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Still having lower sales going into fourth quarter. Glad I have a part time job! I generally don’t use promoted listings and such, so I’m sure that hurts. All I do is run sales every month. I’ll be putting all Christmas and other holiday stuff on sale for the first two weeks of December. Maybe that will help.
Week of Nov 12 – 18
Total Items in Store: 1757 eBay, 35 Etsy
Items Sold: 10 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $11 + $53.60 Commission
Total Sales: $219.49 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $45 tie: 1979 Gorham Sterling Silver Snowflake Christmas Ornament & 1992 Mattel Seven Dwarfs Color Changing Gift Set
Average price: $22
Returns: 0 (1 refund due to damaged item)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 9Steve – Thanks for posting this. I’ve been monitoring your You Tube channel and watching the videos from there, but it’s better to find the link here.
Great sale on the Wildcat! I don’t think I’ve ever found one for sale before, but you seem to find them regularly.
I heard about how well Cutco sells from this forum years ago. I have bought quite a few at rummage sales in the past few years, but have never sold them. My husband and I have become quite the fans. We have about a dozen Cutco knives now. However, I think I would have sold the holders as well.
I bought some vintage bakeware recently. I knew these enameled cast iron loaf pans were worth something. I priced them at what I felt was a bit high compared to previous sales, but it sold right away. It might have been just someone looking for that smaller size. I paid a few dollars as part of an online auction lot, and the two sold for $35.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/186170161952
This is not a big sale, but I thought precious. It is a Happy New Years postcard from 1907. I paid maybe a dollar in a 2019 online auction, and it sold for $10.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185576545292
In my organizing my neighbor’s stuff for sale, I found a good bit of wool clothing that had moth damage. Sometimes something will sell as-is, but I grouped these items up and listed in lots for crafts and such. This is a lot of red items, and the buyer said they were going to use the fabric to make Santas! Sold for $24.
I listed nine items.
@VL – I was hoping that the loss was minimal, but a UHaul truck’s worth doesn’t sound good.
I hope everyone has a great turkey day!! Both family & sales!!
Looks awesome! Also looks like it was an auto repair or car wash or some kind of garage at one time. Might be nice in the warm months, but what are the plans for the cold?
I’ve had an Etsy account for several years. I usually have 30 – 40 items in there. I don’t recall reading the Plaid privacy policy. When they deposit money or take out fees, it goes directly in or out of my checking account. I haven’t noticed anything fishy.
I don’t make many sales there, but I don’t have much for sale so I can’t say anything about how good or bad of a marketplace it is. I am considering another site but haven’t signed up yet.
@ThriftShift – Seems like you tried twice to post your numbers. When you post, do not try to edit it right away. Wait about five minutes, and then edit. It’s a special glitch here on Scavenger Life.
You can also try pasting your post as plain text (ctrl-shift-v works on my PC) so that all the excess crap doesn’t end up getting added in.
I hope I’ve saved your post for you:
Total Items in eBay store: 312
eBay Items Sold: 7
Gross Sales: $172
Cost of Items Sold: $8Facebook Marketplace: sold two items for $125 (ottoman and rug)
Cost of Items Sold: $0
Total Sales: $297New items found this past week:
– rock climbing backpack NWT, valued at $220, but has some marks on it. Was at apartment complex bulk item area.
– two solid wood painted pieces, a small buffet and coffee table. Will sand certain areas bare to stain, then paint remainder gray. Found at garage sale for $7, my only non-free items this week.
– upholstered office chair (from Office Depot), from apartment complex dumpster area.
– two outdoor rugs, about 3×5 and a 5×7, from apartment complex.
– about 30 vintage 4th-5th grade level books from my childhood such as Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and more. They were free from garage sale leftovers when I drove by AFTER the sale hoping more stuff would be on the curb. My daughter is currently working on reading them.I did sell another pair of my free Lucchese cowboy boots on Nov 12, but that number will have to wait for next week’s numbers.
Probably my favorite sale this past week was six Victoria Secret bras that were free in a bag of clothing left at an apartment complex last week; fast sale for $48. I wouldn’t buy them for $5 at a thrift store to resell, but would do it for $0 COG.
The rest of the clothes were fast fashion so not worth resale for me, but I made them my “painting clothes”.
This week was better, but not great, and I had two sales from Etsy after a pretty long dry spell there. My biggest sale was a lamp that I should have sold for higher, but it’s a larger item that I have had for a while, and I need the space.
Week of Nov 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 1759 eBay, 35 Etsy
Items Sold: 10 eBay, 2 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $13.69 + $51 Commission
Total Sales: $252.65 eBay, $23.78 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $60 Quoizel Brass LENOX Swing Arm Lamp
Average price: $23
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 7I listed 7 items this past week.
@VintageLacy – This happened to another scavenger several years ago, but it was his home basement. At least you don’t have that to deal with, but what a pain. From your videos, I know you got lots of good stuff. What a bummer.
@JulieB – I sold a 40 piece set of sterling during the MaxSold auction that I set up for my neighbor. It sold for $767, which came to $905 with the premium. So, you didn’t do too badly, although auction prices tend to be lower. I have another set of sterling we found in my neighbor’s garage. This one is more complete, and I will probably hold onto it until I get a decent price.
Another pretty crappy week for me; I expect that the crazy state of the world now has something to do with it. Otherwise, the economy is OK.
I’m currently looking for a place to sell the Persian rug I discussed in a separate post. Sotheby’s sent me to an European auction site, which could work, but I hesitate listing it there. I’m looking into Ruby Lane and 1st Dibs as possible sites, but I haven’t had the time to contact them and see if they are viable for a one-off seller like me.
Week of Oct 29 – Nov 4
Total Items in Store: 1759 eBay, 36 Etsy
Items Sold: 8 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $5 + $34 Commission
Total Sales: $166.80 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $36 for 4 Dinner Plates with Scalloped Edges Made in Italy
Average price: $20.85
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $41.36
Number of items listed this week: 18Oh, yes, “contents of a closet” tend to hide the most. I’ve found two mink fur hats in a bathroom closet. Another bathroom closet had two vintage, metal Gillette shavers (there’s a cult following for those). Just a few things I remember off the top of my head.
I would not do an auction for an art piece unless it was contemporary. Older (or older style) art takes time to find the right buyer.
I once had a very nice old oil painting from 1960 where I was able to find information on the artist. It had some “provenance” as the back listed locations where the piece had been exhibited. It still took a year or two, and it sold lower than I had wanted (still had a great ROI).
Just my 2 cents …
@Craig-Rex – FYI, MaxSold does do business in NJ, so you should go to their website and put in your zip to see current auctions in your area.
For live auctions, I used to go to Sunrise Auctions in Chesterfield, but they went online during the pandemic. While I’ve seen them do a few live auctions, they’ve mostly kept it online. During the warmer months, they have a live one in Hightstown every Monday evening where he starts with extra produce from local farmers and then auctions off what people bring in. Right now, he doesn’t show any auctions scheduled, but he always has one on Black Friday (although, it is usually mostly guns) and one on Jan 1.
https://www.sunrise-antiques.com/
I also used to go to Bodner’s, which is closer to me in Central NJ. They also went online during the pandemic and haven’t gone back. Previously, their live auctions were held in the convention center in Edison.
Lastly, there’s South Jersey Auctions, which I went to once just to see what it was about. I don’t know as much about them, but they seem to be more high end. Might be a good option for you.
In general, AuctionZip is the website that lists most auctions, and you can sort by location & date.
Because all of these auction houses have gone online, they post mostly more valuable stuff rather than odds and ends, whereas MaxSold is willing to post most anything including contents of a closet, cleaning supplies under the sink, a pile of clothing, etc. During the summer I bought the books on a bookshelf that included a accordion style jewelry box for their minimum $1 bid. Ends up that there was jewelry in there including two high school rings, one 10k and the other sterling. I haven’t listed them yet, but these are the hidden things that I love about MaxSold.
I bought 11 cups and 12 saucers in assorted colors made by Rostrand of Sweden in the pattern Kadett. They were in a MaxSold auction lot of some other Asian style tea cups & accessories. My bid was $14, which comes to $16.52. According to the solds, I should be able to sell each cup & saucer set for $80 or more.
I listed 18 items last week.
I hear you on the Goodwill and thrift stores. However, I’m finding some decent prices on MaxSold online auctions. I picked up from an auction this weekend, and I got some very nice deals. Usually, auctions are way high this time of the year leading up to the holidays. I’m thinking that the low sales and low auction prices are related. If you are willing to spend when you aren’t making many sales, you can really make out.
I usually have only 30-40 items in my Etsy store, so you can’t really go by my experience. I haven’t had any sales since September, but just had one today. Before that, one in August, three in July, two in June, one in March.
My eBay sales have really tanked in the past month or so, but I don’t have enough data points to make a comparison for Etsy.
