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We started watching Alone as well, on your recommendation. I think we have got to season 3 now. It’s an interesting show! It’s remarkable to me how much of the winning formula is a combination of either finding calories, or learning to make good decisions and not have a mental breakdown while subsisting on near-zero calories.
Thanks for the podcast! 🙂 Great to hear from you guys again.
We had a bit of an adventure this weekend. I got a response to my kijiji ad ISO a warehouse, offering me a 4000 sq ft quonset for a rent of $800/mo. It was too far away from us but it started our land hunting a little more in earnest. We went to see a few properties yesterday. The goal is (a) a place with a big quonset or space to build one, (b) with a few acres as well & potential for us to build there when we retire, plus have big gardens, chickens etc. now, (c) within 30 min, (d) for under $200k (which would equate to an $800-900 mortgage payment, which is about my limit).
One way to see it is I’m hoping eBay will allow me to monetize having an acreage so it’s not a mere extravagance.
I am encouraged by what I’m seeing – although we haven’t found the perfect place, there are some in the ballpark. There was one quonset on 4 acres for $165, but too far away and the quonset was in bad shape. There was really nice bare land, with beautiful trees on 5 acres, for $270k but I bet we could knock $100k off the price. I think we will figure this out this year. I am looking forward to all the things we could do with such a property!
I had probably my best single week on eBay last week, thanks to one big sale.
Sales: CAD$8765, 15 sales, COGS: $831, Fees: ~$1185, Postage: $262 –> Gross profit: $6488
Expenses: $942, New inventory: $1920 –> Cashflow: $4457
The big sale was two hydraulic crimpers to the same buyer for a total of $6500. I think I found these on ebay for a total of $500. There is a moderate risk of return but I am pretty sanguine.
Had a few other decent sales, like a lathe chuck for $550, but the rest are rounding errors. Does seem like sales are starting to pick up in the fall though!
So I listened to this again in my commute, feeling like company. And, did I hear you right that you guys do not claim COGS as an expense on your taxes? You just pay tax on the whole gross sale? (Less shipping I hope).
Or was that just regarding items you formerly owned that you subsequently sold?
Hello all.
Took the weekend off to go camping with the family. Decent week on ebay.
Sales: CAD$2316, 16 sales, COGS: $349, Fees: ~$316, Postage: $326 –> Gross profit: $1326
Expenses: $66, New inventory: $943 –> Cashflow: $666 (!)
No huge sales, highest was an RFID tag reader for $300, security camera for $250.
Have often asked myself that question while reopening hernia surgery scars trying to load and unload stuff. The answer is that I’m a cheap goat and I like getting 6L/100km mileage for all the commuting I do. So I sorta just muddle through.
I sell some stuff that needs to be shipped freight but try to keep it light enough so I can lift it myself, albeit with difficulty. I guess “industrial parts” sounds heavy but most of my stuff is not that huge, average item is probably just a few pounds.
Great summary! It’s very heartening not only to see rising profits, but also more steady profits that you didn’t have to work any longer or harder for. Looks like you have a bit of both going on.
I believe in paying for experiments. In other words, when you’re picking outside your comfort zone (e.g., an auction for higher end stuff that you’re not used to) just accept that you might lose some money, and go ahead and win some lots. First you become the kind of person who resells old paintings, or big ugly valves like me, or whatever, then you can learn and hone your skills to actually do it well. The first step is getting your feet wet and becoming part of that world.
The transition from being time-limited to cash-limited as you buy higher-end stuff is kind of tricky. Learning to accept offers as long as they’re remotely reasonable, versus holding out for every penny. Being wary of excessive long-tailedness, or at least realizing that IF it’s very long tail it better also be very cheap. Keeping cash on hand so it’s available when you need to go ALL IN on something amazing.
Learning that “percentage profit” is often less important that your implicit hourly rate. Something you get for free and sell for $5 is technically “infinity % profit” but it’s also a griiiind to try to run a business on that model. Something you buy for $200, spend 30 minutes on cradle to grave, and sell for $500 is “only” 125% profit, and yes it ties up your funds, but then you make, implicitly, $500/hr on the thing. BIG difference especially when you find a lot of your precious time is being eaten up by this ebay thing.
Most of all I feel it is important to try to become exposed to bigger and bigger opportunities. Compare the range of possible profits on a single item in a thrift store setting (most stuff will sell for $20 to $300, you might make the local news if you find something worth more than $2000), versus at some auctions where stuff that’s worth thousands sells routinely and, occasionally, for fractions of what it’s worth. Just showing up to those kinds of places and being alert gives you an edge.
Morning all!
A good week on ebay again. I spent most of my profits on inventory, but that’s OK.
Sales: CAD$3286, 12 sales, COGS: $141, Fees: ~$441, Postage: $268 –> Gross profit: $2436
Expenses: $160, New inventory: $1376 –> Cashflow: $1042
Sold 2 electrical starters for $600 each, still have 10 of these left I think.
Bought a huge lot of brand new video-enabled VoIP office phones (220 phones total) for $1100 on ebay. The brand is a little obscure but being into them for a few bucks each, I am sure I can make money. Have them listed for $150 each now…. if that gets no bites I will keep dropping till some units move. I have 55 big boxes of them so I can’t afford for them to sit in storage forever… also listed locally.
I am still picking them up from the seller… it will take about 5 trips in my Honda Fit pickup truck.
Yep, baby’s good, thanks! 🙂 Hard to find time for ebay!
My numbers kinda live and die by a small number large sales, so there’s more variance. Though I will say, July and August have been very very slow.
Glad to hear you guys had a good week on ebay. Mine was fairly dismal as far as sales, although I did list a lot.
Sales: CAD$864, 6 sales, COGS: $62, Fees: ~$123, Postage: $137 –> Gross profit: $542
Expenses: $44, New inventory: $482 –> Cashflow: $78
Listed: $1050, 50 items
Sold a faucet for $160 and a security camera for $270.
Good morning!
Decent week on ebay for me.
Sales c/w shipping: CAD$2499, 14 sales, COGS: $149, Fees: ~$365, Postage: $640 –> Gross profit: $1346
Expenses: $0, New inventory cost: $1100 –> Cashflow: $156
Got a bunch of microscope stuff for $15, already sold one lens in a few days for $380 to France. Also moved a whole bunch of fibre optic terminals I got at the dump for $5, they sold for $430 with like $550 shipping (weighed 70lbs altogether) to somebody in the south.
Spent a lot of money on ebay sourcing… I guess we will see how well bone drills sell.
I do think if you want to break into a new area, in this case, the high-end stuff sold at the end of the auction, it may make sense to just commit to an experiment. Like, you see a piece of artwork you think is cool, and you commit to being high bidder even if it goes 3x as high as you’d “like” to pay. Do that a few times, sell a couple things (even at close to breakeven) and you’ll learn a lot, and feel like you have “permission” to continue doing that.
The nice thing about auctions is if you win something for $350, it means somebody else on earth (indeed, someone else in your local area) was willing to pay $325, so even if you overpaid, the loss can’t be THAT huge (well, as long as the other bidder wasn’t blindly bidding based on the same logic!).
Nice work on the art! Yep, especially with art, I think to at least some extent the price is what you make it. Imagine the kind of person shopping for art on eBay – they are not likely to be hard up for cash!
I agree that high dollar items mean more scavenging time relative to listing and shipping… to me, that’s a plus. I like scavenging better. I also think if you want to grow your business, scavenging is the lever you can move that actually makes the most difference, once your basic business is running smoothly.
I had a better week on eBay – July was my slowest month in over a year though, overall.
Sales: CAD$2119, 14 sales, COGS: $1044, Fees: ~$289, Postage: $318 –> Gross profit: $469
Expenditures: $955 –> Cashflow: $558
Got some good online auction hauls.
Best sale was a bearing for $590 (paid $320, so I’d call this a mediocre buy) and a centrifuge rotor for $350 (paid $50).
Morning guys!
We are sort of over-insured right now… I think having kids was the catalyst for that because you run through all the nightmare scenarios and have to plan for them. It works out to $9000 a year for all of our home, and life etc. insurances. But every time I try to cut one, I talk myself out of it.
I had another slow week on eBay. Definitely summer doldrums.
Sales: CAD$766, 8 sales, COGS: $205, Fees: ~$115, Postage: $91 –> Gross profit: $354
Expenditures: $81 –> Cashflow: $479
