The Numbers: January 9-15, 2022

Still not listing due – but still selling listed items.

Total on eBay: 78

Items Sold: 1

Total Profit: $31.07 (Patagonia Women’s Sweater)

Week of Jan 9 – 15
Total Items in Store: 1406 eBay, 30 Etsy
Items Sold: 14 eBay, 1 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $6.77 + $22 Commission
Total Sales: $483.84 eBay, $24.35 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: $245 for Vintage Heathkit FM Radio & Remote Speaker with Manuals
Average price: $33.88 ($18.80 without highest sale)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 28

I keep not buying stuff and listing items from death piles (or getting rid of things). Makes me feel pretty nice to see some space opening up. We are planning on some painting and repair in our master bedroom, so I have been clearing out some closet space in the guest room and listing some of those items. Downsizing also makes me feel good. I guess I’m just in a good groove at the moment!

01/09/22 – 01/15/22

Total Items In Store: 4238 (was 4220 previously listed)
Items Sold: 28
Total Sales: $ 1077.83 (no shipping included)
Highest Price Sold: $ 100 (Shoes)
Average Price Sold: $ 38.49
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 132
Number of items listed: 46

Gut Sales Report for the week: Sales were very consistent.

Focus for the week : Got some items listed  because of the break I took for the Holidays.

Scavenge of the week: Found a VHS/DVD Recorder for cheap that will sell for around $100.

Thoughts for the week: I recorded the first episode for my youtube channel. Now for the editing.

Mark S

Weekly sales 1/9 – 1/15
Total items 6338
Items sold 143
New items listed 350
Gross sales $1,622.61
Net sales $1,118.73
New buyers 107
Repeat buyers 1

Etsy
Orders 29
Gross sales $320.00
Net sales $272.00

Gross sales total $1,942.61
Net sales total $1,390.73

Sales are up this week and a bit higher than they would have been due to selling a BMW motorcycle jacket for $225. I hope the buyer likes it and doesn’t want to return it. It’s looking like this is going to work out – me doing eBay full time. I can pull orders and list so quickly because I’m just doing patches and hats now and I’ve been getting done in 6-7 hours a day total. I think I’m just going to stay at my current listing level for the year and see where I end up in 12 months since I’m listing 50 a day and only selling about 20 a day. Cashflow will run out if I stay at these numbers indefinitely, but I have faith that sales will go up as my store grows and if I get to where I’m selling 50 and listing 50 every day it’s going to be some crazy money multiplication.

Items in Store 1573
Items Sold 23
Total Sales $498.00
COGS $53.00
Total Profit $445.00
Average profit $19.35
Average sales price $21.65
New Listings 53
Items scavenged 0
Listing weekly Avg 50
Sourcing Allotment 21

My average sale price took a nosedive this week as I sold a bunch of low dollar items and had zero $100+ sales. On the flip side, if I didn’t have those low dollar items listed my sales would be REALLY low! It really hurts to go from 1400-1500 weeks down to less than 500. I had two days this week where nothing sold. Saturday I sold 10 items and was excited for Sunday to really save the week…only for Sunday to be one of those no sale days.

I was expecting some drop off as I usually do have a dropoff in the 3rd and 4th weeks of January.

Yesterday I challenged myself to list some things that I REALLY didn’t want to. I had these big lots of pogs that I regret buying. After I bought them I did alot of research to determine the best way to list them, got discouraged, and tossed them in a death pile. It wasn’t going to be the mega profit generator pipeline that I was hoping for. So yesterday I beared down, sorted & photographed, and listed them. It sucked and I felt like an idiot the whole time because it took FOREVER. There were ZERO complete sets.

On the bright side, I quickly had an international buyer offer me $26 for just a small portion of one of the lots. I’ll edit the pictures and repost the lot and happily take the $26. I feel better about the time spent already! Lol!

I also listed a bunch of old yugioh cards. It was a good example of how efficient I can be when I get in the zone. I was able to sort and assess them quickly, look for any high value cards, and get them listed in lots. Oddly, about half the cards were in spanish. There was only one card worth listing separate. The rest I lotted up with photos of every card and started 7 day auctions at $19.99. We’ll see how that goes.

I maintained my 40 item listing average and improved it as well this week to 50. It took more time than I wanted though as my daughter reverted to typical lazy teenager who just wanted to play video games and draw. That’s fine. She has a lifetime of work ahead of her. I’ll just have to take what I can get from her when she’s motivated.

I am probably late to the party on this video, but I just found it today! I have never seen this Ebay Parody Song by Weird Al Yankovic. I had to play it over and over again because I found it so funny.

I find it so funny because I have sold or am trying to sell a lot of items similar to what he shows in this video. I am sure a lot of you can relate to that. Let me know if you have seen this before and if you like it.

Oh, by the way, I am currently selling an original Smurf TV tray!

Mark

Always love a Monday postal holiday. Normally I would be walking to the post office with a full postal bin around this time. It’s nice to be able to sit and go over the numbers instead. 2022 is off to a smashing start as I work through photos and listings for many boxes of unlisted inventory. Winter weather in the Northeast meant that I got a ton of items listed this weekend. Listing on eBay is one of the best ways to spend a cold, snowy day.

1/9/2022 – 1/15/2022

Total items in store: 3320 (up from 3308, despite a busy week and ending another ~50 low priced listings)

Items sold: 71 (43 via best offer, 12 via seller initiated offer)

Gross sales: $3823.50 (up 22% from one year ago)

Net sales: $2635.38 (up 20% from one year ago)

Lowest price sold (net): $8.48 — David Bakhtiari 2013 rookie card

This sale demonstrates that there is still a market for regular base cards in today’s specialized card market, but you also really need to know what you’re looking at. Bakhtiari is the Green Bay Packers best offensive tackle, one of the best in football, and has very few cards from early in his career since he was not a top draft pick. So even a basic card like this one can sell for $10 at the right time, like right now when it’s the start of the football playoffs. All of the hype and a lot of the money in football cards is around top quarterbacks, since those are the flashiest players and often the biggest key to a team’s success. But there is often good money in cards of the best kickers, punters, offensive linemen and defensive players, as long as you know who to look for.

Highest price sold (net): $218.10— Ja Morant white sparkle prizm rookie PSA 9

Ja Morant is one of the top young basketball players, and has been making the highlights almost every recent game with spectacular dunks and shots and blocks. It’s the white sparkling of this Morant rookie card, not the fact that it’s graded, which makes it so valuable. These white sparkle prizms are one of many popular non-autographed, non serial-numbered innovations developed by the card manufacturer Panini in the last few years.

When sealed boxes regularly sell for hundreds and even thousands, it makes sense that the rarest autographs and serial numbered cards of top players sell for hundreds and thousands. Otherwise there would be no buyers for those expensive boxes. But there are only so many cards of top players to go around. Not every box has one. So it makes sense that other types of unique cards also have a niche, and it’s just a product of the modern trading card market that these cards often sell for hundreds and not $2. This is a slow build of 25+ years of innovations in trading cards, and people who grew up in the 90s becoming adults with real money to spend on cards, and not merely a fluke of the pandemic. Though there are certainly more card buyers (and sellers) than there were even two years ago, and some of their stupid money being thrown around has definitely helped me make more profit and grow my business in the past year.

I’m not sure what types of cards will hold the most value in 5 or 10 or 20 years, but there’s no reason to worry about that when there’s so much to buy and sell and learn about right now.

Like a lot of valuable modern cards, this card (along with a slightly less expensive red white & blue PSA 9 Morant rookie) is on a journey to the other side of the world — Australia, though a lot of expensive cards end up in Japan and China, too. The buyer took a few days to pay but communicated the whole way through, and called me a ‘proper legend’ when I sent them a message letting them know I shipped their cards. I think they’re the real legend for spending $300 on a couple of basketball cards, but I went the extra mile packaging their cards, so as long as USPS holds up their end, we’ll all be legends. At least for one transaction.

My favorite sale of the week (net): $43.77 — A box full of empty cases

When cards can cost hundreds and even thousands, there is money even in the plastic cases used to protect them. This has been particularly true over the last 18 months as there have often been severe shortages in almost all supplies and the same type of hoarding and scalping that you have probably seen at your local grocery store.

But this sale is more about economics. These types of magnetic cases which most collectors use to protect their nicest cards cost $2 each for the thinnest size and more for larger sizes which holder thicker cards. About 1 out of every 10 cards I purchase comes in one of these cases, and many times the case has only been used once or twice. I prefer to ship the cards I sell in an appropriately sized plastic toploader since those protect the card more safely in shipping. So I save the magnetic cases and sell them in lots of 25, enough to fill a regional box A. This is the third box of 25 that I’ve sold in the last few months. Such a gratifying feeling when they sell.

Total Items in Store:
Items Sold: 2
Gross Sales: $104.57 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales:  $44.04  (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $20
Highest Price Sold: $44 (used hooks – paid $4)
Average Price Sold: $36
Returns: 1  $67
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0

Well, pretty much in the hole with a return and probably monthly fees coming out.  Ugh.  Somehow managed to catch some kind of non-Covid virus and missed work of all kinds.  Still have a teen whose really struggling so Ebay on the back burner.

The weather is crazy over on the Eastern side!  Luckily my son goes back to his college New England this weekend (hopefully).  Just a lot of chaos on the world these days.  :0  Gotta keep on truckin’.

Week Ending 1/15/22
Total Items in eBay Store: 1084
Total Items in Etsy Store: 83
Items Sold eBay: 14
Items Sold Etsy: 1
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $377.70
Net Sales (After fees) eBay: $298.51
Cost of Items Sold: $30.86
COGS Percent 10.34%
Net Profit Margin: 70.86%
Highest Price Sold: $51.20 Keen Shoes
Average Price Sold: $25.18
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 13
Average Days Listed: 390
Longest Listed: 1215
New items listed: 1

These numbers really show me how crucial it is to “always be listing”.  I’ve only listed 4 items in the last month due to a bunch of other priorities and it definitely shows in my sales.  This January has been way below average in sales and not listing is clearest indicator I can tie it to.  Worst January I’ve had since I started keeping good records.

Have already listed more this week than in the last month so hopefully things will begin to turn around again.