Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I listed 13 items this week. It’s a start.
A month or two ago, a bunch of clothing I sent into Swap finally got listed. These are items from my neighbor that I am helping to sell on commission. I forgot to put it in my tally here, but 72 items were added. There is still inventory that hasn’t been listed yet.
I failed at June’s challenge. I’ve been successful the months up to June, so maybe I deserve some slack. June was full of several family celebrations, master bedroom remodeling, and visitors.
Challenge #4 is “Try retail arbitrage, try a few online sales”. As mentioned previously, I set many of my goals to help me continue my eBay store, but also have a successful career at my part time job that is slowly increasing in hours.
So, are you guys planning to add some lunch options to your menu? Did the dinner event last month go well enough to consider opening through the evening?
Week of Jun 19 – 25
Total Items in Store: 1602 eBay, 33 Etsy
Items Sold: 5 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $2 + $0 Commission
Total Sales: $110.02 eBay, $0 Etsy; includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $30 for two framed Lizars hummingbird prints
Average price: $22
Returns: 1 (sent wrong item, will resend correct item, buyer will keep wrong item)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 1All our visitors have gone home and our family events are over. I will hopefully find time to list again, although my part time job has been busy.
I tried out the Too Good To Go app this weekend. It was $3.99 at an organic food shop for $12 of vegetables that were near their usefulness. I made Guacamole that evening with two avocados I picked up. I grabbed a bunch of soup veggies (turnip, parsnip, shallots, celery) that I plan to use for dinner tonight. The only misstep was some broccoli that really needed to be cooked that evening, but I’ll try for tomorrow night’s dinner. I enjoyed the experience, and I’ll do it again if anything for the novelty of it all.
I did go to a rummage sale on Friday. I wasn’t really finding anything, but then I picked up a couple of things that weren’t front and center and probably missed by others. I’m not planning on any auctions right now since I haven’t been able to list much.
I listed one item.
My parents went back home, all our family events and celebrations are over, and I am now more available to start listing again. At least until our next vacation. Work will be a bit busy this week, but hopefully I will start up quickly.
@christiner – Yes, I was the one that added a banner and description.
For the logo, I had already had one designed years ago through fivrr.
For the banner, I put a blanket on the floor, staged several items on it lengthwise, and snapped a photo. When I uploaded the photo as a banner, I just had to adjust it for the cutoff top and bottom. I tried two different locations and arrangements to get the right look.
Then I just threw together a description. Nothing too fancy.
Steve – You probably weren’t allowed to sell beer on Facebook, but they don’t have the bots that eBay does. Good sale!
I purchased a large lot of art at the beginning of 2001, and it’s been a great pipeline for me. This was my favorite painting. Not my style (otherwise, I would have kept it for myself), but the colors have kept very well since it was painted in 1960 and it has good composition and balance. The back had all sorts of information on the artist and when it was exhibited. It sold for a best offer of $65.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184714024447
Otherwise, last week was pretty slow. Of mild interest is this set of three national newspapers from soon after 9/11/2001. They sold for $33 on commission for my neighbor.
Week of Jun 12 – 18
Total Items in Store: 1605 eBay, 33 Etsy
Items Sold: 8 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $6 + $30 Commission
Total Sales: $196.65 eBay, $0 Etsy; “item sales” from eBay performance tab
Highest Price Sold: eBay $65 oil painting from 1960
Average price: $24.58
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0Having just switched from GoDaddy to Wave, I’m now getting my “total sales” number from the eBay performance tab. I selected the “item sales” number. What does that mean, exactly? I know that the “total sales” number includes shipping, taxes, and fees, and the net sales is number after all the fees are taken out. What should I be including here? I thought that the “item sales” would just include the price of the item, but would include eBay fees but not taxes and shipping?
Anyway, I had visitors all week, so I’ve just been shipping and not worrying about the summer slowdown. I used Time Away for the weekend since we were fully occupied, and I didn’t want to have to worry about anything but having a good time.
I haven’t seen anything with requiring buyers to pay upfront yet.
Totally random: I was in a meeting for my part time job. I asked about whether the air conditioning unit where I sit was going to get fixed any time soon. It failed in the fall, but no one has been able to find the correct part. The president of the company asked whether anyone had checked eBay. 😎 (But, no, it isn’t available).
Hum, not me, at least not yet. My parents are here until Saturday, and my sister and her family were in town this past weekend. Listing was not in the plans, so put in 0 for me.
Once my parents leave, I’m going to work on the challenge and see what I can do for the last week or so of the month.
My sales were mostly uninteresting last week except for the following listing. I bought this in a large lot of old dental office products a few years ago. It’s a group of denture shade guides.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184925032137
I’ll just leave you with the fact that huggable hangers by Joy Mangano are very popular and will sell quickly if you have them. I am selling them on commission for my neighbor.
I’ve been very interested in Too Good To Go since Jay mentioned it.
@craig-rex – I’m interested in knowing what is available in South Jersey.I’ve been so busy that I’ve only looked at what was offered in my area (Central Jersey). Closest to me is a pizza place, but my daughter is very picky with pizza. There is an organic vegetable store that I’d love to try out at some time and what I think is a bubble tea place, but I haven’t research it yet.
Some day I will have the time to buy something, and I’ll report when I post. It might take a few weeks, though.
@Amatino – Gorgeous! Love the art above the toilet! Was the window added? There is so much more light in the room now.
The booth looks awesome too!
We just finished painting the walls and refinishing the wood floors in our bedroom. It had carpeting there before, so it is quite a difference. In a rush to move back into the room before my parents got here on Sunday, we had to delay a few finishing touches until later. Maybe I’ll snap a photo once it is fully complete.
I’m so glad to move out of the guest room, though!!
PS, that experiment sounds awesome. I would have loved to come to your food event. Sounds like you have a true coffee house on your hands.
Week of Jun 5 – 11
Total Items in Store: 1611 eBay, 33 Etsy
Items Sold: 12 eBay, 0 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $?? + $?? Commission – didn’t figure out for this week
Total Sales: $283.29 eBay, $0 Etsy; Includes fees but no shipping
Highest Price Sold: eBay $40 teapot
Average price: $23.60
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
Number of items listed this week: 12I’m in the mist of moving my data from GoDaddy to Wave, so I haven’t had time to input my COGS or calculate my commission. It wasn’t a big week anyway. Figuring out how to upload data to Wave was pretty annoying, but I’ve figured it out to some extent. My bank didn’t allow it to upload much more than a few days deposits, so I had to download/upload using a csv file and Google Sheets. Setting it up to list COGS and the transfer of all my expenses from GD has also been a pain. I have a few more categories of expenses to move over before I’m done.
I have visitors from out of town for about two weeks, so I’m relying on what I can pull from eBay, and I’ll get the other stuff in later.
I did go to two rummage sales / flea markets this weekend. At the first, I found a box of kitchen stuff and pulled five Cutco knives out of it. The lady wanted $2 a piece. My husband and I have taken a liking to Cutco, so I shipped them out today to get sharpened, and then those will be ours when they get back. I did buy some vintage housewares at the second rummage sale, which is the $10 I listed above.
