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11/26/2018 at 12:58 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52287
It’s definitely interesting. Yes, I want to know his net profit, but also his hours! Having to leave a family gathering early – is that an indicator?
I mean, let’s say his average item is $30. $100k/$30 = 3333 items. Let’s assume 10 min per item to pick, pack, and ship – that’s 555 hours. Over a 45 day period, you’re talking 12 hours a day of work!
If net profit is 30% = $30k, that’s $54/hr. Not bad! (Of course this doesn’t count the prior work of listing etc.) And I think 10 minutes is light for the pick, pack, & ship time&motion.
Don’t get me wrong, $30k net profit in 45 days is amazing, but if my napkin math is approximately right, it sounds like too much of a grind for my taste. Admire the hustle though!
EDIT: Perhaps he meant he has to go home to ship replenishments into FBA. My whole logic falls apart if that’s true. But if he’s selling Amazon MF then it’s right.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
simplicio.
11/26/2018 at 10:22 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52265Wow, awesome pinball machine! Is that something you often sell?
11/26/2018 at 10:00 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52262Thanks for answering my question re stolen goods. I guess selling vintage stuff does probably protect you somewhat. I’m not an iPhone seller but I like selling construction equipment and when I see it for sale locally I often wonder if it “walked off” a construction site.
If my spend is not too high on tonight’s auction I may buy some survey equipment locally. The guy has already agreed to $1800 for an item that, working, should bring about $5000. Again, makes me wonder. I’m covering myself partially by going to his house and taking screenshots of our text convos, his address & phone, etc. Hopefully that covers my bases enough.
11/26/2018 at 9:16 am in reply to: The highs and lows and self torture of selling large items. #52256I love the big stuff. Nobody wants to sell it. Bring it on!! As long as it justifies $10 worth of bubble wrap I’m gonna descend on that stuff hungry vulture style.
I usually overestimate the weight and then make some money on the shipping too, which is a nice post-sale easter egg.
11/26/2018 at 9:11 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52253Interesting that you guys are considering a brick & mortar business! I think it’s really cool, especially for your community, although I am personally not interested… Seems like ebay is a sweet spot of flexibility and low risk and I’d like to keep exploring its possibilities for a while yet.
Sales: CAD$1157, 11 items, COGS: $306 –> Item profit: $655
Expenditures: $357 (incl. $220 return on wife’s old iPhone) –> After-tax cashflow: $434
Hours: 7.5, $58/hr after tax
Listed: $200, 5 items
Notable sales: 3 phase motor $200, shower rough in valve $185, constant pressure pump $175.Yeah, good week, but Black Friday etc. was a big nothingburger for me.
So this happens to me occasionally. I list an item in multiple quantity. It doesn’t sell at all, or sells very sporadically, and then all of a sudden I sell it to 2 people in a single day. On Sunday I sold 2 of a long tail item I haven’t sold in months, to 2 different people, on amazon and ebay, within the same hour. *shrug* Somebody mentioned it on a forum or something?
Haven’t actually spent the money yet but I’ve gone all in on an out of town auction. Mostly various tools & equipment. Total autobids are about $1000 but I’m anticipating around $500 spend.
That hydronic valve is the kind of stuff I like to sell to a T. It’s a long tail business & industrial item!
I checked my spreadsheet not ebay listings, both for estimated future sale price and actual sales. The future sale prices are pretty pessimistic – if I think I’ll sell for $100 I usually value it at $50.
Under $50: 369 items listed, 188 sold
$50-100: 90 items listed, 142 sold
$100-200: 49 items listed, 110 sold
$200-500: 31 items listed, 57 sold
$500+: 15 items listed, 21 soldThis is over 2 years roughly.
There is the additional question of, where do you want to spend your time?
Personally, I’m in this for the love of the hunt. Not for the love of listing and shipping.
Cradle to grave, on average, I believe a single one-of item usually takes 30 minutes of time to find, process, list, store, pick, pack, and provide customer service on.
(If it sells at all.)
Assume a 10x COGS model and run some basic numbers, you find the following:
A $10 item nets you $14/hr before tax
$20 item –> $28/hr
$40 item –> $56/hr
$100 item –> $140/hr
$200 item –> $280/hrOne may object 10x COGS is unrealistic for $200 items. Very well, go to as high as a 3x model and buy a $200 item for $70, you’re still making $187 an hour on that item.
This strategy requires more capital and is obviously easier for folks with a full time job or established business. But if your time is valuable to you you want to be moving this direction whenever possible, away from the $10-30 grind.
Happy thanksgiving to you all, though ours was ages ago already.
Remember the secret to good turkey: lots of basting with butter, and let it rest a few hours before serving!
Very thankful for the community myself.
Yes. Solon said, call no man happy till he is dead. Likewise, call no sale a sale till the buyer has paid. (And, technically, 30 days have elapsed since delivery).
The unpaid assistant is great. I send a reminder through the app the day after, and then I burn zero further calories.
I hear you. I’m afraid I’m still in the “pay bills and get out of debt” stage of ebay so it’s not a very interesting story. The longer term goal is to have zero debt, build some intergenerational wealth, and spend less time in the office (less but probably not zero).
Feels like there may be room for a subforum about the running-a-business part of this. I would probably post there some. The real ebay inside baseball doesn’t interest me that much but I always like to talk about numbers, cashflow, financing etc.
I had a slow week too apart from one great sale. It really doesn’t feel like the holidays are going to be a big deal for me… kind of expected that because my stuff’s not too seasonal. Oh well, slow and steady.
Sales: CAD$1030, 7 items (avg $147/item), COGS: $151 –> Item profit: $722
Expenditures: $147 –> Cashflow after taxes: $538
Listed: $215, 2 items
Hours: 3, $180/hr
Notable sales: last week I bought a box of 7 toners for $10. I’ve now sold 6 of them for a total of $662. I like this sale for being a good flip in both % and $ terms.
Scavenging: bought a constant pressure pump for $50 on Wednesday at auction, sold for $175 today (so not included in totals above). Also bought a big lot of flame resistant PPE thingies for $100 + shipping, waiting to have it delivered to me by the auction house. I think I figured it to be worth $2000 on paper. It’ll be a “pipeline” as you guys say.I am trying an experiment to try to move more stuff. I relisted my entire store, and I dropped all prices by 20% with a $30 floor. So, we’ll see what comes of it. So far, not a whole lot.
In faith, I’m surprised you told the bank about your ebay plans. I probably would have touted the 9-to-5. But it sounds like you were convincing! 🙂
11/17/2018 at 12:21 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 380: What Do Lifetime Sales Really Mean? #51862Are you seriously suggesting that ebay ought to be able to add numbers? Come on, let’s stay out of the realm of science fiction here.
I would try listing Amazon merchant fulfilled too. If you’re anything like me, sales will still mostly be on ebay but every so often somebody on amazon buys for 2x your price.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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