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Total Items in Store: 465
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $52 + $21 free shipping
Total Sales: $213
Highest Price Sold: $40 (Pair of new Pottery Barn pillow cases – paid $12 two weeks ago)
Average Price Sold: $21
Returns: 0, one $200 no pay last week.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: One item for $6
Number of items listed this week: 0Felt slow but it was an extremely busy week outside Ebay so no listing.
Made the no kids trip to LA this weekend. Finally got to stop at Oceanic Arts. Paul, you recommended this place for tiki lovers. It was a bit frustrating though because it was really part museum and part store. The staff brought the cute old guy out who’s owned the place forever because I wanted to buy this AWESOME carved wood panel for our backyard – one of the many “NSF” items on the sales area of the floor. He’s like “oh, that’s from our old store in Hawaii”, “our local carver isn’t skilled enough to reproduce it”, etc. and I tried to sweet talk him and offer $ but no luck. It was a real treat though to look at all the authentic tiki stuff and I bought a few items they would sell that made me happy.
Then, I had a short amount of time to thrift in Torrance. Made it to the huge Savers and GW. The prices seemed high, especially GW. and the % of stuff was way more made in China new. We have limited shopping in my area and lots of old people, so the mix is more vintage here and the prices are slightly lower even at chains. Didn’t buy much. Also hit a store ironically called “Cheap Vintage” with cool midcentury stuff. Looked around and found nothing is priced, it’s all dusty and crammed full. The people were just hoarders with sky high prices. So, kind of a frustrating weekend for buying, but always fun to hunt in new territory. Salvation Army was closed Sunday when I could go, so will try to get there next time. Thanks to the Joe and the other guy in LA for the recommendations!
I’d be so tempted to cull some old stuff when you start to reorganize your storage R & J. I know it’s about volume but it would be tempting to freshen up I think while you are touching everything. Even going through my death piles now I find some items I’m not at all keen to list but I feel determined to eat my vegetables. Will feel good I’m sure when you have it all organized and in one place, so I’m very excited for you. Have a great week.
Thanks Joe! Really appreciate the tips. It’s always fun to check out new thrifts. Ususally I get the sense there is a lot more competition than I have here but still totally fun to look. BTW, have you been to the Long Beach Flea Market? I heard it was better prices than the Rose Bowl.
01/26/2018 at 11:08 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Mushroom mugs, Car books, Lineman belt, Sansui amp, Columbia snow shoes, Native Barbie, Gun case #31334Sharing a few vintage sales from this year.
Paid $3 for these NOS sheets at indy thrift. I love finding vintage linens in the package and find they routinely sell within a year. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232481758436
This past year, I’ve started anticipating the holidays and listing items about two months prior, pricing to sell during the current year. This seasonal thinking is paying off I think. I love to pick up vintage greeting cards because the graphics are so cool. Paid .50 for this pack. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232629832455
These sold the day they were listed. Didn’t enjoy photographing and listing vintage used sheets but these are really retro so glad to share them with someone who appreciates them. Paid $2 for the pair. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232637545177
Was lucky to find this and paid up at $40. One of my most favorite finds so far. Took a best offer of $200 but sadly the buyer hasn’t paid yet. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232579864884
Doubly love your ephemera sale! Such a fun item. I think that is my favorite stuff to find. Have a great weekend. BTW, I’m missing the menu above this post to create a link. P.P.S. I’m trudging on with the poor lighting and sacrificing my photo quality for speed and just getting the piles up.
Cool thanks!
Week 3
# items listed 35
# times listed 8! (sometimes only got like 2 items done, but I tried often)
items from death piles: 31
% from death piles: 91%Current week is insanely busy and my numbers will be tiny.
01/23/2018 at 9:00 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 344: Decluttering and Auction Cravings #31130Regarding the golf club caller:
I don’t often shop on Ebay, except for shipping supplies. I had virtually no sales the first two weeks of January, then a huge week this week. I compared the bumps in sales vs. purchase dates. It’s not a direct correlation to all of my purchase dates but the holiday weekend I sold most of the items and also bought several items. Inconclusive, but interesting and maybe I’ll just experiment with sprinkling my purchases as I build my daughter’s wardrobe in this size to see what happens.01/22/2018 at 9:34 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 344: Decluttering and Auction Cravings #30971Total Items in Store: 465
Items Sold: 17
Cost of Items Sold: $366 + free shipping $68
Total Sales: $1,253 (Less $40, buyer not likely to pay)
Highest Price Sold: $381 (New Duvet and two shams, paid $110 about 9 months ago)
Average Price Sold: $73
Returns: None, but two no/slow pays so far – ouch.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: Maybe $20
Number of items listed this week: 45Yeah! Someone turned my store back on this week. 🙂 I sold a beautiful Hudson Stripe vintage new old stock blanket for BO $200 and the buyer hasn’t paid for a few days. Also had another $40 sale and that payment is not coming I can probably safely say.
I’m working the backlog, just went thrifting once at my favorite place. Worked on a box of Dasnk dishes and tableware this week, plus a bin of vintage bedding that I really did not enjoy listing and found a bunch of light stains on half of it. I’m going to reward myself by switching to ephemera, which I do like listing and find really interesting. One good thing about a backlog is that you can sort and switch types when you get tired of dealing with something.
Headed to LA for girls’ weekend and slammed at my other job, so probably will be light progress this week. Looking forward to listening to the podcast. Have a great week everyone.
My cousin turned me on to this trick and an app for finding deal details. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happy-hour-finder-find-local-food-and-drink-deals/id321327691?mt=8
Great items and delivery. Nice work! TFS.
01/15/2018 at 1:11 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 343: Our Business = Little Things Every Day #30511oops! 🙂
01/15/2018 at 1:04 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 343: Our Business = Little Things Every Day #30505Santa Barbara, a small coastal city of about 90k. Montecito you are seeing on the news one of two uber-wealthy enclaves / suburbs at the South end of town. Between the December fires and the mudslides, the local economy is definitely affected.
Week 2
# listing sessions 4 yeah!
# items from piles 32
# Items listed 41
% from death piles: 79%. I listed all of this week’s thrift buys so did not add them to the piles.
New inventory purchases: $20 thrifted plus one online RA purchase $150. I did treat myself this week to a stop at my favorite thrift. Needed a treat by Saturday. Also didn’t do much RA after Christmas because the discounts were stingy, so picked up some multiples this week when they did additional mark downs.Two boxes of death up and down the stairs this week! Partly got done because my other job was spotty due the freeway closure. I will have less time this week.
01/15/2018 at 12:44 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 343: Our Business = Little Things Every Day #30498Total Items In Store: 429
Items Sold: 5
Cost of Items Sold: $30 + $6 free shipping
Total Sales: $128
Highest Price Sold: $34 Dr. Seuss Hallmark Figurine; Cost $0, a gift received long ago)
Average Price Sold: $25
Returns: 1 $93 RA pajamas – Didn’t like
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: About $20 thrift stop + RA additional markdown sale $150
Number of Items listed this week: 41Well a weird week and not a good one at all for making money. We have the tragic nearby mudslide that is very disruptive to my day job plus Ebay was dreadfully slow. RA items are not moving at all compared to a great January last year. Not sure what is up with that. No politics but between absorbing the flood news, the national political news, and handling some kid arrangements I found myself very distracted and disturbed needing to absorb it all. On the bright side I did sit down to list 4 times this week and got through a couple of boxes of death piles. Just keep listing, just keep listing…
I met one picking friend who has an antique booth and likes harder and bigger Steve type items – instruments, midcentury furniture and audio. I keep telling him about SL. He knows two ladies who have booths at this place who they like ALL of the same stuff I do. They do thrifts but mainly estate sales, so they are my future nemesis. I have actually flipped a couple of items from their booths, but the prices are too steep generally. There is some guy who tries to get everyone to save the tiki stuff for him – grr. He must be quite successful because I never see any of it. One of the estate sale companies lets all of the dealers in the day before the public. 🙁 Still, I’ve been to other cities where it is way more competitive or the stuff is new made in China mainly, so I’m grateful. It’s expensive to live here and very gentrified so we have far more donors than pickers.
Most of the regulars here are a decade or two older than I am, so I stand out and get noticed even thought I’m very part time. One lady was whispering to her partner about me recently because she saw me turn up at another location and he was like – “don’t worry, there’s so much stuff”. Lately I’ve been seeing young people in their 20s together in packs working the clothing and sometimes fumbling around in hard goods. It’s pretty amusing sometimes to listen to the newest guy pickers evaluate the merch.
01/13/2018 at 9:09 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Gear shift, Hats, MCM magazine ashtray stand, Knives, DVD Recorder, Cast Iron Kettle #30416Wow some cool items in here this week and some in amazing condition for the age. TFS everyone.
Ida – that Pacific Northwest Art Print Pendleton blanket is on my unicorn list. I’ll never find one so should probably pay up or ask Santa next year. Awesome garage sale find!-
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ChristineR.
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