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I’m not entirely “responsible” for many of my solds last week – some freebies and commissions – but here are some nonetheless. Happy to have 5 shoe sales after adding in Returns. Hope the trend continues. Just bought another pair after mentally crossing them off my list. Hope springs eternal.
I bought these Lowa hiking boots for myself at a thrift store, planning to keep them myself. But even with thick socks they were a bit too big. Paid $25, and wasn’t going to budge on the price, even having a few offers made. Sold for $128 after the buyer confirmed that she could return for sizing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-Lowa-Renegade-GTX-Mid-Gore-Tex-Purple-Nubuck-Hiking-Boots-US-W10-EU-42/323347702971
I bought these hiking boots for myself off eBay a few years back (I have picky feet), and they’re just too stiff and rub on bad spots, so up they went. Took many months, and a sale to move them, at a great price for the Buyer IMO. Buyer messaged me after they arrived, with a photo of herself wearing them, gushing over them and the fact that they are the ones made in Italy (which you’ll see is in the item title). Win. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vasque-Sundowner-Black-Leather-Gore-Tex-Hiking-Trekking-Boot-Womens-9-Italy/323357341079
These Johnston & Murphy boots were one of my first purchases outside of selling my own things. They were a case in point in my inability to spot shoe damage before getting them home/photographed! Got them at a yard sale for $3, and in addition to being a large size 13, I must have had them priced too high for resale. I’ve lowered the price on them bit by bit over the last 3 years, and they finally went: https://www.ebay.com/itm/J-M-1850-Johnston-Murphy-Karnes-Cap-Toe-Brogue-Black-Leather-Chukka-Boot-13M/322333980381
From the ongoing poodle lot I purchased, my high dollar sale of the bunch – a set of two that I paid ~ $8 or so for (hard to equally price all the figurines, as they vary in size and value; sellable lots all things equal were $2 apiece); they sold for $50: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Flocked-Spaghetti-Ceramic-Lot-of-2-White-Poodles-Gold-Pink-Rose-6/323427871513
Finally, I still have some of my lot of WW2 escape maps that my stepfather got at an auction years ago. Got around to listing some of the few non-Asia ones I have, which I know can go for more. I had 4 of this one particular European one, and couldn’t determine how to price. Perhaps I rushed it. Certainly didn’t channel my inner Ryanne. But I was mildly scientific and cautious, pricing just one at $99. Sold within a day. A few days later, listed the next one at $125. Sold within a day. A few days later, listed the next one at $175, and it sold within a few days. Just listed the last one at $250; will let you know how it goes. As to my others, I’m thinking I’m going to have to lower prices perhaps to move a few….there are so many on eBay right now, moreso than I remember when I first listed them a year or two back. https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-AAF-Cloth-Escape-Map-Scarf-Mediterranean-No-4-Tyrol-No-6-Balkans-1943/323668676535
January and April of last year were my high points in sales, and this January is suggesting a repeat. Though I do wish more months were like this!
I prefer to list items for a fair and good price, sell them BIN, and forget about it, but am starting to tinker around a bit more with pricing and Best Offer to motivate sales. I think my preferred means of selling (and buying) might be in the minority, so better to get in the game and make the sales. And, as Retro mentioned above, shipping will likely become a greater part of the equation – though it hasn’t proven to be an issue with any Buyers in the last week. I see that First Class 1 oz (not letter) is now over $3. Many of my items are in the 1-2# weight class, and they’ll really beg a comparison between shipping methods to see what’s best. I’ll have to be strategic with shipping/sizes methinks.
01/27/18 – 02/01/18
Total Items In Store: 1010
Items Sold: 28
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $1,207.16
Highest Price Sold: $290 Cycleport Kevlar Motorcycle Jacket (commission sale); $129 Lowa hiking boots
Average Price Sold: $49.76
Cost of Items Sold: $131.17
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $51.00
Number of Items listed this week: ~30I agree, Steve, was just thinking that Doubly’s got great instincts for this! 🙂
Some highlights from 1/20-26:
Sold lots of high dollar commission sales this past week, and they had been around for a while. Glad to have the real estate back, and make the sales. Most of these were the result of adding Best Offer where it hadn’t been previously.
Ran with an offer of $450 for this banjo, as I had priced high: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Gold-Tone-MC-150R-P-Maple-Banjo-Resonator-Hard-Case-Tuner-Extras/323059658948
$210 for Gaerne moto boots: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gaerne-Balance-Oiled-Brown-Leather-Waterproof-Boots-Sz-EU48-US13/323429506612
Knew these to sell well on Amazon, so I tried my hand at RA. Don’t love the margins (well, mostly the upfront costs/gamble), or shopping enough to hit up stores regularly, but it was a win nonetheless. Paid ~$50 total, incl tax. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NWT-Chefs-Forged-Bistro-Woodgrain-Flatware-Set-20-Pcs-4-Ice-Cream-Spoons/323486449534
My love affair with English transferware continues. Every time I think “Don’t buy more china!” I find something that appeals to me emotionally or that I know will (should) do well. So, my Ikea Kallax unit is ever filling with stacks of china sets. Slow sales, but profitable – and nerve wracking to ship! Paid ~$24 for a lot of this china; these harder to find sized plates are the first to sell. Had them on BO as part of a sweeping push to move things. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-8-Vintage-Johnson-Bros-Botanical-Gretchen-Green-Salad-Luncheon-Plates-8/323546518781
Months back, I pushed a bit into clothing, an area I really don’t like and have little expertise in. Competition/saturation, low margins, and general disinterest have me back where I belong, with hard goods, china, and linens, but happy that my instincts did ok with this machine-washable LOFT blazer. Paid $5. Sold within a day of listing it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ann-Taylor-LOFT-Turquoise-Suit-Blazer-Jacket-Stand-Up-Collar-Fitted-Sz-4/323665006295
And shoes. I hate selling shoes. They just stack up for me, despite feeling like I have good brands and condition. I price on the higher end, and only recently added Returns back in to hopefully trigger sales. I also have many on sale right now. Would be fine to sell out of all shoes and never look back at them! First pair to sell after adding Returns was these nice leather high top Vans with back zipper. Too many emails between the Buyer and myself, with him making low offers, and then asking how to make the purchase with the lower shipping he wanted (and to the West Coast of course). Oy. And he appeared to be a Seller, too… https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Vans-Leather-Sk8-Hi-Zip-Black-w-Gum-Sole-Mens-US11-5-EU45/322922700792
PS – is anyone else experiencing a glitch when listing where when they make a Draft, a copy is also made? I’m having to manually delete drafts with every new one made…
Last week was very kind to me. I added Best Offer to several higher dollar items, and quickly sold some long-held commission items, including the top earner, a banjo. Also, after not having returns turned on for nearly all items, I added Returns to shoes, hoping to increase those slow sales as well.
01/20/18 – 01/26/18
Total Items In Store: 1015
Items Sold: 26
Net Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs – commission sales): $1431.07
Highest Price Sold: $450 – banjo, on commission
Average Price Sold: $55.04
Cost of Items Sold: $67.50
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $54.00
Number of Items listed this week: ~40J&R, did I miss any further talk on what your new project is set to be? Aside from the rental apartment – and will that be Airbnb as well?
Finally got out to some estate sales on Friday, and am looking again at online auctions, after a sourcing hiatus. Being picky about what’s purchased, and trying to keep in mind my shrinking storage space and the desire to mix in more short tail sales. Still working through the muddy minutae of a few opportunity piles (last night I was researching thimbles, today lotting up some crochet hooks, sigh) – I’d like the visual real estate of my office floor back, at least!
@TheHustler – don’t be embarrassed by using oxygen, especially if it’ll get you back in the game in a way that you appreciate, or feeling more comfortable on a daily basis. Get a little travel wheely and see if you don’t love it.
eBay for me pays for bills and investing. I’m doing the Uber Frugal Month Challenge via Frugalwoods this month, to see how I can bring down and keep down the various discretionary spending, including groceries. Food has always been an area where I’m happy to explore and spend, but I’m enjoying the creative aspects of drawing it in a bit. Plus, I love an uncrowded house and kitchen.
Beyond income, eBay is most important for the lifestyle and the bills I’m not paying. I source irregularly and not often weekly, so save on gas that would be spent on regular commutes. I have no clothes or accessories, etc that an office job requires. And on and on. I take mid-day breaks from listing or doing stuff around the house, when my energy is at its lowest, to read, nap, or do something different. I listen to podcasts that co-workers would hate to have me listening to all the time. And on and on. Spring and Summer will have me in the garden more during the daytime, and I can eBay in the evenings. When I want to visit friends or family in DC for a long weekend, I can do so with short notice and not having to ask for the time off. I do get bored with eBay, and I really don’t like trafficking in so much STUFF, but c’est la vie – it’s making a certain quality of life possible.
Oh yeah, my numbers for the week. As the slow start suggested, numbers were down from the previous week:
01/06/18 – 01/12/18
Total Items In Store: 1005
Items Sold: 23
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $678.90
Highest Price Sold: $100 – Garmin Edge 1000 Accessories Lot
Average Price Sold: $29.52
Cost of Items Sold: $52.00
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of Items listed this week: 61I don’t allow my gut to chime in too much on sales, as I look at the “Past 7 Days” Sales marker on my dashboard every day, and can see how things are changing or keeping up. Last week was great, but Sat and Sun dropped off badly with just 3 sales total. Hoping it picks back up, esp while I’m trying to stay motivated listing lots of smaller dollar lots of military stickers and whatnot. Trying to work through some piles I’ve been passing on for months…
01/06/18 – 01/12/18
Total Items In Store: 968
Items Sold: 28
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $929.70
Highest Price Sold: $90 – Bad Elf Pro 2200 BE-GPS-2200 Bluetooth GPS Receiver Data Logger
Average Price Sold: $33.20
Cost of Items Sold: $53.84
Returns/Refunds: 2 – a sport watch/activity tracker that wouldn’t charge for the Buyer and a lot of pottery shards that wasn’t the one shown in the photos (I didn’t label the baggies of shards, and didn’t properly ID the correct one)
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $226.44
Number of Items listed this week: ~30Very fun sales, Tom and Doubly! I agree with you Doubly on getting to learn about the items we sell – it’s one of my favorite parts, although there’s always the inner push to only spend as much time researching as necessary. Still feels like a great investment of time.
Some of my sales from last week:
I stumbled on these US-made Chuck Taylors at an estate sale and paid first day price for them, knowing I could add $100 to their new sale price: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EUC-Vintage-Converse-Chuck-Taylor-High-Tops-Blue-Made-in-USA-Mens-Sz-11/323566892739
I found this really lovely Jacob wool (particular lamb, particular shearing) throw blanket at an estate sale a year+ ago for $10. Thankfully, it had a label on it to give me useful info to search; made in the UK and goes for lots of money; it’s very thick and well made. Too nice for my house! 🙂 Finally sold at full price, and even after having been on sale at least twice: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-Grove-Weavers-Thick-Jacob-Wool-Blanket-Natural-Brown/323625023641
In VA, as in most states, folks are pretty school proud. I found this vintage UVA jacket at an estate sale, and figured it would sell. It took some a good while, and a sale, but it finally sold for $43. I think I paid ~$5. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-UVA-University-of-VA-Cotton-Zip-Front-Champion-Jacket-Coat-1940s-Sz-L/323313537518
I haven’t bought lampshades for resale for some time, mostly because I haven’t seen any good ones AND they take up a good deal of my small real estate. I picked up 4 of these cute vintage pom pom trimmed ones at an estate sale for 1-2 dollars total. Have sold 2 of them now in the last week after many months of being listed: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Ivory-Fabric-Grosgrain-Black-Pom-Pom-Fringe-Clip-On-Lamp-Shade-5-25/323158931338
I have a good source for sea glass and sea tumbled pottery shards and have so many of them that I lotted them up a month or two back. I’ve sold 2-3 14oz bags in the last few weeks, on sale: https://www.ebay.com/itm/14oz-Multicolored-China-Dish-Pottery-Shards-Sea-Glass-Tumbled-Chesapeake-Bay/323544965793
@Marie in Florida – ditto what others are saying: good items, competitively high prices, but the photos stood out to me as well.
I like to see a good establishing shot of the entire item as the first photo. When possible, I use up the entire 12 photo allowance. For shoes, I use a regular rotation of shots that are the same from listing to listing (not that I sell a lot of shoes…oy).
@Doubly – well done with your goals! I love that your $ goal and my actual numbers were closely aligned — you while working a FT other job, and me while this mostly was my FT job! Ha! This is not to deter you from making this your FT job; I know we’d do very different takes on it all. Let’s call it my “FT” job to be more accurate. I have some other income streams, as well as a voracious need to read and work in the yard… It all just made me laugh. 🙂 Also, have you looked into used vans with rental car places like Enterprise? Some of them sell off old vehicle inventory. It wouldn’t necessarily ensure a better vehicle, but at least a new stream to look into.
Looking back at my numbers and sales the last 2 years, 4th quarter is usually strong (which it really wasn’t in 2018), but moreso the first 4 months of the year have been historically good. This year is suggesting that trend will continue – fingers crossed! Still moving some early inventory at lower prices (fine), as well as newer inventory at the more attractive prices. Last week was ok, but since Sunday sales have been very strong, so looking forward to reporting #s next week. No expectations, though! I know better at this point, and will just keep on keeping on.
12/30/18 – 011/05/18
Total Items In Store: 966
Items Sold: 28
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs [shipping and fees]): $735.32
Highest Price Sold: $125 – vintage Made in USA Converse Chuck Taylors
Average Price Sold: $26.26
Cost of Items Sold: $48.85
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $57
Number of Items listed this week: ~44@Stalix, I’m interested as well, but likely couldn’t do a full buyout due to space limitations. Would still love to know details. You can message me at eecari27@ gmail.com
@T-Satt – thanks! You’ll see COGS has a little + sign at the end….I wasn’t tracking my #s the same in January, so it’s likely a bit more. I did do well this year with freebies, dead inventory from a former business, and sold off more of my own items that had been used. So, there were some sunk costs not accounted for. But. We’ll see how well I can keep it up as I try to scale things up just a scootch more in 2019 – ie, 1500 items in store. That should max out my space unless I move to just selling ephemera!
This was a really good exercise for me. I’ve always liked numbers and exercises where you crunch down like this to the details, but I’m not naturally good at it. I think I captured it here:
Total Sales – $48,778.31
COGS – $2,186.38+
Selling Costs (fees & shipping) – $13,954.34
Gross Profit – $32,637.59Total # of Sales – 894
Jan 1 # of Listings – ~700
Dec 31 # of Listings – 966
New Listings in 2018 – 11922018 STR – 2.2% weekly average
2018 ASP – $34.31 weekly average
Avg sales/wk – 19
Avg listings/wk – 26Happy New Year, everyone.
Will listen to the podcast tomorrow. Looking forward!
12/23/18 – 12/29/18
Total Items In Store: 950
Items Sold: 24
Sales (Total Sales – Selling Costs): $653.70
Highest Price Sold: $75 Vintage Carrom tabletop/board game
Average Price Sold: $27.24
Cost of Items Sold: $31.56
Returns/Refunds: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of Items listed this week: unsure – I was out of town some, I’ve listed some, have created dozens of drafts, and have also purged a lot of low dollar items that have been in inventory for years that I don’t care to store any longer.
