Home › Forums › Weekly Numbers › Scavenger Life Episode 388: Worst Week Ever?
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12/02/2018 at 4:06 pm #52541
Um, so, our numbers were super low for it being the holiday season. But we know this business requires strength of mind to get from week to week. Li
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 388: Worst Week Ever?] -
12/02/2018 at 5:56 pm #52546
Have not listened yet, at the outside job, quick answer to the title, not a bad week, although a couple of bigger sales were consignment, bummer! The consignments were trouble free and they were the types of items I would not have found for small change, so all good enough. Wrapping up consignments this year, very little left, although I may continue for a friend.
eBay store totommyto
Total store items: 649
Number of items sold: 15 (4 international)
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $560.35
Cost of items sold: $17.50
Consignment payouts $175
Highest price sold: $190 – metal tobacco sign ‘Players First’ (consignment)
Average price sold: $37.35
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 8
Sell through rate for the week: 2.3Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 633
Number of items sold: 11 (0 international)
Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $259
Cost of items sold: $15.50
Consignment payouts: $8
Highest price sold: $50 – set of two revolving cassette tape holders (bought for $3)
Average price sold: $23.54
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of items listed this week: 4
Sell through rate for the week: 1.7Going to begin listening, Thank you again for your time.
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12/02/2018 at 6:15 pm #52547
Sorry to hear you had the worst week of the year but as you always remind us it is a marathon, not a sprint!
Here are my numbers for the MONTH of November. I am mainly a mens clothes seller, free shipping, free returns, 1% promoted listings, no best offer, good till cancelled.
Listings/items at end of month = 3670 / 4177 Total listed value $87,079
Items sold = 410 up 78% YOY
$ sold = $11,717 up 109% YOY
ASP = $28.57 up 17% YOYExpenses
Postage = $2,343 (20.0% of gross)
Ebay fees = $1,415 (12.1% of gross) (includes Promoted listing fees of 134 sales totaling $3963 (39.63-8.33 credit = $31.30) 32.7% of items sold/ 33.8% of $ sold)
COGS = $891 (7.6% of gross)
Returns = $584 (4.9% of gross)
PP Fees = $454 (3.9% of gross)Total operating expenses = $5,688 (48.5% of gross)
Total operating profit (my name for it – does not include expenses such as mileage, shipping supplies, depreciation, etc …) $6,029Notable sales:
Burberrys trench coat, cost $6, sold for $299.99
Stall & Dean Osaka Tigers baseball jacket, cost 75 cents (bag sale), sold for $124.99
Unused USGI 1988 Combat boots cost $7, sold for $99.99Sales breakdown by price range:
$100+ = 2
80-100 = 3
60-80 = 5
40-60 = 36
30-40 = 57
20-30 = 139
10-20 = 168 -
12/02/2018 at 7:16 pm #52549
Not just this last week, but the entire month of November was super slow for me. Sales about 30% lower than last year. Not sure what to attribute it to. My store is small, only a little over 300 items. I know that adding more items might give me more consistent sales, but storage space is an issue. I’ve also been reluctant to use promoted listings, because it just feels like eBay extorting more money from us sellers. Items that I have promoted do not seem to sell any faster, but no way to know for sure. I was also away on vacation for 5 days at the beginning of the month, that is when sales took their nosedive. October was not bad at all.
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12/02/2018 at 7:36 pm #52552
2018-11-25 – 2018-12-01
Total Items In Store: 2572
Items Sold: 19
Cost of Items Sold: $60
Total Sales: $669.12
Highest Price Sold: $80
Average Price Sold: $35.22
# Items Listed: 34
Money Spent on
New Inventory: $68Gut Sales Report for the week: Just average sales this week, it doesn’t feel like the busy season.
Challenge of the week: Trying to crank out the listings. I only did 34, but I have 38 more that were very close to getting listed.
Scavenge of the week: Some nice mens suits.
ebay tape burn rate: Here is a fact (my experience) that may be useless to most, but might be helpful to some. I bought 72 rolls of ebay tape back on 4/1/17. I still have 15 rolls left. So, I got a report from Wonderlister on how many items I have sold since I bought the tape and how many rolls I have used. 1544 items sold, 57 rolls used. The equates to right around 27 packages per roll. Now, I also use clear tape for taping things inside the package such as tissue paper. I also use clear tape on the outside for large packages so that the ebay clown tape doesn’t look ridiculous. So here is how this helps me: I plan to sell about 1400 items next year (using my forecasting
spreadsheet), so that means I will need about 52 rolls of ebay tape for 2019. So, on Jan. 1st, I will use my coupon to buy the 72 rolls (cheaper per roll than 36) of ebay tape.Mark S
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12/02/2018 at 7:50 pm #52553
November was my slowest month since March 2015. Back then I probably had 1/4th of the listings that I do now. Looking at my numbers, November of last year was pretty awful for me too. My store’s best quarter is always first quarter – go figure.
For any women’s clothing sellers on here looking for something to watch/listen to while you list – I just watched 3 YouTube videos by Empty Hanger about a recent estate sale score. She sells on Posh and lives in Atlanta. She hit the mother of all clothing estate sales last week. She spent $4k in two days on mostly Anthropologie clothes with tags attached in the $150 to $400 range. Almost every room in the house was filled with racks of clothes. Rumor is the original owner was either a shopaholic or was a buyer for Anthropologie. I’m green with envy.
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12/02/2018 at 7:55 pm #52554
Can’t wait to listen to the podcast – I am sorry you guys had a lot of unpaid items – I hope some of those sales come through for you in the next week (or you sell the items for more if they have already closed.) One of my “big” sales from last week was a return – $163.. that sure was painful, for the smaller amount that I am making.
Here are my numbers:
My Store Week Nov 25-Dec 1, 2018
Total Items in Store: 1111
Items Sold: 18 (0 International)
Gross Sales: $530.43
Cost of Items Sold: $53.39
Highest Price Sold: $115.99 (Medela Breastpump)
ASP: $29.47
STR: 6.9%
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $19.08
Number of items listed this week: 4 -
12/03/2018 at 4:39 am #52558
Nasty Gal worked out well for me. Set up my new eBay building for a couple grand at their liquidation auction at the distribution center. Tables, Chairs, Desks, Printers, computers, shelves, Ship stations, box sorters, etc… Filled a 28′ car hauler and my truck bed!
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12/03/2018 at 8:05 am #52559
A bankruptcy followed by a sky burial, cool.
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12/03/2018 at 8:14 am #52560
Sales: CAD$1598, 11 items, COGS: $642 –> Item profit: $688
Expenditures: $338 –> After-tax cashflow: $813
Listings: $1198, 9 items
Hours: 4, $204/hr after tax
Notable sales: pediatric gait trainer walker $360, paid $30. Mind you I still have to ship this tonight and it’s not gonna be fun. Electric motor $25–>$200, spirometer $350–>$550. It was a mistake to sell this last one so cheap, I dunno what I was thinking. Oh well, the cashflow is really helpful right now at least.
Scavenging: Listed a big lot of 60 respirator face shields, I paid $140 for the whole thing. Sold one for $40 the next day, which seems to bode well. Hopefully they sell consistently.
Looking, looking, looking for another couple home runs before christmas. -
12/03/2018 at 8:21 am #52562
November 25 – December 1,2018
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,488
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $290.62
Cost of Items Sold: $110.60
Highest Price Sold: $31.99 (men’s shirt)
Average Price Sold: $20.76
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $108.52
Number of items listed this week: 13Store 2
Total Items in Store: 590
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $139.90
Cost of Items Sold: $3.36
Highest Price Sold: $13.59 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $9.99
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $28.00
Number of items listed this week: 48Amazon.ca sales: $245.60 (Approx $61.40 net profit)
Amazon.com sale: $367.20 (Approx $91.80 net profit)Pretty dismal week in our main store. Wasn’t listing as much as usual, but that shouldn’t account for such a big drop. Second store had solid sales, but we were listing a lot more in it. Going to have to list a LOT more this week.
Amazon seems to be ramping up. I’ve been sending more RA/clearance stuff in with my regular replanishables recently. Lots of toys etc. They’re moving pretty quickly, and adding to the base I’ve established with my regular items.
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12/03/2018 at 8:55 am #52563
This whole quarter is slower for us than last yer yet we have twice the number of items listed. It is what it is.!
With regards to the returns topic.. We have had 30 day FREE RETURNS turned on for a long time, but one thing you can do to slow the whole process down and buy yourself time to respond to the customer is to go to your settings and click on “Require an RMA”. That is a “Return Material Authorization” number. When you have this turned on, the Ebay can’t auto approve a return without letting you know they have a buyer request for a return but need for you, the seller, to provide the RMA. You will get an email asking for the number and at that point you could go to your dashboard and communicate with the buyer, ask for your photos, etc. Then when you do fill in the RMA data field, we just put in our internal SKU number or you could use your initials and today’s date. Anything you want. Also your response time is not required to be instant so the process slows down to allow you time to react and respond.
Give it a try.
As to “Painful Weeks”. That is one reason we don’t glare at numbers by the week. We tract everything in Quicken and watch our profits by the month. It is like the stock market, down 250 points one day back up 300 points the next, but overall on a monthly basis it is a smoother chart line. Overall our month is more than the 3 Summer months, BUT less than the 4th quarter than last year despite having more items.
The curve we think will smooth out around the 2,500 item mark +/-.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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12/30/2018 at 8:39 am #54124
Maybe I missed it, but did anyone else try turning on the RMA numbers for returns? I’d love to hear more about the experience!
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12/03/2018 at 9:09 am #52564
Yup, totally low average sales over here.
11/25/18 – 12/01/18
Total Items In Store: 991
Items Sold: 21
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $675.70
Highest Price Sold: $140 linen queen sheet set
Average Price Sold: $32.18
Cost of Items Sold: $108.50 (including $70 spent on the sheet set; it was a purchase for me that I changed my mind about)
Returns/Refunds: 1 – a set of ceramic coasters broke in transit, SmartPost, so I’ll never see the shipping refund, but at least the entire refund was only ~$24.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0, but got lots of free stuff!
Number of Items listed this week: 30 -
12/03/2018 at 9:33 am #52566
Sorry to hear about the NPB on the necklace…that REALLY stinks! What actually happens to bidders who do this? It seems to be happening more often. What really bothers me is when someone makes an offer, I accept it and then they never pay! I know ebay WANTS the buyers so buyers can get away with this but at what point do they stop this? If someone can do it 2 or 3 times a month that is RIDICULOUS!
Maybe eBay should compensate buyers when this happens. It would be nice to receive your selling fees back in addition to an added percentage for the inconvenience.
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12/03/2018 at 9:44 am #52568
A good month for me, in fact I started with near 950 items listed and today it’s below 890. I’ve sold some higher priced items on Bonanza and Truegether as well.
All the shipping gets in the way of listing as I usually only work a half day.November 2018
Items listed in store 894
Sold items 108 (eBay 103 Truegether 2 Bonanza 3 )
Gross sales total $5832 (eBay $5442 Truegether $220 and Bonanza $170)
Returns 1 (Leather coat for size)
Highest sale $600 Marantz
Average $54 -
12/03/2018 at 9:56 am #52573
Items in Store 1078
Items Sold 23
Total Sales $983.25
COGS $83.00
Total Profit $900.25
Average profit $39.14
Average sales price $42.75
New Listings 29I had two big returns that I had to refund this week that sucked – a $100 item and a $175 item. Ouch.
This is a week where my final numbers surprised me. I almost cracked $1000 again. C’mon ebay, you couldn’t get me one more $30 sale??I had an unpaid item that relisted this week. I tried all the tricks that have been discussed on here lately to try and get a buyer to pay. They had made an $80 offer on a $100 item. In the end the case closed and was relisted without a peep from that dead beat buyer. And guess what – the item sold for full price BIN within hours of being relisted.
Moral of the story – don’t sweat non paying buyers. They suck, but everything sells eventually.
Here’s to hoping next week rebounds for J&R, and that the necklace buyer pays!
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12/03/2018 at 10:40 am #52576
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet, but as a f/t online seller, this year has been the first time I’ve really worried about selling online since the years around the 2008 recession. Amazon sales are down for a great number of sellers. That started around the spring. Ebay sales have been unusually soft for Q4 for a lot of sellers. More low sales threads than I have seen since the recession on various forums online.
Increased competition? People buying new instead of used? It shouldn’t really impact long-tail, 1 of a kind items, but it seems to be. I’m not sure what’s going on.
From November 26th to December 2nd, I had 46 sales on Ebay. That’s a pretty typical week. What is unusual is the spread on them:
November 30th – 0 sales
December 1st – 20 sales
December 2nd – 2 salesI realize that it overall evens out, but still. If it had been 5 sales, 12 sales and 3 sales, that would have been a little easier to accept. Just a weird breakdown.
November for me actually turned out to be on par with last November almost to the dollar. However, I had to have 2,000 additional listings in order to equal the same amount of sales dollars. I also had a number of brand new items I purchased RA style very cheaply after last Christmas that I sold out of by the middle of November. If I hadn’t had those, my sales $s would have been less than last year, even with the addition of 2,000 long-tail items priced correctly.
I feel like even though I have been doing this forever, I am having to change a lot of how my business runs and be more hands-on than I’ve had to be in years in order to keep things at the very least on par with years past. A combination of that and not finding really good collections over the past year has added to having to figure out other ways to keep things going.
Oh, I did manage to sell 1 item for $600 in November. Of course, the buyer didn’t pay for it. According to Worthpoint, I should eventually get $500 for it. Eventually. At least the buyers are currently paying for their $10-20 items. That being said, I am also seeing more returns for $10-20 items than I have ever seen before. It’s getting weird out there, but at least people on this forum are more frugal than most, so it is easier to weather through unusual lulls in sales than people that are used to being more spendy.
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12/05/2018 at 8:49 am #52689
I feel like even though I have been doing this forever, I am having to change a lot of how my business runs and be more hands-on than I’ve had to be in years in order to keep things at the very least on par with years past.
Preach! For us it’s difficult to know exactly why sales go up and down. I think maybe we are selling weird vintage/collectibles to an older group of people. But do younger people buy all that stuff?
I think there’s just more committed people selling online too. Estate Sale companies, thrift stores, and auction houses are now confidently selling online.
I also think things goin cycles. We’ve had years where we’ve made much less followed by years where we’ve made much more, then down again. We cant predict.
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12/05/2018 at 9:00 am #52691
“I think maybe we are selling weird vintage/collectibles to an older group of people. But do younger people buy all that stuff?”
A big question that we have on the vintage hard goods. We are watching to see how the younger kids tastes change. I know that we have a harder time sourcing the good vintage stuff sometimes. Older neighborhoods will have the stuff, as long as it isn’t overpriced. Newer couples and new neighborhoods sometimes just have cheap Wal-Mart Made in China stuff. Are the younger folks going to appreciate the older stuff, or just move to disposable stuff?
“I think there’s just more committed people selling online too. Estate Sale companies, thrift stores, and auction houses are now confidently selling online.”
Yep. I see that A LOT on the clothes. Harder to find, and prices are down in certain categories. Hence my move to look to pivot the type of clothes I’m going after (and just accept that some items we sell will only be a $7-$10 net, and make sure that the process on them is quick to keep up the $/hr.)
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12/05/2018 at 12:22 pm #52730
$7-10 net is good. It all adds up.
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12/05/2018 at 9:22 pm #52762
Totally agree, but to get it, it ties us down to sourcing every Saturday (50% off days) and is not increasing the $/hr. Our goal for 2019 is to take at least 1 Saturday off each month and still maintain our listing activity, with the goal of being able to remove Saturday sourcing to only when we want to.
I like hard goals…they make me use the noggin a whole lot more…
🙂
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12/05/2018 at 12:20 pm #52729
I feel that for every weird, vintage item out there, there is a larger audience than ever for all of it. If there are 10 people selling the exact same item and are competing on price and condition, that is one thing. Every single period of time that has an item associated with it will be of interest to at least 1 person with the means to buy it, if not several, and especially with a worldwide audience.
That is what concerns me about a slowdown occuring with even items like this. If there are enough unique items listed of varying types, there shouldn’t be such a severe slowdown. However, it is impossible to track every single item simultaneously across the market with such large inventories.
Perhaps there is increased competition coming in for these items, but you don’t see them because they sell before your item does? Idk. I guess everyone will eventually try to sell everything, if we all get bored enough. It’s just interesting to think of all the nuances still out there with reselling that haven’t fully been taken into consideration yet.
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12/05/2018 at 9:19 pm #52761
Yep. It is a weird changing world in eCommerce…
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12/03/2018 at 10:46 am #52577
Thanks for the shout! Quick notes:
– Yes, my brother’s sole source of income is Amazon.
– He sells a lot, especially this time of year: historically $100k BF-EOY in gross sales
– He works insane hours around the clock during the holiday (think 18hr days, going to Target & WalMart at 3a, getting the USPS truck to come to his house 2x per day, etc)
– Does approximately 75% merchant fulfilled, 25% FBA
– His profit margins aren’t as wide as most of ours, not buying for $1 and selling for $30; likely buying for $5 and selling for $15 or buying for $20 and selling for $60.
– He has never shared exact numbers with me, but estimate somewhere in the range of 25%-35% net profit after COGS, fees, taxes, supplies, etc.
– He sells throughout the year and while Holiday is his best time (prob 30%-40% of his gross annual sales) he does well in other seasonal (stuffed animals around VDay, candy at Easter, team items around the Super Bowl, hand held fans in the summer, etc), regional (things that you can only get in Western PA/Eastern OH), and day to day items (he showed me the label when he was sending 2 cans of Pam cooking spray down the street from me in NJ).
– He works his butt off, but also gets to golf whenever he wants at the course across the street, run/hike with his dog whenever he wants, go on cheap/free vacations with his wife & infant daughter via credit card points, and makes his own schedule and can pare back his listings at anytime if it’s becoming overwhelming (which he does do a couple times per year so as to not burn out)Week November 25 – December 1, 2018
Total Items in Store: 960
Items Sold: 32 (2 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $338 (25.0% of sales)
Total Sales: $1,353.30
Highest Price Sold: $250 (1994 Nirvana Unplugged LP https://www.ebay.com/itm/192552704391)
Average Price Sold: $42.29
Returns: 0 (1 NPB though)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $440
Number of items listed this week: 45
Promoted listings test: 14 sales, $797.42 (58.9% of total sales), $39.88 fees (5.0% of sales)Unlike your week, I may have had my best week (or top 5) of the year. After last week’s discussion around BF/CM and us determining it doesn’t matter, I had 13 sales for $600 on Sunday night through Monday day. Maybe it does matter? 🙂
Outside of that awesome LP that was my top seller (part of me wishes I didn’t sell it), also had another big sale for the week of a lot of 8 slot cars for $155 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192605588785). The rest of the week was moderately high priced items – 13 sales of $40-$80. COGS are a touch high because of the quality of items I was selling, but still pleased.
This weekend hit up one estate sale that was full of treasures, specifically items from Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. Looks like the owner was in the Navy during WWII, specifically in the Pacific Theater, and had high end nautical instruments that were out of my price range. Only things WWII/military I got were these two silk maps of the region that I absolutely love (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192744491120 & https://www.ebay.com/itm/202521901492); these were mandatory for many because they have to stand up to the elements – we all thing of silk as being delicate & elegant, but the material held up much better than paper in the elements. Because he was in the Pacific, looked like he then had a fascination with the region and I picked up an antique silk embroidery (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202521920901), set of 66 souvenir Chinese Opera faces (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192744542984), pai gow tiles set (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202522193457), and more.
Anyone here read Chinese that can translate the characters on the silk (Google translate hasn’t been much help)? Thanks!(https://www.ebay.com/itm/202521920901)
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12/05/2018 at 8:51 am #52690
I love to see you had one of your best weeks! Goes to show that things go up and down for each of us. It’s a weird business selling long tail items.
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12/05/2018 at 10:37 pm #52766
Brian,
The Chinese characters on that silk print just refer to the peach & man’s search for immortality. It is an old Chinese folklore story and the male character is actually not Confucius but instead is Dongfang Shuo – a guy not nearly as well known as Confucius but quite a story nevertheless. Very nice find as are your other estate items.
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12/03/2018 at 11:04 am #52579
Nov 25 – Dec 1
Total Items in Store: 1948
Items Sold: 37
Total Sales : $1618
* WAY above yearly average of $874
* above 2017 total week sales of $1016
Highest Price: $180 (Sub-Zero Refrigerator Metal Grille Vent Cover Part)
Average Price: $44
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $121
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $42
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 41Another good week of sales. And I made my goal of $30K net sales for the year! That’s not accounting for taxes, but I’ve been paying quarterly estimates anyways so that won’t be much. I’m sorry you two have had a crumby week of sales. I know the feeling. But you’re probably right about how the constant changing of the handling time might be affecting things. Things’ll pick back up next week.
So the auctions this year have been disappointing. My backlog of items to list is starting to dwindle because I just haven’t been able to score a lot of loot lately. Reasons being either the auctions have nothing that I could resell (selling absolute junk) or there’s just too many people who are willing to overspend on everything of value. I’m lucky anymore to fill my backseat with box lots whereas before I would have trouble cramming everything I bought in my car. I hope this isn’t a growing trend or I may have to rethink my buying strategy.
Speaking of auctions, I went to an outdoor one Saturday. It was cold and pouring rain the whole time. They had flimsy canopies but everything was getting rained on anyways. But I did manage to buy a complete 8 setting stainless flatware set that was practically unused. I’ll have to debate whether I should sell it as a whole or sell the pieces individually. It’s a very desirable pattern and I could probably get close to $200 if I sell it all together. But individual pieces are getting $8-12, so I don’t know.
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12/03/2018 at 11:33 am #52586
Doubly!
Nice$$!!I sold four 5 piece place settings of pewter flatware last night for $160.40. I too wondered about listing by the piece or the whole set a few months back. Also sold off a couple of 4 piece sets same pattern, have a 4 and a 5 piece remaining. Bought it all for $12, sold off the wood cabinet as well for $40 local pickup.
Maybe you too can consider listing in sets with multiple?
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12/03/2018 at 11:17 am #52580
Total store items: 327 Ebay, 40 Mercari
Number of items sold: 10 Ebay, 0 Mercari, 2 Facebook
Total eBay sales: $291 + $35 Facebook
Cost of items sold: $53 + $7 shipping included + FB items ours
Highest price sold: $62 (set of 3 new nut bowls, steady seller, paid $18 clearance)
Average price sold: $29
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 17 Ebay, 2 MercariNothing exciting but I did sell a few Christmas items immediately after listing them. Especially with seasonal, I’m pricing to move – slightly below competition instead of above like I used to. Also getting and accepting decent offers. I believe this helps with the regularity of sales in a small store, especially if you can’t get to listing. Was happy to get a couple of listing sessions this week. I have two bins of xmas and a few puppets left though that I hope to get to asap.
I’ve been very good about not shopping and focused on organizing inventory and listing. Feels right for me right now. Last week I did go through what I call the “Christmas throw up” and found a few craft kits. I love to do it when they first pull it out, but only made it to one store.
Hope you all have a great week on Ebay this week.
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12/03/2018 at 11:29 am #52585
You guys should enjoy the trip on the auto train. My parents live in Florida, and they’ve been using it for maybe five years. They love it. They used to make the drive several times a year, but they are getting older and the long drive is difficult. We are going to visit them in Florida next year, and we are planning to use it as well.
They live in an active adult community, and many of their friends will bring over stuff they don’t want. My parents then give it to me to sell. We’ll bring my minivan so that I can bring back as much stuff as possible. My dad was joking that they have so much stuff that I needed to bring an 18 wheeler. I told him I’d get right on that CDL. 🙂
My numbers:
Week of Nov 25 – Dec 1
* Total Items in Store: 1259 eBay, 11 Mercari
* Items Sold: 16 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $19.59 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $313.12
* Highest Price Sold: $62 Antique Gorham water pitcher
* Average Price Sold: $19.57
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 8Sales are definitely slow, and lower compared to last year same time, but so has been October and November. Not sure what is going on, but I’m trucking through it just the same.
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12/06/2018 at 8:57 pm #52836
I know what you mean, my family NEVER comes to visit without bringing me something to sell. 🙂
We also did the train from DE a few years back to FL with the kids and it was . . . well an experience!
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12/03/2018 at 1:09 pm #52588
Haven’t listen to the podcast yet, but will later today after work. For me, November was one of my better months, I ended up selling many items that had been listed for over a year or two.
Numbers for November, 2018
Total Listings: 946
Had 75 Sales for a total of $1463.97
Cost of Items Sold: $112.33
Highest Price Sold: $190 (free shipping) – 1955 Pistol Tournament Shell Trophy (cost $15)
Average Price Sold: $19.52 – Average Cost: $1.50
Spent on new inventory: $81.50
Number of items listed: 55
No international sales, no returnsI took a best offer on the trophy as it has been listed for almost 3 years and I was happy to see the big item gone from my storage. I was able to list more items this month but due to more sales, I’m further from my goal of 1000 listings.
Worth Point just published a short article about Quimper pottery, link here.
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12/03/2018 at 1:17 pm #52589
NOVEMBER total Sales:
Store: 1020$ales:
ebay: 136 items, $4211
Depop afer fees: 3 items, $73
Poshmark: 18 items, $520Sales Month November Total: $4804
As you can see – Posh averages about $100/week average for me. It basically covers my ebay Fees! 🙂 Which is fine frankly. It also helps move cash!
Highest November Sale: Victorian ephemera bundle: $120
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12/03/2018 at 1:31 pm #52590
Since other folks are reporting November numbers too.
November report:
Sales: CAD$4506, 41 items, COGS: $1127 –> Item profit: $2643
Expenditures: $960 –> After-tax cashflow: $2123
Hours: 29, $73/hr
Listed: $4085, 48 items
STR: 0.8%
After-tax cashflow was about 1/2 of my 9-to-5 net income. Full replacement being the long term target. Solid month, overall. -
12/03/2018 at 7:10 pm #52608
Week of 11/25-12/1
Total Items in Store: 2,706 (Up 59% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 116
Number of Items Sold: 101 (Up 10% YOY)
(Includes 5 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 1 TrueGether, 1 Poshmark)
Weekly STR: 16% (Down 7% YOY)Total Product Sales: $2,720 (Up 13% YOY)
Cost of Items Sold: $448
Cost of Labor: $100
Highest Item Sold: $80 – Ralph by Ralph Lauren Lambswool Sport Coat
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Troy wins the week (YEA!) and Veronica leads for the year 28-20 (I’m just playing for pride now!!!)Clothing
# Listed: 1,672
# Sold: 58
STR: 15%
ASP: $25.75Shoes
# Listed: 434
# Sold: 112
STR: 12%
ASP: $25.90Hard Goods
# Listed: 600
# Sold: 26
STR: 18%
ASP: $29.52Etsy
# Listed: 172
# Sold: 5
STR: 13%
ASP: $39.45Poshmark
# Listed: 100
# Sold: 1
STR: 4%
ASP: $23Finally back to the full time numbers. Was a better week than last week, and I can say that our November was slower than our October (November Sales of $10,611 vs $13,048) and slower than last November ($14,548). I know that we had less listing activity this month with me having two hunts and Veronica being down, so that may be part of it. But, I have been seeing a on the Seller Hub that the eBay Market is down YOY in the Shirts and Jeans categories. We also talked a few weeks ago where other sellers were seeing the same lower trend in many of their categories.
I thing Poshmark/Etsy/Mercari are taking a bite into the used/vintage markets, and I think that many clothing retailers are lowering their prices for new items to such an extent that people can buy new, and on Amazon, for so low, why would they buy used? I am looking to get out of some sections of the clothing market (shirts mostly) next year unless the ASP is higher, and we hope to replace that with some other items. Plus, I want to expand into more new items, as those get better $/hr and looking to buy in bulk.
Gotta look at how the market is and adapt a bit. Some things may come back, but having fresh roots is always a good idea. I’m always trying to put ourselves out of business, so that we can make changes when we need to.
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12/03/2018 at 10:41 pm #52617
T-Satt,
“I thing Poshmark/Etsy/Mercari are taking a bite into the used/vintage markets, and I think that many clothing retailers are lowering their prices for new items to such an extent that people can buy new, and on Amazon, for so low, why would they buy used?”
Troy, I think you may be on to something there. The business that those 3 sites are doing has to be taking away at least some from ebay. I don’t know if that is the whole reason, but now that you mention it, my clothing sales are down. That is why I am glad that I am very diversified. I haven’t been hit as hard as some sellers, but I am still feeling it too.
Mike: Do you know how long before Wonderlister releases their interface to Etsy?
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 8:20 am #52624
Hey Mark: I don’t have a good report on the WonderLister Etsy project.
They have not been repsonding to several inquires I have made for months now. The content of my inquires are how far along are you guys, when to expect, having any issues, can I help, should we expect this year or next and things like that. I have sent 4 or 4 emails but no response until last week.
It was short and mainly said things like, we have been spending project time on Ebay updates, issues and Ebay projected changes [whatever that may mean]. Then in response to the Etsy questions they said that according to new company policies they are not supposed to be discussing projects that in process with outside parties.
Of course I shot back a reply to the affect that I have been included in the loop in the past and have provided what I think was some valuable help and data with regards in the past and have gotten updates. I am unsure if it was maybe a new tech member or a weekend support member who didn’t know me. But it was disheartening.
Then I decided to unload a few more technical issues on them to work on. Especially a big problem I had discovered months back with regards to WL inability to handle certain search functions from User Created Folders and User Created Search and Sort Criteria. If a user creates a folder to contain certain data that is not part of the regular listing form in WL and then sets up rules for that custom field to be search, counted, sorted the folder and search crashes out. They replied yes, it has abeen a big problem for them and dig this, “in order to correct this issue, it would take a long time, a lot of manpower, and is a very complex, tedious and hard task to get it fixed and re-coded”. Well I get it, a big bug in your program will take a big effort to straighten out. And, so what.
Well have I have been trying to use those custome fields I created to track all of our Etsy listings and solds until they come out with the new Etsy extension. Well all of that data is now junked, no way for me to gather any Etsy data unless we go back and re-type our tracking codes into a different field-place. The only place I think is safe and can be sorted, counted and tracked is in the “NOTES” section. But I will have to use code words like, if it is listed on ETSY then type TRUE in the Note field. If it sells, then type in the word SOLD beside the word TRUE and on top of this manual hand work, there is no way to track the finacials in WL for Etsy, but I have all of that in Quicken.
Now on top of these things, in summary, custom fields that can’t be searched or tracked in folders properly, having to do a ton of hand entered data just to be able to keep track of what’s cross posted on Etsy and no internal WL financial data, we have decided as a team, Susan myself and our two assistants to make a big, move on our part. We can just no longer wait on WonderLister to get it’s act together, on top of telling us we are just an outside source and can’t give us any type of updates or timelines, wonky custom field issues and having to create work arounds to get done what we need to get done and then the BIG thought is what will be the bugs that will have to be worked out when WL does introduce the Etsy interface.
Given the amount of time, screen shots, pointing out problem areas to the WL team, we could have spent that time learning another competitor’s software program
So with several private email and phone call discussions with some friends and members here at ScavengerLife and despite some uphill battles of a transition, unless something big happens over the next few weeks, we are preparing for a transition to another program. We are hoping that 5 years worth of history can be saved and moved over somehow and are working on that. We have to figure out how to map that data into the new program. But even if not, we will just have to take the data lose so that we can move on and forward.
I know after all the posts I have made for the WonderLister program and team but the issues, bugs, and slow response to making what we feel are changes and improvements to their software, we are going to have to just transition, bite the bullit and move on to another listing platform.
We will probably be making a decision today at our production meeting and shortly doing the download of the trial version we have agreed on with the other company. We have gotten a 90 day period to get ourselves retrained, the new format customized to our liking and then making the switch permanent in Jan.-Feb. of 2019.
The new program does already have a working Etsy interface but I am informed with the amount of items we already have on Etsy and the new art items along with what we are going to be cross listing that our presence with them will have enough volume whereby we can help the new software team move forward with the improvements they are looking to make. So hopefully we will be of some influence at the new software company.
Sorry I don’t have better news for you, but we are cautiously optimistic about making the transition and getting better results in being cross posted on multiple channels and having to spend less time dealing with issues and corrections and debugging.
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
MDC Studios
SmartParts divs.-
12/04/2018 at 8:57 am #52628
Mike,
Thank you for the detailed reply. Not the news I was expecting, but it is what it is.
I still think that Wonder Lister is a good program, it is just that it appears that they have some issues on their side.
I don’t think I can make the transition to another program right now, so I will have to wait it out.
From what you have said, it appears that I may be lucky to get an Etsy interface from them by the end of 2019. Again, not what I wanted, but that is probably the reality.
I really think I could make as much as 10% on Etsy (of my gross ebay sales ). That is a good chunk of money, but will have to wait for now.
Thanks again for the update Mike.
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 9:53 am #52632
Sure thing buddy. The whole point I was making with WL was that I was so hoping that we would be up and running for the 4th quarter and have all of our Ebay store completely cross posted on Etsy so we could have those Sales. Now that hasn’t happened I just don’t want to risk waiting on them, then spending debugging time and possibly run out of time for next year. Missing a whole year is bad enough, much less a second year.
By using our manual method [one at a time copy and paste], we still have achived to list 346 items on Etsy and are seeing Sales from that number. And the nice thing is, Etsy sales are at full price. Our Ebay store has a 15% off sale running, a 6% prmoted listing promo and we take offers and most buyers don’t even see the Sale Discount, they just see the lower number and throw out offers of 15% to 25% more on top of that. But on Etsy we have $750 in Sales from Nov. to date. On Ebay, that would be less about 30% depending on offers or only about $525.
Mike at MDCGFA
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12/04/2018 at 10:00 am #52633
Mike,
Yes, I don’t want to miss out on the Etsy sales either. But I don’t want to do it manually because that will take away from my ebay time.
Can you tell me the cost of the new product that you are going to use? If the cost is not too high, it may be worth it for me to buy it and get on Esty and stop losing sales.
I hear what you are saying that you are getting full price on Etsy. My Ebay store has a 15% off sale running and a 5% prmoted listing promo which is very similar to yours.
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 10:25 am #52636
Sure thing. Guess I should have just come out and said it in the above posts but after talking with troy and Veronica and comparing our work processes which are very similiar we are going to go back to SixBit. Way back when I was using WL and SB BOTH side by side but eventually went with WL for a few reasons. One it was less costly, two they already had the Shopify about ready to go live and we were, at that time really thinking about having our own domain named store, free of the Ebay engine, and three that the Etsy interface was in the works.
Now I just don’t know where WL is with the Etsy interface, and since we are now declared as outside parties [LOL] and out of the loop we will just go back to SixBit, pay the difference and re-train using their videos, which are great by the way and settle back in with them.
As far as trying to keep the years of data we accumulated in WL, I think we should be able as Troy said, to export into an Excel CSV file and then see if the SixBit team can help us map that data to the SB fields and then import into SixBit. Hopefully we can save some of it.
As to the cost. WL is $25 per month, then the Shopify Store is $30 per month and then of course whenever they get the Etsy interface up and running, that will be another $30 +/- module cost so everything included, the WL cost is going to be approx. $85 when the new Etsy gets added in. SixBit has the Enterprise DUO pricing tier which includes 2 platforms “Ebay and in our case Etsy” for $100 per month. So $15 more per month, but it is up and running and working according to what Troy is saying. We will close down the Shopify store, we are just too old to spend the time and effort for building organic traffic from scratch and building up the volume of traffic needed to sustain repeat buyers to our “brand”. Ebay and Etsy already has the traffic.
Given the time we have had to spend working out issues on WL and not knowing when WL Etsy module is coming and how many hours we will have to spend working it out, we are just going to jump ship, retool, retrain and spend the extra $15 per month.
Plus the SixBit team does go to the Ebay Open Convention in Las Vegas and we can have direct access to the guys when they are there and hopefully meet up with Troy and Veronica also.
Hope this helps…
Mike at MDCGFA
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12/04/2018 at 10:54 am #52637
Mike,
Now I am thinking of keeping Wonderlister and adding Sixbit, but I didn’t know the high cost of Sixbit. However, if I can gross in the $750 range per month as you are doing on Etsy, it may be worth it.
I will have to consider this move. Please let me know how much effort is involved with syncing your ebay store with your Etsy store using Sixbit. Does Sixbit take care of the Etsy tags that everyone talks about?
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 11:13 am #52640
That is a question I have out to Troy and Veronica right now and they are probably the better ones to answer. I asked Troy just exactly what fields is SixBit filling in automatically vs. what will we be filling in manually. Knowing this will help us to determine about how much time is going to be required to fill in the missing fields.
But remember SixBit does automatic many other things and will track the Etsy Sales. Another question for Troy will be if SixBit will be interfacing with Ebay and marking those as deleted or no longer available or will we have to do that manually, which I don’t mind as long as I can get some sort of list that will show me the Etsy solds so I can end the Ebay listing quickly.
mike at MDCGFA
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12/04/2018 at 11:19 am #52642
Mike,
Yes, those are questions I also need answered. If there is too much manual work, it may not be worth it for me. I can handle some manual work, but if it starts to suck a lot of time, then it defeats the purpose.
Troy: Looking forward to your answers to these questions. Hopefully, you have the answers.
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 11:36 am #52643
Ok, when using SixBit to crosspost to Etsy:
There is a “Populate From” button to autopopulate the Etsy Listing with data from the eBay listing. This will bring over the Item title, Item Description (Mike-this is new! Veronica is very happy!), Price, and Shipping Options. As for manual inputs to the Etsy listing, you have to select Category, Attributes, Tags, and Materials. Make sure you have the shipping dimensions in the Etsy listing (Etsy requires LxWxH, and this will auto-populate if you have it in the eBay listing). Your product field you have to select who made it and when it was made.
Overall, Veronica still confirms that her time to cross post to Etsy is 2 minutes per listing on the outside. She is probably more like 1 minute, so a 1-2 minute average is fair.
The best part is the backend, where if one item sells on one platform, SixBit removes it from the other. So you don’t have to worry about a double sale, or constantly wondering if a sale on one platform has to be removed from the other. You can cover this manually with the Custom Label field (I do this for PoshMark listings), but mistakes can be made. We had one a few weeks ago (sold on eBay but not removed from Poshmark) and almost had another. I developed a process to double check, but with SixBit, we don’t have this issue with eBay/Etsy sales.
For us, well worth the $30/mo to add Etsy. We have $3,600 in Etsy sales this year, with $330 in extra charges for SixBit, and no stress on the backend accounting. Worth the investment.
With the sizes of Etsy Stores that you two (Mike and Mark) will have on Etsy, well worth it. We still haven’t crossed 200 Etsy listings yet (one goal for 2019), and it is worth the money. For the same investment, you guys can get 1000s of listings cross posted. 1-2 minutes per listing to cross post, but worth it.
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12/04/2018 at 11:45 am #52645
T-Satt\Mike,
Thanks for those answers Troy.
I have about 700 vintage listings in ebay, so that may be worth it.
What do you put for the “Tags” manual entry in Etsy?
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 12:00 pm #52647
Tags are like your Prime Keywords you want on your item. We also use these in Item Specifics in eBay.
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12/03/2018 at 7:23 pm #52611
I’m sorry for your slow week. But I have to admit that I was filled with a sense of utter relief when I saw your title. It’s not just me! Now we just have to put our heads together and figure out what’s going on. What’s changed? Two years ago I’d be shipping out 15-20 this week. Maybe more. I had a FB reminder picture come up. The picture showed the 7 items that I was shipping out in one day. And I had less than 250 items back then
Total store items: 455 Progress towards my J/R goal of 500
Number of items sold: 3
Total Ebay Sales: $88
Cost of items sold: $12
Highest price sold: $46 Ferragamo shoes that I bought for $6-7 last month
Average price sold: $29
Returns: 1
Money spent on new inventory: $4
Number of items listed this week: 15
Sell through rate for the week: Don’t know how to calculate -
12/03/2018 at 10:57 pm #52618
After a low October, November rebounded nicely. I did take a few more offers (or at least didn’t counter them as much) because I was hungry. But overall it seemed to work out.
November Monthly Numbers
68 sales (new record)
$ sold (minus shipping): $1653 (also a record; doesn’t count refunds, see below)
Per sale average: $24.31 (goal over $25, probably due to lower offers accepted)
cost per item average: $3.25 (typical for me)Items in store peak for month: 830
Returns/Refunds : 2. Someone bought some bowls and thought they were a different color. I only paid shipping one way for that one as they accepted fault. I relisted and really highlighted that these are beige, not white. Also a ceramic travel mug was delivered broken in Utah. Customer provided a photo, I refunded immediately and got positive feedback from them. Put a claim in with USPS, and got a letter stating that I needed to bring the package to a post office for inspection? Whaaa? I, uh, can’t do that, of course. I think the photo wasn’t enough because she didn’t take a picture of the box, just the broken item still in my bubble wrap. I’m guessing I’ll be denied, so lesson learned to ask for an additional picture. It was $18 so, I’m annoyed but not going to fight it. I’m 1 for 2 with Priority mail over the past two years.
Customer issues: One unpaid item on a $35 best offer for an Ugg Hat. After case was closed, I relisted and a few days later took a $30 best offer, so that was ok.
Sourcing: To busy to do much quality scavenging, but I hit a few thrift stores and tried to be very picky. Today, I put back a $5 item that would sell easily in a month for $20 because I’m trying to use my time wisely. Did find a bobblehead that is kinda rare for $4 that should sell for $70. I like those numbers better!
Did go to another auction I’ve been meaning to check out. Bought two lots (toys and military items), have listed some items but nothing has sold so far. This auction is kinda junky as a whole (but the people are sweet) so I’ll have to be careful here and not bring things home I can’t flip.
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12/04/2018 at 9:25 am #52631
Here is some imperical evidence (for my store at least) for a slow November 2018 that I got from Wonder Lister:
2017 November
Had 2079 listings
Sold 76 items for $2686.89 or an STR of 0.0365560365560366
ASP was 35.352018 November
Had 2572 listings,
Sold 85 items for $2902.35 or an STR of 0.0330482115085537
ASP was 34.15Base on November 2017, I should have grossed $3323.68 for November 2018 or 15% more. Plus now, I have most items on promoted listings, so I was expecting a boost from that. So this is not a good report for November 2018.
Mark S
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12/04/2018 at 11:40 am #52644
Mark: Yep, I agree.
This is why while we will stay with everything on eBay, we are looking to go where others are shopping as well. So women’s clothes are gettiing crossposted to Poshmark (and some high end mens clothes, but they don’t seem to move quickly there), vintage items also put on Etsy, and going to add Mercari to the mix soon. Grailed hasn’t really done much for me, and I probably don’t have the right items for it. I may still put some more listings there (since it has no listing fees), but it might fall by the wayside.
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12/05/2018 at 10:21 am #52699
Troy the Mens category on Poshmark is newer than the womans. When they first started they sold just womens and then added mens and childrens about five years later. I’m hoping the mens market will continue to grow.
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12/05/2018 at 11:36 am #52724
Funny timing…just sold a sports coat on Poshmark last night. Second men’s item that has sold there.
I know the STR will be slower there right now, as I’m working from the top down on value when crossposting. But so far so good.
I wish that Poshmark had an API so that SixBit could consider adding them to the program. But they don’t, so Poshmark will HAVE to be manually handled on the backend.
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12/05/2018 at 9:27 pm #52764
Ok, got good JuJu on Poshmark! Second men’s item sale in a row, and two days in a row.
Maybe it is worth it to keep men’s stuff there…
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12/04/2018 at 11:08 am #52639
Just chiming in. My main store is krauseinhiemer. My store has been auto excepting returns for the last 6 months. I also just wanted to say that when I first started a few years ago the holiday season was good for me but the last couple years my good part of the year is more during tax season. From January through April is way better for me then the Christmas season. My sales are down but still pumping along pretty good.
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12/05/2018 at 8:42 am #52687
Yeah, it seems eBay works differently for different sellers based on what they sell. It really isnt consistent for us.
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12/06/2018 at 1:51 pm #52816
Ebay started auto-accepting returns for me a few months ago as well – contrary to my settings. Yes, it’s annoying that they just issue the shipping label without giving me the option to tell the buyer to keep it or offer a partial refund. Mike’s RMA# solution sounds promising, but I wonder what happens when you eventually accept the return – I’m guessing ebay still doesn’t provide the option at that point to select “let the buyer keep the item” or “partial refund”, at least not for us sellers who don’t offer free returns. 😐
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12/04/2018 at 12:14 pm #52649
Gross Sales: $2,168.32 (Items actually PAID for: $1004.32 ….. yea that kind of thing is super frustrating. It would be pretty great if Ebay would so something to curb the none payment issue… maybe like an Ebay credit score or something for buyers. Personally I have gotten away from the best offer and will do pay now unless i have an auction — but like most people i am sure i go back and forth.
Looking forward to listening to the podcast as usual. My numbers are below. I have been offering free shipping somewhat which got me to taking a slightly different view of my weekly reporting. Hope everyone is having a good week and doing well with Holiday excitement and chaos!
11/25/18-12/1/18
Total items in store (beginning of week): 540
Items sold: 9
30 day sell through (rate): 7.35%
Gross Sales: $356.95
Cost Paid for Items sold: $19.69
Shipping Cost: $93.33
Ebay Fee’s: 32.23
Paypal Fees: 13.04
Total Costs: 158.29
Net Profit: 218.35
Profit % Rev: 61%
ROI: 1109%-
12/06/2018 at 8:49 am #52781
Geoff:Yes, I don’t normally sell using auctions, but I do fairly regularly sell some electronics on consignment for a friend. Selling electronics on auction on eBay, especially with auctions is notorious for nonpayment.
I wish eBay would implement a policy where if you had an item listed twice and the buyers did not pay that on the 3rd go around you could restrict bidders to people who have at least 5 feedbacks or some similar criteria. I understand that eBay doesn’t want to exclude new buyers from the platform, but if you’ve been unpaid twice for the same item there aught to be some leverage for the seller.-
12/09/2018 at 5:47 am #52936
I wish ebay would yank the money out of the buyers account. I suppose that too may discourage new buyers so i guess that’s why i am not in charge : )
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12/04/2018 at 12:45 pm #52652
Just heard at my Post Office a few minutes ago that the Post Office will be closed tomorrow on Wednesday 12/5/18 for a National Day of Mourning for George W. Bush. The Post Office lady said they always get the day off when a former President passes away. Someone at the Post Office then said, “Isn’t Carter like close to 95 also? Maybe he will die soon.”
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 12:46 pm #52653
That is George H W Bush.
Mark
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12/04/2018 at 3:47 pm #52662
Just popping in to share a quick update (if anyone even remembers me! Ha!) My responsibilities at work (I took a part-time job in our local school district last September) have really changed; last year, I worked from 7:30 to 1:45 and wasn’t responsible for much at work — so I still had a ton of time in my week to source, list, and sell items on eBay. This year, I’ve been made responsible for *way* more at the school (without any corresponding raise in pay or expansion of hours (which would mean benefits)) and my ability to source/list has been heavily curtailed (my schedule has shifted slightly, so I no longer have time to thrift before the kids get home) and the upshot is — I haven’t sourced anything good in a while and I haven’t sold anything in several weeks.
The good news is that I continue to find my work at the school really rewarding. Going back to school for more certifications is a possibility. But I really miss the excitement and flexibility of eBay.
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12/04/2018 at 4:16 pm #52666
hi Habnab – depending on where you live, have you tried sourcing on facebook or craigslist? I do have luck at thrift stores but find these other means even better anyway and it can leave plenty of flexibility schedule wise.
Glad to hear your gig is going well!
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12/05/2018 at 8:38 am #52683
I’m glad you stopped by to say hi. Happy that you’re job is going well. I know you enjoyed helping students so I hope they reward you with more money and benefits.
eBay (or some similar service) will always be here.
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12/05/2018 at 11:03 am #52708
J and R:
Love your peanut dispenser and I agree…it HAS to be in the office where your scale, tape, boxes, etc. are.Who likes the new label page that eBay has put on? I don’t like it and now I have to go through an extra step to click back to classic label. Does anyone know how to bypass the new screen and stay with the old one?
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12/05/2018 at 11:54 am #52726
Total Items in Store: 1907
Items Sold: 56
Total Sales: $1726
Highest Price Sold: $99 (Vintage Wall Paper)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0I was a bit late listening to the podcast this week but it was a good one. We had a great week, one of the best in a long time. I put my store on sale, 20% off all items. I did single out a few items and put them at 50% off, just trying to get rid of some stuff I have had for a while. I am still making money off of these items, just not my dream ROI.
We are continuing to sell some big furniture items on craigslist. I really dislike craigslist and having to deal with people in person, but it must be done. 🙂 -
12/05/2018 at 6:37 pm #52753
Weekly numbers 25 November – 1 December. I’ve converted from GBP to USD.
ETSY
Total items in store: 1091
Total sales $1,181
Total sold: 27 (15 UK, 8 USA, 3 Europe, 1 New Zealand)
Highest price sold: $241 Italic script typewriter (cost $13)
Average selling price: $43
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $50
New items listed: 28Another good week for us. Sales included two typewriters and another Art Deco mirror.
We also hit 1,000 sales in our Etsy store – a long time coming!Jealous of your peanut dispenser. We don’t even have a dedicated packing area set up – we end up making a mess of the kitchen most days with random packing materials. I’m always picking bits of sticky tape off our kitchen table. Hopefully we’ll be able to set something up in the new year.
Not much listing or buying going on for us at the moment. We have our Jan/Feb magazines to put together, which take a week or so of our time once every two months. After ten years, we have lost enthusiasm and would love to sell that business. Finding a buyer and settling on a price are also on the list for the new year…
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12/05/2018 at 7:25 pm #52755
11/25-12/01
Items in ebay store: 630
Items sold: 25
Sales: $1,159.90
COGs: $59.15Items in Poshmark: 251
Items sold: 5
Sales: $48.20
COGs: $4Items on Mercari: 590
Items sold: 0I had a great week on ebay, very pleased with the low COGs high sales. My store inventory is also down from about 700 at the beginning of November. The highest priced items on ebay were:
– USMC Dress Blues coat for $150, purchased for $3 in mid-Oct at thrift
– USMC Dress Blues coat for $75, purchased for $3 in mid-Oct at thrift
– 990 Silver Enameled Trinket Box for $337, purchased for $5 in early Nov at church sale
– Dollhouse construction materials for $98 (shingles, French doors, window-frames, etc). These were supposed to have been used by my father to build my dollhouse when I was small, but now I’m 42 so we let them go!It was a real joy for me this past week to use my ebay banking account to purchase Christmas gifts, not touching our family’s other income streams. I used only ebay profits this year to fund purchase of (2) OneWheels for myself and my husband, to be used as transportation when we lived on a sailboat next summer; I also just spent $5K of ebay profits to purchase about half of our sailboat’s batteries and navigation equipment. So essentially we’re using ebay money to refit a tiny house on the water for my husband, myself, and our 4-year old daughter. I love knowing a $5 silver box paid for the 10″ nav screen I wanted!
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12/06/2018 at 9:08 am #52784
ebay Christmas tissue paperOk, I just realized that I don’t really like this new ebay Christmas tissue paper. The blue and purple shades are ok, but that green is gross! I wish they would go back to all red like they had last year.
Any thoughts from others out there on this topic?
Mark S
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12/06/2018 at 12:44 pm #52803
Just transferred around 1000 listings from my second store into my main account using ink frog. Really excited about saving the 75 a month from my store subscription and not having to log in and out of two accounts. Thanks for the info.
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12/06/2018 at 8:53 pm #52835
November 25-Dec 1, 2018
Total Items in Store: 3,336
Items Sold: 162
Gross Sales: $2285.39
Cost of Items Sold: 0
Consignor Commission: $694.92
Highest Price Sold: $143.07 (copper sheeting)
Average Price Sold: $14.1
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 162One customer issue, shipped to a PO box and it is in the wrong post office.
Customer was having trouble reporting guaranteed delivery claim. We are working through it!This was a LOT of shipping, 162 items in a week. It took up quite a bit of time, but hopefully as we
increase the average sales price, this will alleviate some of the time committment for low value items.
I have committed to posting and reading here on the forum, but having trouble finding the time, as I am sure many of you are as well!
I find so many of your posts helpful and inspirational, I finally found my people 🙂-
12/07/2018 at 9:09 am #52864
Wow. You sold 162 items in a seven day period! That’s over 20 items a day. So was the $694.92 what you made since your selling for other people?
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12/07/2018 at 10:12 am #52873
I’m with Jay, great job and a ton of shipping!
Yeah, if you can get that ASP up, it is much more worth your time. When we have done some consignments in the past, we have had items we said we wouldn’t do since it was too low of a value and not worth our time. Now, we wouldn’t list for someone else unless it is $100 sales price item.
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12/10/2018 at 4:36 pm #53051
Yes that is smart! The magic number we found for consignment is over $50 and I would love to get there…
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12/10/2018 at 4:38 pm #53052
Yes, it was a lot…the $692 is what we paid our Consignors, I guess it would be equivalent to COGS for those of you scavenging.
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12/06/2018 at 10:54 pm #52840
I have been selling about 2 items / week on Depop. It’s a great place to unload cheap tee shirts, quirky fashion for low prices, and trending stuff (doc martens, etc). They have a “home” section too – so good for decor. I’ve sold a tapestry and pillow sham!
Poshmark just added a “Makeup” market. For those of you doing makeup, it may be beneficial to cross post select makeup/skincare to Posh (no perfume since no ground).t-Statt – Stay the course w/ mens on poshmark, it is a nice category with less competition. The dudes are coming slowly. Lots of younger college guys shop on it and wives for husbands, moms for sons. I have noticed. I think after holidays, people will have cash and will spend it!
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12/07/2018 at 10:13 am #52874
bcfo: Yeah, this week made it feel more worth it to list the men’s stuff. I also did our first Mercari listings today as well.
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12/07/2018 at 10:56 am #52880
bcfo (or others that sell on Poshmark): Is there a way to move the prepaid Poshmark labels to Landscape in Adobe? The ones we get are too long in portrait to use our adhesive labels.
We use the 8.5″x11″ adhesive labels for shipping, with the labels landscape on the label, so we get two labels per page. With the Poshmark labels being send portrait, they are more than half of the page, so we can’t use the labels and have to print on regular paper and tape them on.
Any solutions?
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12/09/2018 at 9:18 am #52938
T-Satt, for the Poshmark labels, I choose the printer setting “Print 2 to 1” on my printer. So the Poshmark label gets shrunk by 1/2 but will only show up on the one label instead of the whole page. My postal carrier has no problem with it; the scan code still works the same.
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12/09/2018 at 1:16 pm #52946
Thanks! I will give that a shot!
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