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I’ve been a reseller for many years. As I’ve shared before, I sell mostly fashion and accessories. I know quality. I know a tremendous amount about high end fashion. I shop in wealthy areas where I find desirable items regularly. So I should be swimming in the green, right? Wrong. My sales are so pathetic right now. I’m a long tail flipper. I price at about 75% off retail for items in excellent condition, yet no fish are biting. Times like this make you second guess yourself, don’t they? And why does this only seem to happen when you have a major bill due? Hello college tuition fall payment! Thank God my son is a senior.
It’s times like this when I have horrendous sales days when I start to second guess if I know what I’m doing. On the $800-$1000 days I’m completely confident, but on days like yesterday when I sold $42, I’m wondering if that St John and Eileen Fisher inventory sparkles to anyone but me.
This business aint for the faint of heart my friends. Those of us who’ve been hanging onto that frayed rope and swinging for decades must have some serious biceps or we’re eternally optimistic.
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12k per semester.
My bigger concern is that I’m out of touch with what’s desirable right now. I mean, I read all about the latest brands and I watch countless videos on this stuff while I list. I find expensive brands often. Eileen Fisher, St John, Betabrand, AG Jeans, Chaco…. these are just some examples of brands I gravitate towards. I’m starting to doubt my knowledge. I found 9 pairs of new Vionic shoes last week and only one has sold so far. And they’re sandals which is perfect for the season we’re in.
Or maybe I’m pricing too high which is entirely possible. I price on the higher side with the best offer option but I’m not even getting many offers lately.
I’m seasoned enough to know that summer is slow. I get it. But man, those $40 days are like a blood letting.
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Preach! July was my least profitable month since I started seriously selling in 2014. I did have my store shut down for a week while I was on vacation but I’ve had it shut down before and didn’t suffer this badly. I can’t help but think that maybe Poshmark and ThreadUp have finally succeeded in taking a lion’s share of the used clothing market away.
After analyzing my sales, I’ve noticed that I sold more hard goods than clothing over the last few months despite a vast majority of my inventory being clothing. So it’s time for me to hit up more estate sales for vintage chotskies and ignore the clothing racks at the thrifts for awhile.
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Jay, $1000 a week is fine if his tuition was my only bill. I also have three other kids who are in activities that require $$$. We are also taking our summer vacation in August and that has associated costs as well. August is always a cash hemorrhage month for me. Between back to school, college tuition, summer vacation… it’s a lot. My husband calls it a self inflicted wound. He is not wrong.
Julie, yeah I’m trying to stay away from the racks and it’s like cocaine. Must get that hit. I did find some very expensive mid century flatware from Denmark last week from GW. I paid $3 for it and listed it for $600. I wish I could find that every day.
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My high-end isn’t moving at all, my at the bottom low-end is moving briskly. While I continue to stock for both ends, I now have forced myself to develop an eye for the sort of stock that will do well on the low-end. Of course this isn’t ideal, but in order to fund the purchasing of better items, have cash-flow, pay bills, etc,. I need to put my money where it can actually generate sales. If it was a perfect world, I would just source only for the high-end, but the long-tail has gotten very long for those sort of items (at least for me).
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@almasty What price points do you set for your “low end brands”. Do you charge shipping? And what is an example of a low end brand to you?
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I too am selling more hard goods than clothes. Clothes are 75% of my store. I have been diversifying over the last year and it has been a good choice I think. The summer has been so slow and Atomic Star I get days of panic too. I do think the ebbs and flow have somewhat to do with pay day. For example the last week of the month is usually painfully slow and I am getting low ball after low ball offer on stuff. I feel like those days you work harder to make money because it $20 here and $15 here. And then there’s days when people are buying $40 shirts outright with no haggling. I don’t think I’m saying anything you don’t already know but hopefully it helps to know you have company. It’s the first of the month so people got paid and hopefully they will come shop at your store soon!
And no I’m not quitting clothing number one I love it and number two people always need clothes. They don’t always need vintage Mikasa dinnerware. No matter how pretty it is. 🙂
As far as low end brands I look for. Chico’s (I know I know) Lands’ End, LL Bean, boring but people always need good clothes… -
AtomicStar,
I was heavy into clothing. I was at about 33% in April. Jay told me I was too far in with clothes. I took his advice and stopped buying clothes. Sales have picked up, but few clothes are selling.
I don’t know exactly what is happening, but clothes on ebay seem to be a tough sale right now. Don’t know if it the competition from places like Poshmark, Etsy, etc, but clothes are just not selling for me either.
So, I jumped ship on clothes. I will still buy the cream of the crop when I see those clothes, but they are few and far between. I would say to start diversifying.
Mark
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@Elle I cannot say no to Chico’s if it’s a good price. Yes it might sit for a year or two, but I just can’t walk away from a nice Chico’s piece. Especially if it’s like a silk jacket in an Asian style. I’m goner lol. The ups and downs are just so puzzling. I’ve always laughed at the people who talk about their stores being turned on and off. While I still don’t think that’s the case, it sure feels like it sometimes!
@Mark Unfortunately I cannot keep enough hard goods in stock to make 6k – 10k per month. Clothing allows me the ability to make those kinds of sales because it’s more abundant. A few years ago I hit the 10k monthly goal regularly. Not so much anymore. I do enjoy hard goods, but I just don’t find a lot of them. Estate sales would be great for that, but I can’t often get to them because I have school age kids at home still. But once they graduate I will be hitting them hard.I also feel like it’s time to start educating myself more on certain hard goods so that I recognize desirable items. Vintage jewelry has sold well for me, but I’m not good at identifying brands. Also, I love selling perfume, but not all vintage perfumes are desirable. Must start reading more on those subjects. Glass and pottery are too vast and overwhelming. And art is way out of my wheelhouse of knowledge. There have got to be other items of interest that I can find that will sell if I cut back on clothing. I just need to figure out what those are. I guess we’re all doing that, right?
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AtomicStar,
Yes, I am constantly diversifying. There are certain niches that I like, but I am always open to new items I haven’t sold before. They just have to make sense when I buy them. In this way you become a generalist with specific knowledge in many areas. That make every sale so much fun. You just go in there and you know what you are looking for and how much you can pay. For new item areas\items, I just look them up on my phone.
Lately, it just feels like I have been getting such great items. Not sure if that is because I am getting better, or great items are getting more abundant. My theory is that I am getting better trained, and also I go out buying nearly everyday so my chances are greatly increased. I don’t really buy a lot in any particular place, it is just a little here, a little there and then it all adds up.
Mark
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AtomicStar, I just wanted to let you know that I spoke to my friend who is a poshmark seller and she said her store is dead for clothing sales lately and she doesn’t have any idea why it’s so slow.
I’m experiencing a similar situation as the other commenters; I mainly sell hard goods but it’s the low priced items that are selling well for me. -
I am late to comment, Atomic Star! wanted to weigh in:
I have change my business model in last 3 months after having too many bad days. I signed up for Cyndi at Amazing Taste (instagram) group call for one month and took her advice / coaching. My sales increased about 25% since May. Absolutely amazing. I have changed all of how I source/ sell which is NOT for the faint of heart or stubborn. I have never signed up for any courses/mentorships before, so I was like “meh” but if there is anyone who understands ebay / keeping current with the algorithm it is Cyndi.
This isn’t a sponsored post! 🙂 I just wanted to share.
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You mind sharing some of her general advice.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/amazing*taste/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684
She sells so many clothes, but her average selling price looks to be under $20.-
Cyndia from Amazing Taste was interviewed on a podcast in Jan 2017. I haven’t listened to it yet but some of her advice back then is included in bullet points (for free) on the podcast’s webpage. I don’t think she’s doing anything different than most of us (other than posing her clothing photos at an angle to stand out). She and her husband are just grinding it out in their garage. The interview https://soyouwannasellonebay.com/shownotes/cyndi-zlotow
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We interviewed her in 2015:
Even had lunch with her once when we were in Chicago.She’s just a machine. They list and work non-stop. Unless she’s changed her strategy, she takes great photos and beats people on price. I cant imagine she makes more than $5 an item in profit on most her items selling under $20.
If she’s really charging $200 for a monthly phone call, that’s amazing. “Its not what they sell, its what we buy.
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$200 is a bit steep for me for classes. I’ve been doing this for so long I think I can run classes lol. She does sell more than I do, but not by much. I know I have to lower my prices. That’s the only way we are different. She is a faster flipper where as I am a slow dime kind of girl.
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@almasty Well she’s doing something a little better than me as she sells about 25% more than I do and I have a large store with quality items. I think that’s my problem though. I have a lot of higher dollar items and I price them high and accept best offer. I think she prices at the lower end so she ranks higher in search and sells faster. I imagine she does have some wisdom to share, but I can’t afford to shell out $200 for it. I will just continue to read and learn from other sellers for free.
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Ryanne and Jay day all the time that it always will come back, and I’d bet you agree as such a long time seller.
The newer tax collection laws, increased postage rates (and 1st Class Zoning) by the USPS, Parcel Select rates doubling, US manufacturing labor hours down 11% for the year, tarrif costs being passed onto the consumer, all have to have some sort of effect.
All it takes is for a buyer to say “that seems a little high, lemme check around” and they probably won’t be back.
If you have a unique or scarce enough item, you’re fine (as Jay boasts), if not I see things continuing to be a struggle for all of us (unless we’re the cheapest).
The core principle of economics is scarcity, and it seems like it’s running its course here as well.
Every category I run in I see impressions for the rest of the eBay market being down for the year (not mine I’m the cheapest).
Yes, I already know this is going to set everyone’s hair on fire.
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I had a couple email conversations with amazing taste a few years back. Her schedule is grueling! Workday starts at 3am. I don’t know how they keep from burning out.
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Hi everyone!
I found an incredible amount of value in the calls and mentoring.
It works for me for now, and def for my bank account. -
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Almost everyone I see offering mentorship/courses is selling clothing or some other kind of high-volume item (wholesale, etc.) Just a wild guess, but I’m assuming that a lot of these people are just teaching marketing tricks/strategies for standing out. Cyndi seems to focus on the slanted photos + low/mid-range prices, while others teach social media marketing and such.
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Ah, it sounds like people are paying more for motivation than for mentoring. I can’t even imagine waking up at 3 am daily, geez. From looking at her store, it looks like she sells 500-600 items per month. I’m going to estimate gross sales from 9k-14 a month. That’s just Ebay alone, not sure what her poshmark numbers are like. That is a really good monthly income.
I can see sustaining that level of work and sales for a few years in order to retire early, or to eventually coast by on half the level of of work, but not indefinitely.
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Jay – what I learned is consistency with ebay as a steady income with income goals I wanted to meet. I was tired of low and high days. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but it happens less. And when slow days happen, I can use the tools I learned to get back on track instead of just hoping and praying the ebay gods show up again.
If you (or anyone) has more specific questions about her program content, I recommend connecting to her directly.
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seriously everything can be found on this podcast or forum lol.
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Buy low, sell at a reasonable but profitable price
List, list, list
Promote at 1.5-2%
Use offers to buyers after the first week of listing
List, list, list some more
Ship within one business day
List, list, list some more
Promote on social media
This is what I suspect would be the adivce
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Did we ever talk about this article?
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-lose-tens-of-thousands-of-dollars-on-amazonWithin six months, McDowell and Bjork had spent nearly $40,000, with almost nothing to show for it. So they auctioned off what inventory they could, paid Amazon to destroy the rest, and got out of the business. “It’s not a passive income; [it’s] a ton of work,” McDowell told me. “We lost all our savings—everything we had.”
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“But Behdjou and Gazzola have a growing list of unhappy clients. One, Molly Cox, lost around $40,000 selling meal-prep containers on Behdjou and Gazzola’s advice. Others told me they’re out $4,000, $4,600, $9,000. In a secret Facebook group, dozens of them have gathered to discuss attempts to get their money back and seek advice about how to unload hundreds of unsold jar openers, locking carabiners, and lemon squeezers.”
did they ever take a moment to stop and think about what they were selling?
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Jay, Just read the article. I’ve bought info in the past from ebay “gurus” and have generally been disappointed. I wouldn’t say I was ripped off, and nothing I paid for was expensive. But the value—to me, at least—has almost always been less than I had expected. There’s so much good free information out there, I just find it hard to pay.
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I definitely believe in Buyer Beware, but it does make the heart ache to see desperate people throwing $4k+ to someone who says “I have the answer to your problems”.
We take educational courses from time to time to learn specific skills or info. Recently we took a $200/person course run by our state. We learned how to handle the rules and regulations about building in downtown areas. We learned how to communicate with banks for loans, building officials, and zoning. We gamed out different projects and learned to run spreadsheets.
I would never pay for a course where the goal was “learn to be rich”. That’s not a concrete goal.
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I honestly thought this forum was more immune to this sort of hustling pressure, so it is a bit shocking to read this thread and see that multiple people have been taken in by “gurus.” Whether they have proven helpful or not, eh, that’s not the point to an extent. At the very least, if you’ve got something good going on, you will not declare it in public for free. You will not even declare it for pay. The “gurus” might have a good thing going for them, but they will tell you about other commonsense ways to develop your business. They will not freely share their sources, they will not tell you how to actually think and develop ways to actually better yourself in your business. No one would do that for $200 or $300. They will tell you what you want to hear, what you can use to make some money right away (not even that in some cases, as referenced in that article above), even though it is not sustainable.
A “guru” will reference his bank account, but the high number in his bank account might be from being a guru, or working on a business that is not the one he will have you pay for him to talk about. It is bait & switch. It is smoke & mirrors. It is real, but it is not real.
Ebay businesses are good, basic exploratory learning process towards stepping up and creating actual businesses. Ebay businesses are also actual businesses. However, they will never be referenced like that by gurus. You will hear them being discussed as “get rich quick,” “how I made $1,000 by going to Goodwill in 1 hour this afternoon.” They will give you tools and ideas to quickly set-up something, anything, but they are not sustainable. They will show you the “fun” of going out sourcing, but not the “fun” of packing, listing, photographing, going to the post office, doing it again the next day, and the next.
Who can run a sustainable business? The only person that can run one is you. That is how all businesses work – long, thought-out research and work. Processes put in place. Work. Organization. Notes. Implementation. Changes. More organizing. More notes. More work. A nonstop loop. That is reality. A “guru” cannot actually change your reality, no matter how much hw sells you the idea that what you are doing is wrong and that what he is doing is the right and only way.
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They will show you the “fun” of going out sourcing, but not the “fun” of packing, listing, photographing, going to the post office, doing it again the next day, and the next.
This is the key wisdom. It’s all work. In that article, it was interesting to hear there were so many people with good paying jobs who were shelling out thousand$ to learn to make money with no work.
The idea that you can make $100k+ a year working just two hours a week is insanity. I guess it shows the desperation that so many people have in their lives.
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I also wonder what is up with the people that think they want to work 2 hours a day, or 2 hours a week. What will they do with all of that free time? Watch more Netflix? Post more on Reddit?
I see some funny posts on FIRE reddit, or articles on Marketwatch pop up about 30 year-olds that retire early and are bored as hell. Some just go back to work after a year or two. Others are clearly unhappy. People don’t realize they have to manage free time as they would work time. They think that not working will make them happy, but it is its own form of misery for a lot of people.
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Jay, Again, agreed. I can watch the “haul” videos and enjoy them, but you are right: that’s the fun part of this business (for most of us, anyway). But that doesn’t show all the work that goes into getting that haul sold. Or all the work that goes into knowing what to buy when you are ought gathering your haul…So yes, it can be misleading. I think most of us have learned to take what is of value to us from videos, forums etc and leave the rest. We all have our filters on.
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I went out sourcing at thrift stores for the first time in 2 months the other day and instantly thought “oh my god, I can’t wait until winter comes so I can just list through my backlog without interruption again.” It was sort of fun in a way since it had been so long, but it was also exhausting. I guess it’s fun when you’re just doing it part-time, but when it’s full-time it sort of loses its shiny appeal unless you specifically think of it as “this is a fun date activity, we can get something to eat after doing this, it’ll pay for this meal, not our bills” sort of fun expectations.
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If I wanted to cherry pick, I have definitely had many weeks that I have worked only 2 hours on ebay and made $500+. Looking at my records, in the last year I’ve had 20 weeks where I did not list and made more than $500. My average items sold is 21 a week and it takes me less than 5 minutes to pull/pack items per item. Most of my sales are very easy to pack/ship. That’s less than 2 hours a week.
BUT, I had already put in the work to find the items, clean, list, photograph, and store. Nevermind the countless hours of research learning how to sell, all the time and capital I’ve invested in infrastructure, etc.
The easy part is grabbing it and shipping it. Those 2 hour weeks are when I sell a bunch of easy to ship items like clothes/shoes. I have 3 business day handling so I only ship twice those weeks.So I should start a business where I show people how to “Make $2000 a month and only work 2 hours a week!” After all, it is an accurate statement…mmostly.
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Yeah, exactly, you can tell people that you “worked” only 2 hours a week, but then leave out the part of the thousands of hours of work that went into you only having to work for 2 hours that one week. You are technically not lying. It’s slick what they do. A lot of these people are selling only partially true information like that.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirits_of_St._Louis#NBA_Merger
There are very few people who make a fortune for doing very little…my favorite is the St. Louis NBA franchise that doesn’t even play but gets there cut of the NBA TV revenue for 45 years and counting…
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almasty, Just to be clear, I have never paid for a get rich quick course. I have paid a few bucks for some pdfs which had value, just not as much as I would have liked. I’ve also paid for a few “webinars” which also had value, but again, I would have liked more. But I have never felt ripped off. None of these folks were “get rich quick” gurus, they were people providing information. In a couple cases, I can say I actually made good money because of the info they provided. Which is also true of free info I’ve obtained here and elsewhere.
I don’t think most people here are likely to pay thousands for “get rich” schemes. For me, what I paid for was less about “how” to do something and more about particular items to source. I have a huge library of reference books, accumulated over many years of buying and selling…some are better than others, some are a treasure trove of information, some are pretty pictures and not much more. I don’t regret buying most of them, because they’ve added to my knowledge.
There’s a huge difference between someone providing information about , say, early stoneware, and someone providing information about the lazy man’s guide to riches.
I probably should have been more clear when I mentioned that I’ve paid for information….
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pdf BOLO lists? Yeah, I never understood those. I also don’t get paying for webinars. I guess they were for clothes? Toys? Current popular items?
Ebay and Terapeak provide free information on current trends and pricing. Going to Target/Walmart/Best Buy/other websites shows what people are looking for and buying now for new items. I really don’t see the advantage of paying someone else to do the work, because you’re just paying for relatively current information. You’re not paying to learn how to figure it out yourself and create your own BOLO lists.
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Just want to add: I haven’t taken Cyndi’s program, and don’t know what advice she gives there. I will say that I have always thought this advice , from a long time ebay seller (and before ebay, successful B&M seller), was probably very good for dealing with the hills and valleys. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to follow the send part LOL:
Sell used, antiques etc—that is your profit center. Won’t sell as often or as fast as you’d like, but buy cheap, sell high…
Sell a good selection of popular new stuff at a decent markup—that is your cash flow center. Your margins won’t be as high, but, if you picked good stuff, it will create steady cash flow.
Just something to consider….
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All of these seminars, MLM, real estate flipping, etc. that you can attend/buy boil down to just four words:
“BUY LOW, SELL HIGH”
The part most people miss is the effort between the buying and selling, and after sale completion of the transaction.
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I don’t really think I’d put MLM in the buy low sell high camp. They are all about “recruit more sellers”, and then each seller has to buy a minimum amount each month to maintain some sort of “status”.
Most MLM sellers just end up buying product for themselves that they won’t use until they give up.
Here’s a neat article showing the reality of selling DoTerra Essential Oils.
MLM schemes have stole alot of good friends from us. They become unapproachable leaches once the MLM gets their hooks in them. Can’t even have a damn conversation without them trying to market themselves or sell you something.
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MLM’s are extremely evil because they make people abuse their personal relationship and trust with family/friends. It really can destroy relationships.
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anyone seen “becoming a god in central florida?”. i’ve been looking forward to watching it at some point. just came out this week.
“On Becoming a God in Central Florida” is a dark comedy starring award-winning actress Kirsten Dunst that takes place in a small town that is adjacent to Orlando in the early 1990s. Dunst plays Krystal Stubbs, a minimum wage employee at a waterpark who is looking for a better life. To reach her goal, she lies, cheats and cons her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise (FAM), a cultish pyramid scheme that ruined her family in the first place. As Krystal dives deeper into FAM, things take on a very serious turn as the business begins to affect everyone that is close to her.
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