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Thanks for posting! My first thought was that the employee at Target that helped them clear the shelves of those water bottles is probably no longer employed (or at least got in some trouble). Target is notoriously anti-reseller.
I’m certainly not doing RA at a high level, but am on pace to do around $80-100k gross this year (for around $24-30k net). I probably spend 20 minutes a day repricing/etc, 1hr per week in an online “mastermind” with a few other sellers, and 2-5hrs per week scanning/buying/shipping product.
It’s not the most exciting income stream for me personally, but it is a wonderful supplemental income stream to my eBay selling.
Currently in Calgary, but moving east (NB) in a few months! I’m on the verge of going full-time online and getting out of the rat race…
Most of the bike stuff I sold was older (60’s-ish) Truimph/etc parts. I may take it up again once I’ve got more space/time, and if/when I decide to build another bike!
Welcome!
Welcome! Missed your post originally. What part of the country are you in? 100 acres sounds WONDERFUL.
I’ve also sold some older motorcycle (triumph mostly) and car parts on ebay from time-to-time, depending on what I was working on, and what I came across for a good price. I’ve always thought that parting-out bikes/cars would be a profitable venture, given the time and space!
Throw a few pictures up when you get a chance. I’m not a pottery expert, but I’m Canadian and might recognize it
I’m somewhere in the middle for eBay scavenging costs. I’ll pay $20 for something that’ll turn $100 within a few months, but generally pay a few dollars at most for items. I’d say on the high end, I’m spending ~$700-1000/mo on inventory.
I’m also feeling a slight capital pinch recently, but in my case, it’s almost entirely amazon expenditures.
Reseller happy hour sounds interesting/entertaining.
Thanks for the update, Inglewood. Nicely done expanding the size of your store! Even if the payback isn’t immediate, long-term it gives you some insulation for when you’re not able to list as much, and somehow seems to set a consistent baseline income over a long enough horizon. Then it just becomes a matter of staying lean during the good times, and weathering the slow times.
Keep going! Our work lives sound very different, but I’m still able to empathize with your situation! The waiting can be the hardest part of all.
@Inglewood, I had all of the same thoughts, and had high hopes/expectations as a result. The thrifting was pretty disappointing.
I did relatively well with RA today. Ended up sending about 45 mixed units into FBA. Filled a large Home Depot box. Should net $300-400CAD after fees once it sells (likely over the next month or two). I don’t enjoy it as much as thrifting/antiquing, but it’s nice to have the diversified income streams, and the ability to switch gears when I’m in a situation that better suits one over the other.
01/31/2019 at 10:22 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #56225Currently sitting in our hotel room in Victoria, BC. I had high hopes that thrifting here would be fruitful. Many in the area are financially well off (town houses near our hotel start at $879k), and the demographics here have a high population of older people. As a result, I was pretty pumped to see what I could dig up.
Over the last two days, I’ve probably been in 15-20 thrift stores, from chains, to independents, to churches, and have done pretty poorly by my standards. Seems there are less items here that the stores “miss” and price too low. Maybe they’re just better at it here, or maybe it’s luck of the draw. I’ve gotten a few bags of things, but not nearly as much as I would’ve hoped.
As a result, I’m pivoting. Today, I’m heading out doing retail arbitrage instead. I checked a bag (free first checked bag), and brought my scale, my Dymo printer, and my laptop. Hoping to find enough profitable stuff to put together a shipment of a few boxes for Amazon FBA.
That Xanax mug is great. I would’ve grabbed it too.
With mugs, as mentioned earlier, it’s almost an art form. I’ve still got some in my inventory that I was “testing” while I was honing my eye. They’re often slow to sell, but the good ones have a great ROI.
As for sourcing, if the thrifts seem to have dried up, check facebook marketplace, local classifieds, auctions, estate sales, flea markets, etc. Heck, put the word out to family and friends that you buy and sell stuff. You never know what comes out of the wood work. Don’t be afraid to spend a few dollars just to test a new item/niche. If it works, you can add it to your mental sourcing list. If it doesn’t you might be able to eliminate it and streamline your scanning while sourcing. I try and list something I’ve never listed before a few times a month. Great way to expand your knowledge.
01/28/2019 at 9:42 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 396: Guaranteed Delivery? How is that working? #55988Haven’t listened yet, but plan to in a few hours when I’m out dropping off shipments and doing some sourcing.
January 20-26, 2019
Store 1
Total Items in Store: 1,580
Items Sold: 35
Gross Sales: $999.53
Cost of Items Sold: $86.80
Highest Price Sold: $120.00 (wool sweater)
Average Price Sold: $28.56
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $334.44
Number of items listed this week: 56Store 2 (CAD)
Total Items in Store: 703
Items Sold: 13
Gross Sales: $156.63
Cost of Items Sold: $11.50
Highest Price Sold: $16.99 (vintage patch)
Average Price Sold: $12.05
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 49Amazon.ca sales: $812.00 (CAD) (Approx $203.00 net profit)
Amazon.com sales: $1,586.00 (Approx $396.50 net profit)Good week all around. Been doing a bunch of listing, and the numbers show it. We were SO close to cracking $1000.00 for the week in our main store. Lots of bread and butter sales with some higher dollar and older sales mixed in. Amazon is still pulling it’s weight, and is fattening our bottom line.
For those interested, I posted an update in our “Journey to freedom” thread earlier this morning.
Thanks Inglewood. I’ve heard that before, and am going to give it a shot. Free is free, right?
Updates on our progress:
– My wife has secured a job with the government after we move. She just has to let them know what day she wants to start, and they’ve got a spot for her. This is nice for a few reasons. It gives us a definite income base to build on (she’ll take a significant pay cut, but along with it will be a significant stress-cut), plus benefits/etc after a few months. Also, having a job officially secured means that we can claim our moving expenses on our income taxes for the year. Should save us a few thousand dollars all said and done.
– On Saturday, we hit our goal of 2,300 total listings by the end of January. I’ve been listing pretty consistently (aiming for 20-25 listings, 5-6 days a week). Things are selling like mad (for us). We’ve had 21 sales over this Friday/Saturday/Sunday, and our sell-through rate has pushed up to over 2% per week. Going to aim for 2,550 listings by the end of February.
– Amazon is doing pretty well. We’re on pace to do $6,000+ in the US, and $2,500+ in Canada this month. Conservatively, that’s a net profit of about $2,125CDN (before income taxes).
– On eBay, we’ve passed the $6,000USD in sales/60 days mark on our main account, and $1,000CAD in sales/60days on our second account. Currently sitting at $6,464 & $1,222, respectively.
– Tomorrow we’re heading to Victoria, BC for a few days. I’ll be hitting the local thrift stores (looks like there are quite a few of them), and will be doing some Retail Arbitrage for Amazon. Crossing fingers!
I had two cart load that looked like that last week. Half price sale at the local stores.
01/25/2019 at 10:23 am in reply to: 1970's? Brass TP like holder but not… need help Identifying #55874I instantly thought soap dish/cloth hanger too. Also, I have doubts that it’s brass. Looks more like stamped steel with a brass finish.
I’m not on reddit much (or ever), but have started tagging #trashelf in some of my instagram posts.
His store is in Edmonton, Alberta. He does sell on eBay and through local auctions a bit, but his primary sales channel is his store.
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