Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’m game.
Lately I’ve been tackling seasonal inventory with the goal of not carrying anything beyond this year’s holiday. I did very well with Halloween, with some priced lower. Christmas is doing pretty well so far but I have more of that.
Another thing I did in the later half of this year was to get more quick and dirty with my photos. Almost everything is laid out on my wooden dining room table, which is near the desktop. I’m also more regular with pinning in the morning on Facebook groups. Sometimes I follow their suggested theme for listing. My backlog is sorted. It all helps a little bit. I feel like have a lot of competing interests for my time so I don’t set goals but I might be more regular if I have an appointment. Can’t hurt.Good morning Jay. I’ve been listening a long, long time. I totally get that you are not into RA / commodity items. I also remember that you enjoy picking estate sales, yard sales, and flea markets but don’t have so many in your area. I was thinking not of changing so much the type of items you pick, but expanding where you pick. There is more competition but you have a deeper knowledge base and see value in things others would not. With all of the abundance a populated place can offer, you could find good stuff at fairly good prices if you spent a bit more time there and found some honey holes. You did want to experiment at one point with paying more in the past and seem to be looking to expand into furniture after the building is up. Ryanne’s expressed interest in Craigslist hunting. I see an opportunity there but you know best what’s right for you and how your past city picks have done (price and velocity wise) vs. your rural picks.
As for me, my favorite finds are cool vintage items that I get for cheap. However, I have limited Ebay time so I do some narrowly focused online and physical RA at a couple of stores I like to shop in myself (though not at full price). Originally I got into that type of picking to fund my own purchases there, then I figured out their sales cycles and to focus mainly on animal theme and artist collaboration items. On those items I only make like 2x-5x the money. However, the new items move much more quickly because I price slow dime. There are other things I like about selling new items but mainly I think it’s important to keep my small store active.
Hi Amatino. I think I (maybe we) could improve this year by listing every day. Since I don’t have time to deal with more than packing some days, I really ought to save drafts as scheduled listings and then rolling a few out over the course of the week rather than listing in spurts.
Wow! Two boxes. I’m so envious. I’ve got two boxes of flatware alone.
I’m still at it as 2017 comes to a close. I have done some sourcing this year but really flipped my equation on its head. Just the last couple of months, I can see a lot of room opening up in my garage and closet and it’s WAY less hoarder like. Still a way to go but it feels really good to be getting things back under control. The time off from sourcing is letting me get perspective on the best approach when I allow myself to build inventory again.
Question Jay: Do you think you could become more of a blacksmith and less of a fisherman if you did more sourcing trips in the nearby larger towns and cities? I’ve suggested before that you consider swapping Airbnbs or signing up for a luxury pet sitting service. As T-Satt says the farther away from large cities they go, the more they find for the fisherman. If the reverse proves true, you could change up your equation with the vast knowledge you have for name brands and undervalued items. Don’t you just love this injection of armchair quarterbacking your life? LOL!
You could get some inexpensive foam boards to separate them while standing. Foam Board My dad found some at the .99 cent store. Framed works tend to get trashed at the thrifts and the glass breaks when they are standing together and people flip through them. I cut these down to ship flat paper goods in a sandwich, haven’t tried them for storing art.
Congrats on your successful reselling business from another mom seller! I’ve been working part-time since my children were born with 15 month breaks when they were infants. Now that they are older, I really treasure the memories of being with them and still enjoy the afternoons and weekends with them. The old cliché is so true that they grow up quickly.
Total Items in Store: 414
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $304 +$27 free shipping
Total Sales: $532
Facebook: 1 $20 sale of something from our house
Highest Price Sold: $190 (New duvet + shams, paid that amount two years ago in my rookie RA days)
Average Price Sold: $44
Returns – oye!: 1 broken in transit item, 1 switched out item (I won on appeal)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $50 new RA – clearance door knockers
Number of items listed this week: 12Not my best week on Ebay all around. My usual Ebay glow is a bit battered and bruised. I had to talk to the foreign customer service reps twice, which irritates me to no end even though I escalated things and got a good outcome. I’m going to take a $100 loss on a Smartpost cracked item. I sold one of my original RA purchases that I overpaid for and got my money back but gave free shipping. Sold a color bleed item (Vera Neumann scarf) for .99 on auction. Hardly any free time to list with Christmas approaching. BUT, I look forward to this week and anticipate being able to get a few more listings up. I still LOVE selling on Ebay. The bright spot was I met some extremely nice Midwestern transplants who gave me a ton of packing materials – all tidy and organized by type. People from that part of the country are so nice.
I spent some time reorganizing my backlog and looking for stray Christmas items. I have everything off the floor of my garage and guests can now hang some clothes in the closet! Some of the piles are cool midcentury stuff, and some is hyper-grandma stuff of value but I won’t get too excited about listing it now (the latter aka my death piles). It’s fun to revisit the treasures but I miss shopping.
Regarding housing prices, remember that the expensive areas tend to appreciate at a faster rate. Real estate that looks expensive at the buy in can be a great capital investment and nest egg if you plan to move somewhere cheaper in retirement. It’s not spinning off income of course if you can only afford a primary residence.
Re new item shopping, we only have Kmart and Costco here. I had also bought Prime with a good discount and did not renew when it expired. I bought a few free shipping items from Amazon afterward and they didn’t ship out for SO long. So I switched to Walmart.com and it ships immediately, gets here in two days, and I get free packing material. I also didn’t like how Amazon doesn’t show you the best price right away or how third party sellers get at least $4 for shipping each item. We buy enough staples and food at Costco that our dues are free with the rebate check. Our grocery and drug stores here have strong mark ups, so Walmart.com is a good option and I think Costco is standard about 20-25% less than other retailers. IF you haven’t seen the documentary on Costco, it’s fascinating. Have a great week.
LOL. Ok so wrote like 5 messages over two weeks and put a note in the package. Finally hear from this buyer with a page long message about how one of the other items in the set cracked in transit. A lot of irrelevant details thrown in like her husband is in the military, yada yada yada. Asked for photos and haven’t heard back. Of course it was Smartpost too so I won’t get any insurance money. I just have to laugh at this point and write this transaction off. Does anyone know how long she has to send proof?
Also had trouble with a switch out on a return (skipping that long story but I got my money back after a couple of calls and the defect is supposed to be removed). I’m grateful I cruised along for two years without any problems!
Wow! That clock would not have left my house! I still haven’t found one yet and I have my dad looking too.
I was shopping on Ebay yesterday and noticed at the top was delivery options 1-4 day filter. Also free returns was displayed first in the lower menu. Just wondering if anyone who is allowed to participate in guaranteed delivery or doing free returns has noticed a difference in sales? I’m on the waiting list for GD.
I expect that retail will continue to change. But, stores like Costco, Target and Walmart combining groceries/drug/clothing/home goods will probably come out winners. Pure clothing stores I expect to continue to struggle. The TJ Maxx companies I do have confidence in. I even bought some of their stock in my retirement account. I just picked up a few items from Marshalls yesterday to resell and give as gifts – Rae Dunn, Philosophy skin care, Velvet. A lot of their (especially home decor) stuff is junk from China but there are some really nice brands hidden in there at better prices. It is excess of the true product and discontinued items, not made-for-outlet poorer quality. You can’t search their deals online by brand, so one needs to go hunting in the store. If I did Amazon, I would definitely source there.
Thanks Steve. I don’t like dealing with clothes but sold a Patagonia tee my son outgrew overnight, so they seem to move well. Happy to report that I sold some other things I’ve had listed quite a while.
I held out a long while to get a good price for this. Paid $5.99 at GW and thought it was awesome. Artist was listed and I thought it was cool. Blenko Art Glass Pottery Ashtray
Took a best offer of $38 for this. Paid 3.99 indy thirft. Small nautical painting
These 1980s mugs are winners. Paid $2 at a very pricey estate sale in my neighborhood. Taylor & Ng Mug
I’ve been struggling to sell vintage wrapping paper, but this sold quickly, paid $1 at the storage unit clean out thrift. African American Christmas Wrap
This is an interesting topic. I think there are definitely some people who are well off but don’t mind buying clean used items. Maybe some would be put off by shopping at thrifts – I suspect more people under 40 than over. But lack of time to hunt and convenience are key. The internet is always open and you can find exactly what you want quickly without digging. Plus in our not so distant memories was the great depression. Even our wealthiest clients were fairly paralyzed emotionally.
My friend just had a vintage tiki birthday party. She found amazing deals on vintage tablecloths and a beautiful dress on Ebay. While I charge high prices for my hunt time and would have priced her finds much higher, there are other (volume?) sellers on Ebay who do not require as much meat on the bone or maybe do not value the same items as I do. So, there are bargains to be had on Ebay. Even those like my friend who could easily afford to shop new love to get bargains and authenticity too.
