Scavenger Life Episode 345: Always Do The Numbers

J&R: Glad you guys are having a good week, or had a good week last week. My numbers are horrible. Didn’t sell much and had a rather expensive return. Oh well, hope springs eternal. Thanks for the latest podcast.

Week of 1/21-1/27

Total Items in Store: 1,750
Number of Items Listed: 124
Number of Items Sold: 52
(Includes 0 Etsy, 1 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether)
Weekly STR: 13%

Total Product Sales: $1,285
Cost of Items Sold: $265
Highest Item Sold: $90 – NWT Banana Republic Brown Glen Plaid Overcoat
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and Troy leads the year 3-1.

eBay Clothing
# Listed: 1,033
# Sold: 38
STR: 16%
ASP: $26.11

eBay Shoes
# Listed: 105
# Sold: 2
STR: 8%
ASP: $20.00

eBay Hard Goods
# Listed: 612
# Sold: 12
STR: 8%
ASP: $21.02

Etsy Hard Goods
# Listed: 118
# Sold: 0
STR: 0%
ASP: $0.00

Very slow week for us, though it started to pick back up this weekend. I think the bugs that we have had to deal with are part of this.

Ryanne, you said you haven’t seen the issue with FedEx SmartPost? So you have still been using SmartPost all week, and the cost to the buyer was the same (or slightly more) that what your label cost is? For us, the cost to the buyer has been normal, but the SmartPost cost is much higher.

Of our 3 major bugs, this one is still open. We have our eBay Guaranteed Delivery bug resolved, but our Global Shipping Program is still open as well. I have a message from our UK rep that does not seem to have good news for us…meaning that we may not decide to use GSP since the eBay GSP solution is not as good as what we can do.

Yeah, I just reread the issue with GSP. They say that you can have ONLY GSP as your international shipping option. So the only countries that we could ship to is:

Bahrain
Brazil
Canada
China
Kuwait
New Zealand
Qatar
Saudi
Arabia
Switzerland
Thailand
United Arab Emirates

We ship a lot to Australia, Russia, Chile, Argentina, etc. I don’t want to limit our business by only shipping to this small list of countries. If and when the list of countries expands, then we will opt back in.

The frustrating part is that we were told that if we are in GSP, then if the buyer was in GSP, then the shipping options for them would be GSP. But if the buyer was in a country that is not part of GSP, then they would buy from us direct (as we have done since 2004).

So, I guess we are down to just one major gitch, the FedEx issue. We removed FedEx from all our listings, and I’m hoping it is fixed so that we can offer that to our customers again…

I have a lot of shipping to do today and just hoping the FedEx issue is solved. Its funny I was oblivious to the whole ‘can’t buy 1st class issue’ which is probably for the better, come to think about it probably because I don’t really do the calculated first class – I just handle first class fixed price.

So I do business policies – which is great – and up till now I have just been to stubborn to take the fedex smart post option off – though I probably will today if it is still causing headaches. But to the point on the podcast – yes it is really just that easy. Also – I have a MESS of business policies with so many I don’t use. I simply just don’t worry about it – the way the policies auto sort it puts the ones most used at top so it is pretty easy for me to find what I am looking for. It makes for endless features and it is really easy to manage in bulk. If/when I have an employee I feel like it will be easy just to say which business policy we are using and even if they used the wrong one it I would be easy enough to change. I take global shipping off or add it just like that and do all sorts of things all the time – its nice.

Week was funny – slow in the beginning. Still recovering for my inventory debacle last week – have been selling off some coin inv in bulk and actually taking a loss on some of it so long as my accountants say i can as i spent the money grading the coins a couple of years back before i was running the business as it is today. Had a very good sourcing week. Bought a large lot of Car service manuals, a porcelain bird collection, some more coins, very nice stereo speakers for a song. Have been listing everything in my house we don’t use as well – have told my wife anything in our basement is fair game and I think she did a double take when she saw some of her old stuff up on Ebay.

Also – following last weeks mess with my third party I have been working on my posting just through ebay and revisited what I had been doing with file exchange and just doing it instead through ebay bulk editor. Hacking around Sunday AM I was able to get 20 up just in a couple of hours so it will be interesting to see how fast I get over the next week or so as I am focused full time on refining… It looks like listing VIA spreadsheet model right in organic Ebay is now very viable and I am excited to see how it goes. I hit 1,000 listings and have my cross hairs on 2,000 —

1/21/18- 1/28/18

Total Listing in store (beginning of week): 967
Total items (including multiple item listings): 1040
Value of inventory listed beginning of week: $37,635.55
Value if inventory listed end of week: $39,097.38
Items sold: 34
Weekly sell through (based on number of listings): 3.52%
Total Sales: $682.40 (shipping backed out)
Average price: $20.07
Cost of items sold: $364.79
average cost of item sold (pre fees): $10.73
Gross profit: $317.61
Highest item sold: Wholesale Lot of NGC Certified Coins: 21 coins silver & clad Franklin, Kennedy.. 115.84
New items listed: 100
Asking price of new items listed: $2,144.23
Cost of new items listed: 202.77
average ask of newly list: 21.44
average cost of newly list: 2.03

Week January 20-27, 2018

Total Items in Store: 852
Items Sold: 19 (3 Amazon, 2 Facebook)
Cost of Items Sold: $96 (12.7% of sales)
Total Sales: $754.27
Highest Price Sold: $149.99 (1962 Barbie)
Average Price Sold: $39.70
Returns: 0 (1 buyer contacted me and might be returning, just didn’t like it and paying return shipping)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 30
Promoted listings test: 8 sales, $331.97 (44% of total sales), $20.83 fees (6.3% of sales)

Good to hear on the show this morning that others had an extremely slow early week with these glitches. I didn’t sell anything on eBay Monday or Tuesday (sold a couple thing son Amazon though). Also started dabbling in a FB group – have been lurking around for a bit, but finally put a few things up and so far everything has been smooth.

No picking this week as I spent a ton last week (nearly $1500) and had to get everything listed. Listed high on the luxury fashion items I had, we’ll see what happens. Also listed the shoes & sunglasses on Poshmark. Between Poshmark & FB selling groups, trying to expand my client base. Will report back if it’s successful or more work that it’s worth.

A ‘Driver’ is actually a wood, it’s a ONE wood….

Thanks for the podcast guys!

Here are my numbers for the week:

Total Items in Store: 2119
Items Sold: 46
Total Sales: $1008
Cost of Items Sold: $128
Average Price Sold: $21.91
Average Cost of Item: $2.8
Highest Price Item Sold: $59.95 Chicago cutlery set of 6 steak knives
Number of items listed this week: 33
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 311
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 188
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 91
Sell-through rate (for the week): 2.17%
# of Hats Sold: 30 (65% of sales)

It was a surprisingly busy week for me. I rarely crack the $1000 threshold in weekly sales. I definitely wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t tracking the numbers carefully. My sales volume were all over the place from day to day. I had a few very busy days then a few very quiet days. It’s so weird that retail sales are variable like that. Who would have guessed that so many people would be buying baseball hats at this time of year.

I bumped into the first-class international shipping issue on Monday on eBay. I went onto PayPal and had the exact same issue. I don’t really understood the current connection between eBay and PayPal but I wonder if this particular shipping issue was actually with PayPal. (I ended up shipping directly through the USPS website).

I got a neutral feedback this week. The comment was “Good quality nice” — people are strange.

Slow week for sales! But I picked up more auction stuff and started listing it. For a grand total of about $300, got a metallurgical saw (hoping for $3k), a big lot of circuit breaker lockout parts (hoping for $3k total although it’ll sell slowly), and a pump probe (should be $300).

Sales: CAD$615, 5 items, COGS $112 –> item profit $398
Expenditures: $311
Cashflow after tax: $111
Notable sales: multimeter $15–>$140, plates (ciroa brand) $20–>$125

I have listed a LOT of high-dollar items lately at the expense of lower-dollar ones, so I feel like I’ve got to just get used to sparser sales. Fingers crossed!

Total Items in Store: 465
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $52 + $21 free shipping
Total Sales: $213
Highest Price Sold: $40 (Pair of new Pottery Barn pillow cases – paid $12 two weeks ago)
Average Price Sold: $21
Returns: 0, one $200 no pay last week.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: One item for $6
Number of items listed this week: 0

Felt slow but it was an extremely busy week outside Ebay so no listing.

Made the no kids trip to LA this weekend. Finally got to stop at Oceanic Arts. Paul, you recommended this place for tiki lovers. It was a bit frustrating though because it was really part museum and part store. The staff brought the cute old guy out who’s owned the place forever because I wanted to buy this AWESOME carved wood panel for our backyard – one of the many “NSF” items on the sales area of the floor. He’s like “oh, that’s from our old store in Hawaii”, “our local carver isn’t skilled enough to reproduce it”, etc. and I tried to sweet talk him and offer $ but no luck. It was a real treat though to look at all the authentic tiki stuff and I bought a few items they would sell that made me happy.

Then, I had a short amount of time to thrift in Torrance. Made it to the huge Savers and GW. The prices seemed high, especially GW. and the % of stuff was way more made in China new. We have limited shopping in my area and lots of old people, so the mix is more vintage here and the prices are slightly lower even at chains. Didn’t buy much. Also hit a store ironically called “Cheap Vintage” with cool midcentury stuff. Looked around and found nothing is priced, it’s all dusty and crammed full. The people were just hoarders with sky high prices. So, kind of a frustrating weekend for buying, but always fun to hunt in new territory. Salvation Army was closed Sunday when I could go, so will try to get there next time. Thanks to the Joe and the other guy in LA for the recommendations!

I’d be so tempted to cull some old stuff when you start to reorganize your storage R & J. I know it’s about volume but it would be tempting to freshen up I think while you are touching everything. Even going through my death piles now I find some items I’m not at all keen to list but I feel determined to eat my vegetables. Will feel good I’m sure when you have it all organized and in one place, so I’m very excited for you. Have a great week.

Jan 21-27
Total Items in Store: 1231
Items Sold: 19
Total Sales : $851
Highest Price: $400 (Antique Distressed Red & Blue Wool Hand Knotted Persian Serapi Heriz Rug)
Average Price: $45
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $38
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $625 (woof!)

Another average week of sales. I had the same issue with slow sale days and I think you’re right about all the changes making people shy away from buying this week. It it wasn’t for my awesome rug sale, I would’ve had a louse week. I focused this week on photographing and listing antique photographs. Mostly snapshots and cabinet cards from the ‘20s. There was some pretty cool stuff, but they don’t seem to be getting a lot of interest. I think I priced them reasonably, but they may just be long tail items.

I went to an auction on Thursday with the intent to not spend a lot. HA! Over $600 later and I’m wondering what the hell happened! I think I got some pretty cool items though. My buy of the day would be a whole six-volume set of Keystone View Co Stereographic Cards along with the electric viewer. That alone was $250 (double woof!) but I think I can sell it for around $500. It’s part of my resolution to start buying more expensive things for bigger profit margins. And now I have the capital to invest in these bigger purchases without worrying (too much).

An interesting thing happened last week. I came home to find a box at my doorstep labeled Return to Sender. Inside was a set of camping mugs that I sold back on Dec. 22, over a month ago. I don’t make it a habit to track all my packages unless they’re over $100. There was no contact from the buyer saying hey, where’s my stuff? The tracking said that there wasn’t any secure location to place the item and the buyer didn’t come to the post office to pick it up. I called eBay just to get a clear understanding of my options. They said to contact the buyer to see if he wants a refund or to pay to have it reshipped. So I did, but haven’t heard back. Would you automatically refund the buyer in this instance, or wait for a reply first? And what if he never replies? I’m wondering if maybe he passed away or had to leave the country right after ordering the mugs.

I wouldn’t auto-refund the buyer. If they have a shaky address then it might be better to communicate with them first. I sold a pair of shoes to a guy in Africa one time that came back undeliverable. I contacted the guy, never heard from him so relisted the shoes about a month later. If he ever responded I would just refund his $.

Items in Store 978
Items Sold 23
Total Sales $709.00
COGS $78.20
Total Profit $630.80
Average profit $27.43
Average sales price $30.83
Highest price Sale: $110 Dr Comfort Women’s shoes

My numbers are a little skewed. A $20 sale is going to end up an unpaid item and I got a return request for a pair of $90 shoes. I’m trying not to let that one bother me but I suspect they are abusing the item not as described return system. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. They haven’t shipped them yet.

Good news for the week: I went a whole week without a late shipment. Yay! The late shipment rate metric has killed me. Sometimes I’ll get everything printed and ready to go to the post office within my handling time, but I get held up at work and can’t get it to the PO until the next morning. I have 5.5% late shipment rate because of it. I’m making a concentrated effort to get that back down and get back to TRS.

The urge to get a helper is becoming quite strong. The time I have to list is just becoming less and less. This weekend I had to replace a toilet in the house and that turned into a bigger project than planned. Listing time went bye bye. If I had someone to do basic clothes and/or shoes that would be a HUGE help.

Having said all that, I just need to get through the next 6 weeks with decent progress. Daylight Saving Time is just around the corner in early March. Once I get that hour of daylight back in the evening my productivity goes through the roof on all fronts. I really do dislike winter. All I want to do is eat and sit on the couch in the winter. BOOO Winter!

Have a great week everyone.

Slow week for me as well.

Jan 21-27 2018

• Total Items in Store: 815
• Items Sold: 13 all ebay
• International 2 GSP
• Total Sales $668
• Highest Price $150 Turntable Headshell
• Average Price Sold: $51
• Returns: 4
• Cost of Items Sold: $70
• Cost of items purchased this week $200

I sometimes go for months without a return or complaint but this week it poured.
Worst is the Sansui amp for $1200, buyer says it doesn’t fit on his stand, oh well it will sell again but he doesn’t want to pay the 20% restocking fee and has sent it back already, can he still leave bad feed back if I don’t succumb to his request?

I was sent to the corner for a day by eBay on Saturday, suspended selling account for listing cap gun caps like the one I sold last week. Apparently eBay considers the toy cap rolls a pyrotechnic device and they are banned, of course there are all sorts of them listed for sale.
After a couple of mine were taken down I decided I wouldn’t list anymore but I should of taken the others down as well.
Lesson learned.

Week of Jan 21 – 27
* Total Items in Store: 1202
* Items Sold: 21
* Cost of Items Sold: $25.55 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $473.35
* Highest Price Sold: $108 Vintage Hoffman Sparkling Water sign
* Average Price Sold: $22.54
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 27

Actually had a decent week, although, with the first class and Smartpost issues, I had thought it was slow.

I bid in two online auctions this past week, but I was outbid in both. Since I’m still working on my deathpiles/backlog, I’m OK with that.

I had that EXACT scenario that the caller with the crazy Iceland buyer had. The person was in the US in my case, and he created a second account to get around the block. In my case, Ebay had me cancel the sale, and when he left a negative Ebay removed it under “disruption of business”. Hope this helps!

Since I mainly sell hats, I wash a lot of them. I just hand wash them in the sink. I use Dawn soap usually. I do buy hats that are really gross lol. Most of the time they clean up fine, especially the polyester 70’s ones. I put them outside to dry.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by ChristineK.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by ChristineK.

Store Week 1/21/18-1/27/18

Total items in store: 1570
Items sold: 13
Cost of items sold: $8.84
Total sales: $438.92
Highest price sold: $100.00 (1960s Steve McQueen Poster)
Average price sold: $33.76
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory this week: $44.54

It was a very slow week around here as well. Not many solds, and low prices for the most part. But enjoyed the week nonetheless, and I was appreciating eBay as I had the chance to go out of town for the night to a concert (and of course scavenging), with no worry of rushing back to get to work.

Also, today is my eBayiversary! I went full-time on eBay one year ago today, and haven’t looked back. I also got my 1099 from Paypal today and had better numbers than I thought! I’m anxious to see how it all shakes out when I do taxes and figure out all of my costs, but I think I’m doing pretty well for someone who “sells old shoes on the Internet.”

Speaking of free shipping, I did a price check on all my electronics priced at $50+ and noticed that a lot of sellers had moved to free shipping. This was true even for heavier items (10lbs or more.)

I decided to do an experiment and listed a DVD/VCR combo $30 above my usual price point w/ free shipping. It sold within a handful of days to someone a few states over, running me just around $16 for shipping, meaning I walked away with more money than I thought I would for offering “free” shipping. I then ran the same size/weight over eBay’s shipping calculator and was glad the buyer wasn’t on the west coast, as shipping went from $16 to nearly $50.

I’m glad someone brought up eBay’s shipping rate tables, because it’s exactly what I was looking for.

Since I already use business policies, I was able to create a shipping rate table that I can now apply to all of my electronics I’d like to ship for “free”, although it’s more like “free if you’re in the midwest, discounted if you’re not” now.

I guess we’ll see how buyer psychology plays out. Just looking at where my customers have been located before, it’s apparent that high shipping cost has chased away potential buyers in some states. A $40 with $30 shipping isn’t exactly the greatest look, I’m guessing.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by IndySales.

RR Store Week Jan 21-27, 2017

Total Items in Store: 1440
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Items Sold: $37.42
Total Sales: $367.38
Highest Price Sold: $54.99 (NWT Band Of Outsiders polo shirt)
Average Price Sold: $15.97
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $93.49
Number of items listed this week: 54

Wow. And not just wow because this was my worst week since last summer. But also wow because yesterday (Sunday), I made just over $300. With shipping fees, it was almost as much as I made all last week. Crazy. Listing was inconsistent, and I did fall short of my goal. But days like yesterday tell me that I’m on the right track. Now that I’m mobile again, I’m trying to find the right balance between sourcing and listing.

One of the thrift stores near my pad got in a huge load of clothing from the brand Band Of Outsiders. I don’t know much about current fashion, as vintage is more my specialty. But a quick scan of Completed Listings show it’s a high end brand. The store had dozens of pieces; looks like they came from a sample sale…maybe the leftovers after the sale was over. I found plenty of cheap stuff, but then the prices spiked. I guess the pricer figured out they were an expensive brand and bumped up the prices. But I still got a bunch of great stuff on the cheap and it’s already starting to sell. Here’s to a much better week.

Paul

Sales were slow for me this week and I had no big ticket sales to bail out my numbers.

Week of January 21-27
Total items in store start of week: 250
Total items in store end of week: 260
Total sales: $114.97 (does not include shipping)
# items sold: 5
Weekly Sell Through Rate: 2.0%
Average Sales Price: $22.99
Returns: 0
# items listed: 15

I was pleased to hit my modest listing goal for the second week in a row. It’s a long road to 500, but I will get there slowly but surely.

Next weeks total items in store goal: 270

01/21/18 – 01/27/18

Total Items In Store: 2,177
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $60 (around)
Total Sales: $836
Highest Price Sold: $350 Dry Suit
Average Price Sold: $ 52.25
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 216
Number of Items listed this week: 57

Slow week of sales. The dry Suit saved the week.

Mark

Total Items In Store: 503
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: approx $65
Total Sales: $251.39
Highest Price Sold: $90 set of 4 mini mugs
Average Price Sold: $26.93
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 250 (big sourcing weekend)
Number of Items listed this week: 46

Horrible week. Goal right now is $500 a week. Got a long way to go at this rate. Putting my nose down and listing all this new stuff will hopefully help!!!

My numbers for the week of 1/21/18:
Total Items in Store: 130
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $51
Total Sales: $519 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $100 (Lot of Hardy Boys Books)
Average Price Sold: $39.92
Returns: 0

I had alot of higher (for me) than average sales prices which made it a solid week. I notice that is is easier to “feel” successful when the number of items is larger, even if the dollar amount isn’t. More cha-chings, more packages being packed, I nice pile of boxes for the mailman. It’s easy to see how a person can get a false sense of busy vs slow and how it really compares to profit.

I feel that as a seller I earn my discount for shipping. I had (and still do) fixed prices for first class and way back when I first started I offered a refund if I overcharged by more than a dollar. Never refunded but once. A young girl purchased something small… don’t remember what but she asked for her shipping refund of $0.52 and would not accept my policy of $1 minimum. So she got her money back and I stopped offering any refund except if buyers get nasty.
I still offer full refunds but don’t refund shipping as a general rule.

I had a buyer request a refund for doesn’t fit on Jan 23rd. The return was accepted. As of this morning, then still had not sent the item back. Call ebay and have them close the case, right?

Well, that wasn’t so easy. I called ebay and the rep told me to contact the buyer. I hang up after repeated requests for her to close the case. Called back again and the rep sent me to another department. That guy gave me the run around. So I had the documentation ready and told him the ebay rules that the buyer has 5 days to send the item back. He said he would have to check. He checked and then closed the case. I thought this was a slam dunk. Not so easy. I don’t think the reps know their rules very well.

So, if you have this issue, you may have to read the rules to them. I found the place in the rules where they have 5 days to return it, but couldn’t find it stated explicitly that you can have the case closed. Anyone know where that is stated?

Mark

I am finding very few cases where FedEx SmartPost is cheaper than USPS. Just had 1 for California, but that is the only one that comes to mind. Is everyone having the same experience with the new SmartPost rates?

Mark

Crazy that the first month of the year is over already.

Here are my almost final numbers for the month

Jan 1st-Jan 31st
Ebay Stores
Total Item Count on Jan 31st: 1459
Jan Gross Sales: $10394
Items Sold: 244 @ 42.59 avg sale price
Total paid for items sold: $1469

Amazon FBA Store:
Items left in Store on Jan 31st: 316
Total Sales: $3848
Items Sold: 67 @ 57.43

Total Sales: $14242
Items Sold: 311

I save my previous years totals jan15:$12284 jan16:$9046 Jan17:$10566
So this was our best Jan but that probably doesn’t mean anything in the longrun. Sales were strong the whole month for us except that amazon slowed down in the second half mostly because of a lack of inventory sent in on our part.

and yes Jay you are correct: There are no ghosts. There is definitely alien life outside of planet earth but I believe that whatever life exists has never visited our planet.

I assume you have read the eBay intermediation information. If not, here is the link.

https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebay-to-intermediate-payments-on-its-marketplace-platform/

Also, eBay reports their 2017 earnings.

https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebay-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2017-results/

eBay Jan 21-27
Total sales. $134.41
Items in store. 951
# of items sold. 17
Avg. sale. $7.91
COGS. $4.52
Returns. 0
# of new items listed. 18
Best sale-3 quilting books for $28.99

Sold lots of little stuff last week and some older items I was glad to get out the door. Making headway on the death piles. Glad yesterday was the 31st because for the first time since I upgraded my store over a year ago, I hit 1000 listings. Feel like that was a milestone of some sort! Haven’t gotten as much accomplished this week because I feel like I’m fighting off the flu or some evil virus. There’s so many people sick around here that getting it seems inevitable! Found out today there is an estate sale on Saturday within driving distance so I’m determined to be better by then!

I just left a voice mail message also – for the buyer from Iceland, I am not as concerned as much about the negative feedback issue as I am about eBay customer service giving a buyer a seller’s phone number. I hope that would never happen. I would be surprised as I am fairly certain eBay would not encourage conversations outside of their message center.

I was told at the post office that the 13 to 15.9999 ounce packages staying first class instead of bumping up to priority was an eBay perk – Post Office doesn’t do that.