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Numbers for May. 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1122
Items sold: 61
Gross Sales: $1,232.65
Cost of Items sold: $139.64
Highest Price Sold: $75 – Reiter Floor Mounted Crane Warning Bell
Average Price Sold: $21.69 – Average Cost: $2.28
Spent on new inventory: $307
Number of items listed: 56
Returns: 1 (refunded and let them keep it)I did a lot of scavenging the last week of May. First a neighbor was having a free estate sale on their front yard – they just bought the house with contents and just wanted to get rid of stuff. I scored quite a lot of framed art and at least one Louis L’Amour first edition, though it is missing the dust jacket. Then on the third day of a local estate sale (the first one in the area that didn’t require an appointment) I spent just over $300 but should be able to quadruple that or more in sales. My favorite item was a framed page from a 1649 edition of Ambroise Pare’s book “On Monsters and Marvels” showing a colt with a man’s face. Probably not very valuable but it looks cool.
Haven’t listened to the podcast yet but I will do so in the morning while taking photos.
An ecommercebytes post:
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2020/5/1589343646.htmlPartially explains why some sellers haven’t received the eBay Managed Payments email:
– In her Monday Seller Check-in video, Marnie Levine did address why some sellers had not yet been notified they would be enrolled in the program in July: eBay continues to build certain capabilities such as the charity program, she said.
I have one item that has a percentage going to charity, and two 8mm films listed in the everything else/adult section.
I’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Numbers for April. 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1123
Items sold: 69
Gross Sales: $1,248.55
Cost of Items sold: $140.31
Highest Price Sold: $60 – Small Leather Holster
Average Price Sold: $18.09 – Average Cost: $2.03
Spent on new inventory: $0.00
Number of items listed: 57No scavenging this month although a few of the local estate sale outfits have started doing virtual estate sales via Facetime – I have no desire to participate as I still have quite a few death piles to go through.
I haven’t been notified about managed payments yet, but I plan to hold out as long as I can until I am forced into it. When manage payments do start does that mean that buyers may no longer open a case 3 to 6 months after they have purchased something like they now can on PayPal?
Just a short note on block buyers sending emails. On the eBay “Buyer Requirements” page: https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferences&BuyerBlockPreferences= near the bottom there is a check box to “Don’t allow blocked buyers to contact me.” So if you have a blocked buyer but haven’t check the box they may still be able to contact you.
Just a quick note, the forum link in the scavenger email and under Steve’s video does not work.
It has been a few months since I last posted here, so here goes. Shipping was not included on any of these.
A while back at an estate sale, on the last day they had everything in the garage for free, these HP booklets went for $18.
Normally I pass on tote bags but I liked the graphics on this one. Cost $1, sold for $16.59.
Singer foot attachments are mostly low value items but I see them quite often at estate sales (and on eBay) for very cheap prices. I sell 4-5 of them each month. My cost on this was .34 cents as part of a lot, sold for $8.
Elgo American Plastic Bricks actually predates Lego by about a decade, but you hardly hear of them now days. The red pieces are kind of common but the white pieces which are windows, doors and trim have a decent price. I paid $7 total for a full box of them which I split up into 1 white and 6 red lots. So the cost of this white lot was $1 and sold for $26.
Normally woodworkers Mortise Marking Gauges only go for a few bucks, but this one is a more desirable Marples made in England. Cost $2 and went for $30
These took about a year to sell, but Jade-ite mugs are still a favorite of mine. Paid $11.34 for the pair and sold for $50.
I paid $10 for these model 938 Smith & Wesson Handcuffs. They went to a buyer in Russa via a mail forwarder in Florida. They sold for $55.
Last year I bought a large lot of Boy Scout items. Two of the better items cost $5 each. The patch sold for $34 and the scarf for $54.
My best recent sale was a pair of Church’s New Yorker Shoes made in England. $15 is more than I normally pay but they were great quality and sold for $110.
I resized all of the above photos, so hopefully they are not to large for the forum, but if they are, please let me know. Also, I left off the linking to the eBay listings
to save time and also because probably most people due not click on them.Steve List – eBay store Steve-List
Numbers for March. 2020. eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1127
Items sold: 65
Gross Sales: $1,423.55
Cost of Items sold: $224.33
Highest Price Sold: $110 – Church’s Mens Shoes from England
Average Price Sold: $21.90 – Average Cost: $3.45
Spent on new inventory: $30.00
Number of items listed: 79This was one of my better months in the past year or so. My cost of goods was kind of high due to a 24 book mystery series (Lovejoy) that I’ve been reading over the past few months that I finally finished and sold on eBay. The books cost me around $72 and I basically sold them as a lot for what I paid for them.
Not much scavenging in March, mainly due to the shelter in place but I did make it to one estate sale early in the month. Great find of a bunch of old car brochures and a catch of slides and 8mm films that I have yet to go through.
I’ve been staying home with the exception of trips to the post office and grocery store, and occasionally a take out place. A lot of stuff is sold out but the local corner mom and pop stores around my house all still have TP.
Numbers for Feb. 2020, eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1103
Items sold: 44
Gross Sales: $908.39
Cost of Items sold: $98.01
Highest Price Sold: $125 – County History Book from Tennessee
Average Price Sold: $20.64 – Average Cost: $2.22
Spent on new inventory: $227.40
Number of items listed: 68
Issues 1 (see wall of text below)This was an average month for me if I do not take the 4th quarter boost into account. The county history book was a nice sale although it took 8 months before the right buyer found it, but with a cost of only $4.00 it was worth the wait.
I had one big issue in February. On November 24th, 2019 I sold a tested film scanner to a buyer in Australia via the Global Shipping Program. On February 11th he opened a PayPal ‘Item not as described’ case stating that the scanner was broken. eBay wasn’t any help so I agreed on PayPal to issue a full refund after he returned the scanner and all of the accessories. He emailed me several times, 3 of the times he accused me of sending him a broken scanner, each time I emailed him images of slides and film that I had scanned when I tested it. He also wanted my off eBay email address (he wasn’t smart enough to know that he could of got it from PayPal). He also asked how much did I want for just the accessories. Long story short, after agreeing to the PayPal refund I did the J&R silent treatment as at that point he had 10 days to ship it back. He kept wanting me to send him funds for return shipping but PayPal told me on the phone that it was completely on him to ship it back so I just ignored him. On the 10th day he sent an email stating that he would be sending it back that day – but he never did. PayPal sent me an email a day later saying that the case was closed. A refund would of cost me $299.74 so I was pretty happy I won that one. I am pretty sure he was just looking for a discount. There was a lot more to this story such as my 3 calls to eBay and 2 calls to PayPal and what I am pretty sure was a fake repair invoice that he sent me a jpeg of.
Numbers for Jan. 2020, eBay store: steve-list
Total Listings: 1076
Items sold: 52
Gross Sales: $1159.37
Cost of Items sold: $97.56
Highest Price Sold: $50 – Mixed Lot of Router Bits
Average Price Sold: $22.29 – Average Cost: $1.88
Spent on new inventory: $31.15
Number of items listed: 49Another month of over $1000 in sales, I hope I can keep it up. I’m quite happy at this level as I do not spend that much time doing eBay work and I only have a little over 1000 items listed. My best scavenge of the month was a metal slide box with over 100 vacation slides in it for only $2.15 from a thrift store. The box sold for $20 and the slides for $24, both within two weeks of listing. I may have to check out thrift stores more often as normally I only go maybe once a month or less. Almost all of my inventory is from estate sales as I enjoy the thrill of digging and finding hidden treasures.
Thanks Steven S. and Antique Frog. Woodlink was one of the searches I did but I must of messed it up as I didn’t come up with anything. I may end up using them myself to take photos on. If I do sell them I’ll do it locally.
Thanks Antique Frog, that makes more sense than end tables or speaker stands. I’ll try selling them as such..
My Numbers for Dec. 2019
Total Listings: 1078
Items sold: 67
Gross Sales: $1769.36
Cost of Items sold: $271.93
Highest Price Sold: $90 – 2 sets of Noma Bubble Lights
Average Price Sold: $26.40 – Average Cost: $4.05
Spent on new inventory: $209
Number of items listed: 64I’ve been trying to cut back on my death piles but an estate sale I went too (late in the day) had stuff I just couldn’t pass on. I got 5 sets of bubble lights, some old Motorola phones including 4 brick phones, some 1930s plane negatives and over 1000 1950s Kodak red border slides. The lights and phones sold very fast so I might of priced them too low, but still I’ve made $535 in sales from this lot so far and still have the negatives (on auction), slides, and what are either end tables or speaker stands to go.
I just checked, the last time I posted here was almost 2 years ago, so here goes. For the below items, click on the image to see the eBay listing.
The Groovy Grasshopper Emporium asked abut Hallmark ornaments. Out of a catch of about 30 I listed in November 2017 I have about 7 left. Most of them were of vehicles. This one sold for only $9.75 with free shipping, cost $3. Note that many of the ornaments sold in the $20-$30 range.
A few months ago I bought a big box of maps for $10. These two of the Pacific Crest Trail sold for $25 plus shipping, cost about 25¢ total.
We drink way too much diet Coke at my house. This isn’t the first lot of 100 I sold for $10 plus shipping. I also get 5¢ each for the empty bottle at the local recyclers. The caps are worth more than the bottles due to the award codes on them.
I the last Winsor & Newton’s Artists Brush pot I sold was in 2017 for $40. This one was a smaller version for only went for $30, cost $5
Now some of my better recent sales.
The Nikon LS 40 Film Scanner is an older version but I got $250 plus shipping for it. I could of waited or pieced it out for more but I had it boxed up and it was taking a lot of space.
When I bought the transistor radio I didn’t know what it was. I turns out to be the same model, but different color than the one that was used on the sitcom Gilligan’s Island. I tested it and made a video of it working, then I discovered the case had a small crack so I listed it for $250, which I now know was too low as it sold the first night I listed it. It cost only $8 so I’m happy. Note: Coconuts were not included.
A wile back I mentioned I bought a large lot of VHS tapes for $20 which came out to 9¢ each. A blank media reseller on the east coast bought 20 6 packs for $340 with free shipping. Shipping to the east coast in two boxes was $75, cost of tapes sold was $10.80 which will leave me at least $200 profit after fees.
/metionedNovember was a good month for me with one $340 sale and two $250 sales.
My Numbers for Nov. 2019
Total Listings: 1083 with 1365 items
Items sold: 59
Gross Sales: $1,791
Cost of Items sold: $121
Highest Price Sold: $340 – 120 Sealed VHS Tapes ($10.80 Cost / 9¢ a tape)
Average Price Sold: $30.36 – Average Cost: $2.06
Spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed: 56
Issues: 1 returnThe VHS tapes went to a blank media reseller on the opposite coast. Due to the tons of VHS tapes listed on eBay I had these listed with free shipping with a multiple purchase discount. Even after the $75 cost to ship them I still made a nice return of over $200.
December is looking great so far, already today on the 1st I have had $173 in sales (though some of the items have free shipping.)
