Scavenger Life Episode 292: Busy Scavenger Week

Total Items in Store: 848
Items Sold: 37
Cost of Items Sold: $256
Total Sales: $1,475.65
Highest Price Sold: $99 (Eminem Action Figure)
Average Price Sold: $39

Sorry about the 1,600 return….didn’t hear your feelings on the podcast yet. I really have a hard time when I get those return requested emails…even though I know it part of every retailer who does business…I have a hard time not making a big deal out of it…9 times out of 10 it will just sell again and its no big deal…although it really hurts when you know its a hard to sell item…

Week January 1-7, 2017

Total Items in Store: 714
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $99
Total Sales: $514.97
Highest Price Sold: $200 (collection of family photo negatives)
Average Price Sold: $39.61
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0

Good week, driven by that collection of photo negatives. I’ve had them for about 6-7 months, sold the most interesting ones in a lot of their own – some professional modeling negatives – and the rest were family vacations, christmases, birthdays, etc. Had them listed for $300, got an offer for $100, countered at $250, and then accepted $200. Paid $10 for the lot, so real nice ROI on that. Headed to Paris now.

Other good sales included two RA buys – a Waterford limited edition champagne flute bought after Christmas last year for $30 at Home Goods sold for $65 and the last pair of those Coach gloves sold for $60.

Also, the bathroom renovations are done and the final cleanup & touch ups are being done right now. We moved back into our bedroom over the weekend, so my eBay space in the second bedroom is available again. As soon as the final cleanup is done, I’ll post a video of the final product… I also have a TON to list as it’s been over 5 weeks now since we’ve been displaced. Very excited to get back on the horse.

Wow, I couldn’t even imagine the sink in my stomach if I got a return request for $1600. Listening to the podcast now to see how you handled it.

Jan 1-7
Items/listings in store 1419/1272
Sold 15
COGS 24.56 for items, $54.04 free shipping = $78.60 (I offer free shipping on 99% of my items)
Sales $348.74
Highest Price Sold 2 Items $39.99 each Brooks Brothers Men’s Lambswool Sweater / WearGuard insulated coveralls

Lowest Price Sold $5.69 (Yamaha fuel tank fitting – cogs 1.06, shipping 2.60, packaging .25, fees $1.03 = $4.95, profit = 75 cents)

Average Price Per Sale $23.24
Intl – 1 GSP to UK
Returns –0
$ spent On New Merch –$72
Listed New 80+ Items

Slow week but I just put my store back online after a 3 week vacation. Sales picked up and have been steady since 1/4. This is my 1st weekly report and hope to do it all year.

To add something different I am putting in my lowest price sold item and a bit of info on it so you can see something to avoid. The Yamaha fittings were a EARLY purchase (over 1 year ago) that I got from Walmart clearance. I got many different fittings for marine applications for 1.06 each with tax. This was the last to sell. Some sold for as much as $10. but I have been slowly reducing the price. I bought these without looking them up and it was basically a newbie error.
Thanks to all the posters on the forums – I learn so much!

Total Items in Store: 643
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $29
Total Sales: $442
Profit: $413
Highest Price Sold: $185 (Marantz Recorder – Resold after a false return)
Average Price Sold: $36.83
Average Profit: $34.42
FBA items sold: 4
Total FBA sales: $98.55
FBA COGS: $9
FBA Fees: $34.06
FBA Profit: $55.49
FBA Average profit: $13.87

These are the weeks that are pretty cool. Yes my numbers are a little low, but I did almost ZERO work for ebay. What other job can you take a week off and still make money!

Our School Room is almost complete, and I have one half of the new ebay room set up. Still a TON of work to do to get the ebay room finished. I’m not going to have much spare time for ebay for maybe two more weeks. There is so much other more important work to do to get our house in order. After all that is done though, I’m going to attack my death piles like a mad-man.

As for Amazon FBA, I have not sent anything in for several months it seems. I’m still making between $50-100 a week. I am going to go through and delete some of the long-tail low value items before the Feb deadline. I’ll keep long tail items that I’m confident will eventually sell for $29.99 or higher. I will wait until the day after the LTSF deadline and then send in a new shipment of items I have accumulated. If you wait till the day after, you get a year before LTSF will be applied. I’m sure amazon will come up with a way to take care of that loophole as well…

Total Items in Store: 338
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $9 used + $54 new
Total Sales: $178
Highest Price Sold: $40 Williams Sonoma Dishtowel & Spatula RA Set (paid $16 summer clearance)
Average Price Sold: $24 Taking offers!
Returns: 0; Int’l Sales – 1 mug to Canada GSP
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0! No Scavenge Challenge week 2
Number of items listed this week: 11

So funny and weird because I just this morning emailed about this local CL Crate & Barrel chair. I think it might be the one in your truck photo. https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/fuo/5899293888.html It’d be more like 2k new so congrats. Mine is stale listing so fingers crossed.

Speaking of scavenging, we are staying at the Disney Aulani later this month. We were so slammed that it was too late to get an AirB&B unfortunately to stay in after my husband’s conference hotel. I talked to the reps and they suggest calling over and over to see if we can upgrade from the standard room to a larger one. He gave me the tip that people normally book in the mornings and cancel in the evenings. Also to try around the 5 day window when it becomes a permanent booking. This particular property has not been as successful as they hoped and apparently there are a lot of cancellations happening routinely. I used Trip Advisor to look at our next hotel stay but booked directly with the hotel, and recently got an TA alert about the price dropping, called and got it down $100 without having to cancel and rebook. Awesome!

Meh week of sales. I’ve dabbled in Williams Sonoma RA and it gets a lot of hits but even their sales prices can be strong. I’m sticking with my no scavenge challenge and I’m taking offers. Thanks to those of you who joined me in the challenge. It totally helps my resolve to have posted it in writing. I’ve got a lot of stuff to clear.

Not great listing #s after the beginning of the week because we are really focused on cleaning out our non-Ebay house and kids stuff. Our thrifts have all stopped taking used toys, so I guess we’ll be freecycling some of that. I put a bunch of stuff on Craigslist but it’s very quiet. I did list a big plastic tub of bulky afghans on Ebay and I’m having a $3 hairy Pendleton blanket cleaned. Thanks for the wool blanket cleaning tips. Some really grab fibers, but the dryer did release things on others.

Have a great week everyone.

Total Items in Store: 401 on etsy, 225 on ebay
Items Sold: 18 (11 on etsy, 7 on ebay
Total Sales: $786* (includes $100 unpaid for item on ebay, I have been promised payment)
Highest Price Sold: $125 antique bracelets on etsy
Average Price Sold: $43.
Returns: 1 (a clothing item of course, LOL)

even removing the waiting for payment item, a solid week.

eBay
Total Items in Store: 1140
Items Sold: 60
Cost of Items Sold: $83.72
Total Sales: $1503.60
Highest Price Sold: $300 Video Game Console (paid $7 at an Estate Sale) and $150 for an old Keyboard that was in a free box at another Estate Sale
Average Price Sold: $25.06
Returns: 1 for $50 (Radioshack Answering Machine that buyer claimed wasn’t fully functioning)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $32
Number of items listed this week: 55
———-
Amazon FBA/FBM
Total Offers: 30
Items Sold: 154
Cost of Items Sold: $619.25
Total Sales: $2617.34
Highest Price Sold: 59.99
Average Price Sold: $17.00
Returns: None
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $80
Number of items listed this week: 0

Store Week 1/1/17 – 1/7/17

Total items in store: 881
Items sold: 13
Cost of items sold: $14.00
Total sales: $304.90
Highest price sold: $45.00 (perfume)
Average price sold: $23.45
International Sales: 3
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory this week: $10.01

This was a pretty decent week for me, but mostly low dollar items. Hey, I’ll take it! Working on listing as much as possible this week to get my numbers built back up. I really didn’t list anything during December, as I was too busy with work and holiday stuff, so I dipped way down, but I’m climbing back up.

Now for the exciting news! At the end of this month, I’ll be stepping down from my full-time position at work to go (almost) full-time on eBay and work about 1 day a week at my job. I’m not making that much at eBay at this point, but I’m hoping that with a lot more time to focus on it, I can increase my numbers and my sales to make up for it. At any rate, it will be amazing to work on my own schedule and have a lot more time with my kids while they are still little. Still crazy to think about it since I’ve done the same job for YEARS, but for once I’m doing something bold! Wish me luck!

And now, I shall listen and LIST!

And sorry, you asked about return rates and I forgot to include ours.

On eBay we are currently just under 1%. Amazon has removed the metric that told us our return rate, but historically it was about 1.5%. Amazon’s was a bit of a joke because they would authorize the return, take our money, and count the return against us. 45 days later they would give us back about 75% of what they took because the item was never actually returned and our metrics still took the ding. While the amount of money was fairly minimal there is a huge principle there that really torques me.

In response to your topic about the partial return case: There are new options now once the item has been delivered to you. You will be able to choose the option of partial refund minus restocking and shipping due to misuse of returns and the money will automatically be refunded thru Ebay and the case will close. BUT the buyer still gets the chance to escalate if they don’t agree. Please let us know what happens but definitely wait until you get it back so you see those new options. It was a test beta thing that may or may not be rolled out to everyone yet.

Hello Jay and Ryanne,

I’m one of the silent active participants. Over a year on ebay, full-time, over 2,000 listings, one-person show. Too busy to read but listening keeps me company while listing.

My heart sank when I heard you say you would keep over $300 restocking fee for that necklace! I use a restocking fee for some of my items because of what I learned on your Podcast but after awhile I decided I was not going to put it on the easy to put back items, like an ashtray or vase. I do keep it on large, glass, fragile, bulky items that are a bear to pack and possibly have to repack as a disincentive to returning the item.

I just think $300 is a lot to keep for a simple thing like a necklace. But, I guess if the guy can splurge for $1,600 on a necklace on Ebay, $300 out the window is no biggie.

Thanks for the Podcast. I really enjoy it.

Tracy

Jan 1 to 7 2017

• Total Items in Store: 706
• Items Sold: 16 eBay 1 Truegether
• International 0
• Total Sales $1490
• Highest Price $400 Marantz Turntable
• Average Price Sold: $88
• Returns: 0
• Cost of Items Sold: $125
• Cost of items purchased this week $0

I did spend $40 on a 1963 Motorola Console Stereo but I’m thinking I may keep this one for my self. It in a Drexel cabinet, part of their Tourain grouping, although not a big fan of French provincial it’s in fantastic condition.
This has an all tube 3 channel amplifier and reverb.

https://i.imgur.com/DW9OJP5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jcUp8xQ.jpg

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Steven S.

My Musings of Podcast 292 regarding finance. A topic I’m all too happy to chime in on.

Everyone should take a look at their insurance needs annually. If beginning of the year is best for you, then by all means. Personal auto and HO insurance is of public record from the insurance business, so when your policy is coming up for renewal is the better time to shop for insurance so that you can pit each company against each other and get a better rate. Also best to compare apples to apples, so compare companies with similar insurance ratings. This is a highly regulated industry so the variance in COI is very slim. What stands out will be services and additional benefits. When I hear someone has saved a bundle on insurance without changing coverage is translation that they went with a lower rating insurance company.

Rule of insurance is always insure what would devastate you financially if you have to fix or replace it. Do you really need that warranty coverage on that flat screen you just bought?

$100 deductible… ARE YOU JOKING? No doubt for grounds for questioning the intent of the agent.

$10,000 deductible… AGAIN, ARE YOU JOKING? Just kidding, actually quite interesting. I never thought of catastrophic insurance (high deductible). I will have to look at that for my assets. My personal concern is having asset too close together (read tornado, stream weather damage, etc).

I’m sure you’re taking advantage of the multiple polices discount… Have you thought about a “Blanket” policy? One policy covers all of your assets… Always good to look at that as an option as well.

On a side note, you’re probably still have not incorporated or LLC yourself for your properties. My opinion is you’re driving without a seat belt on. When you meet with your accountant, start that conversation.

Also remember, business assets (computers, printers, furniture & fixtures, inventory…) are not covered under regular homeowner’s insurance. These are typically covered under a rider or separate policy.

I’m not of fan of sellers charging a restocking fees, unless the item is new or the value of the item returned could vastly be changed by doing so. I think this is an overly zealous inappropriate practice and I stay clear of sellers and retailers that have them. Personal preference.

Lastly, on the topic of taxes. It’s a pet peeve of mine with individuals that want to run a successful business but don’t understand the different between a deduction and a credit and how it applies to them. Oh, and also for marginal tax rate. Not saying you don’t… just thinking out-loud.

Sorry for the rant, but as a financial maniac, again, I can’t help myself in adding my 2c worth when the topic arises.

Very nice, Jay. Very nice. Thank you.

Store Info:

(Main/T-Shirt/Postcard)

Items in store: 170/86/11
Items sold: 1/1/0
COGS: $0.50/$0
Total Sales (less shipping): $7.00/$29.99
Highest price: $7 Milk glass candy dish/$29.99 SF Giants Will Clark T-shirt cir 1990
Avg Sales Price: $7/$29.99
Net Profit: $5.79/$23.52 – $29.31
International sales: 0
Returns: 0
Customer Issues: None
New listings: 2/5/0
Money Spent on new inventory: $0 – death pile challenge!

Very low sales, but I haven’t been listing much so not very surprising. I was happy about the candy dish sale as it was one of my first items and I’m happy to move my glass items out. The shirt I sold came from my mom and sold over night. I was happy to get a little time to list the few things I did. I had to take time off work to wait for some tile being delivered and made sure I put it to good use.

I did some scavenging for the house as well. I found a dinning room light fixture on Craigslist for $100 that I’ll pick up once they have their new light in and replace it later this week. The web price on the light is $850 new. I’m keeping an eye out for other stuff as I still need more lighting fixtures and eventually furniture. I’m ready to get this house done to shift my focus back to eBay. I spent 13 hours over the weekend putting the tile down in the master bath. Here is the link to a picture of the progress for those who want to see tile progress. I feel for you Jay and your desire to go to the auction, but having to work on the house! I still have a lot of tile in my near future before I can take the time for an auction. Building new storage shelving and an auction or two will be my celebratory activities once we get to move in!

RR Store Week January 1-7, 2016

Total Items in Store: 1129
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $29.78
Total Sales: $631.90
Highest Price Sold: $225 (Vintage moon landing needlepoint)
Average Price Sold: $48.61
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $11.93
Number of items listed this week: 28 new, 40 Sell Similar

I just knew someone else was going to love that crazy needlepoint. It depicts the Moon landing, and includes the astronauts’ names, among many other details. It’s borderline folk art. I had it up for $239, so I jumped at that $225 offer.

That return really sucks, J&R. I’m about to listen to the podcast, and I anxiously await the details. I don’t even have anything in my store priced that high! But as you said, there’s no crying in scavenging. I checked my return rate, and it’s at 1.53%. Not too shabby.

I’ve had some issues with my ears recently, and it has definitely cut into my productivity. Very hard to focus. So I cleaned up my store a bit by ending stale listing and using the good ol’ Sell Similar. It’s a great opportunity to adjust pricing/shipping costs, delete any extraneous text, and fine tune the title. This week I did see a few things that I recently ended sell off, so that’s cool.

Back to it, friends.

*Paul*

Total Items in Store: 1380
Items Sold: 30
Total Sales: $ 929.07
Cost of Items Sold: $210.65
Average Price Sold: $30.97
Average Cost of Item: $7.02
Highest Price Item Sold: $119.95 Snap-On Tools 1/2” Flex Rachet 25” long
Number of items listed this week: 46
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 196
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 122
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 82
Sell-through rate: 2.17%
# of Hats Sold: 13

I had a great week. Lots of higher-dollar items sold this week, raising my average sale value (They cost me more however so my COGS is quite a bit higher than normal too.)

My favorite sale of the week was an old baseball glove that I took off someone’s free pile. It turned out that it was from the 1950s and it sold quickly for $45.

The suggestion to update your insurance policies is a good one. In recent years, insurance companies have apparently started applying loyalty penalties. Some people will stick with the same insurance company for decades and don’t notice their premiums rising. The advice from financial advisors these days is to shop around occasionally.

2 years ago I noticed my insurance costs getting out of control. I have auto insurance (3 cars, 4 drivers including 2 teenagers), homeowners, life, earthquake, flood and umbrella insurance. Before I shopped around, my insurance costs were $8,650 annually. After raising deductibles and switching companies on several policies, my insurance was $4,823 annually which saved me $3,827 in the first year. It’s still a lot of money but I don’t feel like I am over-insured.

Another term for blanket policy. Wrap your insurance under one policy rather than many. Generally replaces all other policies, although can be used for specific instances or loss.

@jay/ryanne,

Assuming the buyer returns the necklace in acceptable condition,do you both really think charging a restocking fee of $300+ is an acceptable business practice? I get that this is a beginners forum (as we discussed previously) & that you both don’t have much business experience outside what you talk about on your podcast, but does it really not strike you as greedy (and maybe top scummy) despite what you are within your “rights” to do? The point of a re-stocking fee is to get the seller “whole” after a return. That is, the seller gets to where he was before the sale. When the necklace is in your hands (in the same condition) & you get your fvf’s credited back, your outgoing shipping paid back your back to even. You two seem to think that an extra $300+ is due you & that’s not the case in anyway. Was the necklace in sealed, original, high end packaging & you can no longer sell it for xyz? I am guessing the answer is no. You should probably re-think this as you both come off pretty poorly about the matter.

I had two large christmas sales of >5k & >8k. I am pretty certain the smaller sale is coming back. Buyer has been completely upfront with me (just as yours has, so far) wouldn’t dream of scooping 1K off the floor from her as I have re-stocking fee enabled as well. Wouldn’t dream of it.

Shoutback at ya from Morrisville, PA!

Sales $2140.08
Quantity 82
Avg $26.09
Returns 0.98% in Q4

Highest week ever by about $400. Funny how last week was barely $1000 because of Holiday broke and drunk people. Bought an Accord EX manual sedan that gets 35mpg and it is so far a much better car for the business. Easier to put bags in and more space.

Could be my mind over thinking it but I wonder if anyone has experienced this. When I price my goods I price everything to the same formula which is basically on the high end of solds. I then run a perpetual sale that ends every 24 hours. Well when I do 33% off I get nearly double or triple the amount of sales as when I do 32% off. I wonder if buyers have an app that show individual sellers pricing trends and see that I bounce from 33% to 32% daily. Or, I could simply be right at the perfect price vs demand curve at 33%. I think it is weird how exponential the difference of 1% makes though. It could be just coincidental around the times eBay is recovering from the holidays.

How many items can you photograph in an hour?

Here is a picture of some cool pants.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Freds_Premium.

My numbers for the week of 1/1/17:
Total Items in Store: 57
Items Sold: 10 (2 Auction, 8 BIN)
Cost of Items Sold: $20
Total Sales: $233
Highest Price Sold: $75 – Sea World Playsets
Average Price Sold: $23.34 + shiping
Returns: 0

My Average price was lower than normal but almost everything I sold this week were things that I’ve had listed for quite a while, so I was happy to ship them out. As far as returns go, I can count on one hand how many returns I have had in the seven years I’ve been selling on eBay. Seriously…not more than 5 items. It is probably due to what I actually see as a flaw of mine. I am overly meticulous when it comes to item prep, photographing, and listing. It takes me way longer than I think it should. I’d really like to improve my efficiency going forward. The up side is, I don’t really get returns.
I’d like to ask everyone…what is your estimate of time investment per item listed? I’m talking if you add up EVERYTHING (sourcing, cleaning, photos, listing, answering ?s, managing your store with sales/relists/price adjusting, shipping, all of it). I am always in disbelief when I hear people say they can list 50 items a day. It may be a conservative guess, but I use 1 hour per item in my mental planning strategy. Meaning if my average profit per item is $25 and it takes me 1 hr per item to completely process…I am making $25/hr. Which means if I want to go full time/40 hr per week I’d be at approx $50K per year.

Thanks for another great podcast. I should have been listing while I was listening but we are in the middle of a snowstorm so I listened while I plowed the driveway.

I did have one quick response about feeling disillusioned with Amazon. I’m facing some storage fees too and I find myself bypassing the book isle (or just listing them on eBay) lately. On the other hand, I’ve discovered lately that people will pay a premium for certain things on Amazon FBA. I sourced some NIB high end Texas Instrument calculators at a police auction for about $40 each. I threw them on eBay for $210 each for the better part of a month. Not even a nibble. I ended the listing and sent them to to Amazon FBA and put them up for $245 and had sales the same day they hit inventory. So there are some items and categories that Amazon will still work.

Just started listening to this week’s podcast but had to pause it and throw in a quick post. You’re talking about DC and IKEA…that’s my home stomping grounds…I live only about 10 miles north of IKEA. And you’re right…Craigslist scavenging is HUGE here in this urban area. On any given day there’s so much being given away for free.

I’ve done quite well over the past year re-selling free pickups. My most successful has been a collection of magazines that a man was parting with. He had every issue since the mid-1980s…it was a weekly magazine too! So many boxes! I sold a couple sets of individual years on ebay, and then someone else that collected them contacted me for about 4 boxes of specific years he wanted. That sale alone was $400!

So yes, urban is good fro Craigslist. I’m a country boy…I hail from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan originally, so this urban living is not really my cup of tea. But the availability of items does a bit to alleviate the pain of seeing concrete every day…

Tim

Jan 1-7, 2017

Store #1
Total Items in Store: 13,448
Items Sold: 140
Cost of Items Sold: $26.07
Total Sales: $1,104.74
Highest Price Sold: $79.99 petrified wood bookends ($8 at GW), highest postcard $77.00 Beach Haven NJ Sand Dunes Pre 1920’s
Average Price Sold: $7.89
Returns/lost in the mail: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 75
——————
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 51
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $18.64
Total Sales: $306.33
Highest Price Sold: $125 Antique Servants Shop Spring Bell (paid $1.49 at GW)
Average Price Sold: $34.03
Returns: 1 Sold a plastic model kit that was missing parts, gave complete refund.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $49 at Goodwill
Number of items listed this week: 15

Good postcard week with 270 auctions that ended on Saturday. Still finding good things at Goodwill. The Petrified wood bookends and the antique bell were great finds.

My Q4 return rate was .06% (1 out of 1663). If there is a problem I just refund their money and tell them to not bother returning the card that only cost me $.13. In this case I sent the wrong card. I told the buyer to keep the mis-sent card and I shipped him the correct one. So not really a return since they ended up keeping the wrong item and did receive the correct one.

January 4-7 2017
Total Items in Store: 278 (Etsy), 27 (ebay)
Items Sold : 1 (Etsy), 0 (ebay)
Cost of items sold $0
Total sales: $54.85
Item sold = Vintage 60s Buddy L Toy Truck
Returns: 0, but Canada post sent one back to me that I mailed in early Dec.
Number of items listed this week: 20

Last Thursday was my first day as a full-time reseller. I have been a hobby seller on Etsy since 2011 and looking forward to making this full time gig work. Most of the past few days have been spent making an inventory system. I had too many cases over the last year where I looked for an item for over an hour because I couldn’t remember where I put it. Three days of inventory work will be worth saving the frustration down the road, especially when I have a bigger shop down the road.

My goals for 2017:
1. Transition to full-time without burning out / defusing my excitement. My mantra is: this is a marathon, not a sprint.
2. Stop hoarding the good stuff. My deathpiles aren’t made of the low-value stuff I don’t want to list. For me it has been easier to list and sell off the low-value items and keep the ‘jewels’. This ends now.
3. Learn more about shoes.

Did you guys get the Ghandi bust in Maryland? I think I’ve seen it and am now kicking myself if it’s the same one.

Jan 1 – 7
total items in store 1072
Sold 10
COGS 17.00
total sales $300.00
Intl –
Returns –
spent on new merchandise $115.00
number of new listings 0

In San Diego with my Mom who is 89. This trip is about family time so I won’t be listing but I did get some good picks in Coronado thrift stores and the base thrift stores.

Great podcast again. Per the Amazon FBA storage fees, I have been actively closing out my FBA inventory. It was just books. Started last year about this time as I kept seeing books at estate sales and figured that FBA would be a great supplement to my eBay sales. And of course the success stories were plentiful even though I knew that retail success breeds competition which can create a saturation point. I didn’t expect the saturation point to be Amazon warehouse overload but it makes sense that it is. Not sure I agree they are trying to get rid of the little guy yet through their actions. I personally think they are trying to get a handle on their business approach. It just seems to me that they allowed their warehouses to be overloaded by allowing everyone to send in anything for sale so to counter the impact they increased fees which should have the effect of emptying them out. If I am right I would expect in the coming months that Amazon will ease up in some way shape or form to bring inventory back in. I just hope that as they figure out how to handle their etail business model they will allow the little guy to still be part of it.

Jan 1 – 7
Total items in store: 342
Sold: 28 (16 fixed price, 12 auction)
COGS: $34.05
Total sales: $344.46

My overall return rate is 0.53%. I have had 3 returns this past year, 1 for fit, 1 person changed their mind, and 1 person who is just a lying sack and got free use of Halloween decorations from me by claiming INAD, (not that I’m bitter or anything).

I am running an experiment with auctions. I have a basic level store, so I get 250 fixed price listings and 250 auction listings free. I have never used the auction listings very much, and decided to utilize them to move some stuff that was lower value and/or had been sitting a long time on my shelf. Most of what I listed, (and sold), were books that could be shipped in free ebay-branded padded mailers. I started the auction at the same price I would have listed them as a fixed-price listing. Most sold for the starting price, a few had a couple of bids.

I initially listed 51 items, and 12 of them sold. So far, only 1 non-paying bidder. The 11 auction payments I received totaled $103.62.

Was it worth it?: This week, yes, (to me). The buyers paid up quickly, and the books were super easy to pack and ship. I “lost” about $10 in ebay and paypal fees for those sales, and I have *maybe* $7 in COGS for those items, (I estimated high, because I cannot remember if I paid a dime or a quarter for some of the books).

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Liz.

Total Items in Store: 235
Items Sold: 8
Cost of Items Sold: $31
Total Sales: $255
Highest Price Sold: $46 (Men’s Pendleton Black Watch Wool Shirt)
Average Price Sold: $31
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $4
Number of items listed this week: 17

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting numbers. My store is pretty small compared to most people here. Overall, this was a pretty good week for me. My store is about half clothes. After listening to the podcast for a couple of years, I started to branch out into collectibles and other types of items. My goal is to have gross sales 10x COGS and an average sale amount in excess of $30. Last year I came close, but no cigar. I keep track of my sales and COGS, but never quantified new listings by time period. Listing 17 items is a lot for me — before I counted them up, I thought it might have only been 5 or so. Putting the numbers down like this really informs.

Anyway, thank you everyone, and especially Ryanne and Jay, for this community.

Mr. Cardinal

Week of Jan 1 – 7
* Total Items in Store: 560
* Items Sold: 12
* Cost of Items Sold: $15.66
* Total Sales: $122.82
* Highest Price Sold: $30 Vintage Porcelain Ceiling Light
* Average Price Sold: $10.24
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 10ish

I was away for the last week of 2016, so I didn’t spend anything on new inventory. I was given stuff to sell by my family and some friends, so I’m working on listing that now. Sunday and Monday has started out pretty well, so I think my numbers this week will be better.

Jan 1 – 7
Total items in store: 292
Sold: 18
Sold an old Stereo Receiver of mine that I no longer use through an easy Facebook post to a friend: $50 cash (so no fees, yay)
Total sales: $246.16

Not a huge week in sales but we were traveling all through NYE still and I wasn’t doing much to entice buyers with sales, etc. I had a huge sourcing day on Jan 2nd where I bought a bunch of old audio gear that I need to clean up and list.

Thankfully I sold two higher priced items on Sunday and Monday of this week that already passes the above numbers. I have a Bose CD player that I found on offer up for $60 listed on ebay at $599 and have been dealing with a lot of of lowball offers on it and a few that are getting close. I’m really trying to hold out for at least $500 instead of just taking the quick $400-450 offers that have been coming in. Listening to you guys have made me think I can hold out and get as much as I possible can if I’m just patient. We’ll see!

Total Items in Store: 224
Items Sold: 14
Cost of Items Sold: $10
Total Sales: $360.90
Highest Price Sold: $99.99 Set of vintage Conan the Barbarian paperbacks
Average Price Sold: $25.77
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5

Bummer about the necklace return. C’est la vie.

In addition to my normal day job shenanigans and my scavenging, I also sold an article to The Billfold this week for $40. I’m pretty pumped about it.

I was an English major in college and tried to be a fiction writer for a long time, but after years of effort with only a handful of (admittedly not very good) short story sales I gave it up in favor of developing some skills so I could get a promotion at work.

That was the right move to take, but as I’ve been looking around for ways to diversity my income stream, writing seemed like it could be a legitimate (although time consuming) option. This sale was the first article I pitched this year, so I’d like to get a couple more sales here and there to help pad out my savings account.

1/1-1/7/16

Approximate # of Items in Store: 260
# of Items Sold: 17
Average Cost of Items Sold: $10.46
Total Sales: $1,201.70
Highest Price Sold: $160 – Down Jacket
Average Price Sold: $70.69
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $56.19
Number of items listed this week: 13

Very good week again for me, but these numbers are likely not sustainable. Over the past few months, I’ve sold the majority of my $100+ items and I’m not consistently finding new inventory at those price points to replace each of the sold ones (although I haven’t been shopping much). A lot of stuff I’ve listed this fall/winter is from my backlog of inventory, so I had several seasons worth of thrifted fall/winter inventory that I’d never gotten around to listing in season which was finally listed this fall/winter. Since I’m about 80-90% through with the backlog (yay!), I won’t continue to have the same volume of unlisted high-priced inventory to list in the future. Also, November-January are historically my best sales months. Sweaters, coats, and boots, bring a much higher ROI for me than shorts, sandals, and swimwear.

While it’s handy for extras and I did use Ebay money to pay for a new furnace and AC this year, I don’t depend on Ebay to pay the bills, so it’s all good. Grateful right now for the Ebay money I have socked away from the good run I’ve had over the past several months.

Haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but I was sorry to read about the high-dollar return.

FredsPremium, your numbers are very impressive. Especially given the amount of items in your store and being a one man band. How many items do you find that you need to list per day to hover around where you’ve been for the past few months? Also, do you list 7 days per week? Congrats on the great week.

Here’s the link to The Billfold article I wrote if anyone’s curious: https://thebillfold.com/the-glories-and-tribulations-of-an-ebay-side-hustle-5b0b5a7baa38#.hm6b57cb8

Like I said, it’s for a general audience, so y’all might not find anything interesting in it since pretty much everyone on here has way more eBay experience than me and I’m sure everyone’s insights would be more valuable than mine.

Interesting side note: I’ve already grown way too accustomed to getting paid instantly via Paypal. The check for the article (yes, an actual paper check) is coming by mail in 1-2 months.

January 1-7, 2017

Items listed on Ebay – 80
Items sold – 1
Total sales – $15
COGS – $0 (sold a t-shirt my boyfriend had)
Returns – 0
Money spend on new inventory – $7.50
Number of items listed – 8

I’ve been selling on Ebay for about a year now, and I’m really trying to make this into a decent income stream. I spent much of December listing items, mainly the t-shirts my boyfriend decided to let me sell. The last half of December, I sold 5 items, which is the most I’ve done in any month. Now, I’m trying to figure out how to keep that momentum going. I’ve about run out of stuff around the house to list, so I hit a couple of thrift stores last week, and I’m heading back out today.

The cool thing about the t-shirt that did sell was it was one from Garmin (the GPS company). It was a high quality shirt in like-new condition, but before finding Scavenger Life, I would not thought I could sell it, or would have sold it for about $5. I have learned so much from the podcast, everyone’s videos and comments. Hopefully I can return the favor and add to the discussion this year!

Thanks Jay! Right now I’m trying to get my listings up, and having 500 as a target really helps. Hopefully along the way I can find some high dollar items. My boyfriend found a couple of beach bikes at the curb on Sunday; he cleaned them up and they sold within an hour on Facebook for $80, so that helps!

Our Store Week January 2– 8, 2016
Total Items in Store: 232
Items Sold: 13 (8 eBay / 5 Amazon
Cost of Items Sold: $225.25 (eBay) $20.00 (Amazon)
Total Sales: $1,340.60 ($840.65 eBay/$499.95 Amazon)
Highest Price Sold: $290.00 (Butcher Block)
Average Price Sold: $105.08 (eBay)
International Sales: 0
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $197.00
Number of items listed this week: 0

Sales Review: Decent week, and made my first sales through Amazon FBA which was pretty cool. Moved some inventory that was taking up a ton of space and that I paid a little too much for, so I was very happy to gain the square footage and get my investment back out.

Customer Issues: None.

Scavenging: Went to a local auction house, but didn’t by much.

Wow, lots of good comments this week. I like the idea of seeing someone’s lowest sale too. My lowest was an auction that I meant to list for $9.99. Except I forgot the first 9. And yes I sold a Chico’s sweater for $.99. Bagged it, shipped it out and I’m glad it’s gone. Highest sale-$89 Allen Edmonds. I have started to put all my lifeless listings on auction. It means I’m selling the items that I bought 3 years ago for $6-12, but these are items that I wouldn’t look at now. I want them gone. They are slowly selling. On weeks when I didn’t sell much, Ebay still sees these as sales, so I think it helps my other listings. I will keep listing these low items cuz I have piles(rooms) of them.
Shopping Hiatus I still let myself shop, but I’ve become very strict. If it’s a great buy, but I have something similar at home that’s unlisted, then I pass. 9 trips to thrift stores=one item to resell. I’m learning.
Amazon I’m reducing the price of my FBA almost daily. I think I’ve sold most of the good stuff, I am trying to break even before I have to face a loss on the remaining books
Beth, I am a very slow lister, don’t feel bad. Not unusual to spend 30-45 minutes. Now some of the research is that business or just plain fun?
Restocking-I have a 10% fee. I think I would take less on the return of the necklace. Now off of the boards and back to listing

JFH store =
It has been a slow 30 days. Really slow. i keep listing, churning the items out, and sells still slump. I honestly do not know what it is. As a primary clothing seller, I think it is my asking price. I am likely pricing too high and list it and forget it w/ best offer is maybe not the best way to go for this particular niche. Many clothing sellers have gone to auctions. What ever it is, I will keep plugging away. The good news is my FBA is really picking up steam. I see real potential in it. I recently opened an etsy store for old trucker hats and ties I find at my weigh and pay. No sells yet but we will see. Hopefully sells will improve. If not, i will sell my ebay store and go all in on FBA. Maybe I need to go back to dumpster diving more and leave the clothes alone.