The Numbers: January 22-28, 2023

[Retro Treasures WV]

Looks like J&R are super busy this week so I’ll kick off the numbers.

Items in Store 2005
Items Sold 12
Total Sales $464.00
COGS $40.00
Total Profit $424.00
Average profit $35.33
Average sales price $38.67
New Listings 47
Items scavenged 11
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 16

I have my systems in place. I’m only scavenging according to my requirements. I have stations in my office for “To be listed”, “Ready for cleaning”, “ready for photos”, and “inventory ready”. I actually moved everything to inventory (my slacker point traditionally). I’ve ended and sell similar 5 listings every day. I’ve posted at least 5 brand new listings every day. My daughter is doing minimum 5 items a day photographs.

Now I just have to maintain this momentum this week, and the next, and the next.

Everything is going great that I can control, but sales still suck. I’m hoping the switch flips at some point this week and sales pick up.

I countered a $300 offer on that Carhartt Jacket and it expired. I really want $340 minimum for it and I think I’ll get it eventually. Still…maybe I shouldn’t have been so greedy and just took that offer.

[Lukastreasure]

Now I just have to maintain this momentum this week, and the next, and the next.

Everything is going great that I can control, but sales still suck.

You’re doing the right things and creating the pipeline of future business.  It is a bit disheartening when we don’t see our efforts pay off immediately – just have to keep the faith.  This is just like stock investing, if you’re in it for the long haul, the short term ups and downs really don’t matter.  From everything you say, you’re making good business decisions and putting in the effort.  That’s the formula for success.

Thanks for kicking off the thread.

[Sharyn]

@retro-treasures-wv – Thanks for posting this. I kept thinking about doing it myself, but kept putting it off. I hope that Jay & Ryanne are just busy and don’t have a big emergency.

It was a pretty basic week for me. My neighbor has COVID, so I haven’t “scavenged” anything from his house for a few weeks, but I have plenty to list. I am running out of room, so I am thinking about buying another shelving unit.

I did get a payout from Swap.com this week. They have unlisted stuff I sent in for almost a year now. I sent another message to them a few weeks ago, and the customer rep said that they are moving to a new listing/photography system that has backed them up from listing. I don’t think I will ever send them in stuff again, but I am concerned about them sitting on my stuff for so long.

Week of Jan 22 – 28
Total Items in Store: 1806 eBay, 29 Etsy
Items Sold: 20 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $11 + $149 Commission
Total Sales: $499.29 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Swap: $14.15 no fees or shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $90 Catalyst for men EDT 3.4 oz
Average price: $24.96 (not including Swap payment)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 21

[Lukastreasure]

Week Ending 1/28/23
Gross Sales(w/o shipping $ tax): $599.50
Net Sales: $478.99
Total Items Sold 15
Total Items in eBay Store: 1105
Items Sold eBay: 13 ($448,25)
Total Items in Etsy Store: 390
Items Sold Etsy: 2 ($30.74)
Cost of Items Sold: $31.23
Highest Price Sold: $199.95 Antique Napkin Rings
Average Price Sold: $39.97
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Average Days Listed: 352.67
Longest Listed: 996 2.73
New items listed: 25
New Listings Value $1,516.67

Still working my way through the huge lot of Christmas ornaments that we won at auction in November.  Takes some persistence and determination to get through them all.  Paid about $400 for the lot and I’m about a 1/3 of the way through with 159 listings with a total list price of $5300 and sales of $1635.  It’s always amazing to me what people will pay up for and that collectors will buy Christmas all year long.  Should be setting ourselves up for great sales next season.

If you haven’t already come across them, Cracker Box ornament kits sell really well.  This company started out in the late 70’s making push pin, bead and sequin ornament kits and is still in business.  The finished ornaments also sell really well, but it takes some research to tell if what you have is actually Cracker Box versus the many, many other companies making kits.  We were fortunate to come across an estate sale last year that had several old catalogs and I’ve been using them to look up and confirm.  It’s time consuming and I can spend 30 minutes or more per ornament on research sometimes, but each one I can confirm adds $30-$50 to the asking price.

A research tip for those who may not be very computer savvy.  If you have a website that you are doing research on and are just looking for pictures, if you type “site:” before the address and then click on the images tab, it will pull up all readable pictures on the site.

https://imgur.com/a/VSt3HGH

It really speeds up my research time for these ornaments.

[Author]

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