You gotta love ebay, even though Steve’s Antique Photo Album was missing part of the letter, he still sold it for $50.
Scavenger Life Episode 309: Scrapping and Parting – Interview w/ Eric in Ottawa Canada
In true scavenger style, Eric from Ottawa Canada, is making ends meet by sourcing all his inventory for free, parting it out and then making money scrapping the rest. He’s the ultimate recycler. Check out his videos on Youtube, you can ride along with him as he scraps and parts. Also check out his eBay store for, some great parted out items (love his professional photos too). Thanks for chatting with us Eric!
Join the conversation in the forum>>
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What Sells On eBay: Wooden clogs, Harley Duffle, View-master, Cateye Glasses, Spode Plates, Boombox
Love that Steve sold some china this week! Spode is some of our favorite and fetches some high prices.
Scavenger Life Episode 308: What Works For You?
We are currently in between video jobs and visiting Jay’s sister in Chicago. Surrounded by much more activity than we’re used to with two young kids, four little dogs and parents with full time jobs. We’ve heard from a lot of you that you have a similar life with eBay as a gig on top of that. How do you do it? We salute you!
NYTimes article on Goodwill Outlet in Queens that Jay mentioned.
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Our Store Week April 9-15, 2017
Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,515
Items Sold: 50
Cost of Items Sold: $256
Total Sales: $1,921.41
Highest Price Sold: $340 (Farmhouse table)
Average Price Sold: $38.42
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 2 items for $50
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1318
Items Sold: 6
Cost of Items Sold: $10
Total Sales: $130.76
Highest Price Sold: $33 (Fabric Coasters)
Average Price Sold: $21.76
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0
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What Sells On eBay: Tapes, patches, Ferragamos, six packs, desk blotter, sewing box
We also love selling Ferragamos. They’re a high end shoe that shows up at estate yard sales often.
Scavenger Life Episode 307: Getting Ready to Sell While Traveling
We had a busy week of listing, packing and getting ready to travel for 18 days for some video jobs. Luckily our helper will continue to photo and schedule listings while we’re gone. We also have our fabulous cleaner helping us keep the Airbnb business running too. So far, so good. Hope your week was great!
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Our Store Week April 9-15, 2017
Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,566
Items Sold: 62
Cost of Items Sold: $205
Total Sales: $2,141.36
Highest Price Sold: $200 (Japanese tea set)
Average Price Sold: $34.53
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 120
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for 0
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1327
Items Sold: 24
Cost of Items Sold: $86
Total Sales: $502.39
Highest Price Sold: $80 (Pepper Grinder)
Average Price Sold: $20.93
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0
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What Sells on eBay: Pochade paint box, trucker hats, Marantz receiver, JBL Speakers, reel tapes, Polaroid case
Great sales from Steve this week. We also do well with the artist’s Pochade paint boxes and always keep an eye out for them.
Scavenger Life Episode 306: We Love Flea Markets and Craigslist
It’s no secret, it’s flea market season and we love it. So get out there and flea it up!
Also had some mad luck on good old Craigslist this week both in DC and Boston.
Links we talked about this episode-
Why healthcare is so expensive with little oversight:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/523005353/how-u-s-health-care-became-big-business
Emailed the public press contact at eBay for an interview
–post your questions you want me to ask
http://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/if-i-could-interview-ebay-what-would-you-want-to-know
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Our Store Week April 2-8, 2017
Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,443
Items Sold: 60
Cost of Items Sold: $288
Total Sales: $1,697.89
Highest Price Sold: $175 (vintage luggage label)
Average Price Sold: $32.71
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $550
Number of items listed this week: 25
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for 0
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1351
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $86
Total Sales: $598.33
Highest Price Sold: $180 (winter coat)
Average Price Sold: $37.39
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0
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What Sells on eBay: HP keyboard, L.A. Olympics hat, Bumper sticker, Hurricane lamp, Can opener, Bank bags
Another great video from Steve this week. We also have great luck with vintage bank bags!
Scavenger Life Episode 305: The Biggest Transfer of Wealth in Human History
You guys have made clear that we shouldn’t talk about politics here. Makes sense. But can we agree on one thing? The Baby Boomers and their parents sure have a lot of stuff. Where’s the proof? Stop by any auction and see all the piles of possessions being sold each and every day.
After WWII, the US experienced a wave of expansion and productivity like the world has never seen before. While the government made an incredible investment in infrastructure, scientific research, and the university system, the Baby Boomers and their parents built the US into a powerhouse of design and technology. Getting an excellent college education was inexpensive, and even high school graduates could get jobs that delivered an upper middle class lifestyle thanks to advanced factory jobs.
While we can argue why this system has come apart, we can agree that those particular days are gone. Not every member of this age group found riches, but when you go to an auction, you can see evidence of the great accumulation of wealth that the Post War generations enjoyed. So if you’re skipping auctions, then you’re really missing out on a lot of great scavenging. And because younger generations have much different buying habits, we may never see this opportunity again. Some people have multiple houses to store their stuff, or rented storage lockers for the stuff they can’t keep in their houses.
Think of auctions as a mix of an estate sale (selling off a whole house of stuff) and a yard sale (cheap prices!). What’s incredible is that the stuff in auctions is what the families don’t want. Think of what they’re keeping! But even the left overs are super valuable if you have imagination. There’s always a mix of practical, useful items plus kitschy, old-fashioned decor, along with truly valuable antiques.
Going to an auction gets you to the source of where stuff comes from. This is why you’ll mainly be competing with dealers and collectors because they have always known that auctions are where it’s at. Many independent thrift store owners and flea market sellers get their inventory at auctions. So why buy marked up inventory from them when you can go straight to the source?
I know online auctions have become extremely popular in the last couple years. Some of our favorite local auctions have closed down because they’ve gone online. While it’s certainly convenient to bid on your couch, there is nothing like being at a live auction bidding on carloads of stuff for cheap. It’s a carnival atmosphere with the heavy scent of glorious excess capitalism.
Anyway, in this episode we talk about the barriers that some sellers say exist to auctions, and how we strategize as a team. Showing up early, looking through all the boxes, do quick research over a meal, pay attention the whole time, know the prices we’re willing to pay, learn who likes what, dedicating our whole day. We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments.
We also discussed these links in the podcast:
TSATT shared a link to an interview with an eBay employee talking about the coming Guaranteed Shipping Program: http://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/scavenger-life-episode-304-do-a-little-bit-today-then-do-a-little-bit-tomorrow#post-15981
Julie B share a link to the trailer of a new Netflix show. It tells the story of an eBay seller that built a multi-million dollar clothing brand: http://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/ebay-the-netflix-series-sort-of#post-15972
Steve List reminds us that getting negative or neutral feedback isn’t the end of the world. You can always leave a comment on that feedback to let future buyers know it was just a misunderstanding: http://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/scavenger-life-episode-304-do-a-little-bit-today-then-do-a-little-bit-tomorrow/#post-15953
Tare shared the 5 stages of the scavenger’s life. I know we followed these exact steps: http://www.scavengerlife.com/forums/topic/the-5-stages-of-the-scavenger-life
Hope you had a great week!
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Our Store Week April 2-8, 2017
Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,487
Items Sold: 71
Cost of Items Sold: $166
Total Sales: $2,322.46
Highest Price Sold: $700 (Burberry coat)
Average Price Sold: $32.71
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $550
Number of items listed this week: 0
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for 0
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1377
Items Sold: 18
Cost of Items Sold: $250
Total Sales: $677.26
Highest Price Sold: $100 (Apple iSight)
Average Price Sold: $37.62
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 30
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