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I’m curious as well about how many items people generally list in an hour. Hi Beth, I sell décor (not clothes) and used to be a lot more careful, take a while with my photography, and put more in my description. I’ve since adopted more of a quick and dirty approach. Some of the lighting admittedly isn’t great in my photos, and I’ve reduced the amount of cropping and editing I’m doing. Ebay has made some welcome upgrades too since I started a couple of years ago and my photos load faster now thankfully. I’m also using the template and custom insert functions – are you using those?
I’m on a shopping hiatus but when I begin again I will definitely be taking into account – among other things – the amount of cleaning, difficulty to photograph, and profit margin. I also admire the Esty sellers I follow – everything looks so perfect and is more thoughtfully researched and described. I’d really like to sell on Etsy but I’ve come to realize that I just don’t have enough time to list things like that right now. I think I’m good at finding attractive items and shipping out quickly, so that’s good enough for Ebay if the photos look fairly good.
Sorry for the lengthy forum post today. Chair sold not surprisingly. 🙁
Wanted to share a couple of tidbits about the reviewing your homeowners insurance. Our insurance is through USAA and based in TX. We live in coastal CA where the land value is 5x the structure and the labor cost is very, very expensive. I had to work with them on a couple of issues scavengers in our situation might want to review. First, they had our structure value too high (based on the property tax statement). Then they have a tangible personal property amount of $500k+ for furniture, etc. tied to the home value so we were way over insured for our stuff in the house. Their program makes assumptions about this, not knowing we have all second hand stuff pretty much and only invest in renovating. Anything really good and you need a rider anyway. Second, their regional estimator had a rebuild at $150 per square foot and was actually from another town south of us. I would love to build a house (esp. kitchen & bath spaces) here for that – not happening. They allowed us to bump that up and pay a higher premium for it.Total Items in Store: 338
Items Sold: 7
Cost of Items Sold: $9 used + $54 new
Total Sales: $178
Highest Price Sold: $40 Williams Sonoma Dishtowel & Spatula RA Set (paid $16 summer clearance)
Average Price Sold: $24 Taking offers!
Returns: 0; Int’l Sales – 1 mug to Canada GSP
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0! No Scavenge Challenge week 2
Number of items listed this week: 11So funny and weird because I just this morning emailed about this local CL Crate & Barrel chair. I think it might be the one in your truck photo. https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/fuo/5899293888.html It’d be more like 2k new so congrats. Mine is stale listing so fingers crossed.
Speaking of scavenging, we are staying at the Disney Aulani later this month. We were so slammed that it was too late to get an AirB&B unfortunately to stay in after my husband’s conference hotel. I talked to the reps and they suggest calling over and over to see if we can upgrade from the standard room to a larger one. He gave me the tip that people normally book in the mornings and cancel in the evenings. Also to try around the 5 day window when it becomes a permanent booking. This particular property has not been as successful as they hoped and apparently there are a lot of cancellations happening routinely. I used Trip Advisor to look at our next hotel stay but booked directly with the hotel, and recently got an TA alert about the price dropping, called and got it down $100 without having to cancel and rebook. Awesome!
Meh week of sales. I’ve dabbled in Williams Sonoma RA and it gets a lot of hits but even their sales prices can be strong. I’m sticking with my no scavenge challenge and I’m taking offers. Thanks to those of you who joined me in the challenge. It totally helps my resolve to have posted it in writing. I’ve got a lot of stuff to clear.
Not great listing #s after the beginning of the week because we are really focused on cleaning out our non-Ebay house and kids stuff. Our thrifts have all stopped taking used toys, so I guess we’ll be freecycling some of that. I put a bunch of stuff on Craigslist but it’s very quiet. I did list a big plastic tub of bulky afghans on Ebay and I’m having a $3 hairy Pendleton blanket cleaned. Thanks for the wool blanket cleaning tips. Some really grab fibers, but the dryer did release things on others.
Have a great week everyone.
Good job. Just keep driving and do what you really should to do instead. That’s how it works. It is a bit painful in one way, but then one feels less guilty on the other hand. The piles will be there.
Good luck Joe. Reorganizing the stuff does help you realize how behind you are too.
Good job staying with the floors. Maybe we should allow a one time pass for events like that. But…it’s a slippery slope!
Hmm, thanks! I should have looked into this further before posting a comment, especially since I prepare our return. More of their factors lean toward hobby than business for me. There isn’t sufficient free time for me to ramp up the # of listings in a significant way, though I after I clear the death piles I hope to more to a better average sale price. I’d rather not open new accounts. I don’t have any losses or excess expenses to use so there is no real advantage there for me. I certainly want to do things correctly, but we pay an obscene amount of taxes so we’re golden.
Do you use Easy Auctions Tracker? Someone here mentioned it so I tried it this year. Haven’t done much yet but transfer the Ebay info.
Thanks! I’m still recovering from rotator cuff surgery so I’ll recruit one of my kids. 🙂
Hi Liz,
Amazing fabric sale! I’m glad you are feeling better. It’s overcast but mild here in SoCal right now – in the 60s. -ChristineTotal Items in Store: 335
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $7 (used) + $226 (new)
Total Sales: $508
Highest Price Sold: $240 (Anthropologie Bedding Set – paid $120 Springtime)
Average Price Sold: $56
Returns/Int’l Sales: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0! Week one of death pile challenge.
Number of items listed this week: 8 + multiplesWell it’s week one of my death piles challenge, which really should be called a pile challenge because I haven’t necessarily cherry picked. I’m starting with the bulkiest items – throw pillows, wool blankets and afghans. I’ve posted some on Facebook too. I spent some time organizing the piles and I’m kind of excited to list the art. It should be fun to rediscover items perhaps except for all of the coffee mugs.
I dumped the other Hatchimal and got my $ back and happily sold some RA bedding. Hopefully it will be a good month for bedding. It was unfortunate that I was sick and swamped in December because immediately after I started listing I started selling other items. There is definitely a correlation.
I just reviewed the IRS guidelines for hobby sales and see that you only get two years of hobby profit, then it is by default a business. This is my third year of selling so it’s time to open separate accounts. Also, I really should be making purchases on a cash back card for shipping etc. but have been too lazy. I used Easy Auctions Tracker this year and successfully loaded all of my data. The spreadsheet looks overly complicated but hopefully bookkeeping will be faster this year. So much to do, so little time!
I hope Evangeline Lily doesn’t mind me turning her into a trash elf.
Already hearing the siren’s call of the thrift when I drive by after work. But, staying strong. Thanks for joining up to those of you who are in. I listed my after Xmas clearance items yesterday and then sold something else immediately. Not listing sure probably didn’t help my December sales. I think it will feel good to see some space clear and have things get more manageable. I’m having to remind my family that I am really a very organized person. LOL
Hi Becky,
Glad to see you here. I’m a fan of your videos and I enjoyed seeing the interesting non-eyeglass items you have sold. Wishing you the very best adventures and magic kiddo times in 2017. 🙂I cut back shopping stops, but it will take me a while to catch up. So, I thought if I posted here it will keep me honest. I’m completely confident there is an abundance of stuff readily available for when I clear some room, plus things are not seasonal here. Join me anytime!
Hey Mike,
I know a gal who did a Shabby Chic style wedding and purchased a lot of mismatched tea cusps and plates instead of renting. You might try to market on Craigslist or Facebook in lots if you have enough similar items for that to make sense. Good luck.
Yeah for retail arbitrage! I sold six of these in December. Retailer routinely runs a sale on full price merchandise for a few days, so I wait for that and then speculate on a few items I think will sell well as gifts and sell out at retailer before Christmas. Paid about $22 with taxes. I pinned this item and shared in Facebook, and two out of three of my buyers had zero Ebay feedback.
Also have been picking up these plastic seasonal Hallmark cookie cutters for a dollar or two. They seem to do well but sadly I didn’t get the Christmas ones listed.
Hatchimals experiment was a fail. I overpriced them when demand was greatest and more came out into stores before Christmas. My daughter got one for Christmas and I’m trying to sell the other on Facebook. I got insanely busy the week before Christmas at work or I would have donated them instead. 🙁 I also got called a scumbag on ebay messages by another parent. 🙂
