Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I would love to know more about your shipping and inventory systems, obviously you deal in a lot of smalls so you must have a very organized set up. That is such a key when you’re dealing in a lot of similar inventory, but once you get the inventory system in place, your inventory can grow much like yours has. Great listing numbers this week too! Over 70 items a day!!
I checked out and played video games all weekend with my kids. I needed the break and I’m glad I listened to my body to take the rest.
This is always an important thing to do, and easy to let slip because there is always more sourcing/photographs/listing to do, and always will be. But taking that time is the best part of a scavenger’s life. Hope this week goes a little more evenly for you.
Two weeks worth of numbers from me this week — one terrible week (worst that I can remember) and one very good week. I took a vacation to Lancaster County, PA the week of July 4th and completely unplugged from the 3rd to the 8th, to the detriment of my eBay sales. Before leaving on my trip, I converted about half my store (~250 items) to auctions ending Monday the 10th, and those went quite well. I sold about 15 percent of the items that were sent to auction, when I usually sell about 10 percent. I had a strong week of sales the rest of the week as well.
In all likelihood, I will repeat this same cycle of one bad week and one good week again very soon. I am taking a trip to Chicago next week for the National Sports Collectors Convention. Booked my Amtrak and hotel late last week. I purchased the since sold-out VIP ticket for all 5 days of the show, but I don’t expect to attend all five days. I have never been to Chicago before and am very excited to explore a new city. I actually booked the hotel for an extra day after the show to give myself a little more time there. Staying in the Chicago Loop area if anyone has suggestions.
7/2/2023 to 7/8/2023
(cover your eyes, these numbers are brutal)
Items sold: 10 (9 via best offer, 0 via seller initiated offer, 9 via promoted listings)
Gross sales: $307.46 (down 90% from one year ago)
Net sales: $183.51 (down 92% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $30.75 (down 40% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $38.26— Billy Sims (retired NFL running back) autograph patch card
Lowest price sold (net): $10.32 — Jalen Wilson autographed 8×10 photo (still have so many of these…but slowly they keep selling!)
Just for fun, I took a look at my numbers from July 3 to 9, 2022, for comparison’s sake. My sales were much higher (over $2000 in a week!!!) and 91% of my sales were in trading cards categories. Now I sell most of that stuff in my consignment. It’s fun to look back at how things have changed. With that said, $300 of sales in a week is brutal. Here are some happier numbers…
7/9/2023 to 7/15/2023
Items sold: 63 (37 via auction, 15 via best offer, 8 via seller initiated offer, 18 via promoted listings)
Gross sales: $3148.37 (down 4% from one year ago)
Net sales: $2199.65 (down 16% from one year ago)
Average sales price: $49.97 (down 27% from one year ago)
Highest price sold (net): $426.84 — Thomas Muller (soccer) gold cracked ice 1/1 autograph
I had two other $250+ sales this week — a 1/1 autographed patch rookie card of Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots running back) and another flat rate box of graded cards.
Lowest price sold (net): $6.71 — Jake Daubert bat card (early 1900s baseball player)
Sorry to hear about the fakes. Of course there is often a complication with these big bulk purchases, but I’m glad you have a level head about it and it’s nice that the sellers are being kind about it. It sounds like the clothes will carry you through to some nice profits, regardless of how many fake pairs of shoes you end up with, but hopefully you’ve found the last of the fakes already. What do you look for with the Ralph Lauren items as far as what sells quickly and what types of RL items do you personally like to sell? I know the bear logo and that’s about it, lol.
I am not a big sneaker person but those Nike Trail shoes (from the goodwill) are beautiful. Great photography too, the color really pops.
The prices on your linens n things (ha) always impress me. But of course I can see the appeal to people who really want to spend money on decorating their house in a certain style.
Finding a niche that you know really well but your competition basically ignores is a huge advantage. I think it’s essential to selling full-time because it keeps the pipeline flowing relatively smoothly.
The prices on that music curriculum are really surprising. I always give the kids section a browse when I’m looking for media because sometimes cool stuff ends up in there accidentally, but I’m not sure I’d give something like that a second thought.
With your 45s lot, one of the sneaky good additions eBay has made this year is 24 photos to a listing. It makes listing bulk lots a breeze — just click click click until you get pics of everything and then on to the next.
I’ve ran the 50% off sale several times in the past and it did nothing for sales.
Yeah, I should clarify, I haven’t done a markdown sale in quite a long time, either. I use it on my consignment trading card platform all the time, but eBay is not set up where you can search sellers by their sale discount level and so it’s just lopping off profit. Sending direct offers to buyers, or even just re-pricing, is probably more effective.
I had some success with coupons in the past (both public and private) but really haven’t seen much action with them this year. I think the end of eBay bucks really limited their effectiveness. Maybe eBay will make coupons more of a priority in Q4 or next year, who knows.
I think markdowns might be useful if you have a large batch of newly listed inventory, but that opens the question that Jay posed below — would the items sell without the coupon? And I think if you are pricing well and have your offer settings at a reasonable rate, it’s pretty much all a wash.
I bet there are some sellers who operate in different niches than us who really make good use of coupons and sales, though.
Most of my trading card sales — since I don’t really deal in the high end $500+ modern and graded cards that are so prevalent in the hobby — happen in the same way you describe for your vintage items. If I get one or two watchers on a card listing, that’s usually a sign the item is going to sell soon.
Using end and sell similar, or auctions, has worked in the other niches I sell in, too. This DVD set sold last night for $25 after an auction (unsold) and selling similar on the unsold listing. It had been in my inventory for three years, and there is actually another active listing for cheaper! Granting that listing is from a bulk reseller — this is where I think we often have an advantage over the big sellers who use stock photos. It’s just a matter of getting our listing
Maybe all of this sell similar and running auctions has led to one or two extra sales a week (on average) of old items? But I also have a tiny 500 item store at this point. I suspect I would sell more if I had more active listings.
It’s also a matter of differing goals — a lot of items I’m fine with taking 50% of my buy it now price now versus getting a little bit higher priced sale at some point down the line. With the amount of storage space you and Ryanne have, space may not be at a premium. Space is at a huge premium for me, and I’m also learning that I really enjoy turning over inventory quickly. Nothing better than selling an item within a few days of listing it, because there is always more to buy.
If nothing else, I think you and Ryanne would see a bump in sales from ending your oldest listings and selling similar on them. I sorted your store by age (newest to oldest) and once I hit page 30, everything from that point on has been listed for over a year. From what I understand about eBay’s algorithm in 2023, 1+ year old listings are basically dead in the water. Does that mean buyers can find them, or not? No idea. But the Auction Professor regularly uses end and sell similar, and he deals in a lot of the same oddball stuff you folks do.
You’re going to hit 1000 listings before Q4 at this rate! I have some work to do to catch up to you. Nice work!
I might need to join you in the lightbox game come winter. What type did you buy?
I loved the story of the flea market guy too. I read it in Jay’s voice which I think means I miss the podcast…
I just really would like a couple quick big hits to replenish cash reserves. I started the summer with $4k in cash reserves just for yard sales (that I never DREAMED I’d actually use). That’s gone. Now I’m into the general cash reserves I keep in my business account. While I still have plenty cash reserves, it is uncomfortable to move that much cash so quickly.
Any chance I can convince you to run a steep sale (let’s say 50%) on old inventory (let’s say a year or older) or better yet, 7 or 10 day auctions on that inventory with your start bid at 50 percent of your BIN price. It won’t all sell but I’d bet 10 to 15 percent of it will, more if you drop the start bid price or get less selective about what you list. No fees to schedule listings, just the start fee if it’s outside collectibles categories and maybe a few others. $25 to $50 up front for potential profit of…well, you tell us after you run the auctions. Plus a few more sales after you relist the items back into your store because buyers can be unpredictable like that.
Might churn your inventory more quickly than usual, but that might not be a bad thing considering the size and scope of your clothes and shoes.
The jeweler that bought this person’s collection must have made an ungodly profit. But to the family, it was worth more just to be done with all of it. It’s funny how we have this mindset of finding trash that is treasure, but for some people treasure is basically…trash.
I tried to do some research into rummage sales and yard sales this week but had trouble finding anything in my area until I checked Facebook. Even then, not sure I was finding everything. I don’t use social media much if at all, and it kind of bummed me out. I’m sure it is area specific though.
Lancaster is such an odd mix of 1800s, hipster/kitsch and modern small city. Cape May, New Jersey (exit 0 on the Garden State Parkway) is somewhat similar and I like it there maybe even a bit more than Lancaster. Probably because of the beach.
Congratulations on the 7 (!!!) boxes of donations. I’ve taken five or six boxes to the local library recently and didn’t regret it for even a second once all those duds were gone.
I do a lot of library sales and have started adding magazines and yearbooks to my scavenger’s repertoire lately since:
1. The people with the scanners don’t care about them.
2. They’re always, always dirt cheap (usually 50 cents or even loss, never more than $1 or $2)
3. I find them interesting, especially obscure magazines and vintage yearbooks.
Plus the buyers are usually chasing after some memory or they’re collectors, so they usually leave positive feedback with nice comments.
I’m sure you would have connected with the hoarder heirs even if you hadn’t driven past them again…but boy am I glad you did! Can’t wait to see how you process such a huge haul and what your next steps will be. No matter how you go, this is gold. Take note, ex-podcast listeners who are still checking the forums. There is a ton of quality content here!!!
What’s funny is you had a good weekend of picking even without the hoarder sale. You covered the highlights, but what kind of quantity of bread and butter $20 to $80 items do you bring home after a weekend like this?
I’m realizing that if I ever start to do yard sales like you do, I’m going to need to work out of something bigger than a disorganized** two-bedroom apartment!
** it’s coming along I swear, all those flat rate boxes that I’ve sold have made a little dent into the mess…but there’s always more to do!! It’s a nice life on weeks like this though…
That’s a good point. I appreciate the info. I was thinking of hauling my butt out to Nowheresville, PA this weekend to check out a VERY early morning library sale. But maybe I will sleep in and see what local yard sales I can find. Or maybe I will get real crazy and do both. Either way, it seems like most serious eBay sellers should be checking out yard sales right now, regardless of location.
