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Sales Report for: 10/23/21
Total Items in Store: 1234
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $480.25
Net Sales (After fees): $385.99
Cost of Items Sold: $33.06
COGS Percent 8.56%
Net Profit Margin: 73.49%
Highest Price Sold: $69.95 Ride-on Toy
Average Price Sold: $26.68
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $221
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 38.89%
Average Days Listed: 142
Longest Listed: 931
New items listed: 31Sold a fair number of items this week, but low average sales price kept the numbers below average.
Sold my first item to a TV show this week. Sent a deck of vintage playing cards to the set of “The Wonder Years” reboot. File this one under you never know what will sell. This was a very well used deck with a relatively rare pattern. I expected it to be a long tail item that would eventually sell to a collector. Almost dropped it into my Goodwill box but posted it two weeks ago on a whim. They paid $12.95 for the item, plus shipping, then sent me an overnight UPS label so they could get it the next day???
Had a sad moment at an Estate sale on Saturday. Seller was moving from her home to a condominium because her husband caught Covid and was so debilitated that he would be spending the remainder of his life in a long-term care facility. They were selling a lifetime of collectibles at fire sale prices because she needed to be out of her house by the middle of the week. The seller was at the sale and broke down in tears as she was describing her situation. It is really hard when you see up close how some people’s lives have been destroyed by this virus.
I never had this problem until I started using the bulk shipping tool. I used to print them one at a time, pack, set aside, them move on to the next. First time I used the bulk tool I screwed up and slapped the wrong label on the wrong box. Fortunately, the buyers were both nice and promptly reshipped the items to the correct person using labels I provided.
Now I am very methodical, checking everything as least twice.
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<div class=”bsp-mentions”>@julesbijouxvintage – As far as cost of goods when figuring my profit, I generally count items I’ve just got lying around the house as free. If I didn’t buy it with the intention of selling it I figure it as a found item.</div>
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<div>This is different when it comes to taxes, though, as you shouldn’t have to pay tax on any of the amount since you are likely selling it at a lower cost than you originally bought it for. You may even be able to count it as a loss.</div>
<div class=”bbp-reply-content”></div>@christiner – Love those Jim Shore figurines. Good sale! Always consistent sellers and they are fun to have on hand, however briefly. Seems like they are one of those sleeper items that everyone wants but few seem to realize they are valuable, so we are able to still pick them up for little expense.
This is a good case study in switching up your search terms (and possibly why a Worthpoint subscription may pay off as your store gets larger). I quickly searched Worthpoint on Ruffian Horse and came up with a lot of sales of this statue. Narrowing the search using figurine, statue and enlarging it using just Ruffian pulled up different sales. Largest sale was in July for $1112.93 where the seller didn’t even use horse in the title. Runner up was for $675 in 2011. Also a $510 in July 2021. Down to a low of $49 Sept. 2020. I’d shoot high, if it were mine. You can find the big sale on Terapeak if you search for Ruffian Champion.
The lion’s share is still online. We do an occasional estate sale or yard sale, but I feel like 75 % comes from online auctions. We have just recently started going out more to find the yard sale bargains. With the online prices driving so much higher even estate sales start looking better. Going to start hitting the in person auctions soon I think.
@Sharon – I will have to give that a try. My gut feeling that I only get a buy on a question 5% of the time.
Yeah, it’s crazy. I will bid on things I normally wouldn’t just because of the delivery. He’s in the Alexandra area, but drives the 30 minutes over to my area because several of his regular buyers also live relatively close. Supposed to have a max distance and minimum $ amount, but not sure what it is. Luray might be a bit of a stretch. 😉
Sales Report for: 10/16/21
Total Items in Store: 1221
Items Sold: 15
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $546.37
Net Sales (After fees): $446.85
Cost of Items Sold: $125.32
COGS Percent 28.05%
Net Profit Margin: 58.85%
Highest Price Sold: $155.00 Vintage Dagger
Average Price Sold: $36.42
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $15.00
Sold via promoted listings: 12
Promoted Percentage: 80.00%
Average Days Listed: 300
Longest Listed: 1538
New items listed: 38Felt like a better week than it turned out to be. Had a few good sales with a Vintage Wingen Dagger selling for $155 and a few antique Christmas ornaments that sold for $49 and $58, but when all was said and done, too many of the sales were low dollar and our average was only $36, well down from our overall average for the year of $46. Christmas sales are picking up already with eight of the 15 Christmas related.
International shipping delays are beginning to take their toll. I use Pirate Ship/Ascendia for my international shipments. I have been seeing a much higher percentage of international sales for some reason, with most going to Australia. I have coffee mug that I shipped to Estonia that is at 2 months and counting. I have 5 heading to Australia that seem to be stuck at departing Ascendia’s Elk Grove, IL facility. Hopefully with the news of Australia beginning to open back up a bit it will break the log jam.
Had an unusual event with an online auction last week. Bid on and won several items on Hibid and got a note from the seller after the fact that Hibid had a technical glitch that prevented bids and some of my items were affected and would be reopened for bidding. Unfortunately, I lost track of time and missed the new bidding close and lost several items I previously won. Still waiting for the alert to pick up the items I won. The nice thing is that this particular seller delivers your winnings, so whatever I won will be dropped off whenever he gets it organized.
Missing the podcast more each week. Hope you guys are doing well and enjoying yourselves.
@antique-frog – I’m a big fan of steins. Lots of interesting history on some of the older ones. One of my first big sales on eBay was one of the Mettlach steins that I picked up before I knew anything about them. The area I live in is pretty decent for picking them up as a lot of servicemen brought them back from when they were stationed in Germany after WWII. I guess that is why they are still so popular here. It can be tough to tell the valuable ones from the junk though, and their are a fair amount of counterfeits.
@Craig-rex – Thanks for posting your success. I have a lot of listings that are over 2 years old that I’ve been ending and selling similar in batches of 20 for the last week. I have a completely different type of inventory and haven’t had near your success but have had a few sales this week of stagnant inventory. I’m going to keep going as it has been helpful to re-evaluate my listings, updating titles and adjusting prices. Many of these items go back to when I first started eBay in 2016. An eye opening reminder of how my processes have changed in that time (with much credit given to Jay and Ryanne and the contributors to this board).
I was surprised you set your auto-declines so high. Is that because you were getting a high volume of low ball offers and taking up too much of your time?
Sales Report for: 10/9/21
Total Items in Store: 1193
Items Sold: 11
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $862.52
Net Sales (After fees): $724.91
Cost of Items Sold: $95.73
COGS Percent 13.21%
Net Profit Margin: 72.95%
Highest Price Sold: $375.00 Antique Beer Stein
Average Price Sold: $78.41
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 63.64%
Average Days Listed: 49
Longest Listed: 148
New items listed: 2Better sales this week. Interesting that this week was the lowest “Average Days Listed” at 49 days since I started keeping track. Usually around 300 days. 40% of sales were Christmas related.
My big sale this week was an antique Hofbrauhaus beer stein for $375. Unlike the tourist steins that are so common, this one was from around 1870 and was originally used in the brew house to serve patrons. These were all numbered individually and the HB logo was actually hand etched onto the mug rather than printed. I picked it up for $60 at an estate sale a few weeks ago.
@retro-treasures-wv – Great news! So glad you are on the mend. I have been worried for you. At the same time you were battling it out, my 52 year old cousin was also in the hospital with it. He wasn’t as lucky and succumbed to the disease. He was a healthy, strapping guy, and it is hard to believe it took him so quickly.
Yes, very useful. I’ve used it on quite a few items that I had trouble identifying and it often pulls something up. You can also use it on the computer at images.google.com if you’ve got a photo on your computer or a link to something you’re trying to identify. Bing also has something similar.
Sales Report for: 10/2/21
Total Items in Store: 1202
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $304.75
Net Sales (After fees): $246.83
Cost of Items Sold: $14.45
COGS Percent 5.85%
Net Profit Margin: 76.25%
Highest Price Sold: $124.95 Hallmark Ornament
Average Price Sold: $33.86
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 77.78%
Average Days Listed: 375
Longest Listed: 984
New items listed: 14Another slow week of sales. Wasn’t able to get much listed this week due to Cecile being in the hospital with surgery. She’s doing fine and home already, but eBay had to take a back seat.
The big sale of the week was a Hallmark ormament from 1971. This was one of the annual ornaments commemorating “Our first Christmas”. I can imagine someone bought it for their parents celebrating a 50th anniversary. Nice sale.
