Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I think those of us who lean to the introverted side have it a bit easier with this work from home stuff. I enjoy my time alone and interaction with family and occasional phone calls with friends fills most of my social needs.
Did something rare for us this morning. Sold an extra fragile and large sculpture yesterday and took it to the Fedex office to have them pack and ship it. Wow! that was expensive. $142 to ship to California (buyer paid $52). I didn’t have the right box or enough packing peanuts, but in hind sight should have stopped at staples and bought the materials. It was good sale at $999, so there was a lot of profit still, but I didn’t expect it to be so much. Now I’m nervous that they wouldn’t pack it is well as I would. It’s insured so I’ll still sleep easy.
This past week was slow, but expecting gearing up for the holiday rush.
Week Ending 10/3/20
Total Items in Store: 1236
Items Sold: 15
Gross Sales: $561.54
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $330.09
Cost of Items Sold: $42.28
COGS Percent 12.81%
Highest Price Sold: $59.95 Vintage Phone
Average Price Sold: $22.01
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory: $34.00
Sold via promoted listings: 11
Promoted Percentage: 73.33%
Average Days Listed: 209.53
Longest Listed: 602
New items listed: 20I’ve sold them in the past as well. I also included the disclaimer about them not working on the newest tech. I always assumed they were being bought by collectors rather than users. I imagine that there will be confusion now, however, with the new version coming out.
Regarding your coffee shop. After checking out your AirB&B offerings, and visiting Luray and seeing your coffee competition, the town can definitely benefit from a café with your aesthetic sense. Nothing we came across had a cozy, comfortable vibe. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
@Jay – I’m hoping to transfer at least some of the philosophy of living frugal and doing work you enjoy along with it. It is a hard sell at this age, though.
Another good lesson I hope to pass on is two fold. If you invest in quality, you at least can get good money back when you get tired of it, AND, you can buy quality second hand and pay less to begin with. The second part is a harder lesson to pass along. My daughter especially doesn’t like the idea of buying second hand.
Interesting to hear about your coffee trade travels. Could be a fun way to meet new folks and see the area up closer. It will be interesting to follow how your lives changes with this whole new adventure. That was quite a drive for you. I wonder how much of the trip was for advertising versus profit, of course combining it with some scavenging could make it more fun and profitable.
Nice week this week for us for sales, especially since I had a lower cost of goods than usual. Our biggest sale for the week was a collectible Christmas figurine by Vaillancourt for $249.95. Cecile is the buyer for most of the Christmas stuff and picked up a big lot of these figurines last year for an average cost of $3. Christmas is already picking up and is a big part of our yearly sales. Accounted for 30% of sales this week.
Got my 14 year old daughter involved in eBay this week. She and her best friend collected American Girl dolls when they were younger and amassed quite a collection between them. I’ve been helping her out with them, but they took the pictures and wrote the listings, with a quality check from me. Did a pretty good job overall. It’ll be nice to sell them and reclaim the space they take up in the house. I’ve already started getting my 17 yo son involved, but she showed a lot more interest considering it was her stuff and she is getting all the money after costs. Already sold the first Doll in 3 days.
Week Ending 9/26/20
Total Items in Store: 1235
Items Sold: 21
Gross Sales: $1,149.39
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $827.28
Cost of Items Sold: $30.13
COGS Percent 3.64%
Highest Price Sold: $249.95 – Christmas Figurine
Average Price Sold: $39.39
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 11
Promoted Percentage: 52.38%
Average Days Listed: 226
Longest Listed: 931
New items listed: 25This time of year on eBay always fills me with doubt. Last year about this time it was so slow that I considered I may have to figure out something else to do. Then the Christmas season hit and we had our best year yet. Looking forward to things picking up again.
Had a good week this week with a large $495 sale. High cost of goods due to the same sale. The lens was from a large camera lot that I paid up for since I new it was good quality stuff. Paid $203 for the lens and had to sit on it for 8 months before it sold.
Week Ending 6/19/20
Total Items in Store: 1228
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $1,164.88
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $893.55
Cost of Items Sold: $267.69
COGS Percent 29.96%
Highest Price Sold: $495.95 Camera Lens
Average Price Sold: $44.68
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 12
Promoted Percentage: 60.00%
Average Days Listed: 334
Longest Listed: 1236
New items listed: 25@Simon – thanks for the input. I guess I’ve had worse luck with my current labels. I’ve had to take the unit apart a few times now to get the stuck and jammed label off the roller, and the one I finished this morning had some new gunk on the end label that caused me to pull out alcohol wipes to clean the goo off. Except for that the Proline have been great labels, also. I see those complaints on almost every label for which I read reviews. Been considering trading up to a Rollo printer to get away from the rolls altogether.
- @Rhianna – so yours don’t have the last label stuck to the role. I see a few recent reviews complaining about the same issue I’m experiencing. Maybe they made a change? Price is definitely good.
Love how you guys have taken such an active role and positive attitude towards your adopted town. It is such a nice little town and such a shame to see all the empty businesses. I looked at the population statistics while we were there a few weeks ago. Looks like the population has been basically level over the last several censuses. Do you feel like there has been an uptick since you’ve lived there?
Regarding the new Time Away function, I assume they are not taking away the 30 day handling time completely, just not incorporating it within the time away tool. I guess that remains to be seen. Tried to take a look at the tool, but doesn’t appear to be available yet.
Spent the week posting a lot of Christmas items to get ready for the holiday rush. Picked up a large lot of 68 hand-painted wood ornaments by a local artist. They are very creative and cute. Hoping that will make a nice holiday pipeline. I believe that makes the top new listings we’ve ever done in a single week.
My best sale this week was extra special. I sold a vintage fishing lure for $100. I was asking $199 as I couldn’t find any comps. Right after I listed it I got a note from a guy claiming my price was way out of line and that they sell all the time for $15. Claimed he was in charge of some collector’s club. I thanked him for his input and left my price alone. Took 5 months to sell. I purchased it in a lot and had about $2 in it.
Week Ending 9/11/20
Total Items in Store: 1215
Items Sold: 12
Gross Sales: $614.27
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $432.11
Cost of Items Sold: $36.00
COGS Percent 8.33%
Highest Price Sold: $100.00 Vintage Fishing Lure
Average Price Sold: $36.01
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 8
Promoted Percentage: 66.67%
Average Days Listed: 370.5
Longest Listed: 1025
New items listed: 85@mornink – I picked up the trunk at an estate sale last summer. I’ve posted about it a few times due to digging deeper. It contained a few documents with presidential signatures, civil war currency, and LOTs of newspapers and other ephemera. It’s been one of those rare finds. It took up a lot of time to go through as it was so interesting I would go off down a rabbit hole. I had to put it aside to get work done. 🙂
So exciting about the coffee adventure. Can’t wait to taste the results.
Maslow’s theory is what sticks in my mind most from my psych classes. It makes so much sense in so many ways. How can you focus on anything else when you are concerned day to day with food and shelter. So many in our society are stuck in the lowest tiers and more so with our current quarantine situation and so many out of jobs.
I also relate to your comments on sleep. Back in my “real” job as a project manager I stayed awake so many nights worrying about all the minutiae of the job and keeping my projects on track and my boss happy. It is a rare night I lose sleep like that now. Love being my own boss and setting my own agenda.
My big sales last week were fun. I sold two newspapers from 1865 that announced the assassination of President Lincoln. Got busy listing last week and went back into my trunk of historical documents that I purchased last summer. All that is left are newspapers and other similar items, and low and behold two of them were from April 15, 1865, the day after Lincoln was shot. Fascinating to read and satisfying to post and sell almost immediately. Both papers sold within 24 hours, which tells me I probably didn’t ask enough, but “c’est la vie”. I made out all right. Also sold a diary from the box from 1843 that was a travelogue of a 4 month trip along the Erie Canal. That sold within 1 hour of posting it for $100. Tough pricing items like these.
Week Ending 9/5/20
Total Items in Store: 1200
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $1,158.00
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $875.91
Cost of Items Sold: $31.95
COGS Percent 3.65%
Highest Price Sold: $260.00 Lincoln Assassination Newspaper
Average Price Sold: $43.80
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 13
Promoted Percentage: 65.00%
Average Days Listed: 268
Longest Listed: 707
New items listed: 33@Simon – You’re not alone, I didn’t notice until I got to the forum today either. I even listened to it twice. I admit, I thought it was strange that J&R headed out to NY after saying how busy they’ve been.
Slow week here, at least as far as items sold. Only 9 sales makes this the slowest week since I started tracking weekly last November. Somewhat expected I guess with it being the last week of the summer.
My best sale of the week was a trash find. Picked up a cute figurine of Peruvian pottery on the side of the road as we were driving through a neighborhood. It was large, about 20″ tall. Was signed and had place of origin on it so I was able to tie it back to one of the better known artists in the area. I had best offer, but buyer paid full price: $99.95
Starting training my first helper last week. Pulled in my 17 year old son to start learning some of the business as a part time job. He’s not overly eager, but at least pays attention and does a decent job on taking pictures. I now have a backlog to catch up on which is nice. I’ve been listing constantly this week with the kids back in school and it feels good to see the numbers climbing again.
Week Ending 8/29/20
Total Items in Store: 1131
Items Sold: 9
Gross Sales: $470.85
Net Sales (after fees, shipping, etc.) $310.91
Cost of Items Sold: $22.24
COGS Percent 7.15%
Highest Price Sold: $99.95 Peruvian Pottery FIgure
Average Price Sold: $34.55
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $194.62
Sold via promoted listings: 6
Promoted Percentage: 66.67%
Average Days Listed: 267
Longest Listed: 714
New items listed: 10I sure hope that eBay has been listening to Ryanne gripe about the vacation settings. I know that I’ve probably missed sales due to being too busy while on vacation to go back in and reset the shipping period as time gets closer. It is entirely too complicated as it is.
Thanks everyone for the input. I ended up having the buyer buy the item with payment pending inspection. Unfortunately, they didn’t take it in the end. After driving over an hour to see it they said it was too big for the space they had. I had measurements in the listing, but I guess they either didn’t pay attention or had some magical thinking going on. Hated losing that $1250 sale. It will sell eventually.
