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If I had the space, I think I would go for it. By my rough calculations, each of those smaller boxes on the bottom right may hold 6 hangers, and probably 3 or 4 of those smaller boxes might be inside each of the larger ones. So I’d sell them in lots of however many are in each box (24 it looks like). No packing necessary, just slap a label on them and ship. Yeah, maybe it might take years to sell them all, but even at say $40 per box, you’re making 100K gross by the end of it. But again, I would only do it if I had a small warehouse garage on my property.
I’m having the same problem with my views. Everything is at zero. Over on Reddit, a ton of other people (but not everyone) are having the same issue. This isn’t the first time it’s happened to me. It will correct itself after a few days, but it’s annoying!
May 27 – June 2
Total Items in Store: 1590
Items Sold: 22
Total Sales : $720
* below yearly average of $777
* above 2017 total week sales of $624
Highest Price: $162 (Vintage International Harvester Cooling System Cleaner and Neutralizer Can)
Average Price: $33
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $40
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 0HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAY!! It’s funny, I always picture you (and Ryanne) being closer to my age in the early 30s. Maybe it’s your enthusiasm and positive outlook on on everything.
It looks like my average is going to be in the $700 to 800 range for a while, but I’m okay with that. We’re going to be so busy with moving and getting the new house in order that I won’t really have time to sell a whole lot. I’ve got the opposite problem of burnout. I want to list and get back into eBay so bad, but I just can’t at the moment. But it’ll be so great to have a much bigger work space and tons of storage room at our new home.
So it’s been about a month or so since I switched back from free returns to buyers pay for returns. It seems like sales have dried up slightly, but not as terrible as I thought they would. There could be a bunch of factors accounting for that other than my return policy too, especially summer slowdown. I’ll continue this through June, but once July hits I’ll make my store almost completely compliant with eBay’s suggestions (free returns, 1-day shipping, “free” shipping on first class items) and see if I notice any spikes in sales.
Not much in the way of scavenging this week except while loading up some cardboard and plastic boxes that were being thrown away at a local business, I found an old industrial grade Jiffy fabric steamer. I thought it was probably broke but the parts could sell easily enough. Brought it home and ran some vinegar through it and it works perfectly! Now I’ll either sell it or keep it replacing the small cheap steamer I have already.
05/31/2018 at 8:27 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Mailbox, Sony Sport Walkman, Palm Tree Sconces, Marantz Tuner, Pipe Holder #41420Not a whole lot of exciting sales last week. Summer slowdown appears to be starting for me. Here’s some of the more notable sales…
I acquired this old 1967 brass dog licence tag and paperwork in a box lot a couple summers ago. I can’t figure out what compelled me to price it for $35, but it finally sold for full price. I paid about $3 for it.
1967 Dog LicenseThis was my big sale of the week. This four-drawer document cabinet came from an estate sale. The sellers were trying to sell it and all the stuff inside it for I think $50! I told them I wasn’t interested in the things inside (which looked to me like old Kodak photo paper and maybe some manuals) but I would pay them $10 for just the box. We settled on $15. I used it for a while until I found something better. I listed it for $200 and it sold for full price a couple months later.
Ward’s Scientific Document CabinetI found a bunch of these 2-XL talking robot cassette tapes in the bins at the Goodwill Outlet, so I only have a few cents into each of them. I found that some of the titles are really rare and can go for quite a bit of money. This and another one were the first to sell ($25 and $15).
Tiger 2-XL Talking Robot Cassette TapeHere’s a nice little BOLO for ya. The brand is called Vietri, and they make handpainted pottery kitchenware. I picked these up in a Goodwill down in Georgia while I was vacationing. I paid $3 for this set of four salad plates. It took a few months, but they sold for full price of $70. You’ve got to look at the bottoms for the name, cause they look like 75% of the dishware you see in thrift stores and I would have passed over them if I hadn’t. But I guess people want them for the brand.
Vietri Pottery Salad Plates05/31/2018 at 7:57 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41418Retro, dodged a bullet is right! That sounds exactly what happened to me, except I wasn’t so fortunate. I’m glad your house was safe. Are your neighbors having to throw away everything that was in their basements?
I still feel a sense of dread every time a heavy rain hits us.05/30/2018 at 1:28 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41287I sold a copy of Lotus 1 2 3 a few weeks ago for $30. And all this reminds me of when we had to update our old Mac Minis at my office to the only OS that their 32-bit processors could still handle, which was version 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Luckily we had a spare disc at the IT department, but otherwise we would of had to find one on eBay.
05/30/2018 at 10:24 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41272Good luck at the auction! Table and box lots are my favorite! Sometimes, auctioneers will let you leave the junky stuff that you don’t want to take home. But be careful, I’ve almost left stuff that I thought was absolute junk to find out was worth a lot of money.
05/30/2018 at 10:15 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41271Nice tip on the Strat-o-Matic games. I swear I’ve seen those in thrift stores but never thought to check sold prices. Looks like some can go in the $1000’s.
We have a prominent Amish community north of where I live. Very nice people! And I love their baked goods!05/29/2018 at 7:24 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41238I haven’t run across anything that I’ve passed up because it’s too complicated, but I can see passing it up due to size. I’m thinking huge hospital lab equipment or large data servers or something like that.
05/29/2018 at 6:17 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41232With more advanced electrical items such as this ham radio stuff, the best I can do is the power on test as well as check it over really well for physical damage. I try to always make sure to mention that it turns on but that I’m not an expert so further testing wasn’t done. Sometimes I’ll also say that I acquired the items from the estate of a ___ enthusiast, just so the buyer knows I’m not just digging this stuff out of a landfill. I have a very open return policy, so if anyone has any issue with the thing, I would just have them ship it back (or keep it if the cost of shipping outweighs what I could make off of selling the parts). So far I haven’t had a single issue, though I’m aware it’s a matter of time before I sell something that has something wrong with it. It’s a risk that I’m willing to take.
05/29/2018 at 3:36 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 362: Scavengers Are Always Prepared To Clean Out A Basement #41214May 20 – 26
Total Items in Store: 1595
Items Sold: 20
Total Sales : $781
* above yearly average of $774
* WAY above 2017 total week sales of $285
Highest Price: $199 (Ward’s Natural Science Establishment Four Drawer Wood Flat Document Paper Cabinet)
Average Price: $39
Returns: 1
Cost of Goods Sold: $53
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $319
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 17 (Ugh!)I had another pretty average week of sales. And almost no time to take photos and list. I hate how busy it’s become on my end. Busy season at work, daily summer choirs and all this stuff happening with the new house… my life is turning into a cyclone. I just need to keep telling myself that in a month from now, things will be smooth again and we’ll be happy. At least I feel healthy again anyways. That was the worst part of the previous week.
We did find time to go to a killer auction on Saturday. Apparently, the elderly man that lived there was a retired science teacher, and major hoarder but in a good way. There was load of stuff, and it was all going for relatively cheap. I picked up a bunch of ham radio equipment that will probably make me over a thousand bucks. And I got a vacuum tube tester. It’s funny because I started looking for one to buy from Steven’s suggestion, but I really didn’t like the idea of shelling out up to $200 for a decent one. Lo and behold, I found one here and got it for $45. My only regret was not having a bigger vehicle. I had to stop buying these awesome box lots because there was literally no more room in the car.
Thanks, Sally. I’m about 95% better. I even started listing again last night. WOOT! It’s amazing how much we take our good health for granted. After all that, feeling normal again feels so great!
05/24/2018 at 1:32 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Sound Shaper EQ, Round puzzle, Ray Ban Aviators, Deluxe Scrabble Board, Marilyn Monroe Calendar #40929Once again, you’ve got some cool sales, Steven! That Monroe calendar sale was amazing. I was expecting you to say it sold for 30 or 40 bucks. But $250! Nice! I made a few really interesting sales last week too. Here’s some highlights…
The more I learn about flatware, the more I love buying it when it goes cheap enough. I’m learning to look out for certain brands, as well as things to look for when going through the big baskets of mismatched flatware in every thrift store for a dime a piece. This spoon is a great example. Made by Mikasa, it has a nice modern look (antique or fancy designs aren’t really sought after right now) and it has good weight. The first thing I do is research the maker and design on replacements.org. That’ll give you their going rate per piece. I sold this individual spoon for $27.
Mikasa TeaspoonAnother thing that I love picking up now are vintage metal kitchen canister sets. I don’t do much to clean them up other than wash any stale sugar or coffee out of them. This copper set made by Benjamin & Medwin was really nifty. I got it for $4 at an auction. It took a couple months to sell but it went for full price of $50.
Copper Kitchen Canister SetHere’s my big sale of the week. This small Motorola AM tube radio came in a box lot, and it was filthy! I took some time and cleaned it up as nice as I could. Prices for old Motorola radios were all over the place, but this particular model wasn’t even listed. So I price it high at $100. I kept getting really low offers and was worried that I priced it too high. But when a guy offered $85, I took it. Not bad after only paying $2.50 for it originally .
Green Motorola Flip RadioHere’s a sale that came at a surprise. I acquired a box lot full of little goo gahs for $8, so each individual sellable item only came to .38 cents. One of the items was this little box of old candy called Sen-Sen. I’ve never heard of it before, but some of the sold prices on eBay were really high. Must have been a popular candy that went out of production. I tasted one and it was horrible! LOL. But it sold for full price of $30.
Vintage Sen-Sen Confection CandyMay 13 – 19
Total Items in Store: 1600
Items Sold: 29
Total Sales : $891
* above yearly average of $764
* WAY above 2017 total week sales of $155
Highest Price: $85 (Vintage Motorola Green Metal Portable Flip AM Radio Model 52M1U)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $45
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 19 (Ugh!)I had a pretty close to average week of sales this past week. A lot of low dollar items really brought my week’s average price down. And I was really disappointed with my total new listings this week. But it’s busy season where I work with all the schools trying to fit their field trips in before summer vacation. I just come home absolutely exhausted. Plus all the craziness of buying this new home has left me very little time to list. I’ve also been sick for the past 5 days so I haven’t had the energy to do anything at all. It really sucks. But hopefully when I feel better, I’ll get back to listing.
I was so pumped when I got mentioned in the podcast! It’s like a dream come true (the home buying, not the shout out (although you’ve made my Monday!)). Yes believe it or not, I only do eBay part time on top of my full time job. Still, I probably put in close to 30 hours a week on eBay… when I’m not buying houses. I attribute my sales mainly to the plethora of awesome items I find at auctions in my area. That and the knowledge and advice I’ve acquired from Scavenger Life! Really, Jay and Ryanne, it’s been you two who have inspired me to make it this far. Thank you!!
05/17/2018 at 1:29 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Trucker hat, MCM Tri top corner table, Schwinn Twinn, Jeanie rub, Headphones, Marantz 4400 #40193LOL! I can envision the experience now!
Now that you’ve mentioned it, McIntosh is another brand that I never see. If only I’d get those prices for Realistic equipment, I’d be a rich man. -
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