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When we first sold on eBay, it was all clothes all the time. When we purchased our home, we renovated an old garage into a 500 square foot climate con
[See the full post at: The Numbers: May 14-20, 2023] -
Nighttime numbers thread? Well look who’s gonna post their numbers first this week for once…
Congratulations on the mini laundromat in progress. It is always inspiring to see how you and Ryanne adapt to make better use of your space and time. Kind of surprised to learn that you had been doing all that laundry and linens in such a small area. Reminds me of the early podcast days before you two had help and were still taking pictures and doing everything from listing to shipping completely on your own. I remember Jay even said a few times, I can’t imagine not taking the pictures or having someone else help us, how it would even work. Something like that. Amazing how things can change!
My eBay business is going through its own changes. I’ve developed new systems this year for buying, photographing, and listing, and expanded into different areas while maintaining my core business. I think my business is a lot more sustainable long-term than it was a year or two ago. I have a better eye for items which sell quickly and figuring out the right price range for items. Also developed a sense for listings which I can sell similar again and again. It’s still buy low, sell high but with a little more intention behind what I’m listing and each step of my selling process.
5/14/2023 to 5/20/2023
Items sold: 30 (22 via best offer, 13 via seller initiated offer, 11 via promoted listings)
Gross sales: $1195.86 (down 59% from one year ago)
Net sales: $711.70 (down 60% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $39.86 (down 14% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $62.46 — John Lynch and Mike Alstott Panini Absolute autographed card red #/75
I had no high dollar sales this week, but this was the second of two copies that I sold of this card in about ten days and I have one more left in a different color. These two players were long time teammates on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so I can understand why a certain collector would pay $50 for a card with both their autographs. I’ve focused a lot more on these types of cards this year since their values are a little more fixed.
My favorite weird item that sold this week was this $40 graffiti DVD
Lowest price sold (net): -$9.59— Noir DVD box set
Buyer claimed this DVD set was damaged and sent pictures of the damage. It was a $20 sale and I’d profited on the buy a long time ago, so I sent them a nice message, a full refund and called it a day. Even with this refund, movies & DVDs were 13% of my sales this week. In fact, 44% of my sales came from categories other than trading card singles which is probably a new record for me. Hopefully a record that will get broken this week or next as I continue to reshape my store.
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That’s exciting to see that your eBay sales are growing outside of trading cards. That “Krog Street Underpass DVD” is the exact kind of media we love to find and sell. We found a box on the street of original Reading Rainbow DVDs. It’s our favorite find recently because each DVD sells for $30! So niche. It doesn’t sound like you could ever get bored scavenging trading cards, but it is nice to have other categories to lean on.
You are correct that we have always thrived within limitations. I get nervous for people when they put a lot of conditions needed to have business. “I need to have a new computer and an office and an LLC and hire three people and a warehouse and all these shelves and a fancy printer….and then I can start selling.”
At the same time, it might be our detriment sometimes by not investing in growth. Pain is a big motivator 🙂
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I don’t know if I will ever get bored with the cards, mostly because certain cards I can really understand why they’re valuable to different collectors and I love finding them for a low price so I can make a profit and the buyer is not spending hundreds from some unscrupulous dealer. But I expect at some point — 5 years? 10 years? — that something else will become my main focus. Maybe it’s because Fanatics buys up too many companies and becomes a monopoly, maybe sports collectors move on to VR experiences or some product that doesn’t exist yet. But cards have been around for 100+ years and desirable as collectibles for most of the last 40 (!), so maybe not.
As soon as I saw that Krog Street Underpass DVD, I knew it would sell well. It sold in less than a day so maybe I could have priced it higher. But I have a hard time asking more than $50 for a single DVD. I’m sure I’ll get over that someday. The teenage punk side of me was thrilled with that sale. The child side of me understands why someone would pay $30 for the original Reading Rainbow DVDs, even if LeVar was much better at hosting that show than Jeopardy.
One of the best things about your scavenger manifesto was the realization that I could just begin selling. People psych themselves out of so many things in life. But selling on eBay can start very simply. Scavenge your own life. Just sell the stuff in the back of your closet. It gets more complicated building a business, but step one of the process is often the one that stops people. Both with eBay and in life…
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I’m pretty bored with clothing as well, but it is too easy to obtain and list. I have two body mannequins that make photography a bit easier. As I’ve mentioned before, I will be getting rid of a large amount of clothing later this summer in a MaxSold auction.
Week was quiet for the most part, but I did sell a nice Japanese tea set that I’ve had for a few years.
My parents were in town for a few days, and my mom and I went to a few rummage sales on Sunday for fun. I did buy an old meat slicer for $3, which is the first thing I’ve bought in about half a year. It appears to be newer than some of the chrome ones I’ve sold in the past, so I’m not sure how much I will get. It is also missing the piece that holds the meat in place.
Week of May 14-20
Total Items in Store: 1715 eBay, 30 Etsy
Items Sold: 8 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $3.25 + $32 Commission
Total Sales: $198.23 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $75 Hand Painted Japanese Moriage Tea Set
Average price: $24.78
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $3
Number of items listed this week: 0-
If it is a desirable brand and you are missing a piece, consider parting it out. You’ll likely make way more that way.
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The brand is National, which is fairly common for these hand crank vintage slicers. However, most are fully chrome while mine is partly painted white. This leads me to believe that there aren’t that many around and parting out may not be a great idea. It might be newer than the vintage units I’ve picked up in the past. All it is missing is a separate piece that you push into the meat while slicing to protect your fingers. The buyer will have to purchase that piece separately.
Here’s some of the slicers that have been sold recently:
Here’s the one I picked up:
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Week Ending 5/20/23
Gross Sales(w/o shipping & tax): $559.65 (85%/15% eBay/Etsy)
Net Sales: $465.57
Total Items Sold 11 (7/4 Ebay/Etsy)
Total Items in eBay Store: 1228 / Etsy Store: 543
Cost of Items Sold: $61.24
Highest Price Sold: $300.00 (Art Deco Light Shade)
Average Price Sold: $50.88
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $345.82Average Days Listed: 166
Longest Listed: 602
New items listed: 13
New Listings Value $2,234.00The week came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. I had a six sales last Sunday, including a $300 sale on an Art Deco milk glass light shade and an $88 sale on a set of 4 antique post cards, then the rest of the week was sporadic small sales.
Didn’t meet my 20 listing goal, but most of what I listed was high dollar and required extended research. I acquired a lot of vintage ammo reloading equipment at an auction a few weeks ago and got it all up last week. From the message boards I was on doing my research seems like these appeal to people interested in target shooting mainly. A little disappointed that nothing was an immediate sale, but I priced high due to the rarity of some of it. We’ll see.
My auction winnings were an eclectic mix of art, books, sewing machines, antique wooden yarn spools, cabbage patch dolls, vintage playing cards and a vintage Raleigh bike. Just the kind of variety I enjoy and that keeps this interesting for me. My favorite is a lot of 6 framed cruise line menus from the 1950’s by artist Eugene Savage, which I wrote more about in the Scavenge of the week thread.
@Jay – Sounds like you are making a smart choice with the laundry. Buying yourself time is one of the best investments. And you’ll be better positioned for running the next three places you open.-
You are really doing great with listing these unique high dollar items lately. I am excited to see them sell for you over the rest of the year and beyond.
It’s funny how this goes but my week went in like a lamb and out like a lion. I actually had no sales at all last Monday, not even an offer. I tried restarting the computer, turning it off and on, I threw it out the window, offered a sacrifice to the eBay gods, still nothing. Tuesday and Wednesday were more normal but Thursday and Friday were also very slow.
But shipping this weekend’s packages was annoying. In fact, I have a few more to do later this morning. What could have been the cause of this sudden uptick in sales? Well, I’d like to blame eBay. But here are my newest listings by age:
12 days old: 3
11 days old: 0
10 days old: 3
9 days old: 7
8 days old: 8
7 days old: 1
6 days old: 2
5 days old: 1
4 days old: 3
3 days old: 5
2 days old: 21
1 day old: 9
It is very boring advice, but list more, sell more still works.
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It is very boring advice, but list more, sell more still works.
@Craig – For sure. I started out the year feeling like a flower dying on the vine. I hadn’t been posting as much last year and my sales were down even from last years slow sales. At end of Februay sales were down about 30% from the previous year, but now after steady listing I’m only 5% below last year and my store has the most items in it since November 2021. I feel its going to be a good year.
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Items in Store 2009
Items Sold 14
Total Sales $839.00
COGS $113.00
Total Profit $726.00
Average profit $51.86
Average sales price $59.93
New Listings 2
Items scavenged 16
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 17I had some big sales this week that boosted my numbers. I had a great time hitting yard sales bright and early at 7:30. Definitely got some stuff I normally would have never seen – posted about in scavenge of the week thread. I think I may continue this trend of hitting some sales in my short loop before the family wakes up, come home to cook breakfast, then go hit the longer loop of my yard sale path with the fam once baseball is over.
I didn’t post many listings, but I did create plenty of drafts. I’ll have a nice draft bank to kick off my Summer listing extravaganza in June.
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I think I may continue this trend of hitting some sales in my short loop before the family wakes up, come home to cook breakfast, then go hit the longer loop of my yard sale path with the fam once baseball is over.
I have a little routine when I go into my favorite thrift store in Philly where I spend an hour or two in the store, I get at least one book to read on top of whatever else I buy, I go sit in the park and read for a while, I get a smoothie and I grab a too good to go bag from Le Pain Quotidien or Reading Terminal before I get back on the train. Its a nice life. Scavenging routines are the best.
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@Jay – I almost forgot. I was at my daughter’s dentist appointment yesterday and looking through The Washingtonian magazine and came across this mention of Broadporch Luray:
Very cool plug for your business. Congrats, you guys are getting attention far and wide.
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Total Items in Store: 623
Items Sold: 7
Gross Sales: $355.08 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $229.35 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $28
Highest Price Sold: $79 (Cross Stitch Kit)
Average Price Sold: $50.73
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 6An average week. I keep thinking I’m going to get back to Ebay in earnest but had some unusual stuff going on and sickness. I have a nice COGS today because some of these items were rummage sale finds. I was able to pay very low prices there compared to thrift store prices. Would certainly pay again to get in early. Unfortunately I think most of the post-Covid rummage sales have already gone on but hopefully there are a few more church ones. We only have like 3 major annual ones plus the upcoming college recycling event.
I’ve been appreciating how spacious my garage feels. There is more interesting stuff to list in there. Some things not so much. It’s been a 5 year journey and I feel like I have a good balance now after WAY overbuying in the beginning. When I do go hunting I am quite selective and lately have not been finding a lot worth buying. I don’t really need to shop at all but it helps keep me interested and gets me away from sitting for a while.
Have a good week everyone. Enjoy your new laundry facility R&J. I share your lack of enthusiasm for listing and selling clothes, even though in some respects it is easier than hard goods.
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Total Items in Store: 886
Items Sold: 64 (ebay) + 225 (train show)
Gross Sales: 2,117.95 = 1,417.95 (ebay) + 700 (train show)
Net Sales: 1,505.63 = 880.63 (ebay) + 625 (trian show fees were 25 table and 50 gas)
Cost of Items Sold: $260.00
Highest Price Sold: $340 (bankers box full of n scale train cars sold to another dealer)
Average Price Sold: ~$22.16 (ebay)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5
Number of items listed this week: 60eBay sales were definitely a bit sluggish this past week, I think it is a combination of time of year and the n-scale train cars I’ve been listing for over a week just are not moving unless I practically give them away. Thank goodness I did decent at a train show I went to. I’m firmly of the opinion that train shows are more valuable as networking events than they are as a means to sell inventory but you have to be a vendor to have the most opportunities so I was there with a table of trains to sell. As a result of being at the show I will hopefully be visiting a lady to purchase her recently-passed husband’s collection on Thursday. I did sell several large items that would have been annoying to ship but I had to sell them at a deep discount vs what I would have gotten on eBay. I also unloaded about 200 lower-end n-scale train cars by selling them to another dealer. They just are not moving well in my eBay store and this dealer only sells at trian shows. My cost was less than $0.50 per car and he paid me $340 for all of them so I still made money and he’s going to try selling them for $5-$7 each so he will make money too, win-win.
New challenge of the week, combined shipping on an international sale. All my listings are eligible for ebay international shipping program and I also advertise in the listing description that I will combine shipping on multiple items to save on costs. I don’t require immediate payment on my items so that gives the buyer time to “commit” to buying multiple items and then send me a message asking for an updated invoice with combined shipping. Well I had a buyer do this that was outside the country and it does not seem that ebay allows you to send a revised invoice on orders that are part of their international shipping program. I suspect this is due to all the extra fees and taxes that ebay tacks on but kind of hides from the seller. We got around it by canceling the order and creating a new custom listing that was the dollar amount and shipping specifics for all 5 items this buyer wanted but that sure was a pain and I’m glad the buyer spoke decent English (or had a good translation app) and was willing to work with me to get the sale done.
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@jasonk – You did is what is usually recommended to combine shipping for a buyer through eBay international. You have to combine everything in one listing. I thought at one time they were working on fixing that, but we haven’t seen it yet.
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@Sharyn – Yeah I’ve learned to roll with the punches on eBay over the years. Until I started selling model trains I really didn’t worry about multiple-item purchases or repeat customers much and I have to say those two are definitely some of eBay’s weak spots.
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Week of 5/14 – 5/20
Total items in Store: 317
Items Sold: 3
Gross Sales: $79.63 (w/o eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $23.82 (including consignment commissions but not the original cost of family castoffs)
Highest Price Sold: $29 plus shipping (USN Norfolk Naval Shipyard Challenge Coin)
Average Sales Price: $26.54 (not incl eBay fees, shipping, or taxes)
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $18
Number of new items listed: 12Late to the party again. Back in the doldrums for sales last week, but at least I got some listing in. I need to keep at it.
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