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Congratulations J and R on the new project, you two are improving your local area and bringing in the tourists to help your local economy.
Monthly numbers for September: 09/1 – 09/30
Total listings: 1674
Items sold: 53
Sales: $1,178.05
Highest price sold: $282.00 Seven Lots of Tasmania, Australia Slides to one buyer
Average price sold: $22.23
Cost of items sold: $73.24 / average cost: 1.38 each
Spent on new inventory: $102.00 – all have been listed and so far have generated $224 in sales.
Number of items listed: 112I’ve been trying to cut down on buying stuff and going through my death boxes, I put stuff I buy in bankers’ boxes with a receipt of when, where, and how much I spent. Going through them now, I often wonder why the heck did I buy this. Items that are not worth selling or making a lot of, end up being donated. I spent Friday night going through a banker’s box full of photos I got from one estate sale, only to realize they are all from the 1980s and 1990s, for me that is too recent to sell. The name on them is very common, so finding the person’s relatives is not going to work, but I discovered from the images that the guy was a police officer in a nearby large city. So next week, I’m going to go to the station and see if anybody there remembers him. There are quite a few images of officers and such, so hopefully they will take them off of my hands for free and maybe they could find his relatives. I would hate to just donate them or trash them.
Update: Since I wrote this, I have stopped by the Police Station. Turns out they have a department historian who was happy to take them. I made sure to separate and put in a separate envelope with a big X on it the photos that were very risque just in case they do go back to the family.
I finally made it over 1600 listings, I was very close last month but missed it by just 7 listings.
Monthly numbers for August: 08/1 – 08/31
Total listings: 1624
Items sold: 47
Sales: $1,102.79
Highest price sold: $160 – 4 lots of vintage slides
Average price sold: $23.46
Cost of items sold: $113.52 / average cost: 2.42 each
Spent on new inventory: $0.00
Number of items listed: 87My numbers were kind of low until last Wednesday when I had a $300 plus day. That was mainly due to listing several lots of 1950s slides that were taken in Korea. I may have been able to list them higher and wait longer for the sales, but I only had $20 invested in them and I was happy to have the sales to push me over the $1,000 mark for August.
J and R, you must have a touch of magic to transform that old-looking shack into the beautiful Air B and B it now is – fantastic eyes. It has been amazing following your adventures from when you started refurbishing your first live-in house to now when you have four Air B and B’s along with a coffee shop, and a coffee bean roasting facility.
Monthly numbers for July: 07/1 – 07/31
Total listings: 1593
Items sold: 38
Sales: $788.21
Highest price sold: $140 Ghost on Pumpkin Blow-Mold – local pickup
Average price sold: $20.74
Cost of items sold: $51.40 / average cost: 1.35 each
Spent on new inventory: $12
Number of items listed: 89About the same numbers as last month although I did have two $100 plus sales, both for items that I paid less than $5 for. I have been holding back from going to estate and yard sales as I just have too much stuff to go through.
I was happy with my numbers this month, even though I didn’t do many listings, as I had my store on vacation for about 10 days to recover from a bad cold/cough (I did test negative for Covid thankfully).
Monthly numbers for June: 06/1 – 06/30
Total listings: 1537
Items sold: 45
Sales: $878.66
Highest price sold: $70 Harley Davidson Leather Wallet
Average price sold: $19.52
Cost of items sold: $96.09 / average cost: 2.13 each
Spent on new inventory: $10
Number of items listed: 29
While driving to the post office, I saw a yard sale at which I ended up spending $10. Two of the items I purchased for $1 a pack ended up being My second highest sale for the month at $69.90 which were two vintage 6-packs of men’s briefs. That is something I always purchase when they are set out but I kind of find it hard to ask for at sales.
Looking forward to hearing about the side projects that you have going on J&R.
Amatino: Thanks, I’ll try that next time. I’ve also heard of baking soda working and Activated charcoal being good also. I do have some activated charcoal, I would of used it if I caught the smell earlier, but the bag had been bagged up for about 7-8 years. I guess I need to be more careful with the list it and forget it.
Monthly numbers for May: 05/1 – 05/31
Total listings: 1559
Items sold: 36
Sales: $781.98
Highest price sold: $44.90 Pair of toggle switches
Average price sold: $21.72
Cost of items sold: $81.37 / average cost: 2.26 each
Spent on new inventory: $226.00
Number of items listed: 29My May sales were half of what they were in April, probably due to not listing much in May. I did purchase a lot of inventory as there were 4 city wide garage sales near me which were hard to pass up. My best find was 3 boxes of old porcelain fixtures for $20 – some of the fixtures should sell for over $20 individually. I like finding old hardware and fixtures, although they are long tail, they always seem to sell for good money.
Last night I sold a Coach bag I have had listed since 2016. When I pulled it out of storage, it smelled like old cheese. I didn’t smell when I stored it all those years ago. All of the methods to get rid of the smell I found on YouTube will take days if not longer which I didn’t have the time for. I contacted the buyer and let them know that the bag had been in storage for about 7 years and now had an unpleasant smell to it. My solution was to offer them a full refund and mail it to them anyway. They were very pleased with my straightforwardness and happy with a free bag – and I am very happy to avoid a possible INAD and bad feedback. With shipping and the cost of the bag, it cost me less than $20 which I am happy to pay since it was my fault and I should be able to maintain my 100% feedback.
Steven Schultz. I believe the brass owl is a handle for a fireplace tool, I’ve seen similar ones used for that purpose. Thank You for posting these videos each week, it is always educational and fun to see what you sell and for how much
Monthly numbers for April: 04/1 – 04/30
Total listings: 1562
Items sold: 61
Sales: $1,691.15
Highest price sold: $290.00 Set of vehicle service manuals
Average price sold: $27.72
Cost of items sold: $215.41 / average cost: 3.53 each
Spent on new inventory: $66.00
Number of items listed: 81I had a few periods of 2-3 days with no sales at all in April, but it was made up by one very good sale for $290 and three others for over $100 (two were for vintage pencil lots). I’ve been trying to list more and buy less inventory but I think that is about to end as there are three city-wide sales coming up very close to where I live, one of them in a city that hasn’t done one before.
Monthly numbers: 03/1 – 03/31
Total listings: 1536
Items sold: 37
Sales: $780.20
Highest price sold: $84 – Tilley Cap
Average price sold: $21.09
Cost of items sold: $115.42 / average cost: 3.12 each
Spent on new inventory: $34.00
Number of items listed: 103
I had a lot of “no sale” days in March and my numbers reflect that as I didn’t make my monthly goal of at least $1000. At least I finally made it to over 1500 listings. My highest price sold, a Tilley Cap, was a nice find at an estate sale for $5. At the time, I had no idea about Tilley but I purchased it due to the look and that it was made in Canada. It turned out to be a discontinued style and I sold it at my asking price of $84.
Monthly numbers: 02/1 – 01/28
Total listings: 1472
Items sold: 53
Sales: $1,047.34
Highest price sold: $125 – Two 1955 Marksman’s Plaques (2 sales/same buyer)
Average price sold: $19.76
Cost of items sold: $126.72 / average cost: 2.39 each
Spent on new inventory: $7.00
Number of items listed: 51
Sales seem to be slowing down, but a few high-value sales let me break my monthly y $1000 goal. So far, March has been very slow, almost halfway through the month and I’m only at about $350 in sales.
Monthly numbers: 01/1 – 01/31
Total listings: 1480
Items sold: 49
Sales: $1,033.52
Highest price sold: $118 – Tiki Mug
Average price sold: $21.09
Cost of items sold: $92.49 / average cost: 1.89 each
Spent on new inventory: $370.00
Number of items listed: 56The Tiki Mug I sold was from a Tiki Bar in Oakland, California that burnt down in 1967. Being a rare mug It would have gone for much more but it had a chip. I thought I was doing pretty good on not buying much new inventory, but then I ended up going to a sale last weekend of paper ephemera. I was lucky to be in the first group in the door so I got some vintage Disneyland brochures and some old tool catalogs among a large number of other items that should make a nice return and be very easy to ship.
Monthly numbers: 12/1 – 12/31
Active listings: 1464
Items sold: 58
Sales: $1,406.88
Highest price sold: $125 – New Sealed Sony Walkman
Average price sold: $24.25
Cost of items sold: $207.78 / average cost: each $3.58
Spent on new inventory: $25.00
Number of items listed: 56December was the best month I’ve had in several years. The Sony Walkman was a nice discovery at a neighborhood sale for only $1. Another good sale was a book on the history of a shipyard in France for $100 which cost me only $4.
J&R, I like hearing about your scavenging adventures. Every night after dinner, I take a short half-hour walk around my local neighborhood. Two nights ago, I came across this small storage cabinet. Not sure what the resale value would be, but I plan to keep it to store my eBay smalls in. It should be great for postcards, patches, stickers, and such. On the same walk, I found a huge box of wrapped-up glassware, haven’t had a chance to look through it yet, but near the top I found some Wedgwood Jasper ware, so hoping there may be some even better stuff in it.
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@lukastreasuretrove I have a very similar Tiki Mug as your Trader Vic mug, except mine is marked “Aloha 78” on the back and has many chips on the top and bottom. At least I now know where it may of come from.
Monthly numbers: 11/1 – 11/30
Active listings: 1480
Items sold: 51
Sales: $1,229.80
Highest price sold: $120 – Woodworking Plane
Average price sold: $24.11
Cost of items sold: $240.45 / average cost: each $4.71
Spent on new inventory: $7.00
Number of items listed: 62
I hope everybody will have a very joyful holidays.
Monthly numbers: 10/1 – 10/31
Active listings: 1460
Items sold: 47
Sales: $983.72 (not counting profit/loss from shipping)
Highest price sold: $135 – Griswold #8 Cast Iron Long Griddle
Average price sold: $20.93
Cost of items sold: $83.48 / average cost: each $1.78
Spent on new inventory: $347.00
Number of items listed: 68
For October, my favorite sales were to 2 different buyers for vintage Tang Jars at $28.50 each, I had purchased 3 of them at a neighborhood sale for a grand total of $1. I researched old advertisements to determine that they dated between 1959 when Tang was first available to the public and 1963 when the back of the label was changed. Interesting fact, the creator of Tang, William Mitchell, also invented Pop Rocks and Cool Whip.
Now back to listing and research.
