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It’s so fun to make the finds. Otoh, you kind of get a sense of the person(s), their interests and final struggles. I’m kind of an empath but I also look forward to letting other people enjoy the items again. The houses need to get cleared.
Late posting again. I listed 44 I think. Sadly sales were very disappointing but I did get a bunch of Christmas stuff posted that I hope with pay off later.
Thanks for the Mercari tip. I have a few bins of our clothes sitting in my room to list, but I’ve been trying to get sales going on Ebay and I have some other stuff going on so I probably won’t get to Mercari this week.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335080224921 Sold immediately quantity 2 to someone who had a search out. I paid $6 at the flea market last week. This lady sets up late and I apparently missed a bunch of Dept 56 stuff. The other buyer left these behind. I have done well with these random accessory sets (non people non buildings like trees, rock walls, etc.). They sell reliably and quickly. I think some other resellers dismiss them.
I did less sourcing as I intended last week. I just went to the flea market with a very small haul and an elementary school sale. The elementary school sale did not have any dealers. Most of it was clothes and kids stuff. However, it was associated with a church and they had at least one old lady donate. The best score was a Roseville (my first time ever finding in the wild) bud vase set from the 1930s. https://justartpottery.com/products/roseville-ferella-1930-vintage-art-deco-pottery-tan-handled-ceramic-vase-497-5 One of them was lying in the grass and I paid a dollar each.
I’m still doing 4% for everything at listing time. It would be interesting to try promoting older items or low view items at a higher percentage. I have a new few clothing items for example that have been sitting and I know clothing has become so much more competitive since I listed those. If I had a crystal ball, I would look in it to see if changing the price would work better than upping the promotion percentage.
@Ebaymom I too wish there was a way to bulk auto decline. I have mine set pretty high because lowball offers annoy me and I find they usually don’t buy it if they start that low. I usually price at the highest 2 year Terapeak sold and then do a 15-25% auto decline, and largely set auto accept there also. It also keeps people from doubling up if I am running a 10-20% off sale. I would like to reset this lower since I feel like sales are a bit disappointing this Fall and sometimes I get the used items now at very low cost. If Ebay takes into account the sell through rate in Cassini then mine is probably not helping me out, especially as my store grows larger. About one-third of my items sold by best offer so far this year.
On my traffic page, I’m getting 20% of my page views from outside Ebay. So I can’t end and relist any more often than annually I think, though I could start thinking about doing it for items with zero views. I have linked my Pinterest account and Ebay has the new social Beta, but so far I can’t pin multiple items to a board so that does me no good at all until they fix that. I have made the suggestion on the new social page. If that were to happen then I could rework my Pinterest boards without having to delete sold items and stop pinning each item after listing. Plus, I would be able to redo after a bulk sell similar.
I only have a handful of repeat buyers. I have heard coupons don’t work well so haven’t tried them. It’s a little tempting to try them since you get another change to for your buyer to get a message in their phone about you.
@Retro congrats on getting into the black again! Amazing work, sales and ROI.
Total Items in Store: 1,037
Items Sold: 16
Gross Sales: $753.27 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $467.63 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $80
Highest Price Sold: $90 (Mid Century tile, paid $1.99)
Average Price Sold: $47.08
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $180? Target RA Xmas and Anthro clearance.
Number of items listed this week: 56Happy to see the numbers because it felt slower than this and I would have bet on a lower ASP. I hope you get an opportunity to give a lot of offers R&J once you do sell similar. Enough voices and personal experience have convinced me that it’s a thing.
Had a nice weekend off in LA. Most thrift stores I’ve tried down there are surprisingly not great. I’m staring down a bunch of haul backlog that I need to clear. More linens, needlecraft kits, Target, Christmas vintage ornaments. Sounds like I don’t really need to thrift much this week, but will probably go to the flea market. It’s fun.
Ps. I feel like people’s ethics have gone down the toilet. Sorry about the renting.
Late to post. I listed 56 last week. Was out of town this weekend.
Julie I’m glad you are on the other side of that surgery and the anticipation is out of the way. Hope your healing continues to go well.
@Retro congrats!
I sold a Pottery barn kids sheet set for $49 and a Pendleton wool throw for $109. Both sold within hours of listing. The throw was in good condition without holes but had a lot of teeny tiny fibers or grass bits that I had trouble fully removing with a lint roller. Hope the buyer is happy. I was checking out at Goodwill and spotted it at the last minute, literally stopped the cashier after almost missing it.
@Craig good for you. I need to curb shopping as well as I’m doing a little carryover from the week and not getting back to my piles.
@Sharyn those are cute glasses. I’m always looking for the patterned juice glasses. Strangely I never find patterned glasses at all, at least not a set.https://www.ebay.com/itm/235251537649?
A fun thrift find this week for $12.
At the flea market I also found three interesting wooden signs from the 1970s but apparently didn’t get them up before I left home. I don’t know what the seller was doing with them since all her other stuff was new. I negotiated paying $6 for all three. Here’s someone else’s listing.@Sharon I am hearing on some of the people I follow that sales are not great and you have to work twice as hard as pre-pandemic for the same sales. I also believe that over time they have changed the algorithm to emphasize freshness. I do sell old items but a lot of times my item sells right away now. One of the podcasts suggests being willing to take lower offers, which I am doing if I get one shortly after listing. Still blocking offers lower than around 70% of asking. I’m wondering as my store gets bigger if I should rethink that percentage a bit for older items. The overall feeling is things are a bit tough right now when you are selling things people don’t really need, with the exception of holiday stuff. People maybe are looking forward to the holidays.
Total Items in Store: 1,010
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales: $683.46 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $398.79 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $74
Highest Price Sold: $100 (2 New West Elm Pillow Covers (paid $7.98))
Average Price Sold: $24.53
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: ~$200ish RA + Flea Market and Thrifting
Number of items listed this week: 42Made it up over 1000 this week. Helped by another small Target RA experiment with multi-quantity listing. I’ve been listing pretty consistently. A drafts bank with a daily push out would be a good goal, as there are a few days I don’t get anything up. Expenses have calmed down a bit but really trying to crank out as many sales as possible before the next slow season on Ebay hits. I’m hearing consumers were pretty frugal during the Amazon Prime days, staying away from larger items and buying home goods and clothes. I took advantage of some sales and promotions at Target.
Glad to hear about your current project R&J. It’s been amazing to watch you become local business owners and I’m sure the community needed you. We miss having your primary focus on Ebay but I’m very excited about your success!
Wow, a little opulent for my taste but I love the aquatic creature candlesticks! I wonder if you could get the linens as well as the clothes? I would try to get anything new in the packaging especially.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235244274493 paid $2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/335057048869 Paid $10. Vintage and discontinued bedding for the win this week. I was pleasantly surprised at the Shabby Chic Target comps.
