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Love this idea! I may try printing up little cards, or see if this message will fit on my multi-line text stamper. I have a ridiculous amount of cute and decorative papers.
I’ve also called my senator’s office (the one who actually answers calls, rather than the one who never answers constituent calls).
@Jay @VintageTreasures Thank you! These are both good tips.
I tried the measuring and comparing to the size charts on the company website, and they didn’t quite match up. And, I think the men’s and women’s were virtually the same.
I’ll give them another try today.I got real excited about finding them (really good condition for $1) because a person I follow on Instagram flips a lot of athletic wear on Mercari. It’s not amazing profit, but it looks pretty quick and consistent.
Total Items In Store: 184 Ebay (many cross listed to Poshmark)
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $ 4
Total Sales: $ 160; probably will clear $110 after shipping and fees
Highest Price Sold: $ 20.20 (Swim bikini bottoms, going to Denmark)
Average Price Sold: $ 13.38
Money Spent on New Inventory: $ 10
Number of items listed: 0Gut Sales Report for the week: I haven’t had the energy for listing and it shows. I have more swimsuits and jewelry I need to focus on. Elastic sales have slowed down (or I’ve been priced out).
Scavenge of the week: There is a neighbor that constantly puts free stuff out on my block. A few weeks ago I picked up a NIB VHS video converter. This week, there was a Department 50 Christmas house that should go for $30. I also bought a huge box of CDs and DVDs at a garage sale, mostly out of personal interest. While there are probably 25 I’ll keep, there are probably over a hundred more I could sell. I did go thrift shopping with my kids, but didn’t find anything for my resale.
Trends: My new-with-tags swimwear is selling. I bought three lots of it for 25 total in a local online auction. I’ve more than made my money back. They are low dollar items (a lot of Target brand), but there are a few multiples, so that makes it efficient to list and ship.
Challenge for the week: Listing my big ticket items and starting to list my vintage travel brochures. I have 4 items that I will price between $100-400, and I’m just so nervous about it for some reason. A bible from the 1800s, a couple of embroidered portraits, and a vintage wool Canadian sweater.
Keeping it in the family: My teenager has started reselling on Depop, and just made her first sale. I hope she has fun and makes lots of money! But today she spent her profits on clothes for herself at the thrift store.
Mike, glad to hear that chemo is over for Susan. Will be keeping her in my thoughts as she recovers! Glad to hear you are making changes to the business that should be good for both of you.
About this past week for me: Work has been busy, busy, busy since mid-March, not leaving me much energy for my reselling side-hustle. But I got a burst of energy about a week-and-a-half ago, and listed about a dozen items. It was a good jump start, and at least half of those sold. I’m working to tackle the death piles, and am accepting offers that I would normally turn up my nose at.
Some of my sales that have been exciting for me are:
– Cans of dented but new Epoxy
– Six dozen vintage pencils (sold for $75, literally scavenged)
– Book about Sitting Bull from 1891, sold for $60
It seems that collectibles, clothing and hardware store type items are all in demand.I also decided to start selling some of my elastic, which is in demand due to people making masks. It’s not an item I would normally bother with, but I’ve figured out how to at least keep it affordable and efficient to ship. Once I run out of shipping supplies, I’ll have to figure out something else. But for now, it’s a good way to keep eyes on my store. I’ve made multiple sales on eBay and Mercari since listing this weekend.
My goal is just to keep listing what I can. My sourcing in the last week (and the only sourcing for the last two months) has included an auction for new-with-tags swimwear. We’ll see if I wasted my time and money. I’ve listed about 25% of it. It’s not a high-dollar items, but there are several items that are multiples, and therefore easy to list. I also scavenged some curbside electronics items in the neighborhood.
As always, thanks for the podcast. I’m re-evaluating “what we’re working towards” these days. The 9-to-5 seems less stable, but even the relative stability is very valuable. And I really wish we had invested in a “place in the country” where we could escape what has become a very mundane stay-at-home existence. It’s important to keep the short-term goals and the long-term goals in view.
Due to COVID, things are incredibly busy at my regular job. I am up at 5 or 6 AM sending out notifications to our transit customers, and then I send more service notifications throughout the day, sometimes into the evening. It’s looking like I might have a 60 hour week this week (although no paid overtime), along with trying to help take care of my family. I’m grateful to have stable-for-now employment.
So, I haven’t had much time for reselling. I’ve had some decent sales: a puzzle for $35, framed crewel embroidery, Starbucks cocoa mix.
As friends and family say that they are having trouble getting stores and getting timely deliveries from Amazon or online retailers, I try to suggest they check out ebay. I’ve also bought several items on eBay in the last few weeks: thermometer, sewing machines oil, and a ironing board replacement pad.
My total for last week was 14. After a really strong start, COVID really started to affect our area, and I’ve been swamped with work and getting ready for social isolation. And — good news — sales were keeping me busy.
I listed 14 items last week. Which was the same number I sold, so that’s great.
I’m finding this week confusing from a reseller perspective. Maybe it’s because I listed 20 items early in the week, but my sales have been better than normal. I’ve sold several items through offers and had quite a few full price sales. They include:
– Several pieces of costume jewelry under $15, quite possibly for gifts.
– Starbucks Cocoa Mix (retail arbitrage)
– Nice Orvis men’s boots
– Men’s hiking pants
– Some women’s clothes
– Hardware that might be in low supply due to shortages from China
I made offers and accepted offers on Ebay and Poshmark.
I do get the sense that quite a few of my sales are due to people preferring not to go out, several sales to California.
I went to the bins twice last week as a reward for my listing. I was also worried about COVID coming to Kansas City, and I think those were my last trips for several weeks. Our family is trying to do as much social distancing as possible.
The good news: I’ll be more focused on getting this inventory listed. I have probably hundreds of items to list. I FINALLY got up to 200 items on Ebay, but I’ve been selling so much that I’m down to 195.Howdy, Wendy! Is it safe to assume you are in the Kansas City area too?
I have a regular full-time job, but restarted my reselling due to stagnant wages and increasing expenses. And, it’s fun!
I too am a “work in progress.” I’ve been working on my systems, especially my inventory and storage.
I hope you heal well and have a fun time at the Royals games!I listed 9 last week. Not much, but better than my big old zero for the previous week.
I traveled the previous week, and then came home and got the flu, I think. On top of 3-4 days of serious fever, it took a lot of recovery time – I even took half a sick day just to nap.
I don’t want to jinx it, but I am off to a good start this week. I drafted a bunch of listings on Sunday night, then took measurements and photographed over my lunch hour yesterday. I don’t know if I can keep up the pace for the whole week, but it looks promising.
I don’t know if it’s all all related, but I sold two older and higher priced items that are boring supplies. One was a Lexmark printer cartridge and another was is a piece of hardware. I wonder if the coronavirus effect on manufacturing will mean that people will go looking on ebay for items as they go out of stock through traditional means.
The last couple days of sales have also included: moose pins, deodorant, a dress. Not especially frivolous purchases, but maybe people are also looking for ways to shop without leaving the house.
Very interesting podcast, once again. I don’t know that such analysis would be worthwhile for my business at this size, but I would like to look more at my numbers so I’m going by real historical information, not just a feeling.
Slow weeks for reselling, but the 9-to-5 has been brutal. And next week I have a conference out of town. So my goal has just been to plug along.
This week’s events have lit a fire under me to set up an inventory system. I had two sales on Monday/Tuesday, and for the life of me, I couldn’t find the items. I went through my inventory three times, on different days. I had one item in the last 90 days that I lost before shipping (not due to lack of inventory), and I was panicking that eBay would shut me down or at least dump me to the bottom of listings. So, yesterday, I started and made good headway on inventory. Both items were found.
I also found two boxes of ‘inventory’ from when I was reselling a few years ago. And am overwhelmed by all the items in my office that need to be listed. So, I just have to stay focused on the priorities of LISTING and ORGANIZING.
Weekly-ish Report 2-10 through 2-20
Items sold: 8 items at $172
Listings Added: 23
Biggest store: Ebay @ 196
COG sold: Under $2 and from my household
No sourcing. Gold star for me.The items sold this period were really interesting to me:
John Wayne plate for $25 on Ebay (gave up hope on decorative plates)
Playmobil cowboy set for $39 on Ebay
A bundle of Anheuser Busch steins and Avon Christmas dishes for $60 on Poshmark.
Vintage suit pattern for $15 on Ebay
Embroidered vintage shirt from my closet, $25 on Etsy
And my favorite: Three sew-on Pendleton tags from the 1950s for $25. I purchased them for 25 cents at one of my honey holes. I was so excited to find something I didn’t even know would exist, and then make that kind of margin. Easy to photograph and ship too.I had a Mercari user message me that my price on a Funko Pop was too high because not one would buy it with a damaged box. Well, it sold, full asking price, within a week on Ebay. The buyer was super happy to get it at a decent price and didn’t mind the box damage.
It took a lot of self control to not write a snide message back to the Mercari user.
I’m not looking to the expansion of opinions as I expand my store.16 regular listings for me, with 2 green items. One was even a shamrock necklace.
I was looking for an item that sold, and basically looked in most of the areas that hold listed and unlisted inventory in my office. Oh, boy. There has to be at least 500 items, maybe 1000. I really need to get a move-on or just dump some of this inventory.
This week at the “regular job” shouldn’t require as many extra hours, so I am hoping I can meet my goal and maybe recover some on the previous weeks. I sold four bulky and fragile items this past week, so at least I have the relief of them being gone.
Feb 3 – 9
A good week of sales for me, but weak for listing.
Items in Store: 188
Items Sold: 9 (3 Poshmark, 3 Mercari, 3 Ebay)
Items Listed: 10
Total Sales: $225
COGS: $10A couple of these sales were thanks to crossposting to Mercari. My “big” sales were a 1950s Girl Scout Uniform in fair condition, $44; a vintage New Era Chiefs cap, $40, and an old Air Forces flight manual $40.
Also had an annoying return on Poshmark, but it was one of my daughter’s out grown items, so I’m just going to let it be and let it go. The buyer was over the top with her feedback, but I’m trying to leave emotion out of it.
Have great sales this week, everyone!
10 items listed for me this week.
2 green items: some vintage Zena jeans and a New Era hat.Last week was a blur thanks to 9-5+ work and more work at the dentist. Thought I would have more posted, but I did quite a bit of crossposting. Made 9 sales, which is a great number for me. Also donated a small bag of stuff at the thrift store. I’m also trying to get my phone photo storage under control. Making strides on that, but I want to make sure I don’t have to re-photograph anything.
