shoe bags in the closet in the next room! I bought them all because they were Allen Edmonds, Ecco, etc. That just struck me as really funny: he had all these shoe bags and boxes but didn’t use them and let most of his very nice shoes get caked in dust.
  
  Mark S
  - 10/21/2018 at 11:45 pm #50491
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    If I remember your story correctly, are you working full-time, scavenge in your free time, and have your friend do all the photographing and listing?
    
    If so, how much time does your friend spend doing the listings? $5.50 a listing is very generous!
    - 10/22/2018 at 6:25 am #50496
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      Jay,
      
      Yes, $5.50 an item is quite generous. However, my lister hasn’t listed since May and I have been doing double time doing that work. I want to motivate her to do some listings. She does do a lot for each item – weigh, measure, photograph, list, tag, etc. If that doesn’t work, then I will have to look to hire someone else.
      
      Also, I have nearly 1000 items in TBL status that I want to get listed. That would mean about $15,000 or more in potential annual income from those items that is just sitting there. If I pay $5,500 to get them listed, then I think that is worth it.
      
      Mark
      - 10/22/2018 at 9:53 am #50519
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Understood. I agree that its best to have a lister you trust and communicate with well. We feel its better to pay more for consistency and quality. It takes too much time trying to find and train someone new.
    - 10/22/2018 at 9:18 am #50505
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      Forgot to answer about being full time Yes, I work full time and do this on the side.
      
      I am not sure how much time my lister spends per listing. I would think about 10 min which is about aversge for me. I just made a video for her on how to use the ebay listing templates that I have created which should make it faster for her.
      
      My regular pay is $4 an hour on a contractor basis. I wantto offer more right now to get ready for yhe busy season.
      
      Mike: yes, it would be cheaper to hire soneone, but I dont want to hire anyone right now. I an not sure I could give them consistent work. Plus, when you areworking full time, it is very difficult to find soneone good to hire. My current lister has been listing for me 4.5 years and had done an excellent job. But, if she cant find the tine, I will be forced to get someone else.
      
      Mark S
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:02 am #50503
    MDC Galleries & Fine Art
    Participant
    
    Location: Atlanta
    @huncrelan
    $5.50 each.. WOW! I’ll come list for you! 🙂 just kidding. Very generous.
    
    We have two listers. One for Tues. Wed. and one for Fri.-Sat. Both doing the complete listing including researching each item on several paid databases. They both complete drafts and save in a Readt for Review folder I created in WonderLister. There I review and have to do very little to complete them.
    
    They both, depending on the complexity of the research, do 4 to 6 per hour. We pay one $10 per hour and the other $8 per hour. So, at 4 per hr that is $2 per and $2.50 per but they almost always get 5 or 6 per hour so at the 6 per hour each that comes out to $1.33 per and $1.66 ea.
    
    One makes about $250 per month the other about $320 per month. About $550 to $600 per month and after the first of the year we plan on cutting back to just one assistant but letting her maybe do a few more hours, cutting back to about $350 a month for just the one.
    
    Just run the math and at $5.50 per item that would mean a very substantial monthly increase.
    
    One assistant also does our Etsy listings but that is mostly a cut and past job from our Shopify Store over to Etsy and that is piece work at $1.50 each and she does that at home during the evenings on an “as time permits”.
    
    Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
    - 10/22/2018 at 11:30 am #50535
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      Mike, as you crosspost more to Esty, are you seeing steady sales?
      - 10/22/2018 at 12:11 pm #50539
        
        MDC Galleries & Fine Art
        Participant
        
        Location: Atlanta
        @huncrelan
        
        To a very slight degree. Yes, more likes and favorites coming in, but that is not sales dollars. Some slight sales. But I am looking at it in the light of your view point on a new start up on Ebay. The old, [years ago] low down on SL is that you should have a store at about the 250 items to start seeing some sales. Now that number seems to be about 500 +/-. At the present time we only have 239 items out of 1,134 on Ebay, cross posted on Etsy. But several sales did happen last week on Etsy.
        
        So reflecting on those start-up numbers we are just in the infancy period of the Etsy store. And we are still doing it manually one at a time while we are waiting for the WonderLister team to get it all together. Which by the way they have started being more active on and are beta testing some of our items right now on Etsy. If they can come to the table with a viable solution, then that will be a different story. Troy, Veronica, Susan and I have been talking about how SixBit and WL should be interfacing to make it automatic and I seriously have SixBit in the back of my mind, BUT if WL can get it together quickly and correctly, then maybe I’ll “float” in place for awhile.
        
        If WL surprises me with an interface, and it works well, then the complete transfer of all 1,134 items would happen within hours, not months. Then I will be able to do a more apples to apples comparison of the Ebay vs. Etsy situation.
        
        But for now there are just too few items to get a real feel for.
        
        Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
  - 10/22/2018 at 6:34 pm #50575
    Nancy
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @nancy
    Mark what type of new photography equipment did you get? Photos are my least favorite part of listing. Love to find things to make it easier.
    - 10/23/2018 at 10:44 am #50606
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      Nancy,
      
      I bought “LimoStudio Photo Video Studio 10Ft Adjustable Muslin Background Backdrop Support System Stand, AGG1112” on Amazon at
      
      The key for me was that it is adjustable from 5 Feet to 10 Feet. 5 Feet is more than enough.
      
      I bought the clips that they feature below their listing (LimoStudio 6 PCS Black Nylon Muslin/Paper Photo Backdrop Background Clamps, 3.75 inch, AGG1242) for $6.99. You need those to hold your paper on.
      
      I made the mistake of ordering “MUZI White Chromakey Photo Studio Video Background Muslin Collapsible Backdrop for Photography 4x6ft” It was useless. It was so thin, wrinkled, and got dirty very quickly with no easy way to clean it. I went to JoAnn Fabrics and got a 4′ X 7′ of white vinyl. It was about $25 but it is working great. I actually got it for 60% off. All you have to do is download the JoAnn Fabrics app and then register yourself. Then click on the coupon at the bottom left for 60% off any 1 item. So of course, I used the coupon for the Vinyl. 4′ X 7′ is a little big, but I know I can handle just about anything now. 4′ X 5′ or 4′ X 6′ would probably work. Here is a picture of what it looks like on my stairs landing:
      
      https://imgur.com/a/j414506
      
      You can see the useless Muslin paper on the right. I accidently got an off-white vinyl from JoAnn Fabrics, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.
      
      Mark S
      - 10/23/2018 at 10:52 am #50609
        
        Mark S
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @mark-s
        
        Nancy,
        
        Here is a little more information:
        
        There is a bar across the top. You can set the vinyl\paper to any length you want (if you need more or less in the front). Just set it to where you want it and then put the clips on.
        
        When it is not in use, I just take the vinyl and throw it back over the bar to get it out of the way.
        
        That has really helped in photographing the larger items with a white background. I have done Large Goalie Hockey Pads, 3 Baseball Bases, 1970’s Mercury Cougar Hubcaps. All worked just fine.
        
        I find with this, my pictures have a white background for even the large items and look very professional. I have found that most photos on ebay of larger items do not have a white background, so I think this sets my photos\item apart from the rest. That may be my own illusion, but I like to believe it.
        
        Mark S
- 10/22/2018 at 8:40 am #50502
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Hey Jay, don’t forget that the $20 internet fee on the plane is tax deductible since Ryanne worked!
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:52 am #50517
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Trust me. Ryanne is the queen of business expenses.
- 10/22/2018 at 9:10 am #50504
  Brian Treasures from Grandmas
  Participant
  Location: Hoboken, NJ
  @brian-treasures-from-grandmas
  Week October 14-20, 2018
  
  Total Items in Store: 960
  Items Sold: 14 (1 Bonanza)
  Cost of Items Sold: $108 (22.8% of sales)
  Total Sales: $472.94
  Highest Price Sold: $160 (Valentino Pink Wedges https://www.ebay.com/itm/202206049886)
  Average Price Sold: $33.78
  Returns: 1 (although they have not shipped back yet)
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 0
  Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $197.96 (41.9% of total sales), $9.91 fees (5% of sales)
  
  Slightly below average week, but actually moved quite a few older listings that I thought would never sell – 8 of my 14 sales were items that had been listed for more than 18 months. COGS were a bit higher than I like, mainly due to the Valentino shoe sale.
  
  Our house guests left this weekend, so looking forward to getting back to sourcing & listing this coming weekend. I had hoped to get back to it this past weekend, but errands, cleaning, catching up took priority and I didn’t get around to it. Have at least 30 items to list, plus I’d like to hit a sale or two.
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:52 am #50515
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Seemed like a soft week for many of us. Is your guest room where the eBay happens?
    - 10/22/2018 at 9:51 pm #50578
      Brian Treasures from Grandmas
      Participant
      
      Location: Hoboken, NJ
      @brian-treasures-from-grandmas
      
      Yeah, my desk/computer/printer are in there, plus the bed is a fold out couch and that’s where I take photos (with an off white table cloth draped over). I’ll get back to it this weekend, especially if this is the weather we’re going to have – first frost of the year!
- 10/22/2018 at 9:21 am #50506
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1087
  Items Sold 14
  Total Sales $364.00
  COGS $33.50
  Total Profit $330.50
  Average profit $23.61
  Average sales price $26.00
  
  I’m really feeling the effects of neglecting my ebay business this week. I did photograph and list some shoes this weekened and I started creating the listings for a rack of coats/jackets. I want to finish the whole rack this week. The star of the rack so far is a Ralph Lauren corduroy blazer. Similar solds are in the $100-150 range. I’m very excited to get that one listed!
  
  Personally I’ve been sleeping a lot more the last week and a half, which is helping me feel a lot better. More sleep = less time for ebay.
  
  I was really looking forward to getting some work done in my storage areas this fall…unfortunately we didn’t get a fall this year. We went straight from 90 degree days to 50 degree wet nastiness, and finally to frozen 30 degree mornings such as today.
  
  Anyways, I have a goal this week on coats/jackets. Hopefully I can make it happen as I need business to pick up – I need the money!
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:51 am #50513
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It’s important to get rest so that time isn’t wasted. If you have another kid on the way, you’ll need it 🙂
    
    Since we’re nearby, I agree that we went from the hot summer to almost freezing at night. Everyone around here is afraid of heavy snow this winter.
  - 10/22/2018 at 10:43 am #50530
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    Ah I forgot to add a stressfull ebay happening this weekend. I sold a vintage tracksuit for $60. I went to pull it Saturday morning…but it was not in the bin I labeled it as being in. I know I never condensed this bin, so it should have been there since originally listed back in March. I checked my sales/returns/unpaid items email history and I’ve never sold this item/had it returned.
    
    There is absolutely no reason it would be anywhere else. So next I went through every bin of clothing I have. It simply wasn’t there! ARRRGGGHHHH!
    I went through my whole listed inventory 3 times and decided to contact the buyer as they need it for a costume party next weekend. I searched the rest of my inventory and found another neat looking vintage tracksuit that had the same measurements.
    
    I offered to cancel the listing or to offer them the other tracksuit with a partial refund for their troubles. The buyer was happy with the substitute item.
    
    My mood was affected by this lost item all weekend. I HATE when an item goes missing. Typically when I misplace an item I can research and determine where things went wrong. This is the first item where I have absolutely no clue.
    - 10/22/2018 at 12:24 pm #50543
      MDC Galleries & Fine Art
      Participant
      
      Location: Atlanta
      @huncrelan
      
      RTWV: I sympathize with you completely. Organized as we are, has happened to us a couple of times. The last one was for a MAC Truck Bulldog hood ornament and no substitute was acceptable, so told the buyer, if I did find it, we would send it to him at no cost. We refunded 100% and 3 months later, we came across it. We sent free like we said we would. But he had already giving us a negative, first we have ever had since 2002 and is still sitting in our ratings.
      
      We did the same as you, cross referenced multiple ways and nothing. All I can think is I just transposed a number somehow, but I looked in all the possible combinations or mixed up numbers, but nope. So who knows.
      
      Let’s just both hope this type of thing is extremely few and far between.
      
      Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
- 10/22/2018 at 9:29 am #50507
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  I really want to go to San Francisco sometime! Never been to the west coast before.
  
  To follow up on my google photos tip, I’ve been using the app for over 2 years now and haven’t had any issues with photos going missing or anything.
  
  As far as what I said about it being quicker to take the pictures on my phone and upload them all at the same time, it isn’t extremely faster, but it is faster. On the eBay app for android, the process of taking pictures through the app is just kinda clunky. Instead of having to click upload then take one photo, then click the check mark or delete button if it’s blurry, I can take all the pictures on my phone in a few seconds then click upload and select all of the photos at the same time. I’d say this probably saves me about 5 seconds per photo and if you’re a part time seller working full time, any seconds you can save really help out! 5 seconds a photo times 12 = 60 seconds of time saved per item so that’s 100 minutes for every 100 items I list.
  
  The google photos app actually IS connected to your gmail account, so you have access to your photos on any device that you can login to your google account with. This means I can see all of the photos I take on my phone by logging into my google account on google chrome on my computer. You can also share photos with other people and download them to your computer if you want. I’m sure there are other things you can do with the app that I don’t know about.
  
  So something else I just thought about is, you could take the pictures on your phone, and once the photos sync to google photos, you’d be able to download the photos to your computer and do your listings entirely on your computer if you wanted. I’m not sure if that’d be a time saving process, but something to think about.
  
  Thanks!
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:49 am #50512
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Since google photos is connected to your Gmail account, is the space unlimited? I know when I look at my gmail account, it shows I have a certain limit (15GB). I’m about half full. If I go over 15GB, Google prompts me to buy more storage.
    
    I’ve heard other Android users say they the eBay app is buggy for them too. The eBay app on the iPhone seems a lot less buggy. Works smoothly for us.
    - 10/22/2018 at 3:27 pm #50563
      LiveLikeNoOneElse
      Participant
      
      Location: Chicago Suburbs
      @livelikenooneelse
      
      re Google Photos.
      
      Jay, yes you only have 15GB of free storage. If you change your google settings to “high quality” instead of “original” it helps. I subscribe to the larger storage for $9.99/month. But I also back up all personal photos and videos. It’s worth it for me knowing it’s backed up in the cloud. I do the same with Amazon Photos. I pay a total of $20/mo. But with the nunmber of ebay and personal photos. Well worth the cost! It’s a business expense you can write off!
  - 10/23/2018 at 12:02 am #50582
    sonia
    Participant
    
    Location: Northeast US
    @sonia
    “you could take the pictures on your phone, and once the photos sync to google photos, you’d be able to download the photos to your computer and do your listings entirely on your computer if you wanted.”
    
    I have a very similar process that happens automatically on my iphone. I take the photos on my iphone, and somehow through apple’s cloud they sync to the Photos app on my laptop. I like to do all my listing on my laptop, so this works great for me. Didn’t even have to configure anything. The only limit is the phone storage, but once the photos are on my laptop, I periodically delete them from my phone – don’t want them there anyway.
    - 10/23/2018 at 3:53 pm #50617
      Inglewood
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @inglewood
      
      Maybe I’m old-school or missing something, but isn’t physical storage cheap and photo files small? I have every single photo I’ve ever taken (including eBay listing photos dating back to 1996) stored in a folder on my computer, backed-up on an external drive and it is only about 5% full with everything photo from my 40+ years backed-up. I also buy a new SD card each time it gets full on my camera and save that as another back-up.
      
      My iPhone also automatically backs-up all it’s photos in the same folder on my computer. I have a Windows computer and you can sync your iPhone by Bluetooth or USB cable easily. My camera also syncs by Bluetooh or USB as well. My back-up drive is USB and runs automatically when plugged in.
      
      It’s all pretty effortless once setup, and no monthly fees.
      
      I also don’t trust the cloud – you never know when it will go down or disappear or get hacked.
      - 10/23/2018 at 4:36 pm #50620
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        For us, we stopped needing backups of all our photos. Using the eBay app on the iPhone just uploads all photos and doesnt store them locally.
        
        What’s now more interesting to us is having backups of our complete listings with the associated photos. This is why we use Inkfrog. If our store disappeared, just having the photos would be lacking if we had to rewrite all the listings.
- 10/22/2018 at 9:52 am #50516
  Paulo H Leocadio
  Participant
  Location:
  @paulo-h-leocadio
  Can we use store size to compare similar ones (more or less like EBTIDA)?
  
  The comparison with a non-GAAP metric is because, like Ryanne mentioned a couple of times during this week’s cast, among ourselves, even though we all sell on eBay, we have different approaches to our businesses.
  
  However, when Ryanne mentioned they have ~8500 items, it came to my mind they average $1400 to $2300 per week give or take.
  
  I have now ~850 items in my store, I have very similar approach of items being sold (except clothes) and I am making between $140 and $230 per week.
  
  Is it correct make a comparison like this? So if I want to reach Ryanne/Jay’s sales level selling the things I sell today I would need to have ~8500 items in my store?
  
  Makes me think where I can go, which limitations I have
  - 10/22/2018 at 9:56 am #50520
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    We’ve been down this path before and comparisons don’t work well. Your miles may vary based on what you sell, how you list, and how you price.
    
    I see scavengers here who make more than we do per week and have a smaller store. They just sell differently. (ie TSATT)
    - 10/23/2018 at 7:57 pm #50630
      simplicio
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @simplicio
      
      In the long run, I gotta believe it boils down to how many expected dollars I list per week. (Conservatively estimated, not the dollars I hope I might get.) If I list stuff that’s honestly worth $500 every week, eventually my sales will get to an average of $500 per week. (Or else the stuff I listed wasn’t really worth $500.)
      
      A big inventory is like making your listing stream go into a reservoir rather than drinking it right away. You’re still limited by the inflow, there’s just a lag to the payout.
      - 10/25/2018 at 12:04 pm #50725
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Love this topic. As for forecasting your store, the best thing to do is to forecast based on YOUR store, not someone else’s.
        
        You can reasonably extrapolate your numbers when your inventory gets higher. If you know your Sell Thru Rate, your Inventory Level, and your Average Selling Price, you can extrapolate from there. HOWEVER! Make sure to factor in a degradation of your STR as your inventory gets higher. We are averaging a 5% decrease in STR this year vs last year. Now, not to say that this will happen for everyone, and I know some of the culprits that are doing this (not the best of buys, longer tail and lower value), but it DOES happen.
- 10/22/2018 at 9:52 am #50518
  totommyto
  Participant
  Location: Naples, Fl
  @totommyto
  Spent a few days lodging in Hocking Hills, still in Ohio on extended handling time, tomorrow back to the pleasant grind in Still very warm SW Fl, so I have not even listened yet! Something to look forward to for sure!
  
  10/14 – 10/20/18
  
  eBay store totommyto
  
  Total store items: 677
  Number of items sold: 15, (0 international)
  Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $808.80
  Cost of items sold: $27.50
  Consignment payouts $60
  Highest price sold: $150.00 – 1:18 scale diecast car. There were also 3 action figures sold at $125 each to one buyer for a total of $375.
  Average price sold: $53.92
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: 0
  Number of items listed this week: 20
  Sell through rate for the week: 2.2
  
  Etsy store Oldfleatoymarket
  
  Total store items: 625
  Number of items sold: 15, (1 international)
  Total etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $344.50
  Cost of items sold: $41
  Consignment payouts: 0
  Highest price sold: $75 – rusty hook/block/tackle/rope assembly, there were also 4 additional loose rusty hooks sold to this buyer for a total sale of $158
  Average price sold: $22.96
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: 0
  Number of items listed this week: 6
  Sell through rate for the week: 2.4
  
  The 80’s toy & novelty shop partial buyout producing some interesting sales, maybe fun and informative to post later on under Steve’s sold video. Also a return buyer on Etsy made a multiple items purchase on more rusty metal hardware stuff, thankful.
  - 10/22/2018 at 2:38 pm #50557
    Doublythumbs
    Participant
    
    Location: Hopedale, OH
    @doublythumbs
    How’d you like Hocking Hills? I visit there every few years for a hike to Old Man’s Cave. Were the leaves in full fall colors?
    - 10/22/2018 at 9:55 pm #50579
      totommyto
      Participant
      
      Location: Naples, Fl
      @totommyto
      
      Doubly,
      Leaves just beginning to turn, so we missed it. We hiked around the lodge, talked about Old Man but did not do it. Rather, we stayed put. Plenty of billiards, board games, beer & comfort eating, fire pits and such.
- 10/22/2018 at 9:56 am #50521
  Paulo H Leocadio
  Participant
  Location:
  @paulo-h-leocadio
  Amazon Returned Items Auctions, anyone?
  
  I learned Amazon has periodic auctions and/or sales of 5 x 5 pallets of items. There are topics like toys, electronics, home and garden, clothing, miscellaneous, potentially more.
  
  Folks like us in this community pay around $1300 up to $2000 for these gigantic boxes full of new but returned things.
  
  There are several unboxing videos available. Good stuff, I replenished my store in a similar situation in terms of size of the lot (one day I will tell the best haul I will never have the chance again).
  
  Anyone already tried?
  
  Thoughts?
  - 10/22/2018 at 11:21 am #50533
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I think TSatt may be trying this. Buying retail returns.
    
    We’ve never bought Lots of retail returns, but we do find them from time to time out scavenging. The issue we’ve had is that many of the items aren’t actually “new”. Boxes are damaged, items have light wear. Items have to be listed one by one VS listing multiple quantity.
    
    Other than a preference for selling new items, I wonder what the exact benefits are buying retail returns:
    –faster to list (just scan barcode?)
    –Sell faster (new items are more sought after?)
    –Cost of purchase (do items cost more to buy because of competition from other scavengers?)
    –Higher profit?
    –Any issues with returns since items aren’t new (do customers dislike items with rough boxes?)
    - 10/22/2018 at 11:53 am #50538
      Paulo H Leocadio
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @paulo-h-leocadio
      
      To think of the benefits, I would look at both sides of the spectrum, meaning, a store with ~8500 items and a store with ~850 items.
      For your case the only benefit would be to streamline and “automatize” the scavenging process, considering you guys have other on going and “on growing” businesses. So it would pay for your time.
      
      For my case, I use a recent example: I was very low on inventory and new listings, mostly because my local Auction House shut down, which killed me (the trip to retrieve the items was also the trip for 3-4 Good Will’s and others.
      
      I found out an on line Auction out of the blue selling all things I like to sell. Without exaggerating, it seemed to be customized to me. I went on a buying spree. Result: about $440 in merchandise and $580 in shipping. Then the surprise: I was not betting for items, I was betting for entire sets or collections (Lenox Birds for example). The amount I paid for the unity was actually a whole box. So ~$100 retail I thought I was paying $40-$60, I ended up paying pennies (first 2 weeks after receiving items already paid off all costs).
      
      So one box from Amazon would give me a boost to offsite my lesser experience on scavenging and looking for correct spots to buy.
      
      And you are right, if you look the videos, the standard are open boxes and/or little wear. Exception are the sealed/brand new.
      
      What I have not done is to compare the “bill of materials” of one of those boxes with the actual cost paid to see what the cost per item would be. This would be an important detail.
- 10/22/2018 at 10:00 am #50523
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 359 Ebay, 54 Mercari
  Items Sold: 6 Ebay, 4 Mercari
  Gross Sales: $321 Ebay, $58 Mercari
  Cost of Items Sold: $73 + $30 shipping included + some ours
  Highest Price Sold: $200 (NOS vintage blanket, paid $40 indy thrift)
  Average Price Sold: $53 Ebay, $15 Mercari
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 2 Mercari
  
  It’s been a crazy Fall with unusual happenings both challenging and fun. Ebay is what I do with my “extra time” and it’s just not fitting in right now. My strategy is to take offers on old stuff and keep the store active.
  
  I hope you enjoy your stay in beautiful SF up there. You might look into major rummage sales as an option in the urban areas. Perhaps worth it if you can also hit some estate sales or auctions on the same trip. You won’t have to invest as much and there are two of you to split up and conquer the sale. I follow someone great on Youtube (thePaperCastle) who lives in NJ and does very well with rummage sales at a cheap buy in. She has gotten to know and calendar her favorite rummage and church sales. Personally, I adore rummage sales but we only have 3 big ones each year as the area around our city is not as densely populated.
  - 10/25/2018 at 12:13 pm #50727
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    ChristineR: How have you liked selling on Mercari? Is this just Hard Goods, or clothing as well? Our son has purchased shoes on Mercari…
    
    Is it easy to list? (copy/paste)? Are the fees good?
    
    Looking to see if this is something else to consider crossposting to…
    - 10/28/2018 at 10:12 am #50819
      ChristineR
      Participant
      
      Location: Southern California
      @christiner
      
      @TSatt I have really LOVED selling on Mercari because it is super fast to list and very streamlined. It’s very, very fast and easy to cross-post and there is no sharing like Poshmark. You just need to remember to say any flaws in the description since you are not prompted to. I also started selling on there because Google loves Mercari. It’s a really cleverly designed app experience that makes Ebay look super dated and clunky.
      
      So far I have been spinning off things from our own house (mostly clothing) and I’m willing to promote to likers and drop prices. I sell everything shipping included on Mercari. Shipping prices are good except first class, so I use Paypal for that. FedEx for Mercari can be beyond slow but have the best pricing.
      
      The drawbacks are that you tend to fetch lower prices on Mercari, but the fees are less – 10% and no Paypal fees. You have to pay that fee on shipping if you choose to do shipping included. I’m in a Facebook group where people report much faster sales, including items that sat and sat on Ebay beforehand.
      
      Mercari is very cut and dried with customer service. The buyer has to work a bit to get a return approved within the three day window. It’s all done by email. I had to cancel a sale once when I accidentally reactivated a listing after returning from vacation, and they sent a little smack down email and posted an automated notice on my feedback board.
      
      I look forward to trying it out for vintage hard goods. Haven’t done that yet, but shipping cost over a pound is better than Ebay. Mercari is clearly sharing more of their commercial discount vs. Ebay. I would be cautious about selling electronics or high dollar items on Mercari though at this point. I’ve heard some horror stories, but who knows how good those sellers were.
      - 10/28/2018 at 11:28 am #50820
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        We like to experiment when new sites pop up, but I wonder about the sustainability of these new selling sites. In the last ten years we’ve seen a number of platforms come and go.
        
        I assume that because the competition isn’t as fierce on Mecari, things sell quicker. Wonder what happens when the clothing sellers all start dumping their eBay inventory over on Poshmark/Mecari/etc if sales become just as competitive.
        
        I also wonder if the lower sales price is a simple natural selling point on any platform. I dont know your prices on Mecari, but what would happen if you lowered your prices to the same level on eBay? I know in our experiments with OfferUp and LetGo, we get very few sales and mainly lowball offers. It seems like its a great place to dump inventory, but not a great place to make a living.
        
        I know Ryanne’s mom sold off a lot of her bulky winter coats on Facebook during her last move. She loved it because clothes sold so well that had been sitting on eBay. But she also sold stuff for $15 on Facebook that was listed for $50+ on eBay.
        
        Low fees are certainly cool, but I wonder if its really that big of a game changer. eBay/Paypal is 13.5%. Mercari is 10%. You save 35-cents for every $10 you sell. On sites like OfferUp, there’s no fee at all which shows the site wont be around for long unless they make money some other way.
        
        Be interesting to see in a year how these sites are doing.
        
        10/28/2018 at 1:52 pm #50823
        
        ChristineR
        Participant
        
        Location: Southern California
        @christiner
        
        It will be interesting to see. I think there is a pretty good chance Mercari might take off for the reason that I like it – it takes very little time and effort to sell and promote to likers on this mobile app. Most people don’t have a lot of time but are on their phones a lot. It’s also different than Ebay because there are a lot of younger people on it I suspect and Mercari needs to adjust to the American “customer is always right” way of thinking. Google treatment is important too and it’s so different and better than local pick up sites. Your audience is much bigger. So, we’ll see.
        
        I’ve actually gotten pretty strong prices for our used Patagonia stuff and some death pile Disney mugs – pretty close to Ebay pricing. My daughter’s Gap clothes didn’t sell well, even with mark downs. So prices depend a lot on how good your items are. I’d estimate I get about 10-30% less on Mercari than Ebay but the velocity is really nice. There is no shortage of items to list – it’s the time that I personally am short on. I’m leaning toward moving more merchandise out at better prices. Serious collectibles though I think still would be best on Ebay or Etsy.
        
        10/28/2018 at 3:43 pm #50824
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Im glad Mecari is working out so well. The real test is if a site like Mecari can create loyalty and stability.
        
        Do you have issues selling Patagonia clothing on eBay? I know Ive been in the market to buy some Patagonia winter clothes and it’s hard to find any adult clothing cheap (though I do by sniping under-watched auctions 🙂
        
        10/29/2018 at 10:02 am #50856
        
        ChristineR
        Participant
        
        Location: Southern California
        @christiner
        
        I have been hunting a bit myself for used Patagonia on Poshmark, Ebay and Mercari. At least what I am looking for – light puffer vests and jackets – sell at pretty strong prices. Sometimes things go at pretty good prices on Mercari fast, you might put a search out there. I see the solds (you have to filter them out on Mercari) and it seems people are quick to snap up good deals on there.
        
        Funny thing is I have no interest in selling clothing on Ebay for profit. I didn’t want to do measurements and get into specifics too much. I know some brands but it just doesn’t excite me even though it is easier than vintage hard goods to ship. This is our stuff on Mercari that I would have handed down in the past or donated. One other drawback of Mercari is that they don’t let you charge sales tax and I can’t export into my spreadsheet program so will have to use paper records and collect as I go.
        
        10/29/2018 at 11:25 am #50864
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Christine and Jay: Love this discussion. Thanks for the information on Mercari. I might have to consider it, and I know that one of our boys purchased some shoes on Mercari (really cheap, so adding to your discussion of lower price points.)
        
        At this point, we cross-post to Etsy through SixBit, then manually to Poshmark. Poshmark seems like a good outlet for our women’s items, so I will keep the focus on Poshmark with our women’s items. I think I will dabble with Grailed for men’s items in a couple of weeks. Mercari would be next, but with Q4 hitting solid, that may be too much!
- 10/22/2018 at 10:04 am #50524
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  I just went to the settings page and found that you have two upload options. You can upload the photos as the original file size, or you can let google reduce the file size. If you let google reduce the file size, then you get unlimited storage. They reduce any photos above 16 megapixels and claim that you can print high quality photos that are 24″ x 16″ at 16 megapixels so that should be plenty for eBay photos. They don’t say specifically how much storage you get if you don’t reduce the file size, but I’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of pictures uploaded at original file size and they say I still have about 12GB left.
- 10/22/2018 at 10:36 am #50529
  maybel9
  Participant
  Location:
  @maybel9
  Great podcast. The subject of what level of items to sell vs the time/money investment is always fascinating to me.
  
  Sometimes I think you make a false statement– that to sell higher end items, you have to spend more on the items initially. I believe that if you want to sell higher end items, you can either spend more money OR more time searching for them.
  
  Also, if you want to tweak your store to be slightly higher end, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. On a daily basis, as you choose what to list/buy, you can cut out the very bottom level items. Just don’t buy them, or donate them, since you are very busy and under time pressure. Especially when a low end item is a hassle to pack or store.
  - 10/22/2018 at 11:08 am #50531
    ChristineR
    Participant
    
    Location: Southern California
    @christiner
    I think location is a big factor, but you may or may not have to deal with more competition in urban places too. The sweet spot is finding places where valuable things are still being overlooked and there are wealthier types who donate great items. Here the cost of living is very high, we have lots of elderly people, and the minority of younger people are working hard to pay for it so they have less time to scavenge. But down the coast a half hour there are more young people on it with their phones out. Also the employees down there are better at spotting good stuff. Our Goodwill is constantly hiring and cannot find good workers.
  - 10/22/2018 at 11:27 am #50534
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    You’re correct on both accounts:
    
    –We don’t have to spend more on higher end items. We could spend more time seeking deals that no one else sees. My point is just that we would have to be prepared to pay more for higher end items. Our time is valuable so not sure if I’d want to spend hours just to get a good deal.
    
    –I dont mean to say we would sell only high end items and dump our current model of selling. I mean our current way + the new way.
- 10/22/2018 at 12:23 pm #50542
  MyCottage
  Participant
  Location:
  @mycottage
  Buying higher end items.
  
  I think it depends in part on how we define higher end—a minimum selling price of $50? $100? $1000?
  
  Around here, at least where I usually source, I’m not very likely to find $1000 items without spending up a good bit. But $50 and $100 items? I can find those without spending up too much…not every sourcing trip, but the items are out there. For me, the real key is to always be learning….so that I recognize the stuff when I see it. Fortunately for me, that’s one of the things I really enjoy, learning new stuff. I think being a generalist helps—if I were sourcing only clothing, for example, it would be much harder, because there’s a lot of competition in that category around here. Maybe if I lived somewhere else, or sourced more online, I’d consider specializing more. There are advantages to that, but for me taking a broad approach seems to be best.
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:21 am #50602
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Our definition of “higher end” is $300+. We’re pretty good between $120 and under. I bet we sell four to five $100 items a week that we purchased for $5 or less.
    
    But the amount of $300+ items we currently sell is much more rare. Maybe once or twice a month? My challenge is if we could actively seek out items that would sell for $300+. Just a new challenge. Maybe it’ll work, maybe not.
    - 10/25/2018 at 12:16 pm #50728
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      Jay, the last part of the podcast about higher end vs your current model was the best part of the cast. And the fact that some businesses are “similar” but really are different.
      
      I would encourage everyone to listen and ponder on that part of the podcast. There are a lot of nuggets of truth in there, and lots of adventurous paths to take.
      
      I think like everything, when you Level Up, there is new learning that has to take place. But that is where the Growth, and the Fun, takes place.
- 10/22/2018 at 12:46 pm #50547
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  Mike,
  
  When Wonderlister gets the ETsy interface going, I am not expecting to sell any where near as much on Etsy as I do on ebay. I would be good with just a petcentage like 25% or so as to what sells on ebay – apples to apples. I hope it does, but not putting my expectations that high. I look at it as a free add on since my extra work will be minimal.
  
  Mark S
- 10/22/2018 at 1:26 pm #50552
  Simon
  Participant
  Location: San Francisco Bay Area
  @simon
  Hi R&J
  
  I haven’t listened to the show yet as I’m having a long weekend and I’m saving the podast till my Tuesday morning commute. Hope you got/get to enjoy some warm weather while you were in the SF area. (It was certainly nice and warm outside of the city itself this weekend but the city has it’s own microclimate.)
  
  I don’t think I’ve posted my numbers for a couple of weeks but here they are for this week:
  Total Items in Store: 2613
  Items Sold: 39
  Total Sales: $809
  Cost of Items Sold: $69
  Average Price Sold: $20.73
  Average Cost of Item: $1.79
  Highest Price Item Sold: $64.95 Monty Python’s Flying Circus Complete Megaset DVD 16-Disc Set
  Number of items listed this week: 53
  YTD Sales: $37231
  YTD sales compared to this time last year: +18%
  Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 320
  Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 194
  Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 147
  Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.49%
  
  Sales have been steady but I haven’t found too many higher-value items recently so my numbers for this week were good but not amazing. No complaints though.
  
  My big score from this weekend was a box of 20 new, old stock Tourneau ladies watches. I got the whole box for $25 and hope to sell each one for more than that. Only problem is that I need to replace the battery in all of them. It will be fun to see how that works out.
  
  Hope everyone has a good week!
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:14 am #50598
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    SF weather has been awesome as always. We like the cool weather. Down near Fort Mason, it’s a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate bridge.
- 10/22/2018 at 1:33 pm #50553
  Marie in Florida
  Participant
  Location:
  @marie-in-florida
  Christine, good point about the scheduling. We only have 2 really good rummage sales here. Time to figure out exactly where they are on the calendar
  Total Items in Store: 427
  Items Sold: 6
  Gross Sales: $169
  Cost of Items Sold: $27.26
  Highest Price Sold: $43 Earth Bellweather Shoes, $35 Rieker Flats Both shoes I bought for myself via Ebay. My feet decided that these were going back on sale
  Lowest Price: Le Creuset lid $12 Almost last part of a big lot that I got for $10
  Returns: 1
  Reducing prices on clutter of old, apparently low value items that have been living on Ebay for years. Some things will get pitched by Thanksgiving if they don’t move. I know that J&R don’t usually pitch anything. But once something gets to $9 and I’ve been storing it for 3 years I start getting crabby with it.
- 10/22/2018 at 2:02 pm #50555
  almasty
  Participant
  Location:
  @alamasty
  I think the real take-away from the podcast is if you don’t have to 100% depend on your income from selling online, what should you really be doing with the time you spend sourcing and listing for internet sales? Should you continue as you have always been? Or, should you start shifting your efforts to make more money on less items, if you have the money but not the time?
  
  I think the answer’s different for everyone in terms of what is a lot of work, time or money. Everyone runs their businesses in different ways with different strategies that fit them.
  
  Also, the thought processes are different for people who have been doing this for 10+ years f/t. What “works” now might not be necessarily what really “works” in the long-run. Or, it may work, but other methods of selling might have to come into play to realize that what works is fine, it’s just you getting bored (speaking to myself). After my summer of slightly becoming more of a generalist, I’m turning my back on it and even more firmly delving back into my niches. Other people might be generalists, but realize after so much time they want to have a few focuses, either in terms of monetary value or fields they find the most interesting.
  
  Part of what’s exciting about this life is that you get to make the rules up as you go along, for yourself. What you find exciting, you focus on. It could be the best or worst idea in the world. Who cares? All that matters is what you get out of it. It is a learning experience, and it keeps the overall monotony of buy, list, sell, ship, repeat worth continuing in.
  - 10/22/2018 at 3:13 pm #50561
    Inglewood
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @inglewood
    I think there is an evolutionary process that we all most go through over the years as well. What I sold on eBay in 1998 will not sell today, and some of the stuff I sell now didn’t even exist in 1998 or was considered worthless.
    
    Then there are items that sold well in 1998, and still sell well today.
    
    It’s a constant learning experience – I really can’t think of any practice I used in 1998 that I still use today for selling on eBay. You have to evolve to stay alive in this business if you want to make consistent income off it. Some of my best sales the last 2 weeks have been items I didn’t even know about 3 weeks ago…
    - 10/23/2018 at 10:17 am #50600
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      Totally agreed. I think the grumpy sellers who have been selling the same thing since 1998 are angry because they refuse to evolve. Their anger comes from disappointment that the market has changed. Instead of evolving, they blame.
      
      We also know we need to evolve just to stay interested in what we’re doing.
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:18 am #50601
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Right there with you. I cant say that all our scavenger decisions have been the best financial choices. We could probably make more money if we had different processes. Our choices are based on what we know we’ll enjoy.
    - 10/25/2018 at 12:22 pm #50729
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      Almasty/Jay/Inglewood: Again, another GREAT topic to discuss.
      
      For us, we have one main goal for 2019: Remove the need for us to hit the Thrift Stores on Saturdays (cause that is the 50% off day). Gaining one day a week is HUGE (plus it allows us to move to a model of being more Location Independent).
      
      Overall, my goal is to always improve our Income per Hour. We can always work more hours and make more money, but how can we make more money in less hours. That is the key for us…
      - 10/25/2018 at 1:59 pm #50746
        
        Inglewood
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @inglewood
        
        I agree T-Satt – it’s one of the challenges I’m thinking of as I go from part-time to full-time seller. Some of the thoughts I’ve had that I need to sort out for myself are:
        
        -diminishing returns – if I spend more time, do I make the same, or maybe less per hour? Do I start looking at smaller return items to boost my overall income, but diminish my free time?
        
        -what do you eliminate? Trying to come up with an evaluation process of what items aren’t worth looking at. T-Shirts is one category where I have great sales, some ho-hum sales, and a lot of inventory that sits. My STR on shirts over a month is pitiful compared to other categories – so do I just ignore, and try to find more of the higher profit, higher STR items with my time?
        
        -evolution – how do you find items that are on the upswing, or the “hot” items of the future? Is there items that I’ve passed on for years based on 10-year-old thinking that are now saleable? How do you develop a process for research and knowledge building? And vice-versa, learning what items you think are easy sales are in the decline.
        
        -Scavenging techniques – one area that I spend a lot of time on is looking at oddball items at stores – there is items I buy on sight with no need to think about them, then there are others that I play around with, question, look up on my phone, etc. and require time to research. If I avoid the unsure items, I get more time, but some of my best profits have come off these types of items. I don’t think I’ll stop doing this, but it is an area where time is spent that isn’t efficient and hard to calculate the overall value.
        
        Just a couple of the questions I’m trying to answer for myself – may never truly answer them, but I’m always looking for the most efficient way to use my time.
        
        10/25/2018 at 2:14 pm #50751
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        I personally think its a time-wasting delusion to think we can “automate eBay”, especially the scavenging. We’ve benefitted from creating processes to streamline daily tasks, but we find our success comes from being creative.
        
        Scavenging just takes time. We push ourselves to find new kinds of things to buy and sell. Ten years ago we would walk through a flea market only looking for clothes and shoes, passing over all kinds of treasures that we love now (and make us lots of money). Because we enjoy scavenging, it doest feel like time wasted. Any “BOLO list” someone gives us today will be mostly outdated relatively soon, especially if that person broadcasts it online.
        
        We know that being creative when scavenging is a our secret weapon, if even because it keep us from burning out finding and selling the same thing again and again.
        
        10/25/2018 at 2:22 pm #50754
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Jay/Inglewood: Agree with both of you. What we are selling now is different than it was in the past. Some things change in value and aren’t worth it any more (hence my constant vigil to look at “stale” inventory to make sure it isn’t past it’s selling window).
        
        So what sells now may or may not sell tomorrow. And even if it does, is it worth your time ore have you Leveled Up and are past that now? I stopped on t-shirts that I have found because while I may find one worth it, I generally don’t, so I don’t waste the sourcing time on it. Shirts are now last on my list to look for, as I can do better $/hr on higher end items.
        
        As Jay says, the secret sauce is being flexible on what you buy. Yes, there are riches in the niches, but you HAVE to love the niche and be able to bob and weave as it changes. That includes where you source those niches as well…
        
        10/25/2018 at 2:35 pm #50759
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Great new slogan: “you HAVE to love the niche”
        
        10/25/2018 at 2:50 pm #50762
        
        simplicio
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @simplicio
        
        I agree. There are many things that are necessary to make money on ebay (listing, shipping, pricing etc.), but what you buy is the only amp knob that doesn’t max out at 10. Scavenging good stuff for cheap is key. And it’s not usually repeatable or automatable or anything like that. It’s just you and your wits, every week, over and over again.
- 10/22/2018 at 2:36 pm #50556
  Doublythumbs
  Participant
  Location: Hopedale, OH
  @doublythumbs
  Oct 14-20
  Total Items in Store: 1859
  Items Sold: 15
  Total Sales : $863
  * above yearly average of $822
  * below 2017 total week sales of $1500 (huge couple of sales that week)
  Highest Price: $400 (North Face Inferno DL Goose Down Sleeping Bag)
  Average Price: $58 ($31 if you don’t count the big sale)
  Returns: 0
  Cost of Goods Sold: $26
  Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
  Number of New Items Listed this Week: 60
  
  It felt like a really slow week, so I was surprised at my totals this time around. That sleeping bag sale really boosted my numbers though. It would have been drab without it. Funny story about that, I had it listed for a hundred dollars less than it sold for until somebody asked a question about the temperature rating. So I did some research and found that it was one of the best sleeping bags out on the market and I underpriced it. So I bumped it up to $400 and it sold the next day.
  
  No scavenging last week, but we do plan on going to an auction on Thursday. This week I’m working on listing all of those refrigerator parts from the high-end fridge that wasn’t working when we moved in. I expect to make back what I spent on a brand new refrigerator.
- 10/22/2018 at 3:00 pm #50559
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  I had a funny experience on the weekend. Happened to see an auction sign at a local hotel and popped in. The ONLY thing they were selling was a collection of about 1000 (not exaggerating) Cabbage Patch Dolls, one by one. There were 6 auction staff and 1 single bidder, an old lady who by the time I got there had already won a big room full of the things. I listened in and they relotted 5 dolls on the fly and sold them to her for $10.
  
  I looked them up and it seems like average price is $20 or so, with these being mint condition. Some go for hundreds, one apparently for $13k. But the boxes are so bulky, I didn’t want to bother with them. Plus the whole thing was very offputting, to be honest. I think I could have made a fair amount of money, but I wanted to get back home and finish yardwork. So I left and let one hoarder generation pass the torch to the next (presumably, she didn’t have the look of a reseller). Man, that was twilight zone stuff. No idea what kind of market for cabbage patch dolls they thought would just materialize in my town with zero warning.
  
  Anyway, decent week.
  
  Sales: CAD$733, 6 items.
  COGS: $213 –> Item profit: $393 (high COGS is due to still paying off my big auction haul).
  Expenditures: $105 (hand exercise bike for disabled, hoping for $600 or so).
  After-tax cashflow: $399
  Listed: $650, 9 items. I’m out of stuff to list!
  Hours: 3.5, $114/hr
  Notable sales: humidifier from my big haul $160, chimney liner kit $5–>$125. Nothing spectacular.
  
  I forgot to mention last week that I had a big $300 refund. I sold a *new, sealed* Rosetta Stone language course on amazon – turned out to be a fake. Had no idea anybody even faked those things.
  - 10/22/2018 at 6:48 pm #50576
    Nancy
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @nancy
    I can’t imagine being the only bidder at an auction. Sounds like an episode out of the twilight zone
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:15 am #50599
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Those expensive returns are painful. Im surprised you were even allowed to sell the Rosetta Stone. On eBay, the company is quick to have the itms removed.
- 10/22/2018 at 3:46 pm #50564
  Antique Frog
  Participant
  Location: Leicester
  @antique-frog
  Wikipedia says that Cabbage Patch Kids are “one of the longest-running cabbage franchises in the United States.”
  
  There are other cabbage businesses? (I mean, apart from Sauerkraut Sally’s and Kapusta’R’Us)
  - 10/22/2018 at 5:37 pm #50572
    simplicio
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @simplicio
    Big Brassica has its tentacles in everything, maaan
- 10/22/2018 at 4:31 pm #50566
  MMVI
  Participant
  Location: Michigan
  @mmvi
  10/15-10/21
  Total Items in Store: 1,665
  Items Sold: 16
  Sales: $465.57
  Cost of Items Sold: $30
  Highest Price Sold: $65.00 (Air Purifier)
  Average Price Sold: $29.10
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: about $15
  Number of items listed this week: 0
  
  Been a busy period and was away from the forum for a while, but I have been listening to the podcast every week:)
  
  End of the fiscal year is crazy at the day job along with a two week vacation following that hiking and camping in West Virginia.
  
  I had extended shipping time set and experienced no significant drop off or issues regarding sales.
  
  Very low average sale price this week, but without listing for almost two weeks I won’t complain.
  
  Definitely plan on getting back in the listing groove this week, which means getting out of the vacation mindset.
  
  Regarding auctions, I tend to pick an auction based on what I think I can get out of it (sometimes it is box lots, other times it is for higher end collectables), but often I find the reality of what is being sold is not what I expected and I have to switch gears.
  
  I try to be flexible enough to roll with what the auction has that is not being bid up to, and beyond, retail. If I focused only on high dollar items, I would leave multiple auctions empty handed. It could work in the future, but not feasible while working the day job as I need to make each auction as productive as possible.
  
  Just a comment from a couple weeks ago, you were talking on the podcast about the extra expenses of traveling to auctions. We travel up to 300 miles, one way, for an auction. I have a full size van for the business and we camp or stay in the van when on the road. Along with planning and preparing our meals, the gas tends to be the largest expense. Not for everyone, but we enjoy it and I love the cost savings.
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:13 am #50597
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    You bring up a great point. It’s all about being flexible as a scavenger. Instead of having a specific category we plan to buy, we always keep an open mind as to what is available.
    
    When you camp out for auctions, are you in cities? Or do you mean traveling to rural auctions? For us, there’s no where to camp in a large urban area so stay in hotels.
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:30 pm #50637
    MMVI
    Participant
    
    Location: Michigan
    @mmvi
    We hit both city and rural auctions, but I prefer rural currently as I’ve found less competition and lower prices overall. In Michigan we are lucky to have camping options throughout the state, but we have “camped” in the van at Walmart parking lots a few times. Definitely not my favorite, but it is an option. When we decided to go all in on ebay, purchasing a van was part of the plan. Plenty of room for what we buy and saving on hotel stays all in one.
    - 10/24/2018 at 9:26 am #50645
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      What kind of van do you camp in?
- 10/22/2018 at 4:44 pm #50569
  Rhianna
  Participant
  Location:
  @rhianna
  Great episode. We were gone for about 6 weeks, we had our store on vacation mode with a 30 day handling time. It was great to come back and have a ton of stuff to mail out, it essentially paid for some of our trip. It really helped having a large store. We did have some people cancel but not too many. I also have been working on business policies, I am having to do a lot of clean up but think that once it is all set it will be wonderful.
  
  When we were in Madrid we saw a lot of those electric scooters around, I loved the smile on peoples faces when they were on them.
  - 10/23/2018 at 10:11 am #50596
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Glad you had a great trip. How was hiking that long trail? How many miles did you do?
    - 10/23/2018 at 10:24 am #50603
      Rhianna
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @rhianna
      
      We had a great time. We started in France and went across the northern part of Spain. We went a little over 500 miles. You can check out our instagram account @travel.experiment , we posted each day. We set up the instagram for family and friends to see our progression. We came home to a ton of stuff to ship. I think being away from my ebay store for that long really gives me confidence that we can leave on extended vacations and keep our ebay store going without issue.
      I am now bingeing on past Scavenger episodes. 🙂
- 10/22/2018 at 5:42 pm #50573
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  Week of Oct 14 – 20
  * Total Items in Store: 1187 eBay, 11 Mercari
  * Items Sold: 8 eBay, 2 Mercari
  * Cost of Items Sold: $13 + $19.76 Commission
  * Total Sales: $162.60 eBay + $30.50 Mercari
  * Highest Price Sold: $64 Vintage 1973 Candlestick Phone with Rotary Dial
  * Average Price Sold: $19.31
  * Returns: 0
  * Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $22.25
  * Number of items listed this week: 12
  
  Slow week again. No eBay sales on Wed, Thurs, or Fri! However, I did make my first two Mercari sales. I wasn’t sure whether to add them this week, or wait until I get paid. I decided to add them now, but I’ll have to report them as a return if I get one.
  
  I’ve been trying this year to buy higher value items. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I don’t. But, I’m definitely getting out of the cheap stuff business. This week I took a huge amount of clothing (about 100 items) that a friend of my parents gave me, and lotted them up into 9 listings each with 8 to 12 items. I have no desire to photograph each separately and sell them for $5 to $10 each. If I sell them for just a few dollars each, that’s fine if I can sell them 10 at a time.
  - 10/25/2018 at 12:27 pm #50730
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Sharyn: what has your experience been in posting to Mercari? I’m thinking about doing some cross-posting there, but don’t know much about it…
- 10/23/2018 at 8:59 am #50586
  bcfol440
  Participant
  Location:
  @bcfol440
  My $500/day listing goal slowed down last week as I was moving my shipping area for winter storage in our basement. Any time I have to reorg, it takes a toll on my flow and general overwhelm. But it is part of the business. I also donated 4 bags and bulkies to the thrift store of mostly dead inventory or our own house stuff. I need to discover some more storage places in the basement. Time to get creative.
  
  SALES:
  Store: 950
  Sales: 27
  Sold: $990 ebay,$230 Posh after fees
  Highest sale: Burberry Scarf I paid for authentication for – worth it!
  Returns: 0
  
  Scavenge of the Week: Did some more Retail Arbitrage at my salvage/freight store and got some clothing. They also sell on ebay, so they don’t miss much but once in awhile I can hit pay dirt. Usually based on actual trends/fashion and not “brands.”
  
  I bought a new photo backdrop in August on Amz, didn’t open it b/c it was a back up drop and a pain to deal with. Finally needed it, opened it and it is stained! Seller won’t refund as it’s past 30 days only a partial twenty percent. I was very annoyed, but also a great reminder for all of us what it is like to be on the other buying side. And open your packages ASAP to inspect 🙂
- 10/23/2018 at 9:22 am #50591
  Julie B
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @julie-b
  It’s an Ebay Christmas! About 65% of my death piles contain great stuff. It’s mostly higher end clothing that I sourced over the last 20 months in Atlanta while I staying overnight frequently in the city for outside work. During that time I barely had time to do anything eBay related but I’d unwind 1 or 2 evenings a week at the Goodwill near my hotel. I knew I wouldn’t be able to list most of the items I was buying for quite some time so I was picky about what I bought and I put everything into totes for when the time finally came that I could list more. As of last night work has settled down and I’m caught up to the point I can begin listing from the death pile. Since it’s all stuff I picked myself every brand is a winner and nearly every item feels like a new discovery since I don’t remember most of the stuff that I bought. Last night’s maiden dip into the death pile felt like Christmas!! I’m only bringing about 20 pieces into my ebay space to work on at a time before I’m allowing myself another dip into the death pile honey hole. There are some crappy deathpile bins as well, stuff I bought early in my ebay career – not fun to list. For every time I dive into the honey hole totes I’m going to try to also list a few things from the not so fun death pile totes. It’s refreshing to be motivated and excited about eBay again.
- 10/23/2018 at 11:58 am #50613
  Simon
  Participant
  Location: San Francisco Bay Area
  @simon
  R&J – I just finished listening to the show. Hope you try out those scooters like you talked about on the podcast. They are a lot of fun. Definitely recommend it. I even bought my family into the city a few months back and we rode those scooters around the waterfront. It’s cheap fun. I’d recommend installing the apps in your hotel room rather than doing it on the street as there are a few steps to go through : Scoot and Skip are the ones on the street right now. There used to be several other companies out there but the city decided that they were an annoyance and removed all of them for several months. They did a permitting process and only returned a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot less of them out there now.
  - 10/23/2018 at 12:22 pm #50614
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Yeah, I was reading how the scooters just came back in limited numbers. Unfortunately our main commute is from Japantown down to Fort Mason. Scooters cant handle the hills. But we may try to grab one to just fool around downtown.
    
    The city requires you where a helmet, but helmets arent provided. I see no one wearing them. Did you ever have issues with police giving out tickets?
    
    This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Jay.
    - 10/23/2018 at 3:17 pm #50616
      Simon
      Participant
      
      Location: San Francisco Bay Area
      @simon
      
      I’ve never read / heard of helmet laws being enforced. I doubt it ever is unless someone is doing something dumb and the cops want to punish them to the max.
      If you can swing it with your schedule, taking a spin across/around Crissy Field might be fun on a scooter.
- 10/25/2018 at 12:21 am #50684
  dlvintage
  Participant
  Location: Saratoga Springs, NY
  @dlvintage
  okay this might be a bit of a “jay tangent’ (affectionately named, of course) but I just love how much you learn about random crap when you’re doing this stuff. Like…you can search one thing because you’re researching prices and it just opens up a whole entirely new world or new category of stuff that you suddenly realize….omg I’ve never thought about really looking at that stuff before! And it happens so often that it just makes you sit back and realize….there is so much cool stuff out there. There are so many things to learn about and so many niches to discover. Idk I’m feeling like Jay when he’s just like “i just…love ebay.” haha. but really. I learn new things every day and I find new old companies every day that are so interesting and there is so much history and they produced so many quality items that are just sitting in thrift stores all over the world!!! agh. I know these are all very obvious statements but sometimes you just get so re-invigorated when you go down a fun rabbit hole. I bought two like…metal mesh-kind of like lame? (la-may) evening bags today from the 1930’s and the research for the company that made them has just sent me on the coolest path ever. And now I have another cool interesting thing to look out for that I never really knew much about! Fun!
  - 10/25/2018 at 1:28 am #50686
    sonia
    Participant
    
    Location: Northeast US
    @sonia
    dlvintage – I know how you feel. I am very excited this week to have (sort of) learned a new research tool – The Internet Archive. I used it to find the style name & number and original retail price (and more importantly, the lovely descriptive text) of a J Crew Collection dress from about 7 years ago that no longer had its style/season tag. I was pleasantly surprised to find the original retail price was over $800! I have no idea how much I’ll get for it, but it was really fun digging up this information. The tool is a bit clunky to use, b/c I think active content has been stripped out of the archived pages, but it worked! Fun and yay!
  - 10/25/2018 at 9:36 am #50703
    Ryanne
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @ryanne
    i love the 1920s and 30s mesh metal pruses. i have one up for sale right now too.
- 10/25/2018 at 11:22 am #50721
  T-Satt
  Participant
  Location:
  @t-satt
  Week of 10/14-10/20
  Total Items in Store: 2,806 (Up 66% YOY)
  Number of Items Listed: 139
  Number of Items Sold: 94 (Up 22% YOY)
  (Includes 2 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 3 Poshmark)
  Weekly STR: 15% (Down 4% YOY)
  
  Total Product Sales: $2,901 (Up 26% YOY)
  Cost of Items Sold: $640
  Highest Item Sold: $180 – Gathered Traditions Joe Spencer Thanksgiving Turkey Figures
  Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 25-17
  
  Clothing
  # Listed: 1,752
  # Sold: 60
  STR: 15%
  ASP: $26.10
  
  Shoes
  # Listed: 438
  # Sold: 12
  STR: 12%
  ASP: $54.06
  
  Hard Goods
  # Listed: 616
  # Sold: 20
  STR: 14%
  ASP: $31.19
  
  Etsy
  # Listed: 171
  # Sold: 2
  STR: 5%
  ASP: $22.35
  
  Poshmark
  # Listed: 84
  # Sold: 3
  STR: 29%
  ASP: $78.33
  
  Business Improvement for the Week – Cross-posting to Poshmark. Poshmark is really starting to kick in nicely, with another 3 sales. Seems very women’s centered, so I started to move mostly our higher end women’s items on there, backing off of the men’s clothing. Thinking to look at Grailed for the men’s side now…
  
  Sorry so late to the party this week. I was gone deer hunting (and came home empty) so couldn’t post anything. Heads up that next week I’m gone elk hunting, so will be late then too.
  
  Some exciting news…we were interviewed for the “So You Want to Sell On Ebay” podcast a few weeks ago, and it dropped on Tuesday when I was gone. So if you want to hear the prettier side of our business (Veronica), you can hear the podcast below…
  
  http://soyouwannasellonebay.com/shownotes/161-troy-and-veronica-satterfield
  - 10/25/2018 at 12:10 pm #50726
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    Tsatt – I’m going to listen to the podcast later – sounds interesting! But, what happened with the shipping of the Christmas village setup. Was it all successful in the end?
  - 10/29/2018 at 1:24 am #50833
    Nancy
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @nancy
    Enjoying the podcast Troy. Fun to hear both you and your wife’s story.
    
    What do your sons think of the biz? Do they have entrepreneurial aspirations?
    - 10/29/2018 at 11:29 am #50867
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      The boys have different drivers right now. Our oldest is staying focused on a double major (Accounting and Sports Management) and possibly may triple major in 4 years (Business Management). He wants to stay in the sports realm right now, and if he opens his own shop, it would be on a travel baseball team/indoor coaching facility.
      
      Our youngest is looking at Chiropractic work now. He has worked in the business for the past year while going to college, and he thinks that may be his route.
- 10/25/2018 at 12:36 pm #50732
  T-Satt
  Participant
  Location:
  @t-satt
  So far, so good. It is all in the buyers hands now to get final delivery. The moving company has it, and since the buyer is scheduling the delivery and paying for it, I’m planning to be done with it. Got a check from the original seller for our commission while I was gone, so I am calling this DONE!!!
  
  Just keep sending those good thoughts that it all arrives safely (and hopefully soon!)
- 10/25/2018 at 2:03 pm #50749
  Winchester38
  Participant
  Location:
  @winchester38
  Listening to the podcast now T-Satt!
  - 10/25/2018 at 2:24 pm #50756
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Thanks! Veronica is great, isn’t she?!
    
    I married well above my weight class… 🙂
- 10/25/2018 at 3:07 pm #50763
  Winchester38
  Participant
  Location:
  @winchester38
  Great podcast! As I make the transition to full-time selling over the coming months, it’s nice to hear stories of others that have gone before me and have had success. Minus the kids, your story sounds like mine (ours). Just looking to buy our time back, and are willing to sacrifice “stuff” to get it.
  
  As for wives, sounds like you’ve done well. Mrs Winchester38 is out of my league, so I get where you’re coming from! Haha
  - 10/25/2018 at 3:12 pm #50764
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Glad to help Winchester!
    
    Hit me up directly anytime you have any questions about going full time, especially if you want to talk numbers.
    
    tsatterf@yahoo.com
- 10/26/2018 at 11:25 am #50779
  indyck
  Participant
  Location:
  @indyck
  First, thanks for the information about LastPass and the JavaScript issue. I was getting the messages from eBay about JavaScript and I could not figure out what kept causing it. A mystery in life solved!
  
  Planet Money did a podcast (857) about the international postal rates, particularly how China works. It was actually interesting how much goes into making the system work.
  Planet Money 857
- 10/27/2018 at 9:05 pm #50806
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  Damn, those Clint Eastwood posters are cool. Hope you guys do well on those.
- 10/27/2018 at 10:54 pm #50808
  Marie in Florida
  Participant
  Location:
  @marie-in-florida
  Sonia, Sounds like a good resource. Can you give more guidance on how you got your information? I tried it and didn’t get anywhere. Thanks
  - 10/27/2018 at 11:26 pm #50810
    sonia
    Participant
    
    Location: Northeast US
    @sonia
    Marie in Florida,
    
    What I did was search for archived copies of the jcrew.com website, and then accessed them one by one, each time going to the “dresses” section of the site, and scrolling through the whole section looking for the dress and/or checking for a particular keyword.
    
    I did it by going to web.archive.org, and then typing “www.jcrew.com” into the search bar. It then shows you a horizontal timeline of all of the archived copies of the site. I wanted to start in 2009, so I clicked in that general area of the horizontal timeline, and then on the calendar below it shows in color the days the site was archived. Since the dress I was searching for was a winter dress, I would choose one of highlighted dates in December. After you click on that, you may have to wait a minute, and then you get a VERY UGLY pared down version of their website, where a lot of photos are missing. BUT, you can still click on “Women” and then “Dresses” and voila, you have a list of dress names. Most of the photos are missing, unfortunately, but I had a fairly unique keyword to look for, so that helped me find what I was looking for. So, a very imperfect tool, but sometimes it fits the bill.
- 10/29/2018 at 10:29 am #50858
  Marie in Florida
  Participant
  Location:
  @marie-in-florida
  Sonia, Thanks. Sounds like a good if not great tool. What I think this would help with is getting that original price, like you did. I love putting up $250 when I’m asking $69 for a pair of used shoes. Shows people what a good deal it is.
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