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I’m a week late. Thanksgiving was a crazy week. I moved my parents out of my AirBnB house in NC over the holiday, into their new house down the street from my AirBnB (in New Bern, NC). I spent two days cleaning out the detritus from having residents in there for 18 months. And I interviewed a new cleaner, whom I hope works out.
Karma was a great boyfriend this past week. On Thanksgiving night about 7 pm, some downtown friends messaged me and said there was a dumpster outside the local Civic Theatre. My family said “go” to me deserting them – and I jumped right in! I took out several art prints, about 8 vintage suitcases, and a human-size beaver costume with a great head-piece. On Black Friday I went to the Salvation Army and bought a $69 MCM Dixie dresser, gorgeous. I thought about selling it, but my AirBnB is MCM/70s, so I will save and figure out if I can use it.
Then when driving around last week, I was wondering what to do about a tree. On Sullivan’s Island trash day, I found a fake tree from Fraser Hills Farms, probably about $300 new. It was perfect and pre-lit. I’ll bring it to my AirBnB for next year.
I only sold about $170 in ebay that week. Locally on FB, I sold two mirrors for $60, a suitcase for $20, a bookshelf for $85, and a wine rack for $50. They were all free finds, so $230 from FBM.
Last week I scavenged for free – bathroom skinny shelving unit, a washable 3×5 rug, a large 1×3 art print, two Ford pickup mats. From FB, I bought three Xmas needlepoint stockings for $30 total. If you have never looked at “solds” for needlepoint stockings, check it out – both completed ones and kits.
Total Items in Ebay Store: 317
Ebay items Sold: 7 for $588
Total Items on Facebook: 52
Facebook Items sold: 2 for $340 (two wine racks and a table)
Cost of items sold: $11
Total Sales: $928 (9 items)
$0 spent on new inventory
I had a 50% sale on older clothing but only sold one tie for $18. I did end and sell similar all listings older than 2 weeks and sold a jacket for $50. I scavenged a solid wood sofa table/console and three wine racks on Nov 1 which sold immediately on Nov 2. I scavenged four pairs of Lucchese cowboy boots on Halloween and listed that day. They were free on side of road. One pair of boots sold for $415 on Nov 2.
This Tuesday I only had time for one neighborhood trash day and scavenged for about 45 minutes driving around. I found a small antique dresser, solid wood with lovely detailing and great distressed corners. I posted it for $85. It only needed wiping down. That same house had a painted distressed nightstand which I posted for $35. This week I also worked on staining a beat up MCM bookcase to a dark mahogany, and repainted a baker’s rack. I’ll list those on FB tomorrow for $170 and $75.
Hi Jay, yes I was a Marine attorney and retired. I renovated a relative’s home in the DR for 18 months which is up for sale soon. We moved to Charleston for a temp job for my husband, he takes short term engineering jobs in places we want to live for a while and experience. So I like to scavenge for free, that way I can let stuff go when we leave.
Good Morning. I’ve listened to the podcast and used to post a few years ago. I am in Charleston, SC. I had to stop thrifting for 18 months when I lived in the Dominican Republic; there is nothing to scavenge there. But I picked back up here last Nov 2022. I normally just scavenge for free stuff on the roads here, take consignments, or buy from one cheap thrift store. The Goodwills here and other Habitat-type stores have pretty high prices and there is a large population of scavengers haunting the Goodwills. So I stick to garbage days/have my routes.
Total Items in Ebay Store: 319
Ebay Items Sold: 5 for $88.50Total Items Facebook: 54 (mostly furniture and rugs not cross-listed)
Facebook Items sold: 4 for $270
Cost of Items Sold: $2
Highest Price Sold: 2 JONIX air purifiers for $150
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0Number of items listed this week: 6
Total sales: $358.50
I scavenge on Tuesdays mid-morning and Wed morning in two neighborhoods. I also have three apartment complexes I typically drive through on errands and look at their dumpster areas. I homeschool my 9 yo daughter, and she helps me look for and load items in my truck. This week we found:
– four pairs of Lucchese cowboy boots sitting on a curb. I sold one black crocodile pair in two days for $415! That will reflect in the new numbers. I listed the other three ranging from $399 to $659.
– white painted wood writing desk posted on Facebook for $40. I offer delivery locally for $25.
– 3 standing wine racks listed at $295 total
– Bombay console/sofa table listed at $300 total.
We drive slow around the neighborhoods. One man saw me trolling and flagged me down into his waterfront home. He gave me the wine racks and Bombay table. He also needed some plastic Xmas tree stands and two standing fans gone, so I took those and donated them. I haven’t gotten into opening trash cans yet, but I wish I had gone back to the cowboy boot curb and looked in their trash can.
– Melissa
Total Items in Store: 20
Items Sold: 0
Cross-listed Poshmark: 15Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 2I had a 1000 item store in 2018-2020; but then moved to the Dominican Republic in April 2021 to renovate my MIL’s villa. It’s been a long hard road, but we are done in two weeks and it becomes an AirBnB until we can sell it. I had to close my eBay store and stop thrifting, as we moved with only a few suitcases. I tried to flip items here, but there is just no inventory, and no national postal system.
I move to Charleston SC in two weeks where my husband already is working; I had spent a week there in July setting up house and went thrifting. I just love it. I have 20 items up now and he ships if they sell. I can’t wait to get back to the US and resell!
Also looking for a used cheap Android phone for my renovation “helper” here in Cabarete. He has $50 to spend which is about a weekly salary here; I will help cover anything over that. I’m here until December renovating a family home to make into a vacation rental, and Clara network here works better on Android. I am in WA, Hawaii, and FL in parts of May and June so can have shipped there.
Yes, I loved rural PA. I grew up near Allentown in a 1775 built farmhouse actually called “Sleepy Hollow”. I do love antiques but rather they pass through my hands on their way to someone else! I forgot to list my COGs. I also use Easy Auction Tracker and like the consignment tracking column.
For the $667 of sales above, my COGs were $15 total. Of the 15 items sold, 7 were mine.
23 Aug – 30 Aug
Items sold: 15
Sales: $667.75
Consignment payout: $175
= $492.75
Most of my items listed in the last two months have been consignment items, since I am not going out to source much. I would like to, but I have a 6 year old, I picked up an online job, and am renovating a house to make into an AirBnB. I do not seek out consignment but a “church lady” from my church knew I sold on ebay; she gave me about 10 boxes of stuff as she emptied her house and asked me to sell anything valuable. I give her 50%. She had a few gems like a Zippo lighter and Carnival glass. However, she told her daughter who told her friend, who had a houseful of antiques from Pennsylvania (we’re in NC). I picked up the items and put in my storage building. It’s been great researching. I sold a Tiffany Favrile goblet for $450, a 1898 Worlds Fair souvenir for $150, a tea caddy for $100, and I have much more to go. This lady is in her 70s and would go “antiquing” in rural PA.Can you imagine finding a Tiffany goblet in a thrift store?! Lots more rural antiques to go. I give her a straight 50% cut; she gives me freedom to choose the prices, no time-line for sales, and I have donated a few items or sold “lots” of low-priced items on Facebook.
I bring that up because that client has a friend near Bethlehem, PA, who would like to sell her antiques collection too. She is in her 70s and asked whether I knew anyone who would do consignment. I am asking this community if you have any recommendations or would like to try it.
For the Norway caller: my sister lives in Belgium; she has an eBay store but also says “Vinted” is similar in the Europe area. She finds a ton of unique items in the thrift stores such as vintage wool blankets for one euro and sells for $200 or so to US clients. She uses free shipping. She finds awesome MCM curtains and furniture too. She is researching now how to ship MCM coffee tables over here because they are so cheap there. She would probably be happy to message with you about selling on eBay in Europe and shipping to US. Her store name is “belgiumyankee”, check our her for sale and “solds” for what she finds.
https://www.ebay.com/help/account/default/contacting-ebay-customer-service?id=4379
Scroll all the way to the bottom and look for dark blue print “other options” with a click down arrow; that is where I found “chat with us”
Hi all, I just used eBay Chat to resolve two returns in about 8 minutes. So much better than calling! I took photos of the page where the rep said “no defects” when I asked the question at the end of our session; I am supposed to get a transcript emailed as well. I saw the option on eBay’s “contacting customer service” page.
Week 12/1-12/7
Sales: $2,375
Items sold: 12
COGs: 75 cents
Consignment payout: $1100I sold a sailboat for $2200. I bought, and am renovating the hurricane-damaged home of my former 90 year old neighbor Frank. Frank also owned a storage unit with a 1974 Eastward Ho sailboat he started building in 1974! Frank moved to MD in Sept and asked me to sell the storage unit items; I get 50%. Storage unit lease ends Dec 31, so I was glad to sell it. It’s local pickup. I sold the boat on ebay and received a $500 deposit on purchase. I tried selling local but no bites after 4 months. No registration was ever done on boat or trailer so I created a bill of sale. Not hard to do. I could see myself doing this for friends for cars and boat, etc. if needed.
Other interesting sales was a $65 antique French copper pot “dhillerin”. I call it a “Frank find” since it was under the crawl space when I dragged everything out. Other Frank find sales was an ashtray from a local NC oil company for $12. His wife had a collection of 30+ so I have been selling them off; sold 9 so far. He left me a lot of stuff in the house that I have been selling.
The seller for the boat is a bit odd, but sailors often are. He has sent me 8 messages since the sale of very loquacious and nautical language about the boat and his happiness for it. Will likely be a character I’m sure.
On another side, I took a “contract job” of my former profession of being a military attorney. I am helping an enlisted Marine write an appeal for a performance evaluation that affected his promotion. Should take about 3-4 hours. I never want to be full-time again since I like being at home with my 5 year old, and renovating the house…but I feel okay doing a small job for someone that needs (and deserves) it. Yes, I am being paid, but charging a low attorney fee. Getting my feet back in the water.
Total Items in Store: 569
Items Sold: 14
Gross Sales: $459.30
Cost of Items Sold: $29.99
Highest Price Sold: $85 (RL vintage blazer)
Average Price Sold: $32.80
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 32One of my consignor’s antique cameras was returned, that was $219 back to buyer. He paid for shipping though, and said it was his mistake (wrong size).
I had picked up 7 liturgical robes at a Salvation Army about 10 days ago for $19 each; I left two behind that were badly stained. So far two have sold for $85 each. One item from my consignor’s storage unit sold for $50 (a rusted out dinghy trailer).
