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My numbers for the week of 11/12/17:
Total Items in Store: 112
Items Sold: 17
Cost of Items Sold: $67
Total Sales: $533 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $125 (Disney Castle)
Average Price Sold: $31.35
Returns: 0Busy week as I prepare to host back to back Thanksgiving dinners…Thursday for my husband’s family and Friday for mine! But I am just finishing up my goal of getting all my seasonal stuff listed this week. Just a couple more pairs of boots to list. And I know I have one of those vintage troll head Christmas stockings in my deathpile somewhere!
I have a theory that eBay Search gives priority in Search ranking if you have a niche. My most recent experience in this is that I had purchased a cache of christmas collectibles from a lady…her entire collection. So had over a dozen of this one brand, different items listed. And I notice my listings are getting very high priority and I am selling them very quickly. It is definitely not the first time I’ve noticed this. But it seems like whenever I’m down to the “last one” (ie last pair of kids snow boots after selling a ton of them…) it will sit for much longer.
Hoping to come back and read through all the discussions above but I’ve got to start cooking! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!I follow you. I calculate my STR (# of items, not $ value) very simply as I have about 100 active listings, I sell about 10+ items weekly, which is 10% of my inventory.
I like to track STR in number of items because I feel it’s a direct reflection on if I am sourcing the right things. My ASP is more an indicator of an upward or downward trend in a combination of my sourcing knowledge with the current market.Yes, if more people have tracked this info (the type T-Satt posted), I would love to see if it follows a general pattern of decrease. That would be so helpful in figuring out realistic growth numbers.
T-Satt to answer your questions:
are you selling items that are vastly different or at a much lower price that would drive that increased velocity? No, generally my prices are above average for the item.
Can you continue to find these items and keep that velocity up? Absolutely. I stop sourcing for months at a time so I don’t end up with a deathpile bigger than what I can list over the winter months. I source mostly from Garage sales which are over by this time of year. I only occasionally go to thrift stores (less than 1x per month) and have only been to a handful of auctions. Never even been to an estate sale yet. I do source on FaceBook groups throughout the year. So there is tons of potential to source more. I don’t, however, have a big space for inventory. Working out of the basement of our family home. I will have more room in 2 years or so, when my oldest graduates High School and potentially moves on. Her room could be converted to storage space.
And is that Average Selling Price one that you can live with for the work that growing your store would entail? My average sold price has consistently been moving up. I am currently at an ASP of $28-low $30’s…which I am happy with but of course would like to continue to improve.
T-Satt, the STRs you posted are based on Qarters? So for example the forcasted 31% for Q4 2017 is average 10% per month? And is that dollar value or number of sales? Just want to make sure I am understanding correctly.dearmila and sonia,
This is an aspect of forcasting that I too have noticed and struggle with. I have an average STR of 10% weekly. When I try to plan for the future, I feel that the most I’d be able to realistically accomplish for 2018 is double what I did this year (I am small with just over 100 items and part-time). But when I look at people’s posted numbers it is clear that larger stores don’t produce equally larger sales numbers. I have yet to see a store with 5x the number of my active listings produce even close to 5x my sales. So I’m wondering what that percentage of decrease is, on average, for sellers like us (meaning with items across many categories, mostly scavenged pre-owned items).My numbers for the week of 11/5/17:
Total Items in Store: 93
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $75
Total Sales: $ 640 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $129 (Equestrian Boots, purchased for $20)
Average Price Sold: $32
Returns: 0It was a very good week of sales. I have been keeping track of my monthly numbers for the last 5 years. Historically, 4th quarter (which I “consider” to be October-February since sales seems to be higher through those winter months) run just under double what they average the rest of the year. It is a noticeable difference. That being said, my main area of expertise is used toys. I sell quite a bit of holiday collectibles and boots as well. They are easy flips and they really bump up the sales overall at this time of year.
I have been unable to leave bulk feedback since the page was updated with a new look a few weeks back. Unlike the caller on this weeks podcast, I am opted into the Seller Hub. When I click on “shipped and awaiting your feedback”, I check the boxes of multiple items, use a stored comment, and click the leave feedback box. It does not give any indication that it didn’t go through. But the feedback does not register. I can only get it to work by going into each item one by one which is a huge waste of time. Is anyone else having this problem? I reported it weeks ago, but no change so far.
If I think about it, when doing a search on eBay as a buyer or when looking something up for research, I use all lowercase every time.
My numbers for the week of 10/29/17:
Total Items in Store: 102
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $43
Total Sales: $790 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $500 (Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Chair)
Average Price Sold: $28.99 if I don’t include the chair
Returns: 1 Refunded without return NIB defective productWell, the chair guy paid! Yay! I accepted an offer of $500 with local pickup. I bought the chair for $20. I’m not celebrating yet. Until this thing is out of my house I still feel like it is not a done deal. The buyer lives 11.5 hour drive away from me. He asked me if I would ship it. I’m not prepared to pack this thing. So last I heard he is looking into Uship. He said worst case he would come and pick it up…but his wife is expecting with a due date of any day now! I haven’t heard anything since last Monday. I guess I will just sit tight and wait.
As a reluctant convert from auctions myself, I would love to hear you guys re-interview Mr.CustomerService now that he has had to deviate from his original business model. Even though I’m part time, I operated off of a pool table in our basement for literally years. Inventory went in and out. It was great. I loved it. I miss it. But it seems that supply has truly outpaced demand.
Other than the chair, my week was kind of slow. But then the weather got sloppy and the sales started pouring in on Sunday and Monday. So my numbers for next week should be much better. Looks like forth quarter sales are finally coming!My numbers for the week of 10/22/17:
Total Items in Store: 108
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $66
Total Sales: $561 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $152.50 (Lot of Legos)
Average Price Sold: $43.15
Returns: 0While my gross sales are higher than October of last year, it is only because my average selling price is higher. The number of items I sold is actually 20% down for the month compared with Oct 2016, which explains why I don’t feel happy with the numbers. Several categories I sell in are getting absolutely flooded with Chinese sellers. I used to do very well with pre-owned Halloween costumes. For the past two years I’ve hardly ever bought them (unless very special). They don’t even get seen. I’m feeling the results of these no longer profitable seasonal items. Lego minifigure listings are also swarming with fakes labeled “custom”. Arrgh!
I have “potentially” had my biggest sale ever on this past Sunday. I found a Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Chair on a local FB group and bought it for $20. On Sunday I accepted an offer of $500 for it, Local Pickup. But the buyer has not paid yet. He contacted me, saying he though he would come over the weekend but wasn’t sure he could (he lives 11.5 hrs away), then asking if I could ship it. I directed him to Uship, Plycon shippers. I feel like it is 50/50 whether he will pay or is going to back out. Fingers crossed.
Jay & Ryanne, any results from your Auction experiment?My numbers for the week of 10/15/17:
Total Items in Store: 99
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $41
Total Sales: $438 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $145 (Cutco knife set)
Average Price Sold: $36.50
Returns: 0An okay week, but down compared to my last few Octobers. I got bursts of sales with quiet days in between. The Cutco knives were a great sale. I got them at a garage sale for $8.
It’s funny how you said you are going to try some auctions. I am only a recent convert to a BIN seller. I used to do almost exclusively auctions back when there were 3 day durations without the ridiculous $1 upcharge. Earlier this month I put over a third of my listings on auction, and it confirmed that they just don’t work like they used to. I think there are several reasons for this: 1. Buyers habits just change and people want instant 2. The novelty of eBay auctions has long since worn off 3. There is just so much more inventory on the site, any basic keyword search leads to plenty of options, no feeling of scarcity. 4. Auctions are not getting the same priority ranking they once did. This last one is a big one. I had items ending soon that were pages into a basic search, not right up top for ending in a half hour like they used to be.
My below average auction results got me thinking of Mr.CustomerService. So I checked out his store and saw that over 2/3 of his active listings are currently BIN format. Guess I’m not the only one. Jay & Ryanne, I would love to hear you interview him again and get his perspective on the current eBay. It’s quite different from the last time we heard him on the show.I had a “customer issue” this week…where I was the customer. My 10 year old son wanted to be a cow for Halloween (don’t ask me why). Since a full cow suit in pre-teen sizes is not the target audience for manufacturers, we couldn’t find one locally. Searching on eBay lead to bazillions of results from China, even when I filtered by US only. Some even had US STOCK in the title but when you read the fine print in the description, it’s coming from overseas. So after alot of searching I found a Chinese seller that claimed US Stock with a warehouse in KY. Against my better judgement, I placed the order and crossed my fingers we would actually get it in the 3 day window. This was over the weekend. Monday morning there were messages from the Seller…they are out of stock in the US but could send me a Medium (not the size we ordered and would be way too big) or Cancel. I responded that I did not want the Medium and to cancel/refund. They did…but chose “Buyer requested cancel”. We all know how this works. They should be getting a defect for not being able to fulfill the order, and holding us up so we couldn’t get another one in time from somewhere else. I’m not usually a PITA buyer, but we are held to standards that these overseas sellers get away with not meeting which aggravated me that day. I called eBay to report their incorrect “reason for cancel” choice. And I was told they would take the mark off of MY Account! Mine! So apparently buyers do get their account “marked” for not following through with purchases and requesting cancellations. I never heard of that before, I’m assuming that if you do it too many times you get in “eBay trouble” but not sure. Thing is, this seller could have done this with many other buyers who would have just been happy they got the refund. It was only because I am a seller myself that I realized he was misusing the system. Anyways, off to the stores after school today so we can get this kid something to wear for Halloween. I’m secretly glad the cow suit didn’t pan out!
My numbers for the week of 10/8/17:
Total Items in Store: 101
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $51
Total Sales: $523.91 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $125 (4 x Mr Clean Carwash)
Average Price Sold: $52.39
Returns: 0
There is a $95 item included in these numbers that I am almost certain is going to end up a UPI case. Huge Hot Wheels Racetrack sold via GSP. 🙁My highest sale this week was the Mr Clean Carwash Devices…all were brand new, all found in the same day at a community-wide garage sale. I found the first 3 at one house, priced $1 each! Later in the day a different house had 1 that I paid $3 for. Sold them all to the same buyer for $125 (cost $10 to ship them). Not the first time I have found these and they are always a quick seller. I also sold 2 of the deluxe Halloween Costumes this week that I mentioned in last weeks post. Those 2 paid for the 8 I purchased. Funny how we were just talking about multiples of new items and about half of my $ sales this week were from these multiple quantity items. I hardly ever actively source these things. But except for 1 dud purchase ($35 worth of kids robes) every multiple I’ve done has been very successful. I see myself doing more of it in the future, just to round out my pre-owned item sales.
Glad you guys are back. I really look forward to the podcast on Monday mornings and miss it when you don’t get a chance to do one! Happy 4th quarter everybody!
I source mostly pre-owned items but have dabbled in some new multiples and LOVE it. The initial outlay of money is scary every time I’ve done it. But you take pictures once, create listings once, and you have your “pipeline” in a fraction of the time that single items take. I have purchased new multiples at Garage Sales 3 times so far…those are rare to come by. Once at Goodwill. And half a dozen times at the Closeout type stores in my area. So far they have been really successful for me. As long as you make careful buying choices on the front end, it seems like its the way to bigger $$$ without more work hours. I have stuck in the range of buying for $10, selling for $50. So far I have found/flipped LL Bean Cashmere Cardigans, Quilted Bedspreads, and most currently deluxe Halloween costumes. All purchased at that price point.
Simplicio…you can see the percentage of listings pretty readily by using basic search terms. For example, search “shoes” and look at the filters in the left margin. Over 18 million are new, 1.7 million are used.
Woops…hit enter before I was done.
I noticed the eBay version of the “Buy Box” this week popping up in search results. So far it’s just here and there on new items. Most of the things I sell are pre-owned so it won’t really affect me too often. But the way they are doing it is putting a “See more like this” link right in the Gallery View of a listing. So basically right on your listing they are directing searchers to a competitor. When you click on the link you will see the item you clicked on, and then a competitor’s exact same item who has undercut you on price. As a buyer I like it, as a seller I hate it. If you want to see an example of it, I don’t know how to post a screenshot here, but if you plug this in the search bar- Disney Planes Fire and Rescue Pulaski Die-cast Vehicle -2 of the 10 results have the link directly under the shipping price. You can click on the link to see what it looks like. This will definitely make pricing more competitive for new items, even if there are only a handful of others on eBay.My numbers for the week of 10/1/17:
Total Items in Store: 96
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $22
Total Sales: $224 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $69.95 (Cordless Can Opener I bought for $1 at a garage sale)
Average Price Sold: $24.89
Returns: 1 ($21 for a new in box item…demo batteries leaked inside it.)Slowest week I’ve had in a while. But things started picking up on Sunday and I expect much better numbers next week. I got called for Jury Duty this week and I was feeling a little overwhelmed about it because the start of 4th quarter in not exactly when I wanted to take a week off of listing….but turns out they weren’t seating a jury this week and I didn’t have to report after all. Part of me was bummed, because I’ve never done it and it seems kind of exciting. Part of me was relieved that I’ll have time for reaching my listing goals this week.
An interesting read about eBay’s version of the “Buy Box”:
https://medium.com/@foursixcommerce/introducing-the-ebay-buy-box-b0994ecc609d
