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Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week October 6-12, 2019 Total Items in Store: 8527 Items Sold: 41 Gross Sales: $951.67 Cost of It
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 432: Geographic Arbitrage] -
Oct 6 – 12
Total Items in Store: 2576
Items Sold: 15
Total Sales : $860
* Below yearly average of $953
Highest Price: $225 (MCM Lane Acclaim Dovetail Walnut Coffee Table)
Average Price: $57
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $19
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $186
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 68Another good week on my end. I had fewer sales but the things that did sell were higher prices items. I spent most of my week listing old keys. I bought a box lot of them as an experiment for around $90. There were probably close to 150 keys in there. I cleaned most of them up and researched the brands and styles and got them all listed. I immediately sold two bunches of them and made back 2/3 of my cost. I’m sure the other 66 listings will slowly sell eventually.
This week I plan on listing a ton of winter clothing that I’ve stockpiled for the upcoming cold season. I’ve also got to find time to fix some grout cracks that have been neglected in our stone outer walls. It should be a fairly simple task, but I’ve learned since becoming a homeowner that projects will usually take at least twice as long than expected.
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I spent some time this past week navel gazing and concluded that I am too dependent on one particular source of items, which is a fantastic source that I will continue mining, but doesn’t afford much opportunity to scale. In particular, a place that’s only open office hours is no help if the time blocks I have free for sourcing are mostly evenings. Accordingly, I’m starting a grand experiment of sourcing on eBay. Basically, just trolling the bus/industrial auctions for closing soonest, looking for likely stuff. So far, so good. It is clear if I’m going to do this, I must be content with lower margins (3x-4x). The shipping cost is brutal, especially from the states. So it needs to be stuff that sells for $150+ for it to be worth the (usually $40+) shipping, even if the item itself I buy for $0.99. So far this week I’ve spent $250 on about 5 items – we’ll see how it pans out! Regardless, I am sticking with this till I figure it out.
Lots to talk about this week… very exciting that you are training somebody to ship. I highly recommend you *start* an inventory system now with newly listed items, and fold your old inventory into that system gradually. Personally I use (1) numbered shelving UNITS for big items, and (2) numbered tote bins for smalls. Each newly listed item, when stored, has its location marked in the spreadsheet. There are lots of other systems, but the point is, you can start with new inventory, you don’t have to completely revamp the old immediately.
Good week on ebay.
Sales c/w shipping: CAD$2725, 8 items, COGS: $355 –> Gross profit: $2001
Expenditures: $900 –> Cashflow: $1456
Listed: $640, 40 items
Hours: 13
Items sold: best was 36 thermostats for $700. These have been listed forever. Also, 2 huge gas valves (weight about 80 lbs each), for $200 each but I made money on shipping so I profited about $600. Got the lot they came in for like $15, and I still have 4 smaller valves to sell.-
–Why not scavenge for items other than industrial? Break out of just the one category?
–Good suggestion about starting the inventory system on all new items. Must break through the wall of bad habits.-
Good question. I do buy other stuff in my in-person buying. Mostly consumer hard goods but also I have done OK on vintage stuff before. Doubtless there is money to be made on auctions in other categories, but I am finding enough stuff in my category (which is really a huge catch-all supercategory anyway) that I’m not feeling the urge to branch out much. Maybe will happen eventually, though.
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2019-10-06 – 2019-10-12
Total Items In Store: 3285
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $ 70
Total Sales: $ 715.78
Highest Price Sold: $ 100 (Vintage Bike)
Average Price Sold: $ 35.79
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 59.11
Number of items listed: 37Gut Sales Report for the week: Good week. The start of the week felt like the busy season, but then sales went somewhat flat.
Challenge of the week: I still have a lot of items I need to process and list. I think I have about 300 ready to go. Just when I think my purchasing will slow down since garage sales are gone, I keep finding stuff elsewhere.
Scavenge of the week: Found 3 pair of shoes for $12 at an estate sale on the last day (I bought more, but these were the best deal). They just wanted to get rid of things. These 3 pair I will list for $100 each.
Mark S
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Oct. 4-13 (week and a half)
Items Sold: 13 (9 Ebay and 4 Poshmark)
Total Sales: $ 400.xx
Items listed: 13
Highlights:
Vintage Girl Scout Uniform – $39 (COG <$1)
Music Box (Anastasia theme) – $69 (COG $4)
Waterford bowl – $45 (was part of a massive super cheap lot)
Sold a pair of Levi’s jeans and a rain jacket from my teen daughter. At least there’s a benefit to her nonstop growing and changing tastes.Sales have been good, but I have been falling short on listing last week. I was down with a sinus infection, and very low on energy. My 9-5 took almost all of my energy. I also tried getting my unlisted item storage (AKA death pile) shaped up a bit. I think I’ve got a good focus for the upcoming week, at least.
To add some excitement to the mix, my husband’s car died for good, and we’re managing getting by with one car for now. The positive part is that he is opening and willing to helping out with the reselling. He started by drafting some listing and has offered to make post office runs once we have a better vehicle situation.
Goals for the week:
List an average of 7 items a day.
Crosspost 10 items.
Improve inventory and storage.
Fill a box for the thrift store -
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Great podcast, and what cozy dispatches describing small town life! Funny, I thought I was pulling up last weeks to listen to again while processing stuff, and about 10 minutes in I realized it was a new podcast! I love the surprise Sunday evening podcasts.
10/06 – 10/12/19 (no cross listing is done between platforms)
eBay store: totommyto
Total store items: 889
Number of items sold: 13
Total eBay sales (not counting s/h): $394
Cost of items sold: $19
Highest price sold: $95 – biggish rusty old Snap on tool box, paid $5
Average price sold: $30.30
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: $3
Number of new items listed this week: 38
Sell through rate for the week: 1.5
Number International sales: 1Etsy store oldfleatoymarket
Total store items: 667
Number of items sold: 2
Total Etsy sales (not counting s/h): $43
Cost of items sold: $2
Highest price sold: $30 – Vintage Dakin vinyl fox character toy
Average price sold: $21.50
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory: 0
Number of new items listed this week: 4
Sell through rate for the week: 0.3
Number International sales: 0Note on Etsy: I have changed over all listings to USA Free Shipping. I also spend $1 a day right now promoting items. I keep rooting for Etsy. RAH RAH
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Items in Store 1222
Items Sold 20
Total Sales $725.00
COGS $71.00
Total Profit $654.00
Average profit $32.70
Average sales price $36.25
New Listings 3Had a great week with extended handling time…until the weekend. Saturday was 2 small sales and none on Sunday. I was so hoping to crack $1k this week.
I averaged over $1k per week in August. In Sept and October I’m average $655 in sales. Very disappointing to say the least.
I’m way off target for my fall sales goal. I was listing 50 items a week in September and it had no positive impact on my sales (well, I supposed it would have been significantly worse without those items.)
In other news, no new listings this week. I was hoping to get a bunch done this weekend after being out of town most of the week, but a virus knocked me out of commission all weekend.
And for a weight loss update – I am officially down more than 80lb since the beginning of June! I can wear XL shirts and 38 waist pants comfortably. I track and forecast my weight loss and I’m on track to hit 100 lbs loss by thanksgiving. Woot! Woot!
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Retro, Congrats on the weight loss! Any specific diet, exercise plan?
I’ve lost about 15 pounds since July, which pales in comparison to your loss, but I haven’t really been exercising and it’s not a strict diet of any sort….mostly I just don’t eat anything after the evening meal.
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Ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, and I walk consistently. I’ve consciously not done any other exercise other than walking. I do walk up some pretty steep hills which is major cardio that maxes out heart rate.
Once I cross the 100lb weight loss mark around Thanksgiving I will add in weightlifting and crossfit exercises.It is true that diet is 80% of health and nutrition. Exercise is not a requirement at all unless you want it.
Keto and fasting is the magic cure for folks who are obese and insulin resistant.
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Oh man, I cook almost all of our meals now. I have a blackstone griddle that I simply can’t live without. I LOVE cooking now. Last week while on a business trip I ate out my meals. Normally I look forward to business trips to eat out. This time almost every meal I was left unsatisfied and thinking “Man, I can cook food way better than this!”.
The only good meal I ate all week was at an Asian hot pot. The irony is that at that restaurant I cooked the food myself.
I know alot of folks see Keto as a restrictive diet, but I don’t. I don’t miss junk food or carb foods at all, and I mainly attribute that to fasting. I eat better than I have in my whole life along with a much wider variety of foods. If a person feels limited in keto then it is a boundary of their own invention.
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yes! i’ve been strict keto since the last week of August and have been doing well. i just learned via reddit keto forums that Aldi now sells low carb bread and “pasta”.
our nearest Aldi had both. so i grabbed a bunch. i try not to eat that stuff a lot, but boy is it nice to make buttery toast (or pasta) to kill that craving every once in a while. but i do feel like my carb cravings have gone down with time, i see carby stuff (omg popcorn is my achilles heel) and i’m like, nah!
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Great stuff! I sometimes seek out the wealthiest zip codes within 2 hours of me, and go source in those areas, I call it “reconnaissance thrifting”, lol…I totally agree with you about the “good enough” with photos..while we can always improve our quality, it does not necessarily improve the sell through rate, as long as your listings are solid in other ways..having said that, I personally am tired of my 3 clamp lights, lol…
Very cool that you are part of your community, and the farmers group..I just streamed an awesome news piece over the weekend on CBS that you might have interest in..It was called ” Behind the ugly produce movement.” It was covering a startup business that combats the food waste problem of fruits & veggies that are slightly bruised or oddly shaped, that would normally be thrown away, and how that business delivers them to your door for about 40% off of retail..Very cool concept, and thought you might like to see it..
Yes to the shoes, I never pay more than $8.92 for a pair of shoes going from Florida to California weighing between 3 to 4 pounds..Pirateship automatically integrates with eBay, you simply refresh within Pirateship and all of your items are automatically there, you then seamlessly print your label and it marks as shipped with tracking automatically uploaded in eBay..No difference, don’t overthink it, it’s actually easier than just using eBay..
Thanks for a great podcast as usual!
Kind Regards,
Rick
My Store Week October 6-12, 2019 ( 100% thrifted used clothing & footwear)
Total Items in Store: 608
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $1565.75
Cost of Items Sold: $122.32
Cost of helpers: $0
Highest Price Sold: $160.75 (New deadstock pair of vintage Nettleton Derby shoes)
Average Price Sold: $78.28
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $117.00
Number of items listed this week: 23-
A couple questions regarding heavier shoes.
-How long have you been using Pirateship?
-How do you calculate/charge shipping on ebay? Do you pass on the savings.
– Have your sales increased since starting pirateship in regards to heavier shoes?-
Retro, were you asking me? If so, about 6 to 7 months using Pirateship, I do free priority shipping domestically & use calculated International 1st class at the buyer’s expense for foreign sales..I never pass a penny on to anybody..If they pay me $39.00 and it only costs me $25.00, that’s $14.00 in my pocket..I utilize best offer on all of my listings, so when I receive an offer, I always check if it’s an International buyer first, and if it is, I will often accept a lower offer because I know that I will be making money on the shipping, & thus often get what I originally desired anyway..
99% of all of my shoes are under 4 pounds, so the most that I ever get charged for a pair under 4 lbs, is $8.92 coast to coast..whereas eBay, with the top rated seller discount, would still be well over $14.00..I stopped using priority boxes months ago and bubble wrap and double poly bag my shoes, even internationally, and it saves me huge, as often a box will put you over the next weight threshold..I’ve never had an issue using this method..Same for my suits and port coats, no bubble wrap, but double poly bagged..
hope this helps..
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@ Ricker and Others: Anyone using PirateShip from within SixBit? We use SixBit as a third party listing tool to handle 3 platforms, Ebay, Etsy and Shopify. Other members here also use sixBit and a few WonderListers and Jay and Ryanne have recently started using InkFrog.
So currently SixBit has an interface with Endica, Express One, and using the UPS and FedEx programs Starship and World Ship.
I guess we could just print directly through Ebay and I suppose Pirateship works with Etsy and Shopify.
Just thought I would ask. I could also try calling someone at Pirateship directly [if I can get someone] and see what they say.
Thanks …
mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
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Howdy: Just had a long online “chat” with PirateShip. They are an upfront mail source. They are only integrated to the point that you buy and print labels from them and they pass your information back to Ebay and Etsy. If you want the shipping data in your WonderLister, SixBit, InkFrog program, those programs will then have to pull that data from Ebay, Etsy and Shopify.
They said that presently they do not have a way to have third party apps access them directly, control all your shipping from your 3rd party app then they report that along to Ebay or Etsy. So be it, but what one has to do is keep the PirateShip tab open in your browser and then when you are ready to ship you go to Pirateship and do your shipping from there, they send to Ebay, Etsy and Shopify for record keeping and of course SixBIt, WL, and IF will pull that data in by way of their “agents” every ten minutes using the SQL agents.
Here is the snag for us. About 30 percent or more of our packages are larger sizes which forces them into DIM Weight. And as such FedEx is a much better rate than anything USPS or UPS has to offer. PirateShip agreed and said that they can only offer USPS rates and can’t offer anything cheaper or any FedEx labeling. They are working on it for the future but have no idea when.
So, if your overall dimensions LxWxH = 1,728 cubic inches or more you are far better off with FedEx labels which you can access directly through Ebay and Etsy and as such, PS admitted we are better off going directly through Ebay, Etsy and Shopify for those.
Also, at 6.01 lbs. and higher our in-house pricing spread sheet we created and use, show that FedEx is cheaper than USPS by several dollars and of course that increases as the item gets heavier.
Any item UNDER 1,728 cubic inches from 6.01 lbs. up to 30 lbs. [where our chart ends] shows $3.39 to $51.49 cheaper by using FedEx than any USPS service at all.
Then when any item gets over the 1,728 cubic inches, DIM Weight starts to get applied depending on the weight and FedEx still comes out much better.
One of the Scavengerlife member’s Josh created the “FlipperTools” website which has 3 great shipping and pricing tools to use one for when you don’t know where a package will eventually go but you need to price it to build in free shipping, one for when you do know where the package is going but you want to know the least expensive cost to send it there and of course his dimensional weight calculator. His DIM weight calculator based on weight and the 3 sizes [lxwxh] calculates the total cubic inches and then only tells you which pricing tier to use in both USPS, UPS and FedEx. Then we look at our spread sheet and FedEx is always cheaper even though Josh’s calculator says to use the higher FedEx tier.
Here’s an example:
An 8 lb. 18″x14″x13″ box using Flipper Tools DIM weight tool shows it is 2,730 cubic inches. Too large for PirateShips Cubic pricing tiers. Then it shows us that this package falls into the DIM weight status and a “Surcharge does Apply”, then it shows us which Tiers we need to look at to get the pricing which is how USPS, FedEx and UPS price for DIM Weight. [AhHa] That is how the USPS and others calculate for the DIM weight pricing. They jump up in Tiers and charge those higher rates.Well then Josh’s tool shows us that to price this package’s shipping since it does fall into DIM weight, we are to take the 17 lb. rate for USPS and the 20 lb. rate for FedEx and UPS. Well guess what, even though the FedEx surcharge tier is higher their costs are lower.
The Flipper Dimensional Tool shows us which tier to look at and according to my spread sheet chart, the USPS price at the 17 lb. [surcharge for DIM weight tier] is $39.23 and the FedEx charge for this same package at the 20 lb. tier is $21.81] = $17.42 less expensive.
So, our chart shows anything over 1lb. 1 oz and under 5 lbs. 15 oz. goes USPS and anything over 6.01 lbs. goes FedEx. Then anything over 1,728 cubic inches goes FedEx.
PirateShip said the only thing they can offer at this time then is the “Cubic Inch” Pricing tiers and can’t compete with the larger or heavier stuff. Maybe in the future.
So, for now we will try using PirateShip for the under 6 lb. mark and under 1,728 cubic [not DIM Weight items} anything over goes FedEx.
Hopefully this will help some trying to figure all this out. I heard Ryanne say, boy all this shipping stuff is complicated. In a certain way yep, but with a few spreadsheets to use as cheat sheets and Josh’s Flipper Tools it is easy.
Oh and by the way, Josh’s other tools which will show the cost for any package by its weight and 3 sizes does show the cost with the DIM weight already figured in and it will show you what it will cost for zones 1 thru zone 9 and the best carrier to use for the best price.
We used this tool to determine what costs to build in for our whole store in switching over to free shipping. Most of our 1,200 +/- items we got repriced for a zone 6 build in cost for free shipping in about 2 days. Etsy is completely free shipping now, since they used a forceful maneuver to edge sellers into free shipping and over half of Ebay is done and the estimated shipping costs are built in.
I asked Pirate Ship if they could project costs like this and they said no. So, Josh’s tools are a great aide to SL members and BTW his site and Tools have been mentioned here on SL many, many times by other members as well as Jay and Ryanne. I also think the Flipper Tools site may be in the SL “Resources and Tools” section and if not it should be. They also did an interview with him some years ago, if I recall.
Good listing, good shipping and much success ya’ll.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta.
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Thanks Jay,
When I decided to retire from being a fine dining server, I experimented with different eBay business models for quite some time..I just went full time on the 15th of September, 2 days before my 55th birthday..I have limited space, and have a solid brand knowledge of higher end clothing & footwear..My model is to only source items that will sell for $65.00 or more shipped, and it’s working out really well..I went full time with only 500 items in my store, and now have just over 600..I live very frugally, could give a shit about fancy things, cook at home, and am single with two dogs. I own my car and knew my numbers before I took the plunge, had all car repairs done, and made sure that I had 6 months of all bills in my paypal account..I mainly sell suits, sport coats, women’s knitwear, and both his & hers shoes..There are so many models that work for all of us, but I custom tailored a model that met my needs..Having said that, I plan on moving into a larger domicile in February that has more space & a garage..There is no way that I could ever have company over now, bins everywhere, lol..
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Sounds like you’ve doe everything right so far. You must have a very good eye for quality items.
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Thanks again, and I do have a strong eye for quality, and I learn every time I’m sourcing by trusting my eye, and looking up tags..I’ve been a part time hobby seller on eBay since 2006, but just took it seriously..I still make mistakes, like my recent prom dress, lol, what was I thinking?
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I had a sudden week of great sales when I sold a total of 8 pairs of cashmere socks to 4 buyers within 24 hours of listing for $258! I paid $18 for all of them. If only I had more!
Decided yesterday that I’m getting a new ebay space in my house. We’re having some rooms remodeled and while preparing for the contractors we were moving all kinds of furniture around and decided to make the largest room that is in the back of the house my new ebay room. It will actually end up freeing up a room so we can have a guest room again. The “new” ebay space is much larger, 25″ x 11″. It used to be our “movie room”. It was always an awkward space for a couch and chairs with it being so narrow so this will work out great. Before we move stuff in there, we’re having it painted, new trim installed etc. That’s going to cost a bit so I’ll be listing, listing, listing like crazy this week to earn some extra $$$.
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Way to go Julie. Same size room we work out of. Ours is a bonus room over the double car garage. 12′ x 23′ long. We do everything up her except storage. That’s all in the double garage. We bring in coming goods, cleaning, photography, weighing, listings, shipping, box storage, shipping supplies, storage bins for listed items [in transport to storage area] laying around and office supply cabinet. It is tight but still can navigate OK. Also have two computer work stations with double monitors and at times we have 3 people up here working at the same time.
Good luck and remember to use vertical space. Shelf above shelf on top of table sort of thing.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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Thanks Mike! I’m getting excited but it’s probably going to be months before the contractors are done with all of the work going on in our house so I’ll have plenty of time to plan the layout. My husband suggests I set up an assembly line for myself in there. But I think it will be more like a room with zones. It will be nice to have a permanent photography setup that I don’t have to put away. And as a bonus, a bigger room with more square footage means I can write off a little bit more of the home’s expenses on my taxes.
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Total Items In Store: 239
Items Sold: 5
Cost of Items Sold: $28
Total Sales: $126
Highest Price Sold: $60 New platter (paid $24 clearance)
Average Price Sold: $26
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of items listed: 29!Finally got back to listing while home sick from work. Started with some atomic dishware and craft kits, some of my favorite things to list. Traveling on the weekends and enjoyed the podcast on the road!
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I was also at home sick last week but I just sat like a vegetable watching TV and couldn’t even get enough energy to list on eBay and I skipped the Garage Sales which is how my wife knew I really wasn’t feeling well.
Sales were unremarkable but on par with this time last year:
Total Items in Store: 3299
Items Sold: 36
Total Sales: $767.53
Cost of Items Sold: $79
Average Price Sold: $21.32
Average Cost of Item: $2.21
Highest Price Item Sold: $59.95 Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional
Number of items listed this week: 59
YTD Sales: $39485
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +8%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 416
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 322
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 287
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.09%
Hats sold this week: 24 (66% of sales) worth $424.52 (55% of sales $)The most interesting thing that happened in my life last week was the end of the IPO lock-out period for my company’s stock. I unloaded the equivalent of a years salary which helps solidify my plans of retiring from my day job mid next year.
Sell trash. Be free.
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Do you have a sense that many employees unloaded their stock as soon as they could? I assume you arent positive on the company’s future?
Regardless, not a bad payout! Hope your feeling better.
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I have no idea how many other employees did the same. There wasn’t open discussion about it.
My decision was really based on thinking about my future rather than a reflection of the company’s future. It’s a nice decision to have but it was also pretty stressful.
Ultimately the way I made my decision was to consider the reverse :- if someone gave me a large chunk of money would I choose to invest in that single company’s stock? The answer of course was no.
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I ordered my eBay supplies yesterday, and I was so thrilled to see this new item:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-PRODUCT-eBay-Branded-Boxes-With-Black-Color-Logo-12-5-x12-5-Flat-Adjustable/254381977975?hash=item3b3a58f177:m:m1YHfd9Bw0ylEYnlrdeCyswThe post office has all these free boxes that would be a good size for books, but I can’t use them for media mail. I’ve looked for something similar, but couldn’t find anything for a reasonable price. I ordered those up real quick.
There is also a smaller box at 4x4x4, but I’m good with their 6x4x4 box for now.
Week of Oct 6 – 12
* Total Items in Store: 1495 eBay, 3 Etsy
* Items Sold: 16
* Cost of Items Sold: $6.88 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $227.12
* Highest Price Sold: $36.70 for 3 NWT Docker pants
* Average Price Sold: $14.20
* Returns: 0 (1 NPB)
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $17.25
* Number of items listed this week: 25I had a relatively slow week with selling low value items. I did sell my first whiskey pitcher from my haul two weeks ago, so that is good.
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Week Sept 29-Oct 12, 2019 (2 weeks)
Total Items in Store: 1,060
Items Sold: 28 (2 Facebook)
Cost of Items Sold: $156.09 (17.2% of sales)
Total Sales: $905.37
Highest Price Sold: $129.99 (Beach Boys – Pet Sounds)
Average Price Sold: $32.33
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $571.05
Number of items listed this week: 44
Promoted listings test: 14 sales, $493.43 (54.5% of total sales), $23.43 fees (4.7% of sales)Ok couple of weeks, slightly below average. However, excited to see that my COGS are down below 20% for the first time in a bit. Sold quite a few smalls and non-premium records all that have $0-$2 COGS.
Got a good bit listed over the past week, 44 items in total including piecing out a box of calligraphy supplies I got at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Paid $30 for the box once I spotted ink, fountain pens, mechanical drafting pencils, and more. Threw out probably half of the contents after sorting through, but got some good listings out of it including: old inks, fountain pens & nibs, advertising pens, and these Koh-i-noor mechanical pencils. That last listing I grouped 3 pencils together for $100 and almost immediately someone in Canada offered me $50 for just one. Took it and will be relisting the other two. Should be able to 10x or more my money on the contents of that box.
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Jay and Ryanne, I’m sure that once you start Pirate Ship you’ll come to love it. It integrates seamlessly with ebay and etsy and is just so easy to use. Do make sure you sign up for Simple Export Rate by chatting with them, this is so you can get cheap 1st class International when you need it.
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Great listen as usual! I started listening to the podcast from the beginning… what happened to Wendy and Mikey?? I guess I’ll find out. It’s pretty fun and inspiring to listen to the start.
Another solid week… loving q4. Unfortunately I just got a return notice last night on my highest sold item last week (boots.) They didn’t fit the buyer. So that kind of skews the below numbers.
My goal is to go full time at the end of June. My biggest issue right now is not having enough time. I have been listing most nights after the kids go to bed until midnight.
I had a nice score of unopened cosmetics at a yard sale… paid $60 for the lot and sold 1 item already for
$50. I also scored 2 pairs of Alden captoe shoes for $8 a piece.
oct 6-12
Items in Store: 633
Items sold: 20
Gross Sales: 598
COGS: 96
Highest Price Sold: 120
Average Price Sold: 29.9
New Inventory Costs: 253 -
I’m still very optimistic that this will be a great q4. It has already been surprisingly strong. Just need to get more listed! I’ve already had 5 ebay sales today. Currently getting 8-20 a day, so it is definitely trending up.
Sorted through 9 boxes of stock last week – half new items just in, half backlog. Still have a lot to list and price from some of the boxes, but any effort is good. Starting to notice actual holes and free space in a few of the backlog storage areas I have. Working through it for the past year has really helped. Hoping to create a really large dent in them this winter, maybe get to the point that 50% of the entire backlog has been listed or sorted through. I’m still buying new stock, but most of it is getting listed right away and not getting added to the backlog.
What I have noticed is I’m really bad about listing items outside of my niche – it took me a year to get to a box of goodies from 2 thrift stores I went to last October. I listed my first hat ever from out of it – $25. Several items from the box have watchers, 1 item sold within a day. A few items I tossed for condition issues. I was just happy to empty out the box! All of these sort of items go in my second “generalist” ebay store. Still, even that store has become niche. I’ve been filling it up with primarily records over the past year, not “everything else.” I need to get the rest of my random stuff listed this month and out of my storage area. Not sure how I’ll go about sourcing for it in the future once I’ve listed through all the random things. I’ll realistically still source the random things, but I’ll force myself to get things listed within a few days of purchasing!
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I was so glad to hear @Jay and @Ryanne talk about starting out and listing about 20 items a day, during an 8-or-so-hour day. I’ve been really down on myself because I’m not listing 15-20 items a day. Well, I have about 90 minutes before work and over lunch to work on my inventory. Sometimes, that time is spent packaging items. (And, often checking into the forums since I shouldn’t do that during work either.) After work, it’s mom-mode, so I don’t always have as much energy for listing at night. On good days, I list about 10 items. On average days, it’s 5-7 items. My inventory is pretty random so there’s often some research that needs to happen.
At this point I only have about 140 listings on Ebay, and a similar number on Poshmark, with about 30% cross-posted. And very importantly, I’m making 10 or so sales a week now. Yesterday it was 5 items that sold, each over $20 before shipping!
It’s one of those reminders that it’s good to learn from other people, but know that their path doesn’t have to be your path. I’m not failing because my store isn’t at 500 items yet. I’m not failing because I can’t get 20 items posted a day. I’m not failing when something sells too fast because I listed it low enough that it was snapped up in a day.
Thanks for all the education, Forum Friends. -
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So I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we clothing & footwear sellers have a HUGE ISSUE right now..eBay decided to make their item specific changes right at the start of 4th quarter, and now none of my clothing listings can be found in search, and every single one needs to be revised as the size is missing…people can not search item specifics by size either, so there is no way that they will be able to find your items unless they search the brand and size in their query…this is a nightmare, as every item needs to be revised one at a time…not to mention that there are now even more boxes to fill in..try revising one of your items, and you will see what I mean..also try to do a generic search as if you were a buyer, and try to sort by size…nightmare! they stated that the glitch was fixed yesterday, but it was certainly not..if your sales are down, this is why! If you simply look at one of your listings, it will appear normal, but it’s not, it’s not showing in search and needs revising..
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Jay, it’s way more serious than you might think..I just shot you an email to check out..please look for it..
Kind Regards,
Rick
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Been off the forum for a long summer, poking my working self into some other corners to try and raise my summer income, and because I was feeling a bit stale on eBay. I wasn’t loving sourcing or listing, so took a break. Sales were lower with each month this year (an unwanted surprise in April, which is usually a high earning month for me), with weekly sales running between $250-450 or so, with a few weeks earning ~$650. Took two weeks off for a vacation in Berlin and closed the store – such a nice break!
I’ve been listing sporadically here and there, and am trying to just recover floor and table space in my little office. Still no new sourcing for the most part, just working through the death piles, and getting items for free here and there. Hoping to turn the office into an office/guest room in the coming months, as the basement gains inventory room from items stored there going into the cottage we’re renovating. Follow all that?
Recent listing didn’t really affect last week’s sales, unfortunately…. At least my COGS are always super low. I think I’m receiving my inheritance through items my Mom gives me whenever I visit. 🙂
10/06/19 – 10/12/19
Total Items In Store: 821
Items Sold: 6
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $177.77
Highest Sold Price: $77 Antique Fluting Iron Garment Pleater
Average Sold Price: $29.63
Cost of Items Sold: $12.00
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $23.50
Number of Items listed last week: unsure. I’ve done a lot of purging in recent weeks, and it’s changing my #s. I don’t separately track # of listings done.-
@silverfoxfinds one thing to think about. If you are taking a home office deduction on your taxes, a space shared as an office/guest room technically would not qualify for the deduction.
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Correct. The exception is storage space though. Let’s say you use the closet in the room for inventory storage and you also set up a rack on one wall to hold bins. You could count the square footage of the actual storage space – it does not have to be a dedicated space.
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@SilverFox I basically took the summer off too. I’m curious to see if you think listing is going faster for you lately than before summer?
I use the desktop and then add photos in the app. There is a glitch with promoted listings (I can only pick trending rate in the app), but otherwise I’m pleased that the photos are loading faster and generally listing unique items seems better. Also loving Terapeak 365 day sales record access.
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Week Oct 6 – Oct 12, 2019
Items in store: 4474 Listings for 6345 Items
Items Sold: 82 transactions for 88 Items
Gross Sales: $5403.59
Highest Price Sold: $180 …. Hardy Amies jacket
Lowest Price Sold: $4.99….shoe laces
Average Sale Price: $61.40
Cost of Goods Sold $312, Plus consignment payout, roughly $1130
Number of new items listed this week: 98 items
$$ spent on new inventory this week $277.54A little slower than I was hoping for the first week of October, but this current week seems to be picking up the slack.
Scavenge of the week.
Carmina Chelsea Boots -
@SEAM & Retro – thanks for the reminders about the office/storage space deductions. I’ve used those in the past, and will continue to do so. Prob won’t do any guest conversion until the New Year (and getting a used couch or bed from someone else!), but the plan is mostly to move what’s being stored in the office to the basement, so essentially shifting the deduction space to the basement moreso than the office/guest room. We shall see.
@ChristineR – not sure I see a huge difference in listing. I too make a Draft on my desktop, then finish with photos on my phone, but occasionally (then and now) will hit a snag that I’m not sure if is my mistake or a glitch – usually missing some field, or a shipping option. I find more often than not that I need to edit the snag on my desktop, so Save the Draft. Sometimes, when I go back in to complete that draft on the desktop, Best Offer will have been enabled, when it wasn’t before, etc, etc. I just generally take eBay with a glitchy grain of salt at this point.Been listing a bunch in the past few days – frequency moreso than volume, tbh, but this can often spur sales. Not so this time. Had 1 sale this AM after 3 days of nothing. Anyone else still struggling with sales after the big black hole of Item Specifics?
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