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When someone asks me about downsizing, I usually recommend MaxSold, which is an online auction company. What separates them from other companies is that they will sell ordinary stuff in a person’s home as well as the more expensive items and don’t necessarily have to sell collectables or antiques or whatever. I just checked, and they now operate in the Palm Beach area. I know they didn’t in the past because my parents live in Boynton Beach and I was curious.
Right now, of course, MaxSold is not having any auctions because of the lockdown, but you can check out their website at maxsold.com.
You can have them come in, photograph your items, and set up the auction, or, you can do it yourself.
Whether you do an estate sale or an online auction, you will have to wait until the lockdown ends. With an estate sale, you might get better prices for some of the items, but you will most likely have lots left in the end. You will get rid of most stuff with a MaxSold auction.
Facebook and other methods of selling in lots can certainly work; however, you will probably only sell the really good stuff and you may not get market value.
Check out this 2013 podcast from Jay and Ryanne about selling slides on eBay:
Scavenger Life Episode 70: Selling Vintage Slides and Photographs on eBay
Now that you say that, I recall a Scavenger Life interview from a few years ago of a seller who was also a postal carrier. He said that should something happen to the label, just having that slip from the pick list might help (although the pick list was called something different at the time).
I think that many sellers pack an item and print out a label one at a time. I do things just a bit differently.
I save up my sales and I buy labels all at once using the bulk label tool. After I print out the labels, I also print out the “pick list” and the scan sheet. Each row of the pick list lists a sale with the customer information and item. I use that to make sure I don’t send an item to the wrong person.
I write “Thanks, Sharyn” for each purchase, cut out each row, match the item to the label, then throw in the slip of paper into the box. It isn’t an invoice, but it is something that helps keep me organized and reminds the customer of the purchase.
No, it isn’t needed, but I prefer to do it.
Ha, I didn’t scroll up high enough. Several months ago, I cleaned out a storage shelf that we had used for our kids and gathered all the crayons into a 3 pound lot. Sold for $15.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183898654500And this hat was given to me by my neighbor last year when I was helping her figure out how to downsize. She ended up having a MaxSold online auction, and her house sold a few weeks ago. The last time I emailed her, the sale was on hold because of the corona virus. I hope she is able to sell her house in the end. Her handmade hat sold for $55.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183753746781Steve – During your video, I kept hearing background noises that I thought were coming from outside our house. In the past, hardly anyone was walking around during the day, but now I can’t believe how many neighbors I see around (all keeping their 6 ft distance, of course).
One thing I do a few times a year is pick out items that haven’t sold for some time and put them on perpetual auctions until I decide to donate. I can’t donate right now, so they keep getting re-listed. Sales on these auctions have improved slightly with the quarantine, and I sold two items last week at OK prices. Usually these are items that I am trying to get rid of for less than $10, but I sold a sweater for $12 and 4 metal teapots for $22.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184222402106
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184222402128These two framed and matted botanical prints cost $5 (total) at a live auction. Someone offered me $35 for one and $30 for the other.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183962931429
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183962922425From one of my parents’ downsizing friends, I received this electric hair clipper set for free, sold for $20. I had a bunch of electric hair clippers and accessories that I listed a few weeks ago, and they have all sold. With all the salons and barbershops closed, maybe people (at least guys) are doing it themselves.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184169813534The rest of my good sales were from auction purchases I’ve talked about in the past, vintage scales, old tools, vintage drafting pen parts, and jewelry on commission.
I have two suggestions. One is to see if there is a milk delivery company in your area, like the milkman of yore, but they have a much more extensive product selection. I’ve seen this advertised in my area, and I did check out their service, but never signed up:
http://udderlydeliciousmilk.com/Another thing that is happening in my area is contactless pickup at a local farm. I bought a bag of veggies from one this week. They don’t deliver, but you order online and pay ahead of time. Then you drive up and tell them your name and where to put the groceries. My mom did this last week at a farm in Florida. Look up local farm websites and see what they have to offer. They are providing much less to restaurants, so they have to find residential customers. The farm I used did offer eggs, but I didn’t buy because they were pricy.
I’ve had that same question. I do the same as Jay. If I write ebay in any form, the spell checker underlines it and gives me eBay if I check. Under normal grammatical rules, it should be Ebay.
The world is crazy. It is history in a way. Our kids be telling stories about how they survived the pandemic to their kids.
I started a new part time job this week. They want me to eventually get to full time, which I’m good with. This time, though, I’ll be saving at a much higher rate than I used to (after we replace my husband’s 21 year old car).
eBay didn’t do badly either:
Week of March 29 – April 4
* Total Items in Store: 1457 eBay, 37 Etsy
* Items Sold: 22 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $31.34 + $15.50 Commission
* Total Sales: $446.09 eBay
* Highest Price Sold: $55 Handmade purple wool felt dress hat
* Average Price Sold: $20.28
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 6I listed six items this week. I listed two items with gold (real gold!) and one item with brass accents, so three so far for the challenge.
My low count is partly due to the new job I started. I didn’t do that many work hours, but I did have to set up my work computer and get things arranged. Also, my daughter and I went to her dorm room to grab everything else that she had left before spring break. She wants to transfer for next school year, so that might be the last time we are there, unless we have to return her books to the Barnes and Noble on campus.
As far as stuff I’m selling, very little can be attributed to the pandemic. I did sell a puzzle, 3 pounds of crayons (leftover from our kids), and some spools of elastic (the previous week), but everything else is the normal range of things that I normally sell. I see my fabric come up in “send offers”, but, strangely, none of it has sold.
To determine fabric content, you can do a burn test:
http://images.taunton.com/downloads/th/T168_Burn_Test_Chart.pdf
I agree that you should report listings with obvious price gouging. There is a link in the listing and it takes just a few seconds. eBay has stated that they will be warning or taking down listings with these issues. They have software that automatically searches out those types of items, but it doesn’t catch everything.
I have only done consignment for a few close friends where they are just looking to make a few bucks and don’t care whether they get top dollar or not. This is important because if they are “emotionally attached” to something, it could get dicey.
I charge 50% of the sale price after fees for eBay and PayPal are taken out. If someone gave me something more valuable, maybe $200 or more, I would consider a smaller fee. I had written out a consignment agreement at one time, and I listed a lower fee for valuable items. I’d have to find that document if you really wanted my breakdown.
In general, I don’t list consignment items worth less than about $15-$20. If I’ve already taken the photos and then find out I was off, I’ll list it anyway, but I would rather lot up a few items and price higher.
Most of my commissions are for a family friend whose wife passed away a little over a year ago. I used to do it for her, and now I’m helping her husband sell off her remaining stuff. Lately, he will go through her stuff and send me photos of what he has. I will say yay or nay, and he is saving the “yay” stuff for me. I was supposed to be visiting that area in May, but that is up in the air now. I still have lots of jewelry to go through. I didn’t realize how big of a collector she was. I think maybe she had a bit of a spending/hoarding problem.
