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Enjoyed the podcast. I’m sitting on the don’t freak out side of the Coronavirus fence, and am really enjoying the satirical memes out there. Anyone see the short video of the asian guy spitting into the gutter while it’s raining, then a bus coming by and splashing it all up on the crowd standing at the curb? A friend posted it on FB with the title “shortest horror film ever.” It’s good to be abreast of (real) news, but the churning cycle of headline updates isn’t really doing anyone any good. Keep calm, and wash your hands. All the time.
Lower sale amounts last week – though I report my Net rather than Gross Sales, so I have a real idea of what’s coming into my pocket. Approx 90% of my current sales are the items I put on sale at 40% off – so, selling lots of lower dollar (or perhaps right-priced) items right now. Happy to finally clear them out. Today’s sales – just for fun: French soap, and vintage 1940s crocodile heels (both on sale).
Hit up a few estate sales this weekend while my Mom was visiting, and we had a good time picking up a few items here and there, but nothing major. She’ll occasionally find some good scores at a little country auction she goes to each week, and I look forward to attending that with her when I’m visiting. Glad to share this hobby with her!
2/23/20 – 2/29/20
Total Items In Store: 710
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales: $355.68 – 25.88 commission sale
Highest Sold Price: $75 Blundstone slip on shoes
Average Sold Price: $21
Cost of Items Sold: $79.25
Returns/Refunds: $33 on an old Ironman watch whose plastic band snapped in transit
Money Spent on New Inventory: $19
Number of Items listed: 5-10ishThanks for a great and timely podcast! Since I’m terrible with clothes – though still try – nearly all of my store is rather long tail, and it’s taking it’s toll. I see the same things every day, pass over many when I’m plucking out the Solds, and am generally trying to reclaim personal space from the sprawling inventory.
I recently started a steep sale (40% off) on some older items, and items that I’ve gotten for free and feel their cost + shipping fees are holding sales back. A few days in, and I’ve sold several sale items, including a huge rug I’ve had for 3 years. I’m not interested in operating at a scale that would require off-site storage, so I’m trying to use my office and our basement wisely. Considering making a gallery wall of the art I have for sale, so I can get it off the floor. The minimalist in me would love to see more clear floor and surfaces! Thank goodness we have a basement…
January was, and is historically, my strongest sales month. Had one really low week since then, but weekly sales numbers have been higher recently than they were most of last year.
2/16/20 – 2/22/20
Total Items In Store: 725
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $754.81
Highest Sold Price: $320 Kilim rug on Best Offer
Average Sold Price: $44.40
Cost of Items Sold: $206.30 (most of that was the rug, bought at an estate sale, plus having it cleaned))
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of Items listed: 10-ishDitto, Ryanne – I’ve seen several items where grease pen is used to write prices on the inside of bags, for example – right on the woven fabric! Not sure if it’s laziness or an attempt to stop reselling, or what. But I wouldn’t want to purchase something for myself really where it was ruined in such an avoidable way.
Great podcast – awesome story, Dan! Love hearing how you eyed up the situations you found yourself in and made the most of it, honing your operation each year. It’s CRAZY that people just throw away textbooks, they are so expensive. Just watched a documentary called Waste Land, about an artist who worked with a group of recyclables pickers at the (former) world’s largest landfill. It was very good – though stomaching the amount of waste we all produce was really difficult. The very poor workers have great insights on consumption, waste, re-use, where value lies.
Retro – congrats, that is awesome! I’m needing to “recover” from the holiday carb excesses that rise up each year….I put on my flannel lined jeans this morning, since Winter has apparently come to replace Spring for a few days, and found that they were far more snug than ever before. The fit of my clothing is the sign of dietary changes needing to come. My New Year’s resolution, if you can call it that, is to walk more – daily, if possible. Needing the exercise, and just to get out of the house more.
So, ditto on the social contact. Doubly, I’m with you on how rarely I leave the house sometimes! I live in an area that I’ve never worked an outside job in, and still feel fairly new to, so making new social connections has been a real challenge. Been trying to connect with friends afar more regularly, until I create the right means of connection here locally.
1/12/20 – 1/18/20
Total Items In Store: 765
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $873.13
Highest Sold Price: $370 – Lot of 19+ Lbs vintage legos, sold via auction
Average Sold Price: $51.36 (totally skewed by the LEGO sale)
Cost of Items Sold: $6.25! Still coasting off free stuff, though have had very little of this in terms of new inventory coming in.
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $18.75
Number of Items listed last week: 10ishLoved hearing about that magazine cache! So excited for your future earnings, and what they’ll be able to accomplish for you. 🙂
Thanks for a great podcast. It was a bit jarring to hear my “name” but glad that what I’ve noticed is worth sharing. I’ve been following minimalists (relative minimalists? aspiring minimalists?) online for a while, and in the last year have been following a bunch of sewists and capsule wardrobe adherents. There are many shared motivations behind their purchasing choices – be more environmental; fight the social (and environmental – and mental, I should add) injustices of fast fashion; reduce their amount of clothing so that dressing is simpler & less of a daily chore; and go for fewer but better pieces of clothing. FWIW, a bolo with this crowd are current brands that are going the extra mile WRT the above considerations (Madewell, Everlane, Eileen Fisher), as well as natural fibers and well made items. There is a lot of recycling/upcycling of good fibers into new items (linen tablecloths into shirts, eg). I imagine that this is still a very small proportion of the population though.
Had a great sales day today, with an auction of vintage LEGO pieces and partial sets going for $370. I had started to try and put sets together, saw that there were missing baseplates, realized I didn’t have the time it would take to sort it and figure out what was what, so lotted it all up and put it on auction. Was a little worried when the bid this morning was around $70, and I was expecting in the $300 range. So, spot on when the hammer fell, and so grateful. Will see how that looks in next week’s overall #s.
Last week’s # dipped a bit from the previous week, some of it due to my solds including commission items that I’ll have to pay out on. Holding steady around #s of items sold and amount earned over the last year – averaging around $500/wk, 15-20 items. Would like to bump it up, of course, but perhaps that is showing me what a natural baseline is for 1/2-3/4 time work at my pace and input. Burned out a bit on estate sales in recent months, but hope to get back to yard sales in the Spring, and travel for some auctions/thrifting in coming weeks. Need a change of scenery, and a boost of eBay-vation.
1/5/20 – 1/11/20
Total Items In Store: 781
Items Sold: 19
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $553.86 – 129.48 in commission sales
Highest Sold Price: $75 Vintage LL Bean Plaid Wool Blanket
Average Sold Price: $29.15
Cost of Items Sold: $21.98
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: 10 or soAgree with previous posters that there is a flush of new sellers jumping on the bandwagon thanks to the many social media influencers and Sellers they follow. Some will do it well, and many will not.
I myself do buy clothes and shoes on eBay, and generally prefer to buy a quality item secondhand, than create any demand for new items (and save money, and I hate to shop). Also in social media, there are plenty of folks and influencers who are pushing back on fast fashion (and climate change) and vowing to only buy secondhand, to go on buying hiatuses, or make their own clothes. There are hashtags and monthly and even annual pledges in this vein. So, they’re going to buy their items and fabric mostly from eBay and Etsy and other small businesses (they note as much in the posts they share). I think this trend will continue, though the Buyers will have a much more saturated marketplace to sort through – both a blessing and a curse.
Hadn’t heard anyone else mention this, so wanted to share. I’ve been craving more/new hobbies, and have started following various sewists over the last year. Also, several minimalists and frugal folk. Demand for secondhand is strong.
I occasionally list on FB Marketplace, though not with as much selling success as I’d like. Any type of item, just usually those that are large and unwieldy to ship via eBay. I listed a Bose Acoustimass speaker set this past week, and am still not sure it’s visible to anyone, as FB flagged it as inappropriate. I’ve found with the sales I have had, typically if you don’t get a lot of responses within the first 24 hours, it’s not likely to sell. Craigslist was another place I listed before I moved here; it’s a much less active market here, so I’ve been experimenting with FB instead. But all of that is more parallel-listing, rather than cross-listing…
As more of a part-time seller, I’m less interested in leveraging sales by cross-posting b/c of either the extra work involved, or the cost (3rd party software to more easily enable it). This could change, but more likely, I’d just separate the types of things I sell, and list on the platforms I think would bring the best price – more of the parallel-listing. For now, I’m just keeping it simple.
JAN started out strong, thankfully, though as soon as I noted this grand return of January riches to my Mom, it dropped off, bah. 🙂 Still planning on the strongest month of sales in the last year; we shall see. In other news, my store item count is the lowest it’s been in over a year – need to remedy that in the coming weeks.
12/29/19 – 1/4/20
Total Items In Store: 797
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $640.05
Highest Sold Price: $110 – 8 Vintage Johnson Bros English Transferware Bowls
Average Sold Price: $37.65
Cost of Items Sold: $26.35
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: 10 or soThankfully, have had neither requests for returns (I only openly accept on some listings), nor too many/too weird email inquiries. But, also not many offers. Had 3 sales on Christmas day, though none on Sunday, which is typically my biggest day of sales. This time of year, all bets are off. Hoping that January continues to be my highest selling month of the year so that I have something to look forward to, but if last year taught me anything, it’s don’t hold your breath!
12/22/19 – 12/28/19
Total Items In Store: 814
Items Sold: 12
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $410.29 – $134.67 commission sale (All Clad fish poacher)
Highest Sold Price: $125 – All Clad Fish Poacher
Average Sold Price: $34.19
Cost of Items Sold: $25.00
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $2.25
Number of Items listed last week: no idea – I’ve both listed new items, and ended some listingsThanks for the podcast. I’ve found in the last few years, that I really like variety in my work – eBay can provide a lot of that variety with the different tasks that need doing, but I’m enjoying a schedule right now that includes other work as well. This time last year eBay was about 80% of a full time job for me, now it’s at about 40-50%. I really like that I can ramp that up or down based on what’s happening in my life.
Numbers are still down from last year, and from where I’d prefer them to be of course, but my COGS have also been super low this year, so I’m pleased overall with earnings vs $ and effort put into eBay. I’ve been thinking some about how I might change my selling ways on eBay in 2020 – to help deal with space constraints in my home, and move towards higher dollar sales. I’ve been a sell-anything-that-sells person in the past, and know I’ll continue that to an extent, but have also been giving some thought to focusing or specializing in a few areas/items in the future. Stay tuned – we’ll see if that comes to fruition. It will depend on numerous factors that will shake out in 2020, only some of which are in my control.
12/15/19 – 12/21/19
Total Items In Store: 814
Items Sold: 13
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $402.32 – $16.77 commission sale (jeans)
Highest Sold Price: $150 – Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi Router & Satellite (got for free!)
Average Sold Price: $30.95
Cost of Items Sold: $17.10 (lots of items given to me for free, yay!)
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: 20Ditto on the time, time, time comments. Can’t rush it, can only continually explore and look for new routes to explore if just for learning. I too have learned from box lots, from freebies, and from consignments – all things I wouldn’t necessarily seek out on my own, but that have value, and have help me get a better eye and better mind for buying. I also enjoy looking at Solds, and high prices – it’s always amazing to see some of what sells and for what wild price.
Need to list a lot more this week, as my store count is low, and I think it would certainly help raise numbers across the board. Hoping other-work will slow down a bit, so that I can get out to source a bit more – not that there’s much space in my office, but I’m ready to get a bit more back into the swing of things.
12/8/19 – 12/14/19
Total Items In Store: 818
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $446.22
Highest Sold Price: $60 Baumalu copper pot, on sale
Average Sold Price: $26.25
Cost of Items Sold: $19.71
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: 15 max? Busy other-work week, then a long weekend away.@chaoticgood – I also sell (stickers, not patches) using stamps, and have only had one hiccup where a Buyer noted an item hadn’t arrived. I asked that he give it more time, and it showed up. Never had a complaint, or an item actually not arrive. If an item did go missing, the $ amount invested wouldn’t bother me, so I guess if you have valuable patches, you could consider shipping differently, but stamps work great for any low dollar item that fits in a regular envelope!
The big Meh continues for me:
12/1/19 – 12/7/19
Total Items In Store: 832
Items Sold: 16
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $380.20
Highest Sold Price: $60 BO on a pair of vintage plaid bedskirts – still haven’t paid; will open a case tomorrow (their revised date of payment)
Average Sold Price: $23.76
Cost of Items Sold: $33.44
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: 15ishI can’t stick my tongue out far enough to express last week’s sales, so I’ll just let the #s speak for themselves:
11/24/19 – 11/30/19
Total Items In Store: 833
Items Sold: 9
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $139.38
Highest Sold Price: $60 – Madame Alexander doll
Average Sold Price: $15.49
Cost of Items Sold: $10.94
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed last week: none (out of town)Lowest sales and ASP since tracking this info. I sent out a bunch of offers, though rarely get anything from that, even though I often take a goodly (~$10) chunk off. I’ve set up a few sales in the past few days. Have a full bag to take to USPS right now, thanks to yesterday and today’s sales – hope it keeps up through the week. Might just start feeling like 4th quarter if I can keep emptying my shelves of things….Here’s to the money following.
Thanks for the podcast, J & R! I didn’t even dare go to a thrift store on Friday, since I was in the DC burbs and really couldn’t handle the shopping crowds everywhere. Uffa!
