The Numbers: April 24-30, 2022

After our best week of sales all year, sales slowed to a trickle. We didn’t sell anything for almost three straight days which is very rare for us. I feel the lingering concerns about the economy (aka “the other shoe’s going to drop”) is the issue. Sales picked up later in the week with fun sales of weird stuff we are happy to sell in any economic period.

Has anyone sold items through an offer where the seller had to automatically pay? We accepted two offers recently that never paid. I thought eBay was implementing some kind of automatic payment.

We celebrated the first year of our cafe and joining the Broad Porch Coffee partnership. It’s been a huge success being profitable from the start. There’s certainly much more stress to running a retail operation with employees, but it comes with a different sense of accomplishment. One recent success is getting our coffee bags into some National Parks in the mid-Atlantic region. Just like when we started on eBay in 2008, everything is built on these small victories.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week April 24-30, 2022

Total Items in Store: 8399
Items Sold: 17
Gross Sales: $840.06 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $655.96 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $62
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $100 (hardware for a shower)
Average Price Sold: $38.58
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
Number of items listed this week: 50
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

This topic has 45 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 1 month ago by The_SEAM_Store.

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- 05/01/2022 at 4:13 pm #96104
  Jay
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @jay
  After our best week of sales all year, sales slowed to a trickle. We didn’t sell anything for almost three straight days which is very rare for us. I
  [See the full post at: The Numbers: April 24-30, 2022]
- 05/01/2022 at 5:18 pm #96106
  BrianB
  Participant
  Location:
  @brianb
  Jay, Ryanne: Congratulations on the 1-year anniversary of the coffee shop.
- 05/01/2022 at 8:38 pm #96107
  Rhianna
  Participant
  Location:
  @rhianna
  Congratulations on celebrating your first anniversary and for getting your coffee into National Parks! What a great accomplishemnt.
  - 05/02/2022 at 7:20 am #96111
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    We appreciate it. I remember when we met back in New Orleans when this coffee venture wasnt even an idea.
- 05/02/2022 at 12:42 am #96108
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  Happy 1st shoppiversary. A small victory is underselling it, it’s been amazing to be a part of your journey from buying a new building to creating a thriving business in your small town. Hoping for continued success for Broad Porch in the future. And keep the new merch coming, please!
  
  This past week was my busiest in at least a month. One factor is that I haven’t skipped a day of listing since February, and of course there is always a randomness factor to when and why things sell.
  
  But I also saw a huge increase in sales after I started a Promoted Listings Standard campaign on Thursday. I had never used Promoted Listings before, and all of the options were overwhelming, so I went with a standard 5% ad rate on every listing in my store.
  
  I wasn’t sure how it would work, but there was an immediate impact. At least 8 items sold every day since. I only started the campaign because I received a promotional offer for 75% off Promoted Listings fees through May 5th. Now I wish I had started the campaign a few weeks ago. But at least I know. Maybe it’s a one-time fluke, or maybe promoted listings are worth trying every so often, even without a promo.
  
  4/24/2022 – 4/30/2022
  
  Total items in store: 2084 (down from 2174)
  
  Items sold: 55 (28 via best offer, 14 via seller initiated offer)
  
  Gross sales: $2917.89 (up 36% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $2019.38 (up 28% from one year ago)
  
  Quantity sold: 55 (up 5% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $53.05 (up 29% from one year ago)
  
  Lowest price sold (net): $12.84 — Shaheen Holloway Press Pass autograph
  
  Shaheen Holloway probably would have had a long and prosperous professional career either in the NBA or one of the many other professional leagues in Europe or Asia if it wasn’t for suffering repeated injuries. But there can always be silver linings in life if you look for them. The injuries led Holloway to the path of coaching college ball, and after years working his way up the ladder to head coaching, this past March he led the unheralded Saint Peter’s Peacocks on a magical run through the NCAA tournament, defeating Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue before finally losing to North Carolina.
  
  I actually attended the game when the Peacocks lost to UNC. The game happened to be in Philadelphia and I live just outside the city. I hadn’t been to a basketball game in years and now I’m good for at least another 5 years, maybe 10. Maybe I’d like going to another if the game was more exciting, but UNC won that game from beginning to end. But the entire experience was still special. So many people cheering for the underdog and random bonding moments with strangers.
  
  As Saint Peter’s miracle run was happening, I had the thought to look up Shaheen Holloway autographs on eBay. None of the players had cards, but I figured he might have a few and the team really seemed to love him as their coach. Most of his cards were $5 each or less since he had never made the pros and he only had autographs in a few obscure college sets. There are so many new sets and new designs and new players that the market for cards from 20 years ago is pretty small, unless it’s an obsessive collector or cards of a legendary player like Tom Brady. Or something random like this occurs.
  
  After Saint Peter’s first win over Kentucky, I figured it couldn’t hurt to buy a few Shaheen Holloway autographs just to see what would happen. After their win over Murray State, I started expanding beyond eBay into every card site I could think of. After their third win over Purdue, which made Saint Peter’s run the longest in history by such a small school, I realized that this had been a nice victory for both the underdog team and my business. I wouldn’t have been this aggressive with my purchases even a year ago. I might have bought one or two of his autographs and profited $20 total. But I followed my hunch all the way through and it is still paying off.
  
  Holloway picked up a new job not long after the tournament at the same school where he played his college ball, Seton Hall. It will be interesting to see how his team does next year and what the fan reaction is like. Maybe he will end up an NBA coach in the future and get his first NBA cards that way.
  
  Until then, and probably for at least the next year or two, I will sell 1 or 2 of his autographs for $10 to $20 each every few weeks. It’s not quite ICP hats or old markers, but it’s a good feeling every time I see one of his cards has sold.
  
  Highest price sold (net): $126.09 — Aidan Hutchinson 2018 Leaf autograph #4/10
  
  This was a really interesting sale for a few different reasons.
  
  A big factor in card sales is always the calendar. There are a few times each year where something exciting is happening in every sport, and late April/early May is one of those times. Baseball season has just started and speculators always buy up the players who get off to a fast start. Basketball and hockey seasons are entering their playoffs. And this past weekend was the NFL football draft.
  
  Aidan Hutchinson was the #2 overall draft pick from the University of Michigan and went to his hometown team the Detroit Lions. No surprise that my buyer was located in Michigan, and the $150 sale price mostly reflects the modern card world. Boxes of cards contain as few as 5 or 6 cards and regularly command prices of $500 and up. There is a whole culture of online breaking — companies buy dozens of boxes of the newest hot set, then sell off the contents by team. You buy your team (better teams go for higher prices) and get all the cards from the boxes in the break. Sometimes you spend $20 on your break and get an amazing unique autograph of the hot rookie. More often, you get a boring unautographed card of the third-string kicker. But you can try again with the new set next week…and the week after that…and the week after that. That’s the hobby for tens of thousands of card buyers and sellers, and in that world it makes sense that a nice colorful autograph of the new #2 draft pick would sell for $150. You could even say that the buyer got a good deal, considering that once Hutchinson’s new Lions autographs come out, any that are numbered xx/10 or less will probably cost more than $150.
  
  This was one of my biggest profits by percentage. I bought this Aidan Hutchinson card two years ago at auction for a mere $2. $2 to $150. A 7400% increase!
  
  I did not buy the card then because I had any amazing foresight into Aidan Hutchinson as a player. That would be a smart way to make money buying and selling cards and I’m sure there are many in the card world who have an incredible knowledge of individual players and their skills and who will be great and who won’t. I know a little bit of that, but mostly I know what collectors look for in terms of the quality of sets and types of cards.
  
  I bought this card because of the autograph and low serial number, and because the seller was one of many who list hundreds of auctions every week and offer a combined shipping term. Buying one card might cost $4 shipping, but 40 cards is only $10 shipping. Buy and sell in enough bulk and there’s a business in a nutshell. Or my business at least.
  
  I buy dozens of cards for $5 or less. I would be thrilled to sell almost any of them for $20. The vast majority of them don’t even make it to my to-be-listed pile. That was what happened with this $150 Aidan Hutchinson card. I found it a few weeks ago in a box of low value cards. After all this time, I didn’t even remember buying it. In this case, that worked out nicely for me. If I had been paying closer attention, I probably would have sold this card six months ago for $10. My strategy for buying and organizing inventory is much more deliberate now. But it was fun to see my old disorganized ways pay off.
  
  Sometimes with selling on eBay, your sales are a result of figuring out a strategy and seeing it through. Keep listing and good things happen. Or maybe you’ll lose track of some inventory and find it again down the road. I wouldn’t recommend it, but sometimes you’ll get lucky.
  - 05/02/2022 at 6:14 am #96109
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    Or maybe you’ll lose track of some inventory and find it again down the road. I wouldn’t recommend it, but sometimes you’ll get lucky.
    
    i’ve had that happen a few times. I’ve bought something thinking it will sell for $25. I throw it in a death pile and pull it out 2-3 years later and now it’s worth $100+!
    
    I always make sure to show my wife the sale and say “ see! Procrastinating DOES pay off!” Lol!
    - 05/03/2022 at 1:27 pm #96136
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      I always make sure to show my wife the sale and say “ see! Procrastinating DOES pay off!” Lol!
      
      This gave me a great idea. I feel like now I should start printing out these kinds of sales for posterity, write some “inspirational” messages on them “It’s ok to lose your inventory for a year, that’s how things become more valuable” and plaster them all over the walls of my eBay room. A procrastinator’s wallpaper.
  - 05/02/2022 at 7:18 am #96110
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It will be interesting to see how his team does next year and what the fan reaction is like. Maybe he will end up an NBA coach in the future and get his first NBA cards that way.
    
    Do you ever hold cards back if you think the player will have a good year? Wait till his stock rises?
    
    How many of his cards did you purchase when he was still not super popular?
    - 05/03/2022 at 2:10 pm #96138
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      Do you ever hold cards back if you think the player will have a good year? Wait till his stock rises?
      
      I wouldn’t say I hold anything back, necessarily, as much as I buy and sell in huge quantities. So there have been ~~dozens~~ hundreds of cards waiting to be listed. The consignment sales have helped speed this up quite a bit. A year ago I would have hundreds of cards and sometimes not even start to sort them for a few weeks. Now everything gets processed within a few days of receiving the packages in the mail.
      
      My basic strategy is to buy low (whether it’s because the player’s stock is low, or the sport’s in its offseason, or an auction listing that I bid on is missing some important info), price higher and sell high enough. There are so many ways to do this with the cards, it’s amazing, and for the most part I acquire based on analyzing the quality of set and card and Terapeak sold listings for the same or similar cards. There are so many different sets and I still enjoy the process of learning which sets and types of cards are valuable and why. I have a good instinct for it at this point, but every day that I look at new auction listings and analyze them for what to bid on, I learn about a new set or type of card that has some value.
      
      I rarely save searches for individual players, though many buyers and sellers do what I did with Shaheen Holloway and buy/sell in large quantities — it’s called prospecting. I know a lot more about sports than a non-fan but since I don’t watch the games, I would probably be about as good as you at speculating who will perform well in 6 months or a year. There is a lot of math and analysis in modern sports, and I’m sure there are people who use that in their card buying and selling as well.
      
      How many of his cards did you purchase when he was still not super popular?
      
      I probably bought about 50 Shaheen holloway autographs in the early part and middle of their run. Basically cleaned out every card selling site where I could find his autographs. I bought a lot of his basic rookies (no autograph) for $0.50 each or less and I add one in with every autograph I sell. So I get a lot of feedback like this one from this week:
      
      <span data-test-id=”fdbk-comment-4″ aria-label=”Card arrived in great condition. TY for the extra Shaheen card!! “>Card arrived in great condition. TY for the extra Shaheen card!! </span>
      
      Here are all the different autographs of Shaheen Holloway in my store. It is basically every different type of his autographed cards. It is interesting to compare these cards from 20 years ago to the ones manufactured in the last few years. The quality of the cards has improved a lot and cards have a lot more intricate differences.
      
      I have added another 10 to 15 autographs to the pile in the last month as some random eBay auctions have popped up. Shaheen’s not really in the news now (sports news moves fast and college basketball doesn’t start again until the fall), so the auction ending prices vary a lot. Sometimes his autographs will sell for $3, other times for $10 or $12. It all depends who’s bidding that week.
  - 05/03/2022 at 12:12 pm #96130
    Lukastreasure
    Participant
    
    Location: Chevy Chase, MD
    @lukastreasuretrove
    But I also saw a huge increase in sales after I started a Promoted Listings Standard campaign on Thursday. I had never used Promoted Listings before, and all of the options were overwhelming, so I went with a standard 5% ad rate on every listing in my store.
    
    I’ve been doing the promoted listings consistently for a few years. I usually leave things unpromoted for the first few weeks then add the promotion. I like the feature they have that allows you to apply the recommended level with a cap at a certain percentage. I cap mine at 5%. I average 50% of sales being promoted. I sometimes think I’d like to see how things would compare without the promotion, but would hate to lose sales to prove a point. I definitely noticed a bump in sales when I first started and feel it must be part of the reason some of my items sell at higher prices than other available items.
    - 05/03/2022 at 2:35 pm #96140
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      I usually leave things unpromoted for the first few weeks then add the promotion.
      
      This is a great idea. My current campaign ends on May 5th or 6th (which is when the promo ends) so the next time I run a campaign, I will definitely try this.
      
      I average 50% of sales being promoted. I sometimes think I’d like to see how things would compare without the promotion, but would hate to lose sales to prove a point.
      
      Yeah, in the grand scheme of things I will happily give eBay 5% if it means more sales. There are so many corners of the eBay selling world where people call eBay feebay and complain at every little fee or every time a new seller feature is introduced. I had never used promoted listings before this, and you don’t need to use the feature to sell on eBay, but if you have a 1000+ item store it seems like it is helpful. At least if our experiences are common.
      
      I definitely noticed a bump in sales when I first started and feel it must be part of the reason some of my items sell at higher prices than other available items.
      
      I had a few items sell in the last few days through promoted listings which had been lingering in the store for a while. One will almost certainly be my highest sale for the week. I need to get that shipped out today!
      
      This sale from last night was interesting as another seller had the same exact card available. Kind of a surprise there would be another listing for this card available since the card is serial numbered to just 5 copies! Their listing was $70 with best offer, mine $80 with best offer. Both with promoted listings active. But my listing is the one that sold. I received and accepted a $65 offer. I think my title is slightly more optimized for eBay search, but turning on promoted listings is probably what ensure that the buyer saw my item first and not the $70 listing.
- 05/02/2022 at 8:40 am #96112
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1712
  Items Sold 29
  Total Sales $1,162.00
  COGS $123.00
  Total Profit $1,039.00
  Average profit $35.83
  Average sales price $40.07
  New Listings 0
  Items scavenged 47
  Listing 2022 weekly Avg 45
  Sourcing Allotment 2
  
  A short week for me as I was out of town until late Tuesday. I did alot of shipping this week but no listing. Yesterday I did do a bunch of organizing and moving listed inventory into storage. Sometimes I need to go on a cleaning/organizing run in order to get myself in the mood to do listing. I always feel much more motivated once my garage is clean and organized.
  
  This week I should be able to get back on the wagon and get some listing done. I have a big bin of the stuff I have sourced the last 2 weeks that I’ll knock out first. Then get back to clearing up some death piles.
- 05/02/2022 at 9:39 am #96113
  debitendcredits
  Participant
  Location: Albuquerque, NM
  @debitendcreits
  I am proud to report April, 2022 was my best month on record (over 5k in net profit). Like Craig Rex I am listing every day. However, to borrow a phrase from Jay & Ryanne, I have become so focused on listed, packing, and shipping I fear I am making a prison for myself.
  
  I will spend the next few weeks focusing on bringing some balance to my existence.
  
  It’s a learning process, to be sure.
  
  W/E 4/30/22
  Total Items listed: 4,262
  Items Sold: 43
  Cost of Items Sold: 85.27
  Total Sales (Sales + Shipping does [not inc sales tax]) 1,477.51
  Ebay / Paypal / Shipping Costs / Fees 455.25
  Net Profit: 1,022.26
  Highest Price Sold: 99.99 USED x2 3M 226 Mastering Tape 2 Inch tape- 10.5 Reels Reel 2 & 3 Tom Nichols
  Average Price Sold: 23.39
  Number of items listed: 132
  - 05/03/2022 at 1:24 pm #96135
    craig rex
    Participant
    
    Location: south jersey
    @craig-rex
    However, to borrow a phrase from Jay & Ryanne, I have become so focused on listed, packing, and shipping I fear I am making a prison for myself.
    
    I was thinking about this exact phrase yesterday while walking the dog. Probably came to mind from the discussion in last week’s numbers thread about your great sales week with 60 items sold. Finding balance can be tricky. As Ryanne would say, you want shipping to be annoying!
    
    I find that in the busy times I get much more excited about listing and scavenging, and can easily do eBay all day. Especially in the last few months, as I’ve gotten my inventory much more organized in preparation for my next steps forward — a move? a bigger apartment? — in the next 6 to 18 months. I don’t get so focused that I skip the other things I enjoy most about the flexibility of a scavenger’s life, like being able to stop what I am doing to cook a nice meal in the middle of the day. But I can see how others might.
    
    I have found that selling on eBay is most rewarding when I go out and do something which has nothing to do with eBay, then come back to find that I sold enough things to cover the cost of the activity.
    
    I also have 2 day handling on all of my listings. I don’t usually take that long to ship, but the buffer makes it a lot easier to take a Thursday or Friday where all I do on eBay is list a few items, casually look through auction listings for an hour, maybe swing by the post office and that’s it.
- 05/02/2022 at 9:57 am #96114
  Lauren
  Participant
  Location: Central Illinois
  @lauren
  Hello!
  
  Fill in the standard “I fell off the face off the planet, now I’m back” yada yada that I give every time I go 6+ months without posting
  
  Thought about the forum this morning while packing my orders and thought I’d hop on- and good timing too.
  
  CONGRATULATIONS ON A YEAR!
  
  Hope everyone is well, and doing well.
  
  Personally, business is okay. Starting to cusp 2k in sales a month between Ebay+ Mercari, which is great, but I’d like to be doing more, as always. But the bills are paid, and everything is good, so what more can you ask?
- 05/02/2022 at 12:24 pm #96117
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  Week of Apr 24 – 30
  Total Items in Store: 1579 eBay, 37 Etsy
  Items Sold: 15 eBay, 0 Etsy
  Cost of Items Sold: $21 + $144 Commission
  Total Sales: $516.23 eBay, $0 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
  Highest Price Sold: eBay $225 for Gucci Envy Eau de Toilette Spray
  Average price: $34.42
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 21
  
  I had a decent week, but it was helped greatly by a $225 sale of new perfume. It was also a commission sale, so my COGS are somewhat high as well.
  
  I had let my Broad Porch coffee subscription run out last year. Several weeks ago, I started it up again. We finally finished the bag we were drinking, and now we are working through a bag of Southern Split. Delicious! I think Mr. Motivator is my favorite, but SS is quite delightful.
  
  I recall visiting last summer and enjoying a wonderful breakfast, coffee, and meetup with Jay! Congratulations to a one year anniversary, and, as they say, “and many more”!
- 05/02/2022 at 4:02 pm #96119
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  Congratulations on the anniversary! Well deserved success.
  
  Week Ending 4/30/22
  Gross Sales: $571.11
  Net Sales: $486.86
  Total Items in eBay Store: 1050
  Items Sold eBay: 6
  Total Items in Etsy Store: 199
  Items Sold Etsy: 3
  
  Cost of Items Sold: $90.97
  Highest Price Sold: $199.95 Mixed Media Art
  Average Price Sold: $63.46
  Returns: 1
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $184.00
  Average Days Listed: 343.89
  Longest Listed: 1169
  New items listed: 12
  
  Almost the exact sales numbers as last week down to the same number of sales on each platform. Biggest sale was a unique piece of Judaica art, a mixed media piece illustrating a Jewish blessing. Picked this one up on the last day of an estate sale last Spring for $26.
  
  Got most of my new purchases from the previous week listed which felt like an accomplishment. Trying to at least not allow my death pile to grow.
  
  My scavenge of the week was a Ryobi Power Washer. A guy posted on my neighborhood list serve for free because he couldn’t get it to work. It was only a few years old, so I hoped it would be something simple and it was: just needed a new trigger gun ($40). Spent several hours yesterday power washing the house. I just got a quote from a company two weeks ago that wanted $1450 to wash my house, driveway and patio. I’m going to lose a few days of listing this week but I feel like I’ll be making money since I’m saving so much.
  
  I got a return on a Google Nest thermostat due to it not working. This just added insult to injury. I bought the thermostat for myself only to find it wouldn’t work for my system. It sold a few weeks ago, but I swapped the label with another package and it went to the wrong buyer. I convinced them to ship it to each other thankfully, but now he can’t get it to work. I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t work, but I didn’t want to pay for postage back from Hawaii to investigate so just refunded him in full.
- 05/03/2022 at 9:48 am #96124
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Well no need to run numbers because I only had two sales and one was returned due to a stock photo I used of a discontinued item to show the print – my fault but little nit picky.
  
  I’ve launched my preparation for the yard sale. A realtor is coordinating a neighborhood sale so I’ll participate in two weeks and then maybe add another date to do with a friend since I probably won’t finish screening all of the piles by the first. I’d also like to Marie Kondo our closets. I only made a couple of listings on Ebay. I’ve pulled the car out, set tables up, started the process of Terapeaking some boxes of stuff. There is a good number of items that are worth $10-15 on Ebay with buyer paying shipping. I’m on the fence about that level of item. I’m planning to take some video and posting here later.
  
  Have a great week. Congrats on the 1 year anniversary of the shop! It looks like an awesome place to hang out.
  - 05/03/2022 at 1:11 pm #96133
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    @christiner –
    
    Those $10-$15 items are definitely something to think about. If you sell them at in a garage sale for say $5, then you are out $5-$10. You don’t have to spend the time taking photos, listing, and shipping. That might definitely be worth the $10 you lose by not selling them on eBay.
    
    Maybe you put them out during the garage sale, but not take $1-2 offers. If items are left over at the end, then you go ahead and list them. You just need to decide whether the item didn’t sell because it is uninteresting, or was it a very specific item that requires the right need or collector to buy? Then just list those items that require a global audience to find that right person.
    - 05/03/2022 at 2:32 pm #96139
      ChristineR
      Participant
      
      Location: Southern California
      @christiner
      
      Thanks Sharon. Yeah, I think they might end up in Garage Sale #2. I’ve only gone through about 6 boxes so far in terms of valuing items. I’m in a high cost of living area but people I think still like to get things super cheap at a garage sale unless it’s an amazing brand. So I’m not sure I could get $5 for most of this stuff but I didn’t pay that either. I’m also taking into consideration what I like to sell on some of it. A lot of the $10-15 box I made up was stuff I’m not passionate about, but a few items of midcentury china I’d love to get someone using again.
  - 05/03/2022 at 6:45 pm #96145
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    My gateway into serious eBay selling was a yard sale I did NOT want to do. My wife wanted to have a yard sale. A yard sale in my house means I wake up at 5-6am, and do everything myself. Around 9am I get criticized for doing everything wrong. At 1pm I get to clean everything up and donate the rest.
    All this for less than $100 usually.
    
    so one year I said “how about I pick out the valuable stuff, list it on eBay, then donate everything else. “
    
    I committed to the eBay listing and made ALOT of money.
    
    so those $10 items – let’s say you list 20 of them on eBay. That’s $200 and if you do quick and dirty listings you might have 2 hours in it. Odds are you’ll have multiple items worth considerably more than $10.
    
    thats alot more money and apt less time than sitting out in the heat for 6+ hours.
    - 05/04/2022 at 11:20 am #96160
      ChristineR
      Participant
      
      Location: Southern California
      @christiner
      
      Yard sales are well attended here though I’m not sure I have a lot of high dollar stuff and we don’t have any furniture, etc. Most of it will probably end up being donated. I shut down at 11 since few sales happen after that.
      
      I think I’m kind of a slow lister, except on Mercari. I might try to get used to listing on Ebay on my phone.
- 05/03/2022 at 10:28 am #96125
  JasonK
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @jasonk
  Total Items in Store: 635
  Items Sold: 40
  Gross Sales: $916.06 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $486.26 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $106
  Highest Price Sold: $35 (set of vintage brass train tracks)
  Average Price Sold: $22.90
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 75
  
  A little late with the numbers. Mondays are always hard because of our shipping volume and the IT business is always busy on Mondays too. Overall sales were very blah, not as many sales. Lots of people wanting stuff for 50% off and not many multi-item orders. Meanwhile my main online source for train inventory is getting kind of crazy on prices and there isn’t another train show in the area until the end of the month. I might need to step up my marketing efforts to try to buy local private collections. I did take a bit of a gamble on a big lot of plastic kids thomas the tank engine stuff from a Japanese company called Tomy and I’m finally getting around to listing it. So far the sales prices look good, should be able to turn a $30 box into $300+ so maybe Tomy/Tomica stuff might be something I add to my catalog. Another brand I’m interested in testing is Brio wooden trains. I have a bunch of it in storage from when my son was into it and I’m tempted to sell it as a test to see how fast it moves and at what price.
  
  On the topic of promoted listings. I do 1% promoted listing ad rate for all my items all the time and it seems to make a huge difference in the amount of traffic my listings get. I pay attention to my traffic report a lot and 80% of my sales are from promoted listings.
  - 05/03/2022 at 6:48 pm #96146
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    Thomas stuff can be quite lucrative. I look things up and list the valuable pieces and sets by themselves. Then I lot up everything else in mixed lots.
    
    some pieces are SUPER valuable.
    
    I’ve made quite a bit off of Thomas the train over the years.
    - 05/03/2022 at 8:30 pm #96150
      JasonK
      Participant
      
      Location: Florida
      @jasonk
      
      @Retro Treasures WV How often do the lots you get have items that go for $20+? My biggest complaint with my current train sourcing is that most of the items are in the $10-$15 range and I really want to boost our average sale price.
      - 05/03/2022 at 10:14 pm #96153
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        Well you always make the most money selling them piece meal. Specialty pieces I almost always list individually even if they are $5-10. Spare parts from the same set are super easy to list quickly with templates. Those $5-10 sales add up over time.
        
        the highest price I’ve ever done was a rare roundhouse I sold for like $300.
        
        Individual trains don’t sell for as much as they did a few years ago. I’ve sold a bunch of trains in the $20-30 range.
        
        some individual specialty track parts I’ve sold for $25-90
        
        random parts and track lots I’ve sold for $30-100.
        
        complete sets I’ve sold for $25-150.
        
        my best haul of Thomas was one day I was donating junk to goodwill. A lady pulled up with an suv LOADED with totes of Thomas. I talked to her briefly and she offered it all to me. I’ve made a bunch off of that score.
      - 05/07/2022 at 9:33 am #96201
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        Speak of the devil, Just sold a lot of Thomas trains.
        https://www.ebay.com/itm/264566829768
        
        there wasn’t anything really special in this lot, so to make things simple I just did a bulk listing.
        
        Not Thomas, but an example of breaking down a set into individual pieces.
        
        I picked up a hot wheels Mario kart track last week. I set it up to test it and make sure it worked. It was complete, but one piece of track had a busted connector which rendered the whole track unusable.
        the complete track was going to sell for $50-60.
        There is a pretty good market for the parts for this track. I was able to create all the listings for parts in about 15 minutes with my nose to the grindstone. Photos takes about 5 minutes total.
        the total list price for all the parts? $363.
        
        once I sell 5-6 individual parts I’ll make more than I would have if I sold the set whole.
        
        replacement parts can be quite lucrative if you are patient.
- 05/03/2022 at 12:40 pm #96131
  Steve List
  Participant
  Location: Richmond, Calif.
  @steve-list
  Monthly numbers: 04/1 – 04/30
  
  Total listings: 1280
  Items sold: 50
  Sales: $1,137.70
  Highest price sold: $88 and $79- Disneyland Haunted House Model kits
  Average price sold: $22.75
  Cost of items sold: $155.84 / average cost: 3.11 each
  Spent on new inventory: $192.00
  Number of items listed: 71
  Returns: 1 – Undeliverable to a buyer in India – waiting for the return.
  
  Congratulations on one year of Broad Porch Coffee, it is great to hear about your adventures with it each week.
  
  I had several days of no sales in April, but overall I did about the same as last month in total sales. The Haunted House model kits both had boxes in very poor condition, but the models inside had not been assembled. I never knew that such was ever made until I found 2 of them at a flea market for $5 each. These were not models of the house but of scenes inside of the house. I love finding vintage Disney stuff, it always sells for good prices. A good bolo is for Disney View-Master Reel Sets, I’ve sold quite a few of those for good money.
  
  One big note, in June, eBay is changing the promoted listing setup. Apparently, if you have promoted listings, eBay is changing the rules which will let eBay, without your permission, change the ad rates, start new promotions on your listings, and do other things. eBay sent out an email about it which you should have received already and may want to read carefully. The Auction Professor on YouTube released a video on April 30th that covers it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkX__Ifc_4.
  
  If you want to change your promoted listings settings, here is a link to do that: https://www.ebay.com/sh/mktg/pl. Scroll down to the box that has “Promoted Listings Standard campaigns” and hover over the “End” column to enter an end date. I added an end date to my settings and in the future, I’ll probably just run campaigns on the whole store for a period of a week or two at only 1%.
- 05/03/2022 at 6:01 pm #96143
  Robb_
  Participant
  Location:
  @robb_
  @Jay this link should have a switch at the bottom of the list that can turn on and turn off “Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer” feature.
  https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
  
  If someone else already answered this, my apologies.
  - 05/03/2022 at 6:49 pm #96147
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    What??? Thanks for the link! We had no idea you had to turn it on manually. This is exactly what we needed.
  - 05/03/2022 at 8:22 pm #96149
    JasonK
    Participant
    
    Location: Florida
    @jasonk
    “Currently this impacts only a select group of buyers” I’ll be interested to see if it helps for you Jay. I already had it on and I still get deadbeat buyers from time to time but not in the quantity that you guys do I think. I find that if I send the buyer an offer and they accept it they almost always pay however if I accept an offer from a buyer there seems to be a higher likelihood of them never paying. It’s almost like people like to fool around and see if you will even accept their offer, but then when you actually do they change their mind and decide they don’t really want the item.
    - 05/04/2022 at 1:07 pm #96161
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      Yeah, Ryanne said we actually already had that chosen. So it seems eBay is still doing beta testing? We already have an unpaid offer we accepted Monday.
      - 05/04/2022 at 1:12 pm #96162
        
        Retro Treasures WV
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @retro-treasures-wv
        
        Yeah it was already turned on for me as well. Another thing I noticed is that eBay gave us more control over blocking buyers who have had unpaid items. I don’t recall having this much control over those parameters in the past.
        
        of course, I’m not sure eBay even flags buyers with unpaid item dings since they broke the unpaid item system.
        
        05/05/2022 at 10:34 pm #96175
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        of course, I’m not sure eBay even flags buyers with unpaid item dings since they broke the unpaid item system.
        
        Buyers with unpaid items definitely still get flagged. I had one message me last week with a lowball offer, then a message asking why they were blocked…
        
        Because they had already “bought” the item once (for higher than their lowball offer) and didn’t pay!
- 05/04/2022 at 9:44 am #96157
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  Weekly sales 4/24 – 4/30
  Total items: 9578
  Items sold: 196
  New items listed: 350
  Gross sales: $2,045.89
  Net sales: $1,351.20
  New buyers: 118
  Repeat buyers: 7
  
  Etsy
  Orders: 10
  Gross sales: $350.00
  Net sales: $297.50
  
  Gross sales total: $2,395.89
  Net sales total: $1,648.70
  
  Money spent on new items: $0.00
  Operating Expenses: $198.80
  
  Net Cashflow: $1,449.90
  
  Happy to see sales recover from a couple weeks ago. I haven’t went over $2k in a week very often so that’s nice to see and shows that if you just keep listing things will sell eventually and your numbers will go up.
  
  I’ve been experimenting with sending coupons to buyer groups and that has worked pretty good. Sent a 20% off coupon the other day and someone bought over $70 worth of patches from me. Hopefully summer won’t be too slow for me since I sell a lot of hats, but we’ll see.
  
  Congrats on the success with the coffee!
  - 05/04/2022 at 10:41 am #96158
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    Do you track your hours? On the surface I look at your numbers and think “Holy cow thats alot of work!!!”
    
    Then I crunched some numbers: Assuming 3 minutes total time per item for shipping and 5 minutes total time per item for listing, that’s right at 40 hours. Is that about right?
    - 05/04/2022 at 2:55 pm #96164
      NC
      Participant
      
      Location: Georgia
      @millionairedojo
      
      I don’t track my time super precisely But I know I pretty much never work past 5pm and start working around 7:30-8am and eat lunch and have other interruptions throughout the day. And I did an experiment last week to see what I could get done if I waste as little time as possible and don’t listen to podcasts or anything while listing. I got 280 patches listed in 2 days and 70 hats listed in one day and the hats I finished at 3:30 pm. It’s one of the major pros to only selling two types of items – I create a perfect listing and then sell similar off that listing and all I have to do is upload photos, change a couple things in the title and description and that’s it. That’s how the technsports guy was listing 160 items a day by himself. Now that I know I can get my listing done in 3 days, I’m probably going to go back to working with my dad a couple days a week so I have some more money coming in each month.
      - 05/05/2022 at 10:58 pm #96176
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        It’s one of the major pros to only selling two types of items – I create a perfect listing and then sell similar off that listing and all I have to do is upload photos, change a couple things in the title and description and that’s it.
        
        This is a very similar process to how I do my card listings. There is a rainy forecast in New Jersey for the next few days, and I have a large backlog of cards (300+) ready to be listed. It seems like the perfect opportunity to try and knock out as many listings as I can. I’m not sure how long it’s been since I listed 100 over a few days, or if I’ve ever hit that number. But it will be fun to try — unless it’s sunny and 70 all weekend, in which case I’ll be outside.
        
        I don’t track my time super precisely But I know I pretty much never work past 5pm and start working around 7:30-8am and eat lunch and have other interruptions throughout the day. And I did an experiment last week to see what I could get done if I waste as little time as possible and don’t listen to podcasts or anything while listing.
        
        This is always such a great topic for discussion. When you’re just starting out, it can be hard to find the time and energy to sell on eBay and build up an inventory. When you are doing it full time, it can be easy to work too many hours without realizing it. I definitely work more than 40 hours a week on my eBay store and pricing consignment sales. But the flexibility is amazing. I love to cook and to take walks, and the freedom to do either of those things at any point in my day is really good for both my productivity and my mental health.
- 05/04/2022 at 2:26 pm #96163
  jaepete
  Participant
  Location: Carrollton, TX
  @jaepete
  dear Retro Treasures…. yes to all of this. I feel your pain. Is your wife by chance a red head and from Dallas TX? maybe our wives were separated at birth.
  
  My wife wanted to have a yard sale. A yard sale in my house means I wake up at 5-6am, and do everything myself. Around 9am I get criticized for doing everything wrong. At 1pm I get to clean everything up and donate the rest.
  All this for less than $100 usually.
  - 05/07/2022 at 11:22 am #96205
    The_SEAM_Store
    Participant
    
    Location: PA
    @the_seam_store
    My neighbors had a 3 yard sale last year. I saw them setting up, so I decided to set one up too, and just attract drive by customers. I had piles of clothing that needed to be donated, but all the donation places were closed. I ended up running a $5 fill a bag, forced people to stuff the bags til they overflowed and made just over $1000. Now that the weather has warmed up I keep looking to see if there is any activity up the street.
- 05/07/2022 at 8:38 am #96198
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  Hey everyone, Long time. Glad to see the forum still active.
  
  I had to put myself on part time for the past year to rest my tired, arthritic back, and take care of some extended family stuff. I let my store run down to around 3400 listings, but I am starting to build it back up again. Sales have still been ok, considering ebay has been on the back burner for so long, but I am definitely starting to feel the pinch a bit.
  - 05/07/2022 at 9:12 am #96199
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Nice to hear from old posters. Last I remember, you guys bought a second home near where your partner was going to graduate school.
    
    Since you had such a huge listed inventory, did your store continue to give you fulltime income while you were part time? How long did it keep feeding you?
    - 05/07/2022 at 11:07 am #96204
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      Yes, We were considering buying a second house close to my wife’s school when the pandemic came (6 weeks into her first semester). My wife didn’t have to commute to school for more than a year, so we didn’t end up buying a house. She is about half way through her final year now, and commuting a few times a week for clinical hours. She makes a little money part time as a yoga studio manager/instructor.
      
      Sourcing was not an issue at all. A consignor had a POD filled with a couple thousand items dropped off just before Christmas 2020. I don’t think I’ll do that again….lol, too much at once. I still have maybe 1000 items to list. When I agreed to it, pre-pandemic, I still had a helper, and my wife also had time to help. By the time it arrived, at Christmas, it was just me….absolutely exhausted from the holiday rush. I overworked myself to get it unloaded and into the garage, and had some idea I was going to get it all unpacked and the lift to the office in 10 days, to try to avoid wrinkles. Potentially having to steam a couple thousand wrinkled items would make the entire thing even worse. Well, I think I got about half of it unpacked and upstairs. I was able to cherry pick some seasonal items and home runs, and get those listed, but my back was just done.
      
      The doc put me on light duty last April, with physical therapy. Listing was very limited, I think I managed to list only about 1000 items or so in the past year, mostly small accessory stuff. Keep in mind my business is almost entirely Mens Business attire, so with the shutdowns and all the zoom meetings…..most people weren’t even wearing pants for the past two years, let alone suits and ties. So, taking a break at that time made sense.
      
      In the past year the store went from around 5000 listings to 3400. Sales were slower as was anticipated, without breaking out everything, the average was about $17K/month including shipping. Also something to consider, the scales started to tip toward more consignment item sales, so the COGS for the year are a bit higher.
      
      Now that things are starting to pick up, with Easter, Mothers Day, and Wedding Season back on track this year, I’m happy to be selling those types of items again.
      
      This past November, though extenuating family circumstances, my wife and I became reluctant “volunteer” unpaid landlords for a never updated 1950s home that needed a full cleanout, cleanup, full paint job, some updating, with very little funding. Which meant I had to do most of it myself. Luckily, after the clean out, the bulk of the work was painting, and I enjoy painting….but I’m much slower than I used to be. It took 6 months for everything, a few hours a day, but the house looks great. We have had a tenant in the house 1 week today.
      - 05/07/2022 at 12:14 pm #96207
        
        Sharyn
        Participant
        
        Location: Central NJ
        @sharyn
        
        …..most people weren’t even wearing pants for the past two years, let alone suits and ties.
        
        Hilarious! I listed some ties during the pandemic, and I don’t think I’ve sold one.
        
        05/07/2022 at 12:30 pm #96208
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        Somehow, I’m still ranked #10 on ebay for tie sales….at least according to ebays report.
  - 05/07/2022 at 10:18 am #96203
    Lukastreasure
    Participant
    
    Location: Chevy Chase, MD
    @lukastreasuretrove
    @the_seam_store Good to hear from you. I’ve wondered where you disappeared to. Welcome back.
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