Scavenger Life Episode 385: Not Responsible For Oven

Tagged: MLM Soles

This topic has 86 replies, 30 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by declutter978.

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- 11/12/2018 at 12:07 pm #51529
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  Just finished a video job, we’re still traveling the mid-west. Truck full with a fancy new, Craigslist oven! Join the conversation in the forum>
  [See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 385: Not Responsible For Oven]
- 11/12/2018 at 12:20 pm #51531
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  Having kids, a day job, and ebay. “How do they do it?” You guys crack me up. The secret is Stockholm Syndrome. Actually that’s the secret to a good marriage too, I reckon.
  
  Pretty quiet this week.
  
  Sales: CAD$406, 4 items, COGS: $153 (still paying off auction lots) –> Item profit: $184
  Expenditures: $80 –> After tax cashflow: $209
  Listed: $1840, 34 items
  Hours: 8, $27/hr
  Notable sales: 3 security camera mounts from my big auction haul for $255, lightbulbs $130 (paid $2 for a couple boxes of these, ages ago).
  Scavenging: got a box of expired toners for $10, turns out they are pretty high end. I haven’t sold them yet but I got $700 worth of offers the day I listed them so I’m pretty sure this will turn out well. Also, bought a gas leak detector for $40, should be worth $300-500, this was a local buy.
- 11/12/2018 at 1:05 pm #51533
  simplicio
  Participant
  Location:
  @simplicio
  My two cents on insurance: companies would not sell shipping insurance if they didn’t make more on it than they dole out in claims. Therefore, it’s a money loser in the long run.
  
  Insurance is for risks that the insured is incapable of bearing (e.g, house burning down, entire year’s crops being wiped out by hail). We are into our items for pennies on the dollar.
  
  I don’t even insure items worth hundreds. It’ll suck if one gets lost but ultimately it’d just be a disappointment, not a serious financial crisis.
  - 11/12/2018 at 3:34 pm #51564
    Inglewood
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @inglewood
    I don’t insure anything either – my personal experience is if the post office is grossly negligent, they will cover anyways.
    
    For me, the way I look at it is that I get a standard $100 coverage on my account with the post office – I never pay over $100 for an item anyways, so I’m covered for my original costs + shipping on almost all items anyways. Most items are less than a $5 investment, so the occasional potential hit would be a drop in the bucket over the long run, and be much less than I would have paid in extra insurance over that time.
    - 11/12/2018 at 3:46 pm #51572
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      We haven’t done extra insurance in a long time either. If it was over $200 at this point, we might, but we have saved enough by NOT paying extra that we can afford a hit or two.
- 11/12/2018 at 1:24 pm #51534
  Retro Treasures WV
  Participant
  Location:
  @retro-treasures-wv
  Items in Store 1069
  Items Sold 13
  Total Sales $452.00
  COGS $52.75
  Total Profit $399.25
  Average profit $30.71
  Average sales price $34.77
  New Listings 4
  
  Not much happening on the ebay front this week listing-wise. I was able to score a huge pack of 600 poly mailers for $5 and a nice Zebra label printer with over 1200 labels for $70 at the local K-Mart that is going out of business.
  
  The Zebra printer is pretty cool, but I don’t like how it wastes 2 labels every time I turn it on. I guess I’ll just have to leave it on 100% of the time.
  
  I did start listing most of my arcade machines last week. I have some quite valuable and desirable ones, like Tron and Paperboy. I’m of course looking for top dollar. I’ve just lost passion for owning/maintaining them. I’d rather just visit someone elses arcade – I get my fix when we go to a barcade in Columbus a few times a year.
  
  This time change has just been wrecking our lives. We have all been going to bed between 9-10 and waking up around 5:30. WHile I am thankful for the sleep, it is not conducive to ebay listing at all.
- 11/12/2018 at 1:36 pm #51536
  Sharyn
  Participant
  Location: Central NJ
  @sharyn
  From the podcast; how to counteract “bad taste”: watch Ryanne’s and Steve’s What Sold videos! I still watch and learn from them.
  
  Anyway, my numbers:
  
  Week of Nov 4 – 10
  * Total Items in Store: 1209 eBay, 11 Mercari
  * Items Sold: 11 eBay
  * Cost of Items Sold: $7.70 + $0 Commission
  * Total Sales: $237.17 eBay + $0 Mercari
  * Highest Price Sold: $49 Chest waders (for fishing)
  * Average Price Sold: $21.56
  * Returns: 0
  * Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
  * Number of items listed this week: 46
  
  October was so slow, as slow as summer. Then, on Wednesday, I sold three items, and, from then on out so far, sales have been much more consistent. I’m also selling at a variety of price points, not just the cheap stuff. I’m hoping that the trend keeps up and that 4th quarter is finally here!
- 11/12/2018 at 1:45 pm #51537
  almasty
  Participant
  Location:
  @alamasty
  Just started listening to the podcast. What interests me most about MLM schemes is how they are able to work in the days of the internet. You’d think people would search before they throw down $20k to participate in a scheme, but they spend the money first and then only complain when they make back only $5k, if even that much, and are out tens of thousands of dollars.
  
  While selling on Ebay and Amazon directly isn’t a scam like that, what could be considered scams are the way certain Youtube gurus market their videos and then promote “mentorship” programs through their websites The ebook/course selling might also be a quasi-legal gray area of marketing to tentative newbies. If you get a chance to look at the ebay stores of some of these sellers, they are not making anywhere near the amount of sales they claim in their youtube videos, and some might not even be actually selling the items they claim to be purchasing on their youtube videos.
  
  Maybe they say the courses and books are for “entertainment purposes,” like the way fortune tellers do, in order to not face any legal liability if people don’t make any sales after taking their courses or reading their books. I don’t know.
  
  Here is an interesting Amazon scam that was uncovered this year:
  
  “Amazing Wealth System” not so amazing, alleges the FTC
  
  An FTC lawsuit alleges that money-making claims made by a related group of companies and individuals for their Amazing Wealth System are “amazing” all right – if by “amazing” you mean “not credible” or “unsupported by the facts.” The complaint charges the defendants with violating the FTC Act and the Business Opportunity Rule. One interesting factual twist is how elements of the “system” allegedly depend on subverting Amazon’s rules about online reviews and third-party sales.
  
  Defendants advertise their Amazing Wealth System via direct mail, radio, YouTube videos, social media, and live events. (Consumers may know them by names like Amazon Wealth Systems, FBA Stores, Insider Online Secrets, or Online Auction Learning Center. But let’s be clear: The defendants have no affiliation with Amazon.)
  
  According to the FTC, the defendants lure prospective purchasers in with claims like this:
  
  “My name is Adam Bowser, and over the past 18 years I have sold over $50 million online. I’m going to be hosting a few local workshops around the Seattle area to share my secrets for making money on Amazon.”
  “Get started selling on Amazon and make $5,000-$10,000 in the next 30 days . . . Even if you have never sold anything online before.”
  “Just last year we sold over $12 Million on Amazon.com. Now we want to help you become our next Amazon success story.”
  
  According to the FTC, the three-day workshops shift the hype into overdrive, including the sale of more expensive packages like the $34,995 “Diamond” enrollment. As one pitch person said at a workshop, “So whether you want an extra $20- to $30,000 a year or you want to create a million dollar a year business, I’m going to show you how to do either of those.”
  - 11/12/2018 at 4:05 pm #51574
    Inglewood
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @inglewood
    In the corporate office work environment I’ve worked in for 20 years, I always loved the latest sucker in the office that would fall for a MLM and try to sell it to co-workers.
    
    My favorites are the people who sell scented candles/air fresheners – the MLM company must be convincing in the “why buy Glade or Airwick for a couple dollars at any retailer when you can buy them for twice as much from someone’s garage then resell them to your friends for five times as much?”
    
    The last couple years there were a lot of fresh food MLMs that I couldn’t understand – weekly random vegetable/fruit boxes for $40/week, fresh meat (what is the supply chain for this?), and one guy was selling canned water for something ridiculous like $10 for 12 12oz cans.
    
    Lately, I seem to be get hit up everywhere for “subscription boxes” where you commit to a year for weekly or monthly deliveries of random stuff. The sad thing is that if I’m in a room where someone is selling these “subscription boxes”, there are several people who hand over credit card numbers immediately…
    
    Those who try and sell you MLM junk are annoying, but my least favorite are the suckers with random time shares trying to unload their time on people at ridiculous prices. Why pay $1500 for an all inclusive vacation to Cancun in January when you can pay $4000 for someone’s time share in August and plan the flight, transportation, food, drinks, etc your self at an additional charge!
    - 11/12/2018 at 4:40 pm #51578
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      Well said. “The Dream” podcast is worth a listen even for those of us who know the ML scam well: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/09/the-dream-podcast-preview
      
      I’m really surprised that MLM companies can keep finding people to fall for it. Statistics show that 99% of people who buy into MLM’s lose their money.
      https://www.scarymommy.com/mlm-failure-rate-99-percent-lularoe/
      
      As you said, MLM companies are selling low quality junk. Why would I buy soap/food/candles/bags/etc from you for 2-5x what I can buy at the store?
      - 11/12/2018 at 4:54 pm #51581
        
        simplicio
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @simplicio
        
        Extremely sad that entrepreneurial drive gets channelled into MLM, where people burn relationships to generate cash.
        
        11/12/2018 at 8:17 pm #51594
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        That’s why its so painful to listen to the podcast about MLM scams. They use the language of being an entrepreneur and feed off people’s instinct to work hard. It’s like burying someone alive. No way out.
      - 11/12/2018 at 5:21 pm #51583
        
        almasty
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @alamasty
        
        Whoa, the gofundme link on that page for people to START their MLM businesses with. With sob stories. Daaaaang. I knew they encouraged them to get credit cards to start their businesses with, but didn’t realize people were asking friends and family to also help through crowdsourcing. I don’t see any recent campaigns, so maybe that stopped a couple of years ago.
        
        Of course, Ebay sellers posted BOLO videos of the Lularoe they sourced from Goodwill and on Craigslist, devaluing the brand even more. Circle of reseller life.
        
        11/12/2018 at 8:23 pm #51595
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Thus subreddit is doing the Lord’s work: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/
        
        11/12/2018 at 8:45 pm #51596
        
        Sharyn
        Participant
        
        Location: Central NJ
        @sharyn
        
        Someone I used to work with sells Rodan+Fields products. I see her posts on Facebook all the time. She messaged me a year ago about it, and I flatly said that I wasn’t interested.
        
        I sat through a number of Amway presentations when I was younger because I had friends that signed up. I never bit.
        
        There are a few companies on that list that have good products, like Tupperware and Tastefully Simple. People must make some money on Tupperware for them to be around so long. I think there are different levels of MLM.
        
        11/12/2018 at 9:01 pm #51597
        
        Sharyn
        Participant
        
        Location: Central NJ
        @sharyn
        
        Although, I should add that their products are expensive, as you said.
        
        11/12/2018 at 9:03 pm #51598
        
        Jay
        Keymaster
        
        Location: Virginia
        @jay
        
        Listen to the podcast if you’re interested: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dream/id1435743296?mt=2
        
        They do a good job illustrating why some of the big MLM companies are so successful. Its not because they have better products. They’ve just done a good job inserting themselves into certain parts of American culture (like using Christianity and the networks inside churches).
        
        Fun Fact: Betsy DeVos, the US Education Secretary, is part of the family of the Amway founder. They are worth billion$.
        
        11/13/2018 at 1:08 am #51610
        
        The Thrift Raider
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @thethriftraider
        
        Jay, I love that subreddit. I’ve always been obsessed with mlm scams, and I see tons of people get wrapped up in them, and yes, many from my small hometown. I’ve even seen people who have seemingly great jobs like a pharmacist get into it. It’s nuts. I’m not sure how some very educated people don’t see what they really are.
        
        11/13/2018 at 6:53 am #51615
        
        almasty
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @alamasty
        
        Oh yeah, I read this sub a bit a few years ago. I like how the membership has grown, but the scams have stayed the same. Nothing changes.
        
        The NXIVM scandal involves an mlm turned into a cult. The leader was a former member of Amway. You’d think a story like that would shine a light on all the mlms, but they have just continued onwards.
      - 11/15/2018 at 11:20 pm #51787
        
        ebaymom
        Participant
        
        Location: Ohio
        @ebaymom
        
        Interesting Article, Jay – I like the “Scary Mommy” blog… The sad thing is that I have met a lot of stay at home moms through church and so many of them are attracted to these MLM’s like Lularoe clothing (yes it really does require a $5000 initial investment and then $1000’s more – can you imagine?) and Norwex (Cleaning Supplies) and It Works (body wraps to reduce cellulite) and Stampin’ Up and Mary Kay and all the others – the consultants get sucked in with the idea of being able to supplement their income and spending time at home with their children not having to do the 9-5 grind – but after several “parties” it gets harder and harder to find new customers and you eventually give up and are left with a bunch of product that you can’t sell. I have tried to tell many moms looking for extra $, Why not sell on eBay? It is easy, fun, and you can work as little or as much as you want – no startup costs if you start selling stuff that you don’t need or want any longer from your own home or garage. A lot of people are always very intimidated by the shipping aspects – they don’t think they can do it.. etc. You just need to start, DO IT, and listen to all the scavenger life podcasts 🙂 and learn as you go…
        
        11/16/2018 at 9:17 am #51792
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        I still get tickled at people that don’t understand what money truly is. Money that you collect represents value that you provided to someone else. That value can be in the form of work that you perform, or in providing a product that someone else values. At every turn, money that you attract represents value that you provided to someone else.
        
        Start by providing a value to others, and money will come after that. MLM that tries to just sell creating a downline, violates that rule. People have to value the product that you are selling first, THEN you have to provide value to others in your downline (management, guidance, etc), so that you are providing value.
        
        Resellers provide value to customers, in the form of products that people want. Rare, vintage, or even just commodities at a good price. When we look at providing value first, our businesses thrive.
        
        11/16/2018 at 10:11 am #51798
        
        Inglewood
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @inglewood
        
        Speaking of the value of money, I started watching a documentary on China called “3 Wishes”. It is about the rise of consumer culture of China.
        
        The “3 Wishes” were what everyone in the 70’s and 80’s in China “dreamed” of having – a bike, a watch, and a radio. They were the status symbols then.
        
        Someone who grew up in the 80s in the documentary said that she “can’t stop smiling when she was riding her bicycle” since she got it, but now she people driving BMWs who are crying all the time.
        
        It’s an extreme example, but I feel the value of money is lost on people and what true happiness is. These MLM’s prey on people who feel they “need” things they really don’t, and don’t really value money. A working 2000 Honda Civic does the same thing as a 2019 BMW – they have the same “functional value”, but yet people need to create some sort of status for themselves (that most people don’t care about). Look at any MLM marketing ploy to get you to sell their products, and they are full of people with luxury cars and stuff. I find it sad.
        
        I just found it interesting that as society in China changes, the goal posts for people keep moving instead of being satisfied with what they once dreamed of. I feel the same is happening in North America a bit – people always need more instead of settling for what they have and choose stress to get those items over comfort.
        
        11/16/2018 at 11:04 am #51802
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Absolutely. NEVER confuse Money with Happiness. Money (physically) is a tool. A car is a tool. Even a house is a tool. These things are physical items that serve a purpose. They are means to an end, not the end itself. Look at the number of people that win the lottery that are broke (or worse) just a few years later. Tools in the hands of a poor operator won’t yield good results.
        
        In reality, money is an idea. A story. We all believe that these little pieces of paper represent value. Money is the second greatest story ever told.
        
        You won’t things? It is easy. My favorite commercial from a while back…
  - 11/12/2018 at 9:05 pm #51599
    totommyto
    Participant
    
    Location: Naples, Fl
    @totommyto
    I bit in the mid 1990’s with a Long Distance Company called LCI. The dream was residual income and the guise was “helping people”. Although there were some positive aspects to the experience, bottom line is I lost $, lost time, and strained relationships, even with my Grandmother. Yes, even grandma is a target to not just purchase the service (or product), but to be a rep! And my grandma was a classic GRANDMA!
    So, I smartened up and quit, and took out a $15 newspaper ad for a business called ‘No Shortcuts’. I would show up at your house with a case of bounty paper towels, Windex, a ladder, and some serious entrepreneurial elbow grease. I did windows. And I made cash money fast! After skipping a ladder two times and swallowing most of my heart, I smartened up again. And here I am…
    My opinion on MLM. Say, “I’M NOT INTERESTED”, and run. Say to your best friend, your mother, your lover, your dog.
    - 11/13/2018 at 8:47 am #51621
      Jay
      Keymaster
      
      Location: Virginia
      @jay
      
      MLM scams keep finding new people because past victims are too embarrassed to admit they lost money on a false promise. MLM scams do a great job making sure the victim blames themselves for failing. “We gave you all the tools to succeed but you weren’t good enough”.
      
      If more people who lose money in these scams are bold enough to admit to their friends they made a mistake, then fewer people might fall for it.
      
      Sorry to hear about the relationships that were bruised in that LCI scam. You weren’t the only one: https://is.gd/e9o0o1
      - 11/13/2018 at 1:50 pm #51638
        
        totommyto
        Participant
        
        Location: Naples, Fl
        @totommyto
        
        Well said
  - 11/13/2018 at 8:55 am #51622
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    What’s ironic/scary? is that the current US President was part of several MLM business scams fairly recently:
    –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trump_Network
    –https://is.gd/IZITgR
    –https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-made-millions-from-multilevel-marketing-firm-1439481128
    
    He even settled a multi-million lawsuit right as he was sworn in as President. Yikes.
    - 11/13/2018 at 5:03 pm #51644
      totommyto
      Participant
      
      Location: Naples, Fl
      @totommyto
      
      He was and still is a Business man. There is a ton of $ to be made when you are the top rung, even worth the class action law suites which may come. All that is figured into the equation at creation I suppose. No surprise, no excuse.
- 11/12/2018 at 2:01 pm #51541
  ChristineR
  Participant
  Location: Southern California
  @christiner
  Total Items in Store: 334 Ebay, about 30 Mercari
  Items Sold: 12
  Gross Sales: $788 Ebay, $63 Mercari
  Cost of Items Sold: $283 + $27 Shipping included + some items ours (loss)
  Highest Price Sold: $365 Bedding set from summer clearance to NYC (paid $145)
  Average Price Sold: $66 Ebay, $31 Mercari
  Returns: 1 started for $150, buyer mistakenly thought would get an additional item with order.
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $11
  Number of items listed this week: 3 Ebay
  
  I still follow a few Youtubers and hear the same couple of get rich quick cheap production guy commercials nonstop. Super young kids in tank tops encouraging drop shipping or some other scheme on Amazon. I hope other youngsters don’t fall for that stuff and get into debt.
  
  Still crazy in life. A lot has to do with kids. Even if you don’t have little kids, life can be demanding and there can be not much time left for Ebay. I’m still taking offers like a madwoman on existing inventory. I can’t believe it’s holiday time already. Feels like it was just summer.
  
  Got trolled on Ebay with $5 offer on a $300+ item. Who bothers with that? Overall, my offers have been pretty reasonable and I’m glad I turned it back on. Continuing my 1% promoted listing experiment. Thanks for those who have been reporting about that.
- 11/12/2018 at 2:11 pm #51543
  almasty
  Participant
  Location:
  @alamasty
  A brief overview of the past week of sales on Ebay:
  
  Between both Ebay stores, I had over 60 sales for over $1k gross (shipping included for some orders, not all).
  I briefly got up to 9,999 listings on the main store (yay!).
  Now, the main store is back down to 9,970 items.
  Just reached 950 items with watchers on the main store.
  I still have 0 items with promoted listings (both ebay stores). A pox on the concept of promoted listings, meh.
  Listed 20 items on the main Ebay store in the past week. There would have been only 9,950 items active if I hadn’t done any work. I wasn’t expecting to get any new listings up, so 20 is good for me having absolutely no time.
  Main focus is elsewhere, so both Ebay stores are an auto-pilot experiment for this month. I do hope to get 10-30 items listed between both stores per week, if possible, which is hardly any work and just meant to boost listings and clear some floor space, not actually stock the stores. I like the idea of putting in A LOT of work when you have time, and then when you don’t just seeing the results of your previous efforts.
  Sold-out of an RA item I purchased after Christmas last year. I am not used to a Christmas like q4 like most sellers are (Q1 is the best for my type of items), so it was nice to get a bump this weekend. Shipped most of them off on Saturday, only a few left to bring in tomorrow. Glad that my experiment worked, and very happy to see them gone. Now I can fill the area they were stored in with vintage that I am actually interested in dealing with (when I eventually have the time).
- 11/12/2018 at 2:27 pm #51544
  Winchester38
  Participant
  Location:
  @winchester38
  November 4-10, 2018
  Store 1
  Total Items in Store: 1,429
  Items Sold: 14
  Gross Sales: $463.87
  Cost of Items Sold: $46.00
  Highest Price Sold: $69.99 (men’s t shirt)
  Average Price Sold: $37.13
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $234.76
  Number of items listed this week: 40
  
  Store 2
  Total Items in Store: 528
  Items Sold: 4
  Gross Sales: $41.57
  Cost of Items Sold: $1.20
  Highest Price Sold: $12.79 (vintage patch)
  Average Price Sold: $10.39
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $17.60
  Number of items listed this week: 0
  
  Amazon.ca sales: $106.40 (Approx $26.60 net profit)
  Amazon.com sale: $227.00 (Approx $56.75 net profit)
  
  My wife was out of town for work last week, and as a result, I had no adult to tell me to stop buying and listing during the evenings. I ended up working from 5:00-11:00pm-ish each evening (after a 6-4 slog at the day job each day).
  
  Bought quite a bit of inventory (mostly bread/butter stuff), and got a fair bit listed. Sales were solid, but not outstanding.
- 11/12/2018 at 2:42 pm #51546
  T-Satt
  Participant
  Location:
  @t-satt
  Week of 11/04-11/10
  Total Items in Store: 2,761 (Up 61% YOY)
  Number of Items Listed: 23
  Number of Items Sold: 84 (Down 9% YOY)
  (Includes 1 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 1 Poshmark)
  Weekly STR: 13% (Down 11% YOY)
  
  Total Product Sales: $2,615 (Up 10% YOY)
  Cost of Items Sold: $458
  Highest Item Sold: $110 – Peter Millar Dual Vent Plaid Sport Coat
  Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 26-19
  
  Clothing
  # Listed: 1,706
  # Sold: 52
  STR: 13%
  ASP: $28.83
  
  Shoes
  # Listed: 435
  # Sold: 22
  STR: 22%
  ASP: $35.17
  
  Hard Goods
  # Listed: 620
  # Sold: 9
  STR: 6%
  ASP: $34.21
  
  Etsy
  # Listed: 178
  # Sold: 1
  STR: 3%
  ASP: $49.91
  
  Poshmark
  # Listed: 80
  # Sold: 1
  STR: 5%
  ASP: $110
  
  Crazy week. I was out for the week on our Elk hunt, and Veronica was holding down the business. Unfortunately, she became very tired and dizzy on Monday night and tried to just rest and see if it would go away. When I returned on Thursday night, we knew this was not good. We went to the doctor on Friday morning and found that she was very anemic and she was admitted to the hospital overnight where she received 3 units of blood. She is much better now, but still not full strength. Looks like she will have to have a hysterectomy soon. This will be laparoscopic, so should be much less invasive and much quicker recovery, but still something to deal with. All good thoughts and prayers for her would be welcome. She is amazing and strong (something all the doctors and nurses stated this weekend), but you can’t have too much support!
  - 11/12/2018 at 2:45 pm #51548
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    PS – I would love to hear about other people’s October numbers. Generally, it is one of our better months, and this year it is a record month for us. Over $16k in Revenue, and 54% increase from last October. November has started slower, but I think that is due to the lack of new listings while I was out and Veronica was down.
    - 11/12/2018 at 2:58 pm #51550
      simplicio
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @simplicio
      
      October went really well for me, one of my best. Almost equalling the 9-to-5.
      
      Gross: CAD$6782, cashflow after tax $3525, listed ~$9000.
    - 11/12/2018 at 3:24 pm #51561
      Doublythumbs
      Participant
      
      Location: Hopedale, OH
      @doublythumbs
      
      I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s troubles, Troy. I’ll be sending positive thoughts her and your way too.
      My October numbers were on par with my previous year’s, which were to say not extraordinary. Maybe just slightly better than my average 3rd quarter numbers. But historically, November is when I start to shine and it’s showing already.
      How was your hunting trip, BTW? I was never really into hunting, but my family is and I get my freezer stocked up every year from their generosity.
      - 11/12/2018 at 3:44 pm #51569
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Thanks Doubly. She appreciates it.
        
        Hunting was frustrating. I know my area, but I just wasn’t in the EXACT right spot. Watched other people fill their tags, but I never fired a shot. So, glad we still had some somewhat full freezers. With everything going with Veronica, it was probably for the best, since we do the butchering ourselves…
    - 11/13/2018 at 12:24 pm #51635
      Brian Treasures from Grandmas
      Participant
      
      Location: Hoboken, NJ
      @brian-treasures-from-grandmas
      
      October: I had 68 sales, $2811 in sales, $41.34 average. This is down from last October, when I had 80 sales, $3106 in sales, $38.83 average.
      
      I partially credit this to what I had sourced last October – a collection of 1960s Barbies. In October last year, sold 5 for $877 total ($175 each avg). Take those sales out and this October was better than last.
      - 11/13/2018 at 2:26 pm #51639
        
        T-Satt
        Participant
        
        Location:
        @t-satt
        
        Thanks Brian. Great analysis!
  - 11/12/2018 at 2:56 pm #51549
    simplicio
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @simplicio
    Troy, glad to hear she is doing better now! Must’ve been terrifying.
    - 11/12/2018 at 3:17 pm #51556
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      Simplico: Thanks, and yep, it was kindof. Only thing that helped was when we got her to the hands of the experts. At that point, she was in the best place she could be, and we let people do their jobs.
      
      She is an amazingly strong woman (I am blessed to be surrounded by them!). No one could believe how she was up and around with her red blood cells being that low. I think she gutted through it since I was gone, and once I got home, she let her guard down and the real effects took hold. So, we talked about how neither one of us should let that happen again (I tend to do that too…).
      
      Still one more hurdle with the surgery, but she is somewhat looking forward to it to make her life better. Again, one amazing woman. I have a great role model in my own house… 🙂
  - 11/12/2018 at 3:29 pm #51563
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    I’m rooting for Veronica and hoping that she has a quick recovery time. I’m always rooting for her to “win” your high sale “competition”, and I now I’m rooting for her to get better soon.
    - 11/12/2018 at 3:45 pm #51570
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      Thanks Sharyn!
      
      And yeah, she already has guaranteed to tie for the year as it is! I’ve had some momentum lately, but I’m betting she wins again this year!
  - 11/12/2018 at 4:00 pm #51573
    twizzle
    Participant
    
    Location: Massachusetts
    @twizzle
    Veronica, hope your feeling better soon!
  - 11/12/2018 at 7:31 pm #51591
    ChristineR
    Participant
    
    Location: Southern California
    @christiner
    Sending good thoughts. Sometimes business goes on the back burner, and it’s ok for important family reasons.
    - 11/13/2018 at 11:15 am #51630
      T-Satt
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @t-satt
      
      Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers for Veronica. Much better today, definitely on the upswing. Get past the tests today (hoping no surprises) and then planning the day in a few weeks for the big procedure.
      
      Going to be much better after all of this, and she is in very good hands, just stuff to go through. Good news is she is a strong woman (from a long line of them), so she is looking forward to getting on the other side of all this.
      
      Thanks again for all the good vibes. Love this community for that!
      - 11/15/2018 at 11:24 pm #51788
        
        ebaymom
        Participant
        
        Location: Ohio
        @ebaymom
        
        Sending well-wishes and prayers for Veronica that she can put all this past her soon and getting back into her groove…
- 11/12/2018 at 3:11 pm #51551
  Winchester38
  Participant
  Location:
  @winchester38
  Sending positive thoughts Veronica’s way, Troy.
  - 11/12/2018 at 3:20 pm #51557
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Thanks Winchester! Already started to see good things. Our need was approved from Samaritan Ministries, so it will all be covered except the first $300 (but if we get documented discounts from the doctors/hospital that are more than $300, we pay nothing.
    
    Reimbursements are 60-90 days after submission, and we will have 30 days on the credit cards to cover the first portion, so glad we have cash on the backend to cover it. Gotta call our Financial Advisor today on the best way to do that.
- 11/12/2018 at 3:16 pm #51554
  Doublythumbs
  Participant
  Location: Hopedale, OH
  @doublythumbs
  Nov 4 – 10
  Total Items in Store: 1911
  Items Sold: 33
  Total Sales : $1390
  * above yearly average of $831
  * below 2017 total week sales of $1419 (This must be a reoccurring good week for sales)
  Highest Price: $230 (Drake Ham Radio Antenna Tuner)
  Average Price: $42
  Returns: 1
  Cost of Goods Sold: $135
  Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $264
  Number of New Items Listed this Week: 34
  
  Another great week of sales. This is more like what I’d like to see on a weekly basis. It was shadowed though by the fact that I’ve been sick all week. I caught a nasty bug from somewhere and it hit me hard. There’s nothing worse than wanting to get a lot of stuff done but not being able to because of illness. Thankfully, I’m on the upswing and I’m ready to start listing again.
  
  I had an interesting return last week. I had these VERY specific hats for sale for a very long time now. They were for a local high school football championship game from 1985. I had three exact matching hats, brand new with tags. Two of them sold in one week. Odd, so I figured there must be a big game coming up or something. A few days later, I get the return request. The guy said it was great but when he told his buddy that he found it on eBay, his friend went and bought the second one as a gift for him not realizing the first guy already bought it.
  
  I’m glad you’re having a great scavenging trip! It’s good to get out from your regular routine every once in a while. I know Steph and I are due for something like that.
- 11/12/2018 at 3:23 pm #51560
  DantheDiner
  Participant
  Location:
  @danthediner
  I’m not sure that you were talking about me, but I am a Dan who has talked with you guys about clothing measurements.
  
  For the record, my policy is that I don’t list any measurements, but I take any measurements for active listings as requests for them come in.
  
  For a time, I was taking measurements for every piece of clothing I was listing, but I began realizing that most people weren’t even looking at them, only going by the label size. Considering how much this slowed my process down, it didn’t seem to be a great way to spend my time. The people who shop by exact dimensions are the ones who contact me requesting that I take them. This way, everyone only gets what they want, and I speed up my listing process.
  - This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by DantheDiner.
  - 11/12/2018 at 3:35 pm #51568
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Dan, so funny, we are on the OTHER side of that argument. We measure everything except shoes.
    
    Our thinking is this. The measurements we do take no more than 1 minute per item. Because we are now storing some items in outside locations, and we sometimes are on the road, we like having all of the data there when needed.
    
    I get your argument about the time savings, and it is valid. But for us, the times we would have to drive to the warehouse to get the item to measure it to then take it back…not worth the hassle. Also, it helps us on Item Not As Described cases. Have you been bit by that?
  - 11/12/2018 at 4:51 pm #51580
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It wasn’t you, but the idea is the same:
    
    Scavenger Life Episode 238: How to Find Reliable People to Photograph and List Your Items on eBay
    
    Now that we have a helper takes photos of all clothes, its easy to get her to include simple measurements.
- 11/12/2018 at 3:35 pm #51567
  NC
  Participant
  Location: Georgia
  @millionairedojo
  Congrats on the stove! I had a similar situation recently. My non-frugal friends are moving and they sold us their Samsung fridge and stove for $200 total! They probably paid close to $2,000 for them new and I tried to make them let us pay them more! I was able to sell our old fridge and stove for $200 so we basically upgraded our appliances for free. We’ll be getting them a really nice house-warming gift lol.
  
  “They probably make enough money at their job to spend $1,200 on something and it doesn’t matter.”
  
  I’m trying to get across to people on my blog that it doesn’t matter how much money you make, if you spend it all, you’re not going to end up wealthy. If they had invested that $1,200 that they spent on the item they didn’t use and just let the money sit for the next 40 years, it would grow into over $26,000!!
  
  Here’s my monthly eBay report for October. Still have a lot of growing to do but my sales are gradually going up! We just got back from a week in Costa Rica and sold 7 things while we were gone! Really glad I learned to update the handling time from you guys. Didn’t have anyone back out of a sale even though the handling time was set to 10 days!
  - 11/12/2018 at 5:12 pm #51582
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    It is incredible how generous people are when they give almost new items away for cheap. Like you, we always sell our old stuff for the cost of upgraded items we buy on Craigslist.
    
    As we said last week, we’ll probably furnish our new rental 3-bedroom apartment with great brands for $5k.
- 11/12/2018 at 4:18 pm #51575
  MoCoyotes
  Participant
  Location: St. Louis
  @thegoodoletwo
  11/4-11/10
  
  Total Items in Store: 2600
  Items Sold: 40
  Cost of Items Sold: $34.25
  Total Sales: $1542
  Highest Price Sold: $300 (Vintage Red Wing Boots, bought for $10)
  Average Price Sold: $38.55
  Returns: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5
  Number of items listed this week: 38
  
  I’ve been busy the last few months with some outside “construction” work that eBay has just been on cruise control. I’ve been listing just to enough to keep our listings at around 2600, so about 40 a week. Cool thing is, sales have still been good to great. Now that it’s cold out I’ll be back at eBay more full time again, which is actually the work I love. It’s just really hard to say no to good cash for jobs like building a deck or putting in wood floors.
- 11/12/2018 at 4:19 pm #51576
  totommyto
  Participant
  Location: Naples, Fl
  @totommyto
  Glad to do my part when one of us is taking fire. Lousy to hear, and so hopeful with all that’s good coming.
  
  11/04 – 11/10/18
  
  eBay store totommyto
  
  Total store items: 657
  Number of items sold: 22 (1 international)
  Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $1,065.88
  Cost of items sold: $59.50
  Consignment payouts $134
  Highest price sold: $255.00 – lot of 70’s Tandy & Craftools leather making tools/stuff (from an earlier $120 big buyout)
  Average price sold: $48.44
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: $0
  Number of items listed this week: 24
  Sell through rate for the week: 3.4
  
  Etsy store Oldfleatoymarket
  
  Total store items: 650
  Number of items sold: 13 (0 international)
  Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $285.00
  Cost of items sold: $21
  Consignment payouts: 0
  Highest price sold: $40 – vintage rolling metal stool
  Average price sold: $21.92
  Returns: 0
  Money spent on new inventory: 0
  Number of items listed this week: 14
  Sell through rate for the week: 2
  
  Below is not the highest sale, but certainly my favorite sale, $1.00 to $40.00.
  1970’s Kodac pic of a pretty young lady on the beach in a funky hat in front of a super rad VW beetle. I rummaged around in an old 50’s Snap-on rusted out toolbox full of what you would normally find. And there she was! Not what you normally find! A little dust off and on to eBay. I packed her bullet proof when shipping. (I also purchased the Tool box later on!)
  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-VW-Bug-Beetle-photo-Girl-white-bikini-pretty-beach-1970-039-s-original-Kodak-/372447654783?hash=item56b79c337f%3Ag%3AZQoAAOSwWotbqWG8&nma=true&si=5PYuQn2TMqoCMv%252BXG1aXUNDvwrg%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
- 11/12/2018 at 7:30 pm #51590
  Mark S
  Participant
  Location:
  @mark-s
  2018-11-04 – 2018-11-10
  
  Total Items
  In Store: 2559
  Items Sold: 16
  COGS : $60
  Total Sales: $627.18
  Highest Price
  Sold: $159.99 (Ski Boots)
  # Items Listed 21
  $ Listed $699.79
  ASP $ Listed $33.32
  Money Spent on
  New Inventory: $103
  
  Gut Sales Report for the week: October was about average. November is slower than normal, but still going ok.
  
  Challenge of the week: I am trying to get my basement cleaned up and organized the way I want it to be.
  
  What I learned: You have to get there early to those estate sales that have the stuff you want. I wanted to go to a sale on Saturday that started at 9AM. I didn’t want to get up early, so I didn’t set the alarm. I woke up early and decided to go get a number for the sale. I got there around 8AM and got #10. I went to eat and came back a little before 9AM and was part of the first group in. I got some cool stuff that included a nice pennant. On my way out, this lady said she wanted the pennant and asked if I really needed it. I really liked it and will probably keep it for myself, so I said yes. The morale of the story was that she should have got there when I did and she would have got the pennant.
  
  For Troy: Sending up some prayers for Veronica.
  
  Mark S
  - 11/13/2018 at 11:12 am #51629
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    Thanks Mark! She is much better today, best in over a week, about 80%. Next round of doctor visits this afternoon…
- 11/12/2018 at 7:34 pm #51592
  SilverFoxFinds
  Participant
  Location: Virginia Beach
  @silverfoxfinds
  Amazing sale on that random photo, @totommyto! And I wish I could stumble across some vintage Red Wings, @MoCoyotes – nice find and sale. Troy, all the best wishes for Veronica’s speedy recovery!
  
  I’m back from my trip halfway around the world. A bit whirlwind-ish for going that far, but I had a great time, and hit up several thrift stores (Op Shops) while in NZ. Nothing near the amount or good condition of stuff you find in these great States, but I did bring back a set of 8 vintage MCM glasses, with only one loss in transit. I was trying to find soft, easy to pack things, I swear, but these stood out and were only about $4.
  
  Came back with a sinus infection, so I was slow getting back into the swing of things last week. Typical #s perhaps reflecting slowness/lack of listing at this end:
  
  11/4/18 – 11/10/18
  Total Items In Store: 941
  Items Sold: 19
  Total Sales: $767.21
  Highest Price Sold: $120 – set of 2 figural accent lamps
  Average Price Sold: $40.38
  Cost of Items Sold: $70
  Returns/Refunds: 0
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $45
  Number of Items listed this week: not sure – 25?
  - 11/13/2018 at 9:04 am #51625
    Steven S
    Participant
    
    Location: South Dakota
    @steven-s
    NZ sounds like an amazing place, lucky you for traveling there but you came back too soon, it’s springtime in Christchurch.
- 11/12/2018 at 10:10 pm #51603
  ThriftShift
  Participant
  Location: Charleston, SC
  @thriftshift
  Nov 4-10
  
  Items in ebay Store: 709
  Items in Poshmark Store: 271 (also on ebay)
  Items on Mercari: 470 (also on ebay)
  
  Items Sold on ebay: 33
  Items sold on Poshmark: 3
  Items sold on Mercari: 0
  
  Ebay Sales / COGs: $993.94 / $45.50
  Poshmark Sales / COGs: $139 / $6
  Total: $1132.94
  Average sales price $31.47
  
  It was such a great week for me because I sold so many items that were either free, or I got at extremely low price. The low COGs were great. My highest sales were a red/black plaid Pendleton wool cape for $100 (got for $3), small needlepoint rug for $59, and another needlepoint runner for $110 that was very stained and beat up. I also sold two pairs of mens’ boots on Poshmark and a vintage 80s Express blazer. My goal is to have $10K in my store’s “savings” account by Christmas.
  
  My strategy is to decrease my low-priced inventory and only buy things with low COGs that yield higher sales. Everyone’s dream, right? We are moving onto a boat next July, and we haven’t nailed down yet where we plan to store our few wordly belongings we wish to hold onto. That same “place” will also be where I put my ebay inventory and travel to in order to retrieve inventory and ship when we are docked. So I am focusing on downsizing my store in item numbers but increasing sales.
  
  We do own a metal automotive garage in New Bern, NC. That is where we had most of our garage stuff/vintage 70s Jeep Cherokee with no engine, and extra furniture. We had 4 feet of water inside the building that swirled around and trashed it all. Lost the upholstery in the Jeep, lost all belongings in the building that were on lower level. It ended up being a $25K insurance claim; I didn’t have flood insurance but did have USAA’s renter’s insurance which covers your personal property anywhere in the world, so we received monies. That is where I was planning to store my ebay inventory, but we need to rebuild the inside, so I am shaping my store to fit the unknown situation. That means I can spend an hour in a thrift store, look up a lot of store on my phone, and put it back if I don’t think it’ll net $40 or more. It’s all education I suppose and I will get better at it. I enjoy the hunt.
  - 11/13/2018 at 8:59 am #51623
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Sorry to hear about your building. That’s a huge bummer.
    
    I’ll be interested to hear if you can consistently find items that sell for $40+ in thrift stores. I have a hypothesis that people are willing to donate items worth less than $30 without blinking an eye. But if an item is worth $50+, then there’s a larger chance they’ll take the time to post on CL, Facebook, etc.
    
    Are you okay with going into a thriftstore and only buying 2-3 things worth over $40?
    - 11/13/2018 at 10:41 am #51628
      Retro Treasures WV
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @retro-treasures-wv
      
      At my local thrifts, it is rare to find multiple items $40 and up. When I go out of town to scavenge, I am able to limit myself to only $50 and up items and I am able to pick a ton of great stuff. I just do a quick “low hanging fruit” pass through each store I go to. If I find something truly exceptional, I will do a deeper dive.
      
      So in my experience, the key to having a higher value inventory is greatly expanding your scavenging radius. Hit each area once a month at most, and keep a more frequent lookout on your local places for the white whales while getting bread n butter items.
  - 11/13/2018 at 11:23 am #51631
    T-Satt
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @t-satt
    ThriftShift: Impressive numbers and ROI 20X returns are what we want! 🙂
- 11/13/2018 at 1:09 am #51611
  ebaymom
  Participant
  Location: Ohio
  @ebaymom
  Hi Everyone,
  Listening to the podcast now and I will try and find time during the week to come back and read everyone’s comments… Here are my numbers for the week:
  
  My Store Week Nov 4-10, 2018
  Total Items in Store: 1143
  Items Sold: 8
  Gross Sales: $213.99
  Cost of Items Sold: $20.19
  Highest Price Sold: $49.95 (MBT Shoes)
  ASP: $26.75
  STR: 3%
  Returns: 1 (Crumbling Soles.. you are talking about this in the podcast.. it has happened to me several times in the past months .. ugh!)
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $59
  Number of items listed this week: 16
  
  I did not have a great sales week, but I did a crazy? fun? experiment that I wanted to mention. 5 days ago, I was not quite sure what I was thinking but I had to fight the urge to put my entire store on auction. I was wondering “What would happen if…. ” if I put everything on auction for $.99 ? How much could I make quickly? Could I make $1000 in 5 days if I really wanted to? Thank Goodness.. I didn’t pull the trigger on that.. but what I did do, was move ALL of my clothes and shoes over to a 5 day auction (at the same high Buy It Now price.. I did not change my pricing.) I also added Best Offer to every auction listing – I had just under 500 hundred auctions going. It was a totally different change of pace for my store. A few items that have been sitting for years received bids right away (must have just been a different type of auction buyer at the right place at the right time) and almost all of the offers I received were at 40% or below minimum bid so I countered most of them to no avail. One guy gave me an offer above the auction price for a pair of shoes, so I took that immediately. Another lady wanted to buy a hat for her golf tournament in 2 days so I sent her a full price offer and she accepted. If I would have accepted all the auction BIN offers that came my way, I probably would have made an additional $130.. but I felt those items (pairs of high end shoes) were worth waiting it out to get double or triple that amount… Tonight (when the auctions were ending) I have to say it was quite the rush to hear the multiple series of cha-chings going off one after another in a row this evening after dinner time. I can see why some people get hooked on running auctions. I had 5 auction sales for a total of ~ $140 this evening, which are not reflected in my weekly numbers above but I’ll roll it into next week. All in all, it was a fun exercise, but it was a hassle changing the listings back over to BIN with the bulk editor after they expired and I didn’t make the $1000 I was shooting for… I also learned that adding the Best Offer to the auctions (while increasing the offers flowing) for the most part I think it prevents people from bidding as they are trying to see just how low you can go – and I probably will only be using that feature on things I really want to push out of my store in the future. I still have a lot of cheaper items I need to move on out if I want to start making better money.
  
  This past week I had some good finds while thrifting – I found another pair of shell cordovans for $5.00.. and a new ralph lauren vintage down puffer vest for $6 that I plan to list for $250. As I was about to list it, I noticed a security sensor still attached… haha… so someone probably shoplifted it and I need to figure out how to get the darn thing off without damaging the jacket. I also scored a custom shooting vest for $5 that I think I may be able to sell for $200+.
  
  Well, have a nice week and going to finish up the podcast now! Thanks Jay and Ryanne!
  - 11/13/2018 at 9:02 am #51624
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Thats a good experiment. If you put over 1000 items on auction, I’d expect more than 5 items to sell. But always good to try new things. Sometimes people just dont want out stuff at this certain moment.
  - 11/13/2018 at 12:26 pm #51637
    Brian Treasures from Grandmas
    Participant
    
    Location: Hoboken, NJ
    @brian-treasures-from-grandmas
    I too am considering moving a bunch of items to auction to get whatever I can for them – perhaps that would make things move quicker than my “Clearance” section. In there, even at 65%+ off things take a while to move.
- 11/13/2018 at 1:29 am #51612
  The Thrift Raider
  Participant
  Location:
  @thethriftraider
  I liked Ryanne’s Bill O’Reily reference at the end there 😀
- 11/13/2018 at 10:09 am #51627
  Brian Treasures from Grandmas
  Participant
  Location: Hoboken, NJ
  @brian-treasures-from-grandmas
  Spent yesterday off from the office job photographing, cleaning, listing. Didn’t get a ton done, but far more than I normally would outside of a weekend day. Listened to the show while doing that, was giggling out loud thinking of you valeting your truck with the oven on board.
  
  Week November 4-11, 2018
  
  Total Items in Store: 964
  Items Sold: 20 (3 Amazon)
  Cost of Items Sold: $158 (20% of sales)
  Total Sales: $785.36
  Highest Price Sold: $99.99 (Led Zeppelin bootleg record https://www.ebay.com/itm/192605730356)
  Average Price Sold: $39.27
  Returns: 0 (1 cancellation though)
  Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60
  Number of items listed this week: 20
  Promoted listings test: 8 sales, $327.19 (41.7% of total sales), $16.38 fees (5.0% of sales)
  
  Sales this week were good, combination of volume & quality. High dollar was the Zeppelin bootleg mentioned above, but also did well with this Halcyon Days Tiffany pill box (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202295685177, paid $10) and a Polaroid Land Camera leather carry case (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192605965184, paid $2).
  
  Got out to 2 sales on Saturday. They were polar opposites of each other – one was clearly a hoarder house that was floor to ceiling boxes & cases. They just needed to clear everything out and everything was super cheap. I picked up a bag of interesting things including vintage Halloween candles (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202499228317), Chinese baoding balls (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192720904391), and some other neat vintage items. The other sale was very high end, a perfectly preserved home, authentic Asian antiquities (and prices to match). I only spent $20 at this one and got things like this 1960s chess set (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202500554134) and a set of 1970s/80s Metropolitan Museum of Art souvenir coasters (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202500545098).
- 11/13/2018 at 4:25 pm #51643
  Lavenderclothesline
  Participant
  Location: Pennsylvania
  @lavenderclothesline
  Items in Store – 2955
  Items Sold – 89
  Total Sales: 2633.60
  ASP: 29.59
  COGS 356.00
  
  🙂
- 11/13/2018 at 8:14 pm #51648
  ThriftShift
  Participant
  Location: Charleston, SC
  @thriftshift
  Jay, I am okay with going into a thrift store and only finding 2-3 things, i.e. the “white whales”. My goal is different than others right now. I am interested in decreasing under $40 inventory and reducing my store # items from 700 down to 400 or so by next July. So while I do want to make more money, I have to balance that against my life goals next summer to move onto a boat and not know quite yet what state we shall call our “residence”. My husband I also have a corrosion control engineering business, so that is our main income stream along with my pensions.
  
  I’ll update my weekly posts with how many stores/sales I went to, and what I bought. As an example, today I went into two thrift stores with my 4-year old. I paid $1 for a pair of wool NWT Codet outerwear pants that I priced at $79. I spent 30 minutes in there. At store #2, I spent $3 on a basket and Barbie for my daughter, nothing for ebay and spent 20 minutes in there; I put back items and researched more too. However on the way home, I passed a church “pop-up” yard sale on Tues from 11-4 (how random). I was there for 20 minutes. I paid $55 for a needlepoint bellpull, a large 990 silver trinket box, a small 990 silver trinket box, a 1960s pottery owl, and some Xmas presents. The same large 990 trinket box sold for something under $450 last month (the seller took best offer). So I spent about 70 minutes shopping today, I spent $56 and hope to make $600 or more on the trinket boxes, pants, and owl. How funny church ladies are – they charged me $10 for a new pair of pillowcases and then $5 for each 990 silver trinket box. I didn’t complain. Also, I live in a pretty Southern town with lots of church ladies! The Goodwill and SA don’t have much worth over $40, but the church thrifts and yard sales do.
  - 11/13/2018 at 10:23 pm #51651
    Sharyn
    Participant
    
    Location: Central NJ
    @sharyn
    If you want to see what the best offer was on the trinket box, try this link:
    https://www.flippertools.com/tools/ebayOfferHistory/ebay-best-offer-actual-price.htm
  - 11/13/2018 at 11:25 pm #51654
    sonia
    Participant
    
    Location: Northeast US
    @sonia
    “I am okay with going into a thrift store and only finding 2-3 things”
    
    Me too! I am in that same mode right now. I decided that since I love the hunt but hate photographing/listing and storing lots of lower-value items, it will work best for me to go in with a “less is more” attitude while shopping. And so far I like it and am having more fun. Of course, I am not full time. Not sure if/how my approach would change if that were the case.
    - 11/14/2018 at 10:28 am #51674
      Inglewood
      Participant
      
      Location:
      @inglewood
      
      I’m fine with going into a store and finding nothing – I rather not waste my time on items that are not worth my time then force myself to find something.
      
      Everything tends to average out with me – if I go to a city and hit 5-10 locations, I will find 0-3 items at one location, then the next may be 20 great things. The next time I go to the same stores, it may be the opposite and I find more great items at the store I struck out at the last visit.
      
      For 2019, my wife and I are updating our metrics to track how much profit we make at each store we hit – to see if there are any locations that are worth going to more often, and if any locations are a waste of time.
      
      Part of the reasoning for this tracking is that we will be moving from our current area to an area about 4 hours drive away – we want to see if it is worth coming back to this area when we move. Also, if we see certain areas/cities are consistently better than others, we can then decide where to go if we are limited on time.
      
      I’m also trying to figure out a rating system for “whales” when we sell them. I have one local Goodwill where I find 1-3 $100+ profit items a month. Just need to add some functionality to my spreadsheets to get a scoring system by higher $ profits.
      
      I’m a little weird with statistics and analytics, but I like to find patterns/consistencies in data for fun.
- 11/14/2018 at 7:30 am #51658
  ThriftShift
  Participant
  Location: Charleston, SC
  @thriftshift
  Thanks Sharyn! Neat tool. It sold for $300; mine is prettier so I best get it up today for Xmas shoppers. Going back today to the sale to do more digging. I must have beat the “silver hounds” there yesterday.
- 11/14/2018 at 2:18 pm #51693
  Sue
  Participant
  Location: Wisconsin (Florida for the worst part of winter)
  @sue-saving
  I just had to refund a buyer for the same reason as your Dansko-Sanitas. But the shoes I sold were Havanna Joe Clogs made in Spain. The buyer sent me photos of a bunch of chunks of the soles.
- 11/14/2018 at 4:02 pm #51697
  Idahoarder
  Participant
  Location:
  @idahoarder
  Store Week: 11/04/18 – 11/10/18
  
  Total items in store: I lost track! 1840ish?
  Items sold: 23
  Cost of items sold: $36.80
  Total sales: $783.84
  Highest price sold: $150.00 ( wool rug)
  Average price sold: $34.08
  Returns: 2 (for size)
  Money spent on new inventory this week: $29.00
  
  Last week was good, but now that I add it up, not quite as much as I thought it would be. But this week has been really busy so far. I’ve been selling lots of Christmas stuff, so I’m really glad I got all of that listed in time. Also, I had an amazing $180 sale for a pair of Christmas themed Converse, but they are still unpaid, so I’m just watching the clock waiting to relist them in time for Christmas. They are super cool, so hopefully they will go before the holiday. I’m loving the holiday sales and my phone cha-chinging all the time. I had 9 sales yesterday, which is great for me!
- 11/14/2018 at 6:43 pm #51703
  bcfol440
  Participant
  Location:
  @bcfol440
  OCTOBER SALES ROUND-UP:
  IN ebay STORE: 950
  SOLD ITEMS: 103
  SALES: $3600
  
  POSHMARK
  IN Store/Closet: 340
  SOLD: 26
  Sales After 20% Fees: $659
  
  Total for OCTOBER: About $4200
  
  IN other scavenger news: I just bought my first lot of “replenishables.” in designer makeup. I think these will be long-tail due to volume. I am going to do some research on how to best list these – certainly not put 200 in quantity, right? Maybe quantity 4 at a time?
  I don’t sell on Amazon, but I really would consider it for this product. Hmm..
  - 11/15/2018 at 3:04 pm #51767
    Mark S
    Participant
    
    Location:
    @mark-s
    bcfol440,
    
    My experience with make up is that the right kind at the right price sells fast and consistently. The quantity set didn’t seem to matter. If it is what people want, it will sell. Summer seemed to be better for Make up sales.
    
    Mark
- 11/16/2018 at 3:35 pm #51820
  Ryanne
  Keymaster
  Location: Virginia
  @ryanne
  Paul DeLeo said–
  Hi,
  
  At work, my boss asked why I was walking around the office in my socks. That’s because I had just discovered that my Ecco shoes with “Vibram” soles disintegrate like the Dansco shoes, leaving a trail of sole crumbs behind me.
  
  About MLMs… Not ALL of them are unsustainable…. While 99% of people who join a MLM company ultimately fail to realize the touted benefits, my father is one of those 1% who signed up a relative who went absolutely gangbusters with building her business 35 years ago. She promoted the household and nutritional products and was a very likable person. She really dind’t build much of a downline at all. Her business has survived her and her son now essentially is an order-taker for her customers. The residual income my 70 year-old father receives for signing her up as well as the work he did decades ago is his primary source of income to this day (certainly more than Social Security pays) and he probably spends no more than 5 hours a week on it. The company is one of the few MLMs that have stood the test of time because their nutritional products are very high quality and some buyers are very loyal.
  
  That said, I think its’ days are numbered because buyers of the products who re-ordered by making a (primarily social) call over the phone to their friendly MLM distributor for decades are literally dying off. This MLM company bans distributors from selling on eBay and Amazon because it threatens their business model. People try anyways and the company is usually quite quick to initiate VERO takedowns (which I believe is a violation of the federal “first-sale” doctrine). e-commerce is here to stay and that MLM company founded in 1915 can’t resist that for much longer.
  
  If you think about it, MLM was an early form of affiliate marketing, applied in a social context. Nowadays, we have “Social Media Influencers” who are paid based on the sales their recommendations generate. Virtually nobody claims that affiliate marketing is a pyramid scheme, scam and unsustainable business model. The key differentiatior is that affiliate marketing focuses on promotion of others’ products, not the promotion of the “business opportunity” of getting paid residual income for getting new people to buy a MLM distributorship. Legitimate MLM companies sustain the business model by selling products that people want to consume, much like Chick Fil A does and the sale of franchises / distributorships is NOT the primary source of income. There aren’t many, but a few time-tested MLMs actually operate like that.
  - 11/17/2018 at 8:54 am #51846
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Glad it worked out for you father, but this is just one story. There’s no arguing that a majority of MLM’s are not good business decisions with 99% of people losing money.
    
    Though affiliate marketing can very much be “spammy”, they arent the same as MLM’s that are “scammy”. No upfront money to become an affiliate marketer. Just make a website and start linking. MLM’s are all about getting your “downline” to often invest $5k plus just to get stated. And thats basically where it all ends.
- 11/16/2018 at 4:11 pm #51821
  JunkPicker
  Participant
  Location:
  @junkpicker
  Hi. Just saw you guys on Craigslist Hunter you tube vid Jay did you gain weight or is it the Kermit the Frog Green Coat?? Ha Ha. Just a little kidding. You should open up a shop in your new main st location.
  - 11/16/2018 at 4:24 pm #51822
    Ryanne
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @ryanne
    winter came early to the mid-west. it was so cold in chicago!
  - 11/17/2018 at 8:50 am #51844
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    We live in a very small town where everyone opens up junk/antique/gift shops because its easy. Buy a space and dump a bunch of junk in it. It’s so much better of an idea t sell online where you’re buying audience is global.
- 04/14/2021 at 7:43 pm #87488
  declutter978
  Participant
  Location: Massachusetts
  @declutter978
  Hi – I’m listening through my backlog of podcasts and I had to tell you it was so cute to hear you Ryanne and Jay discussing the new-fangled ‘send offers to watchers’ page. This is such a part of Ebay now and I loved your excitement about it.
  Also got a charge out of the episode (somewhere in the 380’s) where Jay talks about getting his coyote at the dump, because I think I just heard on an up to date podcast that you just sold it. Congrats on that, and I am so glad it got sent to a buyer who will appreciate it. I am always curious WHY people buy my stuff.
  Thanks for making the download of podcasts available to us, I’ve gotten so many hours of knowledge and let’s face it, entertainment from them.
  Carolyn
  - 04/14/2021 at 8:06 pm #87489
    Jay
    Keymaster
    
    Location: Virginia
    @jay
    Yeah, that stuffed coyote was certainly long tail. Took 2.5 years to sell!
- 04/14/2021 at 8:12 pm #87490
  declutter978
  Participant
  Location: Massachusetts
  @declutter978
  Also, I heard someone talk about Google Photos and I wanted to put in my vote for that too. I create a draft either on my phone or on my laptop, and then I take photos using my Iphone. By using the camera app on the Iphone, I can adjust the exposure (my photos always seemed a tiny bit dark) and also alway use the square option. Then the Google Photos app will upload them and back them up and it’s really easy to pull in the photo using the Ebay app.
  
  I have my camera settings to 1×1 for size and +3 for exposure.
  
  These are the steps I use. It seems clunky when I write it down, but it’s not bad.
  
  (Caveat: I’m a hobby seller, and that’s probably generous, lol.)
  
  1. create the draft and save for later
  
  2. take photo on iphone using the camera app
  
  3. open draft on iphone and add photos
  
  4. on Iphone save draft for later
  
  5. on Desktop open draft
  
  6. on Desktop finalize draft and list (or save for later)
  
  I think my pictures look better doing it this way.
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