The Numbers: Week August 13-19, 2023

This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 7 months ago by Lukastreasure.

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- 08/23/2023 at 7:02 pm #100871
  Jay
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @jay
  Did you know that Costco branded clothes is popular among the youth? I guess you’d call it normcore? We found a pair of Costco sweatpants that we sold
  [See the full post at: The Numbers: Week August 13-19, 2023]
- 08/23/2023 at 9:16 pm #100874
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  I did see those sweatpants in your solds, and I was stunned! I mean, I like the Kirkland brand as much as anyone, but that much for a pair of sweats? Goes to show you that you have to research every item before you decide whether to list or donate.
  
  I’m wondering if anyone has had an issue with their USPS account; specifically with ordering supplies? I had several orders that were never delivered, and I had to call twice to get my order in. The second time it seemed like they bypassed my account, and I never got an answer to why I was having problems. I might create a new account with a different email if this keeps happening.
  
  I knew I was having a good week, but really didn’t know how well until doing my numbers. Of my 13 sales, only about four were $20 or less.
  
  Week of Aug 13 – 19
  Total Items in Store: 1705 eBay, 30 Etsy
  Items Sold: 13 eBay, 0 Etsy
  Cost of Items Sold: $0 + $171 Commission
  Total Sales: $758.99 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
  Highest Price Sold: eBay $220 Vintage Jindo Womens Long Mink Fur Coat
  Average price: $58.38
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 2
- 08/24/2023 at 4:04 pm #100877
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 846
  Items Sold: 9
  Gross Sales: $670.23 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Net Sales: $426.06 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $28
  Cost of helpers: $0
  Highest Price Sold: $329 (Folk Art Kinetic Balance Sculpture)
  Average Price Sold: $74.47
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $95 +/-
  Number of items listed this week: 0
  
  Had a nice sale this week of the sculpture. I hope it doesn’t get returned. Buyer wanted it faster than the label they paid for as a gift, then neglected to answer email before I sent it out. I spotted it up on a high shelf at a rummage sale and paid $3. Always look high and low.
  
  I’m pretty excited because everyone is settled into school and between now and early December is usually a good sales period for me on Ebay. One thrift pulled the trigger early on Halloween and I missed it being put out. The others usually shoot for September first I think. I always enjoy thrifting the Halloween and Christmas decor they hold back all year. It’s fun to scavenge away from home, but I realize how good I have it here. Many items to list in the piles of course. All it takes is a few good small hauls to get me away from piles progress. However, this year I really feel like I’m capable and have the time to throw these hauls into the pipeline. I also keep getting better and better at leaving unworthy items behind.
  
  To my knowledge, there is no youth run on Kirkland clothes happening here yet. That’s funny. What a great sale for you guys.
  - 08/25/2023 at 7:54 am #100879
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Nice sale! We always do well selling art (that’s interesting). I do hope things pick up this fall/winter. We’re ready for it.
    - 08/25/2023 at 2:37 pm #100881
      ChristineR
      Participant
      
      Location: Southern California
      @christiner
      
      Thanks Jay. I’m so grateful to 2 year Terapeak access. That was such a great improvement Ebay made. Only one of this design sold and the other designs were much lower.
      
      Starbucks started their fall drink menu yesterday. That’s about the time I started having good sales. Christmas is selling for me. https://www.starbucks.com/menu/product/2123563/hot?msclkid=3f16ab92cb731ec6a45ccf7a3e6604cf This is my fav. Maybe Broad Porch has a similar one? I need to learn how to make it at home.
- 08/26/2023 at 4:14 pm #100890
  craig rex
  Participant
  Location: south jersey
  @craig-rex
  Quiet in the thread this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer.
  
  I have been reflecting a lot over the last few weeks about how different my business is now compared to two years ago when I started doing this full-time. Three of the biggest changes:
  
  1. My store is much smaller now (max 500 items compared to 2500 and more) with much more diversity. My year over year eBay sales are down, but not anywhere close to 1/5 of where they were. My overall income is up because most of my trading card singles have been moved to my consignment port. They used to be my entire store. Trading card singles are still the leader in my store most weeks, but not always. I have a much better sense of what cards will sell quickly and a lot less attachment to needing the perfect buyer to come along and pay my BIN price or close to it. It is a lot less pressure and more fun this way.
  
  2. My inventory is much more organized. I put in a lot of time and effort into that over the last few months, and it was a massive project which was hugely rewarding. Recognizing that I’m just not that interested in finding and listing $10 items, and then actually donating them, was a huge step. So was making flat rate boxes of different types and seeing them sell. There is something very cathartic about the 10 minute walk I make to the post office and I enjoy it a lot more with a bin full of small packages (trading cards) and a few big boxes. That’s how I like my outgoing mail to look, always.
  
  3. I have developed a lot more confidence and willingness to take chances. Sometimes this meant losing a few bucks to learn about something new or learn how to do better research! I really couldn’t afford that when I started scavenging years ago and there was a period the last few years where I was all-in on trading cards, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to spend time on other areas. But I can afford to branch out now, and I love to learn about new things, so that’s what I’ve been doing. Really this isn’t only about flipping but in my life. The next few years are going to get really interesting.
  
  It’s amazing how quickly you can make massive changes to your flipping business when tiny changes happen so slowly within most organizations. I’m energized and excited for Q4 and beyond.
  
  I had slow sales last week, but I’m running my auctions twice a month now so that’s why so few items sold. Next week’s numbers are going to look a lot better.
  
  8/13/2023 to 8/19/2023
  
  Items sold: 16 (6 via best offer, 6 via seller initiated offer, 7 via promoted listings)
  
  Gross sales: $941.12 (down 72% from one year ago)
  
  Net sales: $588.42 (down 74% from one year ago)
  
  Average sales price: $58.82 (down 33% from one year ago)
  
  Highest price sold (net): $151.67 — Sergiu Celibidache Complete DG and Decca 33 CD box set
  
  This was one of the buys from my big haul in Chicago. Making a post about that soon and I’ll crunch all the numbers in detail. Not to spoil too much, but I had some nice sales. I am used to the trading card market, which is irrational in many ways, but music collectors are also willing to spend.
  
  Lowest price sold (net): $11.33 — Vegas Golden Knights 10 card hockey cards lot
  
  I have focused a lot of energy on really perfecting these small card lots sorted by team as i can make them fairly easy with “leftovers” from my constant flow single and lot purchases. It took some work getting the system in place where I had everything organized and it wasn’t taking up nine shelves and boxes on the floor, then figuring out how to create the lots and listings without too much extra work, and finally determining what cards will make the lots sell consistently.
  
  Now I’ve got a real system in place. When one lot sells, I package it up and sort out the cards for the next lot while I’ve got everything on the desk. Then I scan the new lot, put everything away and move onto the next team. I will usually do two at a time. I include three autographs and jerseys in each lot (these would typically sell for $1 to $3 each) and the rest of the cards are made up of the team’s top players and rookies. I have found that’s the best way for them to sell. The lots cost me $4 to $8 to make and I list them at $29.99 BIN/BO and sell them for $18 to $25. Every few weeks, I send all the team lots in my store to auction with a $14.99 starting bid and some more of them sell that way. If I want to clear space, and in the sports world there’s always the possibility of a player getting injured or traded, I drop the BIN/BO price to $19.99 or I run an auction with $9.99 starting bid.
  
  I had never used systems like this before. I have never been a very organized or methodical scavenger. But I wanted to try something new and knowing the market as I do, I felt like these type of small lots would sell well. It’s a little old school, more like how cards were bought and sold when I was a kid and everyone was about their collection and not just about the big flip with cards. I’ve sold over 100 of these small lots in the last 90 days, so that’s enough evidence for me that I have something here and keep putting in the work.
  - 08/28/2023 at 1:16 pm #100900
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    I bet collectors appreciate the thoughtfulness of your curated card lots. It seems really smart, especially for new collectors who might not have deep knowledge.
    
    Is it not common to sell a lot of one team?
    - 08/28/2023 at 8:00 pm #100917
      craig rex
      Participant
      
      Location: south jersey
      @craig-rex
      
      @Jay
      
      I think most card buyers these days do it in one of three ways:
      
      1. Join box breaks, which are where the breaker opens x boxes (usually however many in a case) of the same product on stream and you buy (or bid on) the teams (or players) you want and whatever gets pulled of your team gets sent to you. I’ve never joined a break but almost everyone I’ve run into, if they know something about modern cards, they know about breaks. I think a lot of people who are into collecting memorabilia or playing fantasy sports fall into this category. Casual buyers and gamblers.
      
      2. Buy boxes and open them to find what cards are inside, but this has become really expensive as you know. The best boxes are $1000 and up for a few cards, and the “quality” sets (not even high-end, like mid) are $250 and higher for one box of 10-20 packs. Even the junk boxes of undesirable sets in Target (which give you a miniscule chance of hitting autographs or anything cool — they’re almost all base cards) are $20-$30 each. As recently as five years ago, these boxes were $10 and you could get them on clearance sometimes for $5. But the pandemic put an end to all that. These are the high rollers.
      
      3. Buy singles on eBay (plus other sites and social media). This is my game as you know. But not everyone has the time (or desire) to search auctions for the best bargains, or like me they hate social media. But buying individual cards can add up real quickly in another way, since shipping in a 4 oz bubble mailer is $4 to $5 these days. There’s eBay standard envelope (and sub $20 people use it all the time), but if a card’s worth about $10 or more to you, you really want it in a bubble mailer with a little cardboard for protection.
      
      I think that’s how I’ve found my niche. I settled on 10 cards (which comes in just under 8 oz most of the time) shipped for a flat rate of $4.99 and I’ve been taking the time recently to research each team for a few minutes before I make the lot. So I’m not including a card of the player who just got sent to the minors or got into a fight with the coach and now everyone including the fans hates them. I scan every card in the lot, 4 scans (2 groups of 5 cards, front and back), which I think helps them sell as well. My buyers know what they’re getting. A lot of amateur hour sellers (and even some of the bigger ones) get sloppy when listing lots of cards (1 far away picture, half the cards not pictured) but my listings are much more professional looking.
      
      But it’s always about quality first and foremost. I could put ten junk cards in the lots and they would never sell, or ten cards which sell $20 each and get immediate sales. I’m starting to find the right balance of the types of cards to put in the lots, so they are more likely to sell fast. And then it’s on to the next one.
      - 08/30/2023 at 8:56 am #100926
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        I love your deep dive into your niche. Being thoughtful about any process makes us money.
        
        When we first starting selling on eBay, most sellers had the poor photos, only one photo, multi-font descriptions, restrictive shipping policies, and aggressively off putting “rules”. We took clear photos from different angles, shopped anywhere, and assumed buyers were decent people. We’ve successfully sold a lot of items over the years! Its good to see that most of eBay is much more like this now.
        
        And in our coffee business, we also emphasize hospitality. From the fresh ingredients, good design/atmosphere, and friendliness, I think our cafes are successful because its a place you want to be. Treat people well is the easiest thing any business can do.
        
        Back in 2008, it was incredible reading the depressing eBay forums where seller would go on and on about how buyers were crooks. Havent looked in a while but I assume those sellers are still there predicting the failure of eBay.
- 08/27/2023 at 3:36 pm #100892
  Temudgin
  Participant
  Location: Jacksonville FL
  @temudgin
  Week of 8/13 – 8/19
  Total items in Store: 380
  Items Sold: 6
  Gross Sales: $271.83 (w/o eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
  Cost of Items Sold: $129.61 (including consignment commissions but not the original cost of family castoffs)
  Highest Price Sold: $85 plus shipping (damaged USS America 1990 1991 Desert Shield/Desert Storm Deployment Cruise Book)
  Average Sales Price: $45.31 (not incl eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $9
  Number of new items listed: 0
  Not too bad for me for being on time away for the last 4 days of that week and no new listings. A funny thing about the book that was my highest price sold. I found it at an indy thrift for $5 and it had some major visible damage to the binding. When I went to research it, I found the exact same book on Worthpoint that had been sold on eBay a couple years ago with the same damage.
- 08/28/2023 at 11:47 am #100896
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store: 2539
  Items Sold: 32
  Total Sales: $1,038.00
  COGS: $139.00
  Total Profit: $899.00
  Average profit: $28.09
  Average sales price: $32.44
  New Listings: 0
  Items scavenged: 0
  Listing 2023 weekly Avg: 39
  
  Got a bunch of listings drafted and went on vacation on Thursday. Didn’t get everything done that I wanted to prior to leaving but that’s ok.
  
  Sold 6 premium hoarder items for $350 – the highlight being a $200 pair of Frye boots.
- 09/05/2023 at 9:53 am #100956
  Lukastreasure
  Participant
  Location: Chevy Chase, MD
  @lukastreasuretrove
  Crazy about those Costco sweats.
  
  Catching up after a few busy weeks. This was a sad week of sales.
  
  Week Ending 8/19/23
  Gross Sales(w/o shipping $ tax): $147.90
  Net Sales: $118.54
  Total Items Sold: 6 (all eBay)
  Total Items in eBay Store: 1205
  Total Items in Etsy Store: 515
  Cost of Items Sold: $31.69
  COGS Percent: 26.73%
  Highest Price Sold: $40.00
  Average Price Sold: $24.65
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
  
  Average Days Listed: 814
  Longest Listed: 2158
  New items listed: 0
  New Listings Value $0.00
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