- This topic has 29 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Our new cafe has now been opened for a week. Since it’s a college town, it was very busy right out of the gate. Good! If you’re ever in Harrisonburg V
[See the full post at: The Numbers: Week February 18-24, 2024] -
Here’s last week’s numbers post:
Feb 12-18
Items in Store: 3055
Items Sold: 40
Total Sales: $1,685.00
COGS: $228.00
Total Profit: $1,457.00
Average profit: $36.43
Average sales price: $42.13
New Listings: 55
Items scavenged: 1
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 45
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,523.43
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 34
2024 ASP $44.81
2024 projected total sales $79218.29So my goal was to sell 6 items a day this week. I did that all but 2 days. Sometimes there just isn’t much you can do. The important thing is that I did the things necessary to create an environment where 6 sales are likely: Ship on time, end/sell similar oldest items, list often, send offers. Over the next couple weeks my end/sell similar listings will reindex in search and google so sales should pick up on the older stuff.
I’m trying to do better with photographing and listing 6 items a day as well, but the pile of items I have listed but not moved to inventory is getting pretty big. Have I mentioned I hate winter and the early darkness in the evening?
Boy it would be really nice to hit a sweet spot where I list 40 items, sell 40 items, and have a $40+ average sales price every week. That is a store size I can easily maintain part time and keep it in that ‘hobby’ time investment range. That’s not a $100k store, but it really seems that is what this will come out in the wash to be for me. Do I REALLY want to ship 50+ items a week while also listing 50+ items? I don’t know. 25-30 items a week is pretty easy. It doesn’t sound like alot, but I definitely notice the increase in shipping when I get over 40 items. If they are all shoes and clothes it isn’t that bad. It’s the bigger things that eat up time/energy. My listing and organization time is what I sacrifice when I start shipping more. But at the same time, I don’t think I can do just clothes/shoes. I NEED those weird and interesting items to keep me entertained and engaged. At the end of the day this really is just a fun hobby for me. A hobby that earns me quite a sizeable side income.
As for end/sell similar, I’m doing 25-30 items a day Monday-Friday. This will get me caught up to where I don’t have an item older than 1 year in about 6 weeks. That is the goal going forward – every item gets ended, re-evaluated, and relisted after one year. Will that make a difference to the ebay algorithm? I hope so.
My war on the mice is going well. I’ve caught 4 so far. I’m also making good progress clearing out the death pile I built on my weight lifting platform since I got sick in 2021. I can’t wait to get back to using that area! The mice won’t be getting free reign of that area anymore.
Another small annoyance from last week is that I’ve noticed an up-tick in items sitting unpaid. I even had one big ticket shirt ($128) go unpaid and get relisted. I’ve become quite spoiled with the automatic payments on ebay. To have multiple items go unpaid for more than 24 hours in such a short span really strikes me as odd and make me think that ebay made a change.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 9 items for $828. The big items were a pair of Louis Vuitton Flip Flop Sandals and a lambswool rug.
-
Everyone should read your post because there are some great points in there about shipping volume and finding the balance that works for your business and end/sell similar.
But I am also here for the mice update.
My war on the mice is going well. I’ve caught 4 so far. I’m also making good progress clearing out the death pile I built on my weight lifting platform since I got sick in 2021. I can’t wait to get back to using that area! The mice won’t be getting free reign of that area anymore.
I have my home gym in my office space too. I like having them next to each other. I would not want to share that territory with mice either. I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.
-
-
And now this weeks numbers post:
Feb 19-25:
Items in Store: 3041
Items Sold: 56
Total Sales: $2,125.00
COGS: $308.00
Total Profit: $1,817.00
Average profit: $32.45
Average sales price: $37.95
New Listings: 42
Items scavenged: 0
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 45
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,598.63
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 37
2024 ASP $43.50
2024 projected total sales $83,128.50So yeah…I hit my number of sales goal. I had 10 items sell for $11 or less, so that pulled my ASP WAY down. Take those items out and I’m at $45 ASP – where I want to be. Hey, gotta move these old stale listings no matter what price they sell at. I’d rather get $5 than just toss them out!
Anyways, 8 sales a day is ALOT of sales for me. It’s so fun while the sales are rolling in. The large daily payouts – also awesome. Then I realize at 8pm after I’m exhausted that I have to go gather it all up and ship it before midnight. Ugh…rough…
BUT, then I haul out all these packages to be gone permanently to my van – back to the happy feelz!
I was out of town this weekend with my wife… JUST my wife. It’s the first time we’ve EVER spent a night away from our kids. We’ve been having kids for 18 years and have never been away for a night except for when we were both in the hospital with COVID (not gonna count that nightmare).
So what was the special occasion? I suppose I can share now. We’re going to have another baby – this was our babymoon! Yes, that will put us at 7 children. Wooo boy! I have to get a new kid hauler van and everything. We had an AMAZING time in Columbus without the kids, but back to work today. My wife is 20 weeks along this week. It’s a boy.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 8 items for $630. Sold a couple $100 pairs of shoes. A couple $80 pair of jeans. I have a pending sale for a $170 pair of jeans not included in my numbers but it’s pretty obvious that the buyer isn’t gonna pay. One of those buyers that asks a dumb question after I accept their offer and then they ghost communication. Then I had another person cancel a sale of $50 jeans because the misread the size. I really hope ebay starts changing these unpaid bidders to prepay. At this point EVERYONE should be pre-pay. Why are we still dealing with this crap?!?
-
Congrats on all the continuing sales. Annoying shipping is the best problem to have.
Yes, that will put us at 7 children. Wooo boy!
Did you ever think you’d be someone with a really big family?
-
LOL nope!
I figured we’d have two children. Plans change. Every child we have is an amazing blessing!ebay lets me have my cake and eat it too. We get to have all these children and still do a lot of fun and or frivolous things. Many people we know with this many kids don’t even take vacations.
-
-
-
Congrats on the new addition to the family! Amazing!! It is always so inspiring to read your posts and see everything that you accomplish with a full-time job and large family. No doubt you are setting a tremendous example for your kids in so many ways! Plus giving them a lot of great memories and opportunities, all created (in part) by your eBay business.
What was your favorite part of your vacation with your wife?
-
-
The new coffee shop looks awesome!! But, it isn’t quite just a coffee shop is it?? Selling alcoholic beverages, open to 10PM, breakfast, lunch, and dinner? WOW!! That’s a restaurant you got there.
About two weeks ago, I made coffee, and my husband goes “is there a particular reason that the coffee is so good this morning?” And I’m like, yes, Broad Porch Washed Honduras, baby! Is that going to be a regular thing, or is it just a special blend for a limited time?
In the previous week’s numbers, I had my first sale on Ruby Lane of a cute Bergamot Brass Works belt buckle. I have all my listings with offer, so someone gave me a reasonable price, and I accepted. Not too much different than eBay.
I did bid in an Maxsold auction because I thought that two lots had vintage Gillette shavers. Ends up that they are more modern, but similar designs. I won’t lose any money, but I was disappointed.
Week of Feb 11 – 17
Total Items in Store: 1687 eBay, 34 Etsy, 23 Ruby Lane
Items Sold: 10 eBay, 0 Etsy, 1 Ruby Lane
Cost of Items Sold: $11.32 + $34 Commission
Total Sales: $215.63 eBay; $23 Ruby Lane includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $39 for 1871 Book Japan Library of Travel
Average price: $21.70
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $127.44
Number of items listed this week: 19Last week, I had a seller offer me $10 a whiskey pitcher for certain brands. In 2019, I bought about 150 whiskey pitchers & empty bottles for about $30. I’ve made over $1000 in sales. What’s left now are the more common brands with more competition or less interest. Since it had been so long, I was happy to make some space on the shelf. I also grabbed a few from Etsy to add to the purchase. He bought 11 pitchers for $110, and the box shipped today to Portland, OR. All I have left are about 15 pitchers between eBay and Etsy.
Week of Feb 18 – 24
Total Items in Store: 1670 eBay, 31 Etsy, 29 Ruby Lane
Items Sold: 12 eBay, 0 Etsy, 0 Ruby Lane
Cost of Items Sold: $7.50 + $35 Commission
Total Sales: $372.35 eBay; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $110 For 11 vintage Whiskey Pitchers
Average price: $31
Returns: 1 (hasn’t shipped yet)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 7-
Yeah the definition of a coffee shop has grown over the years where they’re basically casual restaurants and wine bars. The main difference is the counter service, instead of having a hostess and servers.
Nice sales on the whiskey pitchers. I remember seeing those at auctions. We always love buying a huge lot of something and parting them out. We recently purchased a big bag of firefighter patches from across the country for $70. Now we’re selling each patch separately.
-
-
-
Congrats R&J! I’m glad it’s open and starting to make money for you guys. The menu looks amazing and it’s great you can make money in the evenings as well. My favorite restaurant formula here in Cali is a smaller comfort food chain where it’s industrial style with counter service and you choose your dish and sides. https://urbanplates.com/order/categories/?store_id=001&service_type_id=2 My husband and I aren’t big on being old school served. Great for the staff too because they pretty much get tipped the same by most people I imagine. The old school thing I do like is comfy booths. Many trendy restaurants have the most uncomfortable metal chairs now!
I’m doing the sandwich generation thing right now and did not get a lot of listing done the last two weeks. Too much shopping and not enough listing. My daughter still is not driving and has a new later school schedule. So, I have a daily routine of thrifting certain places each day of the week after drop off. If I want to do that I need to list more often in the evenings or early morning. February is always poor, but my sales have been super slow and I’ve not been running a sale event to help things along. I’m also due for sell similar.
I hit a good Presidents Day sale at one of my regular retailers but got all of that listed last week. I found some deep discount bargains at Macys.com on premium high thread count bedding. It’s a small experiment since I don’t usually sell those brands but the discount was 90% off.
@Retro congrats on your great sales and pregnancy. Just for you I bought 3 pair of shoes and 3 mens Ripcurl trunks from the $1 guy at the flea market. Lord knows when I will get that listed. I admire you and @Ebaymom for going through your old listings before selling similar. I need to find the discipline to do that.
I did some cross posting on Niknax and I’m up to 95 items. Sales seem poor for all but the very active live sellers. We’ll see. I’m also approved to sell on a Disney District site that has a much better buyer/seller ratio than Niknax. It seems like a lot of people are dumping cheap stuff on Niknax but they do have some amazing items as well. I’m kind of just going with the theme of the week and one more weekly chat post over there. I’m hopeful it continues to grow and she features me as a seller eventually.
Store Week February 18-24
Total Items in Store: 1286
Items Sold: 11
Gross Sales: $402.47 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $235.67 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $48
Highest Price Sold: $70 (Two NOS valances)
Average Price Sold: $36.59
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $250 +/-
Number of items listed this week: 23The week prior was nothing to write home about either. Time to list!
-
Sales seem poor for all but the very active live sellers.
This seems to be true at most places where you are basically selling yourself THROUGH selling products. Whatnot is a great example of this. The big “youtube celebrities” could literally sell dog turds for premium prices over there while the little guys get ate up and spit out.
I’ve sat in on some of the reselling youtubers whatnot sales and the prices they get consistently blows my mind – higher than ebay prices. They’ve created quite a FOMO atmosphere. And you know what – I commend them. One of the resellers I follow is Chase After the Right Price. They experimented on Whatnot and you could tell they were skeptical at first. Things have escalated to the point they’ve basically abandoned ebay and went all in on selling everything on Whatnot. They regularly do $50-100k shows now. Who are these people buying all this stuff?!?
Over and over and over people bid up stuff you can readily get on ebay for prices higher than the ebay average selling price.
Hairy Tornado sells junk that would take me YEARS to sell on ebay instantly on whatnot for prices typically better than I could get on ebay.
Even the 10konthebay/daily refinement guy is now a major Whatnot seller. He churns through hundreds of items every show – typically at better than ebay prices.
If I didn’t mind putting myself out there online I’d definitely do it as well. To be able to pick up 10 shirts for $50 at Goodwill, go on whatnot and sell them immediately for a a $50-100 profit in a 10 minute show? AMAZING!
I DO mind though – I like my little secret anonymous ebay world that noone knows about unless I give them little glimpses on my own terms. I like that I can carry around $10k+ of inventory in my van and noone would ever know. It just looks like a cluttered van that noone would have any interest in. I don’t want strangers to come up to me at a yard sale and know who I am when I have absolutely no clue who they are. I darn sure don’t want strangers to know who my kids are because I’ve put them out there on youtube for random people.
Whew, that was a good rant! I’m done!
-
Agree I’m not in for putting kids on YouTube.
I’m camera shy and video skill challenged. There are a few people who do live sales just showing their hands and the items. I’ve sat in for a few minutes and it can be a little entertaining. The person chats w viewers and shares his or her love of vintage. They are pointing out what’s special about an item and people are not comparison shopping. It’s more about impulse buying. On the platform there is some social aspect with other sellers and identification help. A lot of the big YouTubers came on board with Jocelyn at launch but even she is still doing whatnot lives more often.
-
@Christine
The live sales you’re describing remind me of Binging with Babish and Chef John. (Yes, I am trying to make this forum into food talk.) I bet the reason some live sellers do that is because it keeps the focus on the items. That is the setup that some card breakers and streamers have too, though many of them are personality-driven and SO over the top like I’m sure a lot of Whatnot is.
It is crazy to me how many young kids (like pre-teen) were at the National card show last year carrying out fancy briefcases full of expensive ($100 and up resale value) cards. I’m a 90s kid and $20 bought a lot of cool cards in my day. Get off my lawn! It is kind of cool (talk about getting a hands-on lesson in about money and finances early) but also bleak and depressing if I think about it too much. At least I know the hobby’s not dying anytime soon!
-
-
@retro-treasures-wv Maybe there’s money to be made in becoming a pure finder. There was a tannery in Devon that used it, but they seem to have changed over to oak bark.
-
I have noticed this trend a lot with cards, definitely with box breaks which is this whole weird cards/gambling/entertainment subculture within the card flipping and collecting world that is not for me. Recently I have started submitting some of my cards to sell through my consignor’s live auctions, which you can find a few days a week on the eBay app if you go into live auctions and look for COMC. I am learning every week what sells well there and what doesn’t. There are times where cards will sell for much higher than I expect, even at times higher than another copy of the same exact card for sale on the COMC site or on eBay. Another unusual trend is that cards will sell for much higher than Terapeak selling history, which is typically a great barometer for a card’s value. I’ve noticed it most often with rare cards with a low individual serial number (like xx/10) and cards of very famous or popular players, and this is true across all different sports.
I think FOMO is part of it and I have been thinking these live auctions attract a different crowd entirely than collectors (our ideal eBay customers as long as they’re not too picky) or flippers (maybe not the ideal customer, but I’ll take a flipper’s money any day). It’s like buying from live auctions makes the item inherently more valuable to people in this group, whether it’s to flip or keep for their collection. Maybe it’s just to brag about how they bought this from this Whatnot seller or that live auction?
Anyone have any ideas for what to name this group? The anti-scavengers?
-
-
I like that comfort food menu at Urban Plates. I think a lot of us are raving good quality food that isnt fussy. We also like a good booth.
-
Our grandparents and his parents loved to be formally waited on and love taking cruises. Maybe it’s our Gen Xness but we feel almost uncomfortable with really attentive table service even. I like being able to just get up and grab what I need, like condiments, etc. Wonder how your college Gen Z customers feel. I would think they would be the self serve types too.
-
-
I learned a new term from your post, sandwich generation. I don’t have kids but have dealt with that type of situation at various points in my life (lots of illness/mental illness in my family) and I hope you’re able to find the time between all of these responsibilities (and eBay) to get the support you need and practice self-care. Always so important!
One of my favorite things about selling on eBay is that you can still keep things moving in your store even if you basically take time off. Find ten minutes and end/sell similar on your oldest 50 listings, or maybe only do 25 but fiddle with the prices and offer settings. That never feels like work, but it almost always leads to a sale or two in the next few days and it’s something that’s been very helpful for me in the last year during periods of little time or motivation for eBay.
-
Thanks @Craig that’s kind. I”m good just need to get more exercise. I wish I could blame it on the rainy season we’ve been having. I feel really lucky to be able to be there for my family members who need it. It does make it hard to set business goals since we have a lot of ups and downs. Some of it I could manage better though. Ebay is part of my therapy. I love everything about it. Those are great suggestions but I seem to be default to boom and bust with things.
-
-
-
Congrats Jay and Ryanne on the new shop. I loved seeing the photos, amazing how fast the place has come alive when a week ago it wasn’t open yet and a year ago it was only an idea. I think your eBay experience has prepared you well for these other projects. It is all about building little pipelines to solve problems or creating systems so things run smoothly day to day. You also know what it’s like to change how your business operates, which I think many people are reluctant to do, and you’re careful to avoid burnout. And you don’t assume you know everything. I think that’s a big reason why a lot of small coffee shops/restaurants go out of business so fast. Either they try to do too much or they do things “their way” when it’s not the best/easiest way. Plus a lack of head for numbers in an industry with very thin margins.
I have been thinking about all this recently as I consider the short-time future of my own eBay business. I’m at a point with my consignment card sales where my income has become pretty consistent. I’ve sold over 1,000 cards a month through there every month since October. The specifics change each month because they are always running different promos, but basically I have just used all the tools available to me. I send in a lot of new inventory when they run discounts on submission fees. I slash prices on older inventory. I accept offers. I send certain cards to 7 day auction. Recently I’ve been setting aside a few hundred cards every week for their live auctions, which you can only submit to on Friday at noon until they fill up. So that’s what I do Fridays at noon. I’m not interested in live auctions from a buying perspective. But I can sell through them with just this small change, so I have been experimenting each week to figure out which cards sell well there and which don’t. It is an interesting world! Different than regular auctions or listings for sure. There is always more to learn when you sell online, and being open to new ideas is one way to prevent your business from stagnating.
The interesting thing is that my eBay numbers are no longer very consistent week to week. The week of the 11th, my numbers were amazing. I ran auctions which ended after the Super Bowl and did well with them. Nothing too crazy, but a solid 57 out of 300 auctions sold. Then I returned all the unsold inventory to my store and got a few more sales from that. Am I maximizing every dollar? Am I creating extra work for myself sending things to auction, then back to my store, then back to auction a few weeks later? Who knows! But that’s eBay.
Last week was no auctions, so it was slower, and this week will be even less lucrative since I have much less inventory and I’m going to use up my remaining 228 free collectible auction listings before the 29th. But I’ve gotten comfortable with these cycles. Some days I focus on repricing and auctions and packaging sold auctions. Other days are focused on preparing a big batch of new listings, others on sorting inventory for consignment and getting that prepared to ship to them. This gives me plenty of flexibility to hunt through thousands of auction listings, like I do every week. But I’m starting to sell more and accumulate less.
The downside is that I’ve been stuck around 250 eBay listings for the last month or two. But I still want to run my auctions later this week. This means I will have almost nothing left in my store while the auctions are running, and maybe sub 200 listings after the auctions end and I cull dead/stale/low $$ inventory. So I will have to grind a bit over the next few weeks if I don’t want my eBay sales to drop off a cliff.
My plan is to profit off my own clutter in March and April. I should be able to make 5 or 10 or 20 (or more?) flat rate boxes full of the sub $5 cards which build up over the years with a business like mine. Plus I’ve got a few shelves and boxes full of other weird oddball items (some sports-related, some not) which I like to buy but don’t list quickly (or at all) because the routines I have to sell cards are so simple and lucrative. With anything else, I have to figure out the category. I have to take pictures instead of fire up the scanner. I have to figure out pricing. I have to find or make boxes. It’s a lot!
But I have to remember that I like all of these things. They keep my days interesting and different. I’ve been enjoying those weird one-off sales the most over the last few months. So it feels like it’s the exact right time to do a proper spring cleaning for my business. Then we’ll see what comes next.
2/11/2024 to 2/17/2024
Items sold: 69 (nice) — 15 via best offer, 5 via seller initiated offer, 12 via promoted listings
Gross sales: $3061.65 (up 90% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2038.86 (up 80% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $44.37 (down 28% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $182.25— Steve Nash Panini National Treasures autographed Lakers patch #01/10
Kind of funny that on Super Bowl week, my big sale was a Lakers card. But that’s eBay! I had a $500 BIN on this card, but the offer was in line with Terapeak solds, so I took it. My sale of the week post goes into detail about other high dollar items sold, including a few Chiefs/49ers cards and a Taylor Swift box set.
Lowest price sold (net): $6.25 — KJ Adams Jr autographed 8×10 Kansas Jayhawks photo
I won a bunch of 10 photo lots (all autographed with a PSA certification sticker) like this last February at prices like 10 for $12.50 and 10 for $13.50 and I’ve sold 30 of them in the last year. College basketball season enters March Madness soon, so maybe I should run these at auction every week since demand will drop off after that until next season.
2/18/2024 to 2/24/2024
Items sold: 24 — 13 via best offer, 7 via seller initiated offer, 17 via promoted listings
Promoted listings seems to be really important to the algorithm right now. I’ve seen a consistent trend the last month or two where 60% of my BIN/BO sales are from promoted listings. It correlates strongly with changing my base percentages to 5% (new inventory) and 7.5% (older stuff or stuff I really want to sell).
Think about upping your promoted listing percentages a bit if sales are slow or you just want to sell a bunch of stuff.
Gross sales: $1117.94 (up 40% from one year ago)
Net sales: $699.47 (up 37.5% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $46.58 (down 18% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $120.51— Ha-Seong Kim Panini Three and Two auto tag patch #2/5
This card is a good example of a higher-end ultra-modern card brand, complete with its own branded case. Even if you know nothing about sports at all, you can probably tell this card might be worth a few bucks. Kim is a good player for the San Diego Padres, and Asian players are always popular among baseball and basketball collectors.
I also sold the last big item from my Chicago library sale haul, this Anton Bruckner classical DVD box set for a net of about $82. It would have been a very slow week without those two sales, which is why it’s so important to get these >$50 ASP items listed!
I paid about $50 for this card. I thought I would have to wait until baseball season for it to sell, but if your inventory is desirable, a lot of times it basically sells itself.
Lowest price sold (net): $9.36 — Ronald Acuna Jr. 2023 Topps Chrome MVP buyback card
This card is a good example of the kinds of modern cards which are not worth money, boring base cards with no special features. This card sold for $12 because of Topps MVP buyback program where you can trade in Topps cards of MVP winners Acuna and Shohei Ohtani at participating shops for store credit which most will use to buy boxes of the newest Topps sets. The card companies do a good job of coming up with innovations like this to keep collectors and flippers hooked which keeps the secondary market moving. Prices are not nearly as crazy as they were during the pandemic, but it feels like there are more buying opportunities now, probably because there are more sets and more buyers and sellers. So more opportunities for arbitrage.
-
You also know what it’s like to change how your business operates, which I think many people are reluctant to do, and you’re careful to avoid burnout. And you don’t assume you know everything.
I think a lot of long time eBay sellers would do well running other businesses since an online store is a great low-risk bootcamp.
The risks are certainly much greater renovating and running these cafes. Meatspace locations cant be turned on and off like eBay. People depend on paychecks. Mortgages have to be paid. But the rewards are different if successful.
Your move to consignment a couple years ago was such a smart move. It’s nice to have that consistency. Do you ever imagine a time when you just purchase inventory on eBay, but then send it all into consignment?
-
Your move to consignment a couple years ago was such a smart move. It’s nice to have that consistency. Do you ever imagine a time when you just purchase inventory on eBay, but then send it all into consignment?
I think this is basically the direction I’m headed in, and probably close to it being reality as soon as this summer. There are some cards which simply sell better on eBay than COMC, so I doubt it will be all or nothing unless I decide to liquidate all my card inventory, in which case consignment is probably the way to go for the vast majority of it.
My “spring cleaning” over the next few months of all the “other” stuff I’ve accumulated will help me figure all this out. Can I create a system for listing bulk card lots and the other random weird stuff I’ve accumulated which works for me as well as listing a pile of individual cards does? What kind of income would this type of eBay inventory generate? And what will my consignment income look like during the slower spring and summer months?
It feels like a different risk/reward than I’ve ever faced with my reselling business and as soon as I figure out what’s working and what isn’t, I’ll let you know! Can’t wait to hear about life at the new coffee shop over the next few months. Do you have your next project in the works yet?
-
Can I create a system for listing bulk card lots and the other random weird stuff I’ve accumulated which works for me as well as listing a pile of individual cards does? What kind of income would this type of eBay inventory generate?
I think the answer is to out your time into what you enjoy. You’re clearly good at finding and selling baseball cards. Do you get the same joy finding random hard goods?
-
-
-
-
Keeping up with posting the numbers…. 2 weeks ago was busy and sales came in at a good pace. Last week, all low dollar sales and 2 higher dollar returns made for a pretty crappy week. This past weekend I tried some online sniping on eBay and spent way too much money… time will tell if I can make a good ROI. I did my research first, so feeling optimistic. It’s not my normal method of sourcing, but I like to try new ones.
Jay, happy to hear the first week went well! It looks like so much fun. Retro, Congrats on the “Big News” that is so cool! Craig, you had an amazing week… good job! Christine, I’m also too shy for what not, but am very intrigued with the idea… would love to be able to do that with my old inventory. Sharyn, I enjoy hearing about all your new sales venues.
My Store Week February 11-17, 2024
Total Items in Store: 786
Items Sold: 29
Gross Sales: $821.79 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $448.28 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $56.09
Highest Price Sold: $60 (Sold my first pair of MOTHER jeans… these jeans have an AMAZING STR, never ever pass them by!)
Average Price Sold: $29.35
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $17.07
Number of items listed this week: 32$ Amount listed this week: $737.89
******************************************
My Store Week February 18-24, 2024
Total Items in Store: 801
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $566.77 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $202.97 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $47.64
Highest Price Sold: $31.39 (Silver Jeans)
Average Price Sold: $28.34
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $226.99
Number of items listed this week: 36$ Amount listed this week: $1051.30
-
Ebaymom, I do a ton of sniping and I wanted to let you know about the sniping software Gixen. I have no personal relationship with the product, just a long-time very happy user. There is a free version and a paid version for something like $8/year. Basically you provide your login info and copy/paste the item number and your high bid at any point before the auction ends, and the software places your snipe in the last few seconds of the auction. The developer is really responsive to any errors or problems, but they are very rare. It’s probably the best value add for my business in terms of value/$$ except for the quarterly eBay shipping supplies coupon, depending on if we consider those supplies free or not.
-
Thanks, Craig! I will definitely look into Gixen! Even as I was bidding (before the end) I knew I was driving up the price, but I just put in my max bids and stepped away. I won many 🙂 but lost a few. Shipping is what is going to kill me here… but now I have inventory to list for a few days without having to leave home and get to try out some new brands that I just can’t find here locally. I thought it will be fun to snipe at least one day of inventory a week and see how it all works out. I appreciate your shared advice.
-
-
If you do clothes it is possible to source on whatnot with the right sellers. Some of them are quite reseller friendly and just churn through high quality stuff.
So with T-shirts – I typically don’t waste my time shopping for them at thrifts. Their prices are hight ($5 with tax). The trash to treasure ratio is very high. It just is not a good investment of my limited time to spend an hour in t-shirts to find a handful of $20 items when I can do the entire store in less than an hour at a high level and get a cart of $30+ items.
But on Whatnot, I get an item every 30 seconds that is a great shirt and I might be able to get it for cheap if the other people in the feed are focused on waiting for specific things.
I did some buying on there back in late 2022 when I still didn’t have much energy (MUCH easier to shop online while chilling in the hot tub!). My average COGS was about $12, but my ASP was going to be $35+. Sadly I’ve still never listed those shirts. Maybe I should get that box out and list them. I know where they are. There was some pretty cool stuff in there.
So if you are comfortable with higher COGS, Whatnot could be a good source.
-
-
Feb 11 -Feb 17, 2024
Total Items in Store: 3784 listings for 5551 items
Items Sold: 43
Gross Sales: $2533.66 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1968.97
Cost of Items Sold: $406 ($166 mine / $240 consignors)
Highest Price Sold: $195 Fleurette Cashmere Coat
Average Price Sold: $58.92
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $231
Number of items listed this week: 179Feb 18 -Feb 24, 2024
Total Items in Store: 3825 listings for 5579 items
Items Sold: 41
Gross Sales: $3057.59 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2367.25
Cost of Items Sold: $480 ($245 mine / $235 consignors)
Highest Price Sold: $246 Vintage Saks Polo Coat
Average Price Sold: $74.58
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $655
Number of items listed this week: 31
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.