Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
J & R, I also had a chuckle at the low, low sale of the Mad Men golf putter return “office accessory.” I, too, acquired one of those in a lot this year. I thought it was so cool and would be a great item for the store…until I checked comps. It went off to the thrift store instead.
Thanks for all the inventorying insight. It’s something I’ve not dealt with, but know I will have to as I grow my stores and share the load with my husband.
AND SUPER DUPER thanks for mentioning my comment on the podcast. That was so fun to hear my name and comment about “you are not your customer” and searching for sold comps.
Oct. 14-20
Items Sold: 16 (11 Ebay, 3 Mercari, 2 Poshmark)
Total Sales: $ 308.xx before fees, after shipping
COG: $9
Items listed: 15 (Uh-oh, more going out than coming in). At least one listing covers 7 items.Highlights:
3-book bundle on Mercari at near asking price for $90
3 boxes of vintage pencils to the same buyer for a total of $84
A set of Pottery Barn Avengers figures, going to Austrailia
Lot of fly fishing boxes that are taking up too much space. I wasn’t sure if they would get any interest, but they sold within a few days!I am also appreciating these items I have multiples of. One listing and photo shoot, and I can get multiple sales out of it. I’m almost out of my Navy hats (Garrison caps). I love that the shipping is usually already figured out and I can crosspost from Ebay to Mercari and Poshmark without worrying about competing sales.
I seem to do about 10-20% of my sales on Poshmark. It’s a great place to sell clothes and a decent place to sell lightweight (under 5 lb) home goods. I have two growing kids, so I like to see if I can list items there beofre sending them to the thrift shop. I also have done some scavenging and sourcing for my Poshmark closet. I’ve made about $250 so far, selling clothing, jewelry, housewares.
High dollar clothing is not something I’ve every really paid attention too, and that seems to be a big draw on Poshmark.
I love that shipping is easy and the payout is clear (80% of sales). Knowing that I will make $xx.xx if I accept an offer is a great feature.
Some of my takes:
– Photos quality is very important, similar to Etsy
– People are going to want a deal – I’ve learned to price high and then be open to negotiation. I think my only full price sale was my very first one. I price my items at about 2x my acceptable price.
– It’s a very social place. Your items get seen in part by sharing from other people. So that means you need to share other peoples’ items.
– It takes frequent attention. I “share” my closet twice a day, and then some items additional times. I know there are people sharing there closet much more frequently. Honestly, it makes me feel like I should be doing “more” on Ebay. Poshmark is not a set-it-and-forget-it network.
– Poshmark seems to want to give sellers tools or ways to make sales, from “Closet Clearout” to “parties.”My store ID is ChaoticGood. What’s yours @joeMEZZZ?
I was so glad to hear @Jay and @Ryanne talk about starting out and listing about 20 items a day, during an 8-or-so-hour day. I’ve been really down on myself because I’m not listing 15-20 items a day. Well, I have about 90 minutes before work and over lunch to work on my inventory. Sometimes, that time is spent packaging items. (And, often checking into the forums since I shouldn’t do that during work either.) After work, it’s mom-mode, so I don’t always have as much energy for listing at night. On good days, I list about 10 items. On average days, it’s 5-7 items. My inventory is pretty random so there’s often some research that needs to happen.
At this point I only have about 140 listings on Ebay, and a similar number on Poshmark, with about 30% cross-posted. And very importantly, I’m making 10 or so sales a week now. Yesterday it was 5 items that sold, each over $20 before shipping!
It’s one of those reminders that it’s good to learn from other people, but know that their path doesn’t have to be your path. I’m not failing because my store isn’t at 500 items yet. I’m not failing because I can’t get 20 items posted a day. I’m not failing when something sells too fast because I listed it low enough that it was snapped up in a day.
Thanks for all the education, Forum Friends.Really want to echo Ryanne comments about how “checking the solds” is what allows her to build a business. And, it ties right to the “you are not your customer.”
When we are dealing with all this random stuff, how else would I know what a book autographed by Bob Dole would be worth versus a book autographed by Jimmy Carter. Or which LEGO sets are more sought after.
Looking at my last 31 days of sales on Ebay, there are probably 3-5 items that I would have known how to price. One item was new, so I based my prices off of retail. Those “sold” listings give me that confidence to go with a price and not fret too much about loosing out on decent profits.
Oct. 4-13 (week and a half)
Items Sold: 13 (9 Ebay and 4 Poshmark)
Total Sales: $ 400.xx
Items listed: 13
Highlights:
Vintage Girl Scout Uniform – $39 (COG <$1)
Music Box (Anastasia theme) – $69 (COG $4)
Waterford bowl – $45 (was part of a massive super cheap lot)
Sold a pair of Levi’s jeans and a rain jacket from my teen daughter. At least there’s a benefit to her nonstop growing and changing tastes.Sales have been good, but I have been falling short on listing last week. I was down with a sinus infection, and very low on energy. My 9-5 took almost all of my energy. I also tried getting my unlisted item storage (AKA death pile) shaped up a bit. I think I’ve got a good focus for the upcoming week, at least.
To add some excitement to the mix, my husband’s car died for good, and we’re managing getting by with one car for now. The positive part is that he is opening and willing to helping out with the reselling. He started by drafting some listing and has offered to make post office runs once we have a better vehicle situation.
Goals for the week:
List an average of 7 items a day.
Crosspost 10 items.
Improve inventory and storage.
Fill a box for the thrift storeWhat a fun score! I wouldn’t have recognized the artist, but I did think the first frog looked like polymer clay. It’s the little patterns and colors all together. Painting might be more precise, and show some layering where paint overlaps.
When I first learned about how polymer clay canes work, it was kind of like “mind blown!” It’s similar in theory to how some glass-making works, or even making candy canes. Canes of clay are combined and stretched to make a pattern that shows when the can is sliced. Then the slices are used on top of items or alone.
Jewelry is probably the most common use.
If you are interested in how the canes come together, here’s a pretty simple tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbUcAVAh1_o
When I see “Not For Sale,” I tend to guess that it might come back on sale at some point. (Sometimes I’ll mark it as not available if I’m waiting on payment or an offer on another platform. I guess it could help the size of your store, but I like to keep my closet clean and delete anything I don’t have available. I’ve also been known to accidentally ‘share’ a listing that’s not for sale.
Really, really great podcast this week! I have a feeling I’ll listen to it several times. Love that it gives a rundown of the Scavenger Life high points.
I would love to chat more about “stuff that you won’t sell” in either personal specifics or generalities. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m currently dealing with a few auction lots that are completely random. Among the the items are a very old book in German with possible Nazi themes, a figurine that is reminiscent of Aunt Jemima, and some sports paraphernalia that is disrespectful of Native Americans. Heck, I’m a little worried about even researching the German book, even though it may turn out to be benign.
In the past, I’ve had a friend who had friend that collected and cataloged some of the the African American Americana items. (She is black.) And I actually like the idea of passing the articles to people that would do something useful and not against my values. I do hate the idea of trashing items that might have a use or purpose. At the same time, I realize that I can’t tell if a notebook I sold will be used to write an uplifting self-help book or to plan a bank heist. But I feel less complicit with generic items.
Is this a challenge for anyone else?
First, the number: 8 listing last week.
Now, I’m going easy on myself because I was out of town last weekend at an amazing but tiring music festival. And then I got sick with a sinus infection. And I had a good number of sales to take care of (YAY!).
I’m still dragging from the sinus infection, but I’m hoping to maybe get another 30 listings this week and weekend. I have another pile of jeans from my daughter. I also put 5 items in the “not worth it, thrift store” bag.
Sales: 10, 9 Ebay, 1 Poshmark
Total $: $366 before fees and some shipping
Cost of Goods: Approx. $20. Many items were from low cost lots
Highlights: I sold an unopened Lexmark laser printer cartridge over $100, cleared about $80 after shipping. I had received an offer about two weeks ago, and we couldn’t come to a middle ground. Glad I knew the comps and held out.
I sold some more baseball hats and more autographed books. Most sales have been from offers, but a couple were straight Buy It Now purchases.
Sourcing: None. I have too much to list.
Listing: A couple of music boxes and a few coats. I also cross-posted a few items from Poshmark to eBay.We got some bad news about one of the family cars, so I’m trying to stay focused on listing and making deals.
I’m joining in for October. I need to really be listing more, but getting rid of stuff that’s cluttering my mind and my space is really important too.
I feel a little bummed because I just took three bags of stuff to the thrift store the last week in September, but I’m aiming for the “Death Pile Destroyer” level.
Thank you, both! I’m pretty good at women’s clothing and shoe styles, but these had me stumped.
@Sharyn, they actually wanted the style, such as parka or barn coat, not weight. Both are valuable pieces of information, but eBay was requiring me to put something in the style. And I think that is a great point that eBay could have resources to clarify categories.
@Jay, perfect! I was in such a tizzy to complete my listings that it didn’t occur to me to do a reverse search. That graphic is pretty helpful too.
I’m hoping to NOT make a habit of listing coats because they are so bulky, but our family just cleaned out the coat closet and I have an abundance right now. I wouldn’t turn down free items, either.Keep it up Liz! I’m relatively new, and just listing as much as I can seems to be driving more sales. Good luck meeting that goal of covering the sewer repair.
I’ve taken a bit of a listing vacation this week, as I am getting ready for a trip AND sales picked up.
Sales: 10 or 11 (waiting on a $10 payment on one), 4 Ebay, 7 Poshmark, 1 (the first) on Mercari
Total $: $200 before fees and some shipping
Cost of Goods: Most was from lots, so individual cost of goods was $1 or less. My retail arbitrage of some Nightmare Before Xmas figurine has been a bit of a pain. I keep getting offers, but only one sale so far. I’ll hold out for my high, high prices of $14+ shipping (listed at $17).
Highlights: Some of my vintage jewelry FINALLY sold on Poshmark. I’d been having doubts, but three pieces when this week. It’s probably about half of my store/closet. Another funny item was a back pillow that I accidentally put on auction (rather than BIN). No bids on the slightly lower price, so I relisted when the auction was up, and it sold within a week.
Most of these sales are the result of offers. I’ve got too much inventory for my space, and I am hungry for sales, so I’m gladly taking reasonable offers.
Sourcing: Not much, but I did get some Marvel toys (probably a bust) and a music box during a trip to the thrift store with my daughter. It has comps of $80-130, so it’s probably a good find, if I can get it listed next week. We also cleaned out our coat closet at home! About 5 coats to list, two to the trash and four to the thrift store.
Listing: I got three coats listed, but I’m in order fulfillment and trip-planning mode now.
