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I think things are different now and it helps to end listings and “sell similar”
Especially for the types of items that need eyes on them to sell. Like a unique fabric or a unique drawer pull or unique decorator item.
I think it would be smart for your store to end 10 or 20 listings of this type per day and sell similar.
I notice better views and more sales on the items I do this with.
Regarding becoming a better scavenger:
I have been a full-time reseller for 15 years. I used to just “buy what I liked” and I did make money. A few years ago I decided to train myself on higher end items, because the things I like.. photographs, books, etc… weren’t making very much money.
I have gained a LOT of knowledge on higher end items over the past few years and it has been paying off.
I have spent thousands of hours training– doing searches on ebay and sorting by Highest Price to train my eye. Listening to podcasts and youtube videos while I pack and list.It is still fun and I love learning. There is no fast way to acquire this knowledge, just takes lots of time and effort.
The only caution I would mention is don’t spend a lot of money buying random things to look up. If you are going to do that, maybe go to a moving sale or big estate sale at the end and buy up the leftovers cheaply. Or ask friends and relatives for the stuff they are discarding.
I just had to pop on here right away and say, way to go Jay!
The stuttering is just fine, not a problem, the podcast is always terrific… good for you!
I don’t see it as a flaw or problem at all, just as I don’t see people’s other characteristics as flaws…
Can we just accept people are different –some people have birthmarks, some have scars, some stutter, some are thin, fat whatever…. none of them are flaws. People are just different and we don’t need treatment to try to be the same as everyone else.Time is your most valuable asset, and when an estate sale company says “Make a pile” they want you to invest your time. Then once you are invested, you are unlikely to walk away from a high price.
I try to get an idea of the pricing before I make a pile, by asking the price on a few items.
We have all types here in the Northeast– some price high, some price low. Some tag every single item in the entire house. Some don’t tag anything.
Loved the discussion, especially at the end about auctions and accepting offers. I had a rare My Little Pony item that was the only one I’ve ever seen… I turned down an offer for $100 a few months ago… and it is now listed at $60 and sitting there and no one wants it. Waaah.
You never know when a buyer will refuse your counteroffer and break your heart.
I think there is a certain “shine” a new listing has…once it has been sitting a while the lustre wears off somehow, especially for collectibles.
Hope you have a great week off. Thanks so much for all the work you do on the podcast!
Basically I want ebay to succceed. My life is simpler if all the collectors come to one central location- ebay!
I think ebay is hurting itself when it makes things more difficult/risky/offputting for small sellers. I think small sellers add a lot of value and character to ebay.
Mycottage9 – Thanks for explaining that GTC also shows up in “ending soonest”
Jay– If you do a general search and then sort by “ending soonest” that will apply to the BINs and auctions by default. The buyer would have to make an extra step to see only BINs.
Also, I don’t necessarily believe that LOTS of buyers sort by “ending soonest.” But logic would tell us that SOME buyers sort by “ending soonest.” I do see a slight increase on BIN items as they are close to ending.Inglewood– I believe that ebay sends the buyer a message when I relist an unsold BIN item that they were watching at a lower price. I have received such a message saying something like, hey this is relisted at a lower price.
I don’t use GTC because I have around 300 listings, a small store. In general I don’t like to sign up for permanently renewing fees of any type– like auto renewals of magazines for example. I’m afraid I’ll forget to cancel and get charged over and over.
I don’t think that people who have very large stores (which comes with lower listing fees) and who also use GTC should say it is no big deal to force people to GTC. Ok, it is not a big deal for people with your business model. But it is a big change for smaller sellers, who pay higher fees.
Listing on ebay will feel like committing to an endless permanent magazine subscription that you have to remember to cancel, or they will keep charging you forever. I think this will drive smaller and more casual sellers away and hurt the character of ebay.
Also–you can’t compare Amazon having “eternal” listing versus Ebay, because it is FREE to list on Amazon. Ebay wants you to sign up to “eternally” PAY a listing fee.
Another point– I assume they will leave option to sort by “ending soonest” and I think that would just have auctions that are ending. So BINs will have a disadvantage in comparison with auctions. Or will GTC BINs still show up under “ending soonest.”
Just my random thoughts…
Jay! The man you spoke with at the auction who was trying to clear out his aunt’s house– that was a perfect networking opportunity dropping itself in your lap. Did you ask him if you could see what the aunt had so you could purchase some of it from him?
It is amazing to get first shot at an estate, before anyone else has pre-picked it. Try it, and I think you will love it.
I assume you wouldn’t want to buy the entire contents, so you could pick what you want, and refer the man to cleanout or estate companies for the rest.
Great podcast. The subject of what level of items to sell vs the time/money investment is always fascinating to me.
Sometimes I think you make a false statement– that to sell higher end items, you have to spend more on the items initially. I believe that if you want to sell higher end items, you can either spend more money OR more time searching for them.
Also, if you want to tweak your store to be slightly higher end, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. On a daily basis, as you choose what to list/buy, you can cut out the very bottom level items. Just don’t buy them, or donate them, since you are very busy and under time pressure. Especially when a low end item is a hassle to pack or store.
Oh and to clarify, when I discussed the two estate sales where things were cheap… They were cheap at the very first hour of the sales. This was not the last day.
I am a veteran of many many estate sales in an urban area. You can’t generalize about estate sales–sometimes the prices are insanely high and I leave within 60 seconds. However, sometimes they just want to clear out the house because the real estate has a lot more value than the contents or other reasons.
At two sales that I went to this weekend, as soon as people walked in, the people running the sale said “Make a big pile, it will be cheap.” It was– cheap as in $10 per trash bag full of stuff. And these were professionally run sales.
Jay and Ryanne, I think it would be great if you added in the cost of your employees labor into your stats. Also, that might give you insight into which items are high-enough value to spend your time/labor costs on.
I think the whole key to this business for me is to stay away from the lower value items. It is so difficult to do ack!
