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BTW, didn’t end up going to the auction afterall this morning. My car wouldn’t start this morning and it was too early to think. Luckily it was just a lose battery cable. Just bought the car this past summer (used) and would’ve been very bummed if it was more than that. I’ll be ready for the next one.
@antique-frog – Don’t I know it. Several of the online auctions I buy from have this caveat as well. I’ve bought a few items with flaws that weren’t disclosed that I then could sell.
I have considered unloading some of my “overstock” that I’m not excited about selling this way. I just sold a few bottles of vintage alcohol this way just yesterday as I couldn’t find another way to get rid of them.
That would spice it up a bit. I can see how it might be tedious, waiting through all the items your not interested in.
I’m just hoping the live auction will weed out some buyers. Prices at the online auctions have gone up dramatically during the pandemic and it would be nice to restock inventory without the higher buy in.
@sharyn – Thanks for that input. Good advice. Might be kind of hard to sit on my hands and watch for an hour, though. 🙂 A bit nervous about going to one during this pandemic mess, but this one has some great stuff and it is hard to resist.
Weird. I just pasted the URL.
Thanks for the show! I’m always impressed that you are able to sell on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve tried there with item after item, always cross-posting to eBay, and it always sells on eBay first. I usually only list items on FBM that I have for local pick-up because I don’t want to ship. If I do get interest it is normally someone with a low-ball offer. Not as bad as Craigslist though.
I also am finally on Managed Payments as of this last weekend. Will have to keep an eye out on the GoDaddy Bookkeeping issues that have been raised as I am still using them. Looking forward to getting the cash in the back automatically.
I’ve sold some of the Virginia Metal Crafter pieces, also. They are good sellers.
This last week was my worst week of sales since I started doing my weekly numbers. Nice to see that others are having their best weeks. It is also nice to know the solution: list more items!!
Weekly Numbers 2/20/21
Total Items in Store: 1138
Items Sold: 15
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $392.34
Net Sales (After fees): $314.87
Cost of Items Sold: $62.00
COGS Percent 19.69%
Net Profit Margin: 64.45%
Highest Price Sold: $100.00 Antique Storage Trunk
Average Price Sold: $26.16
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 7
Promoted Percentage: 46.67%
Average Days Listed: 215
Longest Listed: 1085
New items listed: 14@sharyn – Interesting regarding the emails your getting with the listings information. I don’t get any information in mine beyond the item sold and who it is going to. I guess that is somewhat typical for eBay to not be consistent across the board. Probably rolled out some new feature to you and never rolled it out the rest of the way. Kind of like those orphaned pages I come across from time to time that seem to have been omitted from the style updates that eBay has rolled out over the years.
@debitendcreits – That is a great piece. I didn’t see it before you made the changes but it looks great now.
I took a look through your store quickly. The pictures you take on the wooden table with the grey brick background look nice, especially for pieces like that glass piece. Have that Etsy feel to them. I personally find listings that use the background removal tool distracting. I take all of my pictures on a white background now. I found that using a photographers background from B&H really makes a significant difference (as opposed to using white craft paper, white foam board, white sheets, etc. ) Only drawback there is a need for a dedicated photo place and a way to hang the paper. It’s not that expensive as I find I only need a new role every few years.
Savage Widetone Seamless Background Paper 66-1253 B&H Photo Video
Thanks for the show. I guess we all have those moments that nag at the back of our minds. Amazing how something that happened 30 0r 40 years ago can still have such a strong reaction.
Had a weird customer interaction this past week. Falls into that type that just makes you shake your head with wonder. Sold a ceramic doll from the 30’s or 40’s with a small crack in the leg. Had my usual very detailed pictures with close up of the damage, plus mentioned it in the condition and description. They sent a note saying, “Yep. It’s crap. You gently got around that one.” I wrote them a nice note back apologizing if there was a problem and reminding them of my 30-day return policy and asked for clarification on the issue. All I got back was, “I bought crap. I should have looked at your other listings first. My mistake, I bought crap.” Fortunately they just left neutral feedback with no comment. Thought it was strange they wouldn’t even share what the problem they had was. I just shrugged it off, but I have to admit it smarted a little when they disparaged my store. 🙁
Here are my numbers:
FYI: Keep an eye out on the listing sales report for repeated items. When I ran my numbers this week it included an item in this weeks sales that was also included in last weeks sales. Not sure what caused the duplication. It was an item that was sold on the last day of the previous period. Only noticed it because I cross reference my sales against my inventory list and the count didn’t match.
Weekly Numbers 2/13/21
Total Items in Store: 1137
Items Sold: 25
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $1,048.64
Net Sales (After fees): $864.76
Cost of Items Sold: $138.82
COGS Percent 16.05%
Net Profit Margin: 69.23%
Highest Price Sold: $244.95 Radko Xmas Garland
Average Price Sold: $41.95
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 12
Promoted Percentage: 48.00%
Average Days Listed: 351
Longest Listed: 1471
New items listed: 24Yes, I’m amazed at how low you guys are able to keep your cost of goods while still getting good stuff. Lots are the way to go, but I find there is almost always some overlooked low hanging fruit. I lose a lot more bids than I win.
@Jay – we don’t have a max dollar limit, but we’ve never spent more than $800 at a single auction. I try to keep bids below 20% of my expected selling price, though it’s not a hard rule and for a few high dollar items I expected a quick turnaround on I’ve gone to 50%. Of course, that doesn’t mean I haven’t made some mistakes and overpaid or gotten caught up in the moment during final bids. This last week I won 7 lots and in retrospect overpaid for 3 of them, fortunately, I will at least be able to get my money back on them, and will more than make up for it with the items I got for way under value. We’re also not above paying extra for items that we really like, allowing them to decorate our house while we wait for a sale.
I guess we might occasionally bid against each other. I usually stay close in and am reluctant to drive more than about 45 minutes.
Congratulations on your 500th episode. What an adventure you guys have had. Always an inspiration. Looking forward to the next 500!
Have had a busy week. Lots of research time valuing some recent auction purchases. I had two recent halls that turned out to be much better than I anticipated due to getting some fairly rare items. Purchased a Passover Seder matzo plate that came with a menorah. The plate is bronze and brass and I new it was a good buy as I’ve sold them before. Didn’t pay much attention to the menorah and just bid for the plate. Turns out the menorah is from a fairly famous Israeli artist named David Palombo. Looks like it is going to be worth a good bit of money. At another auction that was primarily Art Deco themed items, I picked up a miner’s lantern from the UK that is from the late 1890’s. I didn’t know what I was getting due to poor pictures and description. Got outbid on most of the Art Deco stuff but ended up with a very cool crystal bust from the 1930’s by a guy named Curt Schlevogt.
Here are my numbers from last week:
Weekly Numbers 2/6/21
Total Items in Store: 1137
Items Sold: 37
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $1,384.35
Net Sales (After fees): $989.36
Cost of Items Sold: $187.00
COGS Percent 18.90%
Net Profit Margin: 57.96%
Highest Price Sold: $150.00 Pre-Columbian Pottery
Average Price Sold: $26.74
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $579.66
Sold via promoted listings: 20
Promoted Percentage: 54.05%
Average Days Listed: 345
Longest Listed: 1242
New items listed: 17Thanks for the podcast.
Late posting my numbers this week. Been really busy and took an early day to go sledding with the kids. One of the perks of working eBay. 🙂
Had an average week of sales. Sourced from two online auctions and got some great stuff for decent prices. One of the auctions delivers as long as you win at least a few items, which is an awesome perk and motivates me to buy even when I think my death pile is too high and I don’t have the time. Already listed and sold two of the items which is also great.
Finally had the last of the “lost” packages delivered early this week, coincidentally, the day after I sent out a replacement item. I shipped the package on 12/23 and it finally arrived on 2/2. Just as that settled another customer opened a case because their item, mailed Priority on 1/21 hadn’t arrived
Weekly Numbers 1/30/21
Total Items in Store: 1154
Items Sold: 27
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $1,072.45
Net Sales (After fees): $874.12
Cost of Items Sold: $82.00
COGS Percent 9.38%
Net Profit Margin: 73.86%
Highest Price Sold: $109.95 American Girl Doll
Average Price Sold: $32.37
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $258.00
Sold via promoted listings: 17
Promoted Percentage: 62.96%
Average Days Listed: 319
Longest Listed: 1677
New items listed: 14@retro-treasures-wv – That really sucks the motivation out of you. Those types of things are what drove me to retire early and and look for other less stressful options. I had recently read JL Collins’ <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>The Simple Path to Wealth </span> and some similar issues had me rethink the whole thing. I hope things work out the way you want.
