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Store Week 5/28/17 – 6/3/17
Total items in store: 1352
Items sold: 22
Cost of items sold: $25.76
Total sales: $1000.77
Highest price sold: $250.00 (Vintage Levi’s hat)
Average price sold: $45.49
International Sales: 3
Returns: 2 (1 for size, 1 for a hole that I missed …darn!)
Money spent on new inventory this week: $23.00I went to as estate sale on Friday and loaded up on trucker hats. I was digging through several boxes of them, finding some pretty cool ones, when I spotted the Levi’s hat, and my heart skipped a beat! I listed it for $250 as soon as I got home (a bit higher than any had sold for), and it sold within 5 minutes for full price. Wahoo! Do you think I underpriced it? Now I’m on a hat kick, listing a bunch. I love hats!
As for an eBay backup plan, I really hope I don’t need one because this is a pretty sweet gig. I still work a few hours per week at my old job, so I could no doubt step back in there, but I REALLY don’t want to. I’d probably give Etsy or Amazon a go.
I have great luck with yard sales as well, and my system sounds a lot like Joshua’s. I usually try to hit it hard on Friday and Saturday mornings, and can usually fill up the car. Some days are a dud, but there is usually plenty of good stuff. I love estate auctions, but it’s hard for me to spend most of a day waiting for things I might or might not get. My favorite auction company use to always do the boxes first, but they seem to have abandoned that plan. But I still find a great one occasionally!
They just recently changed it so now you can offer shipping options as well as local pickup. I was listening to eBay radio when they changed it, and they said that as long as the buyer selects the local pickup option when they buy, it won’t negatively affect you. I haven’t had anyone use it yet, but it sounds like it SHOULD work.
Store Week 5/21/17 – 5/27/17
Total items in store: 1353
Items sold: 18
Cost of items sold: $19.21
Total sales: $528.42
Highest price sold: $100.00 (Vintage Bruce Lee Poster – 2nd sold of 3 purchased together)
Average price sold: $29.36
International Sales: 2
Returns: 2 (didn’t fit)
Money spent on new inventory this week: 0Store Week 5/14/17 – 5/20/17
Total items in store: 1327
Items sold: 18 (plus 2 unpaid)
Cost of items sold: $23.25
Total sales: $717.89
Highest price sold: $100 (Tie between another USFS hard hat / helmet and a vintage Rush concert tee. A pair of NIB Dr. Martens boots were a close second at $99.99)
Average price sold: $39.88
International Sales: 2
Returns: 0 (2 on the way)
Money spent on new inventory this week: $80.00I’ve had two Forest Service hard hats up for several months and suddenly they both sold in the last week or two for $100 each. Nice surprise! Sales weren’t totally amazing, but pretty good and I’m happy to be selling more items in the $100 range lately.
Lots of great sales last week. Here are my faves:
Forest Service Helmet / Hard Hat – Found this in with the Halloween costumes at a thrift store. Paid $1.99, sold for $100. The guy said he had a USFS light he wanted to put on it and left great feedback.
Lot of Vintage Gas and Oil Company Maps – Bought a big box of old maps, brochures, etc. for $5 at a yard sale and sold this lot for $99. I’d already made around $100 on the box before this.
Pendleton Blanket – Picked this up at a yard sale for $3, and sold it for $240. It took about a week of back and forth with the guy, but we finally settled on this price and I did not dry clean it for him. He had apparently been looking for this specific pattern for a while.
Vintage Koala Blanket – I usually only buy these acrylic blankets if they are Biederlack brand (and I always buy those), but this one seemed unique so I grabbed it. Don’t remember what I paid, but I’m sure it was $5 or less. It took a while, but finally sold for $150.
Store Week 5/7/17 – 5/13/17
Total items in store: 1330
Items sold: 21
Cost of items sold: $24.22
Total sales: $1294.91 (My best week ever!!!)
Highest price sold: $240 (Pendleton blanket)
Average price sold: $61.66
International Sales: 4
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory this week: $27.05What a great week! I had several sales over $100 which is unusual, but I still didn’t realize how much I’d sold till I added it up this morning. And the COGS was great too, so that was nice. I sold a baby carrier that I used for both my kids, so I didn’t count that in COGS, and everything else was really cheap. Hope this keeps up! Some other great sales were a dirty old coat, a dirty old hard hat, and some dirty old maps. Thank goodness for those dirty old men! Haha! Planning to listen tomorrow …can’t wait!
Really? I checked it for holes and found some thin spots but no real holes. Hopefully they don’t show up later! I considered cleaning them before listing, but it’s a bit spendy and I’m pretty sure they will sell anyway.
Store Week 4/30/17 – 5/6/17
Total items in store: 1316
Items sold: 16
Cost of items sold: $8.75
Total sales: $529.64
Highest price sold: $210.00 (Vintage Letterman Sweater)
Average price sold: $33.10
International Sales: 1
Returns: 1 (2 more on the way. Oy!)
Money spent on new inventory this week: $59.00Thank goodness for one good sale! Actually, I had two other pretty good sales too, and both were unpaid. So frustrating! I’m also having a lot of returns all of a sudden. It’s so strange how this stuff always comes in waves.
I made a great find at a sale this week. I got two gorgeous Pendleton blankets for $3 each. I listed each for $300 OBO. I’ve already had someone very interested in one, but he wants me to dry clean it and everything before sending. I think I’ll just hold out because I know they will sell. Got some other good stuff too, but those were definitely the highlight for me. I kind of want to keep one, but I think I want the money more.
Interview sounds interesting …I’ll listen tonight!
A few of my sales from last week …
Vintage Bell Motorcycle helmet – Paid 25 cents for it and it sold for $70.
WW2 Global War Map – Got this in a big box of assorted maps and brochures that I paid $5 for. This piece sold for $25.00
Potlatch Logger Belt Buckle – Paid around 50 cents for this and sold it for $25.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Potlatch-Belt-Buckle-Logger-Pulp-Paper-Lumber-Mill-Arnold-Grossman-Co-/232307063287?rd=1Store Week 4/23/17 – 4/29/17
Total items in store: 1278
Items sold: 17
Cost of items sold: $10.96
Total sales: $395.18
Highest price sold: $70.00 (Vintage Bell Motorcycle helmet)
Average price sold: $23.25
International Sales: 2
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory this week: $39.58It was very slow again last week, with mainly low priced sales. The helmet sale was kind of funny. A friend once told me to keep an eye out for old Bell helmets, so I picked it up at a yard sale for 25 cents. Some kid had very crudely painted it to look like a football helmet, so I thought surely nobody would pay much for it. It’s been kicking around the house for a few years now, and when we finally listed it, the international offers started coming in right away. I took a $70 offer since I was hungry for a decent sale. It was just funny that after years of laughing about this thing, I was suddenly countering $5o offers on it! It’s now on its way to Japan.
Well, I definitely don’t have any BIG sales to report, so here a just a few fun oddball items I sold last week.
Vintage Halloween Skull Decoration – I got a big box of really old Halloween die-cut decorations last summer for about $1, and they sold really well around Halloween. Then this guy sold on Easter for $37.50, flaws and all!
1931 Folgers Coffee Tin – Bought for about 25 cents and sold for $24.99.
Vintage 80s-90s Crazy Print Hat – I picked this beauty up for around 50 cents and it sold for $24.99. I have another one too (come on, you KNOW you want one!).
Yes! I’ve sold a few pair of Levi’s for good prices. Some weren’t even really “old” but were USA made and sold for around $50. I always buy them now if they are cheap and USA made. Keep an eye out for Silvertabs too. They can go for quite a bit!
