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I’m usually one of those folks chiming in along with everyone else about slow sales, but for some reason, Jan and Feb have been booming for me. Last week was great, and this week is shaping up to be great so far, too. Very pleased. I’ve been listing more death piles, not buying quite as much (but still definitely buying!)
Week of Feb 19 – 25
* Total Items Currently in Store: 550
* Items Sold: 52
* Cost of Items Sold: approximately $110
* Total Sales: $1793.57
* Highest Price Sold: $130 (Finished Cross Stitch. Actually sold 2 of these this week for $120 and $130.)
* Average Price Sold: $34.49
* Returns: 4Regarding free shipping, I wish there was a way to provide free shipping up to a certain threshold. Like a combo of free and calculated. I have certain items that I don’t want to weigh and measure, but estimate $10-$15 for Fedex and list as Flat Rate. But then I inevitably get someone who lives in a remote location, and there end up being extra Fedex fees tacked on because of that, so I end up paying additional over what I’d estimated. I’d love it if I could offer free shipping (work that into my item price) up to a certain amount, but any destination that cost more than than could get tacked on and paid by the buyer if it was above and beyond the shipping allowance I’d listed. Kind of a hybrid shipping idea, I don’t know. Probably unrealistic. I used to only offer free shipping, but then started selling a few bulkier items. I came around to Jay and Ryanne’s way of thinking, and started doing calculated shipping for almost everytying. It doesn’t seem to have harmed by overall sales.
Pretty slow sales week for me. I like my bare minimum to be $100 / day in sales. Several days below $50, things finally picked up a good bit today, though.
Total Items in Store: 467
Items Sold: 24
Cost of Items Sold: $65
Total Sales: $606.59
Highest Price Sold: $60 Carraig Donn NWT Women’s Irish Aran Fisherman Sweater
Average Price Sold: $25.27
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $64
Number of items listed this week: 26One huge sigh of relief. A few weeks ago, I made the biggest mistake of my entire eBay career. I switched the labels on 2 Fedex packages. First time *ever* to switch labels. The worst part is that one of those was a $900 tapestry (biggest sale to date) that was supposed to go to Australia. I couldn’t have picked a worse transaction to botch. Instead of the tapestry, my Australian buyer received 2 vintage paint by number Collie Dog pieces that were supposed to go to California. I won’t go into detail here, but might post the whole saga separately this week, especially now that it’s all wrapped up and there was a happy ending. The tapestry finally made it to Australia, and the buyer is a happy camper, and I didn’t have to refund $900. So…I guess I can’t complain about $606.59 in sales. Things could have been much worse.
Jay, I couldn’t agree more with all these points. Not trying to outsmart the system, this is the first time I’ve looked to see what happens to view count when viewed from a different device. I’m not sure whether I really price competitively, though. I tend to price on the high end of solds (with comparable style / size / condition depending on category). I do run 20% off sales, and have BO on pretty much everything. I’m wonder sometimes if my items are lower in search results because they’re priced higher than average. However, I still press on creating new listings, filling the pipeline, lots of clear photos, etc…
Omfug, my apologies. This was my first time to post numbers here. Not intending to be vague. Yes, as Ryanne said, it was a piece of art. A framed litho by Bernard Buffet. As far as what I sell…pretty much anything that will turn a profit. Clothes and shoes are my bread and butter, but I also sell household items, both current and vintage, linens, framed art, collectibles, occasionally electronics, you name it. Haven’t really gotten into furniture much, as I don’t have the storage to keep it around. I think the largest item I ever shipped was a Stokke high chair.
Ryanne, yeah, I thought it was kinda crazy to remove the glass. Customer specifically said he was concerned if there was any breakage that the glass would damage the litho. Never mind the fact that I’ve shipped many framed items with glass without incident. In fact, I shipped a full set of Johnson Bros. Friendly Village dishes overseas to Qatar without a single crack or break. Anyhow, the lady at Hobby Lobby said it was very high quality non-glare glass, so I kept it for future framing projects of my own. It also made it much more lightweight, and honestly a bit easier to pack. All in all, it wasn’t too much of a hassle. And for $750 (and getting to keep the high quality glass) I’m not complaining 🙂
And yes, Retro Treasure, I did make sure to send emails confirming buyer’s wishes to remove glass, etc…I was concerned about the same thing regarding access to the notes from his offer.Week of Dec 5 – 11
* Total Items in Store: 456
* Items Sold: 24
* Cost of Items Sold:$55
* Total Sales: $1361.05
* Highest Price Sold: $750.00
* Average Price Sold: $56.71 (including $750 sale), $26.50 (not including $750 sale)
* Returns: 0 returns, 1 cancellation
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $200 give or take
* Number of items listed this week: only about 10-15Update: Finally shipped this out today. Took it to Hobby Lobby and had some acid free foam board cut to size for $6. Removed (and kept) the glass, as it was high quality and glare-free. Will use it for another framing project at some point. The buyer decided he wanted the frame and the mat, but not the glass. So I turned the litho and mat around backwards in the frame, and the mat was up against the acid free foam board. Hobby Lobby put spikes all around the back to secure it. Brought it home, lined the frame in pool noodles and wrapped with lots of bubble wrap. Packed in double wall box with lots of peanuts, and dropped it off at Fedex. Next stop, Global Shipping Center! Glad to have that off my hands, and a little more money jingling in my pocket 🙂
We all have purchases we regret. Use it as a learning experience, but under no circumstances should you re-sell on another venue if you believe there’s a chance it’s a knock-off.
You know what’s funny, though? In the shoes category under item specifics for “Fastening”, you actually do have the choice of of Velcro (among others like lace up, buckle, slip on, etc…) I avoid listing velcro in my title, but I do use it in both my description and item specifics. Maybe that’s why I’ve remained under the radar.
Same thing for “Onesie” by Gerber, btw.
Yes, strange for liberal arts. Other than the fact that I met my husband there, and I really do love that town, in hindsight I’d have never picked TAMU for an English degree. Engineering, business, architecture, for sure. Liberal arts, no way. But hey, I’ve got that piece of paper and a secondary teacher’s certification (back when they were lifetime certifications) in case I ever get a “job job”, which I hope to never do, thank you eBay!
Haha, yep. It’s growing by leaps and bounds. I emailed you guys a few months ago, and we found out we had TAMU in common, even the English degree. I graduated in ’94. Real estate there is fantastic. It’s not where I imagined having our first rental property, but it’ll really help our boys cover college expenses, and we’ll be building equity at the same time.
Ok, I just accepted the offer from my macbook. Loved hearing that cha-ching on my phone 🙂 Thanks so much for all the help.
It’s called One Man Band by Bernard Buffet. Getting ready to email buyer, then I’ll accept the offer. I priced it at $1250, but my store’s on sale right now, so it’s $1000. I can handle an offer of $750 for sure, especially since I paid $15 for it (and $15 for another one of his framed prints I’m also selling!) at a church rummage sale.
I found my second Coogi sweater today. My first one was over a year ago at a school band fundraiser sale. It was new with tags, but was only a medium, and the colors were muted. Still, that one sold for $195. Today, I was in a local thrift store, and I went straight to the women’s sweater aisle. About halfway down the aisle, I see this guy carefully looking at the neck tags on every sweater. From time to time, he’d also pull out his phone and do a search. I’m sure he was a scavenger. I almost went to another aisle, because I thought he’d probably picked that one clean. However, I love finding good stuff that other shoppers have overlooked, so I persisted in coming along behind him. Then the Coogi sweater jumped out at me, in the women’s section, no less. It’s an XL, and it’s in very bright colors. Only a very few snags, but I’m using my Dritz Snag Nab It for repair, and it’s working perfectly. Excellent condition. I’ll get it listed today or tomorrow. I’m sure I can get at least $200, but I’m seeing similar ones in XL sell for up to $350 used. So excited!
