- This topic has 23 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee Join the conversation in the forum>> Our Store Week May 23-29, 2021 Total Items in Store: 7501 Items
[See the full post at: Scavenger Life Episode 516: Being Punk Weirdos Made Us Good At Business] -
In the podcast there was mention of a bill to have high volume sellers reveal address, phone number etc. I am just now looking over what I believe to be the bill, here is a link. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3431/text
I believe there is exception for the address and phone number if a high volume seller only has a personal phone number and if a high volume seller does not have a business address – it sounds like that wouldn’t be disclosed under this bill, like I said I am just now looking over it (or some of it), please look at Sec. 2 (2) Exception (A) In General.
-
-
If a seller is in “business” to the extent they are registered with state and local authorities with a resale tax number and/or their activities are taxed as a business such as on a Schedule C or Form 1065 or 1120/1120S and their business is at their home, isn’t their home residence address also a business address that would need to be disclosed in the listing?
Perhaps most importantly for most of us here on SL, though, only a “high-volume third party seller” has to disclose. And that is defined as a seller who enters into 200 or more sales of “new or unused consumer products” of an aggregate $5,000 or more. So the disclosures do not apply to sellers of only used products. Another exception is for a seller who is a “business entity that has made available to the general public the entity’s name, business address, and working contact information” which should include just about any corporation, LLC, or registered partnership in the country where the state corporation commission or secretary of state has a public website.
But before we breathe any easier, I can foresee that there may be difficulties in implementation in differentiating the sellers of new and used items. It would be significantly easier for eBay to make everyone do it.
-
-
Morning everyone!
Had a pretty good week on ebay.
Sales: CAD$4469, 13 sales, COGS: $269, Fees: ~$581, Postage: $412 –> Gross profit: $3208
Expenses: $0, New inventory: $0 –> Cashflow: $3477
I am just not finding time to scavenge though. But it looks like there may be some good auctions in June.
-
5-24-21 to 5-30-21
Total Items in Store: 1466
Items Sold: 10
Gross Sales: 230.88
Net Sales: 161.92
Cost of Items Sold: $ 2
Highest Price Sold: $ 55.00 Sony Microcassette Transcriber
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 0
Number of items listed this week: 40Sales picked up a bit, I still think I had a day or 2 of no sales. The Sony Microcassette sale makes me smile. I have now sold the 2 main machines I bought in the winter for $10 for $135.00 and still have the adapters, headphones, and foot pedals up for sale. 🙂
Focused on my new inventory and getting it ready to list. Organizing is something that makes me happy in a zen sort of way. I’ve been taking my time and enjoying the process. Still plenty of work to do.
Hope y’all have enjoyed the long weekend.
-
I hear ya about fixing up the old car. I had to replace the radiator during the winter and recently the compressor on the air conditioner. I’m down close to $4k. It’s a 2007 Toyota Sienna with 250k miles. Yikes! But now is not the time to buy. I hear rentals are even expensive. When everything shut down and people weren’t traveling, the rental car companies sold off inventory to stay afloat. Now they don’t have enough cars to rent for people going back on vacation.
Week of May 23 – 29
Total Items in Store: 1344 eBay, 44 Etsy
Items Sold: 7 eBay + 1 PayPal*
Cost of Items Sold: $21 + $7 Commission
Total Sales: $254.83 + $93 PayPal*
Highest Price Sold: $132 Service for 12 First Love Silver-plate flatware
Average price: $36.40
Returns: 0 (1 refund for damage)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0* Note: Someone from Alabama purchased a 92 piece set of china from me on March 1 that was local pickup. She was not able to find someone willing to pack and ship the set to her, or at least for a reasonable cost. Rather than lose the sale, I agreed to ship it for $200. Shipping three boxes through UPS was a bit less than $107, so I’m left with $93 for my time.
-
It’s a weird time for sure. Some dealers lots are empty due to microchip shortages or other production line issues. Used prices are WAY up (yet noone is buying my used car…boo!)
I was able to score a great deal on a new Sienna. I was shocked at how much the dealer was willing to negotiate. I could have drove off the lot, directly to another dealer, and traded it in for more than I paid!
-
@retro-treasures-wv – I just rented a car for an upcoming trip to Europe. I’m normally able to get a car for a month for about $1200, but this summer that same car is going for $2050. Quite a premium.
-
-
-
-
Numbers for the whole month of May 2021
Total listings: 1223
Items sold: 58
Sales: $1369.32
Highest price sold: $100.00 – The Game of El Sobrante (Monopoly Clone)
Average price sold: $23.60
Cost of items sold: $186.13 / Average cost: 3.20 each
Spent on new inventory: $284
Number of items listed: 30From eBay Performance Page:
Gross Sales: $1,914.71
Net Sales: $1,228.41My total sales were up this month which was a nice surprise as the beginning of the month started out very slow. The Game of El Sobrante was a nice $5 find at a local flea market. These Monopoly clones were ordered by local service clubs to sell to raise funds for different projects. I almost kept it because one of the properties and deeds had my family name on it from when my father had a store in El Sobrante, but I got way too much stuff as it is.
-
Items in Store 1479
Items Sold 16
Total Sales $326.00
COGS $25.00
Total Profit $301.00
Average profit $18.81
Average sales price $20.38Oh wow, what a stinker of a week! I had longer handling time due to being on vacation. The items I was selling were low dollar older items. People are clearly getting out and about instead of sitting on their device doing online shopping. That’s a good thing, but I do eventually want them to come back and buy from me. Lol!
We went back to Universal Studios last week for one last vacation before the new baby gets here. We were at Universal when the world shut down in March 2020, and we were at Universal when the world opened back up May 2021. How ironic! The reopening happened just a briskly as the shutdown happened. We were able to make 4 trips to Universal in 15 months on our annual passes due to the 3 month extension we got when the parks were closed. I’d say we got our money’s worth. Friday was our last day. Saturday Universal officially ended all social distancing and mask rules for vaccinated people (and obviously people who aren’t but don’t want to wear a mask). Let me tell you, sitting elbow to elbow with strangers again was SURREAL!!! I’m glad they waited until Saturday to remove the mask rule on the rides. I was mentally prepared for a masked person being in my personal space, but I wasn’t quite ready for screaming maskless strangers being in my bubble!
-
When we opened our coffee shop last month, I was worried it’d be a ghost town since people would be worried about public spaces. Boy was I wrong. Our staff all wear masks, but people are crowding into our cafe without a worry in the world. Assume the vaccine has made people feel good and safe.
Glad you had a fun trip to Florida. With he new baby, sounds like you have a year of lockdown coming.
-
-
5/23/21 – 5/29/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 330
Items Sold: 7
Gross Sales: $279.84
Highest Price Sold: $129 – consignment challenge coin from 1995 – 1997 Bosnia operations.
Return: 1 (and 1 INR refund – a patch shipped in an envelope with stamps)
COGS: $98 (including consignment commissions but not including cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 9
$ Spent on New Inventory: $10So maybe it was the supermoon and blood moon (and full moon) but it was a bit of a strange week. I had a challenge coin that was going eBay International Standard Delivery to Japan returned to me by eBay for supposedly being a prohibited item, which it’s not. So it’s back to direct shipping by First Class International Package for all my challenge coins.
Earlier this year I mentioned a negative feedback that was my first as a seller in 24 years that I was having trouble getting removed. Although I have 30 day free returns the buyer never opened a return case so the situation did not fit within the four corners of the eBay seller protection policy. Well last week I finally lucked into a CSR on the phone who got it done. The long, effusive email I subsequently received notifying me of the “Wonderful News!” was amusing. BTW, it did not matter that I had already replied to the negative.
Lastly, I had a credit card chargeback on an item for unauthorized purchase in Managed Payments. When I messaged the buyer to ask what the hell (because he had given me positive feedback) he said it was because he had reported his card lost but he insisted that he had told his card company that my payment was authorized. Of course the credit card company eventually found for the buyer, but eBay then covered it for me under seller protections, automatically. Woo hoo!
Loved the podcast. Buying what no one else wants: In the stock market it’s called being a contrarian. That’s Warren Buffett. He bought railroad stock when everyone thought trains were done, among other famous picks.
-
-
Great show. Love the idea of be punk wierdos. One of the fun things about going to Estate Sales is seeing all the other scavengers. You can tell most of us are a bit out of the mainstream, though I’m not sure I’ve made the wardrobe transition transition yet. I’m still not long enough and far enough away from corporate America and hanging on to old habits. 😉 I bet there would be some great stories about how their lives transitioned to get to being scavengers.
You mentioned house sales and it made me think of an article in the Washington Post I read over the weekend. One house in Chevy Chase, MD, sold for $1,000,000 over the asking price: $4.4M instead of the $3.4M asking price. Pretty rarified air in that neighborhood. Washington Fine Properties: 23 PRIMROSE ST, CHEVY CHASE, MD 20815 (wfp.com)
Another house a few blocks away from this one sold for upwards of $10M last year, and the new owners immediately began extensive renovations. I believe that may be the most expensive zip code in the US.
Didn’t have a much better week last week but at least back above worst week level. Spent a lot of time posting items I purchased the previous week and researching auction lots to bid on. Won several lots at a Maxsold auction and am pretty pleased with the haul. Felt like old times, pre-pandemic. This particular auction was overlooked by other buyers and I ended up with several lots for cheap. Very eclectic mix of stuff from Tumi luggage, to old cameras, to antique beer steins. Seller must have had a store at some point because a lot of the items were brand new in box. Thankfully, the person who took the pictures did a crappy job, and there was much more in the lots than anticipated, so it felt like a major score. Will keep me busy for a few weeks.
Sales Report for: 5/29/21
Total Items in Store: 1144
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $348.76
Net Sales (After fees): $289.45
Cost of Items Sold: $30.60
COGS Percent 10.57%
Net Profit Margin: 74.22%
Highest Price Sold: $49.95 Sewing Machine
Average Price Sold: $24.91
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $324.62
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 50.00%
Average Days Listed: 323
Longest Listed: 1166
New items listed: 36 -
I forgot to mention. After many attempts, I finally sold my first item on Facebook Marketplace. Woot, Woot! Had 3 mid-century stacking tables I had purchased for myself at an estate sale a few years ago and just didn’t have room for anymore. Sold them for $49 after only a few days. I find FBM to be confusing and, like Craigslist, get too many low ball offers and “Is this still available?” queries that never get follow up. It was nice to sell something and get to hold on to all of the money, though.
-
-
-
We are looking forward to stopping at Broad Porch Coffee Shop tomorrow for breakfast!
-
-
Weekly sales 5/23-5/29
Random Item Store
Total items 516
Items sold 12
New items listed 17
Gross sales $374.04
Net sales $240.01Patch Store
Total items 2333
Items sold 30
New items listed 66
Gross sales $201.05
Net sales $160.05Etsy
Orders 12
Gross sales $91.52
Net sales $90.82Net sales total $490.88
Not too bad of a week for me during this slow season. I certainly resonate with the feeling of being an outsider. The longer I work a corporate job and think about the different career paths, the more I realize none of them are appealing to me.
-
Honestly I’m finding the best stuff dumpster diving these days. People don’t seem to be donating when they move. Maybe thrift stores here aren’t even taking stuff…not sure. Apartment complexes are my jam. Those people literally throw out everything. It’s like an auction lot, but free lol!! Yard sales can be good too, but I feel like I’m flying blind since yard sale treasure map stopped getting updated by craigslist.
Remember the last time housing prices got this high? I do. I also remember buying our current home as a forclosure for dirt cheap a few years later when everything crashed. Nothing lasts forever, and jumping in at the top of the market due to fomo is understandable but also not necessary.
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.