Scavenger Life

This is the week that the Summer Slowdown™ started for us. We made half as much money this week as we have been the past five months. It’s been especially painful because our average price per item has been only about $22. All our low price items are selling.

For anyone new to selling on eBay, this is the time of year when retail sales plummet for almost any business you can think of? Walmart, Amazon, book stores, clothing, etc. There’s not much any of us can do about it. Americans can’t be buying stuff all the time! Let them enjoy their lives a little. Jeez.

We’ve posted in past years about how we handle quieter eBay sales during the Summer:
https://www.scavengerlife.com/2013/07/ebay-scavengers-episode-31-whats.html
https://www.scavengerlife.com/2014/06/scavenger-life-episode-129-what-to-do.html
https://www.scavengerlife.com/2015/07/scavenger-life-episode-205-dont-cry.html
Tips include focus on listing in preparation when sales pick up in the Fall. Try scavenging in different locations to break up routine. Cut down on expenses so slower sales don’t cramp your style. Or just go out and enjoy the summer. Stop working so much.

Anyway, sales will come back again on the big Merry Go-Round-of-Commerce™. Hope you had a good week.

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Our Store Week May 7-13, 2017

Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,633
Items Sold: 47
Cost of Items Sold: $254
Total Sales: $1,003.53
Highest Price Sold: $75 (suitcase)
Average Price Sold: $22.07
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 200
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for $0
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1291
Items Sold: 13
Cost of Items Sold: $41
Total Sales: $499.95
Highest Price Sold: $175 (box of brass flatware)
Average Price Sold: $38.45
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0

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This week on the forum we had another long discussion about the best way to sell on eBay. Is it wrong to let items sit in your store too long? Should you end all your listings every 30-days and re-list as new. Should you focus on listing new items or keep updating old items until they sell? It’s same old “fast nickel vs slow dime” debate. Obviously the answer is whatever works for you. Many of us use a combination of strategies.

Ultimately there are three qualities of an item that make for a successful store:
–find cheap inventory that you can find again and again
–that sells quick
–and makes high profit

It’s very rare to find items that fit all three of those qualities on a consistent basis. For us, we can usually scavenge items that meet two of those three criteria. We find items that are inexpensive to buy and will make a large profit, but they usually just take time to actually sell. Other sellers may pay higher dollar for items that sell quickly, but they don’t make large profits. These are all good questions to ask of your own selling strategies. Some of it we can control. Some of it we have little control over and is constrained by what we find when we’re scavenging.

We mentioned the eBay 2017 Summer Update. Nothing in it that we’re too worried about. As always, we just wait and see how things roll out.

Hope you had a good week!

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Our Store Week May 7-13, 2017

Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,469
Items Sold: 49
Cost of Items Sold: $254
Total Sales: $2,473.08
Highest Price Sold: $400 (vintage Danish chairs)
Average Price Sold: $50.47
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 15
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 1 items for $67 (dress)
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1303
Items Sold: 10
Cost of Items Sold: $24
Total Sales: $317.38
Highest Price Sold: $89 (vintage wingtips)
Average Price Sold: $31.78
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0

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We are currently in between video jobs and visiting Jay’s sister in Chicago. Surrounded by much more activity than we’re used to with two young kids, four little dogs and parents with full time jobs. We’ve heard from a lot of you that you have a similar life with eBay as a gig on top of that. How do you do it? We salute you!

NYTimes article on Goodwill Outlet in Queens that Jay mentioned.

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Our Store Week April 9-15, 2017

Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,515
Items Sold: 50
Cost of Items Sold: $256
Total Sales: $1,921.41
Highest Price Sold: $340 (Farmhouse table)
Average Price Sold: $38.42
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 2 items for $50
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1318
Items Sold: 6
Cost of Items Sold: $10
Total Sales: $130.76
Highest Price Sold: $33 (Fabric Coasters)
Average Price Sold: $21.76
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0

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We had a busy week of listing, packing and getting ready to travel for 18 days for some video jobs. Luckily our helper will continue to photo and schedule listings while we’re gone. We also have our fabulous cleaner helping us keep the Airbnb business running too. So far, so good. Hope your week was great!

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Our Store Week April 9-15, 2017

Store #1
Total Items in Store: 5,566
Items Sold: 62
Cost of Items Sold: $205
Total Sales: $2,141.36
Highest Price Sold: $200 (Japanese tea set)
Average Price Sold: $34.53
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $20
Number of items listed this week: 120
———-
Bonanza/Trugether:
Sold 0 items for 0
———-
Store #2
Total Items in Store: 1327
Items Sold: 24
Cost of Items Sold: $86
Total Sales: $502.39
Highest Price Sold: $80 (Pepper Grinder)
Average Price Sold: $20.93
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 0

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