Scavenger Life Episode 283: Running Our Businesses Without A Safety Net

Total items in store: 295
Items sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $7 thrift +$5 retail + $49 consignment
Total Sales: $168.92
Avg. price: $24.13
Highest price item: $98 – 3 listings of American Girl Doll Clothes
International sales: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of items listed: 11

This was a dud of a week, especially since the person hasn’t paid for the American Girl Doll clothes. That would make for 4 items sold for $70, if the buyer doesn’t pay. I fell off the listing bandwagon.

Oct 23-29 2016

• Total Items in Store: 735
• Items Sold: 19
• International 2 (1 Spain 1GSP)
• Total Sales $681
• Highest Price $90 Red Wing boots
• Average Price Sold: $36
• Returns: 0
• Cost of Items Sold: $20
• Cost of items purchased this week $15

A good number of sales but nothing over a hundred dollars, hope this turns around soon.

As I said in a previous post I will give my numbers monthly.
Here are my numbers for October:

EBAY:
Total items in store: 494
Items sold: 147
Cost of Items $2,165.00
Total Sales: $8,299.98
Avg. price: $56.46

AMAZON:
Items sold: 126
COGS: $2,028.29
Total Sales: $13,386.52
Avg. price: $108.83

October is poised to be like last year best month of the year. I know Nov and Dec have hot sales I just don’t think I will have the necessary inventory to beat October in sales.

Total Items in Store: ebay–>193 etsy—>374
Items Sold: 12 (6 on ebay, 6 on etsy)
Cost of Items Sold: $100
Total Sales: $717 ($530 on ebay)
Highest Price Sold: $225 (oil painting on ebay)
Average Price Sold: $59.79
Returns: 0

A good week despite sending a customer the wrong item. At any rate, I am amazed at those of you who spend $10 to make about the same as I do, I tell you stuff costs more around here, why? nearly all the Goodwills here use the internet to sell merchandise which drives the way the price in their stores, second, intense dealer competition, the Estate sale people here do not have to price down to sell items, Estate sales here can attract over 100 shoppers, many of whom are buying for resell, so things are competitive. The local auction house yields some good buys, but with a nation wide bidder base, prices are still strong on the better stuff–oriental carpets? What J & R can get for $5 sells for much more here, up to several hundred dollars for a large carpet. Even so, I went to a proper Antiques show on Saturday and spent around $150 for several nice items to resell.

RR Store Week Oct 30-Nov 5, 2016

Total Items in Store: 1034
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $27.95
Total Sales: $523.88
Highest Price Sold: $159.99 (Garbage Pail Kids complete series 1)
Average Price Sold: $40.30
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: 0
Number of items listed this week: 50

OK, now that’s more like it. I put in a solid week of listing, and the sales started coming back. Not where I need to be just yet, but I will be. I’m shooting for listing at least 60 items this coming week, but, as J&R mentioned in the podcast, clothing is a grind, and that’s mostly what I have in my death piles.

My personal safety net is starting to dry up in the wake of moving. Lots of small expenses add up quickly, and looking at my bank balance has really lit a fire under my butt to list list list. It’s scary sometimes, but I just look around at all the unlisted inventory and remind myself that the solution to many of my financial woes is all around me. #alwaysbelisting

*Paul*

My store this week:

Total Items in Store: 180
Items Sold: 4
International 0
Total Sales $246.97
Highest Price $159.99 Vintage Hanover Shell Cordovan Dress Shoes
Average Price Sold: $61.74 ($29 without shoes)
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $13.56
Cost of items purchased this week $25
New items listed: 10

This was a big week for me, fueled by the sale of the shoes. I had sold them the week before but never got paid. Relisted them at a higher price the second time and still sold them in an hour. I’m sort of kicking myself because the person who bought them sells high end shoes for 2x the sales price. Chalking it up as a learning experience and I can’t be too unhappy because after fees and COG I’m still looking at $125 profit. This week was better than my whole October numbers. I made $230 in sales, sold 9 items, and only listed 12 items. I’m trying to get listings up when I can, but my time is needed on other projects at the moment.

No customer issues, but did get a request to model a pair of shoes today. Um, no. Thanks to the tools listed here I saw that they only buy baseball cards so I blocked them.

Oct 30 – Nov 5
Total Items in Store: 230
Items Sold: 6
Total Sales: $258
COGS: $64.50
Highest Price Sold: $65 Merrell boots ($20 yard sale)
Average Sales Price: $43
Avg Gross Profit: $32
Returns: 0
International: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $127 for 21 items
Number of items listed this week: 10

My strategy of paying higher prices for higher value items and trying hard not to buy items that will sell for less than $30 is working. I like having the avg gross profit above $30, and will continue to aim at increasing this. Still a LOT of low-price inventory in stock, though. And a lot more learning needed to be able to correctly identify high-value vs. low-value items when scavenging. Picked up a like new pair of Dr. Scholl’s velcro comfort sandals last Friday. I thought these would sell for at least $30-40, but it turns out that they typically sell for less than $20. Oh well. I’ll comfort myself by thinking about the like new Ecco golf shoes I picked up at the same rummage sale. 🙂

The new place looks spiffy! Congrats on hiring someone, sounds like you guys lucked out.

Total Items in Store: 673
Items Sold: 29
Cost of Items Sold: $285
Total Sales: $1,999.70
Highest Price Sold: $69 Michael Kors Knee Boots
Average Price Sold: $41.37

Well I had quite the day scavenging. A friend of a friend is a former Ebay seller who ended up moving to Texas. She was actually more of a buyer than a seller because she never made time to list. So over the years she acquired a very nice inventory of high end, shoes, Boots, and other collectibles. Well guess who just bought her store tonight? I paid her 3,000 cash from my Ebay profits. There is so much stuff I cant wrap my head around it all…I noticed a NWT Channel shirt, Salvatore Ferragamo, Frye Boots, Lots of other high end brands. About 200 pairs of shoes, 30 high end bags, Other misc collectibles. I am really excited. I will try to log all of the items and list what sells and document the whole thing. It will be fun to see when I pay off the investment and how much profit I make.

10/30-11/5/2016

Approximate # of Items in Store: 275
# of Items Sold: 10
Average Cost of Items Sold: $8.66
Total Sales: $690.87
Highest Price Sold: $225 – Dress
Average Price Sold: $69.01
Returns: 1 – $36.44
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $25.09
Number of items listed this week: 4

This week was slightly slower but still good. I am working with some other sellers on a “Support Sellers” promo on Instagram. If anyone here is interested in joining in, follow me on Instagram (amazingtastestore). Details will be posted today. Hope everyone has a great week!

I can see why you are taking the time to renovate that house. The view is amazing!!!

Week Oct 30-Nov 5, 2016

Total Items in Store: 739
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $8
Total Sales: $104
Highest Price Sold: $27 (copper ice bucket)
Average Price Sold: $14.86
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0

Wow. I knew it felt slow, but never expected this. Easily my worst week of the year. I need to get back on the listing horse… I haven’t really listed anything in the last 2 weeks as “life” has gotten in the way. I have a pile of plenty to list, so now I just need to get it and hopefully this terrible week will be the motivation I need.

I had my first sale on Truegether. I’ve been on there for about a month.

Total Items in Store: 544
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $78
Total Sales: $418
Profit: $340
Highest Price Sold: $27 (copper ice bucket)
Average Price Sold: $46.44
Average Profit: $37.78
FBA items sold: 2
FBA Profit: About $10 (yay…)

My new method of listing while my wife drives is working well. I was able to process three tubs of clothes and shoes while being a passenger this week. During that time I create the listings. Later I clean, take measurements, and take photos.

I also built my new enclosed wardrobes in the shed. I still need to cut the plywood for the shelf over top. I’ll investigate how to add photos of this over in the storage forum later.

* Total Items in Store: 463
* Items Sold: 23
* Cost of Items Sold: $21
* Total Sales: $374.48
* Highest Price Sold: $42 cabinet knobs – combined from 2 listings
* Average Price Sold: $17.90
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $12
* Number of items listed this week: about 25

How can I see the number of items I’ve listed in a week without manually counting them? I don’t see where I can get my items filtered by listing date.

Also, I didn’t know that eBay & the USPS now provide co-branded priority mailing boxes. I needed the flat rate padded envelopes, so I selected a link to get USPS supplies, and I expected to be directed to the USPS website. Instead, I got an eBay page with co-branded boxes. Here is the link:
http://uspssupplies.ebay.com/uspsweb/catalog

They didn’t have the padded envelopes, so I had to go to the USPS site. I’ll definitely get the co-branded boxes when I need them.

My numbers for this week:

Total Items in Store: 1177
Items Sold: 34
Total Sales: $775.36
Cost of Items Sold: $81.65
Average Price Sold: $22.80
Average Cost of Item: $2.40
Highest Price Item Sold: $74.95 – Mid-century Rigi Electrical 900E Gondola / Ski Lift purchased for $5 at a yard sale.
Number of items listed this week: 37
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 196
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 129
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 102
Sell-through rate: 2.89%
# of Hats Sold: 11

I had a good week and it looks like this week is shaping up to be one of my best weeks ever. I had a $350 sale this morning (not included in my numbers above) of a 4ft long slide rule that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I purchased it for $10 at an estate sale:
4ft Yellow Pickett Slide Rule used for teaching / classrooms in the 1960s

Ryanne … Yep I am listening. Late today because of Drs. appt. and errands.

Jay is correct. Atlanta is a big, flat circle and not impeded in growth by any natural bounderies. Atlanta is circled by a 360 degree circle [I-285] Called the Loop built back in the late 60’s. Atlanta used to exist mainly Inside the Loop. Roswell as Jay pointed out was Outside the loop. It was a country town. Now gobbled up along with everything else.
I live Outside the Loop and it takes about 30 minutes to get to the loop then another 20 minutes or so to get dead center. So from here to dead center downtown is approx. 45 min. then to go that distance on the south side to the airport it is about another 30 minutes. So a straight Diameter line from either North to South or East to West furthest points out will be about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes straight none stop at about 55 MPH.
Now throw in a factor if anything and I mean anything happens on any of the main roads, you’re dead in the water. If you live out here and work in the city, you need to be inside the loop before 6:00 in the mornings or you won’t get to work by 8:00 AM.
But all those towns Jay mentioned, Roswell, Tucker, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, BuckHead, Mid-Town, Sugar Hill, Buford, Sandy Springs, Decatur, and on and on, offer great thrifting, auctions and estate sales. We have all three going on almost 365 days per year round. Never hardly a week without numerous of those any week or month and in any type of weather.

So going inside the Loop for us [Downtown], is like you guys driving to another town around you. Only we have dozens of small towns all within about 30 to 45 minutes [one way].

Ya’ll come on down ‘ya hear to HotLanta. 🙂 Mike in Atlanta.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

• Total Items in Store: 700
• Items Sold: 65
• Total Sales $1,506
• Average Price Sold: $23.17

Very good week. Could have been a record week but Fri and Saturday were less than average. Sometime, I will have to get an employee. If I were to be sick or want to go on vacation, I am tied down except for weekends where I don’t ship until Monday. Anyone have rules they abide by for their business concerning employees? What percent of your overall net profit should be spent on an employee for instance? Are you only paying in cash for a 10 hour a week employee and do you report it to the IRS? What levels of security exist for your admin abilities over your eBay account? Eventually, you will want your employee to list, take pictures, price, and some day even source (that way you can just sit back and do nothing, haha jk). You get to a certain point I think where you hit a plateau and more man hours is the key way to get over that. Employing someone for the first time is the topic I need to research on. Feel free to give advice or post links.

10/30 – 11/5

Total Items in store: 453
Items sold: 6
Cost of items sold: approx. $13
Total Sales: $108
Highest price sold: $ 35 – vintage gm key holder
Average price sold: $18
Int’l sales: 0
Returns:0
Number of items listed this week: 0
Amazon disbursement – $0
Full time ebay goal – was March 2018; now – ????

Ebay to Amazon experiment – Had 2 sales. Cost $50. Sold $107. Amazon fees $18 (17%). Profit $39. Average profit per sale $19. Amazon is still a viable option, I just have not sent any items in for a month. I have about 40 items here ready to send in, I have been relaxing.
Ebay issues. Got a neutral feedback from a buyer because he had not received his item. Tracking showed it had been delivered. He sent me a message saying someone else in his suite had received the item, but he would not remove the neutral. Called Ebay, got the neutral removed
Paypal issues. I had an item returned back in July, refunded through ebay except for original shipping costs. Buyer opened a case in Paypal and said it was a fraudulent charge. Buyer received the full amount, plus Paypal tacked on a $20 disputed charge fee. I called Paypal and had all the charges reversed except for the $9.99 shipping fee.

Biggest Paypal issue. Thursday morning I saw a notification on my phone that I had sent $2,800 to someone through Paypal. I opened my Paypal account and there were several charges going back over a week with amounts from $244 to $2,800. All together they were over $7,000. A mini heart attack ensued. Since I have taken some time off from listing, I have not paid attention to my account. Paypal says my account has been hacked through my computer. The hackers even went into my e-mail and blocked all correspondence from Paypal so I could not see any notifications. Called Paypal and got everything sorted out. Spent 3 days fixing computer. Crisis averted.

Total Items in Store: 305
•Items Sold: 20
•Cost of Items Sold: $155
•Total Sales: $684.11
•Highest Price Sold: $59.99 my little pony lot
•Average Price Sold: $33.71
•Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
•Number of items listed this week: 100+

I’m mostly new to the forum and this is my first time posting numbers. I had my 4th baby a year ago and have put ebay on the back burner. I’m cranking it up again. This morning I shipped 12 packages worth $850 so I’m feeling very motivated! 🙂

In San Diego for my son’s homecoming. His battle group will arrive this month near 32nd street. I should be back in the Scavenger groove by the 21st of November. I did have a chance to hit up a military thrift store in Imperial Beach where many of the donations come from Coronado. Nice high end stuff.
Love the new look of the blog, seems to be much easier to read.

Week of: 10/30 – 11/5

Total Items in Store: 440
Items Sold: 9
Total Sales: $414.93
Highest price: $129.99, Vintage Green Day shirt
Average Price Sold: $46.10
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $24
Money spent on new inventory this week: 0

Just got back from 2 weeks vacation. I really can’t thank you enough for the tip on changing handling time Jay & Ryanne! You’re right, no one seemed to mind! I came home and mailed out 13 packages, and this week is booming! This past week, highest sold was a vintage Green Day shirt for $129.99. This came from a giant dead bin I had stored in my shop. All items had to be washed in vinegar due to mildew smell. My hoarding tendencies are turning out to be profitable. True confession…I have bins & bins of vintage shirts and such that I thrifted many years ago that I’m just starting to dive into. I would have a very hard time even finding many of these items today. Another item I sold was a vintage Chicago Cubs shirt for $79.99. I’m a native Chicagoan and would have kept it if it fit. Lots of offers, but I held out and it sold full price the night they won the World Series!

Last week was my best week of all time which is good because this week is slooooowww. My biggest sale was some cassette tapes for $675. I went to an auction last year and found some vintage still sealed audio cassettes and I bought the lot of them for $5 because nobody wanted them. They’ve netted me over 2K. Best investment ever. Also sold $225 in flatware that I paid $30 for. Good ROI.

Total items in store: 740
Items sold: 54
Cost of Items Sold: $145
Total Sales: $1639
Avg. price: $30.35
Highest price item: $675 vintage cassette tapes (lot of them)
International sales: 8
Money spent on new inventory: $50 ish
Number of items listed: 60

@BrianTreasures Fairly rare. The thing is that I had a lot of them and sold them in multiples.

This is my very first post, although I’ve been selling on ebay since 2000.

Good for you two for being brave enough to discuss politics briefly. It is very relevant and important to our businesses and lives. It is important to be able to politely share and discuss information and ideas, especially as the politics relate to our businesses.

I happen to agree with you regarding the uncertainty about the future. But I also LIKE to hear people’s ideas which are different from mine, as long as everyone can remain respectful.

Thanks for all your work running this site!