Scavenger Life Episode 495: Creatures of Ebay

Numbers for December 2020. eBay store: steve-list

Total Listings: 1233
Items sold: 70
Sales: $1413.50
Highest Price sold: $144 – Panasonic 31 Band Radio
Average Price Sold: $20.19
Cost of Items sold: $177.25 / average cost: 2.53 each
Spent on new inventory: $32.20
Number of items listed: 54

Not counted in the numbers above is a Santa Blow Mold that I bought for $10 and sold for $60. I completely forgot about it and only came across it a couple of weeks before Christmas so I listed it on Craig’s List for $90, but I ended up taking an offer for it as I didn’t want to ship or store it any longer.

The Panasonic 31 Band Radios normally sells for a lot more but it had modifications made to it along with cosmetic issues so I gave somebody a good deal on it.

On December 18th I sold a $20 yearbook which was paid for with local pickup, but after 2 emails to the buyer and still not hearing back, I called eBay (only a 3 minute wait for a callback). They basically told me to give the buyer a few more weeks. I asked about canceling the order and issuing a refund, she said I could do that and since she made notes of the call I shouldn’t get a defect. I guess I’ll wait a while and see what happens as I am somewhat pessimistic about the defect.

@Julie-B , I read your comment earlier and tried to ask on older episode about you mentioning sourcing and driving to Atlanta for two hours. How long is a drive to Chattanooga, TN. I saw they have a goodwill outlet there. Could Goodwill outlet be a viable locale of sourcing for goods you are looking for?

Jay, Ryanne, just wanted to give you an update of where I am since I last told you when I signed up for the forum earlier in 2020, I was at around 500 items. My current store count is 929 items and sold a little over $669 this week, not including shipping and before cost etc., yet I also had  a return for over 70 dollars, its cool, can just resell it.

Hello again and happy new year to all!

I like your taxonomy of sellers.

I think I may have mentioned before, but ebay effectively financed our buying a used minivan a few weeks ago, which was very helpful. Since our 3rd came it had become very very cramped in our old station wagon (which I am now taking over, and gave my hatchback to family).

Another slow week on ebay, but I went on an inventory buying spree. Rather stupidly, as I forgot my LLC would shortly owe taxes. Next few weeks I’ll just be hoping for good sales and trying to scrape together my $7k tax payment.

Sales: CAD$899, 8 sales, COGS: $325, Fees: ~$85, Postage: $135 –> Gross profit: $354

Expenses: $1731, New inventory: $4922 –> Cashflow: -$5974

Week ending 1/3

Items in Store    1412

Items Sold           25

Total Sales          $1,179.95

COGS    $75.00

Total Profit         $1,104.95

Average profit   $44.20

Average sales price          $47.20

New Listings       22

I had one day where I sold multiple $100+ items. Man it would be nice to have the 200 item store of nothing but $100+ items and sell 2-3 a day. That would be the life right there.

This past year has been wild. I know it has been a disastrous year for many, but for my family it was a true blessing.

We stayed healthy and avoided Covid.

We traveled/vacationed more than I ever have in my adult life.

My home business grew substantially.

My day job sometimes was ….ok (Better than it has been in years). I also got to work from home for a substantial period. I have a promotion coming up shortly that will put me in charge of the entire foundry. I actually found purpose and satisfaction in my work. That’s nice!

I ended the year with zero balances on all credit cards and a TON of money in the bank. I still don’t know how that is possible with all the travel we did plus having to replace the fridge and dishwasher, but here we are.

I’ve lost 120 lbs since June 2019 and have effortlessly kept it off.

And the best news of all, we found out last week that we have another baby on the way. Yay!

So happy New Year to my SL family. I hope you all were able to make the most of a trying year and I wish you all to have a phenomenal 2021.

For store owners, don’t forget to acquire your free shipping supplies now that we’re in January 2021.

https://www.sd.ebay.com/subscriberdiscounts

Hi Jay & Ryanne, Thank you for your podcasts! Just want to say I got to try Broad Porch coffee and it was great! Can’t wait to try your lighter roasts next. I’m pretty sure someone asked a while back if you would ever get into roasting cacao nibs? I 2nd that question.. I’m addicted to adding these into my greek yogurts… so good… you should look into this! 🙂

What we do with our time?  I almost started a new thread but thought i’d just leave this here because I’m most interested in this aspect.

What I do:

About 2 years full time (prior to this I had my own business as well and did the same).

– Annual Time Off – Work hard to be able to take 1-2 months off to do some sort of adventure, usually backpacking, but also include bicycle travel somewhere.  I either close store / have someone ship while away.

-Daily Flexibility – being able to enjoy outdoor activities on a daily basis no matter the time of year (winter days where it’s dark at 5pm).  Ability to take 2-3 hours after lunch to make each day one where I take care of myself mentally and physically.

How does everyone else spend their free time… days / months / years?

NOTE:  I do not have children, BUT have met similar minded people who do, and accomplish the same goals.

Well a dismal week with 3 small Ebay sales plus one on Mercari.  Mercari did change their shipping input up to make it easier again if you choose suggested weight.  Not sure if they are still at high rates though.  I listed some of my family’s better clothing there and took a run to the thrift store before the end of the year.    I turned Ebay back on on the 24th as usual.

A lot of distraction in 2020 but it looks like I sold about as much gross as the year before surprisingly.  The first stimulus checks were a good time for sales, but I’ve had a poor listing year.  I still love selling on Ebay but have lost some momentum in 2020.  Hope to get it back in 2021.  Also looking forward to Ebay simplifying the app based listing. If I can do it completely on my new phone I will make more progress on the death piles.

It was a wonderful buzz to go back to drip coffee and I love the roomy BP hoodie.

Week of Dec 27 – Jan 2
Total Items in Store: 1450 eBay, 27 Etsy
Items Sold: 22 eBay
Cost of Items Sold: $38.98 + $8.15 Commission
Total Sales: $436.53 eBay
Highest Price Sold: $70 Copper & brass tone table lamp
Average price: $19.84
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 19

Lower average price but more items and less commission sales, so it was better than last week. My highest sale was also a large item, so I’m happy to move that out.

In November, I found a quiet period in auction sales where I was able to buy some large lots at very good prices. I’m still overwhelmed with all of that stuff. I’m glad to see auctions going high right now while I can focus on listing. Yes, sourcing is the fun part, but I have to cut back for a while.

The idea is so obvious I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned yet

PIVOT!!

Chili Dog focused AirBnB

You’re welcome 🙂

@Jay I made a chili cheese dogs tonight because of all this chili dog talk! P.S. I modified the chili dog recipe from Serious Eats; excellent even with the changes.

@retro-treasures-wv Thank you for sharing about your family, and congrats on #6! I am pregnant with #3 and we are also more crunchy about birth control (NFP). I hear you when you say Ebay is your mental heath/self care time; I feel the same way!

@ebaymom Congrats to you too and I hope you feel better soon! We also just bought a new-to us minivan this year. Maybe a Toyota 2016 (I don’t keep track)? My husband loves it, but he was always an old man even as a young guy hahaa.

Regarding the podcast: I’d probably fit into the “part-timer” description, with hopes of building enough capital to go into some kind of private label eventually. That being said, my thoughts on all this have evolved in the last few years. I don’t want to produce something just to put more junk on the market and compete with a million other people just trying to flood the market. Producing something with meaning (useful, beautiful, or sustainable) would be ideal.

One thing I like about the eBay method though, is how it’s very “teach a man to fish”. I’ve been able to get my husband on board with what I’m doing by explaining to him that we will be able to pass on some kind of real life skill to our kids through this method. That’s important to me.

I think counting my blessings consciously or just being aware of it subconsciously perhaps helps keep me from being burnt out.  I just enjoy doing it.

Mister Miusco could do with a copywriter. What happened to his first daughter?

I suspect Miusco acts as an agency for Chinese manufacturers (the president’s called Guanxin Fu).

Way back in 2019 I bought some chocolate moulds for a friend. The first purchase was from a British firm at £20, the rest were from a drop shipper at £4. Identical product, available on AliBaba at £1.50.

12/27/20-1/2/21

Total Items in Store: 1689 (all Etsy)
Items Sold: 30
Gross Sales: $8,171.42

Cost of Goods Sold: $2,985.88

Selling Costs, including “free” shipping: $803.56

Gross Profit (before income taxes, office supplies, etc.): $4,381.98
Highest Price Sold: $1,662.90 (14K Necklace)
Average Price Sold: $272.38

Returns:  1 $282.55 (relisted and already resold!)
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of new items listed: 17

Not bad for post-Christmas sales.

I’ve been full-time on Etsy for almost 6 years. Before that, I was on-and-off part-time on eBay. I tried going full-time on eBay in 2014, but the restrictions on how much I could have listed at any one time were stifling to my growth. Etsy also has been better at allowing me to set my own customer service policies.

Our goal is for my husband to retire and work with me. We bought a motor home a couple of years ago after we became grandparents, and it makes for wonderful socially-distant travel adventures.

Thank you for the podcast and the blog, and happy new year to all.

Dec 27 – Jan 2

• Total Items in Store: 4,103
• Items Sold: 42
• Total Sales :  $1,293
• * ABOVE yearly average of $1,042
• Highest Price:  $160 (Lenox Renaissance Christmas Nativity Shepherds)
• Average Price:  $31
• Returns: 0
• Cost of Goods Sold:  $77
• Costs of Goods Purchased this Week:  $0
• Number of New Items Listed this Week: 50

It was a great way to end the year! Items were flying off the shelf this week. I’m betting people have been spending their eBay gift cards that they’ve received for Christmas.

It’s interesting to think about all the types of sellers there are. My style of selling evolved since I started close to 5 years ago. At the beginning, I had dreams of making it big with this business. I was working non-stop, sacrificing most of my free time and even straining some relationships. Over the years, I’ve mellowed out and found a happy balance. I still work a little more than I feel I need to, but I’m beginning to understand what success really means to me… being happy. Making 100K+ a year would be nice and all, but if I’m killing myself to do it then what’s the point? Now, I take a more easy-going approach. It’s still my main job and source of income, but I work enough to make a nice little profit but not too much to cause added stress. Though I would argue that all of the zealous work I’ve done at the start is paying off now, allowing me to begin coasting a bit more.

I’m enjoying a cup of Broad Porch Burundi coffee this morning. It’s got an interesting flavor for sure! A bit too bright for my taste, but a nice change over my go-to Eight O’Clock brand. Steph got me a sampler for Christmas, so I’ll be enjoying the Costa Rican and the Sumatran here soon.

Popping in to say Happy New Year. I didn’t post much in 2020, but I always listen.

16 year seller…what I do other than eBay? I play guitar, garden, kayak, hike, cook, play frisbee with my wife and our dog, anything I want whenever I want…..(as long as the packages go out)

@Jay Long-time listener, first-time poster. Yes, jewelry is about 80% of my inventory, which all fits into a carry-on size suitcase, which allows us to travel in our motorhome whenever we want to. My other categories include sterling silver tableware, collectibles, art, décor, sewing and crafts, toys, and fashion. Those items get put on extended handling when we travel. We may go back on eBay for some larger pieces like furniture (Etsy does not have a local pick-up option, and Facebook and Craigslist have been hit-or-miss), and also items that are not yet vintage (20 years), but I will need to wait for my husband to retire for that. I have sold a few vehicles on eBay (a Cadillac and a Prius), and that has worked out just fine. Last week was a good week, but the pressure is on for our business to help replace my husband’s income and employer-provided health care (yikes!!!).

P.S. I vote for as many vegan options as possible for the coffee shop. It’s the future. Especially check out Chao, Violife, or Miyoko’s cheese, Just Egg, and Beyond Sausage. I believe all come in food service sizes. Best of luck!

I have done well with several auction houses, some high-end, and some low-end. I bid on a lot of items that I don’t win. Since March, nearly all of my auction houses have gone online or gone out of business. So most of my purchases are online with local pickup. Some online with shipping.

I definitely have competition from other dealers, and also people who are buying for themselves, but I know how to figure out how much I will pay, and if the item goes over that price, it’s okay.

Yes, it takes a while for many things to sell, especially the more expensive items. Your podcast has actually gotten my husband more comfortable with the idea of “long-tail” items. He has always encouraged me to put my “stale” inventory on sale. I tell him that with vintage, there’s no such thing as stale. It just gets more vintage! With the precious metals especially, the price almost always goes up over the long run, so my older items sell themselves. Bonus: when a piece of jewelry gets returned, I recalculate the price based on current market value, and almost always re-list it at a higher price. The way Etsy’s algorithm works, re-listed items get a little boost in the search results, and generally re-sell pretty quickly.

My husband is going to retire in a few months one way or the other. We have no debt. He is just used to his income, and will have to adjust to “just” working at the business. 🙂

Hey everybody! This has been a really fun episode thread to read – Happy New Year! It’s been a crazy time around here, so I haven’t even put together my numbers from last week yet. Right after Christmas, we had a covid exposure, a death in the family, and started installing new flooring in our whole house (ourselves… our quarantine project). A chaotic kick-off for 2021, lots of moving parts, lots of feelings BUT… even with all of that, I am so thrilled that I was finally able to finalize my numbers for 2020 and I’m happy to report that I’ve almost tripled my inventory (from under 3500 to over 9k) and almost doubled my gross revenue (23.5k to 55.5k) since last December. I also got to keep more of that revenue than ever!

2020 was a HUGE year of building for my eBay store. I am really proud of it, and I can’t wait to see what 2021 brings. Once these floors are in (lol) I’m going to take some time to sit and dream and plan and goal set for my store for this year; until then, I’m just shipping stuff out as it sells. I’m thinking I may move the majority of my inventory to  storage unit and reclaim my garage for shipping only (and other personal storage, like, oh I don’t know, maybe one of our cars?) and spend a little time getting my inventory system whipped into shape, as well as tightening up some other processes. I’ve focused a lot on building a large inventory and not as much on streamlining/optimizing… I’m expecting to hit 10k active listings by the end of February, so I think at that point I’ll sell and ship as usual, but also take some time to assess and optimize.

One dream I have on the horizon for my store is to somehow start another branch, or possibly a second store remotely in the midwest with one of my best friends from back home. We’ll see. I haven’t figured it out yet, haha. In any case, I’d love to know if anyone besides me neurotically sets goals/plans for their store, or if most of us go with the flow instead of trying to push the river (spoiler alert: it flows by itself). Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far, and I promise normal/actual numbers next time I post!

Also, the Cameroon coffee is BOMB! I swear, I can’t decide which roast is my favorite! I’m super grateful for Broadporch though, because I’ve got a LOT of listing to do in the near future and coffee is, in fact, for listers! 😉

12/26/20-12/31/20

Total Items In Store: 2248
Items Sold: 54
Gross Sales: $1546
Highest Price Sold: $85 (Vintage Industrial Grinder)
Average Price Sold: $28.61

Returns:  0 $0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $35
Number of items listed: 15

• Happy New Year all!
• Sales picked back up this week and were well above average. A lot of mid-range priced items and nothing over $100.
• Flatware sales have been very good the last few weeks. I love buying sets of flatware for cheap and then listing in small lots by type (salad fork, soup spoon, etc.).  In Nov, Dec and Jan I usually sell a ton of them as people try to replace missing items in their sets.  Sold one set of 4 dinner forks for $65 this week.  I paid $7.50 for the entire set at an auction this summer.
• Scavenge of the Week: Went to Home Depot to see what they had for Christmas clearance for my yard.  Ended up getting 10 bottles of insect control concentrate on clearance for $1 a bottle.  They consistently sell for $15 a bottle.  Unfortunately, Christmas stuff sold like crazy this year, so no good deals on new items for my outdoor lights next year.
• Used the time away function for the first time this week while we travelled to Wisconsin for a few days. I’m very impressed with the process.  Worked perfectly and was so much easier than changing the handling time on 15 different shipping options and manually changing the ensuing copies that crop up.

Good podcast this week.  Happy New Year to all!  Glad my post about the job title generated some interest.  BTW, the job title isn’t on the actual passport, just part of the application. They must be keeping statistics.

Had a very slow week of sales and a very unproductive time with eBay.  Lots of computer issues really slowed me down.  Upgraded my Internet connectivity and purchases a MESH Wi-Fi system.  We have Verizon FIOS and the performance has really gone down over the past year.  I assume because of everyone in the neighborhood working from home, and staying in for entertainment.  Anyway, called VZ and they suggested a speed boost and new router would do the trick.  Upgraded to their 200 Mbps tier and their latest router.  The router still didn’t help so bought a TP-Link M5 MESH system.  Wow, what a difference.  Instead of getting 10 – 20 Mbps at my desk, I’m now getting over 100 Mbps consistently.

Then, my old monitor blew out and in the process of looking for a new one decided to upgrade my computer, too.  Got a good deal on an end of year special at Costco.   Finally finished setting everything up today, so looking to get back to work.

As I mentioned, very slow sales week and the year ended with a whisper, but the overall year was great.  Overall, sales were up about 30% over 2019.  Of all my delayed packages I’ve only had to give two refunds so far.  Most have finally arrived and one of the refunds repaid after his package arrived.  Got one negative feedback on a package that still hasn’t shown any tracking data.  From what I read, if there is origin scan I’m out of luck on getting the feedback removed, but the glowing feedback from others has already pushed it down the page and hopefully overshadows the negative.

Week Ending 1/2/21
Total Items in Store: 1136
Items Sold: 22
Gross Sales: $541.89
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $434.10
Cost of Items Sold: $27.47
COGS Percent 6.33%
Highest Price Sold: $65.50 Antique Photo
Average Price Sold: $19.73
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 16
Promoted Percentage: 72.73%
Average Days Listed: 575
Longest Listed: 1351
New items listed: 0

Long time listener but seldom post. My eBay creature story:

22 Year eBay seller here. I started out selling cheerleader uniform and working full time in the school system…both at the same time in 1998. My initial plan was to work in the school until my children were older (about 10 years). Then I got caught up in the “have to have this job for the pay (which increased every year) and benefits. So, I stayed in the rat race. Two years ago I finally quit and crossed over to full time eBay. I have two stores Sunshinecheering…still selling uniforms and Itemsfromthesouth which I sell anything. I truly wish I had made the change over to full time eBay at the 10 year mark like my initial plan was. I am SOO happy to be selling from my home. I truly enjoy my job. I look forward to ScavengerLife every week!

@RetroTreasures: I hope it sells well for you! The vintage ones and the competition ones do the best. The best time to sell the is the beginning of football season up through Halloween.