Scavenger Life Episode 471: Building Equity, Our Free Scavenger Education

07/05/20 – 07/11/20

Total Items In Store: 3357
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $ 50
Total Sales: $ 467.87
Highest Price Sold: $ 40 (Clock)
Average Price Sold: $ 25.99
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 1
Number of items listed: 5

Gut Sales Report for the week: Sales are still about normal for this time of year for me. Maybe a little low because of lack of listin.

Challenge of the week: I was able to get signed up for Managed Payments. ebay sent me a message saying if I signed up by July 10th I would get $50. The $50 will be deducted from my next invoice.

Mark S

Hello Scavengers – Ryanne talking about the $100 insurance on priority made me feel the need to give a heads up to everyone, knowing that it might just be my area or even just my Post Office, but it seems the PO is tightening up on things. In the last 2 weeks I’ve had a claim denied, with this new directive that they want to inspect the broken item in person. Good pictures from the customer have always done the job in the past, but now I need to have the customer ship the item back to me to show them that they broke it??? Anyway, we’re fighting that, but who knows. I’m certainly not going to ask my buyer to take their broken item to the local PO and show them. Also, just this week got a $9 up-charge because I altered a Game board LFR box. I have done this for years and even looked up the rules on the USPS website where it clearly states that if you alter the box it is no longer a flat rate box and will be charged reg. priority rates. It just seems that they may have hired some new postal inspectors who are eager to prove that they should stay employed (can’t blame them, I guess) by finding ways to charge more and deny claims. I’m hoping it’s just one over-zealous employee and this isn’t a trend, but it just might be.
Enjoying the show as always – Stay Safe Everyone!

Items in Store 1354
Items Sold 32
Total Sales $1,001.00
COGS $93.00
Total Profit $908.00
Average profit $28.38
Average sales price $31.28
New Listings 18

Best sale of the week: $50 for a set of left hand golf clubs.
Why is this the best sale? Because as I was going to my car at Wal-mart Saturday the person next to my car asked if I was left handed. I said no, and they said they had these golf clubs in their car for over a year and they were tired of them taking the space. I said “well if you’re giving them away I’ll take ’em.” Loaded them up, snapped some photos when I got home to put on facebook, and had them sold within a day.

Another fun tidbit: I keep finding Jack Lalane juicers this year. The first one I listed sold the same day I found another one. So I shipped the first one and listed the second one. This Saturday I found another one at a yard sale. The one already listed sold within hours of picking up the new one. Weird!!!

Total Items In Store: 367 Ebay, 112 Mercari
Items Sold: 9 Ebay, 7 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $88
Total Sales: $212 Ebay, $136 Mercari
Highest Price Sold: $39 Target RA linens, paid $17 in May
Average Price Sold: $24 Ebay, $20 Mercari
Money Spent on New Inventory: $32, six items
Number of items listed: 22

Eventful week on Ebay, but not really saleswise. I got the offer for $50, so registered for managed payments. Couldn’t figure out how to charge shipping labels and fees to my credit card, so will need to look that up.
Then, ouch got my first neutral feedback in three years. The buyer falsely claimed I photocopied $10 vintage canning labels. I asked for a return, no answer, then reported and asked for feedback removal on the site, and poof was removed in less than an hour without calling Ebay overseas. Hooray! I also rejected a lot of lowballers and had several of my counteroffers go off into the wind and expire. Had some success selling off $10-15 vintage on Mercari pretty quickly, so I’m pleased with that. The better stuff goes on Ebay. Say what you want about Mercari but your items get looked at and it’s very transparent so I like that. I’m wondering if people are still spending but it’s going lower dollar.

My hourly day job projects seriously dropped off in June. Looking back I’m displeased with myself since I didn’t crank out more listings. It will be strange to have Ebay start paying for our monthly groceries, but I’m super grateful at this time for my “side business”.

Stay safe everyone. Thanks for the podcast and sales videos.

Hello all, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve still been listening to your weekly podcasts. We haven’t seen any sort of summer slowdown yet, which is welcomed but weird. So we’ve just been chugging along, trying to get as many listings up before the free listing promo runs out. Hope they extend it another month or so. Still been eating off the huge paper haul we got last June.

It’s Monday so another big day of getting orders out. We have 62 weekend sales that are going out today, so here’s a quick overview of last weeks sales.

July 5-11
Gross sales (without subtracting fees/shipping) $2,928.62
Total orders – 133
Items currently in store – 14,896

Hope everyone has a great week.

Jay just make sure who ever you guys hire that they can read a ruler, understand fractions and decimals, can 10 finger type, knows something about many materials used in clothing and home decor items and can see color correctly. It really helps to have someone that is good at all of this because it really helps productivity.

Most of this you can check out during your interview process.

Hope I didn’t offend anyone. Just stating what we have found to be the better helpers we have tried through the years.

Good luck,
mike – MDCGFA

My Sales Week Ending: 7/11/20

Frustrated. Lost a lot of time this week. OT on day job: 3 hrs. Power upgrade in neighborhood: 5 hrs. Only listed 3 items.

Total Items For Sale: 68

Profit: $25
Items Sold: 2
Items Listed: 3
Average Profit: $12.32
Highest Profit: $20 Golf Shoes
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0

We had a pretty horrible week on ebay this week. We do sell print on demand items and we sell some grocery items on amazon as well, this has really helped fill in the void of ebay.

Talking about vintage t shirts: We are helping my mom and step dad downsize and move, they have given me a TON of antique items to sell. My mom was getting ready to take a big black bag of my step dads clothes to the donation center and I asked if I could take it home. After opening it I found there are several vintage Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings T shirts! They are from the late 70’s. There is one from 1978 Willie Nelson picnic, which fits me perfectly. Now am torn, should I keep or sell. I think I could get a very good price for them all.

July 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 3,971
Items Sold: 40
Total Sales : $1,236
* ABOVE yearly average of $960
Highest Price: $170 (The Mothman Prophecies Hardcover First Edition)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $76
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $134
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 33

I’ve had a pretty nice week of sales. Mostly nickel and dime stuff with a few $50-$100+ sales thrown in there. I sold a paperweight for $125, a box of flatware for $55, a chrome pen & pencil set for $50 and the book I mentioned above for $170 (bought at an estate sale for .50 cents). I also wanted to mention my button sales. They may not be worth a lot individually, but what a great pipeline! Out of a $10 auction buy of buttons, I’ve so far grossed over $1000! Now I’m always on the lookout for more.

Another week of lower new listings since the weather has cooled off a bit and I can finally work outside without fear of heat stroke. My new garden is doing wonderfully with more little tomatoes growing than I’m gonna know what to do with. Likewise with my cucumbers. I built another little corner garden for my asparagus yesterday. Now I’m going to plant some walnut trees that we were given. I’ve got lots of these little projects that are going to cut into my eBay time, but that’s okay since I work almost nonstop on my store over the winter.

Still busy here. 164 items shipped out last week Monday-Saturday (almost). 28 additional items going out today, more ready to go out tomorrow. I say (almost) for Saturday because the temps at the post office did not pick up my packages on Saturday. This has happened 3 times in the past 2 months. Unfortunately, the post office closes before the mail carrier comes, so I can’t run to the post office with the packages. Now I have to figure out if I want to just do Monday-Friday pick-ups with larger pick-ups on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, or do Monday-Friday pick-ups and walk the packages going out on Saturday to the post-office.

I actually went to an estate sale this weekend! The last estate sale I went to was in January. The last time I sourced in a thrift store was mid-February. I can’t believe it has been 5 months since I’ve gone sourcing in person. I was going to wait until the fall to risk going out, but I sort of feel like we might be at the lowest level of cases we’re going to get here. Plus, they took temperature checks at the door, limited the amount of people in each room, let only a few people into the house at a time, and everyone wore masks. No air-conditioners on, just windows open. I actually felt safer being in an environment like that than I would in a cramped, air-conditioned thrift store.

The items we got are currently “in quarantine” for at least a week. If the covid numbers stay low and a future sale advertises the sort of stuff I like dealing with, I’d probably venture out again to another estate sale. I’d possibly also risk doing a pick-up from an online auction. If the numbers do show any significant increase, I’m back to being a complete shut-in.

Thanks, Jay and Ryanne, for the reference to my advice to newbie sellers. At the beginning of my eBay experience I found retuns and INADs really stressful. I recall feeling crushed on my first INAD. In hindsight I had a good case for fighting it, but eBay’s guidance on sellers’ option for INADs isn’t clear IMHO. Mostly I didn’t think I had any options for fighting it. Newbies, try to tamp down on the emotions that returns and INADs cause. Take a few deep breaths and research what has occurred and what your options are. Better to get this experience with low-dollar items. Today I’m better at taking the hiccups in stride.

Total Items in Store: 650
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales: $429
Highest Price: $65 – Bike trailer frame, canopy, seat
Average Price: $24
Cost of Goods Sold: $40
Returns: 0
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $32
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 26

Scavenge of the Week: Box of vintage board games from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Battleship, Spirograph, etc, all in decent shape, for $30. Should bring around $300.

A quick comment on your situation of creating a new listing to cover a combined shipment. I’ve done that too, but I always create the listing with Make Offer so some other random buyer doesn’t swoop in to buy it. I tell the expected buyer to make an offer for whatever the agreed amount was and I will accept it right away. Better than having to cancel the unexpected purchase.

07/05/20 – 07/11/20

Total Items In Store: 850
Items Sold: 22
Cost of Items Sold: $ 77
Total Sales: $ $531.96 + $90 Facebook Marketplace
Highest Price Sold: FB Marketplace $90 drumset cymbal stands, on eBay $49.99 (Tori Richard Hawaiian Shirt)
Average Price Sold: $ 24.18
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 32
Number of items listed: 22

My sales keep increasing so that’s exciting. I’m putting more time into it. I’m also starting to work on inventory one bin at a time which means I’m discovering TONS of unlisted items. I’m listing them and they’re selling.

Are Hawaiian shirts selling like crazy for anyone else? Since May, I’ve sold 16 for a total over just over $400. Pretty happy with that.

Question for you guys: would you try to get this neutral feedback removed: “Great shirt and the most wrinkled wadded up shirt I have ever received” While the guy’s comment is pretty funny, the shirt looked fine when it left my house. It’s just one of those wrinkle-prone shirts and I shipped it in a polymailer. I don’t normally fight feedback unless it’s obvious. Would eBay even consider removing it?

7/4/20-7/10/20
Total Items In Store: 2024
Items Sold: 26
Gross Sales: $1090
Highest Price Sold: $200 (Safgard Home Milk Pasteurizer)
Average Price Sold: $41.91
Returns: 0 $0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $40
Number of items listed: 71

• Kind of a slow week in sales, but had a few high dollar items sell that helped my sales.
• I went to an American Legion fundraising sale this week and picked up a lot of great items. The sale had no prices listed, they just wanted a donation. When I went to check out, they only charged me $30. I ended up giving them an extra $10 because it was for a good cause and they charged me much less than I thought I was going to pay.
• I had a couple $200 sales (Home Milk Pasteurizer / Airplane Cable Tensiometer) and a $150 sale (NOS Bell Telephone) this week.
• I recently had USPS contact me about a claim needing me to take the item to the post office for review. I threw the item out after sending in pictures, so I am going to be denied on that claim. First time that has happened, so going forward I am going to have to save the item until the claim is paid.

I’m in the hospital now with my wife, on day 3 of trying to induce our 3rd kid to come. All is well but obviously ebay is somewhat on hold.

Last week was a good week.

Sales: CAD$2806, 10 sales, COGS: $242, Fees: ~$390, Postage: $443 –> Gross profit: $1731
Expenditures: $20 –> Cashflow: $1953
Listed: $1140, 27 items

Couple hydraulic switches sold for $500.

Good show. Always interesting and inspiring to hear you discuss your frugal lifestyle and investment choices. We’ve greatly pulled back on buying stuff for ourselves since starting on eBay and done what we can to reduce our monthly outflow. I actually think the act of scavenging stuff to sell short circuits some kind of primal urge to purchase stuff. I get the thrill of having something new and then passing it on to someone else and get the second thrill of the sale.

Not a huge week for sales, but what I did sell had low COGs so that was satisfying. Also satisfying, sold one of our longest tail items, a tea cup and saucer we’d had for 1474 days. For reference, the oldest thing we have in our store is 1484 days.

Week Ending 07/11/2020
Total Items in Store: 1158
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales: 806.03
Gross wo Shipping $592.50
Cost of Items Sold: $21.00
COGS Percent 3.54%
Highest Price Sold: $74.95 Lot of Music CDs
Average Price Sold: $32.92
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 10
Promoted Percentage: 55.56%
Average Days Listed: 298.89
Longest Listed: 1474
New items listed: 7

Week of July 5 – 11
* Total Items in Store: 1259 eBay, 35 Etsy
* Items Sold: 16 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $24.65 + $48.91 Commission
* Total Sales: $303.14 eBay
* Highest Price Sold: $46 Black Wedgwood Jasperware vase (commission)
* Average price: $18.95
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $121
* Number of items listed this week: 11

Finally found enough items in two online auctions that sold at reasonable prices, although, not what I’m used to pre-COVID. The MaxSold pickup was done to all recommended practices; my local auction house, not so much.

I had my first sale with local pickup where I could scan the code to show the purchase was completed. I had a second one, but the buyer couldn’t find the code on his app. I had converted that one to local pickup after he accepted my offer, so I don’t know if that was the reason for not finding the code.

For those of you with 1001 – 3000 ish items in Ebay, do you have the 10000 item EBay store? Or do you just pay additional fees to list and relist any of your items that are over 1000?

I’ve been curious about that for awhile but always forget to ask. 🙂