The Numbers: May 8-14, 2022

This topic has 36 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 12 months ago by craig rex.

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- 05/15/2022 at 6:30 pm #96298
  Jay
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @jay
  Our sales were crazy scary horrible up until Thursday when they picked up a little. We have a giant store with almost 8500 items, I think we sold thre
  [See the full post at: The Numbers: May 8-14, 2022]
- 05/15/2022 at 8:26 pm #96301
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Something went wrong for sure this week. eBay must be “fixing” things. My traffic plummeted further and further each day Monday – Thursday for no reason.
  this weekend things have spring back to life.
- 05/15/2022 at 9:12 pm #96303
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  My sales were non-existent after Wednesday.
  
  Mark
- 05/15/2022 at 9:33 pm #96304
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 215
  Items Sold: 4
  Gross Sales: $200.99 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $146.86 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $32
  Highest Price Sold: $48 x 2 (new Pottery Barn towels)
  Average Price Sold: $39
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 5
  
  Pretty quiet during the week. We are housebound with Covid and my daughter took some photos of her stuff while I listed it. We found that a lot of the toys were missing pieces. We have some Barbie lots still to photograph. I have some older ’60s ones that were handed down to me, one of which is probably worth over $100. The clothes are in horrible condition so will lot those up. All kinds of stuff around here. Will get back to the garage sort and purge this week and hopefully also a few listings as well. I can’t get my international shipping preference to stick and I won’t do anything but global shipping program so I need to watch that. Also had the condition notes disappear from draft.
  
  I hope everyone has a good week on Ebay and otherwise. Fingers crossed I stay negative for Covid. I feel ok but definitely was exposed.
  - 05/17/2022 at 10:02 am #96321
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    How is life without going to a regular job?
    - 05/17/2022 at 7:35 pm #96336
      ChristineR
      Participant
      
      Location: Southern California
      @christiner
      
      Hi Jay, yeah I don’t miss the day desk job one bit. I’ve been listening to a lot of music and getting outdoors more. It’s been only a couple of weeks without Covid or company and summer is coming with shorter days for my daughter, so I don’t feel the full effect yet. It was nice to get back to listing again this week but I really need to get back to the clean out. I can see enjoying regular listing after I accomplish the purge.
- 05/15/2022 at 10:17 pm #96305
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  I had the opposite experience as many of you with a really busy week of sales. It is a good time to be selling sports cards as two leagues (NHL & NBA) are in playoffs and baseball season is in full swing. But I was busy across the board, even sold a few items in other categories even though the cards have become the vast majority of my listings. I think my good week was the combination of three factors.
  
  1. This was my second full week of using promoted listings after trying it because of the promotion on fees that eBay offered at the end of April.
  
  2. I created two markdown sales this week on Sunday and Monday and adjusted the offer prices I’d accept lower as well. So that led to some items moving just from a reduction in price. But sometimes that’s worth it.
  
  3. I listed almost 50 items on Thursday and Friday when I usually create 3 to 5 new listings a day.
  
  Every day from Wednesday to Saturday was really consistent sales for me. I have noticed a trend over the last month or two where early in the week (Sundays, Mondays, sometimes in Tuesday and Wednesday) there is less activity in general. Less sales, less offers.
  
  I hope my busy sales continue this week. Maybe I will create another markdown sale this week. But I think there is a point of diminishing returns with markdowns, offers, and all the other selling tools. Sometimes you just have to list…and wait.
  
  5/8/2022 – 5/14/2022
  
  Total items in store: 2144 (up from 2096)
  
  Items sold: 50 (35 via best offer, 7 via seller initiated offer)
  
  Gross sales: $2912.68 (up 63% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $1986.71 (up 64% from one year ago)
  
  Quantity sold: 50 (up 16% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $58.25 (up 40% from one year ago)
  
  Highest price sold (net): $170.13 — Christian Yelich 2013 black refractor rookie card ##/99 BGS 8.5
  
  Christian Yelich was the star player as the Milwaukee Brewers rose in the standings, and this type of card (a numbered rookie refractor from a quality set) would have regularly sold for $500 and maybe higher when he was winning MVP awards in 2018 and 2019. Similar quality autographed Yelich rookie cards would have regularly sold for $1000 or more, and the rarest ones (serial numbers to 10 or less) could fetch $5000 and up.
  
  But he’s had a tough go of things the last couple years, so his card prices dropped across the board. This is usually how I acquire my individual card inventory which sell for $100 and up. I buy it at $30 or $50 or $80 and wait for the right time to sell and the right buyer. I am sure there are ways to buy large lots and find these bargains that way. But Terapeak makes it easy to gauge the ups and downs of individual prices, and I find that research process really interesting and more lucrative.
  
  This buyer was located in Milwaukee, so most likely a collector and fan of the Brewers. But the interesting thing with modern cards is that if Yelich resumes his star performance, the buyer can easily resell and make a nice profit. Cards being sold and resold, and browsing eBay to find the best deals or new listings for the player or set you collect, is such a part of the modern card world. There is a lot of logic behind what gets bought and sold, and for what prices, even with expensive cards like this.
  
  But I think that a lot of card sellers get stuck on the possibility of what something could be worth in a few months or years, and hold on to individual cards too long. Or they just priced them too high to begin with. I’m sure for the collectors of a particular player or team, there’s an emotional element to how they value the individual cards and sets. Very different from me, where it’s all about Terapeak sales and my own knowledge of trends with pricing, individual cards and sets and, to a lesser extent, the players.
  
  Lowest price sold (net): negative $20 — Max Meyer Panini Prizm autograph ##/50
  
  As you can see from the listing, the card pictured does not match the title. I didn’t realize this until the item had been delivered and the buyer sent me a message. I sent them the card in the title, not the picture.
  
  I haven’t made a mistake like this in over a year, but these types of mistakes are fairly common in the card world. Something is priced far too low and gets purchased in seconds. A picture is wrong or really sloppy. I get many of my buying deals from good timing, but some others the seller just makes a mistake. Many small time sellers will refund the buyer and cancel if an auction ends particularly low. I had that happen this week. The seller valued the extra $50 more than keeping their word and completing the sale. It’s annoying, but I remember what those days were like.
  
  This is also a niche where tons of huge consignment sellers who list 5000+ auctions every week. Many of them make errors in their listings here and there. It’s inevitable at that kind of scale. So there are always more good deals to be found.
  
  I’m somewhere between small and large seller, but I like to resolve problems fast. So I told my buyer they could keep the wrong card I sent them, and I’d send them the correct one first thing on Monday. I’m out a few bucks for the cost of what I paid for each card, a few bucks for shipping two packages, a few bucks for eBay fees and whatever profit I would have made on either card. But the buyer gets a freebie, so even with the extra wait time they’re happy.
  
  In my earlier eBay days, I used to get upset at myself for making this kind of mistake. But it is truly just a part of selling on eBay. It happens to everyone. Returns, weird buyers, mistakes — they all happen to every seller once in a while.
  
  I am really grateful to be in a position where I can lose $20 to avoid a potential headache. There’s really not a price you can put on being able to move on with your day and not beat yourself up or obsess over a problem which doesn’t have a perfect solution.
  - 05/17/2022 at 10:04 am #96322
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Always enjoy reading your rundowns. Really shows the difference that can exist between a random “shotgun approach” store like ours….and a very targeted store for a certain kind of collector. It’s like we’re just a randomly fishing in the vast ocean that depends on luck…and you’ve created a fish farm where you can pick up fish with your hands. So fun to see what you’ve built.
    - 05/18/2022 at 3:03 pm #96339
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      Thanks @Jay. Writing everything out at the end of one week and beginning of the next helps me see patterns that I don’t really see day to day. Whether it’s what sells and why or thinking about my own processes.
      
      There is an interesting element of luck in what inventory ends up in my store, since so much of it (75%, maybe more) is found by combing through a handful of large sellers who run thousands of auctions every week. Many of these sellers reliably have pages of listings which feature cards from the newest sets, and there is a new set almost every week. Then the rest of their auctions are whatever items they are selling on consignment that week. These are the listings that I like to bid most since there is more of a price history, and it’s always interesting to see which auctions I win and which I don’t. It’s very unpredictable, like most auctions, and that makes it a lot more fun and a lot less tedious.
      - 05/18/2022 at 3:07 pm #96340
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Not sure if I’ve asked this before, but how much time do you spend each week searching through card auctions online?
        
        05/18/2022 at 4:29 pm #96345
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        Not sure if I’ve asked this before, but how much time do you spend each week searching through card auctions online?
        
        You know what, I don’t really know! I will try and track this time next week. I take a lot of breaks throughout the day, so it will be an interesting challenge to try and figure out that time. I am sure that just by tracking my time, I will be more conscious of how I’m spending it.
        
        I know that a few years ago, I must have been spending 20+ hours a week just looking through listings as I was trying to build up my inventory from a few hundred listings to 1000 and up. I wasn’t as organized with how I would search and it would be a mix of saved searches and looking through different sellers. A lot of wasted time. Something of an “assembly line” for myself. But I was working dead-end jobs then and looking through these auctions was part of how I dealt with all of it. I wouldn’t have guessed it would have ever led to me doing this full-time. But here I am, and it’s a good life.
        
        Now my search process is much more streamlined. Most weeks, I stick with looking through the weekly auctions of the same 5-10 reliable sellers. Some of these sellers have 100-200 auctions ending most nights and others will have 5000+. I can scroll through the “smaller sellers” listings in 5-10 minutes. Like a regular auction, there are a lot of listings which I’m not even interested in bidding on, and others where the bidding is past what I’m comfortable paying. So I might bid on 10 auctions out of 100 and win 1 or 2. Then rinse and repeat the next day and pay at the end of the week.
        
        Scrolling through larger sellers can take me an hour, more if I get really obsessive about looking through every page of listings and researching specific cards in Terapeak. Some nights that is how I spend my time and I really enjoy it. Other nights, like tonight, I will scroll very quickly to look for the true steals and that’s it.
        
        The two largest sellers I buy from usually don’t have auctions ending on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So my eBay schedule follows that. Most Fridays or Saturdays, I create 20-25 new listings instead of my usual 5. On the other day, I spend a few hours sorting and organizing new and old inventory to figure out what I want to list and sell myself and what I will send to consignment. I take off Thursday or Friday most weeks, along with any random day/night where I want to do other things.
        
        It is exciting to get to the point of spending less time on my eBay business than I was a few years ago and making more money. The consignment selling has been the biggest factor in my increased sales this year. Last year it was some process improvements, like getting a Dymo label printer and figuring out a better method to streamline creating new listings. I know my process will change within the next few years as I start to think about other goals. I really enjoy making those changes on the fly and seeing the results.
        
        05/19/2022 at 12:52 pm #96353
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        @Jay
        
        You got me curious, so yesterday I closely tracked the time I spent searching through auction listings. It was about an hour and a half total, maybe a few minutes more.
        
        It took me about a half hour to look through three “smaller” sellers who had between 100-300 auctions ending last night. Then I took a break.
        
        Later that night, it took me about an hour to look through three larger sellers who had between 500 and 2000 auctions ending. I probably spent the most time on the listings from the smallest the three sellers, since their auctions are higher quality. Their auctions all start with a $5 minimum bid and most days they have an interesting variety of unusual cards, which are my favorites to sell. The two largest sellers (probably two of the biggest card sellers on eBay) start all their listings at $0.99, but I’m not interested in bidding on 75% of the items because either the prices are too high or the cards are too low-end.
        
        Wednesday is a pretty average day as far as number of auctions ending. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are usually slower, and Sundays and Mondays are always busier and more time consuming. It will be interesting to keep track of this time over the next few weeks and see how the weekly totals look.
- 05/16/2022 at 10:05 am #96309
  debitendcredits
  Participant
  Location: Albuquerque, NM
  @debitendcreits
  My sales pattern followed a similar one to Jay & Ryanne. All sales came to a screeching halt around the end of the previous week and then started to rebound on Thursday.
  
  From Monday to Thursday, I was out of town and had my store set to time away. I had attributed the dip in sales to “the algorithm not favoring time away.” Which, of course, was just a bit of head cannon. Who on earth knows why sales pick up and slow down.
  
  JKL – Just Keep Listing. It’s all you can do.
  
  W/E: 5/14/22
  Total Items In Store: 4,351
  Items Sold: 20
  Cost of Items Sold: 32.49
  Total Sales (Sales + Shipping does [not inc sales tax]) 767.91
  Ebay / Paypal / Shipping Costs / Fees 225.84
  Net Profit 542.07
  Highest Price Sold: 64.99: Strawberry Alarm Clock Incense & Peppermints Album Cover Photo Transparency
  Average Price Sold: 25.10
  Number of items listed: 78
  
  Scavenge of the Week: So much scavaging death piles are growning – yikes!
  
  Most Satisfying Sale: Vintage Archer Color Eagle Rabbit Ears Antenna
  - 05/17/2022 at 8:09 am #96319
    Temudgin
    Participant
    
    Location: Jacksonville FL
    @temudgin
    The title song on Incense & Peppermints was such an earworm, and you just put it back in my head. Thank you very little!
    
    For those who have never heard it, here it is, but don’t say I didn’t warn you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rw1_FNdy-Y
    
    In other news, my sales are still in the pits as they have been for the last two months and not worth reporting.
- 05/16/2022 at 1:10 pm #96312
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  Week of May 8 – 14
  Total Items in Store: 1614 eBay, 36 Etsy
  Items Sold: 18 eBay, 1 Etsy
  Cost of Items Sold: $15 + $108 Commission
  Total Sales: $419.09 eBay, $50 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
  Highest Price Sold: eBay $69 NOS 1980s Fendi Brown Key Chain (on commission); $50 long rusty chain (Etsy)
  Average price: $24.69
  Returns: 1 (not shipped yet)
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 19
  
  I actually had a decent week. I tend to sell lower priced items compared to Jay & Ryanne, so I sold as many but my total is less. One of the reasons I had a decent week was because of my commission sales. Those items are more contemporary and less funky, but I get less profit because of the commission. The funky takes longer.
  
  I did a test this past week with eBay templates. I wanted a faster way to create listings when I have a large number of similar items. I think that this was at one time a function that Turbolister provided, but is no longer available. I downloaded a template from eBay and then used it to create 10 or so listings at once. I still had to add photos via the iPhone and then open each individually on the computer to finish up the process.
  
  It was in no way perfect. The listings initially opened up saying that the category did not require a condition, but then wouldn’t list without it. I had to change to a random category and then go back into the original in order for it to come up. I also couldn’t find a way to upload a number of standard pre-selects like a condition statement, shipping policy, zip code, etc.
  
  Does anyone know of a standard template that can be used to upload listings faster/better? I did find it to be faster than my standard process: sell similar, opening each listing on the computer to update the title, saving in draft, uploading photos via iPhone, and then reopening on the computer to finalize everything. Using a template, the listing only needs to be opened once on the computer.
  
  For reference, here is where I started. It is under seller hub – reports – upload:
  
  https://www.ebay.com/sh/reports?FileExchangeCenter
  - 05/16/2022 at 1:51 pm #96313
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    BTW, this csv template is not to be confused with a listing template. Those are standard listing formats that you can create for a particular type of item. However, you still have to create a new listing for each item, and it doesn’t help with uploading many at one time.
  - 05/16/2022 at 5:08 pm #96316
    ChristineR
    Participant
    
    Location: Southern California
    @christiner
    Thanks for reporting on this Sharyn. I’m interested to see the replies. I don’t go back into the desktop after taking photos in the app. However, for some reason my condition notes disappeared after photos this week so now I’m questioning whether or not I need to. I’d love to discover a faster way.
  - 05/18/2022 at 3:10 pm #96341
    craig rex
    Participant
    
    Location: south jersey
    @craig-rex
    Does anyone know of a standard template that can be used to upload listings faster/better? I did find it to be faster than my standard process: sell similar, opening each listing on the computer to update the title, saving in draft, uploading photos via iPhone, and then reopening on the computer to finalize everything. Using a template, the listing only needs to be opened once on the computer.
    
    This is always such a great question for discussion. I am probably different than a lot of sellers in that I do all my listings exclusively on the computer. But most of my inventory, the photos for my listings are created using a flatbed scanner and not my phone’s camera. So I just sell similar when I am listing and upload the images to the listing.
    
    Even when I have larger items which require me to take pictures with the camera, I take photos in large batches and then upload them to a folder on my desktop, then add the pictures to each new listing. I have tried saving as draft and adding the photos through the app, then finishing the listing on the computer, but it felt a lot more tedious to keep stopping and starting.
    
    I have always thought about looking into processes like the old (?) TurboLister or CSV templates but I am like Jay & Ryanne where I do things a certain way and am slow to change.
- 05/16/2022 at 2:21 pm #96314
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  Weekly sales 5/8 – 5/14
  Total items: 9982
  Items sold: 138
  New items listed: 350
  Gross sales: $1,406.96
  Net sales: $896.63
  New buyers: 111
  Repeat buyers: 5
  
  Etsy
  Orders: 10
  Gross sales: $90.00
  Net sales: $76.50
  
  Gross sales total: $1,496.96
  Net sales total: $973.13
  
  About to cross over the 10,000 listing mark! Sales weren’t too bad for me this week but I only did $62 in gross sales on Saturday and I usually do at least $200 so I’m not sure what was up with that day. This was the last week of school for a lot of people so maybe more people were traveling or something. Did $300 on Sunday though so I don’t know… I’m hoping that one day my store will be so huge that I never have a truly “bad” day lol
  - 05/16/2022 at 3:33 pm #96315
    Joe
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @joe
    That’s an impressive # of listings. May I ask what type of items are you listing? Seems like you can crank them up in quite a bit week after week.
    - 05/17/2022 at 10:06 am #96323
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      I believe NC specializes in mostly patches and hats.
    - 05/17/2022 at 12:32 pm #96326
      NC
      Participant
      
      Location: Georgia
      @millionairedojo
      
      Yeah, I’ve got about 8,000 patches listed and 2000 hats. I do 40 patches a day and 10 hats and can get them all listed in 3 8-hour shifts. High volume is the only way to make these two categories work for full-time numbers. The processes are super streamlined though so I never have any stress thinking about how I’m going to get through a death pile or store the items or ship them. It’s all the same day after day and I just listen to some tunes and get my work done week after week.
      - 05/17/2022 at 12:33 pm #96327
        
        NC
        Participant
        
        Location: Georgia
        @millionairedojo
        
        And I just sell similar off my own listings. Huge game changer
- 05/17/2022 at 11:45 am #96324
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1766
  Items Sold 22
  Total Sales $750.00
  COGS $140.00
  Total Profit $610.00
  Average profit $27.73
  Average sales price $34.09
  New Listings 51
  Items scavenged: LOL…why bother! At least most were small!
  Listing 2022 weekly Avg 46
  Sourcing Allotment 20
  
  So Monday through Friday I had 8 sales for $180. I had ZERO sales on Friday. My impressions data – specifically for promoted listings – tanked during those 4 days. There was a 30% drop day over day Monday – friday – just down, down down. It was odd for sure. On Thursday I added 300 new items to promoted listings. Friday I had no sales, but mid-day on Saturday the spigot was turned back on.
  
  Maybe it was a category related hiccup? Who knows. Either way that’s one heck of a recovery on the weekend to save my week from total disaster.
  
  It was an interesting week scavenging. On three separate days I came into MASSIVE Anime DVD hauls. Most of these will be listed in lots so even though it’s alot of discs – the amount of listings will be much less. I have HUNDREDS of anime discs from these scores. On 3 separate days I came across high end youth golf club sets. Saturday was the first time we’ve went to yard sales this year. Actually the last time since early august last year due to my extended illness. There were some great sales and scored some great stuff. My favorite sale was actually friday night. A neighbor of mine already had everything set up as I drove past coming home from work. I asked if he was “open” and he said come on over. I got a massive pile of shoes and some American girl dolls and accessories. I went back the next day when he had everything else out and got even more including some nice Dewalt power tools in original boxes.
  
  Did I buy too much which is counterproductive to my death pile reductions? Yep. Do I really care at the moment? Nope. I’ll keep working on my 40+ items a week listing average and it will be what it will be.
  
  One fun item I bought at a yard sale was a pile of video games. Nothing special but all were complete in box but 2 of them. I paid $20 for 22 games. Alot of people don’t like doing video games because many are low dollar – $5 profit. I always pick up complete in box games if they are cheap and disc is in good condition. It takes me about 90 seconds to research and create each listing. I timed myself on photos this weekend and it took me an average of 45 seconds to photograph (7 photos each item). It takes about 1 minute to upload photos to each listing and submit. Some of the games were $5 games but some of them were decent at $20. So in total it took me about 70 minutes to do everything and those 20 games (2 were too scratched up to list) had a list price of $282. Most of them will sell within a year. That’s good money for really easy work.
  - 05/17/2022 at 11:56 am #96325
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    My two concerns about video games are:
    
    1. How do you know if the game works? Unless you have the right system to test with, you don’t know for sure.
    
    2. If it has a registration code, will it work for a new person assuming the previous owner already activated it?
    - 05/17/2022 at 1:15 pm #96329
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      1. Unless they are badly damaged, discs work. plain & simple. I have returns if it doesn’t, but I have no concerns on that front.
      
      2. codes are mainly for older computer games. Depends on the software license. Some softwares are good for several installs.
  - 05/18/2022 at 3:19 pm #96342
    craig rex
    Participant
    
    Location: south jersey
    @craig-rex
    On three separate days I came into MASSIVE Anime DVD hauls. Most of these will be listed in lots so even though it’s alot of discs – the amount of listings will be much less. I have HUNDREDS of anime discs from these scores
    
    DVDs and CDs are the other niche I know pretty well besides cards, maybe not expert level but enough that I can go into a library sale and turn $20 into $100 or more pretty reliably. I definitely know enough to know that this is a huge score. Anime sets go out of print often and can become very hard to find and desirable. Anime fans often become really invested in their show which also drives demand. I can’t wait to hear about some of your sales.
    
    One fun item I bought at a yard sale was a pile of video games. Nothing special but all were complete in box but 2 of them. I paid $20 for 22 games. Alot of people don’t like doing video games because many are low dollar – $5 profit.
    
    Funny that you wrote about this in the same post as the anime DVDs because it made me remember that I don’t know much about video games! In part because of what you said — anytime I look up one that seems promising, it sells for $10 or less, which doesn’t feel worth listing for me. Even though, as you said, the listings are very easy to create and discs work 95% of the time.
    
    Maybe if I had better organized storage space, I would be more inclined to buy this stuff. I keep all my non-cards inventory on a bookcase in piles. I would have a nice clear organization system for these media items like I do with the cards. If you have any tips for what kinds of storage boxes you use for them, I’d love to know.
    - 05/18/2022 at 3:44 pm #96344
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      I have a decent eye for valuable dvd, VHS, and video games.
      
      Since I mainly do thrift stores most of the time, I rarely get video games. I only check the DVD/VHS occasionally. This time what caught my eye was a lineup of about 30 discs with similar side labels. Once one of these sets shows up, odds are good there are more so I went through the whole section and filled a cart. The crappy part is that they cost $2 per movie so my COGS get pretty high. I put back some stuff like dragonball GT and some Yugioh (they aren’t high dollar vs the cogs) Still, it’s easy money even at 3x-5x profit vs cogs for various lots.
      
      The yard sale score was crazy. I lost count when I was counting the discs, but it was over 400 – all complete sets. Even better, I only paid $45 for over 400 discs. The downside – no cases. They just had multiple massive cd cases sitting out because they had thrown out the cases years ago and now went digital. The anime stuff was only about 20% of what they had. The thought occured to me that it could all be fake while picking out the anime stuff, but if they are they are darn impressive fakes. It’s not unusual for anime collectors to have massive DVD collections such as this.
      
      The third score was at the same thrift store as the first. Apparently after I cleared them out the first time that made room to bring out a bunch more. I suspect that if I go back today there may be even more but I think I’m good on anime for now. Lol!
      - 05/19/2022 at 1:00 pm #96354
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        Even those cd cases can be worth a good amount if they’re decent quality!
        
        There are a lot of anime fake DVDs out there. I’ve been burned a few times with that. since some of the fakes are very good quality. But at $2 a pop, it’s always worth the gamble. That is pennies compared to what I pay for some of the more expensive cards I sell! Even the $50 cards usually cost me at least $10. But there are so many trading card auctions listings that it’s like having a 24/7 thrift store which always has good stuff if you search enough.
        
        I really don’t need more stuff to list with all the cards, but your post has gotten me inspired to make the trip to one of my favorite local library sales this weekend. No scanners and they always have an unusual selection of DVDs plus some neat books and other weird stuff. I wish I had a thrift store like yours! There are a few thrift stores in my little small town, but they have a lot of low quality items across the board no matter when I go, and there are rarely any other customers. One is a church thrift store, but the others are private and I’m honestly not sure how they stay in business.
- 05/18/2022 at 12:18 pm #96338
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  Week Ending 5/14/22
  Gross Sales: $126.00
  Net Sales: $106.00
  
  Total Items in eBay Store: 1050 Etsy Store: 211
  Items Sold eBay: 4 Items Sold Etsy: 0
  Gross Sales eBay (W\O shipping and tax): $126.00
  Net Sales (After fees) eBay: $106.00
  
  Cost of Items Sold: $29.20
  COGS Percent 27.55%
  Net Profit Margin: 60.95%
  Highest Price Sold: $59.95 Model Train
  Average Price Sold: $31.50
  Returns: 1
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $106
  
  Average Days Listed: 117
  Longest Listed: 348
  New items listed: 7
  
  Like many of you, last week was a disaster for sales. No sales until Thursday. Worst week since last summer when my store was on vacation mode. I actually had a nice sale on Friday, but the buyer waited until Sunday to pay so will be counting it in this week’s sales. Thankfully, this wee is already doing much better. It’s like someone turned the water off at the source for the first part of the week.
  
  To add insult to injury, my biggest sale from last week arrived broken. Fortunately, it was repairable, but as it was a collectible, much less valuable repaired. At least he was willing to work with me. I refunded $100 of the $200 sale and he gave me great feedback.
  
  Hit a few estate sales on Saturday and found a few good items. Best find was a box of model train catalogs and magazines. Several of the catalogs were original from the 1920’s and 1930’s. I’m still going through the pile but already have $350 worth of listings from the $20 investment. Also got a nice condition wartime edition of The Joy of Cooking for $2 and have that listed for $100. Like most estate sales the majority was priced at eBay prices, but managed to find some gems. Have to give Cecile props for finding the train catalogs. They were sitting in a box in a dark corner of the basement and I walked right by them.
- 05/18/2022 at 3:23 pm #96343
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  Also got a nice condition wartime edition of The Joy of Cooking for $2 and have that listed for $100.
  
  That’s a steal even if had been a later edition. Art of French Cooking is always a great $2 buy as well, even most reprinted vintage editions are a pretty reliable $20 plus shipping.
  
  Recently, a local library sale advertised a full set of Modernist Cuisine, but of course the sale was on a day where I had other plans, and I knew that wouldn’t make it to Day 2 of the sale. One of these days…
- 05/19/2022 at 12:29 am #96348
  Robb_
  Participant
  Location:
  @robb_
  Has anyone else experienced the spring update where you no longer see lifetime views on an item but only views for the last 30 days?
  - 05/19/2022 at 10:10 am #96349
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    Yes, I’ve noticed it. They list views only for the last 30 days, and they are blocking views that aren’t made by real people.
    
    I’m used to seeing my items viewed almost immediately when they are posted. If those views were bots and not real, I should be happy that I’m not seeing them anymore. However, I feel upset that some have views of 0. It will take some getting used to.
    - 05/19/2022 at 11:53 am #96350
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      Yeah it was very concerning to see that 1200 of my 1700+ listings had no page views in May when I ran the traffic report last week.
      
      After the terrible beginning to last week, I had a phenomenal weekend and Monday. Tuesday I had three sales in the morning before 10am. I’ve had no sales since then , so more than 48 hours now without a sale, even with me listing 40 items since Monday evening! Ebay is a glitchy rollercoaster right now. messaging was messed up on the app and I had to upgrade to the new nested messaging system to get it to work. They’re working on category item specifics and page views. Something they’ve done is messing things up for some people.
      
      Month over month my impressions are down 9%, page views down 6%, and items sold down 22%. My store size is pretty much the same and I even added a bunch of promoted listings.
      - 05/19/2022 at 12:05 pm #96351
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Month over month my impressions are down 9%, page views down 6%, and items sold down 22%. My store size is pretty much the same and I even added a bunch of promoted listings.
        
        It’s always good to remember that eBay doesnt exist in a vacuum. We havent seen such crazy inflation since the early 1980s. Gas prices are higher than they’ve ever been with no end in site. People’s retirement funds are taking a huge beating.
        
        I just think there’s less disposable income to spend. Especially if you sell “non essential” items.
      - 05/19/2022 at 12:43 pm #96352
        
        ctebay
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @ctebay
        
        I haven’t run a traffic report, but just from eye-balling the listing views with the new updates, many of my listings have 0 views. Still having about typical number of sales for me, though maybe a little slow. Still, seeing so many listings with 0 views will take getting used to! It does make the listings that attract attention stand out so maybe this will be a learning for fine-tuning my sourcing.
        
        05/19/2022 at 1:09 pm #96355
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        Still, seeing so many listings with 0 views will take getting used to! It does make the listings that attract attention stand out so maybe this will be a learning for fine-tuning my sourcing.
        
        I’ve been listing at least five items every day for a few months now, and it’s pretty interesting to track which listings get quick watchers/sales and which don’t. It’s not always the items that I think will sell fast! Some items get a large number of watchers but no offers. More often, items that get a lot of watchers quickly do sell, as long as my pricing is reasonable.
        
        I often wonder how much views and even watchers really matter, in the grand scheme of things, compared to knowing what’s valuable to a certain type of buyer and why. Who knows how many of the views are people as opposed to web crawlers, and how much watchers are potential buyers rather than another seller tracking your item.
        
        One thing I can say for sure: promoted listings really affect listing impressions. I just started using promoted listings in the last few weeks, and my listing impressions are up 676% (not a typo) compared to the previous period. Sales, page views, etc are basically exactly the same, but even if those numbers were up or down 10%, sometimes that’s how things go over a few weeks or months.
        
        I promote all listings at 2%, but I’m no kind of expert on whether that’s a good policy compared to variable rates or all the other options they offer.
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