[Sharyn]

Week of Feb 19 – 25
* Total Items in Store: 690
* Items Sold: 13
* Cost of Items Sold: $11.27 + ~$5 Commission
* Total Sales: $269.05
* Highest Price Sold: $50 for vintage La Cava Italian bowl
* Average Price Sold: $20.70
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 32

This was a good steady week. I’ve spent way too much money on new inventory recently, so I was glad to step back this week. My main thing is online auctions, and there are two with pickups for next Saturday. I’m sure I’ll list money spent on new inventory next week.

For the topic of Facebook, I belong to a local “yardsale” group. I know that several people who list there often are making some decent money. They might not be getting eBay prices, but definitely not flea market prices. I believe that they also list on several sites, so they will say “XP”, which means cross-posted, on their listings. So someone will say “interested” for one of the items, and then the seller will answer that the item is pending pickup from another site. Just like eBay, there is a whole acronym language. Other than XP, there is PPU that might mean Porch Pickup or Pending Pickup depending on where it is used.

So far, I’ve used it only for items I didn’t feel were worth selling on eBay. I recently sold a large ceramic decorative watering can for $10. It was made in Italy and looked expensive, but had a $30 price tag from Home Goods on the bottom. I could have made more on eBay, but it was rather large and breakable, and I decided I didn’t want to bother with packing it. So, I was happy to meet someone at a local CVS parking lot and do an exchange.

[Sharyn]

Here are a few of my interesting sales – or, at least interesting stories – from last week:

Over 6 yards of nice upholstery fabric – I listed over 10 remnants in the summer, and this is the second to sell. The first sold only last week. Perhaps folks are getting ready to do projects for the spring. I paid about $1.50, sold for $41.60:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182296001351

This is a set of Noritake dinner plates from the 50’s or 60’s. I bought an incomplete set of this pattern at my first auction, and I listed them in April last year. I tried selling them by the piece, selling them in sets, putting them on sale, etc, etc. These are the first to sell since I added best offer. I’ve also sold some bowls yesterday (although they have yet to pay). Best offer rocks!! I paid a $4 and they sold for $30.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182211279487

I bought a box lot of vintage Stangl serve ware at a recent auction. The Stangl factory was in NJ, so I run into it often especially at this particular auction house. I like Stangl because much of it looks contemporary even though they closed in the 70s. The whole lot was $11. I was expecting prices to be higher, but it is not too bad. This pretty bowl is the first to sell. Paid $1, sold for $17:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182444389885

[Sharyn]

I was asked to sell some stuff for good friends of my family. Initially, they gave me stuff for free, but now I am selling for commission. I do it because they are friends, and I would not do this for someone who wanted to hire me.

I came up with a scaled commission based on the selling price. My friends actually just asked me to pay them what I thought was fair, so I did this for myself. I haven’t been subtracting out fees because I’m lazy.

Anyway, here is my commission scale for what it is worth:

0 to $60: 50% commission
$60.10 to $100: 35%
$100 & up: 25%

[Sharyn]

Yes, I noticed that and forgot to post about it. His comments below the vid says that he was just busy with 4th quarter sales and that he will be releasing sales vids from the past few months.

[Sharyn]

I think that you are right. Maybe if someone picks up locally, they can just have the pad.

[Sharyn]

I should have included units! The rug is 12 feet by 8 feet. A 9 in taped polymailer won’t do much for it!

I have thick plastic sheeting that I can cut to size, so I think I have what I need to ship it. However, it is so heavy I can barely pick it up, and I don’t think that I can weigh it and myself on the scale at the same time. Maybe my husband can, but it will be very difficult.

I have padding for it as well. I was debating whether to ship the padding separately or together.

[Sharyn]

I have a question regarding the 12×8 rug you bought at auction. I have one as well. It is too heavy for me to pickup on my own.

How are you planning to weigh it? Can the weight be estimated from the size and type of rug?

How will you ship it? FedEx would be the first thing that comes to mind, but eBay also has an option for freight. Would that be a reasonable option?

[Sharyn]

Week of Feb 12 – 18
* Total Items in Store: 672
* Items Sold: 19
* Cost of Items Sold: $17.04 + ~$15 Commission
* Total Sales: $337.47
* Highest Price Sold: $45 Tickle Me Elmo new in box; $41.60 for 6 yards of upholstery fabric
* Average Price Sold: $17.76
* Returns: 1 Tickle Me Elmo
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $149 ish
* Number of items listed this week: 49

In general, I had a very good week. I started out Monday bringing 8 items to the post office! Things did slow down, and I only had one sale this weekend on Saturday.

I did have one bummer, a return on my highest price item. This was a new old stock Tickle Me Elmo. The buyer took it out of the box to replace the batteries, and the batteries had leaked and ruined the toy. I remember trying to get to the batteries before listing it, and I would have had to break Elmo out of the box in order to check them. So, I assumed that the batteries just needed to be replaced. I guess I should have sold it “nonworking” for a lower price. I’m curious what others would have done in this situation? Break the new in box condition, sell nonworking, assume everything is OK? I refunded the buyer and told them to keep the item. I did get a positive feedback, so that is cool.

I participated in two online auctions that had pickups this weekend. I have to stop buying for awhile in order to list everything. I still need to clean three rugs from last week’s auctions. Luckily, there are no online auctions within reasonable driving distance ending in the next two weeks. One could always pop up last minute, though, so I will need to have some personal restraint!

I haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet. Kids are out of school today and hubby is off work, so I’ll probably listen tomorrow. I will say that I love the MOBA website. I originally found them through Wikipedia.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Sharyn. Reason: Removed paragraph, I was in error

[Sharyn]

I’ll be interested in your experience because I am kind of doing that experiment right now.

I have some china and household that I bought very cheaply last year – some of which has been listed since the spring and others since the summer. Very little has sold. At the beginning of this year, I decided to do a 50% off sale to get rid of some of it. I did sell one item, but probably the nicest item of the sale.

When the sale ended less than 2 weeks ago, I decided to add best offer instead. Just a few days later I got a $30 offer for a $49 item. This item would have been $24.50 during my 50% off sale! It is the only item that has sold since adding best offer, so I have yet to really say whether I have success or not. I will say that this is the first sale of that particular china pattern since I posted it in the spring last year.

Anyway, I’ll be taking whatever is left to a flea market this spring to get rid of it. This stuff takes up a lot of room. Now that I am buying with more knowledge, I need room for my new purchases.

[Sharyn]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Hansa Branta, but I will keep an eye out for that brand!

I had a rather boring week of low cost items, but here are a few with mildly interesting backstories:

This sugar and creamer was part of a box lot. It cost about $1.25 and sold for $28 (which was my highest sale this week). The buyer was looking to increase his set in this pattern and wanted to know if I had anything else. Unfortunately, this was the only one I had.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182219435341

I bought about 15 upholstery remnants at an estate sale last summer, and none have sold until now. I sold another on Sunday, so maybe people start planning their projects in the winter.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182296001343

This is an enamel over metal lid from a box lot. Lids do sell, but this one for not much. The buyer asked me for better dimensions before buying. They gave me positive feedback, so it must have fit! I actually didn’t pay anything for the box lot. There had been some confusion in the auction, and I didn’t realize that I hadn’t been charged until a few days later when I looked closer at the receipt. I was supposed to pay $2.50 for the whole lot, so no big deal.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=182343312855

[Sharyn]

I mentioned that last week as well. He had said in his last few videos that he was recovering from a bad illness. I hope he didn’t quit the videos because of his health. Another thing he mentioned was that he was busy with other businesses he has, so I hope that is the problem.

[Sharyn]

I should mention that I usually start with “sell similar”, and I don’t automatically have the gallery plus selected. The only time that happens is when I start with a listing where it doesn’t cost anything, but I change the category in the new listing to one that charges for it. I always catch it except I think once.

[Sharyn]

Week of Feb 5 – 11
* Total Items in Store: 642
* Items Sold: 12
* Cost of Items Sold: $17.76 + ~$46 Commission
* Total Sales: $130.00
* Highest Price Sold: $28 Sugar & Creamer
* Average Price Sold: $10.83
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $240 – ouch
* Number of items listed this week: 22

I sold about the same amount of items the previous week, but this week I was only selling low price stuff. I could complain (and I always reserve the right to do so), but this week has started out with a very large bang (sold 9 items Sun & Mon with decent prices). Sounds like a number of people are having a slow week. I wonder if sales picked up on Sunday for them as well? Perhaps I’ll have to wait until next week to find out.

The money I spent on new inventory was quite high for me – my largest purchase was $124ish for a Karastan wool rug in good condition, similar in size to the one Ryanne mentioned. I also bought some smaller wool rugs. These will not be the first things I list because I will want to clean them all first.

I’m currently working on some clothes my dad gave me a month ago. He lost a good bit of weight over the past year and seems to be keeping it off, so he cleaned out his closets.

[Sharyn]

I assume your post title is referring to “garbage man” and “janitor”?

My first thought was reseller, but I decided to check if this topic was covered online. Here are some of the better titles I found:

vendor, merchandizer, merchant, broker, representative, envoy, distributor, purveyor, supplier, retailer, Value Added Reseller, Hosting Partner, sales specialist, Customer Service Specialist, Sales Manager

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reseller

[Sharyn]

So true! I don’t use sugar or milk in my coffee or tea, so I forget that many people do!

[Author]

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