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My numbers for the week of 2/19/17:
Total Items in Store: 101
Items Sold: 25!!!
Cost of Items Sold: $98
Total Sales: $ 803 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $166.50 (Harley Jacket)
Average Price Sold: $32.12
Returns: 0I had my single best week on eBay ever this week! The previous week I had reported that I had a weird 3-day dry spell and was feeling so unconfident about things. Then the sales started and my phone just never stopped cha-chinging! If only every week could be like this one! The ups and downs of sales really do toy with your emotions as an eBay seller.
I will not be listening to the podcast until Monday but glad to see you are going to be mentioning sell through rates. Sourcing items with high sell through has been my business model from the start and it is something many seem to overlook. I have added longer tail items into the mix through the years, but I truly believe the activity I get from those “sure things” help bump up my search ranking on everything else and improves sales across the board.
I am totally for using $.99 Auction Format on sure things. And I am even ok on using them as occasional “Loss Leaders” for my store. That doesn’t mean I actually loose anything….rather I might end up with an auction ending in a slightly lower sale price than I may have gotten with a BIN format, but it drove lots of activity to my store and spurred on sales of other, longer tail BIN items. The closest I can come to proving my theory is to remind you that eBay calculates Traffic Reports/Sell through/Click through Rates on your account as a whole, and they don’t do it for no reason.
I have been keeping up with my New Year’s Resolution of 20 new listings a week. Hoping the months to come will go like this one.My numbers for the week of 2/12/17:
Total Items in Store: 113
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $26
Total Sales: $311 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $75 – Jumpsoles trainers
Average Price Sold: $34.66
Returns: 0I had a three day dry spell this week! I can’t even remember how long it has been since that has happened. I have to laugh at myself with how my emotions and confidence are so closely linked with my ebay sales. When things are selling I’m like “I’m so awesome at this! I rock!”. And then a few silent days and I’m saying to myself “This isn’t working. What am I doing?”
I am definitely not a collector. What’s weird is, I don’t even like to shop. I only go when I have to, I write a list so I can get in and out of a store in as little time as possible. I never went to garage sales before selling on eBay, I don’t go to the mall just for fun. BUT…I LOVE to source. It’s not like shopping for me. It’s like treasure hunting. Like finding $20s and $30s (or more!) just laying there ready to be picked up. I don’t see a pair of Doc Martens, I see cash. My dream job would be to just source, pack, and ship with someone else doing prep, photos, and listing. I would be happy sourcing all day long. BUT every once in awhile I have found items that that are just my style while sourcing. Looking around my house there is a Jade Bonsai Tree on my foyer table I bought at a garage sale, an ottoman I got from a facebook group, 2 original art paintings on wood that I purchased from the artist on eBay. I keep very few things, only things I really love. My work is kind of infused into my surroundings and I like it!
Brian, I read through the links. Every one of them explained Diminishing Returns in the context of production. That is logical and makes sense to me. I’m having a hard time seeing where this would apply in the world of re-selling. We don’t manufacture any product, so the only thing we are really “producing” is adds for sale. How would the Law of Diminishing Returns apply? If I triple my inventory, we are talking another couple of shelves in the basement, some extra bubble wrap, the fees paid for a store upgrade, minor expenses. It does not seem that this Law would apply (for any of us) until the point of paying for outside storage, hiring an employee, or other huge investments in the business (things that Jay & Ryanne are currently in the midst of, but too far out for me to even consider in my equation).
So I’m wondering, not including big business investments as mentioned above, what are everyone’s experiences as far as increasing inventory vs decreasing sell through? Have you felt what you believe to be Diminishing Returns as your inventory increased? At what point? I’m not sure I buy the connection. I feel that it has to do more with a saturated market and a changing platform. I definitely believe that if I went back to 3-day auctions with less than 50 active items, I would not have the same results today as I had 7 years ago. No way. But I can’t blame my increase in inventory for that. Not seeing the logic in it. PS – My career before having kids was as a Purchasing Agent in a manufacturing environment.Brian, thanks for the links. I will read up on it. I understand the definition but don’t understand WHY it’s true.
Retro Treasures – I DON’T know what my potential is. That is what I am struggling with. I also started with quick flips and originally did almost all auctions. If I decided to go back to that model today, I would not have the same results that I did 5 years ago. Just because you did it in the past does not mean you can flip a switch and replicate it…because the platform continues to change. I know this is true when I look at my numbers from year to year. Always increasing, but I have to say 2016 was a disappointment. I put WAY more time into eBay than I had in prior years, and my numbers were higher but just barely.
The reason I’m delving into this right now is because I am on the cusp. I started eBay when my youngest started preschool, to fill the time and have some supplemental income. Once all the kids were in school, I continued to devote more time and energy to eBay, but it has still always been part time. Now, looking ahead to college expenses for 3 and future goals…I’m at a decision point: to go back into the outside workforce or to go all in with eBay. But since 2x the work does not equal 2x the money, it is hard to figure out what might be financially best for us. And I see pros and cons with either decision, so the $ is actually really the deciding factor for me. It would be great if I could be confident that a weekly sell through of 10%+ would continue if I increased my inventory to 500 items. But it doesn’t seem like it works that way.My numbers for the week of 2/5/17:
Total Items in Store: 102
Items Sold: 11 (1 Auction + 10 BIN)
Cost of Items Sold: $51
Total Sales: $390 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $74.99 YuGiOh Launcher
Average Price Sold: $35.45
Returns: 0I have a small store. As I look at everyone’s numbers, it is hard not to compare myself. I know we all have different ways of doing things, different things we sell and ways of selling. Still, it surprises me to see so many sellers with hundreds of listings, even up towards a thousand or more, report that they had 20 or less sales this week. So, not much more sales than my 100 listings produced. This makes me nervous. I’m a planner. When I set my goals, I feel like if I do double the listings, it will produce nearly double the income. Looking at everyone’s numbers, that seems highly unlikely. I remember you guys did a podcast on the Law of Diminishing Returns. But I remember not really understanding the concept when I listened to it. (I should go back again and re-listen.) I can understand a saturation point of a specific item, like there are more used Women’s size 8 Converse shoes than there are people looking to buy them. But I’m not understanding how that relates to a store full of individual one-off items. That I PERSONALLY would notice a dip in selling those used Converse shoes because I have X number of shoes listed (for an example). I realize it’s a real thing. If anyone can help me understand the concept better, and when you noticed it’s effects, I’d appreciate hearing from you.
Stuff my Mom Threw Away: I love Auctions…though I don’t do near as many as I used to. No proof, but it seems very clear to me that when I have hot auctions going, it bumps up my visibility as a whole and I sell a bunch of BIN item as well. I would advise not using them as Clearance. Those “not in demand” type items need a specific buyer to come along and buy them…that’s why you can’t give them away at auction. Better to use auctions for “sure things”. For me, it is rare that they end at a disappointing end price. And even if they go a few bucks lower than the average going rate, the bump it seems to give my BIN items makes it totally worth it.
I would use the fee illustrator that shortandstout made a link to. Do the numbers yourself and make sure it makes sense for you to upgrade. There is no reason to open a store based on your “projected” sales & inventory. Don’t upgrade until you have actually achieved those numbers and would be paying less with the bigger store. 20% is outrageous…
I’m wondering why you decided to go to a premium store with only 300 listings? At $450 in fees, if this past week was an average week of sales for you, you’re fees are more than 20% of sales! That is awfully high.
Thanks for the link. Well, that settles it…they will have to go in lots if I have to ship ground/surface. I find it really aggravating when the majority of sellers don’t follow the shipping regulations. They are obviously selling single and small lots via 1st class to save on shipping…which makes it hard to compete when you follow the rules. I found the same to be true of perfume sellers.
My numbers for the week of 1/29/17:
Total Items in Store: 90
Items Sold: 14
Cost of Items Sold: $67
Total Sales: $596 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $129.99 (Baby Alive)
Average Price Sold: $42.57
Returns: 0This was a really good week for me, and I sold another 5 items on SuperBowl Sunday so a good start to the new week, too. Feels like my increase in listing is finally starting to pay off.
I am so excited because I finally replaced my camera that was long overdue for retirement. (And I got exactly what I wanted, scavenger style). I know it’s faster to take photos in the app directly from your phone but I just was having so many issues with it. I find it awkward to hold such a small device, and always seem to move a little when snapping the photo. And then in the app, my photos would sporadically be rotated when I went to finish up the listing on my pc. The eBay pictures were loaded but “invisible” so adjusting brightness or cropping was impossible. Tried an ipad, and the photos looked great on the ipad screen, but barely useable when uploaded to eBay. Maybe there was a setting I was missing, but I just could not get it right.
So anyways, I got a Sony Cybershot RX100 which blows any camera I’ve ever used before out of the water. And I paid less than half of retail ($199) by calling around and finding a new, open box one at Best Buy. The only issue was the charger was missing, but the camera I replaced was a Cybershot so I already had a charger that fit! Love it!
I picked up a cache over the weekend on a local selling site…a 17 pound collection of Matchbooks! It’s not something I would normally mess with, but got them for free, so I thought “its time to learn about matchbooks!” Any experts out there? I could just split it into 2-3 huge lots but I think I might take the time to sort through and lot by interest (tobacco, gasoline, girly, by state, etc.) I haven’t looked it up yet, but anyone know if there’s any restrictions on shipping matches? Hoping I can ship them 1st Class.My numbers for the week of 1/22/17:
Total Items in Store: 93
Items Sold: 11
Cost of Items Sold: $34
Total Sales: $371
Highest Price Sold: $89 – Beloved Perfume
Average Price Sold: $33.72 + shipping
Returns: 0I missed a couple of weeks of reporting my numbers because I have been really working on my new year’s goals…which include a weekly listing goal and spending less time in facebook groups/blogs. I have been breaking down the weekly goal (20 listings) into daily quotas which really helps me achieve the goal. If it’s “to list 5 things today”, I try to do it very first thing before anything else. It is a small goal by comparison to many of you, but if I succeed through 2017, it will be double what I’ve done in the past. Cutting Facebook time has been easier than I imagined. I used to get caught up in conversations with people and after a while it just seemed like we were all just trying to avoid actually working. Didn’t do anything positive for me, and surprisingly, I don’t even miss it.
I agree with some of the comments above about the dangers of higher priced items when you don’t have the knowledge behind it. When people are spending hundreds or thousands on a purchase, it better be just what they wanted. Repros, outright fakes, condition expertise are all things that come into play and can definitely not be learned over coffee in an hour. The big difference is that you are used to buying first, researching second. And over time you have gained knowledge so you KNOW when you see certain items while sourcing that they are money. Your new strategy would have to be the reverse. The reason you feel uncomfortable is because you “know you don’t know”. And taking a guess is a big old risk. If you are serious about this new strategy, you are going to have to attain the knowledge first, and buy second…I (and your customers) appreciate that you wash the clothes. I’m no germaphobe, but I beg to differ that those “clean” clothes you pick at the thrift are even close. Even if they started out that way, they have basically been sitting in a pile of dirty laundry till you bought it. While it’s easy to assume that most people are generally clean, and donating from their clean closets…and that is what an average eBay BUYER expects as well…the truth is there are people who smoke, who have pets, who have bedbugs, who are cleaning out their hoarder family member’s house and have been exposed to rodents & feces, who are unloading a deceased person’s things who wasn’t able to clean properly (themselves or their home) towards the end, people who don’t care and are getting rid of their kid’s stuffed animals after finding they have lice, and some who are just plain dirty. It all goes into the same bins. And it sits there till it gets sorted and on the floor. This is not what an eBay buyer expects, they expect that a used item is coming out of a nice clean closet, just as a lot of the repliers here assume. Which is odd, because I know you all are familiar with the scent of a thrift store. Earlier in my marriage, my husband installed security systems in residential homes. There were several times when he came home and hugged me tight, thanking me for being clean. He has seen things, people. So, I stand by my “it’s gross not to wash it” comment and I think the majority of eBay Buyers would say the same.
Hi, Christine. One of my main categories is toys and they are just so time consuming to clean, set up, and photograph. There are often lots of pieces or battery functions that need to be tested. I can’t imagine listing kids toys without cleaning them first. I know people do, but I really wouldn’t feel okay with it. Even so, I would much rather do my types of items than clothes that have to be washed and ironed. When I hear some of the quick flipper youtube sellers who buy pounds of clothes at the Goodwill bins and list them without washing them I am pretty grossed out. I think it ends up giving eBay a bad reputation when buyers receive items like that.
I am curious how long it takes others. I feel that my 1 hr per item has alot of room for improvement. It is an estimate of course. I don’t have a partner on eBay, it’s all by myself. And I prep, photo, and list in batches to be efficient. But I also feel that if people are really honest about it, adding up every element of processing the item from purchase through after sale issues, 1 hour per item may be closer to accurate than most would think (or like to admit).
My numbers for the week of 1/1/17:
Total Items in Store: 57
Items Sold: 10 (2 Auction, 8 BIN)
Cost of Items Sold: $20
Total Sales: $233
Highest Price Sold: $75 – Sea World Playsets
Average Price Sold: $23.34 + shiping
Returns: 0My Average price was lower than normal but almost everything I sold this week were things that I’ve had listed for quite a while, so I was happy to ship them out. As far as returns go, I can count on one hand how many returns I have had in the seven years I’ve been selling on eBay. Seriously…not more than 5 items. It is probably due to what I actually see as a flaw of mine. I am overly meticulous when it comes to item prep, photographing, and listing. It takes me way longer than I think it should. I’d really like to improve my efficiency going forward. The up side is, I don’t really get returns.
I’d like to ask everyone…what is your estimate of time investment per item listed? I’m talking if you add up EVERYTHING (sourcing, cleaning, photos, listing, answering ?s, managing your store with sales/relists/price adjusting, shipping, all of it). I am always in disbelief when I hear people say they can list 50 items a day. It may be a conservative guess, but I use 1 hour per item in my mental planning strategy. Meaning if my average profit per item is $25 and it takes me 1 hr per item to completely process…I am making $25/hr. Which means if I want to go full time/40 hr per week I’d be at approx $50K per year.
