Scavenger Life

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We had a very modest Christmas week of sales. Started off slow and ended busy. So it all averaged out.

We stayed home for the holidays. No family or big celebration. Instead we cooked holiday hamburgers. Our favorite! But we also were pretty unmotivated this week. It happens.

In this podcast, we mentioned the following links:

• “Making a Murderer” is a new 10-part series on Netflix. Extremely addictive if you love true crime stories. Very frustrating too as you see the frame up of a most likely innocent man.
• In a recent chat session with Griff, he revealed that eBay now allows people to sell empty boxes. This was a big no-no up till now to avoid counterfeiters being to use real boxes, or buyers being confused they were actually buying an item and not just an empty box. So empty iPhone boxes will now be valuable.
• And as always check out our “Help Us, Help Yourself” page if you want to rent our vacation cabin.

Hope you’re having a great holiday.
 

Our Store Week December 20-26, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3920
• Items Sold: 27
• Cost of Items Sold: $95
• Total Sales: $1,095.05
• Highest Price Sold: $120 (vintage menorah)
• Average Price Sold: $40.55
• International Sales: 3 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $23
• Number of items listed this week: 31

Bonanza: $60

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 827
• Items Sold: 10
• Cost of Items Sold: $19
• Total Sales: $364.90
• Highest Price Sold: $50 (vintage fur collar)
• Average Price Sold: $36.49
• International Sales: 1 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 13

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As we said earlier this week, sales have felt quiet for a holiday season. But when looking at our week’s numbers, we did okay. Sometimes the facts are different from our perception.

Running our eBay business means we’re always solving problems. And there are always new problems to solve. The good news is that we get to solve our own problem. Much different than when we worked for other people who paid us to solve their problems. As we’ve used our eBay profits to start a vacation rental business, we get to have a new set of problems to solve. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

We mentioned the following links in the podcast:

• A caller asked about how to raise he seller limits. eBay has a page explaining how that works. As long as items are selling and customers don’t complain, your limits will get raised quickly in our experience. You can always call them too to get limits raised over the phone.
• Deb asked about how we actually shop together. Our methods evolve over time, but check our second episode to hear our techniques in 2013.
• We talked last week about how to identify vintage wool rugs. Was it made in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran? Here’s a good site that helps explain the differences.
• Looking for a new podcast to listen to while working? Try the new season of Serial where they try to figure out what happened to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Or this podcast about the Charles Manson murders.
• If you aren’t sick of our voices, check out our new episode over at Shampoo & Booze.
   

Our Store Week December 13-19, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3912
• Items Sold: 32
• Cost of Items Sold: $125
• Total Sales: $1,545.25
• Highest Price Sold: $200 (pair of resort wear shoes)
• Average Price Sold: $48.28
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 1
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60
• Number of items listed this week: 19

———-Bonanza: $15
———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 829
• Items Sold: 8
• Cost of Items Sold: $8
• Total Sales: $226.92
• Highest Price Sold: $37(Chalkware faces)
• Average Price Sold: $28.36
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 1
• Number of items listed this week: 54

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Even though we didn’t list much, we had a good week. Our sales felt like the holiday season. Other than packing sold items, we were busy running around taking care of a bunch of other tasks on our house project. It’s a week like this that reminds us why we like having a a big inventory so sales keep coming.

It also reminds us that our success with eBay has come because we remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Instead of being angry we aren’t selling more, we’re grateful when we make the money we need to pay our bills + a little extra. This buys our freedom. The steadiness gives us peace. The slow pace keeps it all manageable. Perfect for us. We hope you’re finding the right pace as you run your store and hopefully pursue other projects (or raise a family!)

In this episode, we mentioned the following links:

• You have till December 15 to sign up for healthcare at https://www.healthcare.gov/ if you want to be covered stating Jan. 1.
• We wondered how people are enjoying the new eBay Seller Hub. We haven’t switched over and would love to hear if it’s useful.
• Ryanne mentioned the Burn Test video that shows how to determine if a rug material is wool or synthetic.
• After I mentioned his post on having F-You Money last week, Jim Collins contacted us. I asked him if he’d let me interview him. He said no problem and wondered what you guys might want to know. Check out his blog. Like all of us, he has lived a life trying to have the freedom to do what he wants. Any questions you want me to ask?

Our Store Week December 6-12, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3952
• Items Sold: 37
• Cost of Items Sold: $175
• Total Sales: $1,838.89
• Highest Price Sold: $260 (vintage chandelier)
• Average Price Sold: $49.69
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40
• Number of items listed this week: 44

———-Bonanza: 0 ———-

• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 778
• Items Sold: 17
• Cost of Items Sold: $32
• Total Sales: $635.84
• Highest Price Sold: $160 (pair of King Sheet Sets)
• Average Price Sold: $37.40
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 0

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Big news in our household. After six months of quiet, but busy, behind-the-scenes work, we just bought another rental cabin this week. We discuss in this podcast how we’ll be using our eBay profits for the renovation, but you can hear the whole story over at Shampoo and Booze (+ see the photos). 

Here’s a great post by a guy in his early 60’s who has always saved money. He describes how he’s had a good life because he’s always had “F*** You” money. This is an impolite way to say that you have much more flexibility and leverage if you have enough money to walk away from anything. We’ve certainly found this to be true. And in fact, we find that opportunities can multiple because people realize we work because we choose to, not because circumstances force us into a bad situation.

We’re living a much better life than we were in 2008 before we started selling on eBay. Without any extra income, we’d were forced to take any job that came along. Our future was always uncertain. But as we built our eBay business, this extra money became the buffer we needed against uncertainty. And now building this rental business on eBay profits will give us even more leverage.

In this podcast, we mentioned the following links:
–Ryanne found a site that links to thousands of free online audio courses. Many are college lectures from universities like MIT and Berkley. Interesting to listen to while listing.
–If you homeschool kids, Khan Academy is an awesome site with free interactive courses on Math and Science.
–Josh sent us an updated version of his free shipping tool: http://www.flippertools.com/fitShipperListing/ Helps you figure out the cheapest and most efficient way to send a package.
–And if you missed our last interview, listen to John aka Resale Rabbit talk about traveling the country while scavenging and selling on Amazon FBA.

 
Our Store Week November 29-December 5, 2015

• Store #1
• Total Items in Store: 3986
• Items Sold: 37
• Cost of Items Sold: $150
• Total Sales: $1,506.97
• Highest Price Sold: $250 (vintage blanket)
• Average Price Sold: $40.72
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 2
• Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $40
• Number of items listed this week: 61

 

 
• Store #2
• Total Items in Store: 741
• Items Sold: 16
• Cost of Items Sold: $95
• Total Sales: $476.84
• Highest Price Sold: $150 (three hard drives)
• Average Price Sold: $29.80
• International Sales: 0 GSP
• Returns: 0
• Number of items listed this week: 57

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