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Sept. 13 – 19
- Total Items in Store: 3,948
- Items Sold: 32
- Total Sales : $1,356
- * ABOVE yearly average of $1,018
- Highest Price: $175 (Antique Tobacco Cutter Tool)
- Average Price: $42
- Returns: 0
- Cost of Goods Sold: $92
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $4
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 59
I hunkered down this week and really concentrated on listing some inventory. I also had a stellar week of sales. Coincidence? LOL! Perhaps, but I always like to think that there’s just something in eBay’s algorithm that rewards hard work with more sales. At the very least it’s a good motivator to work hard.
I run into the doubt mindset a couple times a year. I’ve talked about it here sometimes when I’ve had a lousy few weeks or months and my business just doesn’t seem like it’d be worth continuing. But things always turn around and grow better than before. What helped me tremendously has been keeping records of my numbers from past years. That way I can have a bigger view of my success and growth. That also applies to our lives too, doesn’t it? Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture always helps my perspective and sort of cheers me up.
You two should collaborate with your partners and create a special edition coffee blend for scavengers. It’d be a creation of your own that we can all try and enjoy.
Sept. 6 – 12
- Total Items in Store: 3,919
- Items Sold: 24
- Total Sales : $504
- * WAY BELOW yearly average of $1,006
- Highest Price: $80 (Kenner 1984 Han Solo Carbonite Star Wars Power Of The Force Action Figure)
- Average Price: $21
- Returns: 1
- Cost of Goods Sold: $23
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 0
I took a hiatus from the forum last week while we went to visit some friends down in Georgia. There wasn’t much to report anyways. My numbers have been quite awful as of late, but I think I know why. eBay’s been sort of on the back burner throughout summer and I think it’s finally catching up to me. But that’s okay. This week I’m going to jump back in and hit the ground running.
Jay, the way you described your experience by the creek sounds like a Norman Rockwell painting.
I also watched that Cheap Old Houses video. It was located in my previous hometown, Wheeling, WV. It’s so fascinating to see our little neck of the woods in the spotlight.
Aug 23 – 29
- Total Items in Store: 3,958
- Items Sold: 33
- Total Sales : $832
- * BELOW yearly average of $1,023
- Highest Price: $140 (Antique Lavatory Tiltype Soaper Tilting Soap Dispenser)
- Average Price: $25
- Returns: 1
- Cost of Goods Sold: $48
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $73
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 25
I’ve been experiencing sort of a slow down on the eBay front. Not a big deal really, especially since it’s been an amazing past few months. Summer slowdown had to come eventually though, right? LOL.
I made a pretty good score this past week. I found an online auction of a boutique business liquidating its inventory. I bought every single one of their perfume listings for the opening bid of a dollar. Ninety listings of 3 or 4 bottles of fragrance each. With buyer premiums, I paid a little over $100 for around 350 bottles. Not bad, except when I brought them home I found that every single one was used. I think they were all testers. I should still make a good bit of money though since a lot of them are pretty high end brands.
Aug 9 – 15
- Total Items in Store: 3,941
- Items Sold: 30
- Total Sales : $1,047
- * ABOVE yearly average of $1,016
- Highest Price: $180 (1980 Zippo Lighter Pittsburgh Steelers Superbowl XIV Champions)
- Average Price: $35
- Returns: 0
- Cost of Goods Sold: $25
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $118
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 30
Not too bad of a week considering I did very little with my storefront. I went on a camping trip at Deep Creek, Maryland with some friends over a long weekend. Every time my phone went cha-ching, they were enthusiastic about what I sold.
My return fiasco from last week went smoothly. To recap, I had a buyer return an item that was purchased prior to having my Managed Payments activated which caused some issues. I called eBay and the Rep said it was simply because there was no money in my PayPal account in which to refund. I sent the buyer a nice message explaining the issue and thanking them for their patience in the 3-4 days it would take to pull money into my PP account. Thankfully they were understanding. When the funds finally posted, I clicked refund and it worked instantly.
Oh great! Sounds like a pain in the butt. I transferred the money last Friday so hopefully it’ll show up sometime between now and when the refund is due tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try calling anyway to see if eBay knows about the issue yet.
Aug 9 – 15
- Total Items in Store: 3,942
- Items Sold: 31
- Total Sales : $768
- * BELOW yearly average of $1,006
- Highest Price: $80 (Vintage 48 Star USA American Flag with Sewn On Stars and Stripes)
- Average Price: $25
- Returns: 1
- Cost of Goods Sold: $48
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $284
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 26
Sales kind of slowed down this past week, but still not too bad. I ran into an issue with Managed Payments. I got a return for an item that sold prior to MP being activated, and I think it’s wanting to take the refund out of my PayPal account. The only problem was I emptied PP since it was no longer a service that I would be using. Well with no funds, I can’t issue a refund for some reason. I thought if I had insufficient funds in my PP account that it would just charge my credit card (I checked and my CC info is up to date on PP). So I went ahead and transferred the exact amount to PP from my bank but it’s going to take a few days apparently. Hopefully that will fix the issue.
I had some success from an online auction last week. Some major scores include a big box full of old Bibles, some really nice turntable styluses and several dozen sealed vintage Sony blank cassette tapes that are apparently a rare type… model SHF. I went down a rabbit hole of vintage audio tapes and these things can regularly go for $40+ each.
Aug 2 – 8
- Total Items in Store: 3,947
- Items Sold: 39
- Total Sales : $1,193
- * ABOVE yearly average of $1,002
- Highest Price: $180 (1912 Arthur J Elsley Print in Frame “His First Christmas”)
- Average Price: $31
- Returns: 0
- Cost of Goods Sold: $85
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 15
It looks like I’ve hit a milestone. For the first time, I’ve averaged over $1,000 a week over a 52-week period. This is a goal I’ve been working toward since day one. It feels great knowing my store can generate that kind of income, even when I’ve put almost no effort into it for a little while like I did this last week. We spent the week preparing for our community yard sale, but I feel like it wasn’t really worth it. We made about $200 together which is fine, but the work getting everything out of our basement up to the garage and organizing everything was insane. From now on, I’m only putting in the yard sale pile the things that I know will sell and tossing the rest.
I just got into the Managed Payments program last week too. So far I like it. And I like that we won’t be paying anymore PayPal fees, but I’m wondering if that will be supplemented with additional eBay fees. So far I haven’t seen any decline in sales but rather on the contrary my sales seemed to have had a boost since the day it activated. I’ll keep recording the data and reserve my final opinion once I see the numbers.
One annoying thing about Managed Payments is that it removed 18 of my currency-related items. I knew the policy beforehand, but I didn’t know I had so many listings. The funny thing is that not a single one was for real currency. They were all bus tokens or wooden nickels or commemorative coins. I wonder if I can re-list those in a different category and not catch flack for it.
I had a question for the caller who purchased a church building for storage and had an auction from it. Was this in Weirton, WV? I swear I went to an auction earlier this year out of a little old church that sounded just like what you were describing.
July 26 – Aug 1
- Total Items in Store: 3,985
- Items Sold: 27
- Total Sales : $1,246
- ABOVE yearly average of $985
- Highest Price: $400 (Benchmark Rolox Viper Stag Handle Lockback Sliding Knife)
- Average Price: $46
- Returns: 1
- Cost of Goods Sold: $32
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $11
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 37
Another stellar week over here. I resold that knife that got returned a month ago. Let’s hope the new buyer likes it this time. I had a few other notable sales including a Bose equalizer for $115 and a vintage fishing rod for $90. If it weren’t for those sales though, I would have had a pretty soft week. I just didn’t have quite as many things sell as I normally do.
I have the same mentality when it comes to big money items. I rely on these accidental “sleeper” items, usually buried at the bottom of a box lot. There’s an auction house that we go to that runs three rings at a time. There’s the box lot ring, the table lot ring and the individual time ring. We stick to the first two there, but every now and then I’ll venture to the third ring where prices are regularly over $100-300. I know these people are reselling these items for 10x what they pay for them because I’ve looked stuff up afterwards, but I’m just not at the point where I can take that kind of risk. For now, I’m happy with my random box full of $20-50 treasures.
We’ve got a busy week ahead of us. I’m going to try several online auctions again since the last one was a success. I’ve learned that I’ve got to branch out further if I want to find any good ones. We’ve also got our community yard sale this weekend and I think we’re going to try setting up with all of our “donation” pile.
By the way, I’m currently sipping on some Southern Split. It’s very good! I got samplers of the Guatemalan and Ethiopian too that I can’t wait to try.
I left my IT job back in February last year. So far it’s been a fantastic decision. I would have gladly taken a pay cut to not have to deal with the stress from that job. Fortunately, I’m making more now selling on eBay than I did then (taxes and insurance included).
@kentucky-picker Roombas are one of my favorite things to part out. Almost every single piece will sell! Even the parts that you wouldn’t think anyone would need will sell. I’m always on the lookout for older broken ones for real cheap.
July 19 – 25
- Total Items in Store: 3,973
- Items Sold: 40
- Total Sales : $1,018
- ABOVE yearly average of $978
- Highest Price: $100 (SubZero Refrigerator Fan Shroud Assembly & Wiring)
- Average Price: $28
- Returns: 1
- Cost of Goods Sold: $41
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $205
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 30
I had a slow start of the week but things really picked up toward the end. The refrigerator part was a nice sale. That old broken fridge was a blessing in disguise. We made over $2000 from the parts already with just a few more pieces left. I should probably put out a want-ad for broken SubZeros, see if anyone needs their’s hauled away.
So I tried an online auction last week. I figured since my inventory is starting to get low and the auctioneers all seem to be going digital, I might as well embrace it and give it a go. Well I think I did pretty well. I ended up winning two van-loads worth of stuff for about $200. I had some winners and losers, but my best score was a pair of Stephens Trusonic speakers. There was only one picture for the listing which only showed the fronts with no indication of brand or anything, so I got them for $2. I’ll probably try to sell them for $300. Another interesting win was a vintage soda can collection. Again, very few pictures indicating what I was getting. When I went to the attic to claim them, there were four huge boxes full of these things. Probably close to 1000 cans. I still need to do the research on these, but I may be sitting on a gold mine.
It was interesting hearing the caller talk about selling cardboard tubes. I actually just listed a lot of bubble wrap tubes recently. Ten 12×3” tubes will fit perfectly inside one of eBay’s 16x12x8 box. I’ll be excited if they sell since I’ve collected a lot of them from all of my bubble wrap rolls.
July 12 – 18
- Total Items in Store: 3,983
- Items Sold: 30
- Total Sales : $1,018
- * ABOVE yearly average of $963
- Highest Price: $140 (Brother GX-8500 Electric Word Processing Typewriter)
- Average Price: $34
- Returns: 0
- Cost of Goods Sold: $58
- Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $22
- Number of New Items Listed this Week: 40
Another fine week under my belt. I haven’t really felt any slow down yet. In fact, this has been my best summer yet. I hope to keep it going, but even when I start to see the inevitable summer lag I’m still really glad to see what I’ve accomplished so far this year.
Congrats on your large sale! That’s awesome! My largest sale was half that at $1500. It was an industrial mixer that my dad brought home from work. He paid the scrap price of $10 for it. Needless to say, I took him out to eat after that sale.
We did some yard sales on Friday but I didn’t find much of any interest. I’ve been trying to watch some online auctions but stuff is still going for way too much money. We’ve got a lot of resellers like myself in my
July 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 3,971
Items Sold: 40
Total Sales : $1,236
* ABOVE yearly average of $960
Highest Price: $170 (The Mothman Prophecies Hardcover First Edition)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $76
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $134
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 33I’ve had a pretty nice week of sales. Mostly nickel and dime stuff with a few $50-$100+ sales thrown in there. I sold a paperweight for $125, a box of flatware for $55, a chrome pen & pencil set for $50 and the book I mentioned above for $170 (bought at an estate sale for .50 cents). I also wanted to mention my button sales. They may not be worth a lot individually, but what a great pipeline! Out of a $10 auction buy of buttons, I’ve so far grossed over $1000! Now I’m always on the lookout for more.
Another week of lower new listings since the weather has cooled off a bit and I can finally work outside without fear of heat stroke. My new garden is doing wonderfully with more little tomatoes growing than I’m gonna know what to do with. Likewise with my cucumbers. I built another little corner garden for my asparagus yesterday. Now I’m going to plant some walnut trees that we were given. I’ve got lots of these little projects that are going to cut into my eBay time, but that’s okay since I work almost nonstop on my store over the winter.
June 28 – July 4
Total Items in Store: 3,975
Items Sold: 40
Total Sales : $919
* BELOW yearly average of $963
Highest Price: $90 (Teclock Dial Test Indicator Set)
Average Price: $23
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $20
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 38Another pretty good week for me. Higher than normal quantity sold, lower than normal average price. Can’t complain though, especially at this time of year.
This is the first week in two months that I haven’t gotten a return. In the past, it was uncommon to get any returns, but for some reason there have just been a slew of them. All for various reasons too.
Not much in the way of scavenging last week, but I do plan on going to a couple of auctions this week. They’re outdoor, and I’m definitely going to adhere to the mask and distance rules. It’ll be interesting to see what other people do, or even how many people show up.
I scored a Sirius car receiver at a rummage sale over a year ago. It’s still going strong! I wanted to test it for a year just to be absolutely sure it was grandfathered in the lifetime subscription. But I’ve since changed my mind about selling it. I don’t think I can go back to basic radio.
