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Jeez, only one item this week. Some of the lack of listing was seeing old friends and taking a full day off for mother’s day, so happy reasons. My contract work is busier too. Would love a full day to list! I’m really lucky to have had decent sales the past few weeks while basically not listing. I’ve been taking all offers and saving for taxes.
I know I know! My head’s totally in the game, but the rest of me is occupied. I listed to the podcast yesterday while watching kids at the beach. So I’m not sure why I’m worried about other platforms. For the record, my piles are no longer growing at least! 🙂
But I think I’m a bit of a slow lister on Ebay even after all this time so maybe I could list faster on Mercari. That is intriguing. Did your email person say what type of items they sold there? I wonder if they are attracting younger buyers than Ebay. For you two artist types, I would think Etsy might make more sense for high prices and unusual items. I was really surprised back when you canceled your experiment so early after just listing furniture. But I have heard Etsy can be pretty dead at times except fourth quarter. They are rolling out changes to their platform too. Another key issue with this is Google recognition. I still feel like Google doesn’t like Ebay so much and Ebay still seems to be having slow growth in bringing people to the platform, plus they have scaled back on the advertising.
Total Items In Store: 388
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $86 + 24 (free shipping)
Total Sales: $330
Highest Price Sold: $50 several items – used and new including best offer
Average Price Sold: $33
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of Items listed this week: 1 ugh!I enjoyed the discussion regarding other platforms, especially Mercari since I don’t sell clothes (Poshmark). I did a light bit of research about Mercari this week. Apparently it’s a big deal in Japan. One Youtuber soured on it after she was selling well, but then due to a USPS stuck delay, she lost her money because the item was ultimately delivered (so no insurance) but Mercari had canceled the sale by then and wasn’t helpful. I don’t think I would list expensive items on Mercari but I feel like Ebay is trying to advance in the marketpalce at this time at the cost of nickel and diming sellers so I like the cheaper shipping rates on Mercari. That plus Google prefers other sites, so it has my interest. I love Ebay and I hope they succeed with all of their improvement plans and draw in traffic. However, I suspect they are absorbing the negotiated commercial shipping discount, which kind of bugs me. I’m hardly seeing any discount after the last increase. And it sounds like the new returns policies are favoring buyers like Mercari does with their autobot style customer service to some degree. I might try fourth quarter as TSAtt suggested or our personal clothing on Mercari – nothing worth over $35 and see how it goes. R&J I would keep your ear to the ground. I do see your point about allocating fixed resources, but I think you should consider Ebay’s costs to improve and Etsy 4th quarter as an experiment.
Meanwhile, not even getting any listings to Ebay lately. I did some fun social stuff this weekend. A serious treat for a mom like me. Also getting ready for a garage sale next weeekend. It’s kind of hard to part with items that might sell for more on Ebay but it’s more fun to source specifically for Ebay and work the piles. I just don’t have time to list it all. I hear on another’s site they are called “profit piles” instead of death piles. I like that better I suppose. Have a great week.
That feeling when you pack a vintage item in so so condition (as described) in a recycled Walmart.com box and then realize it’s going to Park Avenue in NYC. 😐 :0
We use TurboTax and will itemize next year, so I downloaded this app. It looks super convenient and it’s pretty quick to make an entry. Some of the values are strong though IMHO, like more than you would pay at our Goodwill here on the Coast for medium and the high is very strong, only maybe good for serious brands in great condition. For example, a medium quality men’s dress shirt is $11 (the lowest value they offer in the app). On the other hand, an area rug is worth a max $7, framed art print $19. Would be interesting to see how this compares to the Salvation Army prices. The IRS guide I found quickly says “The price that buyers of used items actually pay in used clothing stores, such as consignment or thrift shops, is an indication of the value.”
I don’t have a lot of listing time and I feel like the buyer expectations on Etsy are higher. But, Mercari I find interesting because of the cheaper shipping on 1-3 pound items (which is most of my stuff), it looks pretty quick and dirty with the listing, and you can sell vintage and contemporary. If Google values Mercari listings more than Ebay listings, then you are not necessarily relying on shoppers to come from within the site and potentially don’t need to additionally pin items on pinterest. This last bit is an unknown but I’d be interested too to hear about sales volume from Mercari sellers.
Kind of an interesting assessment from last year. https://randydreammaker.blogspot.com/2017/06/why-i-like-mercari-better-than-ebay.html
I’m a big believer in running 10%-20% sales every week, especially in the seasonally slow summer. If you’re not already doing that it’s a good place to start. Tuesday is the only day of the week my store is not on sale usually.
Mike, interesting that Salvation Army valuation sheet. I’ve used GW in the past. Those are strong values even for us here in Cali if the brands are nothing special. I feel like I’m too conservative sometimes on tax stuff.
Be good to yourself! Being a caregiver is so important but exhausting.
We’ve been discussing shedding old inventory on another thread. I’m going to speak in very general terms. If lower value items have condition issues, I would end those, chalk that up to learning, and donate. You don’t want to sell cheap, deal with shipping it all while you are burnt out, and potentially get some negative feedback out of it. For better items that are already listed, you can try deep mark downs and/or auctions to generate quick sales but if the merchandise is not in demand, then expect low prices. Several of us have an unproven theory that ending successful auctions, accepting best offers, and sales generate other sales in the store. Starting to look for better merchandise might be an uplifting experience for you if you like sourcing. Good luck!
One quick caveat: make sure when you launch the auctions that you triple check that the free shipping box is not checked and that you have the weight and package size correct if not flat rate. Also, you should be prepared that one or more may sell for .99.
HomeDecorGuy I’m interested in hearing from people selling successfully on Mercari. I also sell home decor.
I thought I heard on Youtube that the commercial rate is much better on Mercari than Ebay. Here’s a link to their chart: https://www.mercari.com/help_center/article/319/ I have suspected that Ebay is not passing on much of the savings they negotiated with USPS and FedEx to the sellers, especially recently. If Mercari can negotiate this, it seems to lend credence to that.
I also don’t really have a lot of time to be Etsy perfect, but I would like to use a more Google friendly platform than Ebay. Mercari seems more quick and dirty that Etsy, so if they have the traffic and Google likes them, that sounds interesting to me and I’d like to hear more about it on the forums.
I do try to revise listings Ebay suggests in the listing improvement page, but I’m not sure that works. Since the time to list the items has been put in, I either mark the stale items down significantly or run a .99 plus shipping auction. I often get my money back overall on all of the items ($2-$3 each) plus a small profit and Ebay likes activity, so ending auctions successfully generates some other sales in my personal experience. I have also donated or sold at a garage sale some cheaper, stale items that have very few views or are harder to ship. You might try going over 250 first and see if Ebay comps the extra listings with a credit.
7 items listed in one sitting before I left town. I believe most were from death piles.
Total Items In Store: 386
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $126 + $32 free shipping/ins. + one item ours
Total Sales: $515
Highest Price Sold: $120 Cross stitch kit (paid $10 estate sale)
Average Price Sold: $43
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: about $30
Number of Items listed this week: 7Pretty good week since I didn’t list while out of town the later half of the week. Continuing to sell off my RA inventory without replacing – probably 50% of the peak inventory level is gone now. Thrifted up by my dad’s house, so that was fun.
I’m planning to turn on domestic free returns when required for TRS+. As long as it doesn’t cost me too much I’ll leave it on and hope that I’m rewarded through better best match search results and maybe more sales, though I pretty skeptical about that last part. I’m sure I’ll be rational until I get a couple of $15-20 return hits. I’m on the fence about a handling fee because I hate the idea as a buyer of a seller profiting from shipping but probably don’t notice it. (I sometimes do not buy obviously inflated shipping cost items when shopping on Ebay on principle). I’m wondering if they will make a prominent toggle on top of the mobile search results like they did for guaranteed delivery?
I swear I saw a brief propaganda video from Ebay on Facebook the other day. It was made to promote free returns and reassure sellers about cracking down on abusive returners. It said their research projected over 20% sales growth to sellers who add it. I looked but can’t find it again to share unfortunately.
Have a great week.
