Home › Forums › Weekly Numbers › Scavenger Life Episode 393: Happy New Year and Returns Happen
- This topic has 69 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 2 months ago by Libby.
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01/06/2019 at 7:11 pm #54639
We are back from all our travels and holidays, ready to get down to business! We had 100 items to ship, several of which are high dollar clothing it
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 393: Happy New Year and Returns Happen] -
01/06/2019 at 8:22 pm #54643
Hi guys, so glad you had a great vacation, I think the first thing I’ll do if I get to go to New York is look on the streets for stuff. I do it in my neighborhood all the time.
I got one ding for a late item on George Bush’s funeral date. I did NOT want to call eBay so I messaged eBay for Business on FB because I had been told that they can sometimes help with stuff. This was my response:
“Thanks for your patience, Natalie! We’ve received reports that some sellers are still seeing this reflect on their Seller Dashboard and we are working to resolve it quickly.Would you mind providing the full name, email address, and zip code your account is registered under when you have a moment? Everything will be fixed for all sellers in bulk, however I’d like to include your account in our report to ensure that you are taken care of. ~Braden”
Spoiler alert! It’s not fixed.
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01/06/2019 at 9:57 pm #54654
I had 2 late deliveries on/around then as well that pushed me under TRS status – called and it was solved within 10 mins. I agree it’s annoying calling and with they had a better automated system, but it works.
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01/11/2019 at 1:00 am #54916
*Just an update to the non late tracking issue, it looks like ebay removed it as of today, 1/10/19. I never called in about it either. If anyone else is having an issue with this, I’d check your dashboard.
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01/12/2019 at 8:42 am #54969
Yeah. The announcement said there was no need to call and they would be removed by the Jan 20th evaluation.
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01/06/2019 at 8:58 pm #54648
Good Evening all, pretty cool to have a new podcast to listen to as I move into the garage for pack & ship. I’m ending old consignment accounts and having a bit of a fire sale, so more than the usual sales yet low cost and !BLAH! consignment! Changing up more things this year, and still thinking about goals and the proper processes to achieve them.
eBay store not too bad and consistent with last week, Etsy twice as healthy as last week.eBay store totommyto
Total store items: 642
Number of items sold: 10 (1 international)
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $415.00
Cost of items sold: $19
Consignment payouts $23
Highest price sold: $120 (part of BIG toy store buyout) – 1983 Remco rare obscure action figure
Average price sold: $41.50
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $28
Number of items listed this week: 3
Sell through rate for the week: 1.5Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 621
Number of items sold: 7 (0 international)
Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $160
Cost of items sold: $15.50
Consignment payouts: $0
Highest price sold: Several $30 – vintage Popeye and Olive Oyl dolls
Average price sold: $22.85
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $27
Number of items listed this week: 2
Sell through rate for the week: 1.2 -
01/06/2019 at 9:13 pm #54650
2018-12-30 – 2019-01-05
Total Items In Store: 2,620
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Items Sold: $60 ish
Total Sales: $645.27
Highest Price Sold: $46.50 (A lot of Make up)
Average Price Sold: $28.06
# Items Listed: 42
Money Spent on New Inventory: $143Gut Sales Report for the week: Decent week of sales. Just a bit low for January.
Challenge of the week: Try a new auction. Well, if you read my post, you know how that went. See my link below:
The auction from !@$#$!&* (Ryanne would have hated this one!)
Scavenge of the week: Vintage 1950’s Eagle Toys Limited Pro Hockey game. NOS 1987 Ford F Series Floor mats (2 sets) for a $1 (I got these at that new auction)! These are worth a bunch!
Mark S
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01/06/2019 at 9:40 pm #54652
Just finished listening and in reply to the one of the voicemails:
Instead of paying to intercept a USPS Priority mail package, would it make more sense and save more money just to tell the “buyer” to write ‘Return to Sender’ on the unopened package and not be out the $13.00?
The Happy Vagabonds
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01/06/2019 at 9:54 pm #54653
Week December 30, 2018 – January 5, 2019
Total Items in Store: 989
Items Sold: 37 (12 consignment)
Cost of Items Sold: $329 (21.6% of sales)
Total Sales: $1,523.94 ($270 consignment)
Highest Price Sold: $250 (1962 Barbie)
Average Price Sold: $41.19
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $315
Number of items listed this week: 28
Promoted listings test: 8 sales, $231.93 (51% of total sales), $11.52 fees (4.8% of sales)Awesome week of sales. Felt like my phone was cha-chinging off the hook. Sales coming in while I was packing other sales. Love it and maxing out as much as I can right now – I know the slow season is coming in just a handful of weeks.
Other than the Barbie above that sold at a high price, sold this Polaroid for $170 and a sealed Kiss album for $190. My mom’s consignment sales continue to be strong, hoping to knco all of that out soon to get them a check and help in their move/retirement.
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01/07/2019 at 8:33 am #54667
Brian, Nice!
Sealed KISS & ’62 Barbie, awesome sales!! -
01/07/2019 at 1:07 pm #54701
Nice work! I had the opposite kind of week, but happy to see not everyone did!
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01/07/2019 at 2:43 pm #54712
This is certainly not a “normal” week for me ($600-$800 was a normal week for me throughout 2018) and I don’t expect it to continue this way, but I’m certainly going to celebrate when it all comes together!
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01/06/2019 at 10:42 pm #54655
@ryanne, the reason you can’t set the unpaid item case to two days, is because it is being overridden by another setting which allows buyers to combine payments over multiple days of shopping. Most likely, you have the “allow combined shipping” option set to 3 days, which would mean since you are giving the buyer that option, you wouldn’t be able to open an unpaid item case until the 4th day.
To make these changes…
1. Hover over your name in the top left corner,
2. choose Account Settings from the drop down menu.
3. Select Site Preferences on the left menu.
4. Scroll half way down to the Shipping Preferences section,
5. Look for “Offer combined payments and shipping”
6. Select the “edit” link to the far right of that line item.
7. On the following screen select “Edit” under the Combined Payments Section
8. On the pop up screen uncheck the box allowing combined payments.Once you have unchecked the box, you should be able to navigate to the Unpaid item assistant and switch your preference to 2 days.
Hope that helps.
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01/07/2019 at 2:45 pm #54713
Awesome info and thanks for outlining so clearly for all of us. But doesn’t this open a new can of worms that people can’t request combined shipping on multiple items? Is there a workaround with that to keep/include both?
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Brian Treasures from Grandmas.
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01/08/2019 at 6:36 am #54752
Awesome info and thanks for outlining so clearly for all of us. But doesn’t this open a new can of worms that people can’t request combined shipping on multiple items? Is there a workaround with that to keep/include both?
No. Unfortunately we each have to decide whether we will press for payment sooner, or allow a longer shopping time. I think it best depends on what you sell. If you are in a niche you may sell multiple items more frequently, so you may want to let buyers shop for a few days. YMMV
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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01/09/2019 at 2:18 pm #54833
sorry for the delay in saying Thanks!!!
this solved the issue for me, i am able to have 2 days on the unpaid item assistant.
awesome!
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01/07/2019 at 2:43 am #54659
Week of 12/30/18-1/5/19
Total Items in Store: eBay 256, Poshmark 125 (all crosslisted from eBay)
Number of Items Listed: eBay 0, Poshmark 0
Number of Items Sold: 21 (eBay 18, Poshmark 3, etsy 0)
Total Sales: $274.26 (eBay $181.26 / Poshmark $93)
Average Sold Price: eBay $8.63 ouch! auctioned off a bunch of stuff I wanted to get rid of, Poshmark $31 (one sale was a bundle, love those bundles)
Cost of Items Sold: approx. $21
Highest Item Sold: $70 (St. John Couture blue velvet, floral, pencil skirt).Oof, too long of a break from listing, and my listed numbers are taking a nose dive, was at 500 on eBay during the summer, then just wasn’t consistent with listing at all… too much procrastination & rationalization. Didn’t crosspost to Poshmark this past week, and sales were almost non-existent toward the end of the week. Went over numbers more this past week, and since starting Poshmark in earnest, in September 2018, sales grew each month, and were even better than eBay in December, which was surprising & hopeful. Swapping days w/ a friend this week, my daughter will be with her Monday, her daughter will be with us on Wednesday. So Monday is for photographing my brains out, Tues-Thurs will be for listing my brains out & back to sourcing on Friday. I’m determined to do better w/ listing this year, my main resolution.
Thank you as always for the podcast!
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01/07/2019 at 8:26 am #54666
Had one very high sale item that also had a high cost (actually a loss) – kind of made both numbers look big.
12/30/18 – 1/5/18
Total items in store (beginning of week): 454
Items sold: 20
30 day sell through (rate): 19.39%
Gross Sales: $1,168.11
Cost Paid for Items sold: $569.41
Shipping Cost: $257.86
Ebay Fee’s: $98.34
Paypal Fees: $40.41
Total Costs: $966.02
Net Profit: $202.09Profit % Rev: 17%
ROI: 35% -
01/07/2019 at 8:46 am #54668
December 30, 2018 to January 5, 2019
Total Listings in Store: 3577
Items Sold: 79 orders for a total of 83 items.
Gross Sales: $5215.93
Highest Price Sold: $216 (Burberry Trench Coat)
Average Price Sold: $62.84
Returns: 4
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $168
Number of items listed this week: 25Scavenge of the week: Near Mint Zelli Crocodile Loafers.
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01/10/2019 at 1:49 am #54856
Another inspiring week! Always impressed by your ASP – which is the main difference between our stores as the number of listings and sales is about the same. Your ASP is just 2.5X mine!!
LDK
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01/07/2019 at 8:51 am #54669
Week of 12/30-01/05
Total Items in Store: 2,687 (Up 62% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 69
Number of Items Sold: 59 (Down 5% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 1 Poshmark, 0 Mercari)
Weekly STR: 9% (Down 7% YOY)Total Product Sales: $1,690 (Down 2% YOY)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: Down $84
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year – Up $42
Cost of Items Sold: $328
Cost of Labor: $80
Highest Item Sold: $61 – Ariat Black Leather Cowboy Western Boots
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 1-0.Clothing
# Listed: 1,677
# Sold: 44
STR: 11%
ASP: $27.05Shoes
# Listed: 453
# Sold: 12
STR: 11%
ASP: $32.89Hard Goods
# Listed: 557
# Sold: 2
STR: 2%
ASP: $34.97Etsy
# Listed: 154
# Sold: 1
STR: 3%
ASP: $39.90Poshmark
# Listed: 113
# Sold: 1
STR: 4%
ASP: $50Mercari
# Listed: 72
# Sold: 0
STR: 40%
ASP: $0
Loved the conversation on mortgages. Our family motto is “never get a 30 year mortgage”. I have told my boys that they WILL only get a 15 year mortgage on their house. Only a couple hundred more a month, and the savings is huge. I’m kicking myself for getting a 30 year mortgage when we purchased this house. If we had done the 15 year like I should have, it would be paid off right now.Also a good conversation on the amount of money invested in inventory. One of the strengths of your model is that you have little invested in your inventory and you are looking for large ROI items. Now, these items take longer to sell, but your cash requirements are low.
Always good to know what your strengths and weaknesses are in your business…-
01/07/2019 at 9:25 am #54675
I’m kicking myself for getting a 30 year mortgage when we purchased this house. If we had done the 15 year like I should have, it would be paid off right now.
Hopefully you didn’t do what we did. We mistakenly bought a knocker-downer that we thought was a fixer-upper with a 30 year mortgage and then put a ton of unexpected money into it for renovations/additions. Luckily we were able to get back a bunch of that unpaid interest by refinancing when the rates dropped, and we make extra monthly payments and yearly lump payments to catch back up. We are at the 13.5 Year mark, and I’m shooting to have it paid in 6 more years….if not sooner.
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01/07/2019 at 9:29 am #54678
Seam Store: Ouch!!!
No not that bad, but just mad I didn’t stick to my guns and take the 15 year…
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01/07/2019 at 2:49 pm #54715
Doesn’t a 30 year give you some flexibility with lower monthly payments in case you have lean months where a 15 year would have considerably higher monthly payments? And with the longer term, there’s always the opportunity to pay more each month as your budget allows (always putting anything above & beyond to the principle, not the interest).
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01/07/2019 at 8:44 pm #54738
Brian, that was my rational when I settled for a 25 year mortgage. I figure I could lean back on the lower mortgage payments for the first year or so while we’re still “house poor” and then start kicking up a few notches when I’m back on my feet.
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01/07/2019 at 8:51 pm #54739
Even if you have a 30 year mortgage you can turn it into a 15 year mortgage (or any length less than 30 years) by simply increasing your payment each month. The entire extra amount you pay goes toward principal, so the amount you pay in interest the next month is lower than it would have been otherwise. Just have to make sure your 30-year mortgage allows early payoff (not sure of the exact term). Every one of the several 30-year mortgages I had in my life had that option, so I get the impression it is standard.
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01/07/2019 at 10:53 pm #54746
All theoretical good points.
But first…VERY few people pay more than the normal monthly payment. This is the reason savings, 401(k), IRA, etc should be automatic. By having the 15 year requirement, you take willpower out of the equation.
Second, on a 30 year mortgage, you are still paying 2/3 interest and 1/3 principle to start. A 15 Year is the reverse.
And…you get a lower interest rate on a 15.
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01/08/2019 at 10:02 am #54765
We purposely kept taking out 30 year mortgages and continually refinanced as rates were on the decline. At ages 60 (me) and 66 (husband), we still have a huge mortgage. We could pay it off completely if we had to, but with a 3.625% interest rate, along with tax deduction for the interest, we’re better off having that money invested.
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01/08/2019 at 10:14 am #54767
I’ve taken the opposite approach – having debt keeps me up at night and I don’t trust investments or the stock market to perform when I need it to. I rather have my house paid off, and just have to worry about monthly bills as they arrive and invest the rest. Having my house paid off gives me a super secure feeling that nobody can take it away from me if I can’t pay a mortgage.
Having one house paid for, and a mortgage on a second property (that will be paid off completely when I sell my first house) even has the “debt monkey” on my back some days and worries me.
I know people have different comfort levels with debt, and I’m one of those who can’t handle owing money to someone or the bank.
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01/08/2019 at 10:40 am #54770
Yeah, paying off a mortgage is definitely a controversial topic in the personal finance world. In the most logical sense, you can make more investing the money at a higher interest rate.
But in the more human reality, most people dont invest the money and just spend it. Or it just feels better emotionally to have no debt at all.
We’re those people who would rather pay off our mortgages and be debt free, even if we may make more in Index Funds. Wall Street isnt really our place of confidence.
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01/08/2019 at 1:08 pm #54781
We also have a couple of guaranteed income sources (pension and annuity) that will pay our mandatory bills, including mortgage, so if the market tanks, there’s that.
While the experts are down on annuities due to high costs, when my husband was planning to retire, he felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep nights without having enough guaranteed income to keep a roof over our heads. The annuity costs are the premium he’s willing to pay for that peace of mind.
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01/08/2019 at 1:56 pm #54789
The annuity is worthwhile in my opinion – we’re also going to get one when we are your age (we’re in our mid-40’s) and we don’t have any children. It will give us a great peace of mind to know we have a guaranteed income until we are both deceased. If we don’t live long enough and the insurance/annuity company gets more money, so be it – it’s the gamble we’ll take and we’ll be dead anyways!
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01/08/2019 at 3:24 pm #54793
I think this is where the generational differences come into play. The idea of having a job with a pension is almost unheard of these days for current workers. Only government jobs still have pensions.
The reality of a safety net is smaller and smaller the younger people get.
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01/09/2019 at 9:00 pm #54848
Yep. Our decade made it under the wire with the pension. None of our kids will have them.
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01/08/2019 at 6:31 pm #54808
100% agree Jay. The only decent debt to take on personally is a mortgage for your home. I could somewhat stretch and say that CERTAIN student loan debt is acceptable (but I have to see the amount taken on and the jobs being obtained from that investment). All other personal debt (credit card, auto loans, etc.) should be avoided like the plague.
Good debt is that serviced by income producing assets. So any mortgage on your properties is paid back by the income they generate. If you can handle debt properly, then this is a great tool. If you can’t handle money and debt properly, then even these should be cash flowed and not financed.
The older I get, the better that I understand that finances, while they should be about MATH, are really about PERSONALITY. While the math would say to invest the payment differential between a 15 year and 30 year mortgage and you come out ahead, personalities just don’t do that.
If your personality is about security (no debt), then do that. If your personality is about managing risk, then do that. If your personality doesn’t have discipline…then avoid debt altogether.
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01/07/2019 at 8:59 am #54670
Ebay DED this week. Oh well.
Sales: CAD$417, 5 items, COGS: $70 –> Item profit: $264
Expenditures: $116 (rent mostly)
After-tax cashflow: $150
Hours: 6, $25/hr after tax
Listed: $200, 1 item
I only scavenged 1 item this week! It is a great big ball valve, weighs 34 kg, I got it for $10 and I think I can sell for $500 before the sun burns out.
Man, I am really striking out with inventory. Hopefully this week is better. Also need to scavenge a new dishwasher as ours crapped out. (Pretty sure the pump is toast… crummy old dishwasher anyway so I don’t want to fix.)
Flatware is great. It’s cheap, it stores easy, and it can sell for good money! I sold some Rogers Bros flatware this week for $100. -
01/07/2019 at 9:18 am #54673
First I want to emphasize how much I’ve enjoyed the last few weeks on the forum and last week’s Tsatt interview. So much info to remember. And I won’t remember it all so… I have a new (scavenged) Ebay notebook with tabs. In one tab I’ll note the podcast or forum that mentions specific info that I’ll need to revisit.
Major takeaway, conquer one thing first. Ok, so Ebaywise that one thing is going to be more consistent listing. Already started this morning. Kill the death piles!-
01/07/2019 at 9:28 am #54677
Marie: Glad you liked the discussion! I know that there are a lot of things to remember and understand with numbers. I’m thinking of having a breakdown time to discuss numbers in depth and why they matter. But if you ever have any questions or something you don’t understand, just hit me up at tsatterf@yahoo.com
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01/07/2019 at 9:26 am #54676
Part 2
Okay, I really don’t want to post my numbers, but it might be an encouragement to someone else.
My STR Sell through rate is 0
Items up for sale 440
Items sold 0
Highest item 0
You get the idea. Had extended shipping for part of the week. Company. And we now have my sweet mom back with us, she has Parkinson’s and Dementia. I pretty much do everything for her. It’s a privilege and also a fair amount of work. That being said, I still should be able to do some profitable Ebay work.-
01/07/2019 at 9:31 am #54680
Marie: No shame at all and I commend you for posting those numbers! I get weary of all the Highlight Reels that people post these days, especially on social media. Bad things happen too! Don’t worry, it will turn around!
And all the power in the world to you for being such a caregiver. That is such a tough job.
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01/07/2019 at 9:53 am #54683
Yeah no doubt. Don’t be afraid to “keep it real” here!
If you want you can share your store and some folks here can give you some feedback.It is definitely discouraging to go a week without a sale. When things are in a slump, I’ll sometimes go dig in my unlisted inventory and try to find an item to list that I know will see quickly.
Maybe accept an offer I normally wouldn’t.
Do some “gardening” of my listings.
Point is, as long as you keep learning improving and listing, slow sales is temporary.
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01/07/2019 at 2:54 pm #54718
First step to identifying any problems in your inventory/store/listings is writing it down and noticing if this is a seasonality trend or something else… like was the first week of the year last year also 0 sales (not sure when you opened your store)? If so, it can start to show a trend that you will be able to prepare for in the future. Also, if you’re comfortable, post a link to your store and I’m sure several of us will provide CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions – perhaps your photos are too dark, perhaps your descriptions are too short/too long, perhaps your prices aren’t in line with market trends, etc. 🙂
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Brian Treasures from Grandmas.
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01/07/2019 at 9:29 am #54679
Total Items in Store: 308 Ebay, about 45 Mercari
Items Sold: 9 Ebay, 0 Mercari
Gross Sales: $319
Cost of Items Sold: $93 + $44 shipping included
Highest Price Sold: $75 (new duvet cover, paid $45 two years ago – a dud)
Average Price Sold: $35
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0Enjoyed the podcast, especially the experiments review. I would add the 1% and other promoted listings %. I’m gambling with the 1% on Ebay not being sophisticated to effectively add functionality and reward higher trending rates, plus other sellers being resistant to using PL. I also starting using best offer in earnest and I think that has made a big difference. I see a little bump after making a sale that way. Together we can spot trends even if we don’t have any proof of how things actually work. So that’s valuable about this forum.
I’m thinking a lot these days about thinner margins and my next step is to get back to tackling piles. I need to finish listening to this Jason T. Smith video about the shipping rate changes. Though they are pretty small I don’t think I’ve been using regional rate boxes enough and I’m thinking about Pirate Ship so that I can manage costs a bit better with cubic shipping. I have a lot of lower dollar free shipping first class items in the 13 ounce range, and it sounds like that is going to be going up. By the way, if any of your numbers guys want to figure out for us what common size packages work for cubic shipping under the new rules that would be super. I’m lazy this way.
I spent time in the garage organizing my recycled packing material and boxes this weekend. I need to consolidate unlisted items a bit more and then take new photos of the piles. I’m not sure how apparent it will be in the photos but I definitely made progress in 2018. I’m also learning what I don’t like to list and what is longer tail. So, good experience but wish I hadn’t dug the hole so deep!
I also did a digital detox and I’m working on my time management. Scavenger life made the deep cut of course!
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01/07/2019 at 9:42 am #54682
Items in Store 1074
Items Sold 20
Total Sales $680.25
COGS $53.00
Total Profit $627.25
Average profit $31.36
Average sales price $34.01
New Listings 55Saturday I set a fire under my butt and did some serious listing. I bought a lot of 18 new in box Transformers action figure sets and got them all listed immediately as well. I had to do it quick before my son saw them. Lol! I paid $100 and should net $400 profit. Very quick and easy to list via UPC. Just another pipeline added to the business that will pay me over the next year or two.
I’m not sure what my goals are this year. With a new baby due in April my energies are more focused on my wife and helping her feel comfortable and ensuring she STAYS pregnant until April. It is frustrating to still be stuffing ebay into the random cracks of my life but I make it work. And honestly, who wouldn’t want to make $500+ a week just using the spare minutes throughout the week?
At work we finally finished the relocation of the engineering department to another building – complete with all new cubicles. I was working out of boxes and on folding tables for a few months which made it difficult to do ebay during my breaks and lunches. Now I have a bigger cubicle with more desk space so I have brought in my collapsible photo cube and will be doing more ebay at work. My boss doesn’t have a problem with it, which is nice.
So I guess my only two 2019 goals so far are to do more ebay at work and to stop treating my car as death pile storage. Keep on swimming!
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01/07/2019 at 10:48 am #54692
2018-12-31 – 2019-01-06
Total Items In Store: 9557
Items Sold: 28
Cost of Items Sold: approx $50
Total Sales: $398
Highest Price Sold: $39.98 (Beocom 4 Bang and Olufsen phone in untested condition)
Average Price Sold: $14.21
# Items Listed: 26 at a listed price of 4770 $ total.
Money Spent on New Inventory: $120Terrible week saleswise, slowest week since July 2018. It is what it is, I guess… Still awaiting my franking machine, should arrive next week. Looking forward to that as the prices of stamps here in Denmark has gone significantly up as of 1st of january 2019. With the franking machine I will get a discount of 20% on all stamps.
The journey continues into sourcing more expensive stock, really difficult to find new niches with profits in – steep learning curve for sure. Bought a small collection of some old diecast toys (Krolyn) that should do well, as soon as they arrive in the mail they will get on eBay ASAP.
Bought of a collection of old antique sheet music from an elderly couple, I have no clue which ones are worth anything – needs more research. Bought a small private collection of original photos from WW2 in Denmark, an area that interests me a lot – that’ll be fun to list!My freelance photographer should return next week with 800 items all photographed and ready to list, that´s almost the last of my infamous death piles. Really great to get rid of those and get all that stuff listed – never ever death piles again!
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01/07/2019 at 11:10 am #54693
Total items in store: 10,180
Items sold: 44
Sales $: $722
COGS: $64
Highest Price Sold: $100 – Book
ASP: $16.41
New items listed: 120 (118 main Ebay store, 2 on Poshmark).Additional Sales not included in above (other than new items listed):
2nd Ebay Store – 0 (190 items currently active) (haven’t listed in a few weeks!)
Poshmark – 1 for $22 (2 items currently active). Sold within an hour of listing! Accepted an offer. My first Poshmark sale! 😀
Etsy – 1 (23 items currently active)Looking at my numbers from the 1st week of January last year, numbers and sales $ are currently up for the year. The first week of the year seems to be slow overall for Ebay. I noticed that most sales occurred starting the 2nd week of January for my main store last year. I’ve already had 3 orders in the main ebay store this morning, so hopefully the post-holiday buying season has begun!
30 items listed in the main ebay store were backlog items. Another 20 items came from an estate sale I hit this weekend. Still have a ton to list from that sale – should keep me busy over the next few weeks, in addition to the backlog AND catching up with newer items sourced over the past few months.
I currently have a bin of clean clothes set aside to list on Poshmark. Very pleased that I already had a sale! I shipped it and received 5 * feedback, yay! I’m a dork and included some related ephemera to the shirt sold, which the customer left a positive feedback comment about. Yay!
Once I’m done listing through my current bin of clothes, I’ll watch that new Marie Kondo show on Netflix and do another clean through of my clothes. I’m currently just listing through clothes I already own and don’t wear any longer. If this goes well, I’ll eventually start sourcing certain clothes out in the wild to add to my closet. I’m not rushing it. I’d rather just currently make $ on what I already own and is taking up space.
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01/07/2019 at 1:28 pm #54704
Marie Kondo show is AWESOME!
Oh me, I don’t care either way. But my wife and daughter watched a few episodes and then stopped to go into the kitchen and completely clean out the spice cabinets and organize them. They did an excellent job and were very quick with it.
A show that motivates my family to clean/reduce/organize spontaneously? YES PLEASE!!!
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01/07/2019 at 3:59 pm #54721
I can’t wait to watch it! I saw it last night in my suggested watch list. Glad to hear it is getting results!
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01/07/2019 at 1:31 pm #54705
I did feel vindicated by her methods though. I’ve been preaching the “make a pile” method of cleaning for years. It is by far the most efficient way of dealing with messes. I couldn’t get anyone else in my house to buy in even though I’ve demonstrated how effective it is over and over.
All the sudden a tiny Japanese woman tells them to do it and they buy in instantly? Hey…whatever works. I’ll take it.
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01/07/2019 at 12:47 pm #54697
Can’t wait to hear the podcast (I do a two hour drive every Monday late afternoon and listen). But figured I would throw my numbers up in the meantime! It is a good reminder that I need to get back on track!!!!
Dec 30 -Jan 5, 2019Total Items in Store: 3512
Items Sold: 79
Gross Sales: $947.01
Consignor Commission (COGS): $268.30 (28.3%)
Highest Price Sold: $66.11 (antique gillette razor)
Average Price Sold: $11.99
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 79Pretty uneventful week, slow and steady, missed my goal of 1k by $53
but I did spend time with family and forced myself to relax a bit. -
01/07/2019 at 12:50 pm #54698
Hi All!
Started the Konmari method on my own personal house and I expect many to do the same. The thrifts will be bursting this Spring I think.I am listing $500 / day as my goal since early December. In spite of this, a crap start to 2019 for me 🙂
This week S U C K E D across ebay, posh, and mercari.
1/1-6
items in store: 1050
Sold: 22, $623
Returns: 1 (wrong color/ customer change mind)
1 Local Facebook sale (wicker chair): $100
Mercari: 2 sales, $50
Poshmark: 2 items, $42 after fees
Depop, 1 item, $36
Grand total acrossl: $851SO, in this case I would say having the other 4 platforms did help bridge the gap this week for painful sales on ebay.
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01/07/2019 at 1:15 pm #54702
Week of Dec 30 – Jan 5
* Total Items in Store: 1312 eBay, 10 Mercari
* Items Sold: 10 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $8.86 + $2.50 Commission
* Total Sales: $211.55
* Highest Price Sold: $40 Nonworking 1956 Webcore portable record player
* Average Price Sold: $21.15
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 25Talking about selling non-working electronics, my highest sale was a Webcore record player from the 50s. I plugged it in and heard just a hum (after it warmed up). I did a little research to see how difficult it would be to fix (Steve Shultz makes it seem easy), and it was just too much time and effort. Then, I looked at how to ship it (Steve Shultz makes it seem difficult), so I listed it as local pickup only.
On Saturday, I received a $40 offer on a $49 asking price, which I accepted immediately. The buyer immediately paid and requested a pickup on Sunday. Couldn’t ask for a better buyer. I met the guy in a strip mall parking lot. He bought and fixed his first one as a kid (with help from his father) and has been doing it ever since as a hobby. The ones he has bought online usually have cracks in the case and sometimes broken tubes because it wasn’t packed properly. He was thrilled to find someone locally where he could pick it up.
So, this was a case of finding the right buyer for the item. Really worked out nicely.
In other news, my sales sucked last week. However, I sold 4 things Sun – Wed, nothing Thurs or Fri, and then 6 items on Saturday. Maybe a turnaround?
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01/07/2019 at 1:45 pm #54707
Numbers for December, 2018
Total Listings: 956
Had 55 Sales for a total of $1138.20
Cost of Items Sold: $104.40
Highest Price Sold: $70 (Folio Society Book) – cost $2 – (Solds – High to Low)
Average Price Sold: $20.69 – Average Cost: $1.89
Spent on new inventory: $836
Number of items listed: 54
No returns, 4 GSP, Sweden, France, Netherlands and South KoreaFolio Society Books are a bolo I didn’t know about before, but are on my thriftdar now. Many of them go in the hundreds and a few of the sets are in the thousands.
My new inventory was very high this month, mainly due to a monthly warehouse estate sale on half off day. $144 of it was for Polaroid cameras and accessories that came with a large lot of different types of Polaroid film. Most of the rest was for a very large lot of vintage Marklin Train cars and accessories still in their original boxes.
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01/07/2019 at 1:55 pm #54708
Listening to the podcast now. In the past year or so, I’ve started taking any “reasonable” offers on items, especially if they have been sitting for awhile in my inventory. At this point, I feel like I’d rather “take the money!” than just sit and wait for maybe a better price…in a few years? I don’t know. I especially do this if an item has been sitting for 2 or more years.
I think it does definitely help to have low costs already into the items. If I spent a lot on the item, I would still expect a higher price for it. I counter or hold off longer for items like this. However, if the item only cost $1 or less and the offer is good with a good profit on it, I’ll take it. I may not necessarily get the high price I thought I would get for it, but it’s money to roll into either other inventory, projects or savings that I would not have had had I continued to sit on the item. It also frees space for new stock to go into. Win win.
However, I feel this method works if you have a large backlog of items waiting to be listed. Like you both said on the podcast, there is the worry that items would be quickly depleted and then you would be left with an unsustainable inventory that would have to be quickly replaced. I take these offers now because I have similar items already waiting to replace these items that have sold. If I did not have a large backlog of items, I would probably be more hesitant to sell for lower prices.
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01/07/2019 at 2:49 pm #54716
My Store Week Dec 30, 2018 – Jan 5, 2019
Total Items in Store: 1090
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales: $161.73 (2 International)
Cost of Items Sold: $11.11
Highest Price Sold: $39.99 (Mary Engelbreit Felt Snowman Family Embroidery Kit)
Average Price Sold: $17.97
STR: 3.5%
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $107.67
Number of items listed this week: 24It was truly a disappointing week, sales wise – despite getting back into the listing groove… and we all got sick 2 days ago – stomach bug, yuck.. here’s to a better next week… We had a fun Christmas break at home – I was able to get some good sourcing in and have a lot to list over the next few weeks. Happy Selling to all!
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01/07/2019 at 4:08 pm #54722
Wanted to weigh in on the delayed shipment requests. Sorry if this was addressed earlier, I am reading my way back. I had three buyers request delayed shipping over the holidays (total of 13 items). I tried the method of marking as payment not received. It no longer works.
So I called ebay…my least favorite thing to do. I was pleasantly surprised at the great service. She told me to please make sure the buyer requested in messages, and then call back when it showed in the late shipment report. I was skeptical to say the very least. She promised me it was the right way to do it. I called back for the first one, no problem, they removed it. They also took care of the day of mourning problems. Called back when the next 11 items showed up, again they removed, no problem! I am still waiting on my third order to show up on the report to call again. But it worked, and I just want to share. So moral of the story is, if you have buyer request delayed shipment, just make sure it is in ebay messages, and ship when buyer asks. Ebay will remove any late marks.-
01/20/2019 at 4:27 pm #55457
Hi Libby,
Thanks for sharing your experience.. you are right.. this didn’t work!! Argh.. I’m a little embarrassed… as it appeared to work on my end (the “Please ship within 24 hours” status disappeared and all seemed well for a while…) but my latest seller dashboard Performance report (today) just popped up with a defect for late shipment and another defect for tracking uploaded late for this transaction. That was a bummer! I took your advice and I also called ebay just now and they were very cooperative in removing the late shipping defect (easy), but then I had to be transferred to the “internet department” for the tracking uploaded late defect (the rep told me this is handled in a separate department) and they “set my expectation” that the new department would have to make a final decision based on the information they were passing along (ie: this 2nd defect may or may not be removed) and that I would find out at the next evaluation next month. Total time on the phone: 9 minutes… Oh well.. hopefully they will remove that one too.. I’ll keep my eye on it and follow up 🙂
Thanks,
Sharon-
01/21/2019 at 2:38 pm #55521
Thank you for that response! I never thought to look at my tracking uploaded late (why I have no clue) but all of mine are still on there. Looks like they didn’t remove that part. Now I will be calling too, I never would have looked if you hadn’t provided that information. Thank you so much!
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01/07/2019 at 5:26 pm #54729
Swallowing my pride and posting my store. I am going through and pulling a few crazy listings. I have no wish to spend time packing glassware that I’ve only made $2 on. On the other hand the UF NWT hat that nobody wants will stay and go lower, because it’s easy to ship and store. Thanks for any imput.
I have one item that will sell for 1-2000. It’s heavy and clumsy, but I thought I might need a jump start. I often run into a dry spot about mid January. But this time my last sale was Dec 26. Didn’t get any of the shop after Christmas crew.
One concern that I have no control over is Ebay’s numbers. I noticed that casual shoes were down 2.9% from Ebay’s of a year ago.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Marie in Florida.
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01/07/2019 at 5:30 pm #54730
https://www.ebay.com/sch/mariels8i9q/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
Think I posted the wrong thing before.
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01/08/2019 at 4:09 pm #54797
Marie, looking over your listings I don’t see any glaring issues. If anything, I think you could work on improving your photos, in general. I noticed that for many of your items, the main listing photo only depicts a part of the item. As a buyer I prefer to see the entire item framed in the main photo so I don’t have to stop and examine further if I’m scrolling through search results. Especially when you’re using numerous key words in your title (generally a good thing, I think) making it sometimes a bit unclear as to what exactly it is you are selling. Sometimes some of your other photos are out of focus and sometimes you don’t have a photo of the entire item at all in the listing. Sometimes you don’t really have good photos of all angles and parts of the item which is important for picky collector buyers. There is a Photography forum here with lots of good advice if you’re interested but thinking about the composition of the photos to best show the overall item and then all detail is the main thing.
But I would also offer that a store like yours (and mine, for that matter) with miscellaneous antiques, collectibles, clothing and accessories all on BIN with aggressive pricing (aka the “Ryanne & Jay Patented Long Tail Store” format, LOL) will definitely have slow periods, and the smaller the store, a slow period can mean no sales at all for days. I was very slow before Christmas and picked up afterwards. It happens and is random. I see you’re putting things on sale but you could also add Best Offer to your listings to generate some interest, or pick out a few of your items that have many watchers and views and send them to auction with a low starting price to get you over the hump. And keep on listing, taking the opportunity to grow the inventory. Hang in there!
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01/08/2019 at 4:27 pm #54798
No sales since 12/30. I would be going nuts! You appear to have some good items with good pricing. The thing that jumps out at me is the photography.
One thing I’ve always felt set my shoe sales apart are my photos. I stick to a fairly rigid style for my shoe photos. I always ask top dollar for all my shoes and I do very well. I’m always looking at the photography of other sellers who get high dollar for used shoes. Your shoe photos are kind of all over the place. Different angles, random poses, not centered, different backgrounds, corners of a room in the background that is offset and shot at odd angles in relation to the item and the camera orientation.
Maybe it is personal preference, but I am not a fan of your choice of main photos for your items. They are offcenter, angled, and zoomed in on a portion of the item. These are traits I associate with lower priced items from amateur sellers.
I went through some of your items and it seems you always have a an “overall” photo that shows the whole item and is centered/straight. I’d recommend you use these photos for your items main photo. There is a reason why retailers show the whole item in their main photos. Do what they do!
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01/07/2019 at 7:53 pm #54733
Dec 30 – Jan 5
Total Items in Store: 1999
Items Sold: 38
Total Sales : $1184
* above yearly average of $904
* above 2017 total week sales of $1053
Highest Price: $300 (Pair of Katadyn Outdoor Pocket Water Filters)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $102
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $3
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 74Happy New Years, everyone! I had a good week of sales, even with a couple sleeper days. I went through my 1-year-or-older inventory and lowered some prices by $5 or $10 and things started flying off the racks. I’m wondering if eBay notifies the watchers of items when the price gets lowered. I couldn’t be more thrilled anyways. I love it when old inventory sells.
So I succeeded in making my inventory goal for 2018. I finished out the year with over 2000 listings. It was tough toward the end as some weeks more items were selling than I was listing. But I persevered and made it with 2002 listings. I missed my other goal of making $40K net profit, though. I was way too optimistic at the start of the year. But my $32,240 net (pre tax) isn’t too bad either. I’m going to try again this year for $40K. Wish me luck!
Not much in the way of scavenging this week. But we did almost buy a van. We’re looking for something that we can take to auctions. My little Civic just isn’t cuttin it. And Steph drives a Beetle so that’s way out. I’m tired of having to be so mindful of quantity when box lots are selling for so little. Unfortunately, that van didn’t pan out. Too many issues for the price.
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01/08/2019 at 9:19 am #54759
Total Items in Store: 2665
Items Sold: 30
Cost of Items Sold: $24.75
Total Sales: $1081
Highest Price Sold: $119 (Vtg radio tot wagon)
Average Price Sold: $36
Returns: 3
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $25
Number of items listed this week: 32 -
01/08/2019 at 10:45 am #54772
@Doubly – well done with your goals! I love that your $ goal and my actual numbers were closely aligned — you while working a FT other job, and me while this mostly was my FT job! Ha! This is not to deter you from making this your FT job; I know we’d do very different takes on it all. Let’s call it my “FT” job to be more accurate. I have some other income streams, as well as a voracious need to read and work in the yard… It all just made me laugh. 🙂 Also, have you looked into used vans with rental car places like Enterprise? Some of them sell off old vehicle inventory. It wouldn’t necessarily ensure a better vehicle, but at least a new stream to look into.
Looking back at my numbers and sales the last 2 years, 4th quarter is usually strong (which it really wasn’t in 2018), but moreso the first 4 months of the year have been historically good. This year is suggesting that trend will continue – fingers crossed! Still moving some early inventory at lower prices (fine), as well as newer inventory at the more attractive prices. Last week was ok, but since Sunday sales have been very strong, so looking forward to reporting #s next week. No expectations, though! I know better at this point, and will just keep on keeping on.
12/30/18 – 011/05/18
Total Items In Store: 966
Items Sold: 28
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs [shipping and fees]): $735.32
Highest Price Sold: $125 – vintage Made in USA Converse Chuck Taylors
Average Price Sold: $26.26
Cost of Items Sold: $48.85
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $57
Number of Items listed this week: ~44 -
01/08/2019 at 4:58 pm #54801
@Marie in Florida – ditto what others are saying: good items, competitively high prices, but the photos stood out to me as well.
I like to see a good establishing shot of the entire item as the first photo. When possible, I use up the entire 12 photo allowance. For shoes, I use a regular rotation of shots that are the same from listing to listing (not that I sell a lot of shoes…oy).
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01/09/2019 at 4:54 pm #54838
December 30 – January 5, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,488
Items Sold: 23
Gross Sales: $629.27
Cost of Items Sold: $47.20
Highest Price Sold: $75.00 (vintage lamp bases)
Average Price Sold: $27.36
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $58.58
Number of items listed this week: 23Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 607
Items Sold: 3
Gross Sales: $32.97
Cost of Items Sold: $0.75
Highest Price Sold: $16.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $10.99
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0.50
Number of items listed this week: 0Amazon.ca sales: (CAD) $213.00 (Approx $53.25 net profit)
Amazon.com sales: $616.00 (Approx $154.00 net profit)Happy New Year all! I’ve been a bit scarce around her as of late. We were on Canada’s east coast for two weeks over the holidays, and then in the Rocky Mountains for new years. The end of our trip had us hit five provinces in six days. It’s nice to finally be home, and working again.
As a result of our holiday travel, listing numbers were WAY down. Fortunately, even with extended handling time, we did alright sales-wise.
I am unofficially done with my day job. I won’t be officially done until late February, but I’m running out the clock with some time off. Working my butt off to get our stores ramped up, and to pad out my Amazon sales in anticipation for when the career pay stops coming in, and for when we make our move east at the end of May.
While we were back east, we saw a few houses, talked to a few home builders, and looked at some land. Not sure if we’re going to build or buy yet, but exploring all of the options. Most excitingly, and ebay related, I’ve been starting to shop prices on building an office/warehouse/storage building. Looking at stick built, steel, etc. If we end up buying a property that requires us to build an ebay building, the plan is to have it fully self-contained (minus plumbing). Heated/insulated, with dedicated areas for storage, listing, photographing, and packing. In a perfect world, it would also have a roll up door so that I could pull my truck in for loading/unloading purposes, but that might be asking too much.
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01/10/2019 at 10:03 pm #54911
I’m on the last week sucked band wagon. I am NOT posting my numbers because they are beyond pathetic. I had more days without sales than with. It was also the week of the cancelled offer. It felt like I had at least one everyday. So far this week has been better, but still nothing to brag about yet. It particularly sucks because it’s tax month on top of poor sales. I’m going to consider last week an anomaly and hope things pick up as this week rolls onward. I still think things are going to pick up, there’s just a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now and people are probably being cautious .
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01/12/2019 at 11:11 pm #55006
Thanks to all of you that took the time to look over my store. Consensus was to improve photography. I will be looking up the photography thread in this forum. Also, last week I agreed to buy my daughter’s Iphone for more than the Apple buyback could give her. It takes nicer pictures. Finally several people commented on having the whole item in the lead picture, something that I had never thought important. Since I like details, I had emphasized cool details in many listings. Also I was under the illusion that buyers would only see the very small picture that I see when I look up my listings. Actually they can see a bigger, more detailed listing. Since changing some of my listings from detail first pic to whole item first pic, I suddenly heard a caching. It was an item that I had changed that day. Thanks
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01/15/2019 at 12:17 pm #55186
Wooo!!! Congrats on things starting to sell! Not sure if it’s a coincidence or actually based on your changes, but it sure does feel good when an item that you just revised sells.
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