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Jay and MDC, thanks for your feedback. I’m just frustrated with my level of listings – not the level of sales. I’m completely in agreement with the 250-500 inventory concept. I just need to kick myself in the butt more. (And, thanks, Jay – I’ll go easy on myself. The verbal abuse doesn’t do any good.)
I tend to start common items like clothing a higher than I think they will sell for and then slowly bring them down over several months. Same for unique items – just even higher. And I look at impressions and click through rates to gauge if maybe something is wrong with the listings but I will only let myself optimize my listings like this once a month. And I do offers to watchers.
Here is my eBay link: https://www.ebay.com/usr/get*it*here
I am confident in my photos, titles, basic SEO and quality of what I sell. I feel the % of sales is correct based on the quantity of listings. Between family and work and Covid, it all just takes a toll. And this week, due to Covid-related challenges, I’m being asked to work even more overtime. It is what it is, as they say. I’ve just got to keep going.
My Sales Week Ending 7/18/20
Notes: Still frustrated w/ work I’ve put in. Increased California Covid restrictions. Distance learning returns in August for my kids but my job is not showing any signs of furloughing me. Not sure how that will work.
Total Items For Sale: 68
Profit: $24.25
Items Sold: 2
Items Listed: 2
Average Profit: $12.18
Highest Profit: $19.99 Men’s Athletic Shoes
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0
My Sales Week Ending: 7/11/20
Frustrated. Lost a lot of time this week. OT on day job: 3 hrs. Power upgrade in neighborhood: 5 hrs. Only listed 3 items.
Total Items For Sale: 68
Profit: $25
Items Sold: 2
Items Listed: 3
Average Profit: $12.32
Highest Profit: $20 Golf Shoes
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0No, I don’t get a lot of scammers. All I know is I had four pieces of clothing worth about $750 total and I was hesitant to sell them after I sold the first one on eBay, had a scammer request a refund for “inauthenticity,” and had him send me back a ripped Nirvana concert shirt and pair of old short pants. He did this just to send something in that box to get his refund. That’s what they do. I was lucky because eBay paid me my $200 that time with the politely worded warning not to let it happen again. So I’m not selling that brand on eBay anymore. I checked to see if eBay covered that brand under its authentication program but it did not. So, when I heard about The Real Real, it seemed like a good choice. They authenticate their products so they do not easily give refunds to buyers who claim something is inauthentic. So, I could have either wasted my time on eBay and been scammed again on that hot brand (I received dozens of emails on that first test within hours – all of them with weirdly worded offers) or I could sell it on The Real Real and make half their value. Something is better than nothing.
If you have an alternative with a higher commission on the consignment, let me know please.
Again – I personally am only recommending this if you are, say, at an estate sale, staring at a high end item that you know eBay does not authenticate, and it is in almost perfect condition. Does that make sense?
To get back to Simon’s comment from yesterday about The Real Real 50% commission. Yes – for me I am not selling anything on The Real Real unless I know I will encounter a scammer. I would much rather sell on eBay. I currently have 66 items for sale on eBay and 1 item on The Real Real.
Yes, Jay, I agree. If I am not sure if something will receive scammers or not, I list it high and see what response I get. If I get offers with emails with poor spelling, phrases like, “hey, dude,” etc., then I pull it off eBay ASAP and never list that brand there again.
Jay, I have sold a few items on The Real Real website since Covid. Pikapop has a great strategy. My approach is different. Here is what I did.
I’ve listed four items from a high-end brand on TRR. Three are sold with the fourth still in process. We’re talking $780 with about 50% of that as my commission.
Now, to be honest, this is an experiment I cannot easily reproduce. The items were gifts to me and were basically sold as NWOT and NWT. I will not disclose too many specifics about the brand but, in my mind, TRR is great for any brand that eBay scammers target and where eBay does not provide any authentication – depending on how much “meat is on the bone” since you do share about half the profits with them.
I almost lost $200 on eBay on a sale of the same brand I mentioned above. The item got returned by the buyer for not being authentic, although it was. eBay decided to pay the $200 with the disclaimer, “since this is the first time this every happened to you.” Vowing never to repeat this, I finally decided to try The Real Real after hearing about it from one of your older podcasts.
I simply went to their site and looked for the link to start consigning. I set up a username and received an email with a simple form to submit my items. I emailed it back and was sent a shipping label and then shipped the items. Once received, my items were put in queue, reviewed for authenticity and quality, and then listed. They were sold in about 10 days. A month after the buyer paid, I got my money. I just had to set up a payment method for them to pay me.
Due to Covid, the whole process took about twice the time as usual from what I can tell. So, instead of 6 weeks, it took about three months from the time I shipped the items to the time I received my money. They do all the work. I did not have to photograph anything or write any lengthy descriptions.
I would recommend this for any item you know you cannot send to eBay for fear of VeROs or scammers. It just has to be good enough quality to be worth your while so you make a decent commission. It seems that 40-50% commission is the starting percentage but it is according to category and how much you sell with them. More sales earn a higher percentage.
My Sales Week Ending 7/4/20
Tall truck hit overhead internet cable. Comcast took 4 days.
Total Items For Sale: 68
Profit: $22
Items Sold: 1
Items Listed: 4
Average Profit: $22
Highest Profit: $22 Golf Sandals
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0My Sales Week Ending 6/27/27
More focus. More productive. Listed 6 items.
Total Items For Sale: 64Profit: $7
Items Sold: 1
Items Listed: 6
Average Profit: $7
Highest Profit: $7 Set of Books on Star Wars Legos
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0My Sales Week Ending 6/20/20
Only listed 3 items. 600% more productivity than pre-Covid. 25% more than during furlough. Reasons: Work. Wife working at home. Kids off with no summer camps.
Total Items For Sale: 61
Profit: $213
Items Sold: 5
Items Listed: 3
Average Profit: $43
Highest Profit: $92.50 (High End T-Shirt, New w/o Tags – Sold on The Real Real)
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0 (Resolved 2 month case on false return. No tracking. 100% feedback restored.
$ Spent Sourcing: $0My Sales Week Ending 6/13/20
Back to work. Struggling to keep up momentum on eBay but also enjoying increased sales from recent months of labor.
Total Items For Sale: 61
Profit: $122
Items Sold: 4
Items Listed: 7
Average Profit: $31
Highest Profit: $65.14 (Used Horse Saddle)
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0Slight detour on this conversation… If you find yourself with higher-end clothing and you are getting scammy email offers, etc. on eBay, try pulling those off eBay and sending them to The RealReal. Their process is slow (mainly due to Covid) and, as a beginning seller, I only got 50% off the profits. However, I had four really great high end tees (estimated $199-$250 new). Only one was worn and two sold already – each for about $170 each (so I got around $85 each). The other two are in process. So much better than a buyer buying it on eBay, and then sending back a ripped up “replacement” shirt (to fill the return box) saying the one you sent was a fake. That first one taught me. eBay paid me the $225 on that one but now I just don’t even bother with eBay for those. eBay has the authentication process on some brands, but if you have a brand that is not on their list, check The RealReal website to see how your brand might do there.
My Sales Week Ending 6/6/20
Total Items For Sale: 58
Profit: $40
Items Sold: 3
Items Listed: 12
Average Profit: $13
Highest Profit: $20.31 (Bamboo Tech Charging Station)
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0My Sales Week Ending 5/30/20
Total Items For Sale: 51
Profit: $58
Items Sold: 2
Items Listed: 10
Average Price Sold: $29
Highest Price Sold: $40 (iPhone 7 For Parts; it needs a new $50 battery)
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Returns: 0
$ Spent Sourcing: $0My eBay Sales (No Store) Week May 17 – May 23, 2020
Total Items For Sale (No Store): 45
Items Sold: 4
Gross Sales: $155
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Highest Price Sold: $55 (Vintage Nikon Zoom Lens)
Average Price Sold: $38.75
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number Of Items Listed This Week: 7
