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Store: steve-list
Numbers for May 2019Total Listings: 1013
Had 41 Sales for a total of $1110.00
Cost of Items Sold: $78.95
Highest Price Sold: $375 – Ships Engine Room Brass Plaque
Average Price Sold: $27.07 – Average Cost: $1.93
Spent on new inventory: $190
Number of items listed: 46
Longest Listed Item Sold: Set of Twin Sheets from June 2015
GSP: 1 ItalyThe brass ships plaque was a late in the day estate sale find. It was out in the open on a table near the cashier for $15 – I ended up paying $10 for it. I assume that nobody else saw the value in it.
I’m happy to see there is a new Shampoo and Booze episode. I haven’t listen to it
yet or the Scavenger pod-cast yet but I will while listing later tonight.Thanks Again R&J for all that you do.
~After having great sales for Jan-Mar, April was a very slow month for me with several days of no sales. I do not know if this had any effect on sales but I’ve heard that a lot of people had either a smaller tax return this year than expected or had to actually pay additional tax because they didn’t have enough deducted in 2018.
Numbers for April 2019
Total Listings: 1006
Had 44 Sales for a total of $791.60
Cost of Items Sold: $107.33
Highest Price Sold: $60 – Expired Polaroid 52 Film
Average Price Sold: $17.99 – Average Cost: $2.44
Spent on new inventory: $80
Number of items listed: 53
Longest Listed Item Sold: Book, listed August 2015
GSP: 1 Canada, 1 EnglandZippo has been putting date codes on many of their lighters since the 1950’s which should help in ferreting out fakes. They have a web page with a short video and a date chart at the bottom at: https://www.zippo.com/pages/date-codes
Also, if you have a windproof lighter (they have a screen around the flame wick) they have a lifetime guarantee. They will re-solder the hinge if need be or replace the inner lighter part (they have always returned the old one) when I have used the service. You only have to pay the postage cost. Great service for when you find the occasionally non working one at a sale for a good price.
Numbers for March, 2019
Total Listings: 989
Had 75 Sales for a total of $1,458.30
Cost of Items Sold: $314.02
Highest Price Sold: $126 after 50% refund (lot of Anastasia Toy Trains)
Average Price Sold: $19.44 – Average Cost: $4.19
Spent on new inventory: $244.50
Number of items listed: 44
Longest Listed Item Sold: Book, listed December 2015
GSP: 2 Canada and 1 JapanI ended up giving the buyer of the Toy Trains a 50% refund. He claimed most of the engines had cracks on the bottom by the hold down screw and many also had corrosion in the battery compartment (they were all sealed in the original box but over 20 years old). I should of known there would be a problem as he sent several emails with questions, and then after the sale called me a few times with more questions. We agreed to the partial refund as I didn’t want to eat the original $91 shipping fee or the return shipping. As soon as I made the refund, he called again and said that he changed his mind and wanted a full refund, he also wanted to keep the trains, I refused and stated he would have to ship them all back to me first. I haven’t heard from him since so hopefully I’m done with him. I still came out ahead by about $40 from the sale and shipping.
My new inventory cost would of only been $44.50, but today I went to the 13th anniversary of a Tiki bar and bought an expensive limited release mug for $140. If the sales from last years mug is any indication I should be able to make at least $50 and probably more like $100 on it. After the Tiki bar, I went to a punk show to see the band Gorilla Biscuits. I spent $60 on their 30 year anniversary box set, after seeing the solds on eBay and what people are asking for the new unsold listings I should of bought more of them: Gorilla Biscuits 1988-2018
Now to go list and listen to the show…
Manateejaq, be very careful when selling Coach bags. I’m not positive, but I think the one that you just sold may be fake. Note that at the center seam the C’s do not line up on both sides like they should on an authentic one. There are many sites that tell how to tell fakes such as:
http://www.detectafake.com/viewProduct/?269576
or
Good Luck and thanks for doing the videos.
-Steve List
Haven’t had a chance to listen yet but plan to do so tonight while listing.
I keep hitting 1000 listings and then sales bump me down each time.Numbers for February, 2019
Total Listings: 997
Had 74 Sales for a total of $1,867.80
Cost of Items Sold: $341.13
Highest Price Sold: $190 (lot of Marklin HO Train stuff)
Average Price Sold: $25.24 – Average Cost: $4.61
Spent on new inventory: $100
Number of items listed: 70
No returns, GSP: 1 Australia, 1 Austria, 2 Canada and 1 IsraelI had a mix-up in shipping and sent the wrong train track to a buyer, I haven’t done that in a year or so. I ended up issuing a full refund and letting the buyer keep the item since it was something he planned to buy anyway. It was only a $10-$12 item so no big deal but I’m still trying to figure out how I made the mix-up – probably because it was 2am in the morning and it had been a long day.
Otherwise, I had a great sale today for $252 which was a case of Burger King Toys that I picked up about 20 years ago and was very happy to see go.
I found a rug with some similar motifs as the one I have at: https://rugsandmore.com/rugs/turkish-rugs/fine-turkish-anatolia-rug-from-late-18th-century/
I now know to grab Kilim rugs in the future if I ever see one again.
-Steve
Thanks Sonia, Kilim is the one I needed the most, I think it was actually mentioned by J&R in the past. The website kilim.com had a great page on the motifs at: https://www.kilim.com/kilim-wiki/kilim-motifs
Now I need to take some additional photos showing the split weave and maybe another closeup or two.
Thanks again for the quick answer.
-Steve
jchi680 asked: “How did you list the screws and stuff? Curious how you lotted it up and described and titled it”.
I grouped them in lots depending on past sales. It took time to count them out but well worth it.
8-32 x 3/4″ Brass Slotted Fillister Head Machine Screw Coarse Thread 145 Count
and
6-32 x 5/8″ Copper Slotted Round Head Machine Screws Coarse Thread 50 CountNumbers for January, 2019
Total Listings: 1000
Had 71 Sales for a total of $1500.46
Cost of Items Sold: $231.02
Highest Price Sold: $82.30 (7 lots of brass and copper small screws)
Average Price Sold: $21.13 – Average Cost: $3.25
Spent on new inventory: $0
Number of items listed: 108 (many were multiple quantity)
No returns, 2 GSP, England and AustraliaI finally hit 1000 listings this month, actually I hit it about 4 times because of sales each time I got went over 1000.
A BOLO I always check for in the garages and sheds at estate sales are small brass and copper screws and nuts. I spent under $10 for a lot of them recently at a sale and already have had $137 in sales and still have 11 lots for sale.
My weirdest sale in January was 2 lots (different buyers) of 100 Diet Coke plastic bottle caps for $10 plus shipping. Not a big sale but since I drink a lot of the stuff and have been saving the caps for a few years it was basically free money. These were ones with unused redemption codes, (just sold another lot over the weekend.)
One last note, I had an $80 sale to the state of Washington. eBay put a small note on my order page stating that the purchaser was charged sales tax and that it will be remitted to the state by eBay. I hope eBay does this for all of the states that charge sales tax, it will make life easier for all of us online sellers.
Winchester, congratulations on making an offer on a new place. There is a lot you will be able to do with “3.5 fully treed acres”. Does it have space for your online sales office and storage or will you have to build something.
Numbers for December, 2018
Total Listings: 956
Had 55 Sales for a total of $1138.20
Cost of Items Sold: $104.40
Highest Price Sold: $70 (Folio Society Book) – cost $2 – (Solds – High to Low)
Average Price Sold: $20.69 – Average Cost: $1.89
Spent on new inventory: $836
Number of items listed: 54
No returns, 4 GSP, Sweden, France, Netherlands and South KoreaFolio Society Books are a bolo I didn’t know about before, but are on my thriftdar now. Many of them go in the hundreds and a few of the sets are in the thousands.
My new inventory was very high this month, mainly due to a monthly warehouse estate sale on half off day. $144 of it was for Polaroid cameras and accessories that came with a large lot of different types of Polaroid film. Most of the rest was for a very large lot of vintage Marklin Train cars and accessories still in their original boxes.
Just a quick note to people that have an eBay store. Make sure to use your coupon for shipping supplies before it expires in a few days.
Happy New Years and have a great 2019
-Steve
Haven’t listen to the podcast yet, but will later today after work. For me, November was one of my better months, I ended up selling many items that had been listed for over a year or two.
Numbers for November, 2018
Total Listings: 946
Had 75 Sales for a total of $1463.97
Cost of Items Sold: $112.33
Highest Price Sold: $190 (free shipping) – 1955 Pistol Tournament Shell Trophy (cost $15)
Average Price Sold: $19.52 – Average Cost: $1.50
Spent on new inventory: $81.50
Number of items listed: 55
No international sales, no returnsI took a best offer on the trophy as it has been listed for almost 3 years and I was happy to see the big item gone from my storage. I was able to list more items this month but due to more sales, I’m further from my goal of 1000 listings.
Worth Point just published a short article about Quimper pottery, link here.
Numbers for October, 2018
Total Listings: 941
Had 55 Sales for a total of $1148.69
Cost of Items Sold: $131.28
Highest Price Sold: $90 – Tiffany Quartz Desk Clock (cost $5)
Average Price Sold: $20.88 – Average Cost: $2.39
Spent on new inventory: $110
Number of items listed: 33
2 GSP, 1 non GSPMy best scavenge of the month was on the 4th day of a local estate sale where everything was free – I wish that would happen more often. I picked up lots of hp48 calculator manuals along with a bunch of old Texas Instrument and MS-DOS software and manuals (1990s) that should sell well. I also picked up a few needlepoint kits and lots of old B&W Photos and a few ond train publications that everybody else either missed or didn’t see any value in.
I only listed 33 items in October, I guess i need to get more motivated on that end of things. Even though with over 900 listings, the pipelines keeps pumping out profits.
Just a quick note on the scooters you saw in S.F. There is now also a gig economy of people that go around to gather up the scooters each night to charge them. From what I understand, they make from $2 – $5 per scooter. Possibly the photos they have you take are also to help the scooter chargers find them.
