[Sharyn]

Week of May 28 – June 3
* Total Items in Store: 762
* Items Sold: 7
* Cost of Items Sold: $7.10 + $5 Commission
* Total Sales: $124.75
* Highest Price Sold: $36 Vintage Variable Resistor
* Average Price Sold: $17.82
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: approx. $156
* Number of items listed this week: 30

Pretty crappy week where I spent more in inventory than what I made! This is the first week that I’ve been hit with the summer slowdown, so I’m not complaining. I did not sell any of the items I put on auction, so I think it is time for me to cut my losses there.

I did a live auction and an online auction this past week, and I have a live auction tomorrow. After that, I have to catch up and stop buying for awhile. I’ve got a vacation coming up, so I really need to be backing off anyway.

[Sharyn]

I was at an auction last week and saw a brass fireplace screen that looked almost identical to the one in Steve’s video. I didn’t know what it was – I had to ask one of the other attendees. I didn’t bid on it, but I’m sure it was sold for more than $3.

I sold a set of four enamel on copper art pieces with Jewish themes. I paid about $1 and sold for $59. I’m pretty sure I had best offer on it, but the buyer paid full price.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182545535109

I visited my parents in April, and a number of their friends gave them stuff to give to me. Nice how that works! These pretty wax drip catchers purchased from Anthopologie were in unused condition. I sold them for $28.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182546604114

I originally priced this McKinley-Roosevelt paperweight from 1900 at $99, but it sat for quite a long time. It’s very faded. I had reduced it to $49 and then accepted a $25 offer. I paid about $0.30 for it in an auction lot, so what the hey.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182219412791

[Sharyn]

Thanks everyone for all the answers and help. I’ll probably get my listing up next week.

[Sharyn]

Jay and Ryanne – I have something large I need to sell, and I have some followup questions on your answer to local pickup.

1. I’m used to listing weight for shipping. If someone is going to hire a company to move the item, won’t they need a weight? I have no method of measuring it. It is probably between 200 – 300 pounds.

2. I’m not sure of your exact wording, but you mentioned something about Uship being an eBay shipping company. Could you expand on that?

3. Other than Uship and Plycon, should I mention FedEx and UPS freight? Or are they much more expensive?

What I have is a nonworking refrigerator from 1939 or 1940. My grandmother had bought it when my father was an infant. It worked up to 2009 – about 70 years. My husband and I thought about getting it renovated and using it as a second refrigerator, but it ended up being too expensive. At this point it just isn’t going to happen, and we’ve decided to sell.

Thanks!

[Sharyn]

Week of May 14-20
* Total Items in Store: 750
* Items Sold: 11
* Cost of Items Sold: $11.22 + $8 ish Commission
* Total Sales: $236.00
* Highest Price Sold: $59 four pieces of enamel on copper art
* Average Price Sold: $21.45
* Returns: 1 (haven’t received yet)
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: approx. $108
* Number of items listed this week: 30 (includes 14 resisted as auctions)

The week was pretty slow, but not bad. I like that enamel on copper sale. It was listed as best offer, but the buyer paid full price.

I had removed a large number of slow selling low value listings about 2 weeks ago to sell off at a flea market, but the day ended up very rainy day, and I had to leave after only an hour or so. I received a promotion email from eBay for some free 10-day auctions listings if they started on May 25. They will be running a commercial during the basketball finals on June 4, and they wanted auction listings that would end around that time. I have a store, so I didn’t need the promotion, but I ended up re-listing 14 items as auctions. Let’s see how that goes.

[Sharyn]

I believe you dip it in kerosene, light it on fire, and then start the stove or fireplace. What you have is the starter only.

I thought that I had a mortar and pestle, and then a nice “ebayer” told me what it really was. You can check out my listing if you want and decide if it is what you have.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=182579724948&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

[Sharyn]

Amatino – Lilu & Hops are lovely cats. Lilu is a calico just like Steve Shultz’s cat, but smaller. They are interested in my work – particularly the boxes!

Gompers – What you are saying makes sense. I might separate out the custom made club (iron #7), since it is a bit different. I’ll need to do some more research on the green club since it is unmarked. I assume it isn’t particularly valuable, but I don’t know.

Jay – I did do some research, and I don’t think that the brand is a big deal. Joe Turnesa and several of his brothers were well known golfers at the time, so maybe that will help and maybe not. I did find that one of the fishing rods that happened to be in the bag was a good brand and model, so that will at least pay for the purchase and provide some profit if only those sell.

[Sharyn]

Very punny

[Sharyn]

Steve – When you packed that tire, what type of packaging did you use? I have a spare tire (doughnut) that I need to list.

My better sales from last week:

This is my big sale of the week. I saw this antique 10 Volume set – the Century Dictionary & Cyclopedia – at my local library’s yearly book sale for $20. I initially hesitated at buying it, but I was able to come back two days later and it was still there. The negotiated price was $200, but I had to include shipping of about $40.50 because eBay doesn’t have a good way to list with two separate boxes. The total weight was over 70 pounds.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182556986882

This is a consignment. My neighbor is an aerobics instructor, but stopped doing Zumba classes. She gave me a bunch of Zumba clothing to sell. A buyer asked me to combine pants from two different listings, which I agreed to because it was a big enough sale. Five pants sold for $55.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182572001758

Last year, I bought an online auction lot of tarot cards, and they sold really quickly and for decent prices. They are definitely a BOLO for me. I went late on the last, rainy day to an estate sale two weeks ago, and they priced three packs of Tarot cards for $2. Two sold the day after I listed them, and the last one sold a day or two ago. Here is the highest price one that sold for $28.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182578107286

Here is an Alice Cooper concert T-shirt sold via GSP to someone in the UK. I had hung clothing on my steamer for photos. I think that it looks horrible, but it sold for $28. I paid $1 at Goodwill. I now photograph clothes flat on a white sheet.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182288149274

[Sharyn]

I have not yet bought a thermal printer. Based on what I read on SL, this is something I need. Early on, I purchased a box of 500 pages of adhesive labels (2/page), and I have my inkjet printer. When I get really low on the labels, I will buy the Dymo (I’m pretty low now, but not quite ready).

So, my inkjet does only so-so with printing on the adhesive labels. The USPS can usually scan them with no issues. FedEx, however, has had issues with many of my labels, so I have to print them on regular paper, fold them in half, and put them in the provided clear envelopes with sticky backs. So, maybe there is a reason that you can’t print FedEx on the thermal labels. This is a theory, no backup, just a thought.

[Sharyn]

Week of May 14-20
* Total Items in Store: 731 (57 delisted)
* Items Sold: 13
* Cost of Items Sold: $26.61 + $29.87 Commission
* Total Sales: $450.44
* Highest Price Sold: $160 Antique Century Dictionary & Cyclopedia 10 Volumes
* Average Price Sold: $34.65
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $4
* Number of items listed this week: 17

Love the little TM marks you are using in some of your write-ups!

My week was pretty decent. Certainly beefed up by the antique book set, which were published in 1899-1900. The last volume is an atlas, which I think is the star of the set. The sale price was actually $200, but shipping of about $40.50 was included. I didn’t want to include shipping, but these books had to be shipped in two boxes because the total weight was over 70 pounds. eBay doesn’t allow a flat rate over $25 for media mail, and it has no way to accommodate two boxes.

I have been anticipating the process of ending a number of my slow moving, low value items that I bought in the beginning and selling them at a flea market. I had decided to skip the original flea market two weeks ago because of bad weather in favor of this past Saturday, which showed 0% chance of rain with a high of 68F up to two days prior. I stopped looking at the predicts and was very surprised when the rain started about an hour or two after setting up. They decided to reschedule for the following day, but my husband and I just couldn’t get out of bed Sunday morning. I’m going to post photos of my stuff to a Facebook group I belong to, and then just donate the rest.

[Sharyn]

My attitude has changed over time. Jay and Ryanne have certainly helped with their podcast and forum comments. The fact that I have built up my store, and I am making more money, helps too.

I know that you can set up your account to block buyers with unpaid item strikes, policy violations, etc., but not negative feedback left for other sellers. So, you would have to cancel a sale based on what you found after they buy something from you. A canceled sale would be a strike against you, but I guess not as bad as having to accept a return.

Maybe I will be more careful with GSP buyers, but I don’t know what criteria I would use to cancel the sale. That is something I’ll have to think about.

[Sharyn]

I’ve never heard of a high school doing that either. Interesting.

I would stay away from common stuff like cafeteria dishes. I don’t think the large furniture would have any interest unless you find an old old school desk, but I don’t know if the price would be worth the effort.

Electronic stuff can be good sellers, but they have to be tested. Consider the work that requires before you buy anything. Smartboards would also be a pain to find the right box and ship, but I expect they could be good sellers – I’m not speaking from experience, though.

I think that tools sell well. Anything vintage sells even better. Drafting equipment could be good especially if it is higher precision.

I’ve heard that relatively recent textbooks can be good because homeschoolers will buy them.

[Sharyn]

I had a similar thing happen to me this week. A buyer left negative feedback “very bad quality”. Months ago, this would have bothered me greatly, and I would have tried to do something about it. This time, though, I was unfazed.

This was a GSP buyer, and, if I offered to pay for a return, I would have had to pay original shipping to Europe & shipping back plus the original purchase price. I had no interest in doing that, and he had not contacted me wanting to return it.

I looked at his feedback left for others and saw several other buyers who responded to his feedback with something like “serial leaver of neg feedback, item as described & clearly pictured, no contact”. So, I copied that over to my response, and now I’ve moved on.

It is so much better now that I can do that.

[Sharyn]

Had a decent week. Here are a few of the more interesting sales:

Lead crystal wine glass etched with part of a Jewish prayer plus a new velvet wine bag – I bought this as part of an online auction lot last summer. Paid just a dollar or two, sold for $35:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182257796859

My big sale of the week was a strut stabilizer for an older BMW. My husband bought it for his 1999 BMW 323 about a decade ago, but then decided not to install it. He still has the car. I was able to sell this part for $75 within about a day of listing it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182563514343

Not my highest sale, but something new for me. This is a high school yearbook from 1952. Battin High School was a public school in Elizabeth, NJ that was all-girls until 1976. It is now a K-8 school. Bought in a yard sale for $1, sold for $18 overnight.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182570589963

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Sharyn.

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