The Numbers: February 6-12, 2022

[Jay]

The Winter Seller Update is now live so we can discuss. For anyone new, eBay has two or three updates that change how the site operates. Sometimes it’
[See the full post at: The Numbers: February 6-12, 2022]

[Mark S]

02/06/22 – 02/12/22

Total Items In Store: 4245 (was 4246 previously listed)
Items Sold: 23
Total Sales: $ 960.82 (no shipping included)
Highest Price Sold: $ 175 (Had 4 items sell for around $100 or more, including a road map)
Average Price Sold: $ 41.77
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 170.32
Number of items listed: 22

Gut Sales Report for the week: Sales were a bit eratic still, but it is a good week when you have 4 items sell for around $100 or more.

Focus for the week : Trying to keep up with listing. Trying to get taxes done.

Scavenge of the week: Bought a new Universal remote for $10, and it has sold for about $230 on ebay. What? I didn’t think remotes were worth that much. I learned something new about remote controls this week!

Thoughts for the week: I enlisted the help of a retired friend to buy a 1960’s lunchbox at an estate sale near his house. I estimated it was worth about $200, but it was gone by the time he got to the sale.

Mark S

[NC]

Weekly sales 2/6 – 2/12
Total items: 7136
Items sold: 167
New items listed: 350
Gross sales: $1,747.06
Net sales: $1,192.82
New buyers: 122
Repeat buyers: 7

Etsy
Orders: 19
Gross sales: $200.00
Net sales: $170.00

Gross sales total: $1,947.06
Net sales total: $1,362.82

I’m happy for the positive changes in this update but it may make it harder to combine shipping when someone gets several items and wants a discount. Guess we’ll have to send partial refunds instead of invoices

[Steve List]

NC

You can opt out of the requirement for the buyer to pay imeditally.  I did because the option requires the buyer to enter payment information before they send you a best offer, which I think may turn some buyers off from sending the offer.  The location to turn it off is in a weird location, at the bottom of the blocked buyer/buyer requirements page:  https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

 

 

[craig rex]

@steve-list

Thanks for the tip, this was very helpful since I get a few customers every week who buy multiple items, so no interest (yet) in requiring immediate payment before sending an offer. I had seen a small decrease in offers since the winter seller update, and it’s possible that having this box checked (without my knowledge) might have been a factor in that.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Items in Store 1639
Items Sold 25
Total Sales $780.00
COGS $93.00
Total Profit $687.00
Average profit $27.48
Average sales price $31.20
New Listings 57
Items scavenged 8
Listing 2022 weekly Avg 45
Sourcing Allotment 21

Fairly unremarkable week. I’ve been a listing machine. I just wish it was warmer so I could spend more time out in my inventory shed organizing and putting things into inventory system.  I found a sirius XM radio at the goodwill this week. I always pick these up in the hopes I score another lifetime subscription unit. This specific unit when I checked it had a very high probability of being a lifetime subscription as almost every active and sold listing of the same model was a lifetime subscription. Sure enough when I tested it – lifetime subscription. SCORE! I have it listed for $250 so hopefully I get a good offer.

 

I listed some awesome vintage clothing this weekend too. This one in particular I listed I got a counter offer of $150 on a sent $250 offer.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265546351237

I originally planned on listing it for $150 but after researching another matching set I listed I went for the moon at $300.   I begrudgingly sent a $200 counter offer. Later on the person came back at $165. I thought about it a while and again countered at $175. Now I get crickets. Doh!!! Oh well. It will sell eventually. I wish that offer wouldn’t have come so quickly after listing. I don’t like accepting a 50% offer on the first day of the listing even if my list price was completely pulled out of thin air.

 

My 40 listings a week plan is going well. I’ve listed over 300 items since Jan 1. That’s crazy!

Year over year, my items sold per week and total sales are both up 10%. The hope is that if my listing stays consistent at 40 items a week that year over year percentage will keep increasing. My average sales price is pretty consistent at being around $40.  So if I maintain my current pace of 45 listings a week compared to my historic average of 30 per week that will result in 780 extra listings over what I normally would have done. Assuming around 30% of those extra listings sell within the year (we’ll go with a nice round 250), that is an extra $10,000 in sales, or an extra $192 a week.

It is attainable to average $1250 in sales a week this year, which is a huge increase year over year and a 25% increase over my previous goal of averaging $1000 a week in sales. Even if I don’t get there, it is pretty much a lock I’ll average over $1k in sales a week.

 

[NC]

Are you spreading your listing out over the week or just listing the 40 in a couple of days? If the latter, I’d try saving the listings as drafts and listing 5 a day 7 days a week for a month and see what happens. There seems to be some magic in having listings get the first 24 hours boost 7 days a week.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Yeah I’m trying to do 5 a day during the week each day. Last week it didn’t seem to help much at all.

[Jay]

How many of those 40 listings per week are new items you just pruchased vs eating into your death piles?

[Retro Treasures WV]

Anything I buy during the week gets listed the same week. So for instance this week I only bought 8 things and I listed them already. The other 49 things are death pile items.

[Lukastreasure]

@Retro – Great buy on that XM Radio.  I picked on up last year for $20 and it sold within 2 months for $250.  Didn’t know it was a thing until I turned it on and it was playing.  I waited for over a month before listing just to make sure it was still working.

I also got a new in box Sirius Internet radio at the same sale.  Didn’t find out until after I listed it that Sirius no longer supported it and it was a brick.  :-\

[Retro Treasures WV]

I have a lifetime unit on a sirius boombox at my ebay listing desk. I originally planned on just testing it for a month or two and then selling it. It became a permanent part of my desk. I’ve been waiting for several years to find another one. It’s up on my top 5 grail list with Coogi sweaters, big E levis, G1 transformers, and CiB NES games

[twizzle]

Patches shipping help needed.  Sold a few patches from my stash last Friday. Do I just throw them In and envelope, hand write out the address by hand and add a stamp or print a shipping label ? How do I print a small address shipping label as my thermal printer  only prints  6×4. Thank you.

[Steve List]

twizzle, you might try a word processor and print just the address and the return address on it.  You should be able to edit and print the label in landscape mode on a 6×4 label which should fit nicely on a standard #10 envelope.

[ChristineR]

Total Items in Store: 266
Items Sold: 7
Gross Sales: $1,929.66 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,509.32 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $69
Highest Price Sold: $1500 (1960s Painting)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $6
Number of items listed this week: 2

Happy to report that last week I sold my all time best find, a midcentury NYC skyline painting. Buyer had messaged several times and seemed a bit finicky.  I’m hoping he leaves good feedback soon so I can breathe a sigh of relief.  He has 100% feedback and a good record.

I stopped in for the first time in a long time at the thrift store and found two $100 cross stitch kits, with one selling already.  Amazing.  It was after the initial crowd had picked it clean but either they restocked these or I was the one to notice them hanging up high. Perhaps I will be getting my Ebay mojo back with this inspiration!

Enjoyed a trip with my daughter to San Diego to boot.  I have just a little more work on my COGS and badly need to organize my inventory. I also need to clear out some things from my house. Debating whether or not to put some of our clothing on Mercari.

Hope everyone is doing very well. No surprise Ebay is inching up fees. I’m not excited about paying fees on shipping as I like to consider that kind of a wash.  I do make some money on shipping through the course of the year – more than enough to cover my supplies.  I am happy buyers have to pay if they make offers. Hate that when they bail.

[Lukastreasure]

@ChristineR – congrats on that painting sale.  That will definitely get some excitement brewing again.

[Sharyn]

Week of Feb 6 – 12
Total Items in Store: 1412 eBay, 30 Etsy
Items Sold: 11 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $4 + $50 Commission
Total Sales: $247.51 eBay, Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: $56 for Toni Brattin Supreme Bob Wig
Average price: $22.50
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $15
Number of items listed this week: 20

I realized after reading the winter update that I’ve been miscalculating my fees when I figure out what to pay the original owner of the commissions I sell. I’ve been calculating it on the sales price, not the total. Oh well, I’ll do that from now on.

When eBay transitioned to managed payments, the FVF for a basic store was something like 12.45% (for most items). At some point, they decreased it to 11.7%. So, now it goes back up to 12%. I guess it is still less than the original fee.

[craig rex]

Good summary of the pros and cons of the winter seller update in the weekly post. I figure 0.3% is a small price to pay for how easily eBay connects us sellers with interested buyers, especially considering all the small changes around the margins which help sellers that eBay has added in the last few years. Of course, if eBay adds another 0.3% fee increase next year, I might be singing a different tune!

This wasn’t a particularly busy or memorable sales week for me, mostly a slow grind with a lot of $25 and under sales. But it’s nice to see those add up as well. There was some nice weather in the Northeast all week, a reminder that spring is coming and hopefully with it, a return to even more sense of normalcy.

2/6/2022 – 2/12/2022

Total items in store: 3363 (up from 3362)

Items sold: 62 (48 via best offer, 5 via seller initiated offer)

Gross sales: $2569.83 (up 24% from one year ago)

Net sales: $1697.34 (up 20% from one year ago)

Lowest price sold (net): $8.81 — Reggie Jackson silver prizm

I have been pretty aggressive about reducing prices on lower inventory the past few months. I need the space for new inventory, and I have realized in these last few months that some amount of my inventory has been sitting in scavenger purgatory. I’ve had the item for a year (or longer), no one’s bought it, no watchers, no offers that weren’t auto-declined or maybe no offers at all. For the $100 and up items, even $50 and up, it’s worth waiting for the right buyer to come along.

But these $25 and under items that aren’t particularly unique? I might have them slightly overpriced or the demand is just not there at the price I have them at. So, even if it means taking $10 or $12 offers, let’s get them out of here. I can buy a few more $25 and under items with the profits from this sale, and in theory, I have a better sense now of what will sell quickly. In theory.

Highest price sold (net): $161.00 — Derrick White orange prizm rookie card #7/9 PSA 10

Derrick White was traded to the Boston Celtics last week, which probably explains the timing of this sale. The value in this card is in the set (a nice quality), the fact that this is one of his rookie cards, the serial numbering #7/9 and the grade. I find sales like this to be fascinating because White is not a star player, best known for his strong defense, and at 27 years old he’s in the middle of his career. So basically, what you see with him now is what you’re likely to get for the next few years. A good player for the team, but usually their cards (even the rare, more valuable ones) are not as expensive compared to more star players or the new young potential star.

In fact, I bought this card at auction two months ago for about $35 —here’s the original listing. The seller in the original listing, COMC, is the largest card seller on eBay as they operate massive consignment warehouses in Washington state. Basically you send them your cards and they handle all the dirty work for a fee (minimum $0.50, often more) plus additional fees when the card sells. Most of COMC’s buying and selling action happens on their website (which I have started to use more frequently as a seller in the last few months, primarily to move $20 and under cards) but COMC also cross-posts their listings to eBay and runs auctions. Their listings don’t always get top dollar since so much of the process (like title creation) is automated, but they are usually decent enough. For example, the original listing for the White card that I won for $35, that listing was fine and had basically the same information that my listing had. It’s just that auctions can be weird and don’t always end with a reflection of an item’s “real” value, especially auctions during the holiday season. Timing had something to do with it in this case as well, but this card was going to sell for a nice profit at some point in the next year as long as White’s performance stayed somewhat in line with his consistent baseline from the last four years. The original purchase was a real steal.

Is it possible that White is one of the stars when the Celtics win the championship in a few months or years, and his cards are all worth a lot more? Sure, that’s how card prices work sometimes, and I guess anything is possible. Sports can make for very unlikely heroes, and I think that’s part of the fun for a lot of fans and especially for card buyers and sellers. But it’s easy to hold out for a higher priced sale that never comes along, or get caught up in haggling over $20 for no real reason other than “what it’s listed for.” I spent $35 and sold for $161 after fees. Heck, even the buyer’s original offer of $150 was a sale that any of us would take 95 times out of 100.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Regarding the buyer having to message the seller before they can leave negative feedback – this is a GREAT improvement.

I just had this scenario happen last night. A buyer wrote me very upset because the item broke on the first use. They were clearly writing me because they were forced to and they weren’t even looking for a resolution.

I apologized, and gave a full refund immediately. This was their response:

I’m amazed with your quick honorable response. Originally in my mind I thought you were a dishonest seller but you proved me wrong. Thank you so much for making this right. You are obviously a 5 star seller. My feedback is positive!

Thank you, Thank you

 

They left me a great positive feedback as promised.

So thank you to ebay for making a common sense improvement that sellers have asked for for years. And to the sellers who crushed this guys trust in the system before he bought from me – go pound sand and don’t sell on ebay.

[craig rex]

This has pretty much been my experience with the handful of dissatisfied customers I’ve had in the last few years. I apologize, offer a full refund without requiring a return, and usually they leave a glowing positive feedback. Sometimes they have even bought from me again.

This is another great very small change by eBay. In theory, this should reduce negative buying experiences for casual eBay users — though, of course, there are a lot of terrible sellers who will do the exact wrong thing by fighting any return and even arguing with their buyer.

[Lukastreasure]

Week Ending 2/12/22
Total Items in eBay Store: 1066
Items Sold eBay: 13
Gross Sales eBay (Not including shipping and tax): $398.56
Net Sales (After fees) eBay: $330.04

Total Items in Etsy Store: 124
Items Sold Etsy: 1
Gross Sales Etsy (Not including shipping and tax): $149.95
Net Sales (After fees) Etsy: $136.50

Cost of Items Sold: $54.83
COGS Percent 11.75%
Highest Price Sold: $149.95
Average Price Sold: $39.18
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00

Average Days Listed: 269
Longest Listed: 1580
New items listed: 7

I am two months into my foray into Etsy and starting to see some regular sales.  It definitely doesn’t get the traffic that eBay does.  I’m amazed at how few views listings get after posting them.  I’ve posted a good cross-section of my eBay store to Etsy and what is selling is primarily kitchen and home decor.  It has been nice to see a few long tail items from eBay sell for full price on Etsy.

Focusing on my death piles at the moment.  I need to free up space before I can scavenge for more.  Need to either post items or take them to the local thrift.  Taking a hard look at effort to profit ratio and separating out some lower $ items and items I’m just not excited about posting.  I think I’ve let the pile demotivate me.

Found one item this past week as I was pulling items to pack that had fallen off eBay.  I was curious that it hadn’t sold yet. Had to retake pictures for it and relisted.  Sold wihin 2 days of relisting.  Really wonder what causes items to fall out like that.  Second one I’ve found recently.  It would be hard to justify the time but makes me feel like I need to reconcile my whole store to see what else has delisted.

 

[craig rex]

I need to free up space before I can scavenge for more. Need to either post items or take them to the local thrift. Taking a hard look at effort to profit ratio and separating out some lower $ items and items I’m just not excited about posting. I think I’ve let the pile demotivate me.

Really great words of wisdom here. I’ve also been fighting with a lot of death piles and leftovers and random stuff that I’m not motivated to list. I’ve found that forcing myself to take the pictures for a few of these types of items every week (last week I did 5) has helped me make a dent over the last 4-6 weeks. Also, this gets me more willing to get rid of stuff.

Clearing the clutter, and having a dedicated space to deal with new purchases / to-be-listed stuff, is such an important part of keeping inventory organized and new listings in the pipeline. At least that’s been my experience. When I get too messy, or overwhelmed, I don’t list as consistently and my processes are much more disorganized.

[Lukastreasure]

Clearing the clutter, and having a dedicated space to deal with new purchases / to-be-listed stuff, is such an important part of keeping inventory organized and new listings in the pipeline.

I agree.  I put up some shelves near my photography area just for this purpose.  It was very helpful for prioritizing to be able to see everything at a glance.  Over time those shelves have filled up with many of my listed items and my death pile really is a pile sitting in front of the shelves.  I spent the morning reorganizing and hope to dig though it this week in hopes to getting back to its original purpose.

[Author]

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