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I pay my sister a percentage so my second business is on my own. She didn’t enjoy photographing shoes and accessories so those are mainly what make up the second business & some hard goods (I just sold a Frabel Blown Glass piece, we got a small taste of what Ryanne goes through with packing regularly, oye). She steams and photographs / crops and edits. We handle everything else on our end. I need your photographer for my other business T-Satt!!!
We sound like we’re in very similar situations! How much do you pay per item considering he is professional? I’m going to keep my sister with me for as long as she’d like, but I started a second business and my photography is poor and it eats up my time.
T-Satt, how many people are employed in your business? I have hired someone before and it didn’t pan out, but I can’t figure out how to grow without hiring on people. I’ve always been very interested in opening a small store front where I can take in inventory, but haven’t wanted to take the leap because I enjoy staying at home with my kids. Future ambitions!
Jay, I should also mention my sister started with us very early on and I could actually do better if I hired someone else and paid per picture or hourly, but she is a professional photographer which sets our items and store a part and I do enjoy working with family. But that would easily increase my income by $2,000 per month.
I shop thrifts and consignment stores. I have created relationships with three stores in my area and I frequent those once or twice a month and I often get calls about big buys that I run in for. I shop twice a week pretty much all day long. I also travel up to 4 hours in every direction 2-6 times a month depending on which season we’re in to thrifts and consignments. Lastly, I drop my card every where I garage sale and that gets me a lead every other month of so.
These are my worst months. I do my best in January and the earlier months of the year. I have a photographer ( my sister ) who I contract all of my photography to, I pay a premium for my items so I can buy more at a higher quality to maintain customer satisfaction ($8000 per month), and I re-list my items every 5 days which then costs me money to list at the end of the month so I have a high Ebay fee, & free shipping and returns is expensive as well.
I was very concerned about promoted listings, the extra expense, and the idea that you have to pay the 20% to compete. I’ve just learned early on that you have to adapt and to be willing to give everything a go. It all comes down to the final numbers and the big picture and if the bottom line is bigger, I’m all in. I pay 1/3 the cost I will sell for up to 1/2 for higher priced items. When all is said and done, I put 7 grand in my pocket at the end of the month. I am paying off my house early and putting the rest into investments. Love your story, we thought investment properties early on, but have decided to just invest like mad and live the dream in Orlando when we retire @ 50 (we’re only 32 so it’s a bit off ; ). Life’s good!
Thanks for sharing Libby, I agree about selling higher priced items, nice to sell things sooner at a higher price with a fee than waiting and marking them down and making the same later.
I do a solid 10%. Not sure if 11% would be smarter to put me over the majority who do 10%? I notice I get a lot of multi orders out of it which is nice. I get charged for the one item and not the other one or 4 or however many. I have a multi item discount of $10 per 2 items which drives buyers to look at my other listings.
Hey T-Satt. I buy some used, some new.. whatever I can find at the thrifts and consignments and online. Very little retail arbitrage, probably 5%. November and December are usually my worst two months, the beginning of the year are my best months. I have noticed I have actually made about the same the last three years (although I added a second business that is included in all of those numbers above which has made me much more) even though I continue to increase my number of listings. I am excited to compare after using promoted next year and see if it was worth it.
Last Weeks Numbers
Total Items in Store: 3020
Items Sold: 162
Gross Sales: $7338
Returns: 8I wanted to first write about my returns. My husband and I sell 99% womens clothing and accessories and we average 8 returns per week or around 4 – 5%. We also accept free returns and ship for free.
I also wanted to mention a way I found to make some extra money. I have been doing this for seven years and just barely switched from paying my Ebay fee with Paypal to paying with my credit card. This pays out an extra 50-60 dollars each month via cash back. Pretty awesome!
My last comment is about promoted listings. I am having my best November and December ever and I believe it’s due to promoted listings. For example, in November 2017 I netted $21,157. This year, November 2018 I netted $32,965. Pretty incredible. As far as extra costs paid for promoted: $824. Other factors for everyones information, I did increase my listings by 200 as of last year which will weigh in, but I do attribute most of my excess to promoted. Anyone else have any experience with promoted, good or bad?
Jay, I so very much wish. No, we bring in 1/2 that much each month. We pay a premium for our items at $2000 a week for COGS, we cover shipping costs, and we have a full time employee (my sister). But, that still is a very generous income and we use it to pay off our house which we should complete in 4 years, cover retirement investments each month, and support our family of 4, and still have room to live it up and enjoy life! We use Dave Ramseys Every Dollar App for budgeting. Thank you for your podcost, I’ve listened every week for three years. We considered investing in rentals, but per Dave’s advice, we’ll have to wait to pay in cash ; ). Very nice to listen to fellow frugals.
Oh yes, and I wanted to include one more example for the argument of auctions, it’s thrilling and adds excitement to my day when something like this happens:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/382415031912Thank you so much T-Satt, that is great advice. My sister is already doing our photography and you are correct, teaching to list was a bit difficult with our last helper. Thank you for the dollar numbers per, that is very valuable information. I see you are a major contributor on the forums, thank you for your service and I’ll keep in touch.
Thank you T-Satt. My bottle neck is 100% Time. We have a two year old running around these parts so either myself or my husband is typically involved there. Things should open up in the next two years when she’s off to school and we can expand from there. I’ve hired someone in the past to get my second store up and running and it was good, just not great so we didn’t continue down that path once she left for school. Do you have any suggestions?
AdventureE,
My return rate is 5%. I am guesstimating (is there a place that states this?), my NADs is less than 1% of that, we may get one a week. I just had a buyer return an item that had definitely been worn and I still accepted the NAD. This is an unusual situation, most of my NADs I would say are buyers remorse, but they are so few that I don’t fight them.
My COGS is typically 1/3 or less of my average selling price for a particular brand and style. I dabble in a bit of everything, but mostly in the wild. I have some online opportunities and then thrift the rest.
My Experience with Auctions, Why I use them, and Successful Examples!
I am a high volume clothing & Accessories seller on Ebay (I average $7500 gross each week) and always start my items on auction and just like the individual mentioned in the pod cast, then change to buy it now. Every week, I have 1 – 2 items get bid up. I think this works well for clothing because you never know when there are two people who really need that particular size. Usually I only make an extra $10-$20 per item (every dollar counts!), but about once a month, I make an extra $100 or more. I LOVE selling on Ebay and can never get enough of it after 6 years (my husband, sister, and I do it full time). Also, greatly enjoy your podcast, thank you.
Username: Calljac15 & Vermillionclothingco
Store: http://stores.ebay.com/luxclothingresale & http://stores.ebay.com/vermillionclothingco
Here are some examples this past weekish: https://www.ebay.com/itm/382422231687
https://www.ebay.com/itm/253532228713
https://www.ebay.com/itm/253526112406
