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So good to hear that things are still going well with the store. Love those free garbage finds. Nothing like driving along the street and seeing a good item on the curb.
Had an OK week of sales, at least an uptick over last week. Had a great $200 sale of a unique figurine of a pig in a flag colored top hat by an artist named Christopher Lamontagne. We paid $2.95 for it as part of a lot of someone’s pig collection. I pulled a number out of the air since I couldn’t find similar sales and asked $199.95. It sold for full price. Had a few other nice sales from my most recent auction buy. Both items sold within 24 hours of posting. Two of my sales came from my Webinterpret listings, where they translate listings over to other languages. Jury is still out for me on whether it is worth continuing, but they were nice to see during this slow period.
Sales Report for: 6/5/21
Total Items in Store: 1143
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $711.81
Net Sales (After fees): $571.13
Cost of Items Sold: $49.93
COGS Percent 8.74%
Net Profit Margin: 73.22%
Highest Price Sold: $199.95 Figurine
Average Price Sold: $50.84
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 8
Promoted Percentage: 57.14%
Average Days Listed: 246.31
Longest Listed: 1212
New items listed: 9I just noticed something new yesterday with unpaid items. After 4 days, eBay just automatically canceled the sale and didn’t relist it. Not sure whether they communicated with the buyer. A bit frustrating as I had been working with the buyer on delayed payment. Normally there is an option to remove the item from unpaid item assistance, but this wasn’t there this time. I don’t know whether the unpaid item assist needs to be turned on for this or if it is just automatic. ???
In the past I have utilized the unpaid item assistant to automatically cancel and relist. It would wait 4 days then open a case, send the buyer some reminders, then after a few more days cancel the sale and relist.
I forgot to mention. After many attempts, I finally sold my first item on Facebook Marketplace. Woot, Woot! Had 3 mid-century stacking tables I had purchased for myself at an estate sale a few years ago and just didn’t have room for anymore. Sold them for $49 after only a few days. I find FBM to be confusing and, like Craigslist, get too many low ball offers and “Is this still available?” queries that never get follow up. It was nice to sell something and get to hold on to all of the money, though.
Great show. Love the idea of be punk wierdos. One of the fun things about going to Estate Sales is seeing all the other scavengers. You can tell most of us are a bit out of the mainstream, though I’m not sure I’ve made the wardrobe transition transition yet. I’m still not long enough and far enough away from corporate America and hanging on to old habits. 😉 I bet there would be some great stories about how their lives transitioned to get to being scavengers.
You mentioned house sales and it made me think of an article in the Washington Post I read over the weekend. One house in Chevy Chase, MD, sold for $1,000,000 over the asking price: $4.4M instead of the $3.4M asking price. Pretty rarified air in that neighborhood. Washington Fine Properties: 23 PRIMROSE ST, CHEVY CHASE, MD 20815 (wfp.com)
Another house a few blocks away from this one sold for upwards of $10M last year, and the new owners immediately began extensive renovations. I believe that may be the most expensive zip code in the US.
Didn’t have a much better week last week but at least back above worst week level. Spent a lot of time posting items I purchased the previous week and researching auction lots to bid on. Won several lots at a Maxsold auction and am pretty pleased with the haul. Felt like old times, pre-pandemic. This particular auction was overlooked by other buyers and I ended up with several lots for cheap. Very eclectic mix of stuff from Tumi luggage, to old cameras, to antique beer steins. Seller must have had a store at some point because a lot of the items were brand new in box. Thankfully, the person who took the pictures did a crappy job, and there was much more in the lots than anticipated, so it felt like a major score. Will keep me busy for a few weeks.
Sales Report for: 5/29/21
Total Items in Store: 1144
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $348.76
Net Sales (After fees): $289.45
Cost of Items Sold: $30.60
COGS Percent 10.57%
Net Profit Margin: 74.22%
Highest Price Sold: $49.95 Sewing Machine
Average Price Sold: $24.91
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $324.62
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 50.00%
Average Days Listed: 323
Longest Listed: 1166
New items listed: 36@retro-treasures-wv – I just rented a car for an upcoming trip to Europe. I’m normally able to get a car for a month for about $1200, but this summer that same car is going for $2050. Quite a premium.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>@Jay – I like fixing them, but my skills are on the bottom range. And, I’ve seen that the time I spend fixing is usually better spent posting simpler things. When I first started I bought every vintage electronic item I could get my hands on. I’ve since realized that better than 50% are in need of some repair. Same with typewriters, but they are easier to fix. If there was just more time in the day…</p>
Very late this week. I’ve been very focussed on listing this week since I had my worst week since I started recording my weekly sales a year and a half ago. I was hoping it wasn’t just me but see that it’s not affecting everyone. Definitely makes me go hmmm.
Had a good auction haul last week and posted everything from that lot then unearthed a box from the death pile and posted everything from there as well. Maybe that will bump things up.
Not only did I sell low, my profit was extremely low due to my big sale being a wash. I bought a vintage reel-to-reel that ended up needing all its transistors replaced. Too big a job for me so I listed it for what I paid and it sold in a few hours. Actually lost money on that one due to fees.
Here’s hoping for a better week next week.
Sales Report for: 5/22/21
Total Items in Store: 1121
Items Sold: 7
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $261.25
Net Sales (After fees): $218.59
Cost of Items Sold: $123.55
COGS Percent 56.52%
Net Profit Margin: 36.38%
Highest Price Sold: $110.00 Reel-to-Reel Recorder
Average Price Sold: $37.32
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $129.00
Sold via promoted listings: 4
Promoted Percentage: 57.14%
Average Days Listed: 374
Longest Listed: 1279
New items listed: 2@doublythumbs – That is crazy about the pans. Good for you. A bit more work, but much easier to pack on the back end. And, the rest gets recycled.
Thanks for all the info. Surprised that they have good phone support. Thought those days were long gone. It sounds like it might be what Im looking for.
Mike
@craig-rex – Thanks for your thoughts. She’s doing much better now.
The letters were an estate sale find. I picked up a large box of letters, postcards, photographs and newspapers for a few dollars and they were in the box. There are definitely collectors of old letters and series like this from any war are especially of interest. I shared the names of the writer and recipient. I have sold several items in the past – photographs and bibles mainly – that peoples descendants have purchased. It is cool to reconnect someone to their past. I would have asked more for these, but the writer was pretty sparse on details, each letter barely being one page. Here is the listing if you are interested:
1944 World War 2 Lover’s Correspondence to Army Doctor 106 letters | eBay
Late to the show this week and to my numbers. Haven’t had much time for eBay this week. My wife had some health issues that resulted in a short hospital stay. She’s fine now and on the mend. Grateful to have a job that is so flexible with time.
Had a better week last week. A few larger sales. Largest sale was a wash as I sold my daughter’s guitar for the same price I bought it for a few years ago. She liked a vintage guitar I scavenged better and so off this one goes. Very happy to have gotten full asking price, minus ebay fees of course.
My favorites sale of the week was a lot of old letters. I had 65 letters that a young woman wrote to her fiancé during World War II. Almost daily letters over the course of a few months in 1944. Lots of day-to-day details about her life waiting for him to return to her. Really curious as to what became of them. I can usually find something on the Internet but both she and him seem to have faded away without a trace. Makes me assume the worst. Sold the lot for $90.
Sales Report for: 5/15/21
Total Items in Store: 1124
Items Sold: 22
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $1,063.12
Net Sales (After fees): $895.62
Cost of Items Sold: $244.90
COGS Percent 27.34%
Net Profit Margin: 61.21%
Highest Price Sold: $199.95 Guitar
Average Price Sold: $48.32
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 13
Promoted Percentage: 59.09%
Average Days Listed: 232.81
Longest Listed: 1188
New items listed: 8@huncrelan – Are you using it for yourself? I used to love Quicken, it was so simple and easy, but the product just got more complicated and worse over the years with each update. I haven’t tried it in years, though.
@Jay – Regarding Wave, do you have any complaints? Does it do everything that GDBK did just better? I’m leery of free (“if it’s free, you’re the product, yada, yada), but the press seems good.
@retro-treasure-wv – “I feel really bad for anyone that isn’t spreadsheet savvy that encountered this issue.”
I totally agree. If I didn’t know excel pretty well, I don’t know what I would have done. I think I’ll be joining J&R and moving to a new platform once I have some breathing room to investigate options.
Thanks for the show. Glad to hear the coffee shop is doing well.
With a third of the year behind us, I took a look at my numbers year to date and compared to last year. Net sales are down 18% for me so far. I initially thought it was due to posting less, but actually have listed about 14% more this year (322 vs. 281). My store has roughly the same number of items as a year ago and I’ve actually sold more items (343 vs. 330), so it’s my average price per sale that seems to be making the difference. I’m going to have to give that some more thought. Working harder and making less money not what I had in mind. 🙂
Sales Report for: 5/8/21
Total Items in Store: 1130
Items Sold: 17
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $554.24
Net Sales (After fees): $449.69
Cost of Items Sold: $37.44
COGS Percent 8.33%
Net Profit Margin: 74.38%
Highest Price Sold: $100.00 Star Trek Enterprise Collectible
Average Price Sold: $32.60
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 11
Promoted Percentage: 64.71%
Average Days Listed: 461.82
Longest Listed: 1778
New items listed: 10
