Money Monday: Two Weeks Behind

Time flies when you stay busy! And that is a good thing. For the last two weeks I have been pleasantly surprised with how busy eBay has been.

 

I have set a mini-goal to list AT LEAST five items daily. By doing this, I am not so overwhelmed with trying to build my store inventory. Some days, even listing just five items can be a challenge.

 

Sales have been consistent over the last two weeks. Many of my sales were my Fire King dinnerware collection. I am glad that it is finding its way to a new home.

One of my best sales these last two weeks is this 1930 Jaro Hess litho/poster. It shows the geography of the land of make believe, with all the fairy tales and nursery rhymes

I found it all rolled up with other posters in a bucket at a thrift store. I carefully unrolled all the posters, they were all vintage and exceptionally pretty. But this one caught my eye. Even though it was rolled up you could instantly tell the the quality by the feel of the paper and the beautiful graphics.

It was originally marked $1.00 but the thrift store was having a 75% off sale on all art work. My cost was 0.25 cents.

They

 

The poster also had a big huge rip of 16" from the left side into the middle of the poster. That made me a little sad, but I knew it had value even with the rip.

After checking completeds, my intuition was correct. This particular poster without rips in it has sold for $275.00. When I saw that, I was really excited!!

I wanted to be competitive but I didn't want to give it away, even though I only paid a quarter for it. I priced it at 199.00 and took a best offer of $150.00!!

 

Here is how last two weeks went:

Active listings: 644

Cost of items sold: $45.00

Number of sales: 32

Total sales: $950.00

Amount spent on new inventory: $45.00

Average selling price: $31.00

International sales: 4

Returns: 1

Feedback: all positive this week

Last but not least, here are some of my coffe mugs sales.

Each mug cost on the average, about 0.50 cents.

The average selling price of the mugs was 27.00 with free shipping.

 

Have a great week!

 

 

Money Monday: Much Improved

Sales were much improved last week. As I read through my blog list, it seems that it pretty much true for the majority of eBay sellers. Isn't it nice to hear the "cha-ching" on your phone when you have a sale? I still get excited when I hear it.

 

Last week I was busy with chores around together house so my listing numbers are about the same. We have a lot of fix it projects to complete before the end of the year. Sometimes it is hard to find a balance between eBay and things that need to get done around the house.

 

One of those projects is both eBay and house related. I am trying to get my inventory under control so I know where items are and how many I have of each. Definitely a thankless task, but needs to be done. This project will definitely take more time to complete.

See the Banker's Boxes in the picture? I am attempting to put my mug inventory in them. It is time consuming, but at least I can see what I have, tweak the listing and improve the picture quality. I am also trying to include 12 pictures into my listings. eBay provides twelve free pictures, and I figure of I can use all of them ( at least on my new listings) my items will place higher in the search.

 

I had a couple of good sales last week. My best sale was the Indiana Blue Teal Thumbprint Tumblers. These tumblers were part of the church estate sale over a month ago. I paid $5.00 for the whole box of glasses (48 total). That was the specific price on the box, but if I average all the listings by the $50.00 I spent for the WHOLE lot, the price would be closer to 0.83 cents a listing. ($50.00 divided by 66 listings)

 

Back to the tumblers. Monday, a customer bought ALL 12 of the tumblers! She paid $151.00 with F/S.

 

 

Mug sales this week were pretty good. This is the best one, I think. Four Zodiac mugs ( vintage Federal glass) sold for $45.99 and shipped internationally to England. The buyer paid $65.00 in shipping, can you believe it? If they would have sold in US i would have paid shipping. All four mugs cost about $3.00 total.

 

 

 

 

Last week was a pretty good week on eBay!

Here is how last week went:

Active listings: 615

Cost of items sold: $27.50

Number of sales: 20

Total sales: $485.00

Amount spent on new inventory: $30.00

Average selling price: $24.00

International sales: 2

Returns: 0

Feedback: all positive this week

Hope your week was awesome!!

 

 

 

 

Money Monday: What's The Prediction

Last week I tried to concentrate on listing more of the Fire King but that is just going to be an on going process.

 

I did hit up the Goodwill and one garage sale. The Goodwill did provide a few good items one of which has already sold.

 

Yes, this lovely bright green afghan sold in three days for 32.15 ( f/s) I paid $1.99.

 

Here is the other Afghan I found for $1.99. It's available :-)

When I go to GoodWill I usually check put the plush. Lately, they have been putting together bags of plush for $4.99. The bags they use are the same ones that comforter sets come in, so they are pretty good size.

Plowing throughout the bags of plush, I see these feet. Do you see it? I could not grab that bag fast enough!!

 

After I got it out of the bag and had a good look I saw that it is a newer Duffy Mickey Mouse. That's okay!!! I am excited to have found one. It's almost like a can mark that off my bucket list :-)

 

 

 

Cool mug sale of last week: paid .0.99 and it sold for $29.99. (f/s)

You just never know!

Three boxes of Tarot cards. It was fill a bag with books for 1.00. The Tarot cards were included. After all was said and done, they ended up costing about 0.20 cents each.

 

 

 

 

 

I checked the completeds and it appears that the I Ching cards may be the most valuable. We will see what happens. I did not test any of them out to see what they predicted.... Just not in to all that.

Here is how last week went:

 

Active listings: 612

Cost of items sold: $24.50

Number of sales: 13

Total sales: $313.00

Amount spent on new inventory: $35.00

Average selling price: $24.00

International sales: 1

Returns: 0

Feedback: all positive this week

Hope your week was awesome!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money Monday: A Slight Improvement

Last week was definitely a little busier on eBay. There were sales almost daily. Woo Hoo! That has not happened in a long time.



I was hoping to get my listing up past 600 this last week but that did not happen. What I did work on was my bookkeeping. For the last four months all I have done was collect receipts and write down mileage. It took me about two afternoons to get it all together. I hate bookkeeping :)
But Lorraine at Clamco inspired me to get it together. Here is her post on how she keeps track of her numbers. I fell so much better about that. Whew!!

Here are a couple of my sales from last week:

I saw on one of the Facebook groups that this cooler could be profitable. I paid $4.99 and it sold for $37.19, shipping paid by customer.

 

I paid 0.99 cents for each mug. The pair of these Disney mugs sold for $89.99 f/s

I was running a sale in my store,the original price was $99.99.

 

 

Here are the numbers for last week:
Active listings: 579 (574-last week)

Cost of items sold: $20.00
Number of sales: 15
Total sales: 500.00

Amount spent on new inventory : $25.00
Average selling price: $33.00

International sales:1
Returns:0
Feedback: all positive this week

I am still listing my Fire King collection. I hope to get most of the jadeite listed this week. It will be a relief to get it all listed. I never realized how much I had accumulated.

 

Hope your weekly profits were awesome!

 

Money Monday: Slow.....but Steady

I have been steady listing, but I know I can do better. I have about 120ish free listings left for this month and I am going to try like heck to use them all up. That will get me pretty close to 700 items listed.

In order to work eBay more like a business than a "hobby" I will be keeping track of my actual eBay time I spend listing, packing and cleaning. Trying to avoid the distractions of working from home is not always so easy.

My plan is going to be to document by signing in and out on a piece of paper ( just to keep me honest) when I am working and when I am at lunch, etc.

This morning was moderately successful. After a two mile walk at 6:00 AM, I came home, fixed breakfast and started to work at 8:00. I finished out the morning with listing and packing until 12:00.

Then is was time to get cleaned up, load of car to go to post office and run a couple of other errands too. I think I can get in another solid hour this evening.

I think this little experiment will help me be better organized and more productive.

My sales for the last two weeks are slow but consistent. There were a couple of good sales. I posted pictures below.

Here are the numbers for the last two weeks:

Active listings: 574 (512-two weeks ago)
Items listed last two weeks :62

Cost of items sold: $13.00
Number of sales: 14
Total sales: 353.00

Amount spent on new inventory for two weeks: $75.00
Average selling price: $25.00
International sales: 5
Returns: 1
Feedback: all positive this week

Who knew Bicycle shirts were so valuable? Goodwill for $2.99. Best offer of $80.00 FS

 

I found this Chinese dictionary at GoodWill for $1.99. It sold for $93.99 buyer paid shipping. I estimated the price. I saw some on Amazon for about 60.00 bucks. I just decided to go for it and list it high. You never know....

 

 

Mug flip of the week. I found this Dracula mug at a local Thrift for 0.50 cents. Sold for 24.99 FS

 

And yes, another $1.49 care bear sold. And now it is on its way to Norway!

 

 

Hope you all had a great week of sales!

 

 

Money Monday: The Summer Blues

Following along with Kim from Garage Sale Heaven, I wanted to keep track of my weekly sales,weekly listings and challenge myself to get both my profits and listings up.

Active listings: 512 (last week- 468)
Items listed this week: 44
Value of items listed this week 998.00 (lots of Fire King)
Cost of items sold: $5.00
Number of sales: 7
Total sales: 155.00
Amount spent on new inventory: $9.50
Average selling price: $22.00
International sales: 1
Returns: 0
Feedback: all positive this week

Sales this week were SLOW. Very SLOW. I am betting that July Fourth had a lot to do with the lack of sales. At this rate it will be a miracle if I even get close to my July goals!

On the plus side, I had a chance to get my listings up to 512 from 468 last week. There were a bunch of listings that I re-did the photos and cleaned up the listing a bit. There were also some items that I ended and took them to the Goodwill.

Here is what sold this week: 

Nice Hawaiian Shirt: $24.99(f/s)

Fire King Milk Pitcher $64.99 (fs)

Two of these suckers sold this week! $1.49 each, buyer pays shipping. 

This is a bank. $24.99 (fs)

Vintage Fisher Price Mickey and Minnie little people $21.99 (fs)

Surprise! A coffee cup sold! This went for 23.99 (fs)

Babbacombe pottery string holder

$20.49 buy pays to ship.

I am glad to have sales, no matter how few. My average selling price is down from $37 last week to $22 this week. That's fine too. I do have many higher value items in my store, but I try to keep it balanced with the lower priced ones. Keeping my TRS is a numbers game. The more sales ( even if they are $1.49 Care Bears) helps dilute the dings I do have.


How were your sales last week? 

Did the July Fourth holiday affect you?

Money Monday: It pays to list

Following along with Kim from Garage Sale Heaven, I wanted to keep track of my weekly sales,weekly listings and challenge myself to get both my profits and listings up.

Active listings: 468
Items listed this week: 23
Value of items listed this week $522.00
Cost of items sold: $28.50
Number of sales: 15
Total sales: $550.00
Amount spent on new inventory: $37.00
Average selling price: $37.00
International sales: 1
Returns: 0
Feedback: all positive this week


$37.00 is the highest my average selling price has ever been. It would be nice to keep it that high, but I know that it was because of the Mickey Mouse Body Parts Dinnerware sales

I sold two sets at $74.99 each (fs) to same buyer last week. There is one more set left that I am going to break apart and send to auction.

Last week I mentioned that I bought a fill-a-bag of clothes for $10.00. I managed to stuff in about 26 items in that bag!

I have already had two sales from those listings.
Rima beachwear caftan. For $24.99

And this Alfred Dunner blouse with attached tank top for $19.99

After going through all the items I stuffed into that bag, some were not going to be sold due to condition. This raised my cost per item from 0.48 cents per item to about 0.75cents per item. Still not bad!

And just when I think my plush items will never sell out of the blue comes this sale.

It is a Dan Dee plush valentine bear, sold for $24.99 fs

You just never know!

Hope your sales were awesome!!