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I have been reflecting a lot on my eBay store and my relationship with selling online over the last few months of 2022. One of the best things about making a living selling online is that you can change anything about your store whenever you want and see results from those changes pretty quickly.
As many of you know, my main focus these last few years has been the trading cards niche. Up until this past year, I bought and sold almost exclusively through eBay. I built up a nice sized, profitable store but it was a lot of work. I was buying hundreds of cards every week and it was a constant cycle of buying, opening mail, organizing, listing, shipping. I would struggle to keep up and i would always end up with more inventory than I could possibly list. Admittedly, a nicer problem to have than “I don’t have any money” but still not ideal!
Early last year I started selling my cards on consignment, using a company called COMC which has massive warehouses in Washington and a standalone website with software which cross posts most items to eBay. In the last quarter of 2021, they ran a few promotions on their selling fees and that was enough for me to give them a try. I am slow to make changes in general, but I was surprised at how quickly some of my cards sold. The user base on there is large enough and dedicated enoguh that prices are usually in the ballpark of eBay, sometimes a bit less after COMC’s high fees but occasionally (to my surprise) higher. Makes sense since, with their large warehouses, there’s only shipping involved when you request it. So you can build up an order of 100 cards or more and then ship. Really a smart business model.
It took a few months for me to get a lot of my cards sent to COMC and processed and it took another few months, basically until the summer, to figure out which cards were best to send there and what would be better suited for eBay. But the last six months have been consistently profitable and I think 2023 is going to be a continuation of that.
Plus this provides me with so much more flexibility with my eBay store. Instead of a constant cycle of buying, organizing, listing, and shipping, I can focus my eBay store on listings which I think will sell quickly, for a high profit or very low acquisition cost. If I really need a boost in sales or want to clear out some older inventory, I can run monthly auctions (CAUTION: start your bids at the lowest price you’re willing to sell for, not a penny less) and raise some funds that way.
This new process worked very well over the last few months of 2022 and I’m excited to see how things will go in 2023. I’m pretty confident I will have the time and flexibility to expand beyond my trading cards niche, so in some respects it feels like I will have a brand new store which is exciting and a challenge.
What did you learn this year?
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@craig-rex – It has been fascinating to watch the evolution of your store over the past year and I always enjoy reading about your sales. Nice to see that your efforts are paying off.
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I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what to do differently this year. Sales are down considerably for me, even accounting for the Pandemic surge. There are a lot of factors that affected them. Part of the reason I started doing my weekly numbers is to get insight into my business. Looking back at my years’ worth of numbers, there are some metrics that suggest why my sales are down. A lot of this is Scavenger Life 101.
Lesson 1: List more to sell more. Duh! I didn’t list nearly what I have in previous years. I averaged 11 new listings per week and 12 sales. Last year that ratio was 15:16 and the year before 20:19. I’m surprised the correlation between listing and sales is so consistent. But no doubt, I have to buckle down and increase listings. I’m setting a goal to get back up to listing 20/week.
Lesson 2: Acquire more inventory but at a lower cost. I spent more money this year to make less. I spent on average $6.76 per item listed versus $3.12 two years ago, spending about $4000 on new inventory this year vs. $3700 last year and $3200 the year before. At least part of this was due to the Pandemic driving prices for new inventory up. I found it much harder to acquire items at auction at my target of 10-20% of expected sale price. I also shopped less at Estate Sales and Yard Sales due to the fear factor of catching Covid, which took away one of the less expensive sourcing options. Yard Sales and last-day Estate Sales were always a great sources of low cost inventory. Goal to visit more yard sales and last-day Estate Sales at least once per month, but also to bid on at least 2 auctions per month.
Lesson 3: Diversify sales channels to increase sales. I started off the year adding Etsy. At year end, Etsy accounted for 17% of sales for the year. I received a $2000 pandemic business grant from my county government at the beginning of the year and that is what prompted me to take the plunge. I used that to pay for the $1464 ($122/month) cost of Sixbit. It was a huge time investment, too, and I often wondered if it was worth the effort. At mid-year I was ready to drop Etsy, but last part of the year was better and seeing the year-end numbers, I’m inclined to stick with it another year. The monthly cost is a concern, though, and I may consider a different tool for cross-listing.
Lesson 4: Treat Scavenging more like a job. Having family around so much over the past few years due to the pandemic, I’ve let listing and scavenging take a back-seat to other things and it developed into a habit. Part of what is nice about this lifestyle is the flexibility to work when I want, but I need to get back to the discipline that grew my store initially. I’m putting myself together a daily schedule as a trial so that I can have a more regularity to the activities that drive sales.
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After growing a large inventory, we do buy ourselves some room to slack off from listing….BUT we can’t completely go on autopilot. Once we stopped listing regularly for four months because we had other projects. Sales definitely slowed down.
Now that we’ve scheduled our helper to come weekly and list regularly, sales are back up. Have you considered hiring a helper?
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So many great points and you’ve certainly given me things to think about with my own business.
Lesson 1: Interesting numbers on new listings vs sold, I bet mine are really similar. Maybe I will track that this year. Always a no-brainer to list more but psychologically it’s so easy to go “eh, who cares if I don’t list 3 items today, I can skip one day” especially when life stuff pops up. But the eBay algorithm really cares! A solid template which I don’t need to modify much and a backlog of photographed items have been my biggest aid in creating consistent listings. Ending a few old items and selling similar is a useful “trick”, too. It will be a lot of trial and error maintaining consistent listings this year as I expand outside of mostly one niche to new categories.
Lesson 2: New inventory acquisition and costs are so important for any size seller. You can really make or break a business by spending too much or too little. I learned in the last few years that I can easily spend hundreds in a week if I win 30 or 40 good quality trading card auctions from the same sellers. This helped me build up a big enough inventory to sustain me on multiple platforms but it also created a ton of work. I’ve become much more selective about buying new inventory online over the last month, and we’ll see how long that holds. I will end up spending some of that money in other places like at a few of my favorite thrifts or my beloved library sales, but even there I have been trying to get more selective. $10 profit months down the line isn’t always worth the time it takes to list, store and package up the sold item, especially since I charge a flat rate shipping price that may not always cover 100% of fees.
Lesson 3: Really interesting data on Sixbit and Etsy. I’ve never done much research into Sixbit since it doesn’t fit my needs, but I wouldn’t have guessed it were so expensive. I suppose the automation of the platform is a huge time saver for a large seller. It’s so interesting how different items sell on different sites. I’ve seen this over the last year with my trading cards on two different sites, eBay vs COMC. There is a rhyme and a reason behind the selling patterns on each site, and learning those rhythms can be very profitable. But it’s also not always predictable.
Lesson 4: My problem has been a little bit different than yours, but in the same vein. I’ve struggled with the amount of time I spend listing versus buying (or scavenging) for at least the last year. I also felt like I was working a lot more hours than I wanted to. So about a month ago, I started tracking my work hours and I’ve already learned a few things. One nice lesson was that I don’t work quite as much as I thought I did, usually around 40 hours a week. Second thing i learned was that tracking my time made me much conscious of how I was spending that time. It’s definitely made me more disciplined about things that are easy to slip, like listing every day or spending some time each week organizing inventory.
Maybe everyone else is already doing these things, I really don’t know. But they’ve been eye opening for me.
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I’ve never tracked my actual worked hours, but it might be interesting to do it for a few weeks just to see where the time goes.
One other metric I do not track, but which might be helpful, is the $ amount of new listings. First week of the year seems like a good time to start. I have been striving to drive up my average sales price and have been mildly successful as my average has risen from $43 to $49 over the last 3 years. This added metric may keep me more mindful of this. I have had some weeks this past year where I listed a fair amount, but a good portion of the listings were much lower than average. By the same token that if I want to sell 20 items a week I need to list 20, If I want to sell $1000 per week, I should probably focus on listing $1000 per week.
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Lukastreasure,
I also have been concentrating on buying better items. I am now looking for $50+ items. I will buy items that sell for less than that if it make sense, but always looking to get higher priced items.
I have been thinking about my Etsy sales, and I think I may know why they have been so good. I think it is in part to the time I have spent learning about tags and entering them for each item. But more importantly, I have been listing consistently on Etsy nearly everyday. I think that goes a long way. So, now instead of being in a big rush to get for 1800 vintage items listed, I am going to do 10 a day Jan-Feb Mon-Fri. Then, for the rest of the year, 5 a day Mar-Dec Mon-Fri. That should take me right to the busy season to rack up the sales. That is going to be my approach on all the new sites I start listing on, regardless of whether I automate it or not.
Mark
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We’re so cheap that we still focus on items that cost us as close to $0 as possible. We stick to items/categories that interest us. The weirder the better. I think we’ve naturally just gotten good passing over items we know are worth $20 or less.
So the challenge is finding the places were items are cheap.
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This year I found some local auctions that were good sources of inventory. Because of this, I’ve also been learning about new categories, since I’ve taken chances on lots that were low risk since they cost so little and I usually see at least one thing that I know is worthwhile.
However, I’m still trying to figure out how to balance time. New categories are exciting because they are new but it takes time to look up every single item. I bought a large bag of toy figures for a few dollars for the lot but had to take the time to look up every item and most are only worth $5-$15 but they are small, non-fragile and easy to store and ship and some could be lotted up in smaller lots that could bring more like $20-$30. I’m not sure if this was worth the time spent but at least I did learn some about toy figures.
I’m also getting more exposed to collectibles/antiques that I’d never see at garage sales or thrift stores at inexpensive prices. I’m learning even more that old doesn’t mean valuable, but I have found some treasures.
I still need to learn where is the cut-off between listing everything bought in a lot vs. donating the not-worth-as-much/long tail/fragile/hard to ship items. This year, I will try to focus more time on better items and try to donate more of the other items in order to free up time.
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Great points, and info. I think these are worthwhile questions for anyone selling regardless of how big or small their store is. It seems like for @mark-s and a few others, the cutoff for buying is something they might list for $50 or higher. For others, including myself, that dollar amount might be a bit lower. I have always used $20 as my own personal cutoff. But as my store has grown, I’ve started to ask myself some questions before I buy something.
1. How much of a pain will it be to create a new listing for this item?
2. How much storage space is it going to take up, and is that space easily accessible?
3. What am I going to do with the listing if it sits for three months (or 6, or 12) with no offers?
These are the particular areas I struggle with in my business on a day to day basis. Yours are likely different but I think we all have these patterns we fall into. They may help us grow our store (in terms of number of listings) but not necessarily help us make a lot more profit or enjoy this scavenging life much more.
These questions have helped me avoid buying a lot of stuff unnecessarily and come up with a plan for some of my death piles and old old listings with no activity.
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As your business matures into the stable income generating machine that is currently is…have your goals changed on how you use the money?
I think last year it was to pay your monthly bills and own your time. Are you starting to making more money where you have extra left over after bills?
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I still have some debt to pay down from being broke throughout my 20s and then getting my education.
So I am probably 12-18 months away from really starting to think bigger picture about what direction I want to go in. Definitely want to travel some and then relocate outside of New Jersey once I have a better idea of where I want to go. It all feels very far away sometimes because of the debt and because I kept reinvesting a lot of my profits from the last few years into new inventory. But I saw that what I was doing was working and I figured what do I have to do lose. So I kept at it.
I definitely needed some of this time to figure out how to best use the different platforms that I sell on. My eBay store has never been smaller! But the last few months, basically since November, have been some of my most profitable in terms of total profits…and I’m still chugging along at $1000 a week or more in sales on eBay even with a 600 item store. I remember all the milestones that you and Ryanne documented in the podcast: Airbnb #1, then #2, then the purchase of the building for the coffee shop and the restoration and finally the opening. I look back at my posts from a year or two ago and it’s kind of a similar document of my own journey. I never would have been able to predict a year ago where my business would be today. But maybe that’s how it should be!
I’m sure I will find opportunities over the next year or two which will only be available to me because I have more flexibility with time and money than most people. I’ve already seen this over the last month as I have been able to spend a lot of time with a family member who’s in poor health, mostly because I don’t have a 9 to 5 schedule and can set my own hours.
Everything has its value, and no one knows that better than a scavenger, but spending time with family and loved ones and having the energy to use your “off” time on things you love is priceless. It’s exciting to be able to see my life become more like what I want it to be, especially when I’ve followed a path that most people don’t understand.
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Being able to spend time with family (or just yourself) is huge. Its a luxury that many people dont enjoy enough. Paying down past debt is also another huge goal. Just getting to zero (!) is a big win.
I only also because we have all seen how your online sale became a pipeline and now look like a sustainable business. You’re generating real money. At some point, you’ll pay off debt, have the free time you want, and have money left over.
It’s always interesting to me to see what people choose to do with that extra money.
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I only also because we have all seen how your online sale became a pipeline and now look like a sustainable business. You’re generating real money. At some point, you’ll pay off debt, have the free time you want, and have money left over.
It’s always interesting to me to see what people choose to do with that extra money.
Yeah me too. I have some dreams for a few years down the line to find my own kind of small town (or cheap city) and do the kinds of things you and Ryanne are doing have been doing in Luray for the last decade. But paying down the debt and being in this area for the family stuff comes first. Then travel a bit and see the world in a way I’ve never been able to. Probably in that process I will find my place and settle down.
These are goals that most people work their whole lives towards and then maybe reach in retirement if they’re lucky. I’ll always be grateful to you and Ryanne for the podcast which showed me (and so many others) a different path. It’s exciting to see my progress, especially since the beginnings of building up an eBay store (or any business I’m sure) often feel like one step forward, two steps back. It takes a while (and a lot of work) before you really start generating a consistent income! But it’s interesting how many possibilities that opens up.
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This is an interesting question right now for me, as it ties into alot of things going through my head.
First things first, what a challenging year health-wise.
Secondly, having the 6th child on top of the health issues my wife and I went through (and still are going through) was shall we say…challenging!
I look back on this year and I have no idea how I accomplished everything I did! I listed more items last year than I ever have in a year, and that is with taking off pretty much the last 4 months of the year!!!
So, what have I learned? I learned that I don’t think I can do this anymore unless I have help. I am 100% at that point that I need another person to do alot of the menial tasks for me. I don’t want to stop doing this business – I love it! I also need the money from it – 6 KIDS PEOPLE!!!
We’re pretty much at a cross-roads in life as a family on multiple fronts and this business plays into all of them.
1. We’re in a 3 bedroom house with 8 people. We’ve coasted since all the kids were small. They ain’t getting any smaller. We either need to add on to this house or move. That is a HUGE commitment and a major investment. I can’t do it unless this business goes to the next level.
2. I’m at a point professionally where I have to decide am I all in on my day job career, or am I a full time ebay seller? A few years ago I was close to quitting and going full time. I actually invested in this business as a backup plan for when (not if) I got laid off. I had decided that where I’m at now was my last day job one way or another. Now? I’m (frustratingly) starting to take my career very seriously and starting to consider where I want to be/how far I want to go. I ::gasp:: actually enjoy alot of what I do now. Can I keep growing this business, take my career more seriously, balance home life, and keep working on my health? Well for sure ebay has taken the back seat since September. As I stated at the beginning, I need an employee – more than the occasional hour my oldest can give me – to keep this going. My oldest turns 16 next month. I may offer her a real job, but she would have to take it seriously. My wife thinks she can. I think she needs a job outside the house in which she fails spectacularly so she sees how good she’d have it working for me. If it ain’t her, I’ll have to seriously considering hiring a contractor.
3. Health – career – family time – ebay – house. All these things…but do we even want to be here in WV anymore??
Our health has been severely impacted and the weather here does us no favors. We don’t like winter anymore. We basically only get about 4 months out of the year that has weather we truly like. We aren’t really into the outdoor activities that are popular here. Truth be told I’ve always lived in WV but I’ve never felt like a West Virginian and I for darn sure am not a mountaineer.
We’re in this limited window right now where if we’re ever going to make a move, it needs to be now. This next year is the sweet spot. If we don’t do it now we never will. My wife has talked for years about moving to Florida or the Carolinas. First off, that’s a scary move for someone who has lived within 20 miles of the same place my whole life. My heart has never been into that kind of move…until this week. Something clicked in me and I think a move to Florida would actually work for us. We even have plenty of family down there.
Just for giggles I did an engineering job search in Florida, not expecting to find anything. One job caught my eye though. I couldn’t shake it and ended up applying. Not just a “for giggles” application that I thought it would be at first. More like a “was this fate” that I searched this job at this time? I’d basically be overseeing the design and manufacturing of parts using a state of the art additive manufacturing process for freaking NASA! It’s a weird feeling to look at my qualifications and realize I actually could do this, have all the skills, and that I actually want to! Never in my entire professional career have I ever actually given a crap about my career trajectory. It’s always just been a job that I have to do to provide for my family. I got a degree in Mechanical Engineering not because I had passion for it – I was just good at math and technical stuff and I thought it would pay well.
So right now I think I’ve committed myself to seeing this Florida thing through and see if I get any serious offers that would entice us to move there. I’ll keep searching and applying. If nothing materializes it isn’t the end of the world. I’ve already been told where I work now I’ve been targeted for future management. I actually turned a management role down because I wanted to stay in a technical role. In the meantime no matter what I have to get my ebay business cooking, get more stuff listed and get alot more sold. I need the cash and I need to reduce how much stuff I have. By the end of this year we have to make some MAJOR decisions.
One way or another, this reselling business will play a major part. How much of a role will it play in 2024? Well stay tuned because I have no idea.
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Rooting for you to change the user name to Retro Treasures FL if that’s how things work out. It will be exciting to follow along and see how it all works out. It’s exciting how many new things this reselling life can provide us. But it sounds like your possible career options can provide your family with some unexpected opportunities, and that’s just as exciting. It’s inspiring to see how well you’re able to balance all these different things successfully.
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@Retro – Exciting opportunities ahead. Best of luck with the application. I sympathize with your dislike of cold. I grew up in Florida and miss the warmth.
I continue to be in awe of your work ethic. In the face of all you’ve been through, you’ve still managed to keep eBay plugging along successfully. Wishing you a better year ahead.
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A similar kind of thing was brought up a couple of years ago and may have been since. It is about a law, not sure if it was same one discussed before, but it is a new law that takes effect June 27th 2023. It is The INFORM Consumers Act, They were talking about it on the podcast ‘ebay for business’ episode 230. What they were saying on the podcast is “for any seller that reaches an annual total of $20,000, ebay is required to include your name or company name and full physical address in purchase confirmation emails and order details”. They went on to say “there are some exceptions that allow us to share a partial address with buyers if you meet the criteria for sharing a partial address with buyers you will be able to request an exception prior to The INORM Consumers Act effective date of June 27, 2023.” They said information on this is on the site, here is a link with more info on it. https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/inform-consumers-act .
Copy and paste the link if it does not click.
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It’s interesting to hear about everyone’s take and changes. I join a common thread as a caregiver of someone who is really struggling. My day job called wanting me back but it’s not tempting, though Ebay sales have been slow and we have a lot of kid travel expenses this year.
My business was different last year in the sense that I am selling far fewer new goods RA. This is because I have less capital after leaving my day job and I am struggling to find prices good enough to go in at the retailers I like. The COGS then is way down as I average about $4 for used items. I do believe the new goods helped keep my store more active, though I think I listed more and my profit was a little bit more last year. My store has gone from about 300 items to steadily around 600 items.
Along with selling more used items comes a relaxation of my standards on what I think is worth sourcing. It’s hard to pass up new items with a bar code but then I get away from a more curated store full of what I really like myself. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidModMomStore?listing_id=1001081479 This is a seller I really admire. In my mind I’d love for my store to look this way, but reality is I don’t want a light box in my living space so my photos will not look this good – ever. Also, I am selling somewhat what I can get my hands on instead a fabulous curated selection like hers. In my favor, I think overall I do find good items and it makes up a bit for my photos. I am getting better on evaluating items in terms of value, time, storage space, etc.
Finally, I’m gradually getting rid of my piles. I just sliced off another layer with the yard sale and got my money back on some mistakes. There is still so much stuff though! The sourcing is fun and it gets me out of the house but I’m definitely buying way less than I am listing (except when a rummage sale happens). I’ve caught up on the spring rummage sales and now I’m back to the piles again. I have corrected the balance but it will take a while to clear the piles for sure.
I still love love selling on Ebay. The potential profit on things people overlook is just amazing. Also over the last five years of selling, Ebay has made some big improvements like adding Terapeak and make offer. Listing is still not fast enough, but much faster than it used to be.
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Actually a light box is a PERFECT solution if you don’t want a large dedicated photography area.
I have a 24″ cube light box that I don’t use anymore because I have a large dedicated table in my garage for photos. I used to use it at work and do photographs at my cubicle during lunch. I may go ahead and bring it back in to work to use soon.
It is perfect for people with little space because it stores about 1″ thick – you can tuck it away in any crack beside an appliance, table, furniture, etc. It’s all velcro seams and can be put up or taken down in like a minute.
Here is a link for a smaller 16″ box:
There is a video on there that shows how easy it is to set up and collapse.
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Hmmm, I don’t know why the link isn’t working. I’ll try again. Here is just their store link to the photo boxes. You can click on an individual box to see the video.
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Thanks Retro. I don’t really see myself taking this up and down regularly – lazy I know! My college kid will be living at home this summer but after he goes back I’m thinking of putting one on the desk in his room. We have a lot of sunny days here but the mornings can be foggy and the chandelier in my dining room is totally inadequate. I think my photos are pretty good except for the lighting but I have been rushing it a bit lately when I am listing.
Good luck with the Florida job app!
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