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My top two consignors typically get paid out between $1000-$2000 a month, but together they account for more than 25% of my listed inventory, and the bulk of my #lifepile too. The rest of them probably usually around $200 average. They already know upfront that they are sacrificing the quick sale to shoot for the higher price with me. They aren’t that patient for everything….They are always bugging me to send more stuff. Sometimes they send more stuff after I tell them not to. I can only do so much.
I think that’s because it only takes 15 years to go from a kid to an old person.
I think I have donated maybe a handful of non-selling items over the years. My oldest listed items, 2015 (1 item), 2016 (15 items), 2017 (86 items). I began offering consignment in May of 2018. Still have items a few items listed from that first batch. The store frequently goes on sale for a few weeks at a time, based on the length of time an item has been here, during the sale items could be anywhere from 5% to 50% off, with best offer option.
Total Items in Store: 3711 listings for 5694 items
Items Sold: 70
Gross Sales: $3404.68 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2620.99Cost of Items Sold: $844 ($142 mine / $702 consignors)
$Highest Price Sold: $160 Brooks Brothers Blazer
Average Price Sold: $48.64
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $88
Number of items listed this week: 119Really been digging through my personal thrifted #lifepile these past few weeks. Some time in 2020, I put it all in inaccessible areas of the office, and blocked it in, in preparation for a huge consignment order. Over time the consignment sales began to outweigh personal sales, and it makes the money get weird, especially when it’s slow. In the past week or two Ebay menswear seemed to take a few shallow breaths, hopefully stirring from a long, long hibernation.
Total Items in Store: 3649 listings for 5642 items
Items Sold: 46
Gross Sales: $3145.74 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2104.00Cost of Items Sold: $750 ($118 mine / $632 consignors)
$Highest Price Sold: $303 Loro Piana Coat, $190 Parabolic Microphone
Average Price Sold: $68.39
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $46
Number of items listed this week: 39No. We are volunteer landlords for an incarcerated family member, indefinitely.
I don’t really search for a helper. I’m reluctant to have a stranger in my home, so I usually try help out someone I know who needs some cash. The problem there is, I don’t know very many people in the area. lol. I’ve had 3 helpers over the years. One was simply a bad fit, one moved away and the last was a friend who needed a different kind of help than we could give her, and it just didn’t work out.
Total Items in Store: 3647 listings for 5650 items
Items Sold: 28
Gross Sales: $2310.86 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1715.85 + $300 yard sale = $2015.85Cost of Items Sold: $687 ($55 mine / $632 consignors)
$Highest Price Sold: $200 Vintage Tuxedo, but I think it’s going to get “rented” for free and returned.
Average Price Sold: $82.53
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $41
Number of items listed this week: 11I was getting ready to pack up the garage sale, and decided instead to reopen it for 2 days Friday and Saturday, since the weather was 15 degrees cooler and low humidity. Sold another $300 worth out of the donation pile for a grand total of $650 (plus $56 worth sold for my mother in law).
Not much listed this week, had an eventful week at the rental. Had to meet a well service guy for a contaminated well, a plumber for a clogged floor drain line, repair a broken basement window, and replace an AC. Man I wish it was a paying job.
Unfortunately, I found out about it when my mother forwarded it to the youth pastor at her church to shop for some clothes.
My apologies to anyone who may have visited my profile and clicked on the website link. I just realized it was out of date and updated it. Sometime in Q4 of 2020, I discovered that 6 months earlier, ebay had discontinued the 3rd party service where I purchased the domain name for my store, and sold it to a Chinese porn site. I had that web address for about 8 years, had maxed all SEO and was able to be found at the top of any search engine. All my advertising, package inserts, ebay feedback left for buyers, social media site posts, etc., were directing my customers to the porn site without my knowledge for up to 6 months.
Fortunately the .net was available, and I was able to purchase that, but that was a lot of work undone, and probably quite a few offended customers, and lost potential buyers.
Do you have veroboard for sale? Electronic tinkering is my hobby.
Edit, just realized you are across the pond….. shipping probably would make it cost prohibitive.
Total Items in Store: 3661 listings for 5665 items
Items Sold: 40
Gross Sales: $3150.81 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2331.72 + $350 yard sale = $2681.72Cost of Items Sold: $755 ($123 mine / $632 consignors)
$Highest Price Sold: $299.95 Dehner Riding Boots
Average Price Sold: $78.77
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $6
Number of items listed this week: 30Also had a 3 day garage sale, which was not too successful due to the heat. But we still brought in exactly an extra $350 for the week. Probably barely worth the effort, but I always really enjoy chatting it up with the neighborhood. So, I’m fine with it.
Total Items in Store: 3661 listings for 5674 items
Items Sold: 30
Gross Sales: $1877.53 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1316.45Cost of Items Sold: $667 ($35 mine / $632 consignors)
$Highest Price Sold: $108 Cashmere Blend Sport Coat
Average Price Sold: $43.88
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 78The menswear sales, especially suits and sport coats, dropped off severely for 2 years, and just started to upswing in the spring before summer slowdown…..so, I’m optimistic for fall. Not just the business workforce effected me, in fact my regular buyers were still shopping. Having all weddings, funerals, church services, vacations, holidays and events cancelled really was a huge part of it.
Also, there was an enormous down swing in international sales for various reasons.
I’ve had a couple people help with photos from time to time. But since it’s in our home, I’m very particular about who helps me.
I’m still working on a huge PODS consignment delivery that arrived 3 days before Christmas 2020. Full of mainly suits and sport coats and such, while no one on the planet was even wearing pants to telecommute. I’d say there are 2000 items in my lifepile.
<p class=”p1″>I’ve always called my deathpile a lifepile. I’ve wondered a few times recently how many people’s view of their pile changed when other sources dried up for a while during the pandemic.</p>
