The Numbers: Week July 23-29, 2023

A couple weeks ago, Craig suggested an experiment. We really love his contributions here and appreciate his insight on how he runs he store. His suggestion? Run a 50% sale.

I’m always skeptical of big sales since we don’t think our weird, vintage items are very price sensitive. Either someone wants them or they don’t. We have “make offer” on everything if an interested person wants to negotiate our price. We mostly don’t sell popular items. We sell the kind of items other people throw away. That’s our jam.

So how did the experiment go? We sold about twice as many items as we normally do. 55 items instead of about 23 items. We made $2100 instead of $800-$1000. Nice! but nothing gangbusters.

Maybe there were some buyers who didn’t want/know to “make offer” and needed the deep discount to purchase. Maybe we priced too high so the lower priced items popped up in people’s searches. We sold a lot of items for $10 or less, but we also sold some items for over $100 (that had originally been priced $300+). Any experiment that makes us money is a success in our book, but we’re still mulling over if there’s any long term strategy here. Selling items for $10 and less isn’t exciting. A race to the bottom seems like a losing game, but maybe we have to be more realistic on pricing.

We mentioned that we just finished a house renovation. Here it is. We purchased this place in October and did a gut renovation over the past ten months. Maybe Ryanne will share some before photos. We really like how it turned out!

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

Our Store Week July 23-29, 2023

Total Items in Store: 9341
Items Sold: 55
Gross Sales: $2,621.92 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2,100.22 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $188
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $220 (vintage lamp shades)
Average Price Sold: $38.18
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 10
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

This topic has 29 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 4 months ago by Lukastreasure.

Viewing 12 reply threads

Author

Posts
- 07/31/2023 at 7:40 am #100701
  Jay
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @jay
  A couple weeks ago, Craig suggested an experiment. We really love his contributions here and appreciate his insight on how he runs he store. His sugge
  [See the full post at: The Numbers: Week July 23-29, 2023]
- 07/31/2023 at 8:08 am #100703
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Wow that house looks AWESOME! I felt like I was looking in one of those interior decorating magazines looking at your photos.
  
  Did you have that acrylic/tree stump table made or did you find it scavenging?
  - 07/31/2023 at 9:03 am #100704
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Thanks. It’s been a long ten months. I hope Ryanne will post some before/after.
    
    During a long renovation, we spend time scavenging for art and furniture. We got that table for $300 at an auction. Usually closer to $2000: https://www.frontgate.com/root-coffee-table/1543439
    
    No idea how something like that is made. its real roots/wood and solid.
- 07/31/2023 at 10:48 am #100707
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store: 2421
  Items Sold: 44
  Total Sales: $1,686.00
  COGS: $246.00
  Total Profit: $1,436.00
  Average profit: $32.64
  Average sales price: $38.32
  New Listings: 65
  Items scavenged: 16
  Listing 2023 weekly Avg: 36
  Sourcing Allotment: 25
  
  My my, how perspective can change on a dime. I feel DISAPPOINTED that I ONLY have $1700 in sales this week. How funny! In the last 4 weeks I’ve made as much in sales as the previous 15 weeks combined!!! I really was hoping to hit $2k 3 weeks in a row.
  
  Ebay Sales this weekend were dead. I didn’t get a chance to photograph or finish listings until this weekend as it was a busy week. On top of that, we had a bug go through our house that finally made it to me. I felt like crap all weekend. My two oldest kids did plenty of shoe cleaning and photography so I still knocked out 65 items in two days. I still have 30 drafts that need photos. Not posting any new listings for 5 days likely hurt me. Well maybe I can get back on track this week with another $2k week.
  
  Fun listing fact – in the last 9 weeks I’ve listed 733 new listings. This is as much as I’ve listed in the last 44 weeks combined!
  
  Premium hoarder numbers for the week:
  
  Shoes – 6 pair for $522
  
  Clothing – 3 items for $189
  
  I powered through and listed all the lower dollar hoarder shoes that were basically throw ins. Multiple pair of Sperrys. I also listed the lower dollar new in box shoes that are definitely real.
  
  I got some more positive feedback from premium hoarder shoe buyers.
  
  Specificially this one:
  
  https://www.ebay.com/itm/266329021840
  
  I had a gift receipt from a gucci store for this pair, but when I looked at online guides for fakes and compared photos this one was questionable. I didn’t have the shoes anymore so I was just going off memory and my listing photos. This was the weekend where I was freaking out thinking I had bought a ton of fake shoes. I’ve calmed down a bit since then and I think the amount of fakes is just a few pair.
  
  I’ve made about half my investment back so far on only 33 sales – 15 clothing & 17 shoes.
  
  I’m averaging $60 per item on clothing and $150 on shoes – though I’ve mainly only listed used lower dollar shoes. If these numbers continue trending I’ll end up around $50k in sales once everything sells.
  
  Scavenging wise, it was a dead weekend. Yard sales were sparse and disappointing. even the big annual high school sale that I usually load up at was crappy. I did score a wireless pet fence system for $10 at goodwill that sells for $150. I’ve sold them before and it is always an insta-sale. The poor sourcing is ok though – I needed a break from sourcing so I can work on death pile listing this week. I already have my van loaded with plenty of death pile items as well as some more premium hoarder clothes and shoes.
  
  I have my inventory building organized and made space for 14 bins of new items this weekend. I have 3 weeks to list 267 items to complete my 1000 listing summer goal. Let’s goooo!
  - 07/31/2023 at 11:55 am #100710
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    If these numbers continue trending I’ll end up around $50k in sales once everything sells.
    
    That’s nuts!
    - 08/02/2023 at 2:28 pm #100735
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      The real nuts is that there is 10x more stuff that I haven’t seen yet. I may be able to go look at the real stash later this month.
  - 08/01/2023 at 7:46 am #100731
    Julie B
    Participant
    
    Location: Georgia
    @julie-b
    Is it just me or does there seem to be more clothing hoarders as of late? The last two weekends in a row the estate sales I went to both ended up being borderline clothing hoarders/ clothes shopping addicts. Saturday was closets and closets and closets full of NWT Talbots clothing being sold for $2 to $5 a piece. The weekend prior was a NWT Chico’s and Berek sweater hoarder. I cleaned up at both. The irony is I went to both sales looking for hard goods because I already have a great source for clothing and quite frankly, I’m a little burned out on clothes.
    
    In 2021 I went to the estate sale of a lady who had an ebay auction addiction where she bought mostly obscure ’90s european designer clothing. I’ve profited over $15K from that sale so far. I wish I had gone back on the last day of the sale but by then I was overwhelmed with the amount of clothing I already had to list.
    - 08/01/2023 at 7:55 am #100732
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      I think a lot has to do with the rise of fast fashion which really exploded in the last 10-15 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_fashion
      
      People can buy new clothes so cheap now through outlet malls, Ross, and other discount places. It’s like crack cocaine for clothing addicts.
      
      We certainly dont feel the same power of selling clothes on eBay as we did back in 2008.
- 07/31/2023 at 11:11 am #100708
  JasonK
  Participant
  Location: Florida
  @jasonk
  Nice to see your airbnb business is still growing. I’d love to do something similar here in Florida but the real-estate in Sarasota has gotten too rich for my blood.
  
  I’d say your experiment wasn’t a total dud but double the sales at half the price makes you think, did you really come out ahead? Guess it depends on your objectives. Another thing to analyze, were you selling more “old” items or was most of the sales boost from newer items. Either way, not a bad week overall.
  - 07/31/2023 at 11:57 am #100711
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    You hit the nail on the head. It’s a success because most items were old items so glad to see them gone, but its a losing game if we sold everything this cheap.
    
    We never know what people will buy which is why I always say we don’t have control no matter how low we bring prices down.
- 07/31/2023 at 11:35 am #100709
  BrianB
  Participant
  Location:
  @brianb
  The latest house is beautiful. I assume this is an addition to your short-term rental properties? Good work.
  - 07/31/2023 at 11:58 am #100712
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Yes, that link we included is on Airbnb, where you can rent the place.
    - 07/31/2023 at 1:24 pm #100716
      BrianB
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @brianb
      
      Oh, yeah, sorry. I was so focused on the nice pictures I didn’t notice the site was air B n B. Really looks nice.
- 07/31/2023 at 2:11 pm #100720
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  That new AirBnB is gorgeous. I almost want to take a long weekend in the fall and go. I’ll have to talk to my family about it. One thing about it, other than how nice it looks, is the number of full bathrooms. Your other homes have only one full bathroom, and this one has three.
  
  My week was pretty sucky with three days where I had no sales. Interestingly, I’ve had one sale from Etsy for a few weeks in a row, and I’m getting low in inventory there. I did bid in an online auction last week, so I’ll have to get more inventory back up there.
  
  Week of Jul 23 – 29
  Total Items in Store: 1714 eBay, 25 Etsy
  Items Sold: 6 eBay, 1 Etsy
  Cost of Items Sold: $3 + $12.50 Commission
  Total Sales: $119.17 eBay, $35.90 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
  Highest Price Sold: eBay $34 for 1960s Lady Sutton Shirt; $35.90 for Vintage Glengoyne Whiskey Pitcher
  Average price: $22
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $116
  Number of items listed this week: 13
  - 07/31/2023 at 7:38 pm #100724
    Ryanne
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @ryanne
    This house and our first rental have 1.5 baths. The other two only have 1 full bath. Just to get techinical 😂
    - 07/31/2023 at 10:12 pm #100726
      Sharyn
      Participant
      
      Location: Central NJ
      @sharyn
      
      Yes, I guess I was just counting the full bathrooms.
    - 08/03/2023 at 11:39 am #100738
      Sharyn
      Participant
      
      Location: Central NJ
      @sharyn
      
      I happened to take a second look today, and I see I misread the 3 bedrooms 4 beds as 3 bathrooms 4 beds. I don’t know how I didn’t see the 1.5 bathrooms. Either way, it is absolutely stunning.
- 07/31/2023 at 7:36 pm #100723
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  Hi all!
  
  Here are the before photos on my Dropbox. Let me know if you can’t see them. What a project! So happy its up and listed on Airbnb finally. Hope some of you really will come visit.
  - 07/31/2023 at 10:13 pm #100727
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    I can hardly see how the before and after photos are even related. From narrow and boxy to light and airy, just doesn’t compute!
  - 08/01/2023 at 7:29 am #100729
    Julie B
    Participant
    
    Location: Georgia
    @julie-b
    How is that even the same house?! Bravo! You have an amazing eye and work ethic.
    
    Edit to add: The cat pillow – so cute.
    - 08/01/2023 at 7:43 am #100730
      Ryanne
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @ryanne
      
      thank you!
- 08/02/2023 at 11:52 am #100734
  Temudgin
  Participant
  Location: Jacksonville FL
  @temudgin
  That house is amazing; the reno and furnishings! And the listing looks great. You are real pros at all of it.
  
  Week of 7/23 – 7/29
  Total items in Store: 355
  Items Sold: 4
  Gross Sales: $68.46 (w/o eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $0 (including consignment commissions but not the original cost of family castoffs)
  Highest Price Sold: $25 plus shipping (Bosch Refrigerator FreshProtect Ethylene Absorber Starter Kit)
  Average Sales Price: $17.12 (not incl eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
  Number of new items listed: 13
  
  I have not posted here in a while, partially due to some travel and also because sales have been abysmal for June and July so not worth reporting; 4 items sold is the most I’ve sold in a week since May. At least I’ve been listing.
  - 08/03/2023 at 7:22 am #100736
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Travel is good! Slow sales is bad. Listings is the key.
- 08/03/2023 at 10:37 am #100737
  Antique Frog
  Participant
  Location: Leicester
  @antique-frog
  Looks great! Really nicely furnished and gorgeous staircase/landing/attic room.
  
  I spent a few hours last week vacuuming mouse droppings and dog poo off the floor of a hoarder’s house (and off the sofa- tide marks where the mice ran along the cushions), so I’ve got a really biased opinion 🙂
- 08/05/2023 at 4:24 pm #100739
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  @Jay I love to see the results of experiments, good bad or ugly. I agree that it’s not exciting selling items for $10 no matter how you get to that sold price — buy it now for $10, 50% off sale or an auction with a $9.99 opening bid that only gets one bid.
  
  But it’s nice getting those more expensive $100+ sales from price reductions and sales. Would the same stuff sell in six months or a year at its original higher price? Maybe! But I think there are a lot of instances where it is preferable to close the sale now and use the cash for something else. Especially for you and Ryanne, since you have other income streams which gives you a more freedom to experiment with eBay if you choose.
  
  Love the new airbnb listing, the transformation is unreal and that coffee table is something else. I hope to come visit and explore the Luray area sometime in the next year or so. Everything you two are working on is a huge inspiration to me.
  
  Two weeks worth of numbers for me this time around. I have a big scavenge of the week type post coming up soon which I can’t wait to share with everyone. Just finalizing one more piece of the deal before I post it up. It’s not related to sports or trading cards in any way, and I don’t think I would have had the confidence to make the deal if it weren’t for the conversations on these forums.
  
  7/16/2023 to 7/22/2023
  
  Items sold: 39 (18 via best offer, 15 via seller initiated offer, 25 via promoted listings)
  
  Gross sales: $1587.66 (down 40% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $1044.65 (down 51% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $40.71 (down 18% from one year ago)
  
  Highest price sold (net): $60.96 — Domingo German (New York Yankees pitcher) Bowman Chrome 1st autograph
  
  Lowest price sold (net): $9.75 — Dylan Carlson (St. Louis Cardinals) Leaf Flash autograph # to 25
  
  7/23/2023 to 7/29/2023
  
  Items sold: 27 (15 via best offer, 4 via seller initiated offer, 18 via promoted listings)
  
  Gross sales: $1196.09 (down 50% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $831.82 (down 57% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $44.30 (down 20% from one year ago)
  
  Highest price sold (net): $126.47 — Amazing Spiderman 2011 Marvel Comic Cuts panel card #5/80
  
  Lowest price sold (net): $11.16 — Stories from the Mines DVD (anthracite coal mining documentary)
  
  I was on time away for the second half of the week of the 23rd, so I am really happy with these numbers. I sent a message to every buyer reminding them I could not ship until the middle of the following week and no one had a problem with it. In fact, about half of them sent messages telling me to enjoy the time off. So much of our online communication has become nonexistent or automated that I think it’s almost a nice surprise when you find out you’re dealing with another human being.
  - 08/07/2023 at 9:08 am #100748
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I cant wait to hear about this haul you purchased. Knowing you, I bet you went all in.
- 08/07/2023 at 11:43 am #100755
  Steve List
  Participant
  Location: Richmond, Calif.
  @steve-list
  J and R, you must have a touch of magic to transform that old-looking shack into the beautiful Air B and B it now is – fantastic eyes. It has been amazing following your adventures from when you started refurbishing your first live-in house to now when you have four Air B and B’s along with a coffee shop, and a coffee bean roasting facility.
  
  Monthly numbers for July: 07/1 – 07/31
  
  Total listings: 1593
  Items sold: 38
  Sales: $788.21
  Highest price sold: $140 Ghost on Pumpkin Blow-Mold – local pickup
  Average price sold: $20.74
  Cost of items sold: $51.40 / average cost: 1.35 each
  Spent on new inventory: $12
  Number of items listed: 89
  
  About the same numbers as last month although I did have two $100 plus sales, both for items that I paid less than $5 for. I have been holding back from going to estate and yard sales as I just have too much stuff to go through.
- 08/22/2023 at 2:55 pm #100859
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  Wow, I’m gob smacked with the house. 🙂 I can’t believe what you did with the place. It was so dark and cramped, but we saw it when all the rooms were stuffed with junk. What a vision you had. It turned out really nice. Did you have to haul off all the junk in the woods, too? Congratulations!!
  - 08/23/2023 at 10:36 am #100865
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I personally trucked away four loads of garbage and junk. Then we had a backhoe load up two construction dumpsters of those old out buildings.
    
    With a project like this,its best to just strip it all away and start fresh. There was no “lets just remodel” to be done.
- 08/23/2023 at 11:49 am #100866
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  <p style=”text-align: left;”>I can believe it. That was a lot of stuff. They reminded me of my father and grandfather who never threw anything away just in case they ever needed it.</p>
  I’m so impressed by the transformation. You guys really have the eye for it. Pity you didn’t put your videographer skills to work and video the process. That would be a hit on YouTube.
Author

Posts