Scavenger Life Episode 438: Inventory System Has Begun

Tagged: eBay send, Global Shipping Program, gsp

This topic has 55 replies, 25 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.

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- 11/24/2019 at 2:34 pm #70994
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week October Nov 10-16, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8524 Items Sold: 35 Gross Sales: $1,396.89 C
  [See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 438: Inventory System Has Begun]
- 11/24/2019 at 3:26 pm #70997
  SomethingFantastic
  Participant
  Location: Portland, OR
  @somethingfantastic
  The reason the new account can’t use Global Shipping is probably because all new accounts are being put into the Managed Payments system. And as we know Global Shipping is not available if you are signed up with Managed Payments.
  
  Great Podcast! Congrats on the awesome week of sales 🙂
  - 11/24/2019 at 5:39 pm #71005
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Very good point. So the question is:
    –will eBay transition Managed Payments to allow Global Shipping Program.
    or
    –will eBay move everyone to Managed Payments and get rid of GSP.
    - 11/24/2019 at 9:38 pm #71017
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Also, the seller would need to first enroll in the global shipping program to have the options to use it while listing. You can opt in to GSP on the account settings page, which now redirects to the shipping preferences page here….
      
      https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
    - 01/05/2020 at 12:43 pm #72482
      Libby
      Participant
      
      Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
      @libby
      
      I have been doing a lot of research. Everyone will be moving to managed payments eventually and they are using eBay Send as a replacement for GSP initially (available Jan 26th). GSP may be available eventually on managed payments, or they may stick with ebay Send, even ebay doesn’t know yet.
      - 01/05/2020 at 1:11 pm #72483
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Is there any documentation online of this discussion? Curious where eBay made this statement.
        
        01/05/2020 at 4:18 pm #72494
        
        Libby
        Participant
        
        Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
        @libby
        
        Hi Jay, I have no documentation, this is all from several discussions I had with managed payments reps and most recently I did a call with ebay send team that was one on one. Anyone else do this (it was sent as a meeting invitation through ebay). It stinks that this is not documented anywhere for us, believe me I asked. So take it all with a grain of salt!
- 11/24/2019 at 3:53 pm #70998
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  2019-11-17 – 2019-11-23
  
  Total Items In Store: 3379
  Items Sold: 21 (20 ebay, 1 Bonanza)
  Cost of Items Sold: $ 90
  Total Sales: $ 936.09
  Highest Price Sold: $ 200 (Pokemon Game)
  Average Price Sold: $ 44.58
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 101
  Number of items listed: 26
  
  Gut Sales Report for the week: Good consistent sales. Not quite the busy season I hoped for, but still good. The Pokemon Game sale really made the week.
  
  Challenge of the week: I still have a lot of items I need to process and list.
  
  Scavenge of the week: I picked up a whole box (14) of Red Line Hot wheels cars for $25. I didn’t look too closely when I bought them because I knew they were easily worth the $25. It turns out that 5 of the cars were from the Sweet 16. If you are not familiar with these red line cars, that means they were the part of the very first 16 Red Line Hot Wheels cars that Mattel introduced in 1968. Tour Guide Barbie talks about this in Toy Story 2 at Al’s Toy Barn. The other great thing about the cars is that they are all in mostly excellent condition and a few in near mint condition. But, they are not for sale. I grew up with these cars and I can spot them a mile away. For now, they are going into my personal collection.
  
  Mark S
  - 11/24/2019 at 8:25 pm #71015
    So Cal Joe
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @so-cal-joe
    Hi Mark,
    
    Congratulations on picking up the Redlines. They can be worth an awful lot of money.
    
    You may already know this, but the date on the bottom of the car is generally the original casting date. In other words the base may say 1969, but the car may have been made and sold in the 1990’s. Also, over the years, Hot Wheels made and sold “Vintage” replicas of the original cars, generally with color variations. The newer replicas are generally only worth a few dollars each.
    
    I’ve gone down way too many rabbit holes, researching Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.
    
    If yours are truly the genuine vintage cars, you made a huge score. Everything counts on these. The color, condition and the country they were made in.
    
    Take your time, before listing them as there are some variations that are really valuable.
    - 11/24/2019 at 10:23 pm #71019
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      So Cal Joe,
      
      The paint on the replicas is different – it is a lot more shinny. It is not the original spectraflame that Mattel used. Also, the color of the paint is different from the originals.
      
      The cars I picked up have the original paint and color. Also, the base of the cars are not shinny either. The base and wheels of the replicas tend to be very shinny.
      
      I’m pretty sure the cars I picked up are the real deal. I will keep them in my collection for now and do some more studying on the value. My initial assessment is around $1500. That includes some other cars and the 1966 car case that they came in.
      
      Mark
      - 11/24/2019 at 11:42 pm #71020
        
        So Cal Joe
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @so-cal-joe
        
        Ok Great.
        
        It sounds like you’ve got a handle on these. I didn’t mean to rain on your parade. I’m officially jealous.
        
        $1500 is very possible or even more. Do you have a white Camaro or a Beach Bomb..(VW Bus) ?
        
        Good Luck with them.
        
        11/25/2019 at 9:03 am #71026
        
        Mark S
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @mark-s
        
        So Cal Joe,
        
        No, I get it. If it sounds too good to be true, then it just may be not true.
        
        I have taken some pictures so that you can see them. I think the Sprecaflame Orange Custom Cougar is worth the most. Let me know if you spot any other ones with a very desirable color.
        
        https://imgur.com/a/am7ArXY
        
        Mark
        
        11/25/2019 at 10:59 am #71035
        
        So Cal Joe
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @so-cal-joe
        
        A Picture is certainly worth a thousand words.
        
        Very cool stuff and certainly original.
        
        The stuff that brings the really big money is generally in like new condition or super rare.
        
        The funny cars are the Snake and Mongoose. You may want to sell them as a pair. The chrome Camaro is one of the “mail away” cars and pretty cool. It’s amazing that after all these years, the surf boards for the Deora never disappeared.
        
        Offhand, I don’t see anything super rare or expensive, but I have a deeper knowledge of Matchboxes than Hot Wheels.
        
        I think you’ll find plenty of solds on Ebay to help with your pricing. You might be looking at closer to %500 than $1500, still a very good return on your $25.
        
        Thanks for posting the pictures, it really made my day. The curiosity was killing me.
        
        11/25/2019 at 11:25 am #71039
        
        Mark S
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @mark-s
        
        So Cal Joe,
        
        I am glad you liked them. These originals really stick out to me since I grew up with them. I still have my original cars, but they are not in great shape. Also, I don’t have many of the sweet 16, which makes this find even better to me.
        
        This was a 1 in a million find at an independent thrift store. In 6+ years, I have only found 4 other Red Line cars in the wild that were not high priced. Those 4 are in decent shape, but these are fantastic. The pictures may not represent them well, because they are in fantastic condition and 5 are from the sweet 16. That is why I say $1500 because the this condition is so hard to find, If I were to sell them, I would price them really high and I bet a collector would eventually pay my asking price.
        
        That is what also surprised me: the surf boards for the Deora were still both there! These cars must have sat in that case for a very long time.
        
        Mark
        
        11/25/2019 at 12:21 pm #71050
        
        So Cal Joe
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @so-cal-joe
        
        Wow, you found those in a thrift store.. that’s surprising.
        
        A few years back, while scouting yard sales, I got in a conversation with a guy who had a box of old hot wheels and a bunch of tracks. I ended up buying the whole lot for $80. The cars weren’t quite as old as yours, but there were a lot more of them and 5 were still in the original packages. I still wish I’d kept a couple of those.
        
        It took about a year and 25 listings or so to sell the lot, but I did pretty well and learned a lot.
        
        I still have two wall display cases with the remnants of my own collection. I made a conscience decision a few years ago to trim it down to something reasonable. These have been in storage, since I moved, but might be time to put them back on display.
        
        If you do sell them, I hope you get your price. There’s nothing wrong with keeping them either. The best part of the conversation is that you’re only into them for $25.
        
        I can’t believe a thrift store sold them for that price. I’d make it a point to go back there on a regular basis and see what else they have.
        
        JOE
        
        11/25/2019 at 12:57 pm #71052
        
        Mark S
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @mark-s
        
        Joe,
        
        Yes, the store didn’t know what they had. They were just old cars to them. $25 is a high price in that store. I get great items for cheap there. That is my go to store and I go there about twice a week. I think that is how I caught these at just the right time. The manager knows me and knows that I resell. They don’t have a problem with that – they just see it as more money for them. I think also that that is how they should look at it. Unless they want to start researching everything.
        
        I’m sure I will find more Red Lines, but not this many and in great condition at this price. I will count this as a great find due to my persistence in going to this store. But I also realize it will probably never happen again. But, I will always find great items there.
        
        Mark
- 11/24/2019 at 4:18 pm #70999
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  My numbers for October:
  
  Items sold: 44
  Gross sales: $973.81
  COGS: $94.72
  Net profit: $724.06
  Average profit: $17.82
  New items listed: 29 (I know, super weak).
  
  If you’d like to see the items I sold, I share pictures in blog posts each month:
  
  https://millionairedojo.com/what-sells-on-ebay-october-2019/
- 11/24/2019 at 4:52 pm #71001
  Ricker
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @ricker
  Great podcast..I am blown away that Toyota gave you a brand new frame!! That is amazing news, congrats!! It made me laugh that Jay kept confirming that is was free..cool that your mechanic gave you that tip! Sorry about your South American shipping issue, never fun to deal with, hope that it works out..
  
  My Store Week October Nov 10-16, 2019
  
  Total Items in Store: 653
  Items Sold: 21
  Gross Sales: $2032.37
  Cost of Items Sold: $194.98
  Cost of helpers: $0
  Highest Price Sold: $198.50 (vintage houston rockets jacket)
  Average Price Sold: $96.77
  Returns: 1
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $65.27
  Number of items listed this week: 25
- 11/24/2019 at 5:37 pm #71002
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  @Ryanne, it sounded like you said the package to Venezuela was shipped priority. If so, it would be covered by the automatic $200 insurance for priority international shipments. You should open a missing mail inquiry now, as the international claims typically take over a month to settle.
  - 11/24/2019 at 5:41 pm #71006
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    From our understanding, the insurance will cover the cost of the item, but not the shipping itself. $20 item, but $70 shipping. True?
    - 11/24/2019 at 7:05 pm #71013
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Typically the USPS sends me a check for both the item and the postage which is nice. The third party eBay insurance, on the other hand, only covers the item cost.
  - 11/24/2019 at 6:19 pm #71011
    Ryanne
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @ryanne
    yes i opened a missing mail inquiry a couple weeks ago. we’ll see what happens. they usually just say they couldn’t find it (even when the tracking eventually says delivered!).
    and he paid $20 for the item and $50 for shipping.
    - 11/24/2019 at 7:09 pm #71014
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      After the international inquiry comes back that they can’t locate it, you will generally have to wait 30 days from that response to reopen the case as an appeal. I Mark my calendar so I don’t forget. The appeal is typically approved within a day and the check sent within a week.
- 11/24/2019 at 5:38 pm #71003
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  Week Nov 17 – Nov 23, 2019
  
  Items in store: 4509 Listings for 7306 Items
  Items Sold: 120
  Gross Sales: $7746.92
  Highest Price Sold: $300 Reversible Burberry Balmacaan
  Lowest Price Sold: $2.74….Shoelaces
  Average Sale Price: $64.56
  Cost of Goods Sold $470, Plus consignment payout, roughly $1130
  Number of new items listed this week: 106 listings for 218 items
  $$ spent on new inventory this week $356
  International Sales, 26%
  Returning Customers 17
  
  Scavenge of the Week: 1930s Deadstock Crosby Square Oxfords. $24, sold overnight for $200
- 11/24/2019 at 5:38 pm #71004
  totommyto
  Participant
  Location: Naples, Fl
  @totommyto
  Excellent Podcast, and thank you again!
  Three Good weeks for me and then YUCK!
  Oh Well, scavenging and listing has been low key and I’m holding out on keeping prices towards the high end. Not always good with a smaller sized and long tail inventory. Hopefully this week will be a good one.
  
  11/17 – 11/23/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)
  
  eBay store: totommyto
  
  Total store items: 874
  Number of items sold: 5
  Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $142
  Cost of items sold: $10.50
  Highest price sold: $62 – vintage doll, paid $2.50
  Average price sold: $28.40
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: 0
  Number of new items listed this week: 8
  Sell through rate for the week: 0.6
  Number International sales: 0
  
  Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
  
  Total store items: 666
  Number of items sold: 4
  Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $81
  Cost of items sold: $12
  Highest price sold: $21.50 – old tool box
  Average price sold: $20.25
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: 0
  Number of new items listed this week: 22
  Sell through rate for the week: 0.6
  Number International sales: 0
- 11/25/2019 at 1:08 am #71021
  The Thrift Raider
  Participant
  Location:
  @thethriftraider
  I was wondering the same about Ebay’s GSP. Originally I was thinking that Ebay was now going to try and compete with the rates Pirate Ship offers with their Simple Export Rate, but I just compared the rates, and Ebay Send is still more expensive for things under 4 pounds. Above 5 pounds and they might have the advantage. Other than that, unless I’m not seeing something, Send can’t compete with PS.
  
  For those that want to check it out for themselves:
  
  eBay Send Intl Rates
  
  Pirate Ship Simple Export Rates
  - 11/25/2019 at 12:01 pm #71047
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    Cost-wise, eBay Send is more expensive, but it still includes shipping to Kentucky or wherever their “partners” are located, right? From what I understand, they still check that the item is unbroken, they guarantee shipping to the international location, etc. That adds value, mostly to the seller, but also to the buyer. Perhaps those few dollars are worth it to use the program.
    
    The interesting thing is if whether the GSP and Send will exist side by side or if the GSP will go away.
- 11/25/2019 at 8:09 am #71022
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1341
  Items Sold 23
  Total Sales $647.00
  COGS $71.00
  Total Profit $576.00
  Average profit $25.04
  Average sales price $28.13
  New Listings 56
  
  First I had a $180 sale cancellation this week after 3 days. Then I got a $250 fur coat return. Brutal combination!!!
  
  Yesterday my daughter made $20 yesterday photographing shoes for me. I pay her 50 cents an item. She is finally starting to get it that the faster/better she does the better her pay is. If only she’d stay motivated (and turn off Minecraft every once in a while) she could be making quite a bit of money for a 12 year old.
  
  My ebay profits are really starting to make a difference it seems. I’ve been able to pay down debt. I’m consistently paying car payments, house payments, and some bills via ebay funds every month. I keep my credit cards paid off in full every 2 weeks at payday. And to top it off, my account balances are rising. Yay for FU money!!
  - 11/25/2019 at 9:15 am #71028
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It is a great feeling when eBay profits are paying for more and more parts of your life.
- 11/25/2019 at 8:37 am #71024
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 267 Ebay, +/-30 Mercari
  Items Sold: 8 Ebay, 3 Mercari, 2 Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist
  Gross Sales: $347 Ebay, $44 Mercari, $110 Facebook
  Cost of Items Sold: $69 + $7 free shipping + some items ours
  Highest Price Sold: $104 Two new Pendleton bath towels (paid $10 at October rummage sale)
  Average Price Sold: $43 Ebay, $15 Mercari
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $42 Thrift Christmas Boutique
  Number of items listed this week: 9
  
  Enjoyed the podcast. It will be really interesting to see whether or not you’ve had a significant number of items fall off listings. I’ve experienced that without sell similar but it’s a very small percentage of my items.
  
  It was a good week for me on Ebay but family stuff kept me from doing a lot of listing, which I’m very in the mood to do. Also treated myself to a fabulous annual thrift sale and just bought just 4 items for resale. Most of the items I bought at last month’s rummage sale sold. I feel like I am a better picker and able to pass on lower end items, which is good because there is still plenty of backlog left. Again, happy about Terapeak access too. A lot of my Ebay and Mercari activity is offer driven these days. I sold a death pile newbie Starbucks mug this week so yeah! for that.
  
  My millennial coworker friends are discovering Mercari for good deals and I’m really hoping it continues to build. Things sell for lower prices but it’s a great outlet for our personal stuff. Also, I am trying some vintage items that have a lot of low comp items on Ebay and they haven’t all sold, but I think they get way more exposure on Mercari. Eg. Aqua Ball Jars, a bad buy on my part. I’ve decided though for bookkeeping, tax and time saving purposes to put my reselling items on Ebay, because I have a program to suck out the data there. I once aspired to open an Etsy store, but it’s way too much time.
  
  Have a great week reselling.
- 11/25/2019 at 9:04 am #71027
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  Another solid week on ebay.
  
  Sales c/w shipping: CAD$2534, 9 sales. COGS: $772, Fees: ~$346, Shipping: $250 –> Gross profit: $1417
  Expenditures: $21 –> Cashflow: $2167
  Hours: 7
  Listed: $140, 27 items
  Best sales were on 36 thermostats for $690, I’ve had these for ages. Also a light meter for $800, I paid like $500 for that, so way too much, glad to get my money back out.
  
  I was thinking about why people were calling you risky for not having investors, and the only interpretation that makes any sense to me is a logic of “you’re not diversified enough against the risk of your business failing”. Which is not a crazy thought, if they don’t know you have ebay AND contract work as well. Certainly one thing I dislike about real estate investing is that it makes one extra sensitive to the fortunes of the regional economy (by NOT working a day job locally, you guys are avoiding quite a bit of this risk). Indeed this is one big appeal of ebay, it’s not nearly as tied to local/regional conditions as many small businesses are, so it’s kind of a hedge against bad times.
  
  A tangentially related subject: return on equity (ROE). This is how many rental property owners think about when it makes sense to buy and sell properties. Basically, your ROE is your yearly equity profit (rents minus all expenses EXCEPT mortgage principal), divided by your total home equity in the property. The idea is, if you have $200k of equity trapped in a property that’s only gaining you $2k per year, you’re only making 1% on your trapped equity, and you might as well sell & put the proceeds in a savings account. But if you’re just at the start of your mortgage and only own $20k of equity, that $2k/year is now 10%, a pretty good return. (Naturally, it’s good mainly BECAUSE it’s leveraged & so proportionally riskier.)
  
  So my question is, is there a plan to sell your rentals when you reach a certain equity % on those properties?
  - 11/25/2019 at 9:26 am #71030
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It seems the last couple months, you’ve really been doing well with selling your industrial items. Since I assume these arent holiday gifts, any reason why the upswing?
    
    We have zero interest in selling our properties. All the hard work of renovating was done up front and now they are like an ATM machine. Its like eBay. You front load all investment and the work of listing, and then make money over time.
    
    Those real estate numbers you mentioned sound like the guys who do long term rentals. I see them on Bigger Pockets. Their strategy is to buy a bunch of houses dirt cheap (>$30k) often in places they don’t live. They have some local contractor fix to a minimum standard and have them rented for $600/month by a property management company.
    
    Their properties are just numbers on a spreadsheet. The rent pays the mortgage and the plan is to sell as soon as there’s enough equity. Goal is to beat the returns on index funds.
    
    Since we’re ding short-term rentals, we make much more per month then they do. The value isn’t just in the house itself (though still valuable), but in their potential to make lots of money over time. Why sell an income generating property?
    
    Also we’re in the stage where cash isn’t the end all be all. We’re more interested in the cool things we can do with the cash.
    - 11/25/2019 at 10:29 am #71033
      simplicio
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @simplicio
      
      I can’t discern much seasonality to my sales, but perhaps it’s there. I think when you’re selling as few things as I am your numbers are just super variable by nature. Last month was especially good mainly on account of one great pick.
      
      Yep, I understand & like your perspective on rentals. I have always thought ROE is a strange metric anyway because your return is only “good” to the extent that it’s leveraged. But real estate investors do loooove picking up pennies in front of steamrollers.
      
      OK, another question. Hypothetically, do you think you could make good money just buying, renovating & selling properties? Does that appeal to you at all? (It does occur to me you can only run SO many short-term rentals before you’re out of hours in the day.)
      - 11/25/2019 at 2:17 pm #71057
        
        Ryanne
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @ryanne
        
        OK, another question. Hypothetically, do you think you could make good money just buying, renovating & selling properties? Does that appeal to you at all? (It does occur to me you can only run SO many short-term rentals before you’re out of hours in the day.)
        
        flipping houses does not interest us, the numbers don’t really make sense to us. buy it, hold it, renovate it, sell it. our area is not one where you can get stuff cheap enough, pay for renovations and flip for a high enough profit.
        
        also, you can run a lot of short term rentals (or businesses) if you have the right/enough people helping you.
        
        This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Ryanne.
      - 11/26/2019 at 10:19 am #71082
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        OK, another question. Hypothetically, do you think you could make good money just buying, renovating & selling properties? Does that appeal to you at all? (It does occur to me you can only run SO many short-term rentals before you’re out of hours in the day.)
        
        I think flipping houses depends on the area. When I watch those HGTV shows, guys are buying houses in SoCal for $250k, putting in $100k, and selling for $500k. Or they’re in Mississippi where they buy houses for $25k, put in $75k, and sell for $175k.
        
        In our area, we just don’t have those kind of gaps in prices. Houses that are super cheap are in BAD, tear-down shape. We just don’t have a lot of housing stock.
        
        Also, I think flipping houses is a lot of work for not a great payout. If you’ve ever renovated a house, it’s a grind. It’s strange to say that just making $50k (minus taxes etc) is a small reward. Then do it all over again? Put that $50k back into another house and hope to make more money? The guys who make real money look to have a whole machine of flipping multiple houses at once. That’s a lot of leverage. Feels bad.
        
        In our area, it’s more fun to put all that sweat equity into a house and then keep it as a long term investment. Generates steady cash and is an asset to sell later on. We’re not sure how many short term rentals we can handle comfortably. Good news is we can stop at any time and be ahead.
- 11/25/2019 at 9:22 am #71029
  campmocs
  Participant
  Location: Maine
  @campmocs
  Nov 17-23
  Items in Store 711
  Items sold 20
  Gross Sales $668
  COGS $124
  Highest Price Sold $125
  Average Price Sold $33.38
  New Inventory Costs $175
  
  Was finally able to list 2 sportcoats (i have a rack i havn’t been able to list yet) and they both sold! Very encouraging. Looking forward to listening this afternoon… Congrats on the bounce back numbers.
- 11/25/2019 at 10:01 am #71031
  Doublythumbs
  Participant
  Location: Hopedale, OH
  @doublythumbs
  Nov. 17 – 23
  Total Items in Store: 2674
  Items Sold: 26
  Total Sales : $664
  * Below yearly average of $922
  Highest Price: $100 (Antique Willson Sunglasses Brass Metal Wire Round Spectacles)
  Average Price: $26
  Returns: 0
  Cost of Goods Sold: $36
  Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $55
  Number of New Items Listed this Week: 40
  
  My week started off alright but then I only made one sale over the weekend. That’s really unusual since my weekends are usually my busiest time for sales. Hopefully things will pick back up soon.
  
  I went to an auction on Wednesday at an old factory which went bankrupt. They were selling off equipment for a fraction of what it was worth. Too bad I had no use for any of it. But I did manage to score another van load of cardboard boxes for only $30. I counted them all up and it was easily $400 or more worth of boxes.
  
  I’ve started listing some 35mm slides from a 1966 sports car race in Sebring, FL. I wanted to get them listed now because that new movie Ford vs Ferrari was just released in theaters and I thought general interest in this kind of stuff would be high right now. I even have a few slides of the very same guy that the movie is about. I already have a bunch of watchers so we’ll see how they do by the end of the week.
- 11/25/2019 at 10:05 am #71032
  chaoticgood
  Participant
  Location: Kansas City, MO
  @chaoticgood
  Nov. 17-23
  Items Sold: 9 items, on 5 Ebay, 4 Poshmark, 0 Mercari, 0 Etsy
  Items in stores: 160 Ebay (About the same)
  Total Sales: $ 220.xx before fees and very little free shipping; average sell price around $22
  COG: Lest than $10. Sold a couple books, a Ralph Lauren shirt that was a free pickup for my daughter, and a Hull wall sconce.
  Highest priced item: $59 Trifari Owl Pin. Sold within 24 hours! Comps were in the $50 range, but it seemed to be a more rare item. I posted to both Poshmark and Ebay at the same time. When I got 4 offers on Poshmark within a couple hours, I knew I should wait-and-see. Sure enough, I woke up to a full-price sale on Ebay!
  The Ralph Lauren shirt was another good sale at $39. Full price, easy to ship in a Tyvek mailer. More of those, please.
  
  I’m still struggling with posting items: There is just so much. I listed a couple ‘collectible’ toy lots, and started drafting more listings for those. While cleaning for a family visit, I found more boxes of items I intended to post a couple years ago.
  
  Inspired by Jay and Ryanne, and everybody else on here, I am trying to figure out how to do an inventory system with no free space. I need to sell the stuff to get the space, but it’s hard to sell the stuff with no organization. I’m going to wait until after Thanksgiving to tackle that. I’m struggling with buying bins, since the budget is super tight. But if it helps me work better, giving me more time for listing and photographing, I know it will be worthwhile.
- 11/25/2019 at 11:02 am #71036
  MDC Galleries & Fine Art
  Participant
  Location: Atlanta
  @huncrelan
  To any members that have YouTube Videos and that have and sell any toy items in there stores. We don’t but thought this may be of interest since it is going into effect in Jan.
  
  I know that Jay and Ryanne have some and also host Steven Shultz that has some and don’t know if hosting someone else on YouTube that has toys and items for under 13 years old may get dragged into the cross hairs.
  
  This video by Professor auction seems to cover it in about 10 minutes so no use me trying to summarize.
  
  Just thought some on here at SL might want to know about this.
  
  Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
- 11/25/2019 at 11:28 am #71040
  almasty
  Participant
  Location:
  @alamasty
  40 items shipped out this morning. 20 packages shipped out Saturday. 20 packages ready to go out tomorrow. It has been busy, but slower than the past 2 weekends. This is definitely the calm before the storm. I got the 40 packages in on my own this morning with an Uber and had a nice, brisk walk back. This might be the last week of fall here before winter settles in, so I want to walk as much as possible before it gets too cold out to.
  
  I purchased $400 worth of stock this past week, but I haven’t listed any of it yet. :'( . That’s even with skipping 3 estate sales I had planned on going to yesterday. I’ve instead been listing still from the large purchase I made in late October, as well as stock from over 6 months ago and another bit of stock I purchased in September. I’ve also been sorting through additional stock I purchased in mid-October. The large stock buy I did in late October was a good buy and I am still doing well with it with a bit left to list, but it really got in the way of my listing plans for Q4. I also have had a box set aside from June to list for right now during Q4, but I misplaced the box somehow? Ugh.
  
  For the data nerds out there, I thought I’d continue posting my last 10 sales on Ebay’s starting listing dates. Since last summer, I don’t end/relist my items ever, even for items with the 16 month warning beneath them. These last 10 sales are from Saturday afternoon-Sunday evening:
  
  Start time: Oct 29, 2019 10:51:50 PDT
  Start time: Oct 28, 2019 11:37:06 PDT
  Start time: Nov 24, 2019 09:25:59 PST
  Start time: Jun 28, 2018 03:39:15 PDT
  Start time: Nov 19, 2019 08:30:19 PST
  Start time: Jun 02, 2019 11:29:06 PDT
  Start time: Aug 26, 2019 14:55:13 PDT
  Start time: Jun 27, 2018 04:24:23 PDT
  Start time: Nov 06, 2019 09:45:15 PST
  Start time: Nov 10, 2019 12:43:08 PST
- 11/25/2019 at 1:35 pm #71054
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  Great podcast. I do not have an inventory system in place, but I don’t think that I will be expanding much at this point. I think I’m at my limit in my current storage area in my basement. I’ll put it off for now, but I’m listening and absorbing what I can.
  
  My week was good, but the weekend was slow. Only one $10 sale on Saturday (huh?).
  
  Week of Nov 17 – 23
  * Total Items in Store: 1535 eBay, 35 Etsy
  * Items Sold: 16 eBay; 1 Etsy
  * Cost of Items Sold: $47.50 + $0 Commission
  * Total Sales: $338.84 eBay; $66 Etsy
  * Highest Price Sold: $89 Ford Break-out-box from the 1980s
  * Average Price Sold: $23.80
  * Returns: 0
  * Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $34
  * Number of items listed this week: 26
  - 11/26/2019 at 2:48 pm #71091
    Ryanne
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @ryanne
    sharyn
    you rock! that’s exactly what worked, i hit reply on the paypal payment email and there it was, his email address. i just sent him a invoice to re-pay shipping, let’s see if he does it.
    - 11/26/2019 at 2:51 pm #71092
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      ((( Simon is the one who provided the answer 🙂 ))))
    - 11/26/2019 at 3:12 pm #71093
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Another spot the buyers email is stored…
      
      You can set up file exchange to automatically download all your sales hourly/daily/weekly/monthly. The buyer information is all stored in that CSV spreadsheet.
      
      https://bulksell.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?FileExchangeCenter
    - 11/26/2019 at 8:26 pm #71103
      Sharyn
      Participant
      
      Location: Central NJ
      @sharyn
      
      Yeh, it wasn’t me. But, I do rock …
- 11/26/2019 at 12:24 am #71070
  Simon
  Participant
  Location: San Francisco Bay Area
  @simon
  Thanks for the show R&J
  
  Here are my numbers for the week:
  Total Items in Store: 3462
  Items Sold: 31
  Total Sales: $627.71
  Cost of Items Sold: $56
  Average Price Sold: $20.25
  Average Cost of Item: $1.83
  Highest Price Item Sold: $95.95 Oxford Pin Seal Morocco Goatskin KJV Bible
  Number of items listed this week: 83 worth approx. $1462
  YTD Sales: $44658
  YTD sales compared to this time last year: +5%
  Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 431
  Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 294
  Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 216
  Sell-through rate (for the week): 0.9%
  Hats sold this week: 23 (74% of sales) worth $412.21 (65% of sales $)
  
  It was a pretty quiet week. Hopefully things pick up a bit from here to the end of the year. My goal is 50K in sales for this year and it looks like I’m a bit behind that target.
  
  In answer to Ryanne’s question about finding a buyer’s paypal address, try this… Find the paypal email for the transaction. Start a “Reply” to that email (but obviously don’t send it) and you should see the buyer’s email address populate the “to” line. Depending on your email program, you might need to hover over the name in the “to” line to see the email address but the email address your reply would go to, is the buyer’s paypal address. Hope this makes sense. (You can also see the email address if you do a view-source of the paypal email and scroll down quite a long way).
  
  Hope everyone has a great week!
- 11/26/2019 at 2:00 pm #71090
  SilverFoxFinds
  Participant
  Location: Virginia Beach
  @silverfoxfinds
  Haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but wanted to share my numbers after finishing them. Doubled my earnings from the prior week, due to 2 larger sales – a vintage tinsel tree listed right after Christmas 2017 sold for $300, and a vintage Madame Alexander doll of my mother’s went for just over $100 in a 7 day auction. Sold more total items than the prior week as well. Trying to remember to send a few offers every few days, esp when I’m not listing as much.
  
  11/17/19 – 11/23/19
  Total Items In Store: 841
  Items Sold: 16
  Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $775.76
  Highest Sold Price: $300 – vintage 6 ft tinsel tree
  Average Sold Price: $48.49
  Cost of Items Sold: $12.10 (a few items were mine (eg, shoes that didn’t fit well), and I didn’t include their cost here)
  Returns/Refunds: $0
  Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
  Number of Items listed last week: 20 or so
- 11/26/2019 at 8:24 pm #71102
  SilverFoxFinds
  Participant
  Location: Virginia Beach
  @silverfoxfinds
  NPR’s Marketplace did a blurb on eBay’s sale of StubHub, and their pressure to sell off extraneous things they own in order to focus on whatever their core is, heh heh. A good listen and just a few minutes long, starting at around minute 19:30: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444600/marketplace
  - 11/27/2019 at 8:24 pm #71140
    The Thrift Raider
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @thethriftraider
    Thanks for sharing the NPR mini story, I found it interesting. While I sell more stuff on ebay than other sites, I have to agree with the soundbites about eBay being left behind. It’s clunky for sellers and buyers, especially new sellers.
- 11/26/2019 at 9:59 pm #71108
  tpkrause86
  Participant
  Location:
  @tpkrause86
  Can we take a guess at your top secret purchase? My guess is a CNC router table 🙂
- 11/27/2019 at 6:31 pm #71135
  SilverFoxFinds
  Participant
  Location: Virginia Beach
  @silverfoxfinds
  Finally listened to the podcast (and haven’t checked the forums yet to see if anyone else has shared info), and wanted to share what eBay send on the 5th regarding eBay Send. They were soliciting early adopters – guess what? I declined.
  
  Sent from my iPhone
  
  Begin forwarded message:
  
  From: eBayExpression <support@ebayexpression.com>
  Date: November 5, 2019 at 1:03:20 PM EST
  To: “eecari27@gmail.com” <eecari27@gmail.com>
  Subject: eBay Send – eBay’s New International Shipping Option
  
  Hello Erin,
  
  In January 2020, eBay is launching eBay Send International Standard (eBay Send), our new international shipping service. Prior to January, we are offering this service to a select group of sellers.
  
  As a valued partner, we invite you to preview and use eBay Send as a label option through eBay labels – starting today!
  
  What is eBay Send?
  eBay Send is a Delivered Duties Unpaid (DDU) international shipping service that ships to over 220 countries. DDU means buyers won’t pay duties and tax at checkout on eBay, but may have to pay the carrier for duties and tax on delivery.
  
  eBay Send is an economical alternative to USPS First Class Package and Priority Mail International. If you’ve been looking for a simplified way to ship internationally, this is it! Please purchase your first eBay Send label with eBay labels as a pilot participant and let us know your feedback.
  
  For more information click here: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/eBay-Send-International-Standard?id=5011&MemberId=1be97ee1-4f88-4ca1-b9e1-a8b301085e28&CommunicationId=65cc512c-bb28-459b-9a31-aafc00dc0b10
- 11/28/2019 at 10:06 am #71151
  Rhianna
  Participant
  Location:
  @rhianna
  Finally listened to this weeks podcast and was glad to hear your started your inventory system. Yay! Starting an inventory system was a game changer for me, it really saved me a lot of time. Happy Holidays to everyone!
- 01/04/2020 at 3:36 pm #72454
  jumbleandclutter
  Participant
  Location:
  @jumbleandclutter
  Been doing quite a bit of listing these last few weeks and have been noticing that every time I start a new listing (I’m using sell similar for all new listings and just change the specifics), there is a box checked off which says “Sell internationally with the Global Shipping Program. Just send it to the US shipping center when your item sells.” I’m not enrolled in the GSP, so I’ve been unchecking the box.
  
  Last year, I decided to NOT ship certain items internationally, such as a very large, heavy Madonna shrine that weighed 15 pounds. And pretty much anything that weighed over 4 lbs (the limit for international 1st class) and was fragile and breakable.
  
  Today, I got curious and started looking at some of my items that I know were specifically exluded from international shipping. Now they are all showing the box checked off that qualifies them for Global Shipping. I did a search to see which of my items were showing as eligible for GSP and there were 114 out of 850, but I’m guessing if I did an item by item search, it would be much more than that.
  
  What happened to the options to eliminate international shipping on items??
  
  Is this some transition for the upcoming managed payments system? Has there been any notification from eBay about this??
- 01/05/2020 at 4:32 pm #72495
  jumbleandclutter
  Participant
  Location:
  @jumbleandclutter
  So the new check box for international shipping is something called eBay “send”?? I have never heard of this…was there an announcement that I missed? And what is it exactly? I am also in contact with the Facebook group called Ebay for Business and asked why my listings were suddenly all checked off for international shipping when some of them were listed with NO international shipping available…and instead I got a tutorial on how to bulk edit my listings so that I can uncheck the mysterious box. But no answers about how it got checked off in the first place, or what happened to the whole section on the listing page for international shipping where you could select no worldwide shipping.
  - 01/05/2020 at 4:35 pm #72497
    The_SEAM_Store
    Participant
    
    Location: PA
    @the_seam_store
    Here is the page about ebay send.
    
    https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/ebay-send.html#m22_tb_a1__3
    
    A few things I hadn’t noticed before
    1. You still ship to a US warehouse where the package is measured/weighed and verified
    2. You are billed for the shipping later, on your ebay invoice.
    3. The service includes $100 insurance.
- 01/05/2020 at 4:34 pm #72496
  jumbleandclutter
  Participant
  Location:
  @jumbleandclutter
  Oooops, just read the post before mine. Guess I didn’t hear about it because I wasn’t selected to “test” it…and I usually get picked for those new roll outs. But that still doesn’t explain why my listings were automatically put in the system for it.
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