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@almasty, appreciate your insights on sales over the past decade, and enjoyed the podcast and general chatter about recessioning, if you will.
I went into grad school in 2009, voluntarily leaving what felt like a dead end job, and felt the lean-ness of the job market after graduating in 2011. Now, my field was sustainable agriculture and food systems change, which is always lean on the paying side of good work, where positions are few and candidates many, but I really branched out in applications and in my considerations of work. It was a tough time, and it didn’t help to be living in DC at the time, with city rent, etc.
Sales have been low for another week, and I have not been consistently listing since before the weekend. Back to it tomorrow. Spent the weekend going through my grandmother’s house/belongings in prep for an estate sale and if I never see another basket, gewgaw, P Buckley Moss print, or permanent flower, I’ll be a happy lady! Was a long weekend of travel and work. 3 days this week I’ll be working my part time job doing organizing/senior move managing, and I’m often too tired and disinterested to list much on those evenings. Stuff fatigue! I can occasionally score an item or two that folks are donating, so that’s a nice bonus to the work. Today I only scored the extra task of taking towels and blankets to the SPCA, after which I visited with the animals and almost went home with a cat. Alas.
Was really hoping for more like double these numbers:
03/17/19 – 03/23/19
Total Items In Store: 1075
Items Sold: 18
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $410.07
Highest Price Sold: $70 Tarot of Oz
Average Price Sold: $22.78
Cost of Items Sold: $20
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $0
Number of Items listed this week: ~40@ericmday – you’re likely eligible for the ACA healthcare credit, which can drastically lower your monthly premiums. It’s based on what you expect to earn per month, a guesstimate, then at tax time, you settle up based on actual earnings. The plans are decent. I rarely see doctors and have used this program for 3 years now, I think. I’ve paid less than $50/month, and have a $100 deductible, and an acceptable oop maximum.
Determining what eligibility you have for the credit is built in to the heathcare.gov application online.
Yeah, I think I’m too disinterested right now in taking the operation much larger. I like keeping things compact, even the tetris-ing of my work space, though I’d love to be able to do some other things in this room, like get my sewing machine back out and give it a whirl!
There is a storage facility within a half mile of the house, so that is ideal if I wanted to head in that direction. Sourcing in this area isn’t great, so I’d have to change my situation a bit to source further afield/overnight. Happy to do that, just haven’t made it a priority yet. We shall see. I love (trying) to keep things as simple as possible, but also trying to keep an eye on my profitability – and enjoyment factors too! 🙂
@Sharyn, I’ve had similar experiences with online auction mishaps, though not with quite that distance of a drive – so sorry to hear that! Once, they were loading up a counter with things I had purchased, and kept shoving stuff up there, pushing off some ceramic items that were just set into a plastic bag. Of course they broke into pieces when they hit the floor. Another time, same place, they didn’t have a faux Xmas tree that was part of a small lot of items, and the primary item I was looking to get in the lot. I was refunded the $1-2 dollar it all cost, but the value wasn’t in the actual cost, and the 1.5 hr RT was a bust. Bleh.
@Retro, I’ve played disc golf before and enjoyed it, though I can’t call myself a disc golfer. I should find some folks around here and get back into it. The entry cost is rather low, and it’s nice to hit the course in the middle of the day! 🙂
Average week with a solid higher dollar sale to sweeten the earnings:
03/10/19 – 03/16/19
Total Items In Store: 1058
Items Sold: 20
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $655.14
Highest Price Sold: $230 – Jack George briefcase
Average Price Sold: $35.52
Cost of Items Sold: $81.49
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $22.24
Number of Items listed this week: ~20The briefcase was one I mentioned a year back, a pricey NWT gamble at a local thrift store, but one I chanced would pay off at some point. Took a best offer. Buyer noted he needed it by Thurs, and I instructed him to select the shipping method that best suited his deadline, etc. Hope it gets to him in time, so that the sale isn’t canceled….
Love hearing about everyone’s high school rides! My Dad hooked me up with my first car, a ’77 Olds Starfire, flat black on the outside with a red interior – super hot! The high beams were a button on the floor that you pushed on and off with your foot. It was super sporty, and while we planned to put a new, bigger engine in it, it died suddenly and never moved from my Dad’s yard until, ahem, several vehicles were removed years later. Sigh. He then got me into a Honda Civic, and taught me to drive stick with it. Not as cool, save the manual trans. What I really wanted before I could drive were those super cool flip-up headlights; my Civic was a later model. 🙁
Jay, thanks for sharing the links to the gal doing great work in Buffalo. I love smaller towns, and even the possibilities that medium sized towns hold (I’ve lived in Louisville KY on more than one occasion and love it) and would like to leave this area, though my partner’s family job will keep him here, amongst other things. It’s a hot, sprawling suburban mess with no sense of place. So I will armchair through you, and her in Buffalo. I’m tempted to attend her talk in Petersburg, as I’d love to see/hear what might be happening there. They have so much great old architecture in that town…
Average week, though I’d really like to move the Average week numbers a bit North! 2019 goals perhaps. Lots of things pulling on my time right now, and I don’t know that it will let up until late Spring/Summer, just in time for sales to drop off… 😀
03/03/19 – 03/09/19
Total Items In Store: 1062
Items Sold: 23
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $655.14
Highest Price Sold: $150 – Tod’s black leather chelsea boots
Average Price Sold: $28.48
Cost of Items Sold: $29.45 (sold a lot of items that came free to me!)
Returns/Refunds: $40, partial refund for watch needing a repair
Money Spent on New Inventory Last Week: $93.86
Number of Items listed this week: ~20RE the podcast, I imagine some focused vintage and clothes sellers have repeat customers, Sellers and Buyers who have brands in common, and Sellers that have proven to have a pipeline and accuracy/quality in listing. Looking at you, SEAM Store! The only repeat sellers I see myself having are perhaps when I have a cache of similar “family” items, or with the sea glass/pottery shards I get from my parent’s collection from time to time.
Part of me is having larger house envy!
I can’t fit that much unlisted stuff in our tiny space. I have the only spare room as my “office,” and it’s a mix of inventory storage, shipping space, photography studio, and unlisted backlog. Thank goodness it has a large-ish closet! I believe I’ve maxed out the storage capability of the room, but I tweak it ever so often, and have surprised myself with how much I hold there. I see myself being totally maxed out (depending on what the inventory is) at 1,500 items in my store (currently, 1,080).
The backlog often spills out into the adjacent living room and loveseat, which drives me bonkers, as well as the floor of my office. I start to feel paralysis when too many surfaces are covered, so I tend to organize loosely by type into bankers boxes and stack under the room’s center table. Loose items get stacked on top of the table, which would ideally be my packing station and cleared off each day…goals!
I also have storage – minimal inventory and all larger/unbroken-down boxes – in the rare basement we’re so lucky to have in this area.
I went from a listing goal with a number attached to it, to just listing every day when at all possible. Not always gonna happen, but a good and attainable goal that I’m telling myself to stop stressing over. More of the turtle than the hare. And I often take the time to re-organize my spaces so that they both work better for me and make me feel better/more productive working in them (not to mention keep it possible for my partner to ship for me when I’m out of town!).
# of items sold dipped hard this week, ugh.
02/24/18 – 03/02/18
Total Items In Store: 1069
Items Sold: 16
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $347.74
Highest Price Sold: $70 Haflinger Grizzly Torben Wool Clog Slippers
Average Price Sold: $21.73
Cost of Items Sold: $77.96T
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $27.75
Number of Items listed this week: few, was in work training and traveling much of the week.I’ve spent some time with eBay selling FT, but have mostly moved it to PT while pursuing some other interests and a few other income streams. Variety suits me.
Did a bunch of sourcing over the weekend while visiting my Mom out of town (not reflected in last week’s #s). Lots of textiles, and even more shoes, despite them being a slower seller for me – can’t help myself when the brand/condition is right.
Average week, ending with no sales on Saturday (and then just 1 on Sunday, which is quite unusual). C’est la vie. Spent Sunday working on tax stuff, so today’s show was quite on point. Working on honing some info tracking systems, and looking at some local CPAs (after considering doing it solo). Early enough that I have time to mull it over.
02/17/18 – 02/23/18
Total Items In Store: 1081
Items Sold: 26
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $896.83
Highest Price Sold: $170 Electrolux vacuum (I ate $50 in shipping fees, but still made a nice profit)
Average Price Sold: $34.49
Cost of Items Sold: $116.39
Returns/Refunds: $0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $18
Number of Items listed this week: 51Earnings were half of last week’s. So it goes. Onward and upward…
02/10/18 – 02/16/18
Total Items In Store: 1056
Items Sold: 17
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $554.35
Highest Price Sold: $116 – Blundstone boots that I had bought for myself and didn’t fit
Average Price Sold: $32.61
Cost of Items Sold: $153.10
Returns/Refunds: $84, for a tarot deck gone abroad that Buyer claimed was missing a card.
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $98.75
Number of Items listed this week: 30Trying to find the fire under my butt that got me to 500 items a few years back (in line with the manifesto), not that I can go too much higher in inventory due to current storage. Starting to look into alternative income streams that would complement the current scenario, and not require off-site storage.
Yup, I’m 1054/2013. It’s an extra step that not everyone bothers to take, even if it helped influence their purchase (though with what I sell, I’m not sure that’s the case).
@Idahoarder – how did you ship that Griffey?? Great sales errybody. Here are some of my highlights from last week:
This was the 3rd of the 4 of these WW2 Mediterranean escape maps I have to sell, and my highest priced sale of last week. Been inching the price up with each sale, after the first 2 sold immediately. Gonna give this last one a few months at $250 before I lower the price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-AAF-Cloth-Escape-Map-Scarf-Mediterranean-No-4-Tyrol-No-6-Balkans-1943/323677718187
Picked these NIB Doc Martens (womens 11) up in an online auction for $15. Figured they’d sell quickly, and they exceeded my expectations within a few short days: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Dr-Martens-1460-8-Eye-Black-Combat-Boot-W11-EU43-UK9/323673184244
Sold another lot within a larger lot of transferware china I picked up a few months back. I think I paid around $20 for about 30-35 pieces in this pattern. Definitely looked up the pattern before I bought, as china can be so hit or miss. Sold 8 luncheon plates the previous week, and now the 8 berry bowls: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-8-Vintage-Johnson-Bros-Gretchen-Green-Small-Berry-Dessert-Bowls-5-25/323546504906
Picked up this gorgeous little ocean painting via an online auction recently and thought about keeping it myself I liked it so much. Paid $22. Don’t know what I was thinking in pricing by not aiming higher; I suppose I was influenced by what else was out there, and another artist of the same name letting me know it wasn’t hers. Underpriced it. Sold within a day or two for $78: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Oil-Painting-Ocean-Waves-Rough-Surf-Signed-Luker-8-5-x-10-5-Framed/323682110962
In my early days of buying, I got this lovely beaver fur pillbox hat for $20 at an estate sale. I might have considered keeping it if my head weren’t so huge, and I had better reason to wear stately wool hats. FINALLY sold, after ~2.5 years for $50: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Vintage-Beaver-Fur-Pillbox-Hat-21-John-Seelye-Louisville-USA/322359100920
This is the heating pad I grew up with. Was in a pile of things my Mom always has gathered in her house for me to take home and do whatever with. I held onto it for a while, but so rarely use them, decided to put it up on eBay. Sold for $25: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Vintage-1960s-70s-GE-P57-Green-Floral-Electric-Heating-Pad-Push-Button-Works/323174223317
Thankfully, the death pile minutae that I waded into last week – including stickers and thimbles – yielded some fast fruit (and new thimble knowledge). I sold this sterling silver and enamel thimble for $25 and the Buyer wrote to tell me how much she loves it. I have no idea where my lot of thimbles even came from at this point… https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sterling-Silver-935-Enamel-Double-Rose-Flower-Thimble-Sz-7/323682125751
I have some nice sterling silver earrings up for sale, but what’s getting love are some plastic, possible Bakelite earrings that I finally got around to listing last week, from a large lot purchased in 2017. I filled my car twice with the amount of stuff I got from that estate sale auction (several closets full of stuff, and many things went to Goodwill), and so I’m cutting myself some slack for not having the littlest bits listed yet. First pair to sell I found to be the least attractive, but there you go. This pair paid for several of the lots, so I’m happy. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Plastic-Bakelite-Ivory-Denim-Blue-Pierced-Hoop-Earrings-1-1-4/323678044417
Oh, also meant to post this article from the Washington Post on retail arbitrage:
Good Luck, Retro, and Congrats, Doubly!
My January highs are now lost in the longest month of the year…. 🙂 Strange how sales just turned off this past weekend (1 sale each day), compared to the 4 weeks prior. So it goes. Last week’s last hurrah:
02/03/18 – 02/09/18
Total Items In Store: 1044
Items Sold: 24
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $1,080.83
Highest Price Sold: $175 – WWII AAF Cloth Escape Map Scarf Mediterranean
Average Price Sold: $45.03
Cost of Items Sold: $86.55
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $7.40
Number of Items listed this week: 60As for inventory, I spend what I feel comfortable with (total and per item) when I can get it….not sourcing consistently supports this. If I feel that I’m spending more than getting in, I just dial it back and tend to the piles (and get anxious and grumpy about not enough cha-ching action). Like SEAM, I’m looking forward to Spring, and getting some plants and crops in the ground.
In this still-new-to-me house, I’m trying to determine if I want to save/spend any earnings on help with the grounds…we have about an acre, and I need large shrubs cleared, a large garden tilled (unless I go with raised beds), fencing for the garden, and landscaping for the rest. I love love love plants, and know what I can spend on my own, so part of me is actually thinking I might be able to save a bit in hiring someone, for example, to do the design of the large rain garden, etc, rather than me tinkering around with this and that plant over the years. Thennnnn, the other part of me is thinking take that money and spend it on plants after you design your own x, y, and z (and always tossing $$ into my SEP). Nothing here’s happening fast, so I still have time to overthink it all… 🙂
