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I’m starting to ramp my listing back up since finishing the house. My sales have started picking back up and I’m working to list the piles I accumulated over the last few months.
(Main/T-shirt)
Items in stores: 155/160
Items Sold: 9/1
Total Sales: $320.94/$18.99
Highest item: $129.99 Pair of Allen Edmonds Wingtips paid $11.05 at the local Goodwill.
COGS: $51.05
Net: $329.89
New listings: 6Shoes have been doing really well for me and about 50% of my sales. I recently got a lot of golf shoes from and auction and also from Goodwill. All new. Picked up a mini cache of golf gloves, replacement spikes, and other gear at a store closing auction. Made a quick flip of a leather golf bag a week after the auction when the person bidding against me contacted the auction company and said he was still interested in the bag. Made $100 on it and didn’t have to worry about fees or shipping!
This week is starting off well with 4 sales so far today. All smaller sales, but they add up. I’d like to get both stores up to 200 listings each this week. A lofty goal for a part-timer, but I may take Friday off so I can get a bit done.
I dropped off of listing for a bit while we were getting moved in and we were getting ready for my husband’s extended overseas work assignment. I kept buying and now have piles all over. My dad built me some nice shelves and I have plenty of empty bins that fit perfectly into the shelves. I started listing more frequently at the beginning of June and have started to make some headway on the piles. I am still looking at the thrift stores, but I will only pick up shoes or jackets that will have a higher return. With the husband away for now, I get a few hours at night once the kiddo is in bed to focus on listing. I try to get a good amount of photos done on the weekend when I have good sunlight. I’m just taking things one storage bin at a time and will get through it one listing at a time.
I went back and talked to the shoe cobbler and he said he doesn’t sell abandoned shoes because by law he has to notify the owner by letter and other various steps before he could sell and he doesn’t take down that info when the shoes are brought in. He just stores the abandoned shoes, but also said the nice shoes typically get picked up and he has a bunch of single shoes in his abandoned pile. I am sure the requirements differ from place to place so I think it is still a good idea to at least ask.
I’ve been on a hiatus as we wrapped up the house projects (not that the project ever really ends) and getting moved in. I need to clean out the garage apartment that we had been living in and get my office set up. I’ll try to stitch together a short video now that we have 99% of the house done.
I picked up a saddle at an auction about a month ago for $25 and I need to get it cleaned up before I list it. Again, thanks to Jay and Ryanne for talking about these as I don’t think I would have known to look for them.
Sales are still trickling in. T-shirts are doing better and I’m getting a few sales each week between the two stores. My goal is to have the office set up and back to listing by the weekend. I have a lot of cool stuff to list and increasing my sales will be nice again.
Thanks for the heads up on that. The item did ship and shows as delivered so I have that if they do a charge back (based on past conversations on here). I’ll keep a closer eye on my account.
I haven’t run my numbers in a few weeks, but a few smaller sales this past week. Too busy wrapping up the house project. Broke down and decided to hire someone to come in and finish the tile in the master shower so this week is a little more open to listing which will help cover the cost of bringing someone else in.
Re: Scammers – No issues with that yet. In fact, just today I had the reverse of a scammer when a customer emailed me to let me know that PayPal refunded them the money due to some fraudulent activity on their account and wanted to know how much they owed me since they were happy with the item I sold them. I let them know the payment was still in my account and they owed nothing more. I was just kind of shocked at the situation!
But all of that has made me wonder about how many bad experiences both sellers and buyers have had on eBay to be so surprised of quality sellers and buyers. I often get comments thanking me for my honesty and customer service. I just do what I would want done for me and thanks to Jay and Ryanne, I always look for the positive in selling!
Woah! Great sale on the Chuggington set. We have a box of Thomas and Chuggington trains and tracks from when my son was a little guy that I’ve set aside to list. I’ll have to pull those out and check for dates now!
Update: Made a quick trip back to the store at lunch and picked up both jackets AND checked the shoes again and found a pair of Cole Haan golf shoes for $2….not many listed on eBay, but the recent sold listing was for $70! Golf season is coming up soon!
I have a local auction company that uses Proxibid.com for the auctions and I do local pick up from them, but I know they do in-house shipping for buyers over 2 hours away. I have looked at other auctions that I would need shipping for, but haven’t bid on anything since it adds to the bottom line. I do look to see what they offer for shipping anytime I am looking at an auction that isn’t local to make sure I could manage it if I did bid.
My store is still small so I’m just going to bust through my unlisted inventory and keep sourcing since the auctions are starting up again and yard sales should be popping up on the nice weekends here in a few weeks. Thrift stores have been about my only sourcing opportunities nearby over the winter months.
Shoes tend to do well over the summer for me. Sporting goods, collectables, and purses were also good for me last summer.
I took my mom over to the GW in town on Sunday. They have $0.49 tag Sunday & Monday. I checked out the jackets, but wasn’t sure if they were included in the clearance. I found a vintage canvas barn jacket that had the clearance tag, put it back to go ask if the clearance included jackets….it did. Walked back to the rack just in time to see a lady putting the jacket in her cart. Ugh. Lesson learned to always take the item with you if you have a question. I did get a nice Land’s End jacket for $0.49 though.
Also just passed up a Tommy Hilfiger Down filled Puffer jacket today at another thrift. It wasn’t on sale and they want $8, but after looking at comps, I may send my mom over tomorrow while I’m at work to see if it is still there and have her pick it up along with the Columbia jacket they had for $5.
Way to go with the lifestyle change and resulting weight loss! 50 lbs is no joke!
His name is Mark and he can be found at notyourdadscpa.com not sure the episode number though.
Taxes are always a struggle for us. This is likely the third year in a row we are writing a check to the Feds and this is my first year on eBay (part-time). We are both employed full time, my husband has a second job, we make a small bit of money from a farm that we are transitioning into a cider apple orchard, we have investment income, and now I am adding eBay profits. We pay a good amount of tax each year and I tried to calculate and cover the gap by having extra money taken out of our wages at work each month, but that didn’t cover enough. So, I guess they were higher than I anticipated, but we still have to get a few more tax documents added to the file before we know where we stand in the end.
2017 is going to be difficult to estimate since I am going to be growing my eBay business and my husband will be working out of the country for a few months and that will lower our taxes. To help reduce our taxes we will be increasing our charitable donations and I’m going to start contributing to a 457 at work to reduce taxable income. Our new mortgage interest will also provide a larger deduction than we have had in the past. I am also going to be setting up a dedicated area for my eBay business at home and taking a deduction for that. In future years, we will both be contributing to a 457 and I may even direct some of my eBay income into a SEP. I’ll also be keeping better track of my business related expenses like meals and mileage. I tend to drive 30+ miles every sourcing trip and that will add up quickly.
