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Jan 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 2943
Items Sold: 26
Total Sales : $687
* BELOW yearly average of $889
Highest Price: $140 (Vintage Puma Corporal Folding Knife)
Average Price: $26
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $65
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 125Slowish week, but not unexpected since I started the week off with selling restrictions. It turns out that my store was delisted for those three days, so I could only sell stuff that I was previously negotiating best offers with. Ugh… whatever. At least I was still able to create and save drafts. So I had about 40 items ready to go on Tuesday afternoon when my little time-out was over.
Since you mentioned buttons, it took me about two and a half weeks to list my big button lot. I created 305 new listings and so far have grossed $311 after 21 sales. I know that the more desirable ones tend to sell quickly and all the others will be super long tail, but I expect this little pipeline to make me a nice little pile of cash in the end. The best part is I’ve now have a ton more knowledge about buttons and I’ll know what to look for in those random sewing boxes, and I’ll even be able to go toe to toe with the button lady at the auction (yes, she’s real).
I had something unexpected happen to me last week. I received a handwritten thank you note from a buyer. It was very long winded, but essentially thanked me for selling her some old Christmas lights for her wreath. It’s little gestures like that that brings me joy. Has that happened to anyone here before?
Aw damn, you’re right. I just tried to access my store in incognito mode and couldn’t find anything. That’s so weird cause I just sold a thing this morning. Well now I’m upset…
Thankfully, just to list new items. The wording in the email about it read as if my whole store would be invisible to buyers for the whole 3 days, but I’ve been selling stuff still so who knows.
Dec 29 – Jan 4
Total Items in Store: 2823
Items Sold: 33
Total Sales : $611
* BELOW yearly average of $896
Highest Price: $100 (Kodak Brownie 8mm Movie Camera)
Average Price: $18.50
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $23
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 88Another sort of soft week of sales. I definitely sold a decent quantity, but just a lot of $10-15 items. I’ve been steadily listing these buttons and I think I really hit my stride. I started out doing auctions because that’s where I noticed a lot of the higher solds happening, but I quickly realized that my buttons weren’t really worth the $50+ prices that these true antique ones were going for. So I’m sticking to BIN with slightly higher than average common button prices. So far though I’ve made about $180 off of these things and still have hundreds to sell.
Unfortunately, I got a 3-day restriction yesterday. Apparently I was dinged for having listed a hazardous material for the second time in a period of time. The first time a couple months ago was a vintage miniature fire extinguisher. I guess they used to be filled with stuff that caused health problems. This time it was a mercury tilt switch for electronics. Honestly didn’t know mercury was banned from eBay. I was kinda bummed out about it but at least I’m still making sales. I just can’t list any more buttons until Tuesday. I really wish eBay would have noticed that this was an honest mistake rather than resorting to instant punishment. It kind of feels like middle school again.
Nice sale on that clock radio, Steven! And good on you for adding new purpose for that file holder too! That was clever. I made a few notable sales last week, but no home runs, unfortunately. Here’s a few highlights.
I’ve had this tiny bottle of Avon Persian Wood cologne listed for years. It was probably one of my oldest items still listed. I’m so glad it finally found a buyer. It came in a box lot of a few neat things that I paid $15 (each sellable item came to $2.50). It sold for $15.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302836550369It took me a minute to figure out what these were, but they’re glass furniture sliders made by Hazel Atlas. I paid .50 cents for them. I ended up getting $20 for the eight.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303229381502I love buying and selling these small parts tool cabinets. I see them somewhat frequently at yard sales and can usually get them for no more than a few bucks. They take some time to sell, but I was able to get $60 for this one. It didn’t have any brand name, but if it did (like Kennedy or Steelmaster), I could have gotten a bit more.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303215006190Here’s my big sale of the week. It’s a USO cartoon map of Hawaii designed by famous illustrator Ruth Taylor White. I acquired this along with a whole suitcase of WW2 ephemera for $70 (a bit steep but I’ve made 4x my money back already). If it wasn’t for doing vigilant research and finding one past sold, I would have just listed this for $15 and called it a day. But thankfully I found one that sold for $50, so naturally I listed mine for $60. It took a few months but it sold for full price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303288416027Dec 22-28
Total Items in Store: 2771
Items Sold: 27
Total Sales : $690
* BELOW yearly average of $905
Highest Price: $60 (WW2 USO Cartoon Pictorial Map of Hawaii Big Island)
Average Price: $26
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $29
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $486
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 79eBay slowed down a bit for me last week, but I expected that to happen. The same thing happened last year during Christmas week and even the year before that. That’s why I love having my data easily available so that I can see my sale trends.
I went to a good auction on Saturday. It was intense. In my area, good auctions have been really few and far between this year for some reason. Resellers here are really thirsty for good inventory. So when this one was advertised with tons of pics and descriptions, it got the attention of all the dealers in a hundred mile radius. Four auction rings and hundreds of people elbow to elbow, pushing each other to get closer to the auctioneers. I was amazed that I stayed for the whole thing. But I got a van load of really cool stuff. My prize of the day was a complete Lenox nativity set in their original boxes. I paid up for them (over $100) but I expected to sell it all for $800-1000.
This week I’ll be once again focusing on buttons. I have them all sorted by material. The metal ones are done. Now to start on the glass buttons. I think these ones are where my sales will shine.
I’ll throw my guess in and say they’re powder coating pigments for a powder gun. You would coat a metal part and then bake it at a high temperature.
Okay, I’m going to set it all aside for now until I receive any messages about it. My best guess is that these were meant for someone else, though it did include my original packing slip to the buyer which is odd. My second guess is the guy thought he would be helpful and send me more of the parts to resell, but why go through the trouble of sending me the original part back? Well whatever, I’m just going to let it go and stop thinking about it.
Thank you! Regarding the auctions, I’m just starting the prices at what I would reasonable list them for otherwise just in case I have something desirable that might start a minor bidding war. I’ll relist them after a week as BIN. I have no problem with long tail items, I just didn’t feel like doing a ton of research on these. Most of them seem contemporary anyway.
Hey Ryanne. I’ve been quickly listing these buttons all week. Other than that Civil War one, I haven’t really hit on anything great. I’ve just been sort of throwing them against the wall to see what sticks so to speak. $5-$10 auctions. I’m almost done working my way through the metal ones. Next will be the glass ones which I predict will be where I might make some money. Here’s a sample of what I’ve got. You can look through my store if you’re curious.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303416622805Hope you had a nice Christmas, Steven. Nice sales! I had a great week myself. Here are some of my more interesting sales.
My highest sale of the week came from this Satsuma porcelain trinket box. I usually come across Satsuma vases which are obviously reproductions and they still sell for $20-30. But this one that I got at an auction for a couple bucks seemed much more authentic, or at least much better painted. And it had a makers mark on the bottom. So I priced at what I thought was high for $175 hoping for a decent best offer. It sold for full price after about a month. I kinda regret not doing a little more research on this piece. Well known Satsuma artist pieces can be very valuable.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303343323211Here was a neat little sale. I acquired an old Triplett multimeter at a yard sale for $3. When I brought it home to see if I could clean it up, I realized it still had the old battery inside. It was one of those old 30 volt batteries that the older testers would use. Well I threw it up on eBay by itself and it sold for $15. I don’t know if the buyer was a collector of old batteries or knew how to recharge it, but I was happy for the easy sale.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303363234639One of my favorite things about this job is learning about things I never knew existed. In this case, it was about mourning hair art. In the Victorian period, it was common to save the hair of recently deceased loved ones and craft it into wreaths, art or jewelry. Some intricate examples can fetch over a thousand dollars. This little boutonniere flower was pretty simple and sold for $30. It came in a box lot and only cost me less than a dollar.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303393021179Every now and then I’ll wade in the pool of retail arbitrage, usually with not a lot of success. Last year I missed out on the opportunity to buy and resell these Paqui One Chip Challenge tortilla chips. They’re basically a single corn tortilla chip which are claimed to be the world’s hottest chip. They sold out in a few hours and were being resold on eBay for ridiculous amounts. Well anyways, this year I got the email saying they were back in stock. I dropped what I was doing and bought the max limit of 10. It seemed though that Paqui learned from last year and produced much more this time. They didn’t sell out until over a week later. So as expected, the eBay market was flooded with these things and I thought I was going to get burnt (pun intended). But luckily, mine have slowly been selling for $20 a pop. I sold my last one thankfully and even made a profit of about $90.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303360694328Dec 15-21
Total Items in Store: 2717
Items Sold: 48
Total Sales : $1418
* ABOVE yearly average of $912
Highest Price: $175 (Satsuma Porcelain Footed Trinket Powder Incense Box)
Average Price: $30
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $67
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 58Another fine week on my end. It’s so nice to finally be making some really good money what with all the Christmas time expenses and everything. I hope this trend continues for a while.
I’m still relatively new at selling on eBay (close to four years now with 10 months since going full time), but my answer as to what keeps me going is merely the thought of going back to that rat race of cubicles and office politics. It’s been a life-changing experience becoming my own boss and I fell in love with it. Also, just being able to post my numbers here every week has definitely kept me motivated. I keep them in a spreadsheet too so I can easily see how my business is growing. I think it would be difficult to continue doing this day to day without having any figures indicating as to how well you’re doing.
This week I’ll be venturing into unknown territory with sewing buttons. I bought a collection at an auction for $10. They’re all really neat antique picture buttons that someone must have collected for decades. I’ve got a few civil war ones too which might land me quite a bit on moola. So far I’ve listed about 20 pretty easily, and I’ve got about 400 left to go.
Another informative video, Steven. Great sale on that boat light! My week was busy with all kinds of sales. Here are some highlights…
I bought a box lot of vintage Christmas decorations at an auction for a bit much ($35 for lot, each sellable item came to $2.69) but I knew a lot of the stuff would sell quickly at around this time. In it were a few little packages of these vintage Christmas ornament hanging hooks which I was about to toss in the trash but something compelled me to see if they sell. Well they sure do! I listed these five boxes for $30 and they sold rather quickly.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303354689549From a different box lot came a smaller box of these Gurley Christmas figural candles. There were over a dozen in all, but I’ve been selling them individually for $10 each. I’ve only got a couple left. They’ve been a popular item this year. I probably only have pennies into each one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303349121003I, too, sold a blue typewriter last week. Mine was made by Sears. I paid $30 for this one at an auction, though the lot included an old WW2 almanac which already sold for $75. It didn’t take long for this typewriter to sell for full price of $150.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303253174027Here’s a quick little tip. If you find one of these metal Foley jar openers at a garage sale or in one of those kitchen utensil boxes at the thrift shop, pick it up if its cheap enough. These have always sold rather quickly for me. I price them at $18, even if they’re a little rusty like this one was.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303383967434Dec 8 -14
Total Items in Store: 2694
Items Sold: 39
Total Sales : $1054
* ABOVE yearly average of $904
Highest Price: $150 (Sears Roebuck & Co Baby Blue Portable Typewriter)
Average Price: $27
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $119
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 32I had another great week! Mostly lower dollar sales but a lot of ‘em. I didn’t get a bunch of listings done due to holiday events and working outside, but that’s okay. Once the Christmas season wraps up, I’ll have all the time in the world to list list list.
Regarding the person who is asking how to become a better scavenger, I would agree that cheap box lots are the way to go. Forcing myself to investigate every little thing in a box of stuff that I got for a few bucks has given me so much insight as to what people will spend their money on. Take for example old plastic toys. I would have never realized that there were a large collector base for that kind of stuff if it wasn’t for doing the research. And as long as you don’t spend an uncomfortable amount of money at first, it’s really a cheap learning experience.
I’m slacking on listing my What Solds here lately. But I’m really thankful that you’re still posting your videos each and every week, Steven! Last week was my best week of sales to date. With almost 50 items sold, it was hard to pick which ones to feature today.
I found these little car salesman promotional items in a box lot that I really paid up for at $45, but it was full of all kinds of goodies for resale so it was a good buy. Individually, these wouldn’t have really got me a good price, but since they were all labeled with the same dealership, I decided to lot them up. I even did some research on the dealership and included that info in the listing. It took a few months but I got my full asking price of $30.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303205531292A couple of years ago, I had to buy a new camera after my basement flooded and I lost all of my photography equipment. Fast forward to a month ago when I was cleaning out some junk, I came across the box for that camera. I thought what the hell and listed it for $20. It sold shortly after. I’m glad I could make some easy money for something I was just about to throw in the trash.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303316668512My big sale of the week came when I got a best offer for a Michael Frances Higgins Studio Art Glass Wall Plaque. I had it listed for $300 and when $280 was offered, I mashed the accept button. I bought this with another one from the same artist for $5 total. The first one sold quickly for $250. That was definitely one of my best buys.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303046615603I had mentioned earlier that I’ve been listing 35mm slides from a famous race in Sebring, FL. It’s been going exceptionally well for me. On average, I’ve been making about $30 per slide. Here’s one of my favorites that sold for $50. I bought a big box lot full of slides for the opening bid of $2.50 not knowing what I would find inside. Well I really lucked out! The original owner was a big fan of race cars and the dates lined up perfectly with when that new movie out right now “Ford vs Ferrari” took place (1966). There were even a few of the race car driver in which that movie was based on (Ken Miles). So far I’ve made over $750, and I’ve got a lot more to sell.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303393021178Here’s a neat little sale. I found a few Christmas bubble lights at a Goodwill Outlet a little while back. I was amazed that they weren’t shattered in those big blue bins. Well unfortunately, the lights inside didn’t work. Replacing the inner lamps would have ate into my profits, especially since they weren’t the really old ones that would fetch a lot of money. So I removed the glass tubes and sold them as replacements. An easy $10 for what probably cost me a few cents.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303349012648
