Longest Time Item in Inventory Before Selling

[Zach]

I just sold a hat for $30 that had been sitting in my inventory since October of 2017 (almost exactly 8 years ago). It is a snapback hat for WCW War Games (pro wrestling), circa mid 1990s. I had originally tried to sell the hat for $130, so I obviously priced it for too high for a long time, but I always thought it was cool.

This led me down a rabbit hole and I made a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets) to see the average and median age of my sold inventory since October of 2020 (when I started using Sixbit, which allows me to download data to track this sort of thing). My average age of inventory sold is almost exactly 1 year, but the median is a little better at about 5 months. The average is pretty skewed due to extreme outliers like the aforementioned hat. I can’t say I’m super surprised that my inventory does not flip very quickly, as I sell really niche items for the most part.

From my spreadsheet, other items that sat for an extraordinary amount of time that are kind of interesting include: Wondercale Floral Sheets (7 years, $35), Wedding Crashers movie hat (7 years, $26), 1990 Sturgis T-Shirt (7 years, $17.50), GE CRT TV Repair Manuals Set (6.5 years, $36), Magnificent Seven TV Show Playing Cards (6.5 years, $35), Rayovac Orange Vintage Flashlight (6 years, $20), MGM Grand Hotel Groundbreaking Souvenir 1970 (6 years, $10), Sicura Skin Diver Vintage Watch (5.5 years, $220).

Anyway, what are some of the items you held onto the longest before they actually sold (like single items, not things where you had 100 in stock and have slowly sold them over time)?

[Timo]

Since Jan 1, 2025, I sold a half-dozen baseball caps offered since early 2020 and 2019. Seems that all were for sale over 5 years. The hats have been canceled and relisted/sell similar numerous times with prices changes.

Vintage Tin Can Navy Patch Baseball Ball Adjustable Snapback Cap Hat Navy Blue,
Prestonwood Country Club Titleist 2015 Fall Gray Golf cap Baseball hat Polyester,
Roma Italia Rome Italy Souvenir Baseball Hat Cap Red Adjustable Embroidered,
Pitt University of Pittsburg Adjustable Embroidered Baseball Cap Cotton hat Tan,
Distressed Denver Broncos NFL Adjustable Baseball Dad Cap Hat Khaki Beige Cotton,
and one other.

Most hats sold for $23 plus shipping. One was $15 plus shipping.

[ChristineR]

I can’t really sort by original listing date any longer, but I know some vintage kitchen stuff has been sitting a while.  Also I have trouble with pottery sometimes in person and online.  Other times, pottery sells well.   I used to pick up more china, but I’m pretty selective now.   Unfortunately I have a lot of flatware to list and I hear it’s very long tail.

[Sharyn]

For the items I purchase in a garage sale or auction, I keep track of my costs in a spreadsheet. I’m able to find the date of purchase in there and then use my emails to find when they sold. When I sell something, I grey it out, and the grey I use changed about four years ago. That helped me find my newer sales in the spreadsheet.

I bought an auction lot of new Asian items in August 2017, and the last item I sold was a set of porcelain storage bowls this January. So, that is about 7.5 years.

A vintage framed colorized photo was bought in Oct 2017 and sold this April, so also about 7.5 years.

Lot of World of Warcraft stuff that was bought in Feb 2018 and sold in July 2024, so 6.5 years.

Vintage oil painting, signed by Norma Smith, purchased in May 2018 and sold in April, so almost 7 years.

[Author]

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