The Numbers: July 31-August 6, 2022

Total Items in Store: 3649 listings for 5642 items
Items Sold: 46
Gross Sales: $3145.74 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2104.00

Cost of Items Sold: $750 ($118 mine / $632 consignors)

$Highest Price Sold: $303 Loro Piana Coat, $190 Parabolic Microphone
Average Price Sold: $68.39
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $46
Number of items listed this week: 39

Items in Store 2160
Items Sold 24
Total Sales $873.00
COGS $71.00
Total Profit $802.00
Average profit $33.42
Average sales price $36.38
New Listings 79
Items scavenged 25
Listing 2022 weekly Avg 51
Sourcing Allotment 22

My week was saved by two $200 sales this weekend.

Scavenging wise I did not do any yard sales this week due to family plans. I did go to the state surplus store this week. I try to go once a year. They are way overpriced on most stuff but there is always some gems in there. This time the gems were sealed toner cartridges for $10. I scanned all of them and cherry picked all the good ones. Also got one of the high end mosquito traps that uses a CO tank.

Also while there I heavily eyeballed a bunch of really nice newer filing cabinets they had. These were extra deep and would be PERFECT for inventory storage.  I’m not sure where I would put them without completely blowing up my inventory system though. Man, talk about highly efficient space! I can see why people use them as long as you put the right stuff in them. Perfect for clothing.

This week I went ahead and plowed through that vintage toy haul I got last weekend. There were a few good items in there, and the total list price was $1000. I’ll make my money back and be into the profit this week for sure. Then I’ll have another little pipeline that will give me small sales here and there for a long time. The whole lot doesn’t take up much space at all – about a cubic foot – so the value per foot of storage space is astronomical.

This week I need to focus on listing bigger items and I need to clean up my office. I only have so many hours in the week to dedicate to ebay and cleaning/organization is always the first thing to go to clear time to list.

Better for sales to be annoying than not have any! Can’t wait to hear what 2023 has in store for your business.

Week of Jul 31 – Aug 6
Total Items in Store: 1653 eBay, 33 Etsy
Items Sold: 13 eBay, 1 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $15.25 + $13 Commission
Total Sales: $225.83 eBay, $10 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $42 Old wood barrel
Average price: $16.85
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 24

Can’t wait to hear/read about what you two have in the works for 2023. It’s a real inspiration.

I expected slower sales this week since I removed about 500 items from my store a few weeks ago to drop off at the National trading card show for future consignment sales. But I listed steadily all week and had a strong week of sales, especially on Saturday and Sunday. I sent out 15% offers to about 200 watchers which might have helped as well.

Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come as we head into the hopefully busy holiday season.

7/31/2022 – 8/6/2022

Total items in store: 1373 (down from 1356 last week)

Items sold: 40 (27 via best offer, 7 via seller initiated offer, 17 via promoted listings)

Gross sales: $2558.62 (down 35% from one year ago)

Net sales: $1767.95 (down 37% from one year ago)

Average sales price: $63.97 (up 20% from one year ago)

Time spent searching through online auction listings for new trading cards inventory: 10 hours (down from 12 hours last week)

Highest price sold (net): $182.79 — 2005 Rittenhouse Lost in Space case breaker triple autograph

I can thank Terapeak for this sale, since I don’t know all that much about non-sports trading cards beyond my general knowledge of modern cards. Some of the most desirable Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and sketch cards get into some crazy prices, and the same goes for rare autographs like this one from the most collected Lost in Space trading card set. This card sold within a few days of ending the listing, repricing $50 lower and selling similar.

Lowest price sold (net): $16.03 — Gino Odjick Pinnacle Tough Times autograph

I think this is my highest low price since I started tracking my numbers every week. I have about 20 more of this same autographed card because Odjick is a popular hockey player from my childhood (the 90’s) who has sadly had some health problems in recent years. This set is also liked by collectors since many of the players were fan favorites who didn’t have many cards or autographs compared to the star players, and the autographs are all directly on the card instead of on a sticker which is much more common since it’s more cost effective for card manufacturers.

It’s a coincidence but this listing also sold after a relist. It sat for a few months at $29.99 with no offers, then I repriced it to $19.99 and it sold within a few days for $16 plus shipping all the way to Switzerland.