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[Gladys]

Actually Jay, look for hymnals that only say Methodist Church (or The Methodist Church). These hymnals were from before the Methodists became “united” in 1968. The ones I remember had a brown cover, and were not nearly as thick as many current ones – maybe about 1/2 – 3/4 inch.

[Gladys]

Thanks guys for another wonderful podcast. I usually listen while walking, and I need to take along pen and paper to make notes for things I want to remember to comment on.

As I history nerd, I really enjoyed the thoughts, both on the podcast and in the comments, on why and how different generations spend their money. As has been mentioned, people who lived through the depression often kept things “just in case”, but many of the things they kept were made to last AND to be repaired rather than thrown out. Will be very interesting to see what the thrift stores are filled with in 30 years.

Regarding hymnals selling well, I was raised United Methodist, and in the early 1970s they changed the hymnal. Many of the older people were NOT happy, my parents included,, because they took out some of their favorite hymns. The church kept the old hymnal, and it was used in my parents’ Sunday School class. If I ever find one of the older ones, I will buy it in a heartbeat. If you know a hymnal is a version that is no longer the “official” one of the denomination, you will likely do well with it.

Hope everyone is having a great week! Time for me to go back to listing, listing, listing.

[Gladys]

Great podcast as always. I usually listen while walking, so I get exercise and education (and some entertainment) at the same time!

March 2017

Items in store – 150
Items sold – 13 (12 Ebay/1 Amazon merchant fulfilled)
Total sales – $144.44
COGS – $1.47
Highest sale – $30 for a pair of Gargoyles sunglasses my boyfriend had. Sold within a couple of weeks of listing.
Money spent on new inventory in March – $45

Haven’t been on the forums much lately because I’ve been busy sourcing, listing and taking care of life in general. I had 3 goals for Q1 – get listings to 150 items, open a Basic Store, and start listing on Etsy. Done, done, and done!! While my sales are nowhere near what others do, they have improved and I am pleased.

Many of the sales this month were things in the house. My favorites, while not high dollar, were 2 lids to Mr. Coffee carafes. Yes, I am a klutz and break them. Sold them individually for $3.95 each and within a week of listing.

My one Amazon sale was a book and I was shocked when I saw what the fees were. I only had one book left on there, and it isn’t a high dollar book, so I moved it to Ebay. If I find more textbooks that have a low rank and high price, I may put on Amazon; otherwise the fees don’t make it worth it.

And a huge THANK YOU to ebaymom for mentioning Velcro. Like you, I had heard it talked about on earlier podcasts, but wasn’t listing anything with it at the time. After reading about it, I immediately went to my listings and had to remove it from about 5 hats/caps. Now my listings just say adjustable, and there are pictures which show the closures. Do people know what hook-and-loop is? Is there a better term that is allowed?

And now back to listing, listing, listing.

[Gladys]

January 29 – February 4, 2017

Items listed – about 100
Items sold – 2
COGS – 20 cents
Total Sales – 17.94
Highest – 15.95 (Book of drawings of Grand Prix and Sports Cars)
Returns – 0
International Sales – 1 (GSP)
Money spent on new inventory – 0
New items listed – 4

I hit my goal of having 100 items listed by end of January, then a couple of things sold, so I got a couple more listed. The international sale was my first one (yay!), and it was an auction. One bid at my starting price for a refrigerator magnet. Buyer paid about $20 for shipping, customs, etc. so I hope he likes it!

Went camping for a couple of days, and it gave me a chance to think about what I want to do in February. Will still be sourcing and listing, but want to also focus on ending items that I’ve had listed for nearly a year, and list again with sell similar, reworking the titles, descriptions and prices as needed. Also need to double-check shipping on things I listed before I got a scale to weigh them. I also want to try listing a few things on Etsy and maybe Instagram, just to see if some things might do better there.

And need to work on inventory storage. It is under control right now, but I want to get a better system in place so I don’t get overwhelmed or lose items.

[Gladys]

January 22-28
Total Items in Store – 99
Sold – 1 – Amazon Merchant Fulfilled
COGS – 50 cents
Total Sales – 60.95
International – 0
Returns – 0
Money spent on new inventory – 6.90
New Listings – 8

One sale, but it was a good one – a histology textbook I bought for 50 cents at the Library. Although an earlier edition, it was in very good condition, and was selling for about $50 when I bought it. It took a year, but it sold. I had recently raised the price when I realized I was the cheapest on Amazon by about $15. I was about to give up on looking for books to sell on Amazon, but after this, I think I’ll keep checking them. You never know what you may find.

We’re leaving tomorrow for a short camping get-away, then it’s back to listing, listing, listing!

[Gladys]

Thanks for the caution on ties Jay. I’m trying to be very selective about the ones I choose, and keep learning as I research to list them.

[Gladys]

Didn’t get a chance to post last week, so here’s a 2 week summary:

1/8 – 1/21
Total items listed – 91
Total items sold – 2
Total Sales – $31.45
Highest price sold – $21.95
COGS – $1
Returns – 0
Money spent on new inventory – $7.80
New items listed – 11

The highest price item I sold was a Jaguar Automobile baseball cap that I had bought the week before for $1. Sold in less than a week and for my full asking price. I’m not sure I would have even thought about trying to sell baseball/trucker hats if not for this podcast, so thank you very much!!!

I’ve gone to several thrift stores I’ve not visited before with good results. I’m finding I can get baseball caps for $1 and ties for 50 cents pretty consistently, so I’m focusing on them right now. They are easy to list, easy to store and easy to ship, which works well for me right now. My goal is to have 100 items listed by the end of the month, and I have enough on hand to make that happen.

[Gladys]

Thanks Jay! Right now I’m trying to get my listings up, and having 500 as a target really helps. Hopefully along the way I can find some high dollar items. My boyfriend found a couple of beach bikes at the curb on Sunday; he cleaned them up and they sold within an hour on Facebook for $80, so that helps!

[Gladys]

January 1-7, 2017

Items listed on Ebay – 80
Items sold – 1
Total sales – $15
COGS – $0 (sold a t-shirt my boyfriend had)
Returns – 0
Money spend on new inventory – $7.50
Number of items listed – 8

I’ve been selling on Ebay for about a year now, and I’m really trying to make this into a decent income stream. I spent much of December listing items, mainly the t-shirts my boyfriend decided to let me sell. The last half of December, I sold 5 items, which is the most I’ve done in any month. Now, I’m trying to figure out how to keep that momentum going. I’ve about run out of stuff around the house to list, so I hit a couple of thrift stores last week, and I’m heading back out today.

The cool thing about the t-shirt that did sell was it was one from Garmin (the GPS company). It was a high quality shirt in like-new condition, but before finding Scavenger Life, I would not thought I could sell it, or would have sold it for about $5. I have learned so much from the podcast, everyone’s videos and comments. Hopefully I can return the favor and add to the discussion this year!

[Gladys]

I’ve been reselling online for about a year now, and for 2017 I want to really step it up and turn this into a reliable income stream.

For the 1st quarter my goals are:
– keep sourcing and listing to get to around 150 items
– open a basic store
– look into other places to resell online – Etsy, Instagram, etc to see what else might work for me
– take what I learn and plan for 2nd quarter

Here’s top a great 2017 for us all!

[Gladys]

I’m glad to know this. I’m trying to get my listings up over 100 to see if sales improve, so I’m listing a lot of low priced items just to get stuff on there. I do have a stack of t-shirts my boyfriend wants me to list, and since they are all the same, I may save some to put up quickly when I need them.

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