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Awesome photos Amatino, you did an amazing job on the costumes, they are gorgeous!
Slow listing week for me, just 22. Summer doldrums but hoping for a more energized work week this week.
Happy listing everyone!
Week of 5/27 – 6/2/18
Total Items in Store: 213 eBay / 143 Etsy
Items Sold: 16 eBay / 4 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $27.39 (Approximately)
Total Sales: $414.61 eBay / $28.00 Etsy
Highest Price Sold: $44.96 Lamborgini Italy Silver Collection Desk Set Card Case Letter Opener Magnifier
Average Price Sold: $27.39
Returns: 0
$ Spent on New Inventory: 0
Number of Items Listed: 22Hi, just thought I’d add my 2 cents in re: selling on Etsy.
I’ve been selling vintage stuff obtained from thrift stores as well as craft stuff on Etsy since October 2016. Up until around October of 2017 Etsy was pretty good for me, I didn’t have a large number of items listed (way under 100) and I had sales consistently.
Around the last quarter of 2017 (at least I believe it was around then) Etsy added a feature where the seller could pay a $ amount ($ amount chosen by the seller) daily to promote your listings (ad fees). Promotion meant your listings would be shown on the top of the page even if the buyer searched for “lowest price first”.
Even though my listings had more than doubled to hundreds of items by then my sales tanked. I did try buying ads, but I didn’t want to spend a lot since I list at the lower end and I am not selling high dollar items. The ads only run each day until the dollar amount you chose to spend per day runs out, which is pretty quick. So that didn’t help my sales at all, but I still had to pay the ad fees, even though no sales resulted. So I quit that test pretty quick.
In May of 2017 my Etsy sales were equal to my eBay sales but since October of 2017 my eBay sales have way outpaced Etsy. This May my eBay sales were 10 x my Etsy sales. So from my experience I would say eBay is a much better platform to sell on, even for vintage stuff.
I too only have a spare bedroom to store my inventory. So I sell a lot of craft kits and sewing patterns since they take up very little space. I’d also love to get into jewelry but I know nothing about it so that would be risky. Also with larger items I try be really competitive with my pricing so those items move out faster.
Yes, I saw that so I will change over my current listings to free 30 day returns.
Looks like it only covers items listed between June 1st and June 15th though, so kind of misleading I think. At first glance I thought it would cover everything I listed from now through August.
Yes, I got the same message yesterday. Looks like a carrot to get those not currently offering free returns to try free returns. I’ll probably bite.
Feeling the same way here. Summer doldrums? I use some of the same techniques to remotivate as those listed above: take a day off, force myself to list a set amount to get the ball rolling, force myself to work for a timed period, etc. But what I’ve found to be the best motivator is buying fresh inventory. Being excited about my “finds” makes me want to get them photographed and listed. Sometimes making myself just list from the deathpiles for a long period of time gives me the doldrums…
Ditto on the above! I think I remember seeing something here that stated that priority should be the first option on your shipping so more of your items would qualify for guaranteed delivery?
Week of May 20 – 26, 2018
Total Items in Store: 217 eBay / 142 Etsy
Items Sold: 20 eBay / 4 Etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $36.00 approximately
Total Sales: $495.43 (eBay: $444.43 / Etsy: $51.00)
Highest Price Sold: $89.95 Lutterloh Pattern Making and Drafting Kit
Average Price Sold: $20.64
Returns: 1 due to shipping damage
$ Spent on New Inventory this Week: $13.00
# of New Items Listed: 24Thanks to MyCottage I had my first sales event and I had $97.00 in sales due to the sales event. And I’m glad I got to try that out before the “14 days at the same price before you can have a sale” goes into effect. Oddly for the first 24 hours of the sale I had zero sales, which was the first time in 41 days I had no sales in a 24 hour period. But it looks like today might be another zero sales day, sigh. Summer is rollercoaster riding time I guess.
Thanks MyCottage! I had seen that tactic before on this forum, but I had completely forgotten about it. I’m gonna give it a try!
My Numbers 5/13 – 5/19/18
Total Items in Store: 210 eBay, forgot to write down etsy but around 120/130
Number of Items Sold: 16 eBay, 3 etsy
Cost of Items Sold: $18.75 (Approximately)
Total Sales: eBay $271.75, etsy $31.00 (shipping paid by buyer not included on etsy) $302.75 total
Highest Price Sold: Vtg Bucilla Doll House Hutch Cross Stitch Kit $39.95 + shipping paid by buyer
Average Price Sold: $15.93
Returns: One requested, I have a feeling it won’t be sent back though
Money Spent on New Inventory: $25.94
Number of Items Listed: 58I’ve never tried running any sales (% off) in my store, so it’s interesting to read about it here. I’ve always just priced on the lower end of what my research shows the item has sold for (unless I have the only one for sale at that time – sometimes I wait to list until I have the only one so I can list it for a higher price). So I guess I feel that since my items are already close to the bottom price-wise I don’t want to discount them. OR maybe I’m just lazy and running a sale sounds like an extra step I don’t want to bother with?
Jay in answer to your question, that’s how it worked for me at the end of April 2018. I had never dealt with an INAD return before then. But am I reading here that a change was made in May? I feel that my experience was recent (less than a month ago is recent when you’re my age – LOL) but if a change was made in May then my recent experience WOULD be how it used to work, not how it works now…
Hi Fellow Challengers!
For the week of May 13-19,2018 I listed 58 items. So a pretty good listing week for me, but I’m feeling burnt out now, so I need to get my mojo back!
Marjean28 – I have a question re: your sister’s donations to your piles. Will you give your sisters any of the proceeds? My wonderful sister gives me awesome items to sell, but I give her the money minus the fees (my decision to do this, she is actually just giving me the stuff, but she is also paying to ship the items to me). And I give her “credits” actually, not cash, to use towards hotel & car rental when we meet up to go shopping together. So it’s a big win for me! I get to see her, spend time with her AND shop for inventory! Just wondering how you handle it with your sisters.
Happy Listing and Selling to All!
