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I’m WAAAAAY overdue for a big, overview update. Lots of growth, lots of changes, lots has stayed the same…
But I felt I needed to come and share that tomorrow morning, we’ll break $500,000 (Cdn) in GROSS sales year-to-date.
It breaks down to about $400k on amazon ($295k in the US, $105k in Canada), $90k on ebay, $4k on Poshmark Canada, $4k on Poshmark US, and $2k on our own website.
I realize it’s a completely arbitrary number, and that the underlying profit is what matters, but everything we do is profitable enough for us to spend our time doing it.
I’ll try and get back in the near future for a full “state of the union” update/address, but felt the need to share!
My Guatemalan was roasted and shipped Monday, delivered Thursday, and in my cup on Friday morning.
Having my morning cup as I type this, and it’s really good. Thanks!
I ordered two pounds of whole bean Costa Rican through the Broad Porch site last week (looks like it delivered over the weekend), but just went ahead and placed an order for 12oz of whole bean Guatemalan on ebay too.
Gotta get these ebay noobs some feedback!
Can’t wait to try it all!
We hover between 30-35% profit across all of our Amazon sales, so $90-105k roughly.
Ballpark it on the lower end of that to allow for some overhead costs, supplies, etc that don’t easily get calculated into the above numbers.
Things have been good. We saw a HUGE bump in sales during the initial “shelter in place” orders. Amazon is definitely pulling it’s weight for us, but ebay is still our favorite.
I’ll find time soon to go update my “going full time” thread, but quickly:
We just surpassed $300k (Cdn) gross sales YTD on Amazon
We just paid 1/2 of our mortgage off (Paid $25k on a $50k mortgage).
Ebay sales are the highest they’ve ever been.
Added a Shopify store to our offerings for some niche products we carry, and had our first sale last month.
Generally LOVING life and the lack of alarm clocks…
Checking in. Long time since I’ve been on the forums, but I’ve been listening as usual, and have been working like crazy. I’ll swing by and update our numbers next week if I get a chance.
Wanted to weigh in on ebay send. I’ve used it about ten times now, and I’m done with it. Just had my third package go “missing”. This one shows as delivered to my buyer in the UK, but they’re saying they didn’t receive it. $30 item, $40 shipping… ugh
I’d rather use global shipping or USPS International going forward.
Sorry for the delay getting back to this.
I cross at a small crossing further north than Calais, and have developed a friendly relationship with the USPS worker there.
At this point, profits are being rolled back into more inventory, supplies/etc, and a large portion is being withdrawn as dividends to pay down the remainder of our mortgage, do some maintenance/repairs on the house, etc.
We buy from a number of different sources, some manufacturers, some wholesalers, and some retail stores. Out of curiosity, I looked this afternoon, and in the month of April, we’ve spent $16k CAD (~$12k USD) on Amazon inventory alone, so roughly $4k CAD/week.
It’s rare for our amazon inventory to be in our possession for 24hrs. It comes in, gets prepped/labelled, and ships out the following day.
All cylinders are definitely firing right now. We’re sending 200-350 units out in each shipment, and sending two to three shipments per week right now.
On average, across all of our skus, we average 25-35% net after fees, cogs, shipping, prep, etc. So between $7,000 and $9,800 USD ($9,450 and $13,230 CAD) net (before taxes) for the month of April. Insanity.
We built our business foundation on ebay, and gradually moved into amazon.
Income-wise, they compliment one another really nicely. When one is up, the other is down, ebay provides us a higher ROI while amazon provides us a more steady income base.
With all of that being said, and somewhat on topic with the thread, amazon sales have been INSANE since the pandemic hit. March was our best month ever by more than $2000 (we did around $18k USD gross). April has blown that number away. With two days left in the month, we’ve already done $28k gross.
Amazon has been taking a LOT more time than usual recently as we’re working like mad to keep products in stock, but it’s paying off in spades. Ebay keeps chugging along, and we continue to list when we have time. The biggest benefit of a large (3200+ items) ebay inventory is the ability to dial back the work temporarily and still have a solid income being generated.
Kitteh!
Thanks for sharing, Jay. I follow Martin on FB and am always amazed (and sometime saddened) by the insane stuff he finds!
For some odd reason, I went back and started re-watching both The Walking Dead (timely?), and The Office last week while listing.
I bounce between the two depending on how dark my mood is at any given minute…haha
In the evenings, we’ve recently watched Tiger King (Double you tee eff), and are now watching Queen of the South. It’s just meh for me.
Looking forward to watching Season 3 of Ozark. The first two seasons were good. I love Michael Blut… I mean, Jason Bateman.
Thanks for the heads up. I can understand that. I can’t see them being too keen on passengers at this point.
I went on Wednesday, and am planning to cross again tomorrow. The closest thing I’ve had to an issue is the Canadian side recommending I self-isolate for 14 days each time I return. At this point we’re isolated for the most part anyway. Made a contactless grocery pickup today, but that was it. My wife, the border agents, and the worker at USPS are the only people I’ve had any interaction with in weeks.
I crossed yesterday, and am planning to go again later this week. I don’t pay the per-crossing fee. I purchased a transponder at the start of the year that’s good for unlimited crossings for the calendar year (Jan-Dec).
So long as you’re submitting the required paperwork, and crossing for commercial purposes, the border is still open. The Canadian border recommends self isolating for 14 days, but from what I’ve been told, it’s not a legal order since it’s technically international trade.
Where are you crossing into Maine? Houlton? Calais?
I do the same. I cross three times most weeks to ship and am also near a tiny crossing.
I last crossed on Wednesday (18th). I was concerned things might tighten up, and have changed my handling time from one day to three days just in case.
I have a few back-up plans if for some reason things close entirely:
1. Use Canada Post, and temporarily end all of my listings under say $30-35. Leave my shipping settings as is, and eat the difference in shipping costs. Some sales/income is better than none.
2. I asked my local USPS post master if I could send pre-packaged, pre-labeled shipments to them in bulk via UPS. If I go this route, I’d package all of my ebay/poshmark sales, put them all in one big box, and send them across to USPS via UPS once or twice a week. Post master would then open the box, and ship the individual packages for me.
As of this moment, I’m confident that informal commercial entries will still be allowed through. I’m planning a trip for Monday.
Out of curiosity, where are you located and which crossing are you using? Your situation sounds very close to my own.
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