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01/07/2019 at 7:53 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 393: Happy New Year and Returns Happen #54733
Dec 30 – Jan 5
Total Items in Store: 1999
Items Sold: 38
Total Sales : $1184
* above yearly average of $904
* above 2017 total week sales of $1053
Highest Price: $300 (Pair of Katadyn Outdoor Pocket Water Filters)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $102
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $3
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 74Happy New Years, everyone! I had a good week of sales, even with a couple sleeper days. I went through my 1-year-or-older inventory and lowered some prices by $5 or $10 and things started flying off the racks. I’m wondering if eBay notifies the watchers of items when the price gets lowered. I couldn’t be more thrilled anyways. I love it when old inventory sells.
So I succeeded in making my inventory goal for 2018. I finished out the year with over 2000 listings. It was tough toward the end as some weeks more items were selling than I was listing. But I persevered and made it with 2002 listings. I missed my other goal of making $40K net profit, though. I was way too optimistic at the start of the year. But my $32,240 net (pre tax) isn’t too bad either. I’m going to try again this year for $40K. Wish me luck!
Not much in the way of scavenging this week. But we did almost buy a van. We’re looking for something that we can take to auctions. My little Civic just isn’t cuttin it. And Steph drives a Beetle so that’s way out. I’m tired of having to be so mindful of quantity when box lots are selling for so little. Unfortunately, that van didn’t pan out. Too many issues for the price.
01/03/2019 at 11:34 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Empty tequila bottle, Turntable, Hat case, Cow Head Bell, Album holder, Magazine rack. #54448Nice sale on that album holder! I don’t see these around too much anymore. It was a slower week last week, but I made a few notable sales…
So I bought this really cool folk art cabinet made from wood cheese boxes at an auction, and inside were a bunch of goodies. One of which was this old Ford Model T ignition key. I usually keep old keys in a box and sell them as a lot when I get enough to make it worth it, but this one was special because it had a number on it. I suppose it was keyed for that ignition number or something. It didn’t take too long to sell for $15.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303001778411Same auction, I bought a box lot of little thingies and goo gahs. I got the whole lot for $40 (each sellable item was $1.67). One of the first things to sell was this unopened package of prophylactics (yes, condoms). Now old condom tins can fetch a big price, but these looked relatively newer so I tried an auction style. They sold for the opening bid of $10.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303000711437Here’s my big sale of the week. These came from that same lot above. They’re patriotic license plate bolts made by Kastar. If these were in better condition, I would have put them up for over $100. But alas, they were pretty rough. I auctioned them and they also sold at opening bid of $80.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303001771708This sale goes to show that you never know what might sell, so it’s best to list everything! This hotel shoe shine mitt came out of a box lot of ephemera. Each sellable items from that lot came to $3.46. It sold within an hour of listing it! I guess someone had a search saved for that hotel or something. Sold for $15. I would have priced it a little higher if I’d have known.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303010184857Thanks, Troy! That makes a lot of sense. I’ve adjusted my spreadsheet to give me the average total listings per week to give me a more accurate percentage. I also make a little table which will give me my monthly STR. Excel is fun!
Awesome, thank you Simplicio! With that info, I whipped up a nice little sheet to help me keep better track of my numbers going forth.
Doublythumbs’ End of Year Numbers 2018:
Total Sales (no shipping): $46,868
COGS: $3,988
Fees (eBay + Paypal): $8447
Labor: $0
Returns: $2,193 (31 items)
Gross Profit: $32,240Total Number of Items Sold: 1206
Jan 1 # of Listings: 1093
Dec 1 # of Listings: 2002
# of New Listing in 2018: 2115 (Wow! Did I calculate that right?)Average Sale Price: $38
Milage: 2,750 miles ( $1499 expense)
Supplies (packing material, photo equipment, cleaning supplies, etc.): $2,236Shipping Income: $8,773
Shipping Expense: $8,301
Shipping Profit: +$472 (hehe)Okay, all of you number gurus… how do I calculate my STR using the information above?
This was a fun bit of information gathering. Very informative! I think now I’ll create another sheet in my spreadsheet for tracking more detailed data every week.
12/31/2018 at 1:29 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 392: No Alarm Clocks – We chat with Troy aka T-Satt about the eBay Lifestyle #54236Dec 23-29
Total Items in Store: 1986
Items Sold: 26
Total Sales : $648
* below yearly average of $896
* below 2017 total week sales of $778
Highest Price: $80 (Pair of Kastar American Flag Patriotic Motor License Plate Reflector Bolts)
Average Price: $25
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $88
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $5
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 17Great interview once again! There were so many great topics discussed. I’ll have to point my friend who is just getting into selling as a hobby to this one.
Well it’s been sort of a so-so week, but that was to be expected. The holidays are always great for sales until right up to and right after Christmas. But it’ll bounce back once everyone resumes their scheduled lives.
I’ve been seeing a huge (to me anyways) influx of returns lately. While a couple were because of size or change of mind, I’ve been taking a bunch due to mistakes on my part. A big one, and my biggest in my ebay career so far, was for that stereoscope library I sold a couple weeks ago. That one hurt. Apparently I didn’t inform the buyer well enough that it wasn’t a complete set. $650 + shipping return. And a ring box that I sold last week got returned because it didn’t close properly. That one I didn’t include in my numbers, but it was a $60 sale. I’m not gonna beat myself up about it, but I’m going to start improving my listings and start REALLY highlighting the flaws instead of casually mentioning them in the description.
I kind of got a taste of what it will be like full time on eBay this last week. Working at a Catholic university, we were given the whole week off of work. Unfortunately I made the mistake of letting my friends and family know. So I spent a lot of time running around, helping, planning and visiting everyone. I sure didn’t get a whole lot of listing done, that’s for sure. But starting yesterday, I’ve got no plans until I go back to work on Wednesday so I’m hitting the ground running!
Thanks, Steven! I love keeping my inventory versatile. There’s just a few things that I don’t like selling, mainly clothing, just because it doesn’t interest me at all. But I’ll scoop up mostly anything at auctions and yardsales if I think I can learn a new niche.
Christine, are you referring to COBRA? Yes, I can take advantage of that but it might not be the best deal (or it might be good, I’ll have to do some comparisons).
I feel that space exploration is becoming trendy again. Like you said, with the development of SpaceX and more affordable means of space travel, we’ll be seeing a lot more space interest and education.Thanks for the confidence, Troy! It’s weird because just two months ago I was ready to hand in my resignation to peruse my eBay business full time. I got cold feet only because of some renovations that needed done on our house. But now that I’ve saved up a few more paychecks, I feel confident again. I just feel for my fellow coworkers who don’t have a good plan B.
Retro, I can’t say that I disagree with you, as painful as it is to say it. In addition to WJU being my employer, it is also my alma mater. I graduated there with a bachelors in Communications. But my experience mirrors your’s. Great teachers but really poor…everything else. During the meeting we had last week, we heard some frightening statistics. I forget exactly what percentage, but this trend of schools closing is only going to increase in the next decade. But like you said, maybe the over-saturation of colleges in WV was too much for what this state has become. The population is shrinking for many reasons.
Thanks, Mike. I’m pretty confident that I could switch over to full-time eBay right now if I really wanted to. I’ve got a year’s worth of salary saved, no debt other than a house mortgage, and eBay is already earning me nearly as much as my day job.
What a weird coincidence, Steph’s dad was just showing me that same exact tv remote that he’s kept all these years! I’ll have to know he can get at least $40 for it. I haven’t been posting my What Solds very regularly lately. It’s just a crazy time of the year for me. But here are some highlights from the past couple weeks.
I sold another SubZero refrigerator part. I wouldn’t have posted about this since I’ve sold so many and have talked about them several times already, but it just amazes me that I got $20 for a pair of rusted leveling feet. I don’t even know if the size or style is totally unique to the Subzero brand or not. But the guy was really pleased when he received them so great!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302932535010I find these WW2 war ration booklets and tokens sometimes in box lots. Individually, they’re not worth my time to list, but I saved up a small pile and listed the all as a lot. It didn’t take a while for them to sell for $40.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302958209504Here’s a good brand of kitchen cutlery to watch out for. Warther & Son. I knew about these beforehand since I live about an hour away from the where they’re made. I picked this little paring knife up at a yard sale for .50 cents. It only took a couple weeks to sell for $28.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302966446014I acquired this Sesame Street Big Bird beanie up at an auction in a box lot. I paid $15 for the lot because of some vintage Star War shirts, so each sellable item came to $2.14. This was actually the first item to sell from that lot. I got $20 for it. I bet some kid is going to love it!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302962423254At the Goodwill bins, I picked out a plastic bag full of these Tiger Electronics talking robot cassette tapes. Certain titles get for money than others, but always be on the lookout for this one… Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? Apparently it’s more rare than the others. I had it priced at $100 and finally took a best offer of $65. Not bad for something I probably paid a few cents for.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302836549132I love selling vintage kitchen canister sets! They’re so easy to list and they never fail to sell. This one came in a lot of other kitchen metalware that I picked up for $40 (each sellable item came to $8). I listed it for $60 and it sold within an hour. I hope I didn’t underprice it. I guess it’s a hot pattern though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303002948123LOL good question, and one I don’t really know the answer to. The program started in the mid 90’s I believe. We have a whole space simulation where kids can see what it’s like to be an astronaut in a space station. I remember doing it when I was a kid in school.
I work for Wheeling Jesuit University. It’s a small university so I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody here has heard of it. I work as a tech specialist for a space exploration themed educational program for K-12 grade.
I’m pretty excited about the aspect of doing eBay full time. I know there will be some difficulties and major adjustments that will take time to get use to, but my feelings match what you described. I’ve managed to make a nicely profitable business in the few hours I can spare after work every night. If I can dedicate an entire work day and more, then logically my business should grow even more.
I got myself all set up on healthcare.gov to see what my insurance estimates will be. Obviously I’ll be paying more than what my payments are now, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle.
Dec 16-22
Total Items in Store: 1960
Items Sold: 34
Total Sales : $1381
* above yearly average of $906
* above 2017 total week sales of $1215
Highest Price: $360 (Drake HAM Radio Transmitter)
Average Price: $41
Returns: 2
Cost of Goods Sold: $88
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $5
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 53I’m kinda late with posting my numbers. There’s just a lot of craziness happening in my world right now. But I’m glad you’re enjoying your stay in NYC! I can’t wait to be able to take trips with Steph without worrying about syncing our vacation time at work and only being able to plan it during our slow seasons and taking my work phone with me anyways because I know things will somehow blow up while I’m away.
I had a pretty good week number-wise. It’s fun watching my yearly weekly average rising steadily. At $900+, I think i can safely say that this business can certainly sustain me financially. Which is a major relief right now because we got some troubling news last week. The university which I work at is in some major heat. We might lose our accreditation which would absolutely mean we would close. We were told that the university has a month to come up with a financial plan to satisfy the DOE or they’ll be shutting us down. And even the president seemed pretty hopeless in his meeting with us. So ultimately, my plan is to stick it out until we know what’s going to happen since I already have my backup plan ready. I know there won’t be any severance packages for the employees, but maybe there’ll be some sort of assisted health insurance or something that I can take advantage of.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. And enjoy your New Years Eve!!
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