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December 23-29 2018
Total Listings in Store: 3629
Items Sold: 85 orders for a total of 89 items.
Gross Sales: $5833.73
Cost of Items Sold: $750
Highest Price Sold: $465.99 (Gucci Leather Jacket)
Average Price Sold: $65.55
Returns: 3
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 25What I love about this business is the flexibility at the Holidays. We traveled to see family for 2 days, we hosted 2 large dinners, and had the nieces and nephew over to spend the night (please note: they are 7, 8 and 9 years old and we have no TV or video games, so we had a blast teaching them the original way to have fun by using their imaginations and doing things together). Very minimal time spent on ebay this week, other than shipping and polishing up a few lingering listings I had started. The highest sales day of the week was Christmas day, with just under $1200… and $600 before I even got out of bed in the morning.
December Totals
Ebay
437 Items Sold for $24,839.53
Off-ebay
1 Shirt Lot sold for $475I was so close to breaking a $25000 month, fortunately that shirt lot I sold to a fellow re-seller puts me over in total.
Here’s what Q4 looked like.
Q4 GOAL
Q4 Goal – $60,000
Daily Goal – $652.17
October Goal (31 Days) $20217.39
November Goal (30 Days) $19565.10
December Goal (31 Days) $20217.39Q4 ACTIVITY
2913 Active Listings (Oct 1)
1882 New Listings created (Q4)
1235 Items Sold
3560 Active Listings (Jan 1)Q4 RESULT
October Sales – 391 items for $22,939.32
November Sales – 407 items for $21,145.34
December Sales – 437 items for $24,839.53Q4 Total Sales – 1235 items $68924.19
Q4 Daily Average – 13.42 Items for $749.18
Q4 ASP – $55.81@ebaymom, it’s a setting that allows a buyer to shop your store for the number of days you decide, and then make one combined payment for everything.
@ryanne. Yes, you can definitely do two days. However, It looks like you are allowing combined payments for 3 days. You would have to turn off that feature to get the 2 day UPI case option. I have mine set to allow combined purchases for 7 days, so my earliest automatic case open day, if I used it, would be on the 8th day. There’s a little note and link to that option in the screenshot you posted, right below the drop down menu.
I dont think I’ve asked you this yet. If you’re pulling in over $5k a week after expenses, what do you do with the money? Anything special?
Whatever is left after paying the bills is usually re-invested in inventory, saved for next summers slowdown cushion, sent in as an extra mortgage premium payment, and of course saved for some fun vacation time.
Love your numbers Seam Store! You are at the level we want to get to, so I will love following you and seeing that it is possible. 15% STR is nice as well. You are obviously picking quality items that get a solid ASP. Very nice!
Thanks, keep in mind that’s my best week ever, not really my normal week at all, though one day hopefully it will be. I think my average is only about $3500/week this year, which isn’t too bad considering my wife had surgery this summer and I spent several weeks taking care of her. I can’t imagine if I had to leave her in bed every day to go to a traditional job somewhere, so glad I could be here to baby her.
Merry Christmas, safe travels everyone.
This was my best week ever!
December 16-22 2018
Total Items in Store: 3664
Items Sold: 109 orders for a total of 126 items.
Gross Sales: $7484.16
Cost of Items Sold: $515
Highest Price Sold: $744.14 (vintage tube stereo amp)
Average Price Sold: $59.40
Average Order Price $68.66
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 82Also, surpassed my Q4 sales goal on Friday.
Scavenge of the week: I was getting ready to list a stack of empty gucci shopping bags in a lot. One of them felt a little thicker than usual. I reached inside and pulled out a stiff envelope with a $250 Gucci gift card in it. Not sure how long I’ve had them, months. Sold the gift card for $192 to cardkangaroo. Not much you can buy at Gucci for under $250. Works for me. Nothing like free money.
I’ve talked to one contract postal worker who told me that he thought he just needed to scan the sheet that shows the pick up request and that that would automatically scan the packages, so maybe it is a training issue. From reading online, it seems that talking in person with the local postmaster may be a next step, but haven’t had time to go to that yet.
It has always amazed me how few postal workers know how to use the SCAN form. Especially since it has clear instructions printed right on it. It’s their product and has been in use for years now. I actually had to take mine in and teach the postmaster what it was so he could instruct the carriers. Don’t have much problem with it now….except on the days where ebay glitches and wont provide a SCAN form.
I can get into the idea of “Life piles” IF there’s an active listing process and the piles are in line to be worked on.
“Death piles” relates to many of us who are hoarding and ignoring work that has to be done.
For me, my backlog is mostly a combination of 2 things. Bread and butter items that can be sold year round, and off season items. You won’t find any outerwear, sweaters, or winter accessories in my Lifepile right now, but theres a bunch of linen, seersucker and other summerweights ready to go for late Q1. Oh, and plenty of suits, suits get a good push in the spring for Easter, Mother’s Day and wedding season……and then there’s the ties, don’t get me started on the ties.
Wow…that is an amazing ASP for shirts! Are those mostly new or pre-owned?
99 shirts sold in past 90 days. 6 new, 93 pre-owned. I had been thinking that was kinda slow shirt sales and low ASP, but I feel better about it after hearing what you guys are saying. Shirts are by far my least favorite thing to list.
Have you seen a price drop on men’s preowned shirts in the past 12-18 months? We have seen a decent drop on the prices that we used to get, enough that some brands and some items I’m passing on now as the profit margin isn’t there anymore. Wondering if you have seen that as well.
I suppose so. Hard to say really. Pretty much like any clothing…if it’s trendy, it will do well for a while and then leave you high and dry. If it’s luxury it’ll do fine as long as the condition is there and you are willing to wait. If it’s a staple, it all really depends on who else is selling it too. My 90 day shirt average is $47.81 right now. It’s been worse.
How do you store so many of your items (you have double the inventory we do)? Hanging on racks? Just loose in bins? Already stored for shipment? And is it all stored at your house or do you have an outside storage location?
After several years of working out of strategically placed piles around the house, I designed an 1100sq ft office space above our garage. Suits, Jackets and Outerwear are hanging on custom double decker wall racks I made out of black iron pipe and reclaimed lumber. Most everything else is pre-packed in clear polybags with SKU and stored grouped bins by SKU Prefix (AKA date listed.) I also have another 1500-2000 items in my “lifepile” (I refuse to call it a death pile, because it’s what keeps my business alive when sourcing is slow), and still quite a bit of space left to work with, as well as separate designated areas for shipping and photos
Amen on all that!
How many listings do you usually list each week? 100+?
Yes, usually over 100, some weeks less. In November I created 1024 new listings, but for December I’ve only managed to create 376 so far.
You have an awesome process.
Thanks!
Obviously you’ve been doing this for a while.
A little over 13 years now. I started with antiques, collectibles and vintage toys, moved into primarily menswear about 8 years ago.
Do you ever get bored of buying and selling men’s clothes> assume its mainly dress shirts and suits?
Yeah, lots of suits and shirts, as well as pants, shoes, outerwear, ties and other accessories. I will throw in a few high end women’s items when I find them, a little artwork and small antiques from time to time, but I’m very selective on the stuff outside my niche. I prefer the ease of shipping non-breakables. Yes, I do get bored from time to time. When boredom strikes I go out and tend my garden, play frisbee with our dog or just grab a kayak and head to the lake. That’s the great part about this, if I was at a desk job I would have to just sit there and be miserable through all the sunny days.
I apologize if that was a double or triple post. It seemed to keep disappearing on me when I would refresh the page.
Since your new to the forum (though we know you from Youtube), I bet everyone would love to hear more about how you run your store. Making $5k on 100 items is a super success.
–Where do you scavenge? I source my items mostly at thrift stores, through e-thrifting, some through direct closet buyouts, trades, some through liquidation services, and I also have 5 or 6 consignors in various cities around the US.
–How much do you pay per item? I typically average between $4- $5 per item.
–Do you work alone? My wife has been helping me for 1-2 hours a week since May. She mainly puts stuff into inventory after I have it listed.
–What’s your “system” to photograph and list? After items are sourced, unbagged, de-tagged, hung and steamed if needed, I compile them into groups of similar items for photos. For years I dressed a mannequin and did hand-held photos with a DLSR, but in the last two years I have been having some arthritic trouble in my midback due to a pesky old bone tumor. So, now I shoot using two DSLRs tethered to two Macbooks. One shoots hanging photos, and the other shoots overhead/flat lay photos from an articulating arm mount. The camera settings are done on the laptop and the shutter is activated with the spacebar. It takes me a bit longer, but I can shoot for much longer before fatigue sets in. (I really just need to hire a photographer, but I’ve been too busy to take the time to find someone.)
During photos is when I find and remove items that are too flawed/damaged or that need some cleanup, since this is where I have the best light.
The photos are then imported from each macbook into mac photos, where they sync automatically with the photos from the other macbook.
Next I make listing drafts by category from my pre-made custom templates using Garage Sale for Mac.(iwascoding)
I drag the appropriate photos in to their matching listing.
The items are then measured. The measurements and other description details are put directly into custom listing templates as I measure them.
Set the pricing. Item Specifics, Title etc.
Assign each item an individual inventory # using the custom SKU. My inventory # consists of the date listed YYMMDD and the number of the item listed. For example: yesterday’s items listed are numbered as such. 181217-001, 181217-002, 181217-003, etc. (This method allows me to keep items in numerical order, as well as see how long they have been listed at a glance, even if an item has been ended and re-listed at some point. On seller hub, sorting by custom SKU, allows me to see all items in the order they were listed.)
Release the listings to eBay in GTC BINOBO format.
Print out Custom SKU sticker labels.
My Wife then puts the SKUs stickers on hang tags or on pre-packaged smaller items and stores them chronologically so they are a breeze to find.–If you focus on men’s clothes, have you felt any competition from the new platforms like Poshmark, Mercari, etc? No, my biggest competition is myself, I just focus on me.
