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I should learn more about teacups. The Nurse Flipper on Youtube has a famous research video on it. This was filthy when thrifted and the buyer is quite pleased. Paid $2.99 https://www.ebay.com/itm/235395705001
Here’s a buy I wasn’t very confident in. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235033928170 Buyer was so excited about it, they wrote to find out more about where it came from. (Friends: I fibbed and said an estate sale not GW). Paid $7.99 I donated the rods so shipping would be cheaper since I wasn’t totally feeling it.
In a departure from my usual picks, I found this set of cool fancy liquor glasses https://www.ebay.com/itm/235406901333. If they weren’t in the box at a very picked over store I probably would have missed.
From the guest room clean out, I combined the inserts of our old Dayrunner planners into one and listed. It’s funny to see the old fashioned business entry pages. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235406902566
Finally, I got around to listing this high quality set from the $1 flea market guy https://www.ebay.com/itm/235406879460 I gave my cousin the matching pillowcases and duvet.
@Amatino great job! Special place in my heart for animal rescuers.
I made 21 listings on Ebay last week. To be honest, I didn’t keep to my goal of only 2 sourcing outings. I’ve been cross-posting to Niknax and have about 40 listings going over there so far. It’s slow sales for everyone but it also presents some opportunities even though I’m not the type to go live.
More expenses just keep cropping up and I really need to list hard core this week. My daughter’s schedule is adjusted and it should create more opportunity.
I should finish my huge bin of death pile wool blankets today. I went through and discarded most of a small box of vintage correspondence, keeping only the unused greeting cards and postcards, which will get tabled for later listing (so no credit). I’ve start this morning on a box of vintage linens.
@Retro oh man what I would give to have COGS in the listing and year end report. I’m about to spend my usual day and half to do the COGS for the year.
@Craig thanks.
Niknax is interesting in that it’s vetted experienced sellers who only sell vintage. I haven’t spent too much time looking yet but would like to see what types of items are doing well. I tried asking in the seller chat but not much of a response. I suspect that there are younger people but also some older people, probably the vast majority of members are female. Many YouTubers agreed to sign on before this launched but we will see if they continue to promote it on their channels. Also they all do whatnot and this site came along after that.
Final value fees are slightly less than EBay I think but no store, listing or advertising fees. You can also link listings to Instagram, etc.
The key for me is how super fast it is to cross post. Even faster than Mercari.
@Amatino – Ugh sorry I hate that when a post gets eaten.
I am somewhat comforted by the fact that some of it I did not purchase it all and some of that was not in my possession when I purchased the rest. However, yep did buy too much certainly. I was listing at a snail’s pace back in those early buying days as well.
I did learn a lot when I went through everything having my garage sales. I also learn by doing my inventory with like items stored together. I can see what is moving that way to some degree. All the time learning…that’s the name of the game. Also being really selective and pushing myself to hurry and not linger when I am sourcing. I still need to get it into my head that time is money.
P.S. One good thing about Niknax is that you can show a cool item that has lots of company on Ebay and it looks unique on Niknax standing apart. For example, https://district.net/product/vintage-midcentury-orange-fruit-58c there are lots and lots of these on Ebay but only 3 on Niknax.
Total Items in Store: 1210
Items Sold: 29
Gross Sales: $1413 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $933 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $197
Highest Price Sold: $148 Christmas needlepoint kit
Average Price Sold: $49
Returns/refund: 1 (see below)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $120
Number of items listed this week: 32Niknax: Crossposted 24 listings, 0 sales
It definitely did not feel this busy last week, as I had some days with no packages going out. Pleased I am still running my numbers. Quite a bit of vintage has sold, not as many buyers as usual buying my RA items I would say compared to the past couple of Januarys.
Had a first this week. Had an experienced Ebayer (buyer & seller) rip me off for $25. She used the item and then claimed INAD in email, sending pictures of a well used, incomplete item. I refunded right away and then reported her to Ebay and blocked her. So glad I did after I read the feedback she has left for others. My bad for using only stock photos. I meant to take additional photos due to some mild water damage to the outside paper packaging, but apparently put it into inventory without doing so. Will not make that mistake again though I will need to be careful as I often get interrupted while listing. Still, hard to believe there are people out there doing that kind of thing.
I went ahead and cross posted some listings to Niknax. It’s very interesting in comparsion to Ebay and super fast to use and the tags are limited click fields so you don’t have to invent and type them like Etsy. On one hand, the buyers on there are people who like my kind of items since Crazy Lamp Lady tends to buy some of the same items I’m attracted to. On the other hand, there are a lot fewer people shopping on there of course. Some might only be looking at live sales too or the Lamp lady’s listings. Some might be other sellers who have a couple of niche things they personally collect (like me with some authentic 50-60s tiki). I tried making an offer on 3 items but two were ignored and one was countered. These people know the value of their stuff.
I gave some thought to what to put on there and decided to post glass, animal figurines, small needlepoint art, and some pottery. Most things under $20. There is no like button available yet. So, the best way to get seen is to appear on the scrolling displays on the home page (not sure the techie term for this). One is Jocelyn’s hand picked favorites, and she picked 3 of my listings out of her 100 or so favorites – woo hoo, so that’s great. Views on those are already triple my other listings. One scrollbar is under $20 (now called new and affordable). One scrollbar is ending auctions, one is “going fast” (I think this means the item had unsuccessful offers), one is a seller spotlight of the week, and one is the category of the week – this week is the perfect mug. I’m listing holiday items to try to get in there. I don’t really have high expectations for this platform but it was very fast. Listings must be at least 20 years old and on a solid background (I have fudged on this last part). Shipping is through Shippo.
Good luck R&J with all the things! Excited for you. Take care of yourselves.
From the death piles is this fun item https://www.ebay.com/itm/335221227555 There are no solds on Terapeak and only one other listed on Ebay. I’m hoping a costume designer will pick it up for a show maybe. The fabric is gross. Paid $4
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235397035340 This was hiding out in the small appliance section. The leather is beautiful quality and I was easily able to remove a mark on the front. I was going to buy an insert for it but they cost $45 from this high end company. Paid $4.99
Another unusual item I picked up on half price day was a bunch of bags of these wax bars. Scentsy does well. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235388575907 I think I paid about $12-15 for all.
Congrats @Craig on getting into your groove. I’m pretty into Ebay myself these days, though sales have slowed this week.
Monday was a great day with some interesting items selling and Tuesday packing was annoying. I got this at the flea market https://www.ebay.com/itm/235232304766 for something like $7-8. When packed it was quite long, so I had to go buy a box.
Buyer is very happy with this on her coffee table. I paid $3 at the flea market https://www.ebay.com/itm/335061384539. Sold these Shabby Chic style vintage napkin rings, which I feel is an unexciting but overlooked area of the thrift store https://www.ebay.com/itm/334913103831.
Finally, my favorite sale was these laminated placemats a local restaurant donated to GW. I paid $8 for a big bag and was not too confident about this purchase. She paid over $100 and I threw in some unlisted extras. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235051397106
I don’t get credit for a complete death pile box yet. Some of the bedside table box and wool blankest are listed, but I had to wash the rest of the wool blankets and need to finish the randoms from the table.
Finishing up for the week listing tonight with 32 new listings on Ebay. I created 22 listings on Niknax but those don’t count because they were all cross-posting.
I think so. I don’t believe in handwritten notecards or extravagant packaging but it’s so easy to fold a piece of tissue or two and slap a sticker on it. I used to put my thank you sticker on the outside but now I’m delivering at the time they uncover the item. Studies I believe show red is a good color.
Total Items in Store: 1179
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $858 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $544 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $162
Highest Price Sold: $130 (2 New pillow shams, paid $50ish in Fall)
Average Price Sold: $43
Returns: 1 $20 item smashed to smitherines by USPS, buyer was super cool, great photos
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $90
Number of items listed this week: 12Sales were good through Monday, unusual for a holiday weekend but I guess the weather helped. I sold a few predictable RA items, but also a really random collection of vintage and used stuff on Monday. I ran a 25% off sale all last week on some older pics and listings I’m not excited about in my store, about 200ish items and did not have good success with that unfortunately. Contemplating trying again a little deeper.
It felt so good to get organized with my shipping supplies and storage. I posted on another thread that I have many boxes of unlisted inventory left. I hope to get a lot of that listed in 2024. I will continue to enjoy the flea market and try to limit myself to one other sourcing trip per week as a treat. I will continue to avoid larger items, estate sales, and garage sales because I don’t want that kind of volume right now.
I still need to contact Ebay to see if I can get that one bad feedback removed. Buyer never returned the “fake” item. I also remembered what else went wrong last week. I made a big boo boo by changing a business policy in the listing where the person wanted local pick up. It erased the weight and dimensions of 96 other listings. I have auto-offers out, so it took all week but I’m happy to report I’ve cleaned up all of my shipping policies! I had to reenter the weight and dimensions for those listings and a couple did sell right after that so huh.
Have some competing goals but I really should address my old boring stale listings and look up current comps since the % off sale didn’t work.
This week I’m going to focus on getting my bin of wool blankets listed, and hopefully also get into a few family jackets we have to list. I’m getting really good at getting out stains and have lots and lots of linens to list.
Hang in there R&J! I’m so excited for you. Hats off as always for parting stuff out. I definitely don’t have the skill set or patience for that. I miss your fireside cozy winter podcasts with the cats. 🙂
