The Numbers: August 7-13, 2022

This topic has 37 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 9 months ago by craig rex.

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- 08/15/2022 at 9:09 am #97280
  Jay
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @jay
  Solid week for us as summer starts winding down. We got a break from the crazy heat here which is very welcome. Otherwise, this is just an example of
  [See the full post at: The Numbers: August 7-13, 2022]
- 08/15/2022 at 9:49 am #97282
  The_SEAM_Store
  Participant
  Location: PA
  @the_seam_store
  Total Items in Store: 3711 listings for 5694 items
  Items Sold: 70
  Gross Sales: $3404.68 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $2620.99
  
  Cost of Items Sold: $844 ($142 mine / $702 consignors)
  
  $Highest Price Sold: $160 Brooks Brothers Blazer
  Average Price Sold: $48.64
  Returns: 2
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $88
  Number of items listed this week: 119
  
  Really been digging through my personal thrifted #lifepile these past few weeks. Some time in 2020, I put it all in inaccessible areas of the office, and blocked it in, in preparation for a huge consignment order. Over time the consignment sales began to outweigh personal sales, and it makes the money get weird, especially when it’s slow. In the past week or two Ebay menswear seemed to take a few shallow breaths, hopefully stirring from a long, long hibernation.
  - 08/15/2022 at 10:27 am #97284
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    You know us: we sometimes hold items for years before they sell 🙂
    
    Do your consignors have a time limit of when they want items sold? How patient are they? Whats the longest you’re willing to hold onto items personally. Does everything eventually sell?
    - 08/15/2022 at 11:06 am #97290
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      I think I have donated maybe a handful of non-selling items over the years. My oldest listed items, 2015 (1 item), 2016 (15 items), 2017 (86 items). I began offering consignment in May of 2018. Still have items a few items listed from that first batch. The store frequently goes on sale for a few weeks at a time, based on the length of time an item has been here, during the sale items could be anywhere from 5% to 50% off, with best offer option.
      - 08/15/2022 at 12:26 pm #97295
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Thats awesome that your consignors are patient. Sounds like they just go picking and give it all to you? Money comes when it comes?
        
        08/15/2022 at 1:43 pm #97301
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        My top two consignors typically get paid out between $1000-$2000 a month, but together they account for more than 25% of my listed inventory, and the bulk of my #lifepile too. The rest of them probably usually around $200 average. They already know upfront that they are sacrificing the quick sale to shoot for the higher price with me. They aren’t that patient for everything….They are always bugging me to send more stuff. Sometimes they send more stuff after I tell them not to. I can only do so much.
        
        08/15/2022 at 5:56 pm #97306
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        It’s nice they’re patient with getting paid. Guess it’s a good problem having too much inventory that sells for big money.
        
        08/15/2022 at 8:41 pm #97307
        
        The_SEAM_Store
        Participant
        
        Location: PA
        @the_seam_store
        
        If they become impatient, I can always buy them out for much cheaper, or send it all back, at their expense.
- 08/15/2022 at 10:34 am #97285
  JasonK
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @jasonk
  Total Items in Store: 872
  Items Sold: 58
  Gross Sales: $1,106.93 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $592.59 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $172
  Highest Price Sold: $70 (Lionel Locomotive)
  Average Price Sold: $19.09
  Returns: 1
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $172
  Number of items listed this week: 70
  
  I’m terrible about doing this consistently but here are the numbers for at least last week. Overall sales have been pretty blah, July was worse but we are still not selling 10 items a day which is my goal. Our average sale price is still super low as well and will probably remain that way until I start getting some traction with buying higher quality items through private collections as opposed to getting all my inventory from online auctions. I’m working hard at building the online presence for the business. I setup a Wix website a little over a month ago and this past weekend I created a Facebook page. I’d like to do at least one other social media platform but I’m honestly not sure which one. Our target demographic is retired men and I have no idea what social media that demographic uses. My little brother calls Facebook “boomer book” and says only old people use it so I figured that was the first place to start!
  - 08/15/2022 at 10:47 am #97286
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I bet there are specific collector groups for trains on Facebook. It is ironic how in just 15 years, Facebook went from the place where kids hung out to now mainly older people.
    - 08/15/2022 at 11:07 am #97291
      The_SEAM_Store
      Participant
      
      Location: PA
      @the_seam_store
      
      I think that’s because it only takes 15 years to go from a kid to an old person.
- 08/15/2022 at 11:05 am #97288
  JasonK
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @jasonk
  @Jay the collector groups might be a good idea, thanks for the suggestion. Despite being part of the “millennial” generation (barely) and an IT guy I’m a social media luddite. I’m not even sure if I can interact with those groups through my business Facebook “page” or if I have to do it as me and just reference my business. I have to start doing the same thing for my IT business too, customer acquisition is my least favorite part of the business.
- 08/15/2022 at 12:24 pm #97294
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 2139
  Items Sold 33
  Total Sales $823.00
  COGS $106.00
  Total Profit $717.00
  Average profit $21.73
  Average sales price $24.94
  New Listings 12
  Items scavenged 5
  Listing 2022 weekly Avg 50
  Sourcing Allotment 12
  
  Spent time at a family reunion this weekend instead of sourcing/working. We had a surprisingly great time. I did take some time to clean my listing area and got all listed stuff in inventory storage. I’m primed and ready for a good week of listing. I hope to see more activity on here than last week. Post your numbers people!
- 08/15/2022 at 2:40 pm #97302
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Vacation week
  
  Total Items in Store: 353
  Items Sold: 4
  Gross Sales: $337.23 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $232.33 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $51
  Highest Price Sold: $195 (New discontinued Williams Sonoma Serving Bowl, paid $35)
  Average Price Sold: $69
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 0
  
  These are numbers for last week while I had time away on. This week is completely dead but that was ok because I’m pretty sick with Covid, my Florida vacation souvenir. I was one of very few people wearing a mask indoors there on vacation, but it finally got me. I was hoping I was one of those rare people who didn’t get it but no.
  
  School starts on Friday. I look forward to feeling better and growing my store. Looking forward to hearing about your secret project R&J.
- 08/15/2022 at 4:22 pm #97303
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  ebay quarterly shipping coupon: anyone else having issues accessing the coupon. I tried about 2 weeks ago and the code would not load. Now when I go to the subscriber discount page and click on the shipping coupon button … nothing happens.
  - 08/15/2022 at 4:48 pm #97304
    The_SEAM_Store
    Participant
    
    Location: PA
    @the_seam_store
    Same for me, but I found that when I just go to the ebayshippingsupply store and begin shopping, the coupon is selectable in my cart at checkout.
- 08/15/2022 at 11:24 pm #97309
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  08/07/22 – 08/13/22
  
  Total Items In Store: 4560
  Items Sold: 21
  Total Sales: $ 983.96 (no shipping included)
  Highest Price Sold: $ 200 (Shoes)
  Average Price Sold: $ 46.86
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 144.83
  Number of items listed: 16
  
  Gut Sales Report for the week: Shipping was annoying. It is feeling like the start of the busy season to me, but it is too early for that.
  
  Focus for the week : Trying to make space in my basement and my 300 sq. ft. storage unit. I am expanding rapidly and running out of space. I want to hold off this March to get another storage unit.
  
  Scavenge of the week: Picked up a working Sony VCR for $5, will list for about $70. At the same garage sale, I bought 25 vintage manuals for VCR’s, DVD players, etc for just about $5. The total list price for the manuals is over $500.
  
  Thoughts for the week: New photographer is working out well. They are taking the best photos my store has seen. I just need someone to list now so that I can focus on buying more items and other aspects of the business. Too much work, not enough time.
  
  Mark S
  - 08/16/2022 at 7:16 am #97312
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Is this your fulltime job? You’ve really grown over the last several years.
    - 08/16/2022 at 8:39 am #97316
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      Jay,
      
      No, I still work a full-time job. But I was just thinking that ebay is starting to feel like a full-time job. I could definitely find things to do if I did it full-time. I would like to hire more people, but I want to make sure I have the right people.
      
      Mark
- 08/16/2022 at 7:10 am #97311
  kaninekleenup
  Participant
  Location:
  @kaninekleenup
  I was sending clothing to a local consignment store..the owner was glad to take anything. I received one small check after the first month, she kept asking for more stuff. I was close to bringing some good items and poof! The store was closed and empty….lots of good kid clothing gone….
  - 08/16/2022 at 7:17 am #97313
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Wonder is this could be then next big scam. Offer to sell stuff for people. Then disappear.
- 08/16/2022 at 7:47 am #97314
  ThriftShift
  Participant
  Location: Charleston, SC
  @thriftshift
  Total Items in Store: 20
  Items Sold: 0
  Cross-listed Poshmark: 15
  
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 2
  
  I had a 1000 item store in 2018-2020; but then moved to the Dominican Republic in April 2021 to renovate my MIL’s villa. It’s been a long hard road, but we are done in two weeks and it becomes an AirBnB until we can sell it. I had to close my eBay store and stop thrifting, as we moved with only a few suitcases. I tried to flip items here, but there is just no inventory, and no national postal system.
  
  I move to Charleston SC in two weeks where my husband already is working; I had spent a week there in July setting up house and went thrifting. I just love it. I have 20 items up now and he ships if they sell. I can’t wait to get back to the US and resell!
  - 08/16/2022 at 7:56 am #97315
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I bet that year in DR was an adventure!
- 08/16/2022 at 8:41 am #97317
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  It seems like Facebook Marketplace is gaining ground these days. I saw that Vendoo (https://www.vendoo.co/marketplaces) allows for cross-listing to Facebook Marketplace and Etsy as well as 8 other sites.
  
  I am thinking that I could increase sales by as much as 50% if I were to cross list to Etsy and Facebook Marketplace.
  
  Does anyone have experience with Vendoo to say how well it works?
  
  Mark
  - 08/16/2022 at 10:31 am #97320
    Zach
    Participant
    
    Location: Kansas City
    @zach
    I haven’t used Vendoo, but I use SixBit and cross-list to Shopify, which has integration to my Facebook Shop (which I have set up to also post on Facebook Marketplace).
    
    The integration between SixBit and Shopify has been pretty easy, but so far Facebook Marketplace has been a total bust. I had a few sales in the first week and 400+ clicks on my listings per day for a few days, but now it seems my listings are not even visible on Marketplace.
    
    Literally, I can type in the exact name of one of my items that is showing as active on Marketplace and it will not show up in Marketplace search results. No sales in almost 2 months. I only average maybe 4 clicks per day (which might be coming from my Facebook Store instead of Marketplace).
    
    I contacted Meta support, but it is an outsourced company that seems worthless. It’s been a month and they still haven’t given me any reason for why the items don’t show in Marketplace search.
    
    Anyway, maybe you’ll have better luck with Vendoo, but my experience cross-listing to Facebook via Shopify has been a waste of time and money so far.
    
    I also cross-list to Etsy using SixBit. I’ve had good luck with Etsy. It accounted for about 20% of my profit last year. That platform is friendly to vintage goods.
    - 08/16/2022 at 7:25 pm #97330
      Mark S
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @mark-s
      
      Zach,
      
      Was the issue with the interface from Shopify or was the issue with Facebook Marketplace itself?
      
      Mark
      - 08/18/2022 at 9:05 am #97335
        
        Zach
        Participant
        
        Location: Kansas City
        @zach
        
        I’m still trying to determine what is the root cause for the low traffic/sales.
        
        08/18/2022 at 9:25 am #97337
        
        Mark S
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @mark-s
        
        Ok, thanks for the reply.
        
        Mark
- 08/16/2022 at 10:19 am #97319
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Heads up,
  
  If you havent price compared pirateship lately, I suggest you do. Their cubic rates were improved and they are beating ebay rates pretty regularly. If you use parcel select, they now also do cubic rates on parcel packages.
  
  I just did a 10x8x6 3 lb package that even in my region beat the ebay rate by 50 cents. In the past that never happened.
  - 08/16/2022 at 1:23 pm #97329
    Temudgin
    Participant
    
    Location: Jacksonville FL
    @temudgin
    If you havent price compared pirateship lately, I suggest you do
    
    I second that. Lately, PirateShip’s Simple Export rate has been trouncing eBay’s International Standard by several dollars and of course they both beat straight USPS First Class International. I recently had a 4 oz item go to the UK for $10.99, where eBay was $14.00.
- 08/16/2022 at 12:32 pm #97327
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  It is nice to see so many people posting in this thread again. It was too quiet last week.
  
  I had a nice experience with eBay support this week as a buyer. I splurged on a nice new pillow for myself, but the seller used FedEx and there was a classic FedEx problem — package marked as delivered at 3:00 AM, but didn’t show up that day, or the next day, or the next. I opened a case and the seller uploaded the tracking and didn’t respond. I lost the case. But I filed an appeal and eBay refunded my money. Good to know that persistence and calm messages still get things done with eBay.
  
  8/7/2022 – 8/13/2022
  
  Total items in store: 1381 (up from 1373 last week)
  
  Items sold: 43 (33 via best offer, 1 via seller initiated offer, 21 via promoted listings)
  
  Gross sales: $3631.34 (up 22% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $2677.31 (up 28% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $84.45 (up 100% from one year ago)
  
  Time spent searching through online auction listings for new trading cards inventory: 13 hours (up from 10 hours last week)
  
  Highest price sold (net): $368.43 — Brett Favre 2022 National Black box 1/1 autograph
  
  This was my big prize from the National card show. The manufacturer Panini offered a trade-in program at the show where you could swap specific outstanding redemption cards in your account for one (or more) Black Boxes which contain a 1/1 stamped autograph inside. I had five or six eligible redemptions to trade, but I had never used this program before, so I only traded in two of them. The two cards I traded in cost me something like $50 total and I received one black box in return. Because the buy-in was so low, I decided to open my black box, and was lucky enough to find a popular player like Favre inside. I priced it high ($500) but in line with other expensive Favre autographs and the card sold within 24 hours of listing. The buyer sent me a few messages the day the package was marked delivered telling me how happy he was to add this to his and his daughter’s collection and how much he liked the card. It was another reminder that there’s no real reason to get nervous about selling something that’s a little more expensive. Most buyers, regardless of how much disposable income they have, just want to receive their item.
  
  Lowest price sold (net): $11.82 — Cayden Wallace 2021 Onyx autograph
  
  Onyx is one of a handful of companies who don’t have any licenses with the pro leagues, which you can always tell because the player on the card will be wearing a generic uniform. No logos or team names. I don’t sell a ton of cards like this since they don’t hold much value long-term. But certain players autographs are worth buying and selling for a brief period, like after the player gets drafted but before his new pro uniform cards have been made.
- 08/18/2022 at 3:35 am #97333
  Antique Frog
  Participant
  Location: Leicester
  @antique-frog
  I started an auction yesterday- so far it’s got one bid, two watchers and no views.
- 08/20/2022 at 12:51 pm #97344
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Steve Schultz,
  
  I just saw a clairtone project G at a yard sale. It wasn’t for sale, but holy moly – it was amazing! I didn’t know exactly what it was when I saw it, I just knew it was the most amazing stereo system I’ve ever seen in my life. Then I looked it up after I left.
  
  I think I’m gonna go back and see if they will put a price on it anyways. I don’t think he knew how specia it really was. It’s just his “garage radio”!!!!
- 08/22/2022 at 12:03 am #97349
  dwashnc
  Participant
  Location:
  @dwashnc
  Only 22 sales for 9k items? I know it will pick up for you guys in 4Q!
  - 08/22/2022 at 12:05 am #97350
    Retro Treasures WV
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @retro-treasures-wv
    I dread posting my numbers tomorrow. My store is as dead as this forum.
    - 08/22/2022 at 12:58 am #97351
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      I dread posting my numbers tomorrow. My store is as dead as this forum.
      
      Hey, compared to last week’s thread, the forum numbers were way up this week!
      
      I’ve noticed there are always more people logged in here than actively posting. Which probably makes sense considering this thread and listing challenge are basically the only two regular threads. I wonder if weekly threads with themes besides numbers or listings goals would encourage more posts. Not everyone tracks their numbers each week but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot to talk about. The flipping subreddit has threads on different days for Flip of the Week, Weekly Haul and a few other different themes. I’ve thought about posting threads like that here, but not sure where to post them or if others would be interested.
      - 08/22/2022 at 7:01 am #97356
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Last week Zack suggested rearranging/renaming some of the forum threads which Ryanne will do. If anyone has any suggestions, happy to do it.
        
        08/23/2022 at 8:44 pm #97403
        
        craig rex
        Participant
        
        Location: south jersey
        @craig-rex
        
        Last week Zack suggested rearranging/renaming some of the forum threads which Ryanne will do. If anyone has any suggestions, happy to do it.
        
        I would love to do a Scavenge of the Week thread every week. That’s the most fun part of scavenging and it’s always exciting to share your finds with others. If you guys made the forum, I’d be happy to create the new thread every Sunday. The least I could do for this community that’s given me so much.
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