Finally pulled the plug and signed up for GoDaddy bookkeeping. We’re probably going live with our vintage Airstream vacation rental next year so it was time to get our financial house in order. I have to figure out how to put in cogs but so far it has sucked in all of ebay and paypal transactions. Anyone else use this? How do you enter your inventory costs?
We had some really great sales lately which was a welcome shock. Here’s a watercolor we picked up at a yard sale for $3 and sold for $350! https://www.ebay.com/itm/113080835270
Found this Mary Engelbreit tile triptych at a rummage sale for roughly $1 and sold for $200! Thanks Ryanne for talking about tiles: https://www.ebay.com/itm/113183900401
I use GoDaddy Bookkeeping and COGS are just one of those things that you have to enter in yourself. I make it part of my weekly tasks. I keep an inventory spreadsheet of everything I’ve bought and for what price I got it for. So I just find what sold in my sheet and record the COGS in GoDaddy at the end of the week that it sells. Anything under .50 cents I just ignore.
I sold a Polar Care unit like that about a year ago. Then a month later I got an email from eBay saying I wasn’t allowed to sell it. LOL ok, thanks eBay!
I received a large box of old dolls as part of an auction lot a while ago. I was just wanting the box of hats that came with the lot, but got these as well. I’m glad I did, though. I recently listed them as “haunted” dolls for some crazy high prices just to see what happens. Here’s the first doll item to sell from that box. Just a group of old doll parts. Dirty, but in decent condition. I took a best offer of $53. Each listing that came from this lot cost me .43 cents. Antique Doll Parts
Here’s my large sale of the week, and unfortunately my highest COGS ever. I made the rookie mistake a couple years ago of getting into a bidding war for this Pelican gun case. I didn’t do thorough enough research. Brand new ones go for a lot of money, but used ones not so much. Ended up paying $150 for it. It sat listed for a long time, well over a year. Finally took a best offer for $100. So I lost money, but gained some insight. Lessons aren’t always cheap. Pelican Rifle Hardshell Case
I acquired this huge bunch of road maps for a couple bucks at an auction. I didn’t know a thing about them, but I liked some of the other stuff that came with the lot and it was cheap enough. I’ve since learned that really old road maps, especially with old gas station advertising, can fetch some good money. But mine were all from the 60s though 80s which isn’t old enough apparently. So I sold them as a lot for $60. Lot of Old Road Maps
Here was an interesting sale. This metal spinning instrument came out of a box lot of random junk. Each sellable item cost me $2. I had no idea what it was, so I consulted Reddit. Go an answer within minutes. It’s an old centrifuge for making dental impressions. I thought it was unique enough to warrant a high price, so I listed it for $100 and it sold after a few weeks for full price. Antique Dental Centrifuge
Finally, I’d like to share an item that I probably would never buy again. I found this new in box game How to Host a Murder in a thrift store when I was first getting started. It was only $3. I’ve since spotted these things all over the place. I tried like hell to sell this thing. Had it on Amazon when I was still doing that. Kept lowering the price. I was sooo relieved when it finally sold last week for $20. How to Host a Murder party game
Last week was pretty lousy for sales, for me at least. I don’t have much to show, but I’ll talk about one item.
Elsewhere on the forum, I mentioned that I will send an offer to someone who asks a question because I think that they are just fishing for a discount. The discount only has to be about 10-15%. For this vase, someone asked whether the stand came with it. The title has the word “stand” in it, but perhaps he wanted to make sure or perhaps he was fishing for a discount. Either way, I offered $30 down from $35, and he bought it. I paid about $1.50.
@Sharyn – I had a Seller do the same to me this week, a first. I asked a question about the measurement of an article of clothing, and she got back to me with both the measurement and a discounted offer. Yes, please!
This attractive quilt was listed and sold in less than a week. I paid more than I would have liked, at $40, but figured I could do well on it, considering it’s hand pieced, has feedsack fabric, and has great colors. It wasn’t until I was soaking it in the bathtub that I saw there was some paint damage on it, arghhh. So, a lower price, but it went quickly: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hand-Quilted-Star-Quilt-Teal-Red-White-Feedsack-56×71-5-Pale-Paint-Dmg/323406281718
Thanks for letting me know about the pencil sharpeners. You’re right, when I first started selling, electric pencil sharpeners were a sure bet. I haven’t run across any for a little while so I was unaware of what the market was like now. Good to know!
The day I saw Steve’s video about selling a pink Samsonite Train case, I found one at a garage sale and picked it up for $2. Sold this week for best offer of $24 https://www.ebay.com/itm/192631669683
These Birkenstocks were a thrift store find. I paid $6 for them and listed them as “Vegan”. Turns out wool felt is an animal product and definitely not VEGAN!. I switched Vegan to Hipster and sold for full price of $55. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192508569738
This 36 page newsprint flyer came in a stack of WW2 newspapers that I picked up for $5. I was on the edge of throwing it away when I decided to list instead. My ambivalence about it is why I took the first offer of $12 for it instead of holding out for more. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192630043129
Glad to be getting back into the swing of scavenging + flipping. In retirement now, the balance I try to strike is to do only as much as makes me happy and not spend my life listing in front of a computer screen. Same as everyone else, but now I am not working for the MAN, so I get to do fun stuff like ride my bike any time I want to.
I love all the tips about what sells and what not to buy. Adios, Daniel
Congrats on the gold/yellow train case. Personally, I’ve had trouble selling them in less desirable colors. I would probably still pick up in aqua, red, or pink, or in the tweed texture.
Love that tile sale up there. Wow.
Steve my dad grew up in Minneapolis and he told me he’s planning a fly fishing trip to North Dakota. Told him I “knew” a scavenger, but in So. Dakota. So close.
Crazy couple of weeks outside Ebay so I’m grateful to have any sales since I haven’t been listing. Really excited about the holiday weekend! Happy Labor day to all of you other part-time office trash elves. Incidentally, I’m going through a phase where cautious buyers are asking a lot of nit picky condition questions. One found something wrong with a $10 book and life’s so crazy I just refunded immediately without asking for the item returned. It’s funny how this happens in waves.
Sold my kids’ used backpacks, textbooks, etc. so that’s nice. Textbooks don’t excite me but are good money if current it seems. Also sold some book lots.
Magic School Bus lot paid $3 at a church book sale. Also sold this Japanese comic book set for a great price. Paid $10 for the set at local chain thrift and sold quickly. I like picking up book sets and media mail shipping is so reasonable.
This Hazel Atlas small bowl sold quickly. Paid $2 at a thrift store and kept another three piece set for myself. This aqua print is quite desirable.
Sold a few items of ours that I cleaned out of the kitchen for the remodel. this bread basket for example. Still trying to sell some Americana brown Pyrex on Facebook pretty cheap. I don’t think I will buy the brown again and will end up listing these on Ebay or Mercari maybe.
Finally, this was an item I wasn’t sure about but the buyer was super happy and shipped them all the way to Europe. 70s Brass tennis bookends. Paid $3 at indy thrift.
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