Home › Forums › Weekly Numbers › Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay
- This topic has 164 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 2 months ago by Jay.
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02/11/2019 at 9:28 am #56715
Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week Feb 3-9, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8146 Items Sold: 58 Gross Sales: $2,627.59 Cost of Ite
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay] -
02/11/2019 at 9:35 am #56718
Sl
02/03/19 – 02/09/19Items In Store: 2,697
Items Sold: 18 -eBay 16 + 2 on Bonanza
Cost of Items Sold: $80
Total Sales: $1000
HIghest Price Sold: $150 (Vintage Walt Whitman book)
Average price $55.55
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $46
Items listed: about 35Gut sales report
What a great week. It felt like all the buyers were buying my largest items. Lots of big packages going out. Things really started to take off after I went on a listing spree on Friday.Challenge of the week
Trying to get my items for the Spring rush ready – golf clubs and men’s suits. I have a lot of both.Mark S
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02/11/2019 at 9:43 am #56719
Haven’t listened yet, but will latter this morning!
February 2-9, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,601
Items Sold: 28
Gross Sales: $1,075.41
Cost of Items Sold: $139.60
Highest Price Sold: $75.00 (headphones)
Average Price Sold: $38.41
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $95.15
Number of items listed this week: 57Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 739
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $354.81
Cost of Items Sold: $17.00
Highest Price Sold: $29.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $17.74
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 56Amazon.ca sales: $954.00 (CAD) (Approx $238.50 net profit)
Amazon.com sales: $1,269.00 (Approx $317.25 net profit)Gut sales check: The week felt slow-ish to me, but I was pleasantly surprised when I ran the numbers. Managed to crack $1,000 on the main store which is great. The second store was selling really well, and amazon pulled its weight.
I set a lofty listing goal for the month, and have been aiming for 20+ new listings per weekday, with a few extras on the weekends. I managed 113 for the week (I didn’t list at all on Sunday or Monday; travelling) so I’m content with that. It’s been frigid here (as low as -38c last week) so staying inside and listing has been welcome most days. Pushing hard to get more items up as we’ll be travelling to El Salvador for two weeks starting in early March.
Hope everyone else had a decent week!
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02/11/2019 at 10:02 am #56720
What do you think of your Amazon experiment?
–Does it make sense to spend $900 to make $300? (that $ nothing to sneeze at, but that’s a lot of money to have tied up)
–Do items sell fast??
–Have you had any issues with buying in bulk and then the items not sell the way you expected?- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Jay.
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02/11/2019 at 10:36 am #56725
I’m surprised people can still find items to do Retail Arbitrage with in any consistent volume. Even though I quit selling on amazon, I’m always on the lookout for arbitrage to sell on ebay. I do still check amazon to see how it would fare over there, but I always stick with ebay.
There just doesn’t seem to be as much arbitrage inventory out there as there used to be.
I’m also heavily restricted on amazon. Toys and other items they used to let me sell are all restricted now. Boooo!
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02/11/2019 at 10:21 am #56723
2/3/19 – 2/9/19 (note – I do not cross list across platforms, items are unique)
Etsy nosedive, eBay quiet, some cool little sales however with very minimal COGS, so no doomsday bells. Going to pack some decent sales from yesterday with the podcast keeping company!
Thanks again!eBay store totommyto
Total store items: 581
Number of items sold: 7 (one International)
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $245
Cost of items sold: $5
Consignment payouts $5
Highest price sold: $75 (0 COGS – a few cents, negligible) – Madballs vintage toy
Average price sold: $35
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 5
Sell through rate for the week: 1.2Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 619
Number of items sold: 5
Total Etsy sales ( not counting s/h): $80.50
Cost of items sold: $9
Consignment payouts: 0
Highest price sold: $20 – Vintage Tape Rule
Average price sold: $16.10
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of items listed this week: 4
Sell through rate for the week: 0.8 -
02/11/2019 at 10:31 am #56724
Items in Store 1075
Items Sold 26
Total Sales $821.00
COGS $79.00
Total Profit $742.00
Average profit $28.54
Average sales price $31.58
New Listings 13A solid week without much listing. My oldest turned 12 this week so we spent the weekend spoiling her instead of doing ebay.
A good solid week even without much listing. I do have 24 drafts finished just awaiting pictures. I just didn’t have time to do that part, so I should be able to do easily have 50 listings this week.
Yesterday I did my weekly trip to the “Gucci goodwill”. I only bought 3 items, but as I was checking out a worker was setting up a display of used designer cologne bottles at the other end of the counter. My interest was piqued, so after checkout I took a look. Much of it was run of the mill stuff but after research I picked out 3 fairly valuable bottles. One of them has routinely sold for over $100 half full. The three I got were all around 60-75% full.
They were charging $6 a bottle, so I couldn’t justify buying everything.
I also got a confirmation and thanks from a buyer I sold two arcade games to. That was a relief – I always get nervous that something will go wrong when shipping a 400lb machine full of delicate vintage electronics across the country.
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02/11/2019 at 11:01 am #56729
Week of Feb 3 – 9
* Total Items in Store: 1315 eBay, 3 Mercari
* Items Sold: 14 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $4.10 + $20 Commission
* Total Sales: $414.01
* Highest Price Sold: $55 Lot of 12 PC Games (on commission); $50 for 2 boxes Armstrong commercial tiles
* Average Price Sold: $29.57
* Returns: 1
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $46
* Number of items listed this week: 4Things to do list: Researched two death pile items that ended up in the donation pile; repaired a misaligned framed art piece
Weird week where I sold 3 – 4 items per day at the beginning, but had two zero sales days later. I didn’t list much, so I’m sure that had something to do with it.
I did purchase a number of things at an auction on Friday even though the prices were sort of high. When I started packing my car up, I noticed that a vintage decanter was still full of Jim Bean whiskey. Although I’m not a big whiskey fan, it’s still good. My husband and I will have to finish it before I can sell the decanter. Reminds me of road burgers …
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02/11/2019 at 8:24 pm #56802
Sharyn, I went to an estate auction of a decanter collector. There were literally hundreds of them for sale, and all full! While I wasn’t there for the decanters, I did buy a large cardboard box of “collectable bottles” of all kinds of whisky for $50. The auctioneer made us promise (wink wink) to pour it out when we got home because legally he wasn’t allowed to sell liquor. So I pour a little bit out in a glass every now and then. 🙂
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02/12/2019 at 9:06 am #56833
Too funny! The auction house I bought it from is the only one licensed to sell firearms in NJ, but they don’t say anything about alcohol. I’ve seen them sell alcohol before, and I’ve seen it sold at estate sales as well. I think that they are probably bending the rules.
Someone recently mentioned a YouTube channel by Curiosity Inc, which is created by a Canadian guy who owns an antique store. He recently bought a hoarder house, and he is recording the work he does to remove all the junk and the hidden treasures he finds. As he is going through all the stuff, he occasionally finds a bottle of alcohol, and he put together a video of him and several people taste testing five of the bottles.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Sharyn.
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02/11/2019 at 11:15 am #56730
Total Items in Store: 309 Ebay, About 45 Mercari
Items Sold: 4 Ebay, 4 Mercari
Gross Sales: $215 Ebay, $75 Mercari
Cost of Items Sold: $26 plus shipping included $13 + some items ours
Highest Price Sold: $135 Ebay UK Needlepoint Kit
Average Price Sold: $53 Ebay, $19 Mercari
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $38 for 3 items
Number of items listed this week: 2Slow week on Ebay, but luckily sold a nice item after making offers to watchers on Ebay. I’m happy they added that option. Taking low offers on old Mercari listings. I’m very happy that I cut back on free shipping as I am noticing the bump. It cost over $5 to ship a 13 ounce Mercari item in Paypal.
When I was doing RA I was plowing a lot of profit back into inventory, but now, I’m in siphoning mode with this business and it’s helping us with some expenses. The RA did really well but the deals are not as good now. I suspect with the popularity of RA growing, retailers will continue to make things harder on resellers. We’ll see. I think I’m doing ok with my used and vintage items but it’s been hard to list lately.
BTW, I went to the REI garage sale and I recommend it if buying for yourself, but not for reselling. There were some items nearly new.
Have a great week!
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02/11/2019 at 11:20 am #56731
2/3/19 – 2/9/19
Total listings in store (beginning of week): 411
Items sold: 19
30 day sell through (rate): 20%
Gross Sales: $1056.66
Cost Paid for Items sold: $370.37
Shipping Cost: $188.26
Ebay Fee’s: $83.81
Paypal Fees: $35.48
Total Costs: $677.92
Net Profit: $378.74
Profit % Rev: 36% -
02/11/2019 at 11:50 am #56736
I helped someone start an eBay store that had that question. How much do you spend on inventory, then they went on is it 20 percent, more or how do you decide?
I explained I do not have a set amount. If I told myself I would only spend 20 percent but I go to auction, then see something really hot and cheap but I have only 100 left for inventory and the lot goes for 400 do I not buy it?
I told them if you source all the time, and this is true. We all source all the time if we have been doing this for years. Our everyday lives are sourcing even if we do not realize it lol. If we source like we are supposed to and buy like we are supposed to (low), then we will be okay.
I did let them know my one flaw though. Having money piles all over the place. I don’t call them death piles. I said try to keep up your listings with what you buy.
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02/11/2019 at 12:15 pm #56738
Good point. We have no set amount of what we spend on inventory. We’ll spend whatever make sense. Sometimes we find piles of cool stuff in the trash. Sometimes we’ll drop $2k at an auction.
The best advice you gave your friend is to always be listing. I have a feeling there are thousands of failed sellers with piles of stuff they loved finding but hate listing.
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02/12/2019 at 12:25 pm #56859
Dirt Poor Picker – “money piles” instead of death piles is a much better way to think of unlisted inventory. It’s more motivating. I’m going to start using it from now on! Thanks!
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02/12/2019 at 1:06 pm #56861
Yes Julie, death pile is just a negative term. Think about when you see a pile and someone says death pile, that is just another word for another excuse not to touch it. When you see a pile and say money pile, now that is a reason to list it lol.
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02/11/2019 at 12:35 pm #56739
I’ve been using my ebay bucks to buy silver coins. I throw these in a box until they build up to a certain point, or if I need cash flow. I can auction them off on ebay and usually get spot silver price for them.
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02/11/2019 at 1:53 pm #56746
I make a habit of asking for eBay gift cards come birthday, Father’s day, Christmas. I will then normally buy lots on eBay and sell pieced out on Etsy, or just stock up on shipping supplies and vacation away from the dumpsters. I don’t need much ‘stuff’ for me. It becomes a mission to use the gift cards and use them right to make the most profit. And, a great way to breeze through some of the longer computer slave hours at the regular job. I know I’m not alone here!
Great podcast, and requires another less distracted listen. I know you guys ask that we do eBay related tasks while listening. Yet the shows that really speak to me require a second listen and with a more focused ear to not miss the gems. Not alone again I’m sure!
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02/11/2019 at 7:17 pm #56794
I never do ebay stuff while listening to the podcast, b/c when I do I miss things or make mistakes.
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02/12/2019 at 2:23 pm #56864
Seconded! I can listen to music all day long while working, but I cannot listen to a podcast of any kind. I will completely tune the podcast out and not hear a word being said.
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02/11/2019 at 2:17 pm #56748
Week of 02/03-02/09
Total Items in Store: 2,350 (Up 29% YOY)
Number of Items Listed: 113
Number of Items Sold: 74 (Up 30% YOY)
(Includes 1 Etsy, 0 Bonanza, 0 TrueGether, 10 Poshmark)
Weekly STR: 15% (Up 1% YOY)Total Product Sales: $2,091 (Up 49%)
Sales Volume Variance to Prior Year: $418
Sales Price Variance to Prior Year: $271
Cost of Items Sold: $395
Cost of Labor: $240
Highest Item Sold: $125 – Tiffany Style Stained Glass Floral Lamp Shade
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week (Shocker…Beat out my $100 coat!) and Veronica leads for the year 5-1.Clothing
# Listed: 1,483
# Sold: 53
STR: 17%
ASP: $26.32Shoes
# Listed: 476
# Sold: 13
STR: 12%
ASP: $32.03Hard Goods
# Listed: 391
# Sold: 7
STR: 8%
ASP: $34.96Etsy
# Listed: 193
# Sold: 1
STR: 2%
ASP: $40Poshmark
# Listed: 526
# Sold: 10
STR: 11%
ASP: $37.90-
02/11/2019 at 4:14 pm #56762
@T-Satt, Looks to me your already there really. Your doing great.
Funny thing is I have had stores in the past with 400 items and sold 100 a week. I have had stores with 5,000 items and sold 100 a month lol. So it really does depend on what you are selling.I am disabled now, lung, heart, weight issues. I am trying to downsize. Not buy so much heavy stuff or things that take a while to list. I have a hard time doing this because of habit.
I have had probably 100 stores since 98 or 99, can’t remember and don’t have my original name, since I am hot tempered and have fired eBay on several occasions lol.
I am in the process of setting up a new store. i will be listing all things for a while till I dwindle my stock. I now have to though list about 600 items of shoes and clothes. I bought a bunch at auction. I actually just want to do shoes and preferably men’s since I can be in an out a thrift store in under 15 minutes on this item. I haven’t started listing even though I bought over a week ago. Never did like listing clothes or shoes but will do it in about an hour or at least start it.
I want to thank you for you posts. Some do not realize it but it is not only Jay and Ryanne that help people. It is also people such as yourself that share your journey on eBay. Thanks again and here is a little video I made to show my mess lol. I never really liked doing Youtube videos but got very aggravated two days ago looking for how to do something and then watching 4 videos and no help was in them. Take care and thanks.
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02/11/2019 at 4:32 pm #56766
I second the fact that there are many people in these forums who help us and others. All your stories, numbers, and experience keep us motivated and efficient.
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02/11/2019 at 4:46 pm #56767
Amen and I third that notion! I’m glad that our journey and my long discussions on boring numbers are useful! 🙂
And honestly, I get a ton of info, data, and motivation from others as well on these forums. I really feel I have received more than I have given!
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02/11/2019 at 2:27 pm #56749
I loved the beginning part about what everyone pays for inventory each week. Just depends on what you source, where you source, what your thresholds are, etc. This is such a big component of going full time: Knowing what your purchasing requirements are.
While we all talk about our Average Selling Price each week, I also track our Average Purchase Price each week. For us, over the past few years, it still comes back to about $5 per item. So if I want to sell 100 items a week, I have to be ready to buy 100 items per week, so that would mean spending $500 per week for inventory based on the items that I purchase. Results for everyone will vary, but it is important to know when going full time.
Also, make sure that when you remember that while you build up your store (like we still are), that a higher percentage of your weekly cash flow goes to inventory purchases that what your sales are. That is why growing businesses are always looking for more capital.
It made me go back and look at our store over the years. Knowing that some weeks we didn’t shop at all, here are our average purchases per week:
2014 – $189
2015 – $283
2016 – $350
2017 – $458
2018 – $613Feeding the beast, but growing because of it!
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02/11/2019 at 2:49 pm #56750
Huh, in 2018 you average $600 a week buying inventory? So $30k in the year?
You guys really are growing like a rocket ship and your sales reflect that.
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02/11/2019 at 3:00 pm #56751
Yep, over $30k in inventory purchases last year.
You made me want to go and look…
Weekly Sales $ Average:
2014 – $719
2015 – $1,103
2016 – $1,312
2017 – $1,527
2018 – $2,008So, we increased our Average Inventory Purchases by 3.2x since 2014, and increased Average Sales by 2.8x.
Getting there… Not there, but getting there…
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02/11/2019 at 3:26 pm #56757
So what’s your preferred “cruising altitude” numbers for costs vs sales each week?
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02/11/2019 at 6:17 pm #56783
Hey T-Satt. I haven’t looked in a while but years ago when we first started and rookies and would buy everything that wasn’t nailed down regardless of cost or if it would sell was approx. $21 per item.
6 years later our costs are about. $8.81 per item, but a lot of our items are at $40 and up. Now $8.81 is average. We get many items for less and that sell for higher than $40. But on avg. at last look about $8 per item.
Jay everything we ship is ceramics, pottery, glass, crystal. 8 to 9 out of 10 items is quadriple wrapped in our special cocoon process and most double boxed or coil rolled cardboard protection. so welcome to the clank, crack and break club of delicate home decor.
T-Satt had a good long chat with Steve at SixBit and have scheduled another live phone call tomorrow with either Steve again or JC Ryan. I haven’t made the switch yet because I am hammered with the two houses we are building. Those houses make the 6th business endeavor I am envolved with and with taxes right on me, I couldn’t muster to jump off WL right now, but it is coming.
Doctor told me today I am burning the candle at both ends and using a flame thrower to do it. She wants me to finish up the houses and not do any more. Slow down and take it easier. Sugar levels are high and so is my blood pressure. So maybe some calm computer work after taxes and I will get SB up and going. But I will have to train two people after I get everything customized.
And some good news, SixBit IS WORKING on a Shopify interface, so all three online stores will be able to be handled from SB. But no ETA on when they will be through with it, but it is being worked on after I talked with JC last time.
BTW, both houses are framed and ready for roughs electrical and plumbing. !!! 🙂 Jay I will update the Forum Topic on the houses and put in some of the financials to date. Boy thousand dollar bills go fast when doing construction. Bet a bunch of you guys know that.
catch ‘ya later…
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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02/11/2019 at 6:24 pm #56786
BTW, both houses are framed and ready for roughs electrical and plumbing. !!! 🙂 Jay I will update the Forum Topic on the houses and put in some of the financials to date. Boy thousand dollar bills go fast when doing construction. Bet a bunch of you guys know that.
We’re drywalling and mudding this week. Then paint, sand floors, and all the finishing work. Yes, lots of > thousand dollar checks.
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02/11/2019 at 7:17 pm #56795
Congrats to both of you Jay and Mike. Gotta feel good seeing a plan come together.
Thanks for the update on SixBit Mike. It would be something I would consider, adding Shopify, but I really need to see how to drive traffic to the Shopify site first.
Again, let me know if I can help with SixBit at all. We love the program a TON.
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02/12/2019 at 12:42 pm #56860
Troy.. Had two conversations with Steve at SixBit. Online chat yesterday for about 45 minutes and about an hour this morning. Interesting. While SB does have some of the issues you and I discussed, they did say a few others I discussed last year with them have been implemented on their site. The ending and relisting items while they are both on Sale and also in Promoted listings at times will cause the Ebay API to report back the lower sale price as a new starting price, so be careful and watch as you end and relist items. If you had a 10% off Sale running and Promoted listings after your Allocation plan does an end then you relist it Ebay may show the discounted price as the new original price. If you may recall we had numerous posts here on SL last year about this. But SB does have a historical Highest price ever listed column like I had WL create and that column can be cross checked to make sure an ended and relisted item gets set back to it’s original price.
But all and all, Steve and also JC Ryan said they would let me extend the trial until I got everything customized in SB.
Then they do have the Shopify Store on the horizon so that will be neat. But it will be an extra cost tier. Something like a “TRIO PLAN” as opposed to the “Duo Plan” you are now using.Broke 1200 listing on Ebay… Few months late but over that barrier and will now target 1500 and have 456 cross posted now to Etsy. BTW have all 1200 on Shopify Store but still have not submitted to Google for a WWW go live standing as of yet.
Will probably take you up to convo on the SB set-up but only after I start on the customization of the home dashboard page, do my due deligence on the tutorials and then as I suspect hit a few road blocks.
OK, now back to Shopify University Training Sessions.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art.
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02/13/2019 at 3:53 pm #56930
Thanks for the info Mike, and hit me up whenever you want to talk SixBit details so that I can make your transition easier.
Regarding the sales price issue, I haven’t seen that in the past 6-9 months. There is a caveat to that:
I see that if you have a sale running on the item, and then it ends on sale, the item is relisted at the original price (not the sales price), which I would prefer. This is because there are three levels of tables in the database: Items, Listings, and Sales.
You create an Item (essentially a new row of data in the Item Table) and fill out all the relevant data. Then each time and Item is submitted to a platform (or relisted), it creates a new Listing record. Then, each sale creates a record in the Sales table.
So each time a listing ends, and you have the Auto Relist turned on, it looks back at the data in the Item table to relist. The Item table will still have the original price (not the price on the ended listing).
What can happen to overwrite your price is editing an active Listing AND having the box checked that says “Update this and all future listings”. What this does is update the active listing AND then updates the Item Table as well. If you remember that little box, you are safe.
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02/11/2019 at 3:42 pm #56758
Plans are to grow to a weekly $5k in Sales on a $1k COGS. Rough numbers I have kept in my head for 5 years:
160 sales and listings per week
$30 ASP
$5 APP-
02/11/2019 at 3:50 pm #56759
That would be incredible to net between $3k-$4k a week. Yu’d need to more than double your current weekly sales. I assume this happens with your plan into wholesaling?
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02/11/2019 at 4:01 pm #56760
Wholesaling would be in there eventually, but I know that it will require a higher capital outlay and less margin (so now we are talking a 3x return vs the 5x return we are at now and what our goals are).
Basic numbers of 160/30/5 are all doable. We mostly haven’t done the 160 per week in listings since I keep being out for my contract work. But I can do 20-30 listings per day on my side easily, and finding that much each week has happened enough that it isn’t a main concern (though it is still my biggest one, as I can’t control that part).
And remember that for us, $5k top line would net about $1,500 net (30% net margin).
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02/11/2019 at 4:09 pm #56761
Week Feb 3-9, 2019
Total Items in Store: 3546 listings for 5466 total items
Items Sold: 106 Transactions for 142 Items total
Gross Sales: $7923.33
Cost of Items Sold: $824 + $1022 consignment payout
Highest Price Sold: $365 (Brooks Brothers 3 Piece Suit)
Highest Transaction Sold $522 (26 Ties)
Lowest Price Sold: $4.99 (Pair of Shoe laces)
Average Price Sold: $74.75/transaction, $55.80/Item
Returns: 3
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $8
Number of items listed this week: 89 Listings for 90 ItemsAmazon Experiment
Amazon Products – 65
Items Sold – 2
Gross Sales – $23.90
Average Price Sold – $11.95
Cost of Goods Sold – $2This was my best sales week ever! I’m tired. Hopefully have someone coming to help me with some photos a few times in the next couple weeks. Not a permanent thing, but just a little push for me right before Suit season. I’m so used to doing all this by myself, but my arthritic spine always makes it more difficult than it should be.
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02/11/2019 at 4:30 pm #56765
I’m always in awe of your numbers. If Im reading correctly, you net $5k a week. If you made that much, we could almost buy all the empty buildings on our Main Street.
Remind me, are you mainly buying suits and menswear at local thrift stores? I assume you’re only selling high end items.
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02/11/2019 at 4:48 pm #56768
Yep SEAM, you are at our goal. And it is a great inspiration showing that you can do what we want to do!
Keep up the great work! Very inspiring!
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02/11/2019 at 4:50 pm #56769
I’m always in awe of your numbers. If Im reading correctly, you net $5k a week. If you made that much, we could almost buy all the empty buildings on our Main Street.
Remind me, are you mainly buying suits and menswear at local thrift stores? I assume you’re only selling high end items.
Thanks so much!
Yes, from 2005 my original store was ” The Something, Everything and More Store” which was an accurate description of my inventory. I began the transition into menswear in 2011 or so, and shortened my store name to The SEAM Store (mainly for easy URL use theSEAMstore.com is a lot easier than thesomethingeverythingandmorestore.com) and coincidentally it fit my new products nicely. Today I am 99%+ menswear. I thrift, e-thrift, do wardrobe buyouts and do some wholesale buying. I also have 7 consignors.
We are in a fairly rural area just outside Gettysburg, but centrally located so I can be in a better sourcing area within 1 to 2 hours drive. Unfortunately, my back doesn’t let me go out sourcing all day too often anymore, so I’ve been stuck with areas closer to home for the last year or so….that’s where having a few consignors around the country really has helped me.
Higher-middle-end stuff mostly I guess. If “middle end” is even a thing. lol. Also a lot of vintage and things I just plain find interesting.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/11/2019 at 5:28 pm #56772
You have great photos. I especially like how you take photos of ties. You sell so many ties which really surprises me.
When you say you have consignors, does this mean you have people going out to scavenge for you? Or people selling off their own wardrobe?
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02/11/2019 at 5:50 pm #56778
You have great photos. I especially like how you take photos of ties. You sell so many ties which really surprises me.
When you say you have consignors, does this mean you have people going out to scavenge for you? Or people selling off their own wardrobe?
Thanks, I am always working on ways to improve my photos.
Ties are a bread and butter item for sure. 437 sold in the last 90 days for $13,250
Most of my consignors are fellow menswear thrifters/ebay sellers, who either gave up on ebay, or just don’t have time for it right now.
They are located all over the US/Canada. Seattle, Phoenix, Long Island, Toronto, DC. They don’t work for me, I just provide a service for them.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/11/2019 at 6:15 pm #56782
Please ignore if you think Im prying, but what do you do with your profits that you clear each month. From the short time you’ve posted numbers, you could be clearing almost $20k a month.
Unless you drive a really expensive car, have a huge house note, or have three kids going to private college, that’s a lot of cash that’s free and clear.
Are you saving? Are you paying off a debt?
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02/11/2019 at 6:36 pm #56788
Please ignore if you think Im prying, but what do you do with your profits that you clear each month. From the short time you’ve posted numbers, you could be clearing almost $20k a month.
Unless you drive a really expensive car, have a huge house note, or have three kids going to private college, that’s a lot of cash that’s free and clear.
Are you saving? Are you paying off a debt?
Answered this one last week or the week before maybe….
Lets see, I have been purchasing lots of inventory since November to try to ramp up for this fall even bigger.
We have some medical bills that we are paying off, our health insurance premium is pretty high
I have about a year left on a 5 year loan from when we built by office.
I put $12-15K back into savings for summer slow down/emergencies (we blew through that last year with an unexpected surgery).
Self-Employed 401K.
I do have a car payment for another year or so, but it’s just a secondhand chevy equinox…so nothing outlandish.
We also send in extra monthly payments on our mortgage, and a lump payment once a year. We still owe a decent bit on our home, but my goal is to pay it off in the next 6 years (18 years early). We could probably live a little more frugally, we are not big spenders, but we are comfortable.
I may pay either the car or office early this year…waiting to see how our taxes look with the new tax laws. When you sell a lot on ebay, you send a lot to the IRS. This is life. Once I do, that payment will snowball onto the next, and ultimately everything will go on the mortgage premium until it’s gone.
Oh, and a little put aside for vacation.
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02/11/2019 at 7:12 pm #56792
Sorry if I missed your last answer. $20k/month is a lot of money to spend, but I guess it does all add up. It’ll be interesting to see your numbers as we progress into the summer. Our numbers drop off as well.
If we made $20k/month, we’d be able to…
–Pay off a $100k mortgage in a year.
–Renovate a building in 6 months instead of 18 months.
–Save cash like crazy.Your store is great. I forget that some men still wear suits 🙂
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02/11/2019 at 7:24 pm #56798
Sorry if I missed your last answer. $20k/month is a lot of money to spend, but I guess it does all add up. It’ll be interesting to see your numbers as we progress into the summer. Our numbers drop off as well.
If we made $20k/month, we’d be able to…
–Pay off a $100k mortgage in a year.
–Renovate a building in 6 months instead of 18 months.
–Save cash like crazy.Your store is great. I forget that some men still wear suits 🙂
We only just hit the $20K mark for the first time in October. I’d love it to stay up there all year, but that’s not realistic when I look at the last 14 years. I actually look forward to summer slow down. I built a big raised bed garden a couple years ago, so as soon as spring hits you will find me outside.
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02/12/2019 at 3:01 am #56822
Ties… 437 sold in the last 90 days for $13,250
That is absolutely ridiculous. It’s crazy that you sold that many, and I did not realize people still wear ties.
I’m going to go downstairs to grab a snack and list.
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02/11/2019 at 6:17 pm #56784
You do have great photos. Like I always said, 45 percent photos 45 percent keywords and 10 percent luck lol.
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02/11/2019 at 6:54 pm #56789
You do have great photos. Like I always said, 45 percent photos 45 percent keywords and 10 percent luck lol.
Thank you. I prefer to dress a mannequin for everything, and shoot hand-held. It seems those days are over, as those things have become too painful. Now, I try to find the most hands free method. My goal is to perfect my setup so that photographically inexperienced person could duplicate my photo style without having to actually touch a camera at all. I’m almost there.
Always improving.
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02/11/2019 at 4:14 pm #56763
Well, I ALMOST wasn’t going to post these numbers, but just for the record:
My Store Week Feb 3-9, 2019
Total Items in Store: 1070
Items Sold: 5
Gross Sales: $91.97 (the all new-time LOW)
Cost of Items Sold: $20.88
Highest Price Sold: $20 (Men’s Pants)
Average Price Sold: $18.39
Returns: 1 (1 Immediate Cancel)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 6Although the numbers look dismal, the silver lining is that today I sold more than all of last week in its entirety, and I can see that my store is up 84% over last year at this time. (This is just a bad time of year for me, so it is not unexpected, but at least I am doing better overall than in all my proceeding years.) To be honest, I am kind of coasting at this time and not putting much effort at all into listing or sourcing. I expect this to change come Spring, and I’ll figure out how to crank it up again.
I wanted to thank everyone who gave me good advice on getting better business results. I followed WV Retro’s photography suggestions and instead of buying a lighting kit (for now) I took a 5-light flexible/bendable Walmart kids lamp that was upstairs collecting dust and put in 100W LED Daylight bulbs (this is REALLY bright with all 5 lamps “ON”) it is going to improve the night time photographs immensely. I think this pink and purple hideous light cost only $16.99…but it gets the job done. I also went to our local craft store to pick up some white marine vinyl for photo backgrounds – they only had “off French white” and I want to find a true white – so I’ll check out another store but it is fairly inexpensive and seems like it will be a great solution to using the poster boards (that crease easily and get dirty quickly) so that is on my to-do list for this week. I also picked up an inexpensive hand-held steamer to get out wrinkles from clothing, which I don’t know why I didn’t buy one of these a long time ago – makes a big difference. Will re-listen to the podcast tonight without interruptions while listing drafts…
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02/11/2019 at 4:22 pm #56764
Hi – I’m listening to the latest podcast right now & taking pictures. The subject of offers to watchers came up & wanted to share this, maybe it’s come up elsewhere in the forum, but I learned about this on instagram. If you go to the link below, and put in the item number at the end of a watched item, you may be able to send an offer:
https://ofr.ebay.com/offerapp/sio/createOffer/
I just did this this morning. On my seller hub, it showed no listings to send offers on, but I had about 25 watched items. One by one I entered the item numbers and was able to send offers on about 16 items. For some items, it wouldn’t allow it, maybe because it is a new listing, ending too soon or too many offers had already been sent to the same person, I believe the limit is 3.
Next time I’m going to include a message and see if that helps.
I’ve had mixed results w/ offer to watchers, but I figure it’s something to try & it does work sometimes.
Thanks as always for the great podcast.
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02/11/2019 at 11:57 pm #56814
thanks dearmila. Your method works for me, so I’m going to send out a bunch of offers now.
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02/14/2019 at 12:23 am #56951
That does work, BUT so people understand the watcher has to be watching for at least 24 hours. Don’t know really how long but if I try it when they first start watching it wont go through, so I always wait a couple of days. could just be me though. Thanks for the tip.
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02/14/2019 at 8:45 am #56954
Oh boy, this could take a while. I just checked and I have 1604 listings with watchers. Hope they introduce a more streamlined method of watcher-offer-making soon.
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02/14/2019 at 10:00 am #56965
I don’t like the option to make offers to watchers…I feel it is a race to the bottom. Buyers will catch on and start watching items and wait for a deal.
I also don’t like that I may get bombarded with emails from sellers with items I’m watching offering very small discounts (e.g. $1 of $50). I just feel the spam will turn off some people from eBay.
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02/14/2019 at 10:13 am #56966
I agree. I can imagine many sellers just offering the tiniest of discounts just to send the message. Like sellers who have “make offer” on their items, but auto decline any offer less than 50-cents off their price.
It’ll be interesting to see how eBay officially rolls out the program.
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02/14/2019 at 3:29 pm #56985
Jay, I have sent these offers before. I believe it is a minimum of five percent. Which I think is still low, I think it should be at least 15 or 20 percent, just for the fact to keep everyone from doing it. I always raise my prices about 20 to 30 percent depending if it’s a promoted listing. That way I can calculate a good sale later without losing too much.
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02/14/2019 at 3:26 pm #56983
Like eBay doesn’t spam us already. You can also set your preferences not to get emails from ebay, or certain emails.
I think it is a good thing.
Now for everyone holding out and just watch it, is not going to happen. No matter where you shop if something does not sell per metrics the price will come down. We always have people that wait for prices to come down. The population now those is composed of people wanting immediate gratification. The whole of eBay buyers only watching to get a better price is not going to happen.
We can always say something we don’t like, but change will happen. Now eBay sends an email to someone that viewed your listing a different lower price listing from someone else. They feel as though since they didn’t buy yours they have a right to try to capture a sale, and they are correct. I don’t think eBay would keep sending these emails if the sales tactic did not work.
Everyone has to stay ahead of the game. With all the new techniques it is getting very hard to compete sometimes.
Just saying…
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02/11/2019 at 5:03 pm #56771
First time posting one of these:
* Total Items in Store: 498
* Items Sold: 34
* Cost of Items Sold: $261.50
* Total Sales: $1,687.50
* Highest Price Sold: $325 – Game of Thrones Collectible
* Average Price Sold: $49.63
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $120
* Number of items listed this week: 61I am four months into my eBay career and I have to say that this has been my best week – definitely not usual for me. Helping the cause were a handful of items in the $100 – $300 range. Full-time job and two kids limits my sourcing a bit but I was able to hit up a few estate sales this weekend and grabbed some promising items for quite cheap. Notably, eight vintage mesh hats relating to old farm machinery, a pair of unique Woolrich boots that I listed for $200, and a PC that I purchased for $30 and took apart to sell for parts that should net a nice profit.
My death pile is still quite slim – likely b/c I have not been doing this for too long. Just a few items that I need to repair or research more. One is a Kodak 800 Carousel that does not spin when I press the button. Otherwise, it’s in amazing condition. Still need to ccrack into that to see if I can solve it.
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02/11/2019 at 5:29 pm #56773
You should feel proud. I dont know how long it took us to make sell over $1500 in one week.
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02/11/2019 at 5:45 pm #56777
I will stress that this is not normal at all – it’s usually been a few hundred a week. I’m quite glad about it but I know that slow weeks will happen much more frequently.
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02/11/2019 at 5:51 pm #56779
Understood, but don’t underestimate that hitting these high weeks is a big deal.
I think its like running, video games, or any kind of activity. You hit a limit and then keep pushing it. Time goes by and your old high is now your new normal.
This week shows you’ve built a successful process and have a good eye for scavenging.
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02/11/2019 at 7:05 pm #56790
Amen brother. Second that entire thread!
Congrats SpartyQ!
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02/11/2019 at 5:59 pm #56781
I will stress that this is not normal at all – it’s usually been a few hundred a week. I’m quite glad about it but I know that slow weeks will happen much more frequently.
I still remember he first time I sold $100 worth in one week selling “trash”, I was king of the world!
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02/11/2019 at 7:07 pm #56791
Just a note for everyone. The replies to the comments help this site in the search engines. The Likes though also help it. Just a thought. Especially for the videos on Youtube of the podcast, that is how the videos are rank on part of the algorithm.
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02/11/2019 at 7:13 pm #56793
I’m actually amazed anyone finds us on Youtube since we don’t make a “video” just audio.
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02/11/2019 at 7:32 pm #56799
I’ve been listening weekly since Episode #158, found you guys by accident. I prefer things I can listen to without having to watch also. I’m an audiobook junkie.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/11/2019 at 8:16 pm #56801
Feb 3 – 9
Total Items in Store: 2087
Items Sold: 25
Total Sales : $788
* below yearly average of $920
* below 2018 total week sales of $1,038
Highest Price: $140 (Casio Casiotone MT-65 Electronic Keyboard)
Average Price: $32
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $41
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 25I had kind of a slow week on eBay. Slow in sales and also in listing. But I’ve got some great news for everyone. I put my two weeks notice in at my job!!! I’m officially going full time with eBay! It feels like such a relief. That place was degrading at such an accelerated rate. I said I was going to stick it out until at least May when the university may or may not close down, but it just seemed like nobody was giving us any answers to whether that would happen. And I think the last straw was when I was given yet another hat to wear by being given the task of taking over the website development of our department. I just finally snapped. You can’t keep loading more and more job roles on a person while paying them an entry level wage with no raises and expect to keep them. I was nervous afterwards wondering if I made the right choice, but all my fears were laid to rest after a hellacious day today. So the next two weeks are going to suck big time while I train a person (who was “volunteered” to take my job temporarily) how to do a job which took me 4 years to learn, never mind my past tech job experience and my tech related college degree. But I’m going to keep my head up high and will look forward to walking out on my last day knowing I’ll never have to deal with them again. I’m so excited for the future!
Also, regarding the missing product identifier thing from the podcast… I have around 50 or so which eBay reminds me about every month or so. They’re all from when I parted out that refrigerator. I’ve been ignoring it, and the parts continue to sell. Maybe in the future, eBay will crack down and de-list things like that, but for now they still seem to find their way to buyers.
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02/11/2019 at 8:49 pm #56803
Congrats on making the leap Doubly!
So, two things I want to say about making the leap. Yes, you will have the doubts. But what is done is done. The best thing you can do is use that motivation to work your butt off at making your new path a success. Use that little bit of fear to list, source, improve, get better, get faster, etc. I can say that it worked…and still works…for me.
Second, if you have anything you want to talk about or discuss, reach out, either on the forum or to me directly at TSATTERF@YAHOO.COM.
You got this, and welcome to a new world.
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02/12/2019 at 7:07 pm #56893
Thank you Troy! Yes, I will be listing my heart out for these next few months for sure. It’ll be so great to put all my focus of eBay for a change instead of the few hours every night after work. I’m saving your email and may just hit you up if I have any questions.
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02/13/2019 at 4:02 pm #56933
Anytime Doubly. More than willing to talk and provide any assistance that I can!
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
This forum and the people here are the definition of together! 🙂
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02/14/2019 at 2:47 pm #56979
Aaahh …T-Satt you are just so “sweeeet”. LOL 🙂
Here is one for your trivia memory. Hint from a TV show..who is the character and what show?
who said: “Aaah.. Eddie kiss me goodnight!”
mike at MDCGFA
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02/14/2019 at 2:52 pm #56980
Mike, I have to admit, you had me there. I had to look it up…
Topo Gigio on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I never did watch that show. Just a bit before my time.
I was Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, A-Team kinda guy… 🙂
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02/14/2019 at 3:05 pm #56981
You are correct.. Topo!
Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together! 🙂
Bad news from my doc. on Monday. Due to some very high sugar levels and blood pressure she told me I need to pull out of the house building projects and let someone else take over. I have a whole regime I have to start doing and she concluded running 5 businesses which includes the art studio PLUS the houses was too much especially since I was doing some of the physical work. So just rest, diet and another Dr. visit in 30 days and if weight lose has taken place and blood work and blood pressure is down, then she will OK me but just for the online type of work. Uggh. So had to turn the Supervision work on the houses over to some else. Phooey.. was counting on some good extra FU money from that. Will get paid for work down to date but that may be it. But doctors orders.
Susan and i did hit a good find at a thrift store on Wed. when we went up to the house lots to turn the blue prints over to the new supervisor. Doctor said I could do picking as long as I took it easy and no heavy loads until after my next appt. in 4 weeks.
mike at MDCGFA
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02/14/2019 at 3:32 pm #56987
Yikes. Health is always more important than money. Focus on the one or two projects you really love. No need to have so many pokers in the fire!
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02/14/2019 at 3:46 pm #56988
OK Mama Jay! LOL You, my wife, my daughter, and our assistants Christie and Lisa all are saying the same thing. Daughter Kim is already sending me emails of heart healthy, low sodium, low carb diets.
I have to get on an eat six times a day in small portions schedule. Maybe thinking about a mail order plan like Balance by Bistro MD. Seems better than nutrisystem and less costly.
Plus doc says I have to sleep 8 hours per day. No more working until 9 and 10 pm and getting up at three to pack and ship, then try to get to job sites by 7:30 which were 45 minutes away. Doc even said she wasn’t crazy about me driving until the wide sugar level swings and bouncing betty blood pressure levels stabilize. All doable she says, even to a point where she would stop all medications but only if I drop 25 pounds as fast as I safely can, get on the scheduled eating plan and start walking 2 miles min. per day AFTER she clears me next month. But no exercise or stress for now. She said she wants me to go to my “Happy Place” for a month. I said that would be my art studio, my online businesses {ebay, Etsy, Shopify], changing over to SixBit and of course back to doing some Scavengerlife Posting. She just had a deer in the headlights look on her face and said that she said “REST”. I said that is rest!! LOL
Then we went out the next day and bought about 50++ items and hauled them home.
mike at mdcgfa
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02/14/2019 at 6:02 pm #56992
Mike,
Not sure if you are familar with the Princess Bride, but that is what this reminded me of.
As Tyrone says in the clip below to Humperdinck, “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.”
Mark
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02/14/2019 at 6:38 pm #56994
Seen the movie many times, never figured out which poisonous cup was the “real poison” until he keeled over. 🙂 But honestly, you got me on this one. I didnt remember that line.
But yep.. I bite off more than I could chew and now will just fall back into a slower online selling mode and make the eating, sleeping changes, then exercise when doc says it’s ok and move forward from there.
another one .. “Here’s looking at you kid!”
mike at MDCGFA
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02/14/2019 at 11:08 pm #57006
Mike,
I think the point with the poisonous cup was that he spent 7 years building up an immunity to iocane powder\poison. So he put the poison in both cups because it didn’t matter to him. Either one the other guy picks, he loses.
Mark
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02/15/2019 at 1:36 pm #57038
Hey Mike, wow. But, at least now you know were the wall is, and you know what to do to get some rest.
I can have the same issue, working too hard. The only thing that helps me slow down is when I remember that on the day I die…I will still have items on my To Do list.
Take a rest, get healthy, and you will be good.
Take care big man!
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02/11/2019 at 9:19 pm #56806
Congrats on making the big move. The best advice I can give is this: if you ever feel nervous about running your own business, or stressed about money, just start listing. Seriously take photos of a big pile of stuff you’ve been putting off.
Over the past ten years, we’ve had plenty of times when we were nervous we could make it work, but channeling all that scared energy into growing our inventory insured our ability to sell more.
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02/12/2019 at 7:12 pm #56894
Jay, I’ve listened to every podcast starting on episode 1. You and Ryanne have been my greatest inspiration. I recall from the podcast some of your harder times and how you’ve powered through it. And now you’re making more than plenty of money for a comfortable lifestyle. That’s absolutely where I would like to be in the future, and in a way we’re almost there now. Thank you for the kind words and for all you two do!
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02/13/2019 at 10:22 am #56915
@Doublythumbs – just so you know, you are also an inspiration to some of us on the same journey. You may be a few miles up the road from some of us, but it’s great to hear the success you are having (and even the struggles) as it helps with our confidence. Glad you are sharing your experience!
Jay’s advice is great – any time I feel down, I just get listing and it takes my mind off things, and at the same time I’m working for my future. I feel the last few months that I’ve been pushing very hard has been a very happy time – and my friends and family have noticed a positive change in my attitude. Hard work does lead to happiness!
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02/13/2019 at 9:04 pm #56947
Thank you, Inglewood! I truly appreciate the compliment! It’s been quite the roller coaster for me, that’s for sure. And you’re right… listing is very therapeutic!
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02/12/2019 at 9:51 am #56837
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
The power of FU money helps another used/abused employee!The confidence you can find in yourself you didn’t know you had when running your own business is so rewarding. I look forward to seeing your store grow with you dedicating 100% of your time to it.
From my experience, I recently had my performance review. For the first time in my career, I felt like I was in control of that meeting.
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02/12/2019 at 7:20 pm #56897
YES! The FU money is soooo worth the many hours of hard work! And that feeling of controlling the conversation is invigorating. Knowing that my job no longer has power over me makes me just want to tell everyone off. I mean, I won’t because burning bridges is never a good idea. But I’ve been at least a little defiant here in the last couple of days.
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02/14/2019 at 2:10 pm #56977
You’ll do great, you’ve more than proved it.
Your knowledge base is immense and will continue to grow and that is the best tool in the box for this kind of selling.
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02/11/2019 at 9:21 pm #56807
Gut feeling-morbidly slow. Had a sale I was very pleased with, but…
Items In Store: 466
Items Sold: 3
Cost of Items Sold: $10
Total Sales: $31.60 after the return $91.60 before the return
HIghest Price Sold: $23 Vintage 1960s Baby Plaque
Average price $15.8
Returns: 1I found a gorgeous pair of driving shoes by Robert Zur a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t surprised when they sold very quickly for $60. And I sure needed the sale. The shoes were too big and the customer returned them immediately. They arrived today. I went to refund and the return still has them in transit. Relisted them while I wait for the USPS to catch up with the facts. The day after finding the first pair of Zur I found a 2nd pair at the bins, totally overlooked. The 3rd day I made a lowball offer on a 3rd pair and got them. Now if they would just fit the people who buy them
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02/11/2019 at 10:21 pm #56809
Listening to the podcast now in a hotel far from home, on a work trip. Yep, inventory costs are a big deal for me. Expenditures for 2018, probably 80% inventory cost, were CAD$21k, so $1700/mo. Kinda forced into it by my time limitations I think.
Incredibly good week for me!
CAD$3911, 16 items. COGS: $1009 –> Gross profit: $2270
Expenditures: $998 –> Cashflow: $2282
Notable sales: I sold some of the actuators I bought last month and was agonizing over. 48 of them sold for $1440. I bought my entire lot of 168 for $871, so I’m now paid off plus a $390 profit and I’ve got 120 left to sell. Thrilled about that, felt like my butt was hanging out on that buy. Also sold 5 amplifier things for $675, bought those for $52.
Listed: $1285, 13 items
Hours: 8, $184/hr after tax.-
02/11/2019 at 10:31 pm #56810
Canadian sellers, are you also having this issue?
-US buyers message me asking if I can ship to the USA.
-I ship absolutely everything to the USA so I reply yes.
-They confirm ebay won’t let them buy.
-I check the listing in browser: ships to USA
-I check the listing in mobile: does not ship to USAThe solution I find is really hacky, I put in US shipping on mobile using UPS or something with some WAG number on shipping. Then I invoice the buyer for the actual cost once they offer.
Honestly this issue bothers me. For every buyer who messages me and is willing to work with me, there must be 5 who can’t be bothered buying if ebay isn’t letting them do so easily. Am I losing these buyers due to this ridiculous issue?
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02/12/2019 at 10:11 am #56841
Not having the issue myself with US buyers (made a couple sales to US buyers overnight) but did have an issue with an international buyer (Denmark) who couldn’t complete a transaction. I’ll let you know if I hear from anyone on my end.
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02/12/2019 at 10:22 am #56843
Canadian sellers, are you also having this issue?
-US buyers message me asking if I can ship to the USA.
-I ship absolutely everything to the USA so I reply yes.
-They confirm ebay won’t let them buy.
-I check the listing in browser: ships to USA
-I check the listing in mobile: does not ship to USAThe solution I find is really hacky, I put in US shipping on mobile using UPS or something with some WAG number on shipping. Then I invoice the buyer for the actual cost once they offer.
Honestly this issue bothers me. For every buyer who messages me and is willing to work with me, there must be 5 who can’t be bothered buying if ebay isn’t letting them do so easily. Am I losing these buyers due to this ridiculous issue?
Have you called ebay yet? This would have me calling immediately. I would tend to believe it is a lot more than 5 to 1 that wouldn’t reach out if they couldn’t buy.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/13/2019 at 8:58 am #56912
I know you’re right. *sigh*
I hate calling eBay and it’s hard to find the time, being as I don’t want to call them from work but I sorta need my computer in front of me.
I know it’s only some listings and it can’t be TOO bad, because a good 50% of my sales are still to the USA without any difficulties. But I get this issue at least once every couple weeks.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by simplicio.
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02/11/2019 at 10:32 pm #56811
Week of 2/3-2/9
Total Items in Store: 1,591
Number of Items Listed: 45
Number of Items Sold: 30
Total Sales: $987.52
Cost of Items Sold: $109
Highest Item Sold: $356.95 – Baseball Hall of Fame One Troy Pound Silver Coin
Average Price Sold: $32.92 (very skewed due to the coin selling)
Inventory Spending: $20.00
Consignment Payouts: $279.81
Sell Through Rate: 1.89%
Cash Flow (+/-): +387.39Ebay:
Did not hit any auctions this week and focused on catching up with some listings. I have had a friend with a load of sports collectibles consign his stuff to me over the last few months. The coin was a consignment item which is wonderful to sell…but also a little disappointing when the consignment check goes out. The cash flow number is one I am looking forward to tracking over time. As much as I love going to auctions and buying items for resale, I need to actually sell the item before I make any money.Other:
We have announced our spring treasure hunt schedule for March-May and listed dates on Airbnb for our experience. Now we are working on ways to promote the events. This has been our biggest challenge thus far without a marketing budget. We are relying on social media as our biggest tool, but are looking for other ways to get the word out in our local area.-
02/12/2019 at 9:14 am #56835
VikingSilver – I saw your introductory post earlier, and I’m wondering about these treasure hunts you mentioned. Can you post a link to your website or wherever you are advertising it? Sounds interesting.
The only other type of free advertising I can think of is to have a reporter/journalist write a story about it in a newspaper. If it is something truly unique, perhaps someone would be interested. Not sure how you would find a newspaper that would be interested except to call and ask.
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02/11/2019 at 11:25 pm #56812
Great podcast – was there a thread specifically talking about inventory costs? I could talk about this forever! It is why I joined the forum to begin with. I could not get a straight answer from any “guru” or FB group on this when ppl kept saying ” list list list” I was like. um, ok, but.. uh, you need money for that. Inventory is not cheap where I live and i do NOT live in NYC. ha! I am luckily branching into new overlooked categories which brings those costs way down. But it is like starting over in some ways and having a lower STR sucks as I learn the category and get ranked in category!
Which is ANOTHER thing to discuss – being ranked as a successful seller in categories.
Ebay store: 1100
Sold: 20 items
Sales: $853
Highest: a rug $150
Cogs: $91Poshmark:$126
Depop: $30
Mercari:$0 (I have made $200 since starting in December FYi)total: $1009
Alternate Platform Chat: As I mentioned, alternate platforms combined are starting to be an average 20% of my sales with regular cross-listing. Sometimes ebay breaks my heart.I would LOVE to be ebay only, but I cannot ignore the increase boost to move cash.
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02/12/2019 at 1:58 am #56817
Re: inventory costs, I just want to say that not all rural areas have thrifts with good stuff for low prices. My monthly average cost per item purchased ranges from $4 to $15. Usually around $10-11. The only way to lower that to $1 per item is to buy stuff that sells for $8 or less on ebay. I’m okay with spending more time and money to buy fewer items that give me a much higher profit.
[deleted a wall of text that described my local thrift situation in more detail :)]
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02/12/2019 at 8:32 am #56828
bcfo & sonia: I hear you on the costs. One of the things that we look at constantly is the capital needed for sourcing. We know that we will have a sizeable outlay each week we source, and we are working to keep that cost down to an average of $5. Now, if the right items come along and we have to pay up for them ($20-$40) we will do that when we know that we can at least sell for 3x to 4x the purchase price, but we work to keep a lot of items sub $5 so that it averages out.
As we move to look for higher ASP items, especially in bulk, we find that getting 3x -4x gets tougher. Then we see we can get more $/hr of work, but need more capital to invest in those items, and probably longer tail, so the returns take longer to come in. Always a balancing act…
FYI: BCFO, I agree on the alternate platforms. While eBay is still showing a decrease in the Shirt and Jeans market on their platform as being down 8.5%, now PoshMark is filling that hole in our sales. More work to do with the crossposting and daily reconciliations to ensure we have everything tied out, but this is where this part of the market is going…
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02/12/2019 at 8:58 am #56831
Poshmark so far seems like a successful experiment. What about Etsy? Do you think its a dead end? Did you decide to stop posting there as much?
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02/12/2019 at 10:01 am #56839
No, Etsy is still good, just much slower and still has a lower inventory amount. Veronica does the crossposting to Etsy, and she just passed 200 listings. Goal is to get that side up much higher this year (200 is a record for us).
Like the rule says…get to 500 listings!
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02/12/2019 at 7:46 am #56826
A day late to the party, but here’s my numbers for the previous week…
Total Items in Store: 1034
Items Sold: 35
Gross Sales: $792.75
Cost of Items Sold: $68.25
Highest Price Sold: $35.75 (Lucky Brand Jeans)
Average Price Sold: $22.65
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $155.68
Number of items listed this week: 70Took a bit of a hit on my average sales price this week, but moved a bit of old inventory that I purchased before I really knew what I was doing…so that’s a plus. Also, two straight weeks with no returns; which always make me a happy reseller!
Just wanted to take a second and give a big thank you to T-Satt, your evangelizing of consistent listing got me rather serious about trying it out. After switching to listing 10 items per day consistently as opposed to my old method of as many as possible until I had nothing left to post, the jump in sales is undeniable.
Anyway, hope everybody else has a great week and sells as much as possible!
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02/12/2019 at 8:36 am #56829
Thanks Shayward! I know it seems like tin foil hat stuff, but it does help. The same is true on Poshmark, where it rewards consistency over feast and famine on new listings.
This is probably good with most things in life: Better to do a little every day than try to do it all at once…
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02/12/2019 at 10:16 am #56842
Tinfoil hat or not, all of my data suggests to me that there’s definitely something to it. As always the caveat that correlation doesn’t prove causality definitely applies, but until I see better information that demonstrates a more profitable path I’m definitely sticking to this method.
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02/12/2019 at 12:12 pm #56853
“As always the caveat that correlation doesn’t prove causality”
Boy did that bring me back to my Consulting days…But it is true. But…sometimes correlation is enough… 🙂
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02/12/2019 at 12:18 pm #56857
Sometimes it makes sense to do something because it makes you feel like you’re doing something. Or like the baseball pitcher who wont wash his red hat. Whatever works.
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02/12/2019 at 1:08 pm #56862
Yeah I don’t wash my undergarments because it brings me luck. Lucky me for over half a century. Sorry had to go there lol.
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02/12/2019 at 4:51 pm #56884
Is it just me or does that also imply that you’ve been wearing the same underwear your entire life? Because to be completely honest I’m not sure I believe anybody could fit into their underoos as an adult…
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02/12/2019 at 7:13 pm #56895
I was born Baby Huhey :-).
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02/12/2019 at 8:51 am #56830
One thing I am going to try to do is have a mini stockpile in drafts. There are some days when I cannot list, and if I had 10 in the hopper with little to no editing it would be a good self care biz practice.
my order of flow:
1. post ALL to ebay and as I go I:
2 clothes/shoes/accessories to Posh
3. hardgoods and beauty to Mercari and some super easy clothing (tee shirts)
4. very certain clothes to Depop (Vintage, tee shirts, streetwear)So, by the time I am done w/ the listing, it should have touched 1-3 platforms at one process.
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02/12/2019 at 9:58 am #56838
Yep. That is how I do my Posh crosspostings. Do the work in SixBit to have it ready for eBay, then open Posh and copy/paste and upload the photos right then.
Then on the days I’m doing drafts (everything but the photos from the photographer), I’m grabbing about 10 existing listings to crosspost to Posh. That way I have new listings to Posh about every day.
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02/12/2019 at 10:52 am #56847
So do you photograph everything in square format now?
I HATE that posh requires square photos. Clothing does not play well with square…I don’t understand it.-
02/12/2019 at 11:45 am #56848
I shoot as much as I can in square or as close to square as possible for best ebay mobile compatibility. For my wifes posh photos, any longer items are shot in vertical and then screen shot cropped to a square which gives the photo a solid thick border on each side, but the clothing is not cut off in the photo.
Is there a way to attach photos here? I can show you what I mean.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/12/2019 at 11:59 am #56850
If I had an app that could EASILY convert images to that solid border on my phone, I would do Posh as I listed.
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02/12/2019 at 12:12 pm #56854
Here’s an example. I hope it’t ok I post this link, if not please feel free to remove it.
https://poshmark.com/listing/NWOT-Venus-Tie-Dye-Comfy-Dress-Size-XS-5c5115c7194dadf1beebab4f
She shoots on her phone. The full shots of longer items are taken in regular mode, and the rest in square when possible. Then to make the long photos square, she simply turns her phone sideways. Screen shot, edit, crop to square and center the long photo in the middle of the square border.
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02/12/2019 at 12:13 pm #56855
Retro and SEAM: Yep, we are all square photos now. Our photographer is great, so no issue on our end.
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02/12/2019 at 2:30 pm #56865
If so many folks on Poshmark are Hacking the system anyway and putting undesirable bars on the side of photo, why don’t they just do like ebay and automatically add the bars?
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02/12/2019 at 3:09 pm #56874
Very impressive photos!
You can use imgur.com to post photos here. Just load the photos into imgur, then copy the link and paste it in your post.
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02/12/2019 at 8:59 am #56832
Inventory example:
Yesterday I spent $90
The current value of those listed items is about $600. Margin is eh for me at at average $6 per piece. That is just the way it rolls sometimes. Do I like spending $90 in one pop / average of $6.60 per item? NO. But that is the way those days go sometimes when I choose thrift stores as my sourcing.-
02/12/2019 at 9:30 am #56836
Agreed. If you sell clothes, then the “big brand” thrift stores are often the only choices. Goodwill etc is super convenient because they’re open all the time and usually neat and tidy. All clothes organized by color 🙂
Have you scouted in your region for the smaller independent thrift stores that may have sporadic hours but much better deals? We have a handful in our area that are only open a couple days a week because they’re run out of churches or community centers. They often have either “pay by the bag” deals or just ridiculously cheap prices. A little more of a hassle to scavenge because stuff is in piles, but much better deals.
And obviously if you sell hard goods, I cant say enough about auctions. It’ll take up most of the day, but the value for your money is unbeatable.
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02/12/2019 at 12:11 pm #56852
Think outside the box. I’m in Dallas fort Worth and I only do online auctions. I also do online estate sale auctions, and online storage auctions. I just can’t sit 6 hours through a complete auction anymore.
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02/12/2019 at 4:18 pm #56882
Have you scouted in your region for the smaller independent thrift stores that may have sporadic hours but much better deals? We have a handful in our area that are only open a couple days a week because they’re run out of churches or community centers. They often have either “pay by the bag” deals or just ridiculously cheap prices. A little more of a hassle to scavenge because stuff is in piles, but much better deals.
Jay, I have been to lots of small independent thrift stores with good prices in the middle of nowhere with weird hours, but what they sell is 99% crap (ie, ebay sales price of $8 or less or unsellable due to heavy wear). I never use the fill-a-bag option b/c when I only find 2-3 items that i want, it’s cheaper to buy them individually. The stores that have better stuff have started creating boutique sections.
My point here is not to complain about how bad things are (b/c I have found a way that works for me), but just to say that not all areas are the same. Even rural areas vary. I would really like to come to visit the independent thrifts in your area some time and fill some bags! 🙂
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02/12/2019 at 5:13 pm #56886
Understood. People should assume we aren’t preaching there’s only one way. Instead we’re just sharing our experience. We’ve scavenged in different urban and rural areas around the US and found there are similarities in these different areas. It’s always fun to go to a place we’ve never been before and try to find the places where stuff is the cheapest.
But as you point out there are always exceptions. Glad you found what works for you. Thats all that matters.
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02/12/2019 at 10:03 am #56840
Yep, we can’t wait for garage sale and church sale season. Good money there.
We need to try some auctions. Haven’t done that yet, and it could be a good new sourcing stream…
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02/12/2019 at 10:51 am #56846
This past summer was the first time I actively shopped clothing and shoes at yard sales. Previously it was electronics, toys, etc.
Man….I got a TON of awesome clothing and shoes. Buying in bulk always scored me great deals. There was one yardsale where I bought 3 giant garbage bags of like new mens clothes – Nike, Ralph Lauren, Chaps, etc. The highlight was 10 pair of bright plaid Izod golf pants that were like new. I sold them for $30 a pop…and only paid 25 cents a pair.
Most items I paid $1 or less for.
We yard sale as a family. This is when it is real nice to have a minivan with a dvd player in it. The kids watch a movie and occasionally come out when a yardsale with a lot of toys comes along. Then we let the kids pick our lunch stop as a reward for being patient.
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02/12/2019 at 12:08 pm #56851
I started selling clothes and shoes out of necessity. I’m very disabled and can’t mess with electronics and stuff like that anymore. I know that clothes and shoes will slow down, but they never slow down as much as anything else because everyone needs clothes and shoes. Plus if times get rough are sells should actually go up in a recession and not down. Great job on the kids.
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02/12/2019 at 12:18 pm #56858
Auctions are the motherload of long tail items. You never know what you’ll get till you show up.
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02/12/2019 at 10:43 am #56845
Reading Doublythumbs post reminded me to post a development in my considerations of going full time.
About 2 years ago I encouraged a friend I worked closely with at my last job to start his own inspection/mechanical reliability business. I didn’t think he would, but after a few months at a new TERRIBLE job as a supervisor in a union aluminum plant, he cold turkey quit his job and started his own business. A year and a half later, he is doing exceedingly well – as in “I need more pockets to stuff all this cash” well. His business has zero overhead as it is just him doing all the work, but he is starting to cap out with how much he can take on.
We meet weekly because I hired him to provide training to some of my employees. He has floated hiring me as a contractor to do some engineering work for him, but I have declined because that doesn’t seem very ethical with our current relationship as him providing contract services to my current employer at my direction.
Well his time providing training will be wrapping up in April once my trainees are certified. After a rough couple weeks at work I’ve reconsidered his offer. I’ve asked him to present to me a proposal as to what his usage of me would entail if I quit my current job. I’ve told him I don’t want to be an employee, but would do contract work that takes up 2-3 days max from home a week, because I would also be doing ebay full time.
We’ll be meeting this Thursday to talk about it. I’ve been very on the fence about going ebay full time because it would be difficult to replace my entire income package from work. With full time ebay AND a consistent Engineering contract gig though, I could earn FAR more than I currently do.
We’ll see how this goes.
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02/12/2019 at 2:33 pm #56866
Good Afternoon everyone. Suzy here in snowy MA. Need help with our tax keeping records, all advice welcome.
We have been using Godaddy bookeeping to keep track for online sales and purchases but of course I have managed to screw it up. LOL
I have added all online purchases made for re-sale to our expenses tab, i did not know that I should have added to COGS tab. Cant even find the COGS tab, anyone know?
As you can see I suck at keeping records and need some guidance badly.
Is there a more user friendly idiot proof solution out there?
Does SixBit help with record keeping.Thank you, Suzy.
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02/12/2019 at 3:04 pm #56870
You can add expense categories on the manage tab.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by The_SEAM_Store.
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02/12/2019 at 4:55 pm #56885
Thank you Seam, Sharyn for your quick reply’s.
I hate bookkeeping don’t want to do it!
Thanks, appreciate it. Suzy.
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02/12/2019 at 11:07 pm #56906
Suzy – one thing you could do is hire a bookkeeper or accountant to do your books for you temporarily with the goal of setting up a system that works for you to (and the accountant who does your taxes with you annually). The key is finding someone you can work well with.
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02/13/2019 at 9:39 am #56914
Hi Geoff, Thank you for responding. Yes looks like I will try and find a local CPA or Accountant to help us set up everything correctly for us.
We have tried previously to find help with taxes but not had much luck, most I thought were just too expensive.
We let our eBay store decline and eventually closed it after the photograph fiasco. We still sell lots of items just not on eBay.
I spend way to much time worrying over bookkepping chores when I could be listing.. Cheers!
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02/13/2019 at 11:15 am #56917
Hiring an accountant seems expensive and it’s something you can do yourself. But the $900 check we write to our accountant at tax time is the best money we spend all year. That’s the total cost to do our taxes for our rentals, eBay, and our video work.
It’d probably be cheaper with people with just an eBay business. Total peace of mind. Every town has lots of local accountants that do everything from bookkeeping to taxes. Best to just ask for a free meeting to see if you click.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Jay.
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02/13/2019 at 2:35 pm #56923
Hi Jay Ryanne love you guys you’re great!
$900 for your accountant seems fair, not as yet been able to find one as inexpensive.
Been quoted $1200 $1400 and 2K seems too much to us.
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02/14/2019 at 8:48 am #56955
I guess it depends what kind of area you’re in. Maybe you live in a more expensive part of the country? If so, $1200+ may be the going rate.
But it also depends on what exactly you want them to do.
Our accountant charges $200/hr, so it takes about 4 hours to complete all our taxes.
We give them all our income/expenses nicely laid out in a spreadsheet. Takes work, but we dont make them hunt for info.But if we were to just drop shoeboxes of random receipts onto their desk, it’d cost us much more for them to complete the job.
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02/14/2019 at 8:56 am #56962
Ah, yes, the “real” accrual method. The accrual of 4000 receipts in one shoebox.
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02/14/2019 at 8:55 am #56961
just to break it down further:
$250 each for personal taxes
$300 for our business taxes for a total of $800.we had another CPA quote us at minimum $1400 to do only our business taxes.
also they wanted to evenutally charge us a percentage of our gross to do our taxes.
we were like, um, no thanks.
so we’re sticking with this guy for now. -
02/14/2019 at 3:30 pm #56986
Same as ours, but we also have to do a state return in Georgia.
so we end up with our S-Corp filing, our personal joint and the GA. and he electronic files all 3 for $975mike at mdcgfa
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02/13/2019 at 3:59 pm #56932
I second that SEAM!
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02/12/2019 at 3:07 pm #56872
In GoDaddy bookkeeping, here is what I do to add COGS:
Go to the Expenses tab
Click “Add Transaction”
Under Category, pull down the selection menu
Select “Cost of Goods Sold”From there, you would put in the name, description (optional), and cost.
If you have expenses that aren’t listed as COGS, you will have to edit each one and change the category to COGS.
I haven’t used Six Bit, but I believe it to be a more complicated software program. So, I wouldn’t recommend using it if you have difficulty with GoDaddy.
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02/13/2019 at 12:01 pm #56919
Yes you can add whatever categories you want.
I track my COGS in a separate spreadsheet, as the actual COGS of the item will include other things such as sales tax, tape, boxes, packing materials, etc.
In Godaddy I created a category under Non Business Expenses called “Inventory Purchase”. All of my purchase transactions go here, which excludes them from the expenses report in Godaddy. I upload the actual receipt image and put the number of items I bought in the description.
So for tax purposes I report the actual COGS of my sales. If I ever get audited I have all of my purchase receipts permanently documented with the actual receipt in Godaddy to back up my COGS spreadsheet.
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02/13/2019 at 3:58 pm #56931
twizzle: Regarding SixBit, yes, it will automatically do your COGS for you. This is what I use each week for our reporting, since it is your true COGS for each item sold (provided that you add in the cost of each item into SixBit when you create the listing).
The one caveat to that is that for tax purposes, you will be calculating COGS differently. For tax purposes, you will take your beginning of the year inventory value, plus all of your inventory purchases during the year, less your ending inventory value. So for that calculation, you won’t need an item by item COGS. They SHOULD be the same number, but I know that variations and errors happen. 99% of the time they are close enough to each other.
So SixBit is great for management analysis and reporting, but tax reporting will be all based on true cash in and cash out, since we are not on Accrual Basis for taxes, we are on Cash Basis.
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02/13/2019 at 4:10 pm #56935
Re: cogs, remember that you can also count items that you purchased for selling purposes but had to discard for some reason (broken, donated). When you do the inventory-based calculation of COGS like in the IRS worksheet, the cost of these additional items automatically gets incorporated (assuming you removed them from your inventory tracking). If you just track cost of each item that you actually sold, you miss out on this extra cost deduction.
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02/16/2019 at 4:50 pm #57086
Thank you Troy, appreciate it.
By the way does anyone here use Mycostpro or Easyauctiontracker spreadsheets alongside there Godaddy bookkeeping account. If yes which one to recommend to a fellow scavenger.
Cheers!
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02/17/2019 at 4:00 pm #57133
I have used Easy Auction Tracker in the past. Used it for three years before we moved to SixBit.
I recommend it. Low cost, and keeps things in line. It links up with your store so that when items sell, it uses the SKU link between your Inventory tab of the spreadsheet and a sale, so that it reduces your inventory when you run it.
I’m a spreadsheet geek, so I loved it.
Never did Mycostpro.
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02/17/2019 at 4:26 pm #57134
We are the same as T-Satt. Used EAT {easy auction tracker] for two years. If you are familiar with spread sheets and know how to write formulas, there are areas that you can add your own columns to customize it also.
One thing that I suggest before you start doing any type of inventory management is that you develop a unique inventory control numbering system. Code it in some way that each number is unique and attach that number to the item by way of a tag or label of some sort. Then it will help you with using EAT and also in the future if you go to a more robust system such as WonderLister or SixBit.
EAT will not track any type of cross listing and if you do cross list it won’t track it automatically but you can do manual entries by entering items in your inventory tab, date purchased, where bought and sold price.
They also have some video tutorials but not many nor too in depth. I believe, and is my guess from asking questions and getting replies that this is a one man show, who developed an elaborate spread sheet and loaded it with Macros and got Ebay to approve him. Questions take a long time to be answered because I think this guy also works another job. But don’t let that sway you, it is more a guess on my part.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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02/12/2019 at 2:43 pm #56868
Great podcast, thank you. I never thought about online auctions as a legit source of items, but I may start looking. I honestly always get sick of dealing with consignors in February and say I am done, it never lasts though!
Feb 3 -Feb 2, 2019Total Items in Store: 3522
Items Sold: 70
Gross Sales: $1088.08
Consignor Commission (COGS): $317.56 (29.2%)
Highest Price Sold: $57 (thule bike rack)
Average Price Sold: $15.54
Returns: 5
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 58Lots of returns, and we barely made our survival goal. I really need to implement some changes because our goal is 2k per week, survival (“keep the lights on “) is 1k
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02/12/2019 at 9:04 pm #56902
Good Luck, Retro, and Congrats, Doubly!
My January highs are now lost in the longest month of the year…. 🙂 Strange how sales just turned off this past weekend (1 sale each day), compared to the 4 weeks prior. So it goes. Last week’s last hurrah:
02/03/18 – 02/09/18
Total Items In Store: 1044
Items Sold: 24
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $1,080.83
Highest Price Sold: $175 – WWII AAF Cloth Escape Map Scarf Mediterranean
Average Price Sold: $45.03
Cost of Items Sold: $86.55
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $7.40
Number of Items listed this week: 60As for inventory, I spend what I feel comfortable with (total and per item) when I can get it….not sourcing consistently supports this. If I feel that I’m spending more than getting in, I just dial it back and tend to the piles (and get anxious and grumpy about not enough cha-ching action). Like SEAM, I’m looking forward to Spring, and getting some plants and crops in the ground.
In this still-new-to-me house, I’m trying to determine if I want to save/spend any earnings on help with the grounds…we have about an acre, and I need large shrubs cleared, a large garden tilled (unless I go with raised beds), fencing for the garden, and landscaping for the rest. I love love love plants, and know what I can spend on my own, so part of me is actually thinking I might be able to save a bit in hiring someone, for example, to do the design of the large rain garden, etc, rather than me tinkering around with this and that plant over the years. Thennnnn, the other part of me is thinking take that money and spend it on plants after you design your own x, y, and z (and always tossing $$ into my SEP). Nothing here’s happening fast, so I still have time to overthink it all… 🙂
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02/12/2019 at 9:07 pm #56903
Oh, also meant to post this article from the Washington Post on retail arbitrage:
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02/12/2019 at 11:28 pm #56907
Sharyn – The web site for our treasure hunts is triangletreasurehunt.com
I hope that’s ok to post here since it was requested, but I can remove this post if needed.
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02/13/2019 at 3:49 pm #56929
Congratulations Doubly!
Sure you’ll do well. Good luck, Suzy.
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02/13/2019 at 9:08 pm #56949
Thank you, Suzy! It means a lot to have all of this support from this community!
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02/14/2019 at 6:43 pm #56996
Follow-up to the “what do you do with the $$$ you make each month, savings, bills…” question.
Car broke down today…..
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02/15/2019 at 1:42 pm #57039
SEAM: Ick.
One of my funds I put money into each month…Auto repair. I don’t have car payments (all owned outright, and tell my boys that if they ever finance a car I will scold them repeatedly), but I put money away for car repairs every month. Don’t know when, but they will happen.
Same for home repairs, medical payments, and Christmas. All things that I will need to spend on, all buckets I fill each month. Then when needed, I am ahead of it.
Then there is the self-escrow accounts: Property Tax, Home Owners Insurance, Car Insurance, and Vehicle Registration.
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02/15/2019 at 1:49 pm #57040
Yep. Same way we do it.
Frustrating since I just sunk a few grand into it this past fall. I considered selling it after it was running well again. Kicking myself for not pulling the plug sooner. Still waiting on the dealership to call and let me know the diagnosis, but it sounds as though my engine is full of marbles, and running only at 500rmps. Ugh
Fortunately I have an enormous lifepile in reserve for inclement weather and summer thrift doldrums, so sourcing can always be put on the back burner for up to 2-3 months.
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02/15/2019 at 1:54 pm #57041
Having a backlog can sometimes be a blessing!
Good luck!
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02/15/2019 at 3:47 pm #57042
$8500
Uh. Nope
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02/17/2019 at 3:54 pm #57131
OUCH! That was major.
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02/15/2019 at 4:12 pm #57043
2/3 – 2/9
Total Items in Store: 2750
Items Sold: 39
Cost of Items Sold: $41
Total Sales: $1432
Highest Price Sold: $159 (Spanish American war photos)
Average Price Sold: $36.71
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
Number of items listed this week: 50 -
02/18/2019 at 10:22 pm #57255
Hopefully I’m putting this in the right place. There was a guy on youtube who talked about how to hack the make offer to buyers scenario. Just type in https://ofr.ebay.com/offerapp/sio/createOffer/ *insert item number on end] and Voila. It works even if you don’t have a store, but seems to limit stores to about 5 a day and non-store users to just a couple.
Bill
-Navyvetcomputers--
02/19/2019 at 8:21 am #57268
Thats a cool trick. Has sending offers worked for you?
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