Scavenger Life

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about our coffee company here, even though it takes up most of our time these days. Our first Broad Porch Coffee cafe in Luray, VA recently celebrated three years (when we ended the podcast). Our newest cafe in Harrisonburg, VA is almost six months hold. Both are doing well and growing. Our wholesale roasting is probably the fastest part of our business as we get a reputation in the region for high quality roasting and service.

Sometimes we question why we started a brick and mortar business, but it is nice building relationships with people in real life. As we grow older, I’d even say it’s necessary for a good life. Certainly keeps us on our toes. We interact with town employees, the people who live here who hang out in our cafes, and the people who work for us. God bless America 🙂

Below is a snapshot of our eBay sales last week. These weekly sales continue to give us the freedom to pursue other things like own a coffee company (or at least de-risk the reality of running a coffee business).

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Our Store Week July 7-13, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9616
Items Sold: 31
Gross Sales: $1,475.95 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $945.14 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $360 (vintage boy scout patches)
Average Price Sold: $30.48
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

We turned off all Promoted Listings etc this past week so these are all organize sales. Definitely seeing drop in sales but we keep more of the money. It’ll be interesting to see if eBay has decided that sellers must pay for ads to sell anything significant (on top of final value fees).

Other than facebook marketplace for local sales, we still don’t see any serious competitors to eBay’s vintage sales market.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 29 – July 6, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9639
Items Sold: 22
Gross Sales: $955.18 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $633.36 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $55 (vintage dress)
Average Price Sold: $28.78
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 100
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Sold a lot of stuff this week. Most of it lower dollar. Highest priced item was about $45. Our average sale was $22. Churn and burn.

We’re not sure if this is new or something we overlooked, but we realized that each week we’ve been charged for “offsite ads”. These are ads for our items that eBay places on other websites. If someone clicks on the ad, we pay a fee whether it sells or not. Last week we spent $27 on these offsite ads. Yikes.

No idea how long we’ve allowed these ads to occur. I think we’ve been able to turn them off because these ads do not fit into our system of selling. The whole point is we list items we find cheap/free and pay just a couple cents cents each month to keep them listed on eBay until sold. These offsite ads are eating into that profit margin since we pay whether the items sells or not. The Harvard grads at eBay are really finding more and more ways to get into seller’s pockets 🙂

eBay just list our item and let it all happen naturally. Trust the process.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 23-29, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9502
Items Sold: 37
Gross Sales: $1,233.03 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $830.84 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $45 (designer throw pillow)
Average Price Sold: $22.45
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Our big sale this week was a $900 vintage appliance. Ryanne finds these things online when people are cleaning out a house. Since we have a storage building, we can keep it for a long time since they’re slow sellers. This oven probably sat for over six months before selling to someone across the country.

The other challenge is working with eBay buyers to use freight companies. Sometimes we get eBay buyers who are savvy with Uship. In this case, we had to get the freight quote, organize the shipping, and make sure the buyer felt confident in the process. So it’s definitely no easy money.

Otherwise, we have a new kitten in our household so that’s always fun 🙂

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 16-22, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9498
Items Sold: 35
Gross Sales: $2,426.76 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,703.38 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $145
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $900 (vintage oven)
Average Price Sold: $48.66
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Let’s blame it all on the heat. Gdamn is it hot outside.

Sales have really picked up for us over the past month or so. Definitely selling a lot of lower dollar items, but it all adds up. We sold a jacket for $40 that must have been listed for at least ten years. TEN YEARS! Everything eventually sells….as long as something is selling today.

eBay sent us this message:

We’re excited to let you know that we’ve increased the selling limit on your account to $50,000,000.00. This means you can list more of your items and help grow your business on eBay.

It’s good to hear that all the rage among the youth is buying vintage. We’re here for it.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 9-15, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9502
Items Sold: 42
Gross Sales: $1,646.83 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,154.15 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $87
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $90 (vintage wool hat)
Average Price Sold: $27.47
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 20
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

We’ve been selling a lot of items the last several weeks because we’re taking almost any offer people send us. So lots of volume but lower profit. Some items are selling for under $20. We change with the economic times. With a big inventory, we can churn when we need to.

Otherwise, we’ve been dipping our toe back into thrift store shopping. We’ve avoided thrift stores the last two years because of the crazy pandemic prices and general saturation of shoppers. (Maybe we were just too tired too). But it’s been fun to randomly stop by an independent thrift store in an old rundown strip mall to see what the kind of junk is bubbling up. It’s been fun. We’re definitely buying less but paying more for quality items.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week June 2-8, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9512
Items Sold: 46
Gross Sales: $1,574.03 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,062.28 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $109
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $85 (vintage neckace)
Average Price Sold: $23.09
Returns: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $35
Number of items listed this week: 0
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Better week for our sales. Lots of random sales. Highest sale was a vintage denim jacket to someone in Japan. Another was an amateur carved wooden head sculpture that we’ve had for a long time. There’s value in things people can find no where else.

Summer has kickstarted our vacation rentals and cafes. Now we start saving up for the slower winter. Always look ahead.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 26-June 1, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9543
Items Sold: 38
Gross Sales: $1,747.01 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,268.04 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $113
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $230 (vintage denim jacket)
Average Price Sold: $33.36
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 10
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Feels like summer sales aka the slow season. No idea if its just us. Good news is this week is already better. For some reason this week people are buying from us.

We sold a pop-up book for $250. This was something we found on the street in a box of old books. After some research we found it its by an artist that people collect. You never know.

We randomly drove by some yard sales and did some great scavenging. It felt like 208 where stuff was plentiful and cheap. Load up the truck.

When we do have slow sales, we remind ourselves that we pay very little for our inventory. Risk is low and profit is high (when stuff sells).

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 19-25, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9576
Items Sold: 16
Gross Sales: $1,090.86 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $703.06 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $37
Cost of helpers: $80
Highest Price Sold: $250 (pop up book)
Average Price Sold: $43.94
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $75
Number of items listed this week: 10
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

Definitely a slow week of low dollars sales for us. Half are sales were clothes. Clothing is a niche we can’t quit. Feels like a weird time right now. Keep on listing.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 12-18, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9598
Items Sold: 19
Gross Sales: $606.66 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $413.73 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $42
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $50 (vintage drawers pulls)
Average Price Sold: $21.75
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 30
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

We just returned home after almost two weeks away. It was nice to get away from our daily life, though we’re always connected to our different businesses online. For us, running our business is more of a lifestyle than a burden. We’ve created ways to make money that we don’t hate and have consistently tried to change the parts we don’t like. From scavenging to hospitality to roasting coffee, it all comes from a place of things we enjoy. Thankfully these things also make us money to live in this world.

While we travel, we also scavenge in new places that is always fun. We probably picked up another couple months of new inventory that we now have to photograph and list.

Our best sale this week was a vintage dresser that we sold for $1500 on eBay. For our rentals, we’re always looking for quality furniture for cheap. This dresser was an example of something we bought for $100 and ended up not using. So we list it on eBay as “local pickup” and it sits in our garage. It took about a year for someone to finally buy it. They’re working through Uship to get it picked up. Perfect example of being patient for the right buyer. We list furniture on Facebook as well but the wacky messages are constant and everyone wants things cheap.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week May 5-11, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9541
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $2,868.67 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $2,089.26 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $326
Cost of helpers: $0
Highest Price Sold: $1539 (vintage dresser drawers)
Average Price Sold: $104.33
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $30
Number of items listed this week: 75
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(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)