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I hate throwing things out, but there are somethings in such poor condition I am not sure if I should bother listing them.
These “problem children” sit at the top of my death pile, and taunt me like the snakes from the burning pet shop in Pee-Wee’ Big Adventure. Every time I pass them, I grimace and then move on to something more palatable.
Here is a perfect example: I purchased a huge lot of prints on the last day of an estate sale. The money I invested is negligible; this isn’t about recouping a loss.
Curious what people think – would you bother listing this damaged lithograph (using that term broadly – it is signed and numbered but not an original)
Really cool image, but not wholly unique with extensive damage.
Fellow trash elves, how would you proceed?
Do I rescue the snakes or let them burn?
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@So Cal Joe & Clarity ah I see that’s what someone is asking for a good one. I misread and thought it had previously been sold.
I might as well list an see what happens. Rather than focus on this specific piece of art, I would like to push this thread back to the general question – “When is something just junk?”
For those of us who don’t have anchor stores, it costs $1.20 per year to keep an item listen (10 cents per listing for 12 months – I think lower tiers may even be .25 a month). These fees add up! I currently have a 2k inventory in a 1k store – that’s $1,200.00 per year.
But more than the money, there is opportunity cost. I have only so much storage space and only so much time to list. If I spent 20 minutes listing a damaged lithograph, it is 20 minutes that I am not listing something else.
There are no right answers here; I am just curious how others approach this problem.
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I think the answer might be different for different business models — fast nickel v. slow dime, lots of small sales vs. fewer large sales, whatever — but, that said, I feel like that whatever the item is, it has to be worth the time for you to list it. So, to use your example, at what price point is your 20 minutes of listing no longer worth it? If you can get $25 for the damaged lithograph, is that worth it? $50? $100? What’s the lowest acceptable price for you to list any item?
Or am I just rephrasing your question and not getting you any closer to an answer? 🙂
Pre-pandemic, I didn’t feel like it was worth my time (I work semi-full-time during the school year, have multiple children, and have other obligations) to sell anything that wouldn’t net me at least $20-30. The time and stress involved in listing and shipping wasn’t worth it for less on a per-hour basis at that point. Now that the school year is over and the pandemic is upon us, I’m listing at lower prices and taking lower offers than I would have before. I’m hungrier for income and I have vastly more time to list and ship. So now, maybe that net price is more like $15.
(At the same time, I feel like I always run into more problem buyers at the lower price points, which adds a whole other dimension to the question.)
TL/DR: How much do you want to make per item, and is your item sellable at that minimum price?
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In addition to what Hausfrau mentioned, I take into account the time & materials it takes to photograph, pack and ship. Just last week I bought a cool vintage glass ceiling lamp for $1, but once I found out I could only sell it for about $20, I put it in the donate box. I didn’t want to deal with packing it just to get less than $20. But I am going to list a Lefton figurine I got for free that will sell for only $10-12, b/c that’s fairly easy to ship. Of course, if I had been able to look these items up on ebay prior to buying, I wouldn’t have taken either of them, since I’m looking for a much higher per-item return in general.
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I have not much to add, really; generally concurring with Hausfrau and Sonia and having a $20-and-above minimum net for most items – higher if they’re a pain to pack – going down to about $10 for small, easy to list and pack items that appear to have a market. I do break that rule and go lower for postcards since I have a soft spot for them.
It is more important to note, however, that thanks to you D.E.C. I will never again walk past a death pile without thinking of Pee Wee and the snakes. (He did eventually rescue them….)
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@Temudgin I think of the snakes in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure every-time I walk past my death pile and I make the same face.
But when you finally list that item (and it sells)
you be like
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debitsandcredits, I too am guilty of the death piles. I, as always have a lot going on. I stopped sourcing since the pandemic and not a moment too soon. I have so much stuff to list and this pandemic has sort of “helped” me realize I need to just list. All that being said, I simply have not had time to though.
As for the print you have, can you try selling it on craigslist, or offer-thus saving you any fees, and maybe throw in the the listing description as something for a restorer to practice on? Idk. Just a thought-maybe a silly one, but maybe just trying one of those 2 places to sell might save you the stress of thinking of the fees involved.
I typically use craigslist or offer (with success) for selling things I don’t want to/or can’t ship. I have small furniture items, or just smaller items not really worth selling on ebay due to the time/weight/fees involved.
And then there’s the “prop” section of ebay someone (sorry, I cannot remember who) mentioned and I keep bringing up because “why didn’t I think of that” keeps running through my mind when I think of the props idea.
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In re: death piles — since the virus hit, I’m looking at them in a much more positive light. If it weren’t for what used to be my “death piles” I wouldn’t have had anything new to list since the shut down in March.
Post-pandemic, I’ll have to unlearn some of this new thinking or be overrun. 🙂
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