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Felt like a solid week of sales. We sold a vintage Vera Bradley jacket to the a Vera Bradley designer. It’s not the first time a corporation has purch
[See the full post at: The Numbers: April 10-16, 2022] -
What a week! One of my best ever. I put my nose to the grindstone and listed over 200 items from the death pile. Ironically when I was getting sick of the work, I took inspiration from the work ethic of the Daily refinement dude. Oops.
W/E4/16/22
Total Items In Store: 4,136
Items Sold: 48
Cost of Items Sold: 119.87
Total Sales (Sales + Shipping does [not inc sales tax]) 1,768.34
Ebay / Paypal / Shipping Costs / Fees: 504.90
Net Profit: 1,263.44
Highest Price Sold: 175.00 2004 Mary Ellen Smith Airedale Terrier & Rabbits Keepsake Pot with Lid Signed
Average Price Sold: 26.32
Number of items listed: 200It’s tempting to believe that I somehow goosed the algorithm by adding so many new items, but the reality is I listed things people wanted. $623.00 worth of sales came from items that sold between 1 and 3 days from the time of listing.
These sales were primarily from the Airedale Colletictibles lot and Vintage Kodak Transparencies lot.
While the death pile remains daunting, the Airedales and Kodak Transparencies are all listed. Now that the cream has been skimmed from the top, I expect to see a drop in sales this week (unless I somehow find a way to post another 200 items that people want).
ABL! (Always Be Listing)
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Congratulations on the great sales week. I don’t know anything about Airedales or vintage Kodak transparencies, but I loved skimming through your listings. The photos are spectacular and really show the quality of your items.
It’s tempting to believe that I somehow goosed the algorithm by adding so many new items, but the reality is I listed things people wanted. $623.00 worth of sales came from items that sold between 1 and 3 days from the time of listing.
This is such an important piece of the puzzle to keep in mind along with List it and forget it. Old listings will eventually sell if your item is priced well and buyers can find your listing. Maybe you have to run a markdown sale or send an offer to get the sale. But the pipeline of new listings is really what keeps sales numbers up.
Anecdotally, the last three months I’ve been listing at least 3-5 new items every day for the first time, and I’ve seen an end to the occasional slow days where nothing sells or only one item sells. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
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Total Items in Store: 232
Items Sold: 4
Gross Sales: $183.17 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $118.03 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $40
Highest Price Sold: $59.00 (New pajama pants)
Average Price Sold: $36.63
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $12
Number of items listed this week: 0 – it’s been weeks
Glad for your sales. Despite weeks of not listing, I managed to squeak out a few, including some really stale stuff. I only have maybe 5 boxes or so of new RA merch left. One more week at the day job (which will be busy) then I can start assessing the garage piles and reorganizing. It will feel so good to not be sitting at a desk even though I was just part-time. Depending on some outside life stuff, I’ll try to keep myself listing a few items a day and it will be interesting to see what happens with sales. I have my usual partner for yard sales who will help me sell off some heavy/big/low dollar items after I’ve sorted. I’m looking at a Youtuber and thinking it would be good to get a light box but I would hate having that out in our living space.
I met with my accountant since our quarterlies will be less this year and I tried to explain why Ebay appeals to me so much even though the profit is highly taxed and not that big. It’s like a fun game and I can always use the money – now more than ever. I love getting cool, vintage stuff to people. The RA was a fun challenge as well but I won’t want to be laying out capital for a while. Shopping used is the most fun but I’ll have to continue to temper that for now. I did go once to thrift store as a treat and found a couple of items worth it. My daughter likes to thrift for clothes – a lot of Gen Z looking at clothes and shoes I notice lately. I haven’t seen the old record dogs. 🙂
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Total Items in Store: 593
Items Sold: 36
Gross Sales: $1,501 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,056 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $198.00
Highest Price Sold: $385.00 (Synology Rackmount NAS)
Average Price Sold: $41.71
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $112.00
Number of items listed this week: 60Sales did seem to pickup this week which was good since I didn’t have any more $1,300 cisco switches to sell to save the week. We did sell one other piece of computer equipment on consignment for $385 but that is now the last of that stuff. On the model train side of things I’m working on trying to grow the number of repeat customers and multi-item orders we get. Most model train purchases are low dollar $10-$15 items but it’s very common for the person to be looking for multiple items. 95% of model train sellers on ebay do not offer free shipping so the value in shipping discounts is very large as a percentage of total purchase price. So far I’ve just done basic stuff like rebranded our ebay store to be model train focused using store categories to break down the inventory into type and scale, all non model train inventory got shuffled into an “other” custom category. I also created a basic text-only item description template that emphasizes the value in combining shipping on multi-item orders and removed immediate payment requirements from all the model train items so the buyer has the opportunity to request a combined invoice before they have to pay for an order. In the works are plans to start using coupons to entice buyers to purchase more than one item and maybe even some sort of monthly newsletter that highlights new items like the large collection of vintage train car kits that I bought at the train show a week ago or links to articles from master modelers that highlight how to use the inexpensive vintage stuff we sell to make low-cost but high end looking models.
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Items in Store 1766
Items Sold 35
Total Sales $994.00
COGS $104.00
Total Profit $890.00
Average profit $25.43
Average sales price $28.40
New Listings 53
Items scavenged 9
Listing 2022 weekly Avg 51
Sourcing Allotment 22I got back on track with the listing – having the day off work Friday helped as I got everything up during the day Friday. Not much else going on here. I’m so happy spring is here. Did some fishing with the kids this weekend. Looking forward to enjoying the weather, getting out and continuing getting healthier and recovering my health after a thoroughly sucky fall/winter recovering from Covid.
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Week of Apr 10 – 16
Total Items in Store: 1569 eBay, 36 Etsy
Items Sold: 13 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $18 + $78 Commission
Total Sales: $385.43 eBay; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $139 for Royal Secret Spray Concentre Eau de Cologne (commission sale)
Average price: $29.65
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 41This week was definitely better. My part time job keeps taking up my attention, but it pays well. I have managed to list a good deal over the past few weeks because I have stuff lying around my house in boxes. Now it’s lying around in my basement waiting to be organized.
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It felt like a slower week, which is something I’ve expected as I’ve sent a good chunk of slower moving inventory (along with a lot of death piles) to sell on consignment. I’m still listing every day, but rarely more than five items a day. Most of my eBay energy is going towards organization to maximize storage space as I think about possible next steps for my future.
But my sales this week were right in line with the previous week and previous year. A few high dollar sales helped me out, but generally my average sales price is 10 to 15% higher than one year ago. I’ve been trying to focus on listing nicer items, instead of stuff that will maybe sell for $20, and it’s nice to see that pay off.
4/10/2022 – 4/16/2022
Total items in store: 2370 (down from 2373)
Items sold: 40 (25 via best offer, 2 via seller initiated offer)
Gross sales: $2454.37 (up 3% from one year ago)
Net sales: $1772.84 (up 7% from one year ago)
Lowest price sold (net): $13.70 — Sammy Watkins 2014 Topps Chrome autograph pink refractor rookie card
It’s not football season for quite a while, but it is football transaction season with the college draft just a few weeks away, so I am seeing occasional bursts of activity when players sign with popular teams. I sold three Sammy Watkins autographed cards for $15 to $30 each this week after he signed with the Green Bay Packers, and all three cards had been in the inventory for 2+ years and originally cost me $5 or less. These are the kinds of cards I would now send to sell on consignment immediately after I receive them. The card market relies on big sellers who run weekly auctions, and there are so many inefficiencies that there are always deals to be found if you know what to look for.
Highest price sold (net): $190.10 — Jimmie Wilson 2018 Historic Strips autograph booklet card
This sale was a pleasant surprise, a high dollar item which sold for full price. Kind of an unusual set from one of the small manufacturers who lack licensing agreements with pro leagues and have to get creative with their cards to avoid breaking any copyright laws. So, these companies sets often feature retired or deceased former players and card designs without a lot of pictures to avoid the team logos. I like this company, Historic Autographs, since they like to combine a certified autograph (usually cut from a larger document) with an old vintage card of the player from decades ago. The full booklet is oversized and a bit clunky, but there are special holders made for them, and the final product looks like a nice piece of Americana.
This booklet was more valuable than most because the player, Jimmie Wilson, died in 1947. So it’s a really unique item since his autographs only pop up on eBay a few times a year. Despite the rarity, it took the perfect buyer for this item over a year to find my item. I’m sure I could have sold this much sooner to another reseller for 40 to 60 percent of the sale price, and still made a profit, but some sales are worth the wait.
Scavenge of the Week: Santa Claus card with a piece of sleigh in it, #03/25
Despite a large inventory that’s mostly card related (at least for now), I don’t have a collection or a desire to keep any cards. I like to use my knowledge to find deals and I enjoy the rituals of buying, listing and shipping, and of course the freedom and flexibility. It’s a good life and very rewarding.
I won this silly Santa Claus card with a piece of sleigh for about $10 last week and I had a momentary fantasy to save a search for its companion from the set, the Workshop Elves tools card, and set both of them up near the Christmas tree this holiday season. I don’t have kids so it would have been just for me.
I won’t do it, mostly because there’s a recent $84 sale in Terapeak for the same Santa sleigh card. I can’t pass up that kind of profit. Another example of how inefficient the modern cards market is. That sale price seems really high for a card with a relic that is “not from anything at all”, but Topps only made 25 of these sleigh cards. I can see how collectors with young kids who also like the cards would spend a few bucks to unwrap this card on Christmas. Especially since modern card boxes are hundreds of dollars.
There have been a lot of attempts at kitschy holiday themed cards over the last twenty years, so maybe after my Santa sleigh card sells, I’ll spend a few dollars of the profit on some Ornaments cards and hang those up on the tree. This seems like a scavenger’s way of getting some Christmas spirit from these cards.
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Glad to see the consignment pipeline doing well. It’d a dream for any scavenger to just have the fun of finding stuff….and making someone else do the work!
Now that your death piles have a place to be sold, you once mentioned possibly scavenging other items that are not card-related. Is this still the plan? Or do cards still take up your days/interest?
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Glad to see the consignment pipeline doing well. It’d a dream for any scavenger to just have the fun of finding stuff….and making someone else do the work!
The consignment sales have been my first time ever selling through any platform besides eBay or a flea market. It’s been an interesting learning experience. High fees, especially to keep feeding that pipeline, but I woke up this morning to 90 new cards posted to my account, just waiting for my prices. Usually it’s more of a trickle, a few new items at a time, but it’s like having an employee. It’s nice. Interesting to see what sells quickly on there versus eBay.
Now that your death piles have a place to be sold, you once mentioned possibly scavenging other items that are not card-related. Is this still the plan? Or do cards still take up your days/interest?
In March, and again last week, I spent a day scanning a huge batch of cards to list in the store, a few hundred total, and every day I list five or six from that pile. I am still browsing auctions from the sellers I regularly buy from on a regular basis, so the card pipeline is still overflowing for sure. And I enjoy it, even the tedious parts like cropping photos. But most of the sub-$50 cards, or items which I think will take a while to sell (like obscure autographs in oversized cases), head straight to consignment without me listing them in my eBay store.
Starting in May, I plan to start sprinkling in listing other items every so often. Maybe one day a week or something like that. I’ve hit a few local library sales in the last few weeks and found some neat old books and obscure DVDs which I am excited to list. And I plan on making more of an effort to check out estate sales and thrift stores and flea markets as the weather gets warm.
In the past, before I got into the cards, I would go scavenge out in the wild but rarely find anything worth much. I was in a much worse place financially then and I wasn’t reading the forums as much and didn’t really know what things were worth. I was desperate to make $100 or so in profit every time i went out because I needed the money to supplement my dead end jobs. Now, the card sales cover my bills with room to spare.
Scavenging is really difficult when you need it to go perfectly every single time. It’s a long game and has its ups and downs. Especially when you’re growing your business.
The National Sports Card Show is in July, and happens to be in Atlantic City, NJ this year. I plan on attending primarily because the consignment company I use accepts drop offs at the show. Also, the whole thing is quite the spectacle. There are deals to be found, but nothing like browsing eBay auctions. Since that is three months out, it feels like a good point to reassess where I’m at. This will give me a few months to explore scavenging other types of items and continue to organize my inventory.
Another deadline in my mind is that the lease on my apartment is up in September. I’m tight on space already just with the cards inventory, even after consolidating quite a bit, so it might be time to upgrade and give myself more space to grow my business. I’ve always wanted to move out of New Jersey, but never had the financial means to go anywhere except another apartment in a different town. But that is not really my situation anymore. I still have some debt, and I like the town I live in and the Philadelphia area as well, so I might not make the big leap this year. But we’ll see how I feel in a few months.
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Another deadline in my mind is that the lease on my apartment is up in September. I’m tight on space already just with the cards inventory, even after consolidating quite a bit, so it might be time to upgrade and give myself more space to grow my business. I’ve always wanted to move out of New Jersey, but never had the financial means to go anywhere except another apartment in a different town. But that is not really my situation anymore. I still have some debt, and I like the town I live in and the Philadelphia area as well, so I might not make the big leap this year. But we’ll see how I feel in a few months.
Its exciting when we see/hear of scavengers who earn enough to change their living situation. Maybe purchase a place? Purchase a place with storage? Purchase a place with a rental component? I love money because it provides options.
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Week Ending 4/16/22
Gross Sales (w/o shipping and tax): $673.78
Net Sales (after fees): $550.75
Total Items in eBay Store: 1041
Items Sold eBay: 13
Total Items in Etsy Store: 163
Items Sold Etsy: 1Cost of Items Sold: $80.04
Highest Price Sold: $185.00 Tumi Luggage
Average Price Sold: $48.13
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $60.95
Average Days Listed: 642
Longest Listed: 1286
New items listed: 7We made the pilgrimage to Scavenger Mecca this last week and visited Broadporch Coffee in Luray. Jay and Ryanne, it was great to finally meet you in person. Thanks for taking time out to say hi. We love your cafe. You’ve created quite a special space. So busy, too. There was standing room only on Saturday morning with overflow out on the sidewalk. That must feel so good to see your successful results. Very happy for you!
Had OK sales for the week, below average, but we had the store on vacation for a few days while we were out of town. Biggest sale ($185) was another Tumi bag from the luggage lot I won at auction. Had another nice sale from Etsy ($99.95) of a smoking pipe I just posted last week.
Had one cancelled order because I couldn’t find the item. That is only the 3rd time I recall having lost an item. This was a 4th of July program from the 1800s. Only thing I can figure is I shipped it along with another piece. The two packages I shipped to the wrong customers week before last seem to be resolved. Each customer agreed to reship to the other and I just sent them labels via eBay email. Took one about a week to comply, but finally on its way. Both were surprisingly understanding but holding my breath until they post their reviews.
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I love hearing scavenger tales about how well the coffee shop is doing. Scavenger Mecca would make for a great woodcut sign. I’m surprised there’s not an Etsy shop with that name, honestly.
Had one cancelled order because I couldn’t find the item. That is only the 3rd time I recall having lost an item. This was a 4th of July program from the 1800s. Only thing I can figure is I shipped it along with another piece.
This is such a stressful situation in the moment, right up there with a message from a buyer who’s already received their item. The good thing is, in my experience, most buyers are very understanding. As your customers were with the reshipping. It’s always been strange to me how most other forums are so negative about selling on eBay when the vast majority of transactions are painless and most customers are reasonable. I guess there will always be complainers, regardless of venue. Like I’m sure at the local flea market there is an old timer bitching about the increase in fees for a 6 foot table or grumbling about hipsters who never buy anything.
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This is such a stressful situation in the moment, right up there with a message from a buyer who’s already received their item.
Yes, it is stressful. I guess if this is the height of my job stress, I’m doing pretty good. I always assume first that I put it in the wrong box, then proceed to go through every box trying to find it.
I agree with you about this board’s attitude in contrast to others. It is refreshing. Jay and Ryanne set a high standard. It’s all about personal responsibility and expecting the best from people.
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It was great to meet you as well! Funny when we meet someone in person that we’ve known for years online. We already knew everything about each other!
That Victorian home you looked at is already under contract. Crazy.
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That Victorian home you looked at is already under contract. Crazy.
Yes, very crazy. I have a feeling it went for asking price. I’ll be interested to see when the final number is posted. It was priced at what fully renovated houses have been selling for, but it needed a lot of work. Showed great in the pictures, though, almost wonder if some out of towner bought it based on the pictures alone. Maybe the interest rate rise will at least cause the market to stabilize for a while.
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I tried selling a friend’s bungalow on eBay once. Got two enquiries, both from private “buyers” who wanted to do some kind of weird “sell us the property and we’ll pay you over twenty years” kind of thing. Must have read about whatever kind of scheme it was in the back pages of the Daily Mail, and decided to try it out.
Waste of £30. Took me ages as well, taking photos and then having to clone out the bloodstains on the living-room carpet.
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Yeah it gets me in the door to look, but it also gets me OUT the door just as fast. So many wasted trips and high hopes during the times we’ve house shopped.
Yes, it was quite disheartening. We’ve been thinking about buying a place in Luray for the last several years and based on the pictures we were ready to jump in. Such a cute place. Still mourning the loss. ;-(
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