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Actually a light box is a PERFECT solution if you don’t want a large dedicated photography area.
I have a 24″ cube light box that I don’t use anymore because I have a large dedicated table in my garage for photos. I used to use it at work and do photographs at my cubicle during lunch. I may go ahead and bring it back in to work to use soon.
It is perfect for people with little space because it stores about 1″ thick – you can tuck it away in any crack beside an appliance, table, furniture, etc. It’s all velcro seams and can be put up or taken down in like a minute.
Here is a link for a smaller 16″ box:
There is a video on there that shows how easy it is to set up and collapse.
Sweet find on the Anime DVD’s. I actually have a MASSIVE binder of anime DVD’s I bought at a yard sale that I’ve never messed with. This person had multiple binders full of DVD’s.
They said they threw out all the cases, just kept the discs and now just stream everything.
The discs look authentic, but I’m skeptical enough to have held off. The lack of boxes also hampers value.
My scavenge of the week was a Bernina 2000DE serger for $10 at goodwill.
It did not have the foot pedal so it is untested. I’ve ordered a pedal on amazon and this weekend I’ll have my wife put it through its paces.
If it is broke I’ll either sell as-is or part it out. If it works….my wife will likely confiscate it to upgrade her lower quality serger. If that’s the case I can sell hers! Win/win!
It’s a VERY viable small business for a savvy person. Most local people just scrap appliances. If they only knew how much money they are leaving on the table! I’ve done part outs of various things enough to have a pretty good methodology to keep it quick and efficient.
Without a good plan for testing, disassembly, parts identification, organized listing, and disposal of leftovers it could get out of hand real quick.
Items in Store 2040
Items Sold 13
Total Sales $288.00
COGS $46.00
Total Profit $242.00
Average profit $18.62
Average sales price $22.15
New Listings 37
Items scavenged 5
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 20Yesterday I actually had some time (and motivation/energy) to do some ebay work. Yay!
It felt good to get some ebay work done. I have not actively listed for 11 out of 18 weeks so far this year, and havent listed the last 8 weeks!
I photographed and listed my backlog of drafts. I also created a bunch of new listings.
A while back I bought a sewing machine at Goodwill to give to one of my children. I tested it at the store and it appeared to work. Once I gave it to my super crafty wife to put it through a real test, it had motor and drive issues under loading. Even perfectly working I’d get max $100 for this machine. Selling intact for parts/repair I’d be lucky to get $20 and have a high likelihood of a bad buyer placing an INAD.
So I did what any good scavenger would do and parted out everything that was worth parting out. Most parts are universal to many machines of this brand. I also parted some parts for this specific machine that are likely to break or go missing. In total the listed value of everything is…$275!!! It’s tempting to do alot more parting out. There is money to be made for sure, and COGS are super low.
I’ll be in the profit selling 2-3 parts likely this week. Then it’s a pipeline that just keeps on giving over the next year or two.
I assume it would just be me. I looked at airline ticket prices to switzerland. Ouch…
I would spring to bring my wife since we’ve never done a trip to Europe. Bring all the kids at $2-2.5k a ticket? Nope!
Items in Store 2016
Items Sold 15
Total Sales $198.00
COGS $31.00
Total Profit $167.00
Average profit $11.13
Average sales price $13.20
New Listings 0
Items scavenged 2
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 19What a brutal week – for sales and for real life. I survived. Yay! I was so insanely busy that I struggled to even get things shipped. I was late on multiple packages. Oh well.
That ASP this week – oof! Definitely the lowest by a mile in the history of my business. Only 4 sales over $20 – the highest being $26. Time or not, I have to start having some activity on my store. I’m going to start ending/sell similar my oldest 10 items every day again. That is quick/easy and I can do it on my break at work.
This week is only slightly better – we have at least one baseball game all 7 days of the week.
At my day job I was nominated for an Innovation award. If I finish in the top 3 I will get to go to Switzerland to the corporate headquarters for a ceremony. That would be a cool trip!
I’m really hoping at some point that ebay provides some form of free accounting package to produce a complete sch C for your ebay business for store subscribers. Their current reporting capabilites is sooooooo close. Just need to include a COGS functionality. I’ve submitted this to ebay for business and been told it allegedly was being worked on.
Imagine how cool it would be if you could input COGS as a hidden item specific right next to the custom SKU directly in the listing that would show up in reports.
Cow Print Wooden Clogs Made in Holland Shoes 25cm EU 39 Women 9
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265693452525
What a fun item! Can’t beat selling things like this.
Sony SLV-789HF Hi-Fi Stereo 4 Head VCR VHS Player Recorder W/ Remote & Manual
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266098066463
This was the VCR I thought was a new open box $400 dvd/vcr. Boo! But hey, if a ‘dissapointment’ is still a $100 sale I’ll take that all day!
My oldest is 16 so I have at least another couple years. It’s a prom for homeschool kids and they let middle schoolers go too, so my oldest son wanted to go this year. There will be about 200 kids there.
Items in Store 2029
Items Sold 11
Total Sales $288.00
COGS $46.00
Total Profit $242.00
Average profit $22.00
Average sales price $26.18
New Listings 2
Items scavenged 2
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 20Part of me is glad I’m not listing right now. I’d be freaking out if my sales were dead and I was actively listing. My items sold and total sales are down 35% year over year so far, and that’s with 20% MORE active listings this year!
I’ve created 314 new listings so far this year. At this point last year I had created 812 new listings. That leads me to believe that active listings don’t mean much compared to continuous new listings.
This week is a prime example of why I’m not listing right now. Two of my children have birthdays, we have 8 baseball games, and two of my kids have prom.
I did survive doing taxes. I learned that I don’t need godaddy or any other software. The reports from ebay, my business credit card, and my bank account take care of pretty much everything in a neat fashion. Honestly I think it was easier as Godaddy was such a mess the last two years.
Bottom line, gross sales are down, COGS are up, expenses are up. So yay to less taxes, Boo to less profit! I’d rather proudly proclaim higher business income as I’m getting less and less mileage out of a dollar every year.
I think the same thing about listing more/better when I see Jay’s numbers. They’re almost at 10k listings and making equal to or less than when they had 7500-8000 items.
COGS are higher, shipping is higher, fees are higher, sales prices are lower on most commodity items such as shoes/clothes.
While that sells doom & gloom, it may push out low quality sellers and those with tighter margins, and/or higher overhead. There will still be a market for individual sellers with high quality listings, items, and service.
Adapt, improvise, improve. Keep on listing.
Items in Store 2037
Items Sold 10
Total Sales $497.00
COGS $38.00
Total Profit $459.00
Average profit $45.90
Average sales price $49.70
New Listings 0
Items scavenged 0
Listing 2023 weekly Avg 21A $300 saved my week. Another week of doing the bare minimum. I’m going to have to start getting some listings in even if it is just 5-10 a week.
In other news I’m down 20 lbs, feeling better, and a bit more energy. I’m going to start exercising this week and can hopefully leave all my health issues in the rearview mirror.
Motorola DYNA TAC 8000S Vintage Brick Cell Phone UNTESTED
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266139500629
These kinda items are what keeps ebay selling interesting! I happily took an offer of $300. Paid $5 at an awesome former antique store estate sale. Initial research showed I’d get $30-50. I actually waffled on getting this as it didn’t really meet my purchasing matrix. I finally just said “when am I ever gonna find another one of these brick phones? Just get it.” Boy am I glad I went with my gut!!! Once I researched the actual model number, I was floored. I knew I’d get $250 easy but I wanted to hold out for at least $300. Took just under 2 months to sell.
Why is it worth this much? Who knows. Some people must collect them.
