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Hi! When you create the listing, make sure you are choosing Package (or thick envelope) for the package type, not letter. If you choose letter you will get that message as they are expecting you to use regular stamps which have a 3oz limit.
Shortandstout, I think you have the right idea. I’ll gladly list video games that only sell for $15-$25 because they are stupid simple to photograph, store and ship. On the flip side I hate when I pickup a piece of stereo equipment that is only worth $30 because they are a pain to test, store and ship.
Total Items in Store: 270
Items Sold: 21
Total Sales: $914.66
Cost of Items Sold: $19.00
Highest Price Sold: $209.87 Vintage Gitzo Camera Tripod
Average Price Sold: $43.56
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 24Wow, pretty good week for my little store. I’m really thrilled with that tripod sale. I picked it up for $4 at a garage sale while on vacation in Tennessee and held out for a nice price. I had offers as low as $45 on it but I held firm and somebody finally gave me a nice solid offer on it. I also sold a decent number of video game systems including a Sega Saturn for $85 and Sega 32x for $78. It was a good week for used shoes too with a pair of womens Naot flats going for $60 and some mens Marrell hiking shoes for $57.
In regards to the pay more/sell higher experiment J&R are doing I’m tempted to try one of my own. Since I primarily source at yard sales my COGS are super low but unlike this week my average sale price is too. I sell a ton of $15-$25 items and it really gets depressing when you sell 10 items but only make $150. January isn’t good for garage sales typically so perhaps I’ll hit some estate sales and local auctions, pay up a bit for items and see how I do.
Steven, that is pretty great that you managed to get in contact with that guy and work out a deal. I run into similar situations with old video game collections all the time where the person either says they have a bunch of stuff but won’t show it to me or isn’t willing to negotiate on a price right then. I always leave my name and number but never ever get a call back. I often wonder what happens to all that dusty treasure, do people decide to sell it through other channels but just don’t bother to call me or do they just throw it back in the closet and forget about it.
It almost looks like a metal spice canister except it has a slightly rounded bottom like its intended for mixing. Is there a marking that indicates it is in fact from williams sonoma?
Ok..I think it’s just some form of souvenir. Here are a few examples I found:
Store Week Dec 11-17
Total Items in Store: 280
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $22.5
Total Sales: $469.80
Highest Price Sold: $110 (3 vintage barn lights)
Average Price Sold: $39.15
Returns: 0
International Sales via GSP: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of items listed this week: 34Had a decent number of higher dollar sales this weekend although some of them didn’t make the cut for this week because they were early Monday AM purchases. I’m really happy with the sale of the barn lights though. Picked them up at a garage sale for $8 and took a best offer of $110 on them. I’m also selling lots of used shoes which I’m really enjoying. It’s hard for me to find a category of item that I can consistently source for $1-$2 and sell for as much as $50. Overall I really wish I was selling more during the week though. It seems this holiday all my sales are on Friday and Sunday. I’m lucky if I sell 1 item a day during the week.
It’s roughly 11″x7″. I swear I’ve seen similar style plaques in the past of other cities and locations so I know there is a name for these.
Well the guy that bought the shoes now wants to return them. Apparently he didn’t look at the photos very well or read the description as he was surprised at how worn out they were. Normally I’d call eBay and say this is a case of buyers remorse however I want to test out this whole exchange thing so I accepted his return request. Hopefully he actually sends them back.
On the topic of free shipping. I sell “most” of my video game stuff with free shipping. Most of it is under 8oz so just like Ryanne said with your experiment items I know the cost will be $2.60 to anyplace in the country. I wouldn’t call these commodity items since they are mostly vintage and out of print games but there are quite a few of them on eBay. In the video game category free shipping is very common so I mostly do it just to stay competitive and factor the cost into my profits when I’m sourcing for items to sell.
I have been very tempted to try free shipping on more items but its so tricky to factor the cost into your price because a person who lives near me would have a much lower shipping cost than somebody on the other side of the country in California. I may still try it and just kind of split the difference on the cost. I don’t find a lot of truly one-of-a-kind things so I’m typically competing with a decent number of other sellers on all my items.
My little town also has a K-Mart and its like going back to the 80’s when I walk in there. I’m pretty sure the local, very large, little-old-lady population is keeping them afloat as I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been in there in the past 5 years. They are building a Super Walmart a mile down the road so I’ve already predicted the imminent demise of our local brick and mortar way-back machine.
Week Dec 4-10, 2016
Total Items in Store: 270
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $9.50
Total Sales: $380.15
Highest Price Sold: $56.95 (Sega Genesis Console bundle)
Average Price Sold: $23.76
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0Very soft week coming out of the “post Thanksgiving” sales period. Thank goodness for the cold weather that went through the northeast and midwest late last week as that seems to have saved me from a truly terrible week. I think I sold 10 of the 16 items on Thursday night and Friday morning so I guess everybody stayed home and shopped online due to the cold and snow. Had some odd-ball returns too including a hat that the buyer claims they never purchased and a game that buyer claims did not work but of course did work when I got it back.
Honestly lighting is my biggest challenge. The windows in my home office face north and I only seem to get enough natural light for a few hours in the late morning/early afternoon. I have 3 small desk lamps in a ghetto lighting setup to try to make my photo area brighter but I really am not happy with it. I have a feeling I need some more professional lights with diffusers on them.
