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04/16/2018 at 11:52 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 355: We Catch Up w/ Maria & Ryan from Passport Vintage Austin, TX #37762
Loved this episode with Maria & Ryan! I loved that they are following their dreams, playing up each others strengths, and expanding not only their business but also their network and the community.
Week April 1-14, 2018 (two weeks of updates since I couldn’t post last week)
Total Items in Store: 953
Items Sold: 50 (8 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $271 (17.7% of sales)
Total Sales: $1,527.11
Highest Price Sold: $75 (individually) (48 star flag https://www.ebay.com/itm/191718803093); $275 (as a lot) (8x Beatles Yellow Submarine prints to a buyer in Japan https://ebay.to/2qAXunf)
Average Price Sold: $30.54
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory: $520
Number of items listed: 103
Promoted listings test: 23 sales, $583.41 (38.2% of total sales), $31.76 fees (5.4% of sales)Nice couple of weeks, this past one being much better than two weeks ago. High dollar sales really didn’t occur (only one sale above $50), but several $30-$40 sales kept the weeks worthwhile.
The “big” sale was the 8x Beatles prints to a collector in Japan. I got these prints after meeting a guy selling records – turns out back in the day, he was an advertising guy (like me) and had a lot of these printer type contacts. The story I got (and put in the listing) is that these prints were from a run that NEMS (Brian Epstein’s company that handled promo for the Beatles) authorized – local printers around the country printed these for distribution to local records stores promoting the album. These were saved as souvenirs by a local printer, stored in acid free papers, never seeing the light of day until a I got them so they were still perfectly bright white. Since I had bought a bunch of other things from the same guy multiple times, he let me have them for $20 total – was asking $320 for the lot, settled on $275 to the same buyer. I sold them within a day, so one of those cases where I wonder if I could have priced higher – but 1200%+ ROI is good for me and hopefully it makes the collector happy (package is currently in Tokyo).
Got a ton of stuff listed over the past few weeks and my inventory has never been higher. Also got a chance to go out to estate sales as well for the first time in nearly 2 months. Weather was gorgeous on Saturday, so took advantage of it and hit estate sales as scheduled and then yard sales as I passed through.
04/02/2018 at 11:25 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 354: The Long Game – 10 Years On eBay #36889Partially paid for by eBay. It was a quick long weekend getaway for my wife’s birthday. Tulum is so awesome, so chill, AND SO CHEAP (comparatively to other beach-y type vacations especially in the US)!
04/02/2018 at 10:38 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 354: The Long Game – 10 Years On eBay #36884Since we were away last weekend, two week numbers:
Week March 18-31, 2018
Total Items in Store: 904
Items Sold: 33 (1 Amazon, 1 FB)
Cost of Items Sold: $131 (14.1% of sales)
Total Sales: $932.05
Highest Price Sold: $60 (George Michael Faith Record http://www.ebay.com/itm/192472188530)
Average Price Sold: $28.24
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 3
Promoted listings test: 22 sales, $684.74 (73.5% of total sales), $39.11 fees (5.7% of sales)The past few weeks felt slow, even acknowledging that we were away for 4 days (Tulum, Mexico is a beautiful place to be when there’s a snow storm in NYC!). Volume was good, but mostly bread & butter items $20-$30. Would like to be closer to $1500 for 2 weeks, although this certainly isn’t bad.
Last weekend in Mexico, this past weekend with family for the holiday prevented much in the way of listing/sourcing. My death piles have almost been eliminated, so that means I need to buy more… right?!?!?!
03/19/2018 at 8:02 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 352: Scavenging is The Alternative Early Retirement #35616This might get too complicated, but do you have a “pre-flood” average number versus “post-flood”. Just wondering if it’s quantifiable to see how much the flood effected your business.
03/19/2018 at 1:35 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 352: Scavenging is The Alternative Early Retirement #35572I like your average number for the year – I think I’m going to start that as well. Really puts things into perspective on what a “slow” week is.
03/19/2018 at 1:13 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 352: Scavenging is The Alternative Early Retirement #3556719 sales in a small store is amazing! congrats!
what kind of things are you selling?
03/19/2018 at 9:23 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 352: Scavenging is The Alternative Early Retirement #35529Week February 11-17, 2018
Total Items in Store: 932
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $127.30 (20.5% of sales)
Total Sales: $621.93
Highest Price Sold: $150 (Fred frameless glasses https://www.ebay.com/itm/202206091042)
Average Price Sold: $47.84
Returns: 0 (2 NPB though)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $120
Number of items listed this week: 36
Promoted listings test: 7 sales, $284.96 (45.8% of total sales), $18.12 fees (6.4% of sales)A week that “felt slow” only was because of the volume I was selling. Ended up within the range I shoot for each week in terms of dollars, so all good.
Re: R&J talking about best offers not getting paid for. That’s what’s on my 2 NPBs above, accepted offers not paid. And it should be an easy fix, it’s the way many of the app based selling resources do – I know Poshmark does it, they authorize your cc if you make and offer and then the money is charged only if the offer is accepted. There are so many genius programmers, someone has to be able to figure it out.
Another weekend of not going out to source, and got another 36 items listed. Next weekend we’ll be away, and then it’s Easter, but that following weekend excited to get back out there. Pending weather, could even be yard sales!
03/12/2018 at 12:05 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 351: Being Frugal Is Not A Secret Club #34888Week March 4-10, 2018
Total Items in Store: 903
Items Sold: 23 (2 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $193 (18.1% of sales)
Total Sales: $1,068.92
Highest Price Sold: $155 (Civil War Photo – https://www.ebay.com/itm/192127654597)
Average Price Sold: $46.47
Returns: 0 (1 NPB though)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $406
Number of items listed this week: 34
Promoted listings test: 12 sales, $569.97 (53.3% of total sales), $35.14 fees (6.2% of sales)Very good week for me, driven by 4x $90+ items selling – the Civil War photo (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192127654597), a pen salesman kit (https://www.ebay.com/itm/201651483166), Allman Brothers LP box set (https://www.ebay.com/itm/192439993584), and a box of pre-WWII drafting pencils (https://www.ebay.com/itm/202253433673). The pencils were part of a lot I bought at an estate sale and I had them all grouped together – a buyer asked if I would sell just that one box for $90 (had the lot up for $225); of course I jumped at that and still have the rest to sell that are all profit now.
Second straight weekend of not going out and sourcing… instead kept my head down listing my backlog of items. Got 34 items up this week after 52 last week. Didn’t get everything listed, but made a very significant & noticeable dent in my piles/baskets of items.
Week February 24-March 3, 2018
Total Items in Store: 902
Items Sold: 15 (1 Amazon, 1 Facebook)
Cost of Items Sold: $58 (13.8% of sales)
Total Sales: $420.19
Highest Price Sold: $81.24 (1980s Members Only leather jacket https://www.ebay.com/itm/201825261165)
Average Price Sold: $28.01
Returns: 0 (1 insurance claim for damaged package)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $282
Number of items listed this week: 52
Promoted listings test: 4 sales, $143.22 (34.1% of total sales), $8.34 fees (5.8% of sales)Even after doing the numbers, still a “slow” week. Didn’t want to claim that until I did the numbers. I had adjusted my baseline normal week up to $500 after exceeding each week that since about last October. All good though, still made nearly 8x my money for the week so can’t really complain.
That Members Only jacket was super cool, about a year ago bought 4x of them (this was the only leather one, the others were the standard cotton/nylon). I think I paid like $3 each for them at a yard sale, so selling for over $80 is pretty great. Actually sold one of the others on Sunday too, which will hit next week’s post.
Took advantage of the horrible weather in the northeast this weekend by putting my head down and knocking out 52 listings – which got me over 900 listings for the first time since last summer. Still have a basket of random items that is a catch all for things and my current “death pile”. Probably have another 30-40 items in there I hope to knock out this coming weekend.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by
Brian Treasures from Grandmas.
02/26/2018 at 11:11 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 349: Having A Huge Inventory Is Not The Goal, It’s The Strategy #33880People still use those old computers! Just like why are people paying $10-$20 each for a cassette tape that I (or @Steven S) sells? Because these are the last of them, no one is making them anymore.
02/26/2018 at 11:06 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 349: Having A Huge Inventory Is Not The Goal, It’s The Strategy #33878Exactly. I had 34 other sales that all had 10x-15x ROI but they also took considerably more time to clean, research, photograph, list, store, pack, etc. Anything over $200 or so I’m cool with making a lower % because the actual in-pocket profit is so high.
02/26/2018 at 10:37 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 349: Having A Huge Inventory Is Not The Goal, It’s The Strategy #33872Good points. I think that the size of your inventory is one [of many] tactics that get you to your overall goals & strategies. Also what you buy, how you sell (auction vs BIN), etc.
02/26/2018 at 10:23 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 349: Having A Huge Inventory Is Not The Goal, It’s The Strategy #33869O, also, on “Monday dread”. Yes, even if you make a lot of money, you get Monday dread. Possibly at a higher rate because you might know what’s coming or because you have more responsibility. As I’ve noted before on here, my wife & I make a very nice living. We’re paid well and have nice titles at work – but that comes with incredible stress. I know personally, I’m responsible for a large team, driving business results, etc. Even if I’m not physically at work on the weekends, I’m still getting emails & messages and sometimes I can put them off til Monday, but it’s a stack of things for me to do already.
02/26/2018 at 10:16 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 349: Having A Huge Inventory Is Not The Goal, It’s The Strategy #33865Numbers for the last two weeks since I was away last weekend and most of last week.
Week February 11-24, 2018
Total Items in Store: 864
Items Sold: 35 (3 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $637 (30.6% of sales)
Total Sales: $2,080.79
Highest Price Sold: $1000 (2007 PGA Masters Flag – autographed by 8 champions https://www.ebay.com/itm/191919959815)
Average Price Sold: $59.45
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
Promoted listings test: 20 sales, $1,548.90 (74.3% of total sales), $92.61 fees (6.0% of sales)Was away for the long holiday weekend and woke up last Sunday to an amazing $1000 sale of that Masters flag. I had purchased it at an estate sale about two years ago. The estate sale had hundreds of signed sports memorabilia, but most (like the flag) was not authenticated. I spent $350 on the flag and then about $150 to get it authenticated. I had hoped to get closer to $1500, but gladly took $1000. That’s where my COGS are high this period at 30%, take out the flag and COGS were only 12.7% which is quite good for me.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by
Brian Treasures from Grandmas.
Interesting. I’ve been submitting 15% of the monthly mortgage (via GoDaddy Bookkeeping) – I’ll have to talk to our CPA.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by
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