Scavenger Life Episode 481: The Funnel

Items in Store 432

Items Sold 10 total, 6 FBM 4 Ebay

Total Sales $260

COGS $10

Total Profit $250

Average profit $25

Average sales price $26

Highest Priced Item: Old Shelves, $65

New Listings 88

Been listing pretty hardcore this week, looking to get to 500 by the end of October 1st. Although it doesn’t count toward this week’s numbers, I sold that beer stein today from my post last week for $209, making it the second highest price of it’s kind that’s sold in a year. Since upping my prices, I am seeing a decline in sales on ebay, but I’m making more money per item than I was anticipating, so it’s sort of equalling out. Looking forward to the holiday season. Boosted my handling time from 3 days to 1 day as an experiment this week. Also, small win for this week is that I found a shipping insurance check that I misplaced a few weeks ago, so I’m back up $50 on a $1 purchase, even though it broke in transit.

In other news, I picked up another job, but much more on my terms. My mom has MS and just got approved for state funded caregiving, and I’ll be caregiving for her. Its stuff I’m already doing, but now I’ll net an extra $1000 a month.  Plus, my girlfriend is taking some hours as well and will get about $400 extra a month by doing all the cooking, so our entire household is going to be a bit less tight.

I’ve been thinking about the philosophy of growing wealth a lot this week. Caregiving is going to cover almost all of my personal bills, and this is the first month since I got the office that the business is fully funding itself. Stretch goals are to be at 1000 listings by the end of the year, I’m hoping to grow in numbers enough that my holiday sales at smaller sized stores equal my regular sales at a larger store. Been reading a lot of other people’s numbers recently and it’s great to be know that I’m on the track to being a lot more fiscally secure than I have been previously.

Love the podcast, always interesting to hear about the coffee shop developments.

Also, RE: Sell similar, basically the dropdown lists stay the same, but photos and type in information (minus the title, that stays) are empty and able to be listed. I used to sell similar a lot when I didn’t know how to describe things, but I am writing more and more of my own listings as I’m getting better at Ebay. To my knowledge, there isn’t a way to transfer sell similar locations from AU to UK to US. What a great idea for  “what ebay can improve”

J and R….You guys have probably talked about this already, but your coffee-ebay comparison and discussion about “add-ons” to the coffee menu made me wonder: is there a way to tie ebay into the coffee business?  Not necessarily your ebay store itself, but you two are buying stuff  for ebay already, is there stuff you could search for that might sell well in a tourist town coffee shop?  I’m thinking vintage camping gear, old area maps and ephemera, books about local history and nature….It would both add to the ambience of the store and be for sale.

I called and left a message about this, but the name of the caller Gordon Hayward from Boston made me think. There is a Boston Celtic with that same name, probably a different person because the caller had a Boston accent it seemed and the NBA player did not grow up in Boston, but who knows. Did anyone else catch this?

Items in Store    1490

Items Sold           34

Total Sales          $1,243.00

COGS    $154.00

Total Profit         $1,089.00

Average profit   $32.03

Average sales price          $36.56

New Listings       59

Ah well I don’t think I’m going to get to 1600 listings by Oct 1st. More important than that, since I started my big listing push my Weekly items sold has increased over 50% and my total weekly total sales $ has pretty much doubled. I’ll take it! I’ve been focusing on listing the bigger items that take up room and that I’ve avoided a while. They take longer to list, but it needs to be done.

This weekend I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done which I am proud of. I ended up buying a good amount of things at the yard sales Saturday and I committed to listing all of it and I did it. 47 listings for $1421 BIN price for all of it. Kinda shocking when you see how much the value is compared to how much I paid (just under $100).

Sept. 20 – 26

• Total Items in Store: 3,996
• Items Sold: 33
• Total Sales :  $891
  • * BELOW yearly average of $1,021
• Highest Price:  $60 (Antique Morphine Medicine Tin)
• Average Price:  $27
• Returns:  0
• Cost of Goods Sold:  $70
• Costs of Goods Purchased this Week:  $1.50
• Number of New Items Listed this Week: 81

Okay number this week. I thought I had done better with the amount of packing I’ve done over the week but I see now that my average price was lower than usual. But boy did I get a lot of listing done. It was mostly small, easy to list stuff like patches and antique medicine bottles. This week I’m going to start on my Christmas decor items. I like to save them for this time of year so that they get the little “new listing” bump when people start shopping for them.

Other than listing, not much has happened over here. Steph and I went out one day to the lake and tried magnet fishing. It’s a little hobby I found that sounded fun, trolling the lake bed with a high powered magnet looking for metal things like fishing tackle and tools. I only pulled up a lure and some hooks, but you’d be amazed at what people will find hiding in the murky depths.

9/20/20- 9/26/20
Total Items Listed (2 different IDs): 291
Items Sold: 11
Gross Sales (not incl shipping): $648.95
Highest Price Sold: $224.89 ‘70’s German KCB Rifle Bayonet (bought for $70)
Returns:  0
New Items Listed: 11
$ Spent on New Inventory: $53

It was definitely a good week on eBay for me. This brings my weekly average gross up to $266 for 2020 which is about what I’ve done for the last couple years.

It’s the end of an era here in this area with the demise of the large St Augustine Flea Market, about a half hour south of Jacksonville. This was its last weekend. Being on prime real estate right at an I-95 exit, I am surprised it lasted this long (opened in 1985). Even though I’ve got death piles on top of death piles, my wife talked me into going on Saturday because she was in the market for a few things for the house. I tried not to shop but a couple items jumped out at me that will be easy money.

I asked many of the regular vendors where they would be setting up next. Many had been there since about when it opened. Most frequently the response was “I don’t know” which at first surprised me. As I thought about my days as a flea market vendor in the past and the regulars I met back then, though, I realized that they weren’t the type of people to be thinking too much into the future.

I had a dinner conversation about eBay with some new friends last night. It went a little different than your conversation. As frequently happens with folks I meet, they had a hard time getting their heads around the fact that I’m a lawyer who chooses to not practice law. (Speaking of that, I enjoyed hearing your caller from Adelaide!) They looked at me like I had three heads and asked what I spend my time on. When I replied, their eyes lit up and they started asking about consigning stuff with me.  This is also not unusual with folks in my age group or younger down into their 50’s or so. They’re often dealing with aging and downsizing parents with a house full of old stuff, or sometimes they’ve recently inherited that house-full. I try to nicely discourage that line of thinking, and usually suggest a local auction.

My Sales Week Ending 9/26/20

Notes: Uggh! Upheaval in family life and a learning curve on a new brach of selling left me with “0” actual listings.

Total Items For Sale: 50

Profit: $60.75

Items Sold: 3

Items Listed: 0

Average Profit: $20.25

Highest Profit: $38.43 Patagonia Khaki Quandary Short Pants For Men

Cost of Items Sold: $0

Returns: 0

$ Spent Sourcing: $0

Coffee business sounds fun, it’s interesting to hear about the differences. For me, not being much of a people person, that aspect would kind of be a dealbreaker.

Had a decent week but I’ve been buying a lot, so cash negative.

Sales: CAD$1782, 14 sales, COGS: $440, Fees: ~$218, Postage: $300 –> Gross profit: $823

Expenses: $830, New inventory: $2163 –> Cashflow: -$1730

Mostly I’ve been buying large amounts off of eBay.

Didn’t have any spectacular sales… $200 for a couple of transducers, $200 for a centrifuge.

Interesting to hear about your coffee trade travels.  Could be a fun way to meet new folks and see the area up closer.  It will be interesting to follow how your lives changes with this whole new adventure.  That was quite a drive for you.  I wonder how much of the trip was for advertising versus profit, of course combining it with some scavenging could make it more fun and profitable.

Nice week this week for us for sales, especially since I had a lower cost of goods than usual.  Our biggest sale for the week was a collectible Christmas figurine by Vaillancourt for $249.95.  Cecile is the buyer for most of the Christmas stuff and picked up a big lot of these figurines last year for an average cost of $3.  Christmas is already picking up and is a big part of our yearly sales.  Accounted for 30% of sales this week.

Got my 14 year old daughter involved in eBay this week.  She and her best friend collected American Girl dolls when they were younger and amassed quite a collection between them.  I’ve been helping her out with them, but they took the pictures and wrote the listings, with a quality check from me.  Did a pretty good job overall.  It’ll be nice to sell them and reclaim the space they take up in the house.  I’ve already started getting my 17 yo son involved, but she showed a lot more interest considering it was her stuff and she is getting all the money after costs.  Already sold the first Doll in 3 days.

Week Ending 9/26/20
Total Items in Store: 1235
Items Sold: 21
Gross Sales: $1,149.39
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $827.28
Cost of Items Sold: $30.13
COGS Percent 3.64%
Highest Price Sold: $249.95 – Christmas Figurine
Average Price Sold: $39.39
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 11
Promoted Percentage: 52.38%
Average Days Listed: 226
Longest Listed: 931
New items listed: 25

Thanks for the podcast! I’ve heard that the restaurant business is the hardest to be successful, but I think you guys are thinking things through reasonably. I can’t wait to see/hear it open!

The current week is starting off slow with no sales on Sunday, but last week was average:

Week of Sept 20 – 26
Total Items in Store: 1332 eBay, 35 Etsy
Items Sold: 18 eBay
Cost of Items Sold: $24.90 + $32 Commission
Total Sales: $347.95 eBay
Highest Price Sold: $42 Set 3 Gotham crystal water glasses, $43 Sajen sterling ring (commission)
Average price: $19.33
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 43

Thanks for the show Ryanne & Jay.

Here are my numbers for the week :

Total Items in Store: 4099
Items Sold: 56
Total Sales: $1303.42
Cost of Items Sold: $213
Average Price Sold: $23.28
Average Cost of Item: $3.81
Highest Price Item Sold: $124.95 Minolta X-700 MPS Black 35mm Film Camera
Number of items listed this week: 38 worth approx. $1120
YTD Sales: $45103
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +20%
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 294
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 113

It was a good week from a sales perspective after a couple of quieter weeks the two weeks before this.

The low-light of the week was a message from a disgruntled camera buyer that started off with “I don’t mean to be rude” followed by 3 paragraphs of reasons why I’m a terrible person for selling him a camera.  I held  my tongue and responded with a brief “Very sorry you’re not happy. Please return it for a full refund.”.  And then I put him straight on my blocked-bidders list.

I got a new bag of Costa Rican Broadporch coffee last week.  If you could find a way to bottle that first whiff of coffee smell that you get when you open the bag for the first time, you could make millions of dollars.  It never fails to impress.

I hope everyone has a good week.

Hi and thanks for another “episode” of the podcast.

I love to hear it during my workout/ walks or while doing chores. It’s like an ongoing conversation with people that are “the same kin”, though on my end the conversation goes on mostly in my mind 😀

Etsy life has been good. Packing is starting to feel like it really takes up much time (I sell mostly breakables). September is the third month this year – all after the pandemic started – that my net profit reselling online was at least as high as my full time job monthly pay (net).

Even though I think a lot about going full time reselling and get quite tired from corporate life sometimes, I get so many good things out of it (great health coverage for me and my family, steady payment, a great car (soon), a sense of social engagement, a job where I keep learning things and get to do some interesting stuff, some great coworkers including the team that I supervise, a CEO I really like and trust, etc etc), that I simply don’t think like I can act on my desire to leave. Also, I feel like we need at least one person with a steady job in this household (I’m that person).

Regarding your journey of setting up a coffee shop, I am really enjoying hearing everything you have to tell. I would even like more detail 🙂 I am a coffee lover and that adds to the interest.

On the topic of combining Ebay selling with the coffee shop, I don’t think I would mix those 2 businesses. My two cents (or more…):
– You should definitely think of different ways of upselling your core product (coffee) by adding as many extras that add value to it as possible and people are willing to pay for (different kinds of toppings, organic and non dairy milk, etc etc)
– Simple food is a must have – locally made focaccia, sandwiches, cake, cookies, normal or bite sized cookies to go with coffee, etc
– High quality chocolate is a great pairing with coffee. Chocolate is in itself a whole line of business/ knowledge so maybe you could make a partnership with someone that is already into it. You could offer/ make it an extra – a bit of chocolate on the side to go with an espresso is something that makes the experience more interesting
– I would use interesting objects from the Ebay business in decoration and rotate them as they sell (think a shelf full of interesting cool and good looking vintage stuff). I do that at home – I have a constantly renewed gallery of stuff
– As you live in a touristy/ outdoorsy area with passersby besides the community people (hiking, camping, trekking, fishing, etc seem to be big there) you could sell stuff related to the region landscape and lifestyle – t-shirts with good quality and design, enamel mugs, thermo coffee cups, hats/ caps, etc
– Organize some workshops on theme – tasting coffee, visiting the roasting grounds, etc

Can’t wait for you to go live and tell about this new chapter! Jay was kind of worrying that if the coffee shop fails, then it would publicly fail. I can’t say that wouldn’t add a bit to the pain if it happened, but most of all what I would keep from that is that you’d gave it a shot in a way well thought through and that sometimes things just don’t fall into place as we’d wished they would and that’s fine. I know you won’t be caught without a plan B if that should happen.

Total Items in Store: 364
Items Sold: 3
Gross Sales: $114
Cost of Items Sold: $25
Highest Price Sold: $80 (set of Xmas Pottery Barn Plates used)
Average Price Sold: $38
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0

Well slow sales but I haven’t listed in weeks.  Busy outside Ebay with day job and son’s college app process.  Also bought a new to me car this weekend on a trip to LA.  We bought a car that some spendy person leased fully loaded and took the hit on, barely drove, then returned for a brand new one.  Also negotiated several thousand off the used blue book “fair” price because I’m not driving that much and was super ready to walk out and wait.  I feel like it was a fun exercise in scavenging.  We hold on to our cars for about 10 years and do not trade in.  Had no trouble selling my minivan quickly even with Covid.

Excited about the coffee shop. I’m sure that you have a great plan and don’t really need input here.  🙂  I would say though that food is key IMHO to driving people in during non-peak hours and expanding the amount they will spend. When traveling I often prefer to eat at Starbucks vs a sit down place and I sometimes grab a lunch in the morning on my way to work.  Also, many restaurants, hair salons, etc. here sell art, though it’s usually cohesive by one artist and sometimes based on local landscapes or scenes.  Vintage art could be fun and give people something to enjoy without the shop looking cluttered.

Have a great week!

Regarding your coffee shop. After checking out your AirB&B offerings, and visiting Luray and seeing your coffee competition, the town can definitely benefit from a café with your aesthetic sense.  Nothing we came across had a cozy, comfortable vibe.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Hey Jay and Ryanne, I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your last podcast. Jay, your story about telling your partners in the coffee business was hilarious! I get it completely! The usual response we usually get when people find out we sell on eBay is an “Oh.” Then if people are really interested they ask what we sell, where we buy what we sell. They usually have a strange look on their faces when they find out we buy at yard sales and estate sales mostly.

Items in Store 1,146

Items Sold: 68 last 30 days

Total Sales: $12,870 last 12 months

COGS: 63.84 last 30 days

Total Profit: $1,893.10 last 30 days

Average sales price: $28.77 last 30 days

Highest Priced Item: 313.86 last 30 days

New Listings: 240 last 30 days

Total sales amount: 1,956.94 last 30 days

9/19/20-9/25/20

Total Items In Store: 2065
Items Sold: 32
Gross Sales: $757
Highest Price Sold: $150 (Pair of Discgear Selector Storage Cases)
Average Price Sold: $23.67

Returns:  0 $0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $12
Number of items listed: 0

• Sales were a little slow last week and quite a few low dollar items. Not terrible though, considering I was in Maine all week and had the store on extended handling time.
• I brought an extra suitcase with me and was able to fill it with some good items for pretty cheap. On the way back to the Boston airport Saturday morning, I stopped at a community yard sale and picked up a few very good items.
• I got to listen to last week’s scavenger podcast on my flight home. Thank you for helping shorten my flight with some great conversation!
• I actually use the sell similar quite a bit. I almost always change the title and have to make adjustments to the listing, but it seems to make listing easier for me than starting a listing from scratch.

Thanks J&R for another entertaining podcast. When Jay mentioned telling people at dinner about Ebay, it made me think about the reactions I get when I tell people I sell on Ebay. For all the interest expressed, you know it’s impossible to convey how challenging it is. That’s why I always inwardly groan when friends ask me to sell items for them. Thankfully it doesn’t occur often.

Listings in Store: 720
Items Sold: 10
Gross Sales (includes shipping): $213
Highest Price: $35 – Self-retracting lifeline lanyard
Average Price of Solds: $21
Cost of Goods Sold: $20
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Purchased this Week: $800
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 28

Gut Reaction to the Week: Lowest sales week in a very long time. A gut punch since I’ve been listing steadily. I try to remind myself how insane this year has been. When the covid started I thought that sellers with inventories in the thousands would steam along just fine. The smaller sellers like me would feel the dips.

Scavenge of the Week: Spent about $800 on a couple of SUV loads of industrial safety equipment; mostly fall protection equipment such as harnesses, rope grip hardware, self-retracing lanyards. It was a lot of cash but I felt the need to shake things up a bit.

I loved hearing your talk about coffee sales, profit, etc.

Ever since I’ve been at this ebay business I’ve viewed small businesses in my area differently. I walk into a small local business and it dawns on me they may only have 10-20 customers a day, and each customer pays $10-15 max. Sure they may have busier days but I don’t see any real path to significant profit after expenses. I honestly don’t even see how some of them afford to pay their employees.

I’m all the time working out various businesses business model in my head to see just how much money the likely make and/or could make.

As for me and any future business plans, I am ruined by what I call the “shoe” rule. Shoes are my bread n butter. I know my average profit is $25. I know my average total time invested in each pair is 5 minutes. So my theoretical hourly wage for shoes is a WHOPPING $300/hour!

I understand it is not exactly apples to apples as the shoes work is a pipeline that can take months or years to pay off. Honestly it’s more of a series of micro investments than a commodity sales business.

So enough babbling and time for my question:

How many customers a day do you truly expect to have at your coffee shop and what is your estimated profit per transaction?

I know it is outside the scope of Scavenging, but I’d LOVE to hear you discuss the numbers of the coffee business more on the podcast.