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I think I’d rather they keep the external ads – I always ignore those as a shopper – and not show my potential buyers other seller’s listings of the same or similar items for less money or with free shipping. Just sayin’.
Total Items in Store: 317
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $95
Total Sales: $285
Highest Price Sold: $85 (New Anthropologie lamp base – paid $28 Spring clearance)
Average Price Sold: $40
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0 – Week 10 (I think) of no scavenge challenge
Number of items listed this week: 10Enjoyed the Podcast. Price is key and I tend to go high but now I’m looking to move things out a bit faster if I ever want to shop again. I think another bit of control is not relying on EBay’s internal search limitations (whatever those may be) and putting your item out there on social media for the Google searchers. Ebay has admitted in writing that they manipulate best search results and my suspicion is that are things they are not sharing with sellers – sorry, I know I know!. When Amazon has physical storage capacity issues, everyone necessarily finds out. If Ebay has capacity issues (I’m not a techie) they probably aren’t going to announce that. I’m pretty happy with Ebay though at least on the RA front but I can only share my own experience that I always shake loose a couple of sales after a listing day and after the successful completion of an auction. I’ve been listing long enough and inconsistently enough to notice these patterns in my small store. I’m hoping Etsy continues to grow and that I have time to tackle learning that platform as a compliment to Ebay for my vintage finds.
Local Facebook groups have been mostly disappointing to me so far on the selling front. The groups have become large and users I suspect browse and overlook the search function. One local group was pretty high end, but then as it grew it became muddied up with lower quality stuff. Also people (like me) are generally hunting for great deals, like on Craigslist. However, I have some common Pyrex sets and art I might try there this Spring so I don’t have to ship them. Sometimes I have an item that gets likes and comments early on so it stays toward the top and has a better chance of selling. I don’t belong to any national collectors FB groups yet but it will be interesting if others comment on that going forward.
Slow progress on the backlog, but I listed some Easter stuff on Saturday. Have a great week!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/343399540323116584/
I can’t decide if this 1963 painting is awful or awesome. I guess my husband feels the same because he didn’t comment on it going up in the guest room. I couldn’t find the artist online.
Hey congrats to those of you finishing up already or making headway! I’ll be here for a good long stretch. Glad it’s not just me and my piles. Honestly, not a huge dent yet but I have sold off a couple of bins and I’m going to keep on truckin’ despite the multitude of demands on my time.
Total Items in Store: 318
Items Sold: 6
Cost of Items Sold: $42
Total Sales: $123
Highest Price Sold: $38 (New shower curtain)
Average Price Sold: $20
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0 Week 8 of the no scavenge challenge
Number of items listed this week: 2Very slow week for me with low average price but not much listing as life is getting in the way. Spent last weekend at my dad’s and looked at old slides. Lots from my mom’s days in the 1960s as a TWA stewardess and fun 1960s and 1970s Disneyland slides. It was cool to see the original (or at least earlier) paint on the Storybook Land whale, for example – more fierce than today’s version. Of course I can’t help but think we might sell them someday… Hard to turn off the picker brain.
I can’t stand clutter in my living space so I’m not really a collector. I’ve been building inventory and paying for practical (kid) stuff with my Ebay profits but also I occasionally use it to pick up items from other Ebay or Etsy sellers that I don’t find – like my set of Siestaware tiki tapa walnut wrap glasses for example. Once in a while I use it to splurge on something for my house from Anthropologie (on clearance, of course!). I am attracted to certain tiki / atomic era decor, tableware, and art, but I actually don’t manage to find much I feel compelled to hold on to. I’ve heard from a couple of fellow pickers that there are others who are hunting hard for that stuff where I live. When I get finally manage to dig out from under my backlog, I hope to skunk them at some estate sales. Part of the enjoyment is getting grateful feedback from happy collector buyers. The vintage linen collectors I find to be particularly pleasant and helpful.
Lots going on here outside of my ebay life that I don’t blog about, but making some progress. In January I purged and organized our own stuff inside the house and listed some of it on Craigslist. I sold enough items on Ebay to need to consolidate a few boxes and I revamped my shipping supplies. Husband does not enjoy the shipping supplies in the garage but I only buy bubble wrap new. I’m also doing some maintenance on my old listings and reducing some prices.
Made it about six weeks and then had a couple of short rummage indulgences, but I’m totally still in. It’s been fun to pull out some cool items from the garage to list. I’m focusing on bulkier items and higher dollar items in this phase. I’ve also listed some bigger items on Facebook but the groups have gotten larger and so my listings seem to get buried there. Later on I will be getting a lot of matching bins from my in-laws home so my stored items should look more presentable and uniform.
I just saw this Sunday for the first time in the antique pottery category only – it said new and no condition menu. I also had the gallery photo box issue too – once I unchecked I listed, but need to see if they charged me. When I first started ebay a couple of years ago, it seemed super glitchy and annoying. I’m now very happy with the upgrades they have made since then (especially the photo loading) but it seems like they have a lot of issues when rolling out improvements.
Total Items in Store: 319
Items Sold: 6
Cost of Items Sold: $3 (used) + $53 (new RA)
Total Sales: $187
Highest Price Sold: $48 (Anthropologie pajama pants)
Average Price Sold: $31
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20 week 7 of the no scavenge challenge – oops.
Number of items listed this week: +/-15An ok week of sales for February. I spent some time doing sell similar on some high view listings and other maintenance. Suzanne A. Wells came out with a video on Youtube reminding us all that we are not allowed to use stock photos without permission. She used – of course – Anthropologie as an example. Between her calling attention to this and noticing that Anthro has recently made it harder to locate photos of discontinued items, I decided to modify some recent listings since I had relaxed this. I also got in a good listing day (for me) Sunday and started listing some cool old stuff from the piles – Quimper, Georges Briard.
Feeling a wee bit guilty because I’ve stayed out of the thrift stores but did hit a church sale on Saturday. I was very selective and out of there in 20 minutes. I saw people in line to pay before I checked out and though to myself “those are probably the best pickers in here.” Also, I passed on items I knew I could make money on – like a big box of Teddy Ruxpin stuff – because I know I can’t process everything and want to limit new acquisitions to what I am personally excited about. I feel like I have graduated to the next level of picking and Ebay selling.
Regarding the topic at hand, we don’t fit any of those categories exactly. Mainly having kids, living in a very, very expensive city in a high tax state, and going big on retirement eliminates the need to ponder how to invest our extra cash. 🙂 However, we have worked the housing market and moved up a couple times. We are more frugal than our peers when it comes to cars, wine, meals, etc. but we do spend on good reno and semi-annual vacations. Our furniture is high end used. I used to use paper coupon too before Ebay, but there is a trade off between time vs. savings.
It was fun to hear about your scavenging weekend since I’ve been (mostly) good. I think location is your sourcing challenge and it makes sense to housesit, exchange airbnbs, or even rent on a Friday night. I’m pleased you were able to get away and do that already with all that’s going on. Quick thank you to Brian @ Grandma’s Treasures, Eve, Beth, Steve and everyone else who shares interesting retro sales. I miss Sheldon. Have a great week everyone.
Total Items in Store: 330
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $112 (RA clearance) + 12 (used) + 0 (my kids’ spongebob dvds)
Total Sales: $363
Highest Price Sold: $56 Peet’s coffee mug
Average Price Sold: $30
Returns & Int’l Sales: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40 Rummage sale – a brief reprieve from the 6 week no scavenge challenge.
Number of items listed this week: 2Grateful for the sales since the work week after vacation was busy and then we hosted a Superbowl party yesterday. Also cheated and went to a rummage sale early Sat. am. I’m looking forward to reworking how I do things and getting my old purchases out. I posted some vintage items on the forums that I’ve sold and realized how dated some of my listings are – some even recited incorrectly that I don’t do international shipping (from my newbie days when I was using someone else’s copy and afraid to do GSP.) Then I ended some Christmas Papyrus wrap listings because they went into the attic and realized I didn’t have Christmas in the title! I also have tax prep work to do. BUT hanging in there with this. I really, really enjoy selling on Ebay and participating here and I have the hunger *favorite episode*. Going to keep doing my best to squeeze it into my life.
I know. We are hosting a Super Bowl party tomorrow and I just unpacked etc. from our vacation today – there goes listing on the weekend. My husband took the kids out to a game – a rarity & I should be listing! I’ve added my small haul to the death pile Pinterest page. ? http://pin.it/TDR9nwW
These silk Asian pillow cases look handmade but I’m not sure – out of my comfort zone. Pip aid $10 for the Gorges Briard bar tool set, vintage bar towel & picks. $3 for the Mcm flatware, $3 for the sheet set.Tfs living room pic. It would be fun to see a video telling us where you found the items and what you paid. The clock & wood chairs are my favs. Hope you are feeling settled soon. Cheers!
Ok fessing up that I cheated and went to the rummage sale. We only have three of these a year at the Fairgounds. It was fairly large, but they allowed volunteers to pre-shop last night I overheard. 🙁 Probably good for me in a sense because I picked up a reasonable amount of items – some barware, flatware, and vintage cartoon sheets. Enough to make it fun. Now, back on the wagon. I miss the thrift stops but plenty here to process.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marciaturner/2017/01/31/how-ebay-sellers-can-increase-sales-with-just-a-few-tweaks/#4bcc8792f8c5
Interesting that Suzanne A. Wells is coming right out and saying Ebay is pushing down stale listings in search. She mentioned waiting a couple of weeks before using sell similar, which I haven’t heard before. Finally, she recommends the dribbling in daily listing approach I mentioned above – confirming without citing any authority hypothesis 2; that listing gaps reduce sales. Maybe she’s got inside intel if she’s willing to say all of this to major publication. Then again, Ebay isn’t likely to come out and contradict her.Also on my mind is another article I read about Ebay telling sellers they like new items, vs. unique. http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2017/1/1483060360.html/3/40
It has me wondering if smaller Amazon sellers will move to Ebay and Ebay vintage sellers will move to Etsy. Ebay is so easy, but I’d like to see Etsy take off.A few used items to share, but no real home runs.
I’ve sold several of these Brown Bag Cookie pans and thrift them for about $3-5. The individual cookie molds do not seem move as well. http://www.ebay.com/itm/BROWN-BAG-COOKIE-ART-Mold-1990-Animals-amp-Birds-Shortbread-Pan-Chocolate-Paper-/231779852641?rd=1
These straw trivets always sell and are always very cheap ($1/set) to pick up. Check to see if the stinging is loose by twisting. http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Woven-TRIVETS-Set-2-Raffia-Straw-Hot-Pads-Retro-Wall-Decor-APPLE-amp-HEN-/231905282432?rd=1
I was surprised that this neutral colored afghan sold very quickly. I usually go for the colorful ones. Bulky death pile item, glad to move it out -paid $3. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Handmade-Crochet-Afghan-Blanket-with-Neutral-Chevron-Pattern-Tan-amp-Ivory-/332079298152?rd=1
I’ve found a lot of these for cheap ($1-2/set) and they really sell quickly if they have Hallmark on the back.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hallmark-Cookie-Cutters-Fall-Thanksgiving-Holiday-Turkey-Pilgrams-Set-3-/331999918009?rd=1I have not done very well with paper items on Ebay, but did finally sell these, thrifted for $1.50. I might buy again if a blockbuster movie, since I had to pay up myself online for theme supplies from an out of theatre movie (How to Train your Dragon). http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-Party-Plates-amp-Napkins-Episode-VII-The-Force-Awakens-Kylo-Ren-BB8-Rey-/231948267454?rd=1
