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I continue to have slow weeks with minimal sales. However, my “day” job is busy, and that is where I make my money. eBay has become more of a hobby especially as the market is really drying up for me. However, it is waiting for whenever I decide to retire from my day job.
Week of May 4 – 10
Total Items in Store: 1336 eBay, 34 Etsy
Items Sold: 5 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $0 + $13 Commission
Total Sales: $124.66 eBay
Highest Price Sold: eBay $23 for Lunaire Coolmax Underwire Sports Bra
Average price: eBay $22.29
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 6 -
Week of May 4 – 10
Total Items in Store: 1300 Ebay/1300 Bonanza
Items Sold: 67 eBay, 0 Bonanza
Cost of Items Sold: About $65
Gross Sales: $1420.69Net Sales: $887.99
Highest Price Sold: $137.56 (13 Emtek Cabinet Knobs)
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 150-ish (I lost count)It looks like I sold so many things, but the high sold count comes from 19 cabinet knobs and pulls that went to the same buyer.
I’m feeling a little fried from listing so much. I think I’m going to do a marathon listing session this weekend and schedule several days’ worth of listings, so I can have a little down time. Or at least, a little time to spend doing inventory. I found an unlisted Dyson motor in a parts bin, and now I’m concerned some listings might have dropped off ebay.
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There have been a lot of times in my reselling life where I would have been devastated by how slow things are right now. Emotionally, financially, existentially, you name it. But eBay is now only a piece of my reselling puzzle.
Most of my income this year has come from digital transactions of modern and vintage sports cards. In the last few months, I’ve become even more intensely focused on the eBay live auctions which my consignment company now runs 7 days a week, 6 to 10 hours a day. For $1, I can submit any card in my inventory to run in a future auction. Auctions are always a gamble, but after many hours of throwing the stream on in the background and taking notes (sometimes in my head, sometimes actually writing down sold prices), I’ve started to clearly identify trends and patterns, and the little encyclopedia in my head just keeps growing and growing. I have a much, much deeper knowledge about so many types of cards, from vintage non-sports to modern niche sports, and their values. There is (usually) a logic to collectibles markets, especially with cards, and learning more about it every day is exciting and gratifying.
Very quickly, this has become my main method of selling everything from modern to vintage cards. My buying habits have changed very quickly to reflect what is selling, though I don’t buy much from the lives. There are usually better buying deals on standard eBay auctions. But live auctions are hot right now and the consignment company I use does a great job with their streams. In the last few months, they hired more staff and expanded their streaming schedule, both of which were long overdue. I’m excited to see them continue to grow, since their success is my success.
It’s been kind of fascinating to see how the values of certain types of cards have shifted (some dramatically) based on what sells well in a live stream. Not sure whether these value shifts will remain long-term, but it’s so fascinating to see it all happen in real-time. I’m almost a little late to the party, as Whatnot and similar platforms have been thriving for a few years now. But I needed to find my little community in order for this to be something I enjoyed, and I’ve found that with this specific company’s streams.
Bigger picture, if these trends hold for a few more months, I will have to really think about how much time and effort I want to put into eBay. For the time being, I still have plenty of odds and ends which I can’t sell through consignment, or low-end cards which do a little better on eBay when I sort them myself. But the wheels in my head are turning pretty rapidly. I can see an opportunity to get rid of some death piles and some slow-moving items through some bulk/wholesale listings to another flipper, or maybe a big flea market. It’s hazy still, but if I completely change my buying habits, I can see my whole reselling setup change. I could get a proper desk! A nice chair. I could get some new to me, proper shelves. These are goals which felt impossible to me since…always. There was always more work to do, bills to pay, and never enough time. But even though I’m down 38% on eBay so far this year compared to the same period in 2024, my overall sales are slightly up thanks to consignment, and significantly up in April and so far in May.
The cynic in me looks at the economy right now and (not to get too meta) this forum and thinks that the end is near. I’m out here coming up with goals when eBay is dead right now for almost everyone, and we’re about to enter the slow season on top of it being dead. Most likely, live auction card prices will collapse over the next few months and I’ll be thinking, as always, what will I do next. But for now, I am going to keep dreaming.
I hope you can do the same, even if your numbers were as brutal as mine this week. The numbers below aren’t bad, though they were boosted by one big sale. This current week has been frighteningly bad. But it will get better. Create a few more new listings, send those offers, create a coupon, end your older listings and relist them using sell similar. Keep doing the work.
5/4/2024 to 5/10/2024
Total listings: 294
New listings this week: 25
Items sold: 13— 4 via best offer, 6 via seller initiated offer, 4 via advertising
Gross sales: $832.53
Net sales: $566.36
Average sales price: $64.04
High sale of the week: $249.33 net, about $150 profit after COGS Russell Wilson 2020 Panini set of 4 autographed printing plates
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@craig-rex – If you hesitate to buy that desk, chair, and shelves, consider freecycle. If you do Facebook, use freecycle and the name of your town to find ones in your area. Outside of Facebook, there is the website freecycle.org. Of course, there is Craigslist as well. You do have to keep coming back and checking, and it might take a while, but you might be able to find what you want.
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Thanks, Sharyn. A lot (OK, all) of my current furniture was free or cheap estate sale stuff. When you don’t have a lot of money or space, you take what you can find or what’s given to you and make it yours. That is scavenging at its core. It is beautiful, and I really treasure some of the things that I own. But others are due for a replacement. I am not a social media person at all, but I might have to rethink that for the purposes of scavenging my perfect office. I also live in a pretty small apartment, so the real redecorating will have to wait for the next place.
But I will get that Herman Miller chair that I fantasize about eventually. When I do, I promise that you all will be the first to know!
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Items in Store: 3183
Items Sold: 29
Total Sales: $1,207.00
COGS: $194.00
Total Profit: $1,013.00
Average profit: $34.93
Average sales price: $41.62
New Listings: 93
Items scavenged: 0
2025 weekly new listings Avg: 34
2025 avg gross weekly sales $1,168.53
2025 Avg weekly Items Sold 25
2025 ASP $46.94
2025 projected total sales $60,763.37It was a short week as we left for vacation on Friday. That draft bank paid off as I did a lot of photography to catch back up. I wanted to get as much done as possible before I left to have a good chance to maintain sales during my time away setting. I turned on time away on Friday morning, but also got a negative feedback and a return around the same time. Needless to say, NO sales on Friday and very few over the weekend. So strong week turned into a decent week as most of my sales were Monday thru Thursday.
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