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I could sell dads stuff myself, but space & time are working against me. I don’t have room to store his stuff and we need to get his house on the market asap. Basic he really needs the $$. His new place costs more than he gets in a month and his savings will only last so long. I’m not sure list it and forget it is something we have time to do. Plus I’m so busy herding his ducks into place I barely have time to work on my eBay backlog, let alone adding his stuff to my listings. Getting old in America is not all it’s cracked up to be!
Listening to the podcast as I write this. I have also hit the summer slump, but in reality it is coming at a really good time for me. My dad is still in the nursing home, but today I took him to an assisted living place and he moves there next week. I am up to my neck in his stuff. I still haven’t decided whether to go with an online auction, estate sale or just do the sale myself.
Here’s a couple of questions I will throw out to the forum at large-my parents lived in Japan, Sri Lanka and Brazil. They have some pretty unusual items that are worth a fair amount of money and I’m trying to decide the best venue to get top dollar for them. One example are wood block prints by Paul Jacoulet worth anywhere from $500 to $2,800.
The other question is about slides. They have tons of slides from the above mentioned places. That’s one of the things I’m thinking about keeping and listing, but not sure of the best way to go about listing them. Any advice appreciated.
Oh-on top of slow sales, my mail carrier has stopped scanning my packages so I lost my top rated status. Called eBay and they basically said they have to go by the scans and perhaps I need to find a new shipping service. Perhaps I need to go to the post office and explain eBay says I should shift my business elsewhere.
Every podcast that you guys do seems to reaffirm what I’m doing with my eBay store. Truly, I don’t think there is a wrong way (unless you are a scammer or sell damaged goods). That’s the beauty of the flexibility on EBay. It’s your full time job and you have set it up to work the way you need it to work. I’m using it to supplement my retirement income and the need for flexibility in my life has been reinforced in the last week!
I am the caregiver for my 93 year old dad, as well as my husband (in his case it’s mostly taxi work since he doesn’t drive anymore.) last week dad ended up in the hospital and is now at a nursing home recovering from dehydration and pneumonia. If he recovers enough to leave the nursing home, he will have to go to assisted living. In spite of the craziness, I did get a few things listed and luckily sales were light.
At this point, I have decided my store is probably right at the size I can handle right now, so I’m going to try and keep it right around 800 listings. The other thing that hit me upside the head last week (even though I knew it was inevitable) is dealing with dad’s stuff and getting his house ready to put on the market. Assisted living is expensive! I wouldn’t have to attend another sale or auction for the next year if I focused on selling his stuff on eBay! Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment and very thankful that eBay is something I can put on a maintenance level and still earn some income while I focus on getting him moved. It’ll be a bit, but once I figure out the estate sale/auction, I will post it here so anyone who is close can attend.
Belated numbers for April 23-29
Total items in store. 799
Items sold. 21
Total sales. $366.22
Average sale. $17.44
COGS. $13.06
Returns. 0
$ spent on new inventory. $51.10
# of new items listed. 18
Highest sale. $165 men’s vintage onyx & diamond ringHaven’t done my numbers for the past week yet, but I know they aren’t going to be nearly as good. Last week life interfered with my eBay time, so I’m not expecting much. I need to find a way to do eBay while I’m sitting in doctors waiting areas instead of playing Candy Crush!
As much as I am trying to work through the death piles here, I know I will fall off the wagon this weekend-two big neighborhood garage sales plus a church rummage sale I have traditionally done very well with items. I have found that I’m being much pickier such the death piles are always in the back of my mind!
Sales week of April 16-22
Total items in store. 802
Total sales. $324.23
# of items sold. 19
Average sale. $17.06
COGS. $18.07
Returns. 0
$ spent on new inventory $22.33
Highest sale $100 3 canisters of Kodak Pan Tech film (cost 54 cents)I really thought I would be talking about a slow week, but Saturday saved the week! Probably did 2/3 of my sales that day and two of them were things I had just listed that day. My scavenge of the week was also my highest sale, the Kodak film. The boxes and canisters are in rough shape, so I didn’t hold out for a higher price, but I paid a total of $1.28 for 8 canisters, so $100 for three of them worked for me! I also got a Felix the cat cup & saucer for $4 that I sold same day for $50. All in all, I was pleased and my percentages are up over last month and last year.
I think I had my scavenge of the week AND my sale of the week all in a two day span! I went yesterday to pick up some items I bought from an online auction. Part of it was 6 canisters of old film that I paid $1.30 for all six. I was a little disappointed because they were dirty and in rough shape. I listed it anyway just now and had someone offer me $100 for three of the canisters! It might have gone for more, but given the condition I took the offer! God, I love this job!
Week of 4/9-15
Total items in store: 793
Items sold: 29
Total sales: $339.36
Average sale: $ 11.70
COGS: $ 25.79
Returns: 0
$ spent on new inv: $35.59
# of new items listed: 25
Highest sale-$50 Martha Washington bedspread ($5)I was actually pretty pleased with this week’s sales. Lots of small sales, but enough big sales to make it a good week. Plus, every small sale I make gets replaced with a much high priced listing.
Question-what do you do if an item is returned as undeliverable and you contact the buyer and get no response? It’s not a high priced item and I emailed twice. It’s been at least 30 days since it came back as undeliverable. Should I just relist it and move on?
I had EBay make me take down a Kate Spade purse about a year ago. My youngest was delighted as she ended up with it. I also tried to sell a machine I got when I had my knee surgery and EBay took it down because of some medical equipment rule. Both times they warned me, but did stop me from listing more items. Bonanza has taken down a John Deere hat, but it goes back up every time they update my listings.
Even though sales may slow down in the summer, I consider it my prime scavenger season! Garage sales, church sales, estate sales all pick up and I always say I sell on EBay to support my treasure hunting!
I’ve been thinking more about the podcast topic, transfer of wealth. This topic pretty well sums up my last few years. My parents married in 1955 and lived in Japan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka, where I was born) and Brazil before coming back to the states. Dad fought in WWII and they were very much a part of the post war boom generation.
Mom passed in 2014 and I still don’t know if dad was being practical or couldn’t deal with having her things around, but we did a minor house cleaning at the time. Even with that, I still look around his house and think, ‘What the hell am I going to do with all this stuff?’ I feel guilty sometimes because I look at something and think, oh I’ll keep that, or nope, don’t need that. He’s 93 and the decisions are inevitable. I think because I do estate sales, eBay etc. I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Can you imagine families that face a houseful of stuff, never having planned ahead? It has to be totally overwhelming.
Even knowing what I do, the emotions are right there in every decision. For instance, what the heck am I going to do with 2 full sets of vintage Noritake china? Practical answer, sell one. Emotional answer-mom got these in Japan, one for her and one for grandma how can I get rid of it? I think that’s why I try to be respectful of the things I get at estate sales. There is most likely a story behind every item and by passing them along on EBay, the story goes on a bit longer.
Week of 4/2-4/8
Total items in store: 801 (a new high!)
Items sold: 26 (2 Bonanza)
Total sales: $362.32
Avg sale: $13.94
COGS: $21.71
Returns-0 Unpaid item finally closed
$ Spent on new inventory: $12
# of new items listed: 27
Highest sale: $45 Manfred Veyhl silver in porcelain salt & pepper shakers from GermanyI spent as much time reorganizing mt EBay space last week as I did listing, so I was very happy with sales for the week. The lesser priced items I’ve been trying to upgrade from are still selling, but were in nice mix of higher priced items. I’m really happy with the balance in my PayPal account, especially since I feel like all I’ve done all month is pay taxes!
As for auctions, I swear I could become seriously addicted to them! At this point in my life however, I just don’t have a whole day to spare. I’m pretty much ‘on call’ for my dad and husband, so estate sales, thrifting and online auctions work better for my schedule right now. I’m always on the lookout for new sources! One of the last online auctions I bought stuff from has been very lucrative. One boxlot cost me .34 cents and I’ve made $59 off of it so far!
Goals this week-continued reorganization of my office, listing a minimum of 5 items each day and trying to curb my scavenging until a get a better handle on my mess.
Have a great week everyone!
Week of 3/26-4/1
Total items in store. 798
Items sold. 15
Total sales. $212.26
Avg. sale. $14.15
COGS. $6.16
Returns-0 Unpaid item finally closed
$ spent on new inventory. $25.87
# of new items listed. 39
Highest sale-$59.99 vintage Toshikane earringsI posted these earlier in the week, but they seem to have gotten lost in the web somewhere. Not a bad week, sold quite a few higher priced items. The Methodist Church had their rummage sale and I consider that the kick off to garage sale season. Got my scavenge of the week there-2 Callaway/Sunderland microfiber Pebble Beach pullovers for $1.
Couple of thoughts on the podcast-Ryanne I agree that listing is the hardest part. In my case I think it’s because I don’t have anyone to talk about items I have questions about. My husband is no help, he threw away vintage pill box hats just because they were old!
On the USPS, we have a love hate relationship. We live very close to the post office, so we end up with subs on our route a lot. Usually they pick up my stuff but about once a week, even when I have a pick up scheduled they ignore my boxes. I now have the Post Office on speed dial. The other thing I have learned is never to trust the calculate a price feature on either the USPS or UPS websites. The price is 99% of the time higher than what they tell you, which is why I like doing my shipping through eBay.
Goal this week: reorganization of my office/eBay space. It’s looking a lot like a bad episode of Hoarders. I’m not listing quite as much because I am spending rearranging (my husband says I’m just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic) boxing up some stuff that just isn’t worth the time to list to go to GW.
Just an update-listed them for $100 as an auction. They didn’t get much interest, so they are definitely long tail. Have them listed currently as a buy it now for $120 with make an offer.
Love this series! Missed the last couple, but will look for them at the library! Thanks for reminding me about them!
3/19-25
Total items in store 775
Items sold (1 bonanza). 21
Total sales. $177.89
Average sale. $8.47
COGS. $22.89
Returns-0, unpaid-1
$ spent on new inventory. $9.46
# of new items listed. 39
Highest sale $20 pair of T-Fal fry pans (cost $2.49)About the same number of sales as last week, just no really big items. On the bright side, at least the smaller items I sold this week were replaced with listings that are much higher value. I created a sale today to run through Thursday in hopes of getting the older, less valuable items moving. I need to keep items moving out or I am going to have to curb my scavenging (which is my favorite part!)
I loved the ‘imagination’ theme on the podcast this week. I think people who become EBay entrepreneurs have to have some level of imagination, or maybe a better word is instinct, to succeed. We all have different areas of knowledge we can apply our scavenging to make the most of our businesses. I could never sell electronics at the level Steve does because I just don’t have that knowledge. I’ve shied away for art for the same reason. However, give me a room full of old linens, craft items or books and I can sell the hell out of them! That doesn’t mean I don’t try other things-and that’s probably where the imagination/instincts come into play. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s what keeps it interesting!
https://imgur.com/gallery/5GOXY
There are 4 panels, one big one 108 inches wide and three that are 54 inches wide. All 27 inches long, so more like valances than curtains. I did some surfing on Etsy and found some handkerchief curtains, but nothing quite like these. I agree $60 isn’t enough, just not sure how high to go on the price.
