Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[LivingAlmostLarge]

That's crazy for train tracks

[disneysteve]

I just turned down a $600 offer on an item I bought yesterday for $30.

It's a new old stock sealed case of 100 pieces of Lionel O Gauge train track.

I started the auction today at $150 and it's a 10-day auction. If someone is already offering me $600 that's a pretty strong indication that he expects it to go for a lot more than that.

As nerve-wracking as it was to turn down that offer, my experience has taught me that every single time someone sent me an offer on an auction item, the item went on to sell for more than what they offered.

The icing on this cake is that I actually got 2 cases yesterday so no matter what this one sells for, I've got another one to sell later.

[disneysteve]

September 2024 wrap up

Ebay:
$1,379.86 gross
$811.43 net

Replacements.com:
$250.00 gross
$207.06 net

Facebook Marketplace:
$100.00 gross
$78.80 gross

Total:
$1,729.86 gross
$1,097.29 net

All around a solid month and well over my initial goal of $600/mo profit.

These numbers are greatly skewed by the fact that I have been accumulating china to deliver to Replacements in person in 2 weeks rather than shipping it to them. As of right now, I have over $6,300 worth of china packed and ready to go and chances are decent that I'll get more between now and then. I'll be there on 10/15. It usually takes them about 2 weeks to process the orders and make the payments so that money will probably all hit in the beginning of November. About $4,600 of that will be profit (before expenses).

[disneysteve]

Yup, just with forever stamps about $1.80 worth (3 stamps). I used to do that too until you enlightened me not to do that which could ruin my 100% positive rating.

It won't affect your feedback score, which is the 100% you are referring to, but it does lower your seller rating. You can't be a Top Rated Seller if you do it a lot. The best you'll be is Above Standard and possibly Below Standard if it happens too much.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Yup, just with forever stamps about $1.80 worth (3 stamps). I used to do that too until you enlightened me not to do that which could ruin my 100% positive rating.

[disneysteve]

A seller marked some heat shrink tubing that I ordered as shipped on 9/4/24 no tracking included. On 9/14/24 after not receiving the item I opened a ticket thru eBay for a refund. Seller asked me to wait a few more days which I obliged. Today I received the item and closed the ticket for the refund and gave the seller a good review. I guess the seller uses no tracking to keep the price low but at a cost of possibly getting a bad review if someone never receives the item which almost happened in my order. But unscrupulous buyers could lie and say they never received the order and get a refund and get the item as well which would not be worth it for the seller using no tracking.

That seller gets two defects on their account when they do that. One for not uploading tracking on time and one for not shipping on time. That can lead to a lower seller rating.

How did they ship? Just with stamps on an envelope?

[QuarterMillionMan]

A seller marked some heat shrink tubing that I ordered as shipped on 9/4/24 no tracking included. On 9/14/24 after not receiving the item I opened a ticket thru eBay for a refund. Seller asked me to wait a few more days which I obliged. Today I received the item and closed the ticket for the refund and gave the seller a good review. I guess the seller uses no tracking to keep the price low but at a cost of possibly getting a bad review if someone never receives the item which almost happened in my order. But unscrupulous buyers could lie and say they never received the order and get a refund and get the item as well which would not be worth it for the seller using no tracking.

[disneysteve]

I also have a huge lot I bought at an auction last weekend that I haven't processed yet that I believe will be another $2,500 or so.

I spent much of today unwrapping, inspecting, researching, and cataloging this auction purchase. I've stopped for the night but the tally so far of what I'll be selling to Replacements is $2,756.

I'm not done. I still have a few more pieces to unwrap and check in. I have a bunch of the matching flatware to check in ($25-30 per piece and I've got about 30 pieces). I have numerous pieces that I need to photograph and measure to get them to identify for me and let me know if they're buying and for how much. And I've got a pile of items they aren't buying that I will eventually list on ebay. For example, I have a stack of salad plates that Replacements doesn't want but they sell for $25+ each on ebay and 11 cup and saucer sets that also go for about $25 each.

I paid about $895 at auction and it looks like once it's all sold I will end up with well over $4,000. Not a bad deal at all.

[disneysteve]

I can't believe you are making so much on china.

It's crazy to me, too. I really started doing this July 1 and including what I've already submitted for purchase but haven't sent in yet, I've already grossed about $6,600. I also have a huge lot I bought at an auction last weekend that I haven't processed yet that I believe will be another $2,500 or so. That will put me up around $9,000 YTD since July 1. To put that in perspective, my ebay gross for all of 2023 was $13,325. I've made 67% of that amount on Replacements in under 3 months. And that's on top of my ebay income which is $11,600 for the first 8 months of the year.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I can't believe you are making so much on china.

[disneysteve]

I bought a set of china this morning from Marketplace. I paid $350. I'm selling 45 pieces of the set to Replacements for $1,122, a profit of $772. The remaining pieces have already been donated to Goodwill.

Considering my monthly reselling goal has been $600, making more than that on a single flip is wild.

This now stands as my highest dollar sale ever, surpassing the set I sold in July for $948.

[disneysteve]

I'm actively trying to trim back my ebay business somewhat. The china sales to Replacements have really taken off and now occupy a lot of my time (and space). It isn't necessarily less work but it's relatively easier work and with a greater return for the effort. I'm finding it hard to focus on both aspects of the business since this is still just a side gig for me. I don't plan to stop ebay. In fact, I just listed 2 new items before coming here to post this. But I'd like to gradually decrease my inventory down to about 250 items (I'm at 392 right now and was as high as 410 I think). The significance of the 250 number is that at that level I could cancel my ebay store subscription which costs $22/month as I would no longer need it.

As for china, I won 9 lots in an online estate sale auction this week. I picked it up yesterday morning, spending about 2 hours there packing it all. Total purchase was $924. I believe I'll end up getting $2,500-3,000 for all of it.

I picked up a set from Marketplace the other night. Paid $30 and expected it to be worth $150 but once I got home and inspected it all, many of the pieces have crazing (crackling of the glaze). I'll still make a profit but it will be much smaller. The guy wasn't far away, though, and it turns out he does estate clean outs. When I told him I was a china reseller, he said he definitely needed someone like me as he gets a lot of it. I gave him my card and he'll be in touch when he gets stuff. He said he'd much rather sell to me for a lower price than to list on Marketplace and wait for a buyer and store the stuff. Hopefully that turns out to be a lucrative bit of networking even though this buy ended up kind of a bust.

I'm picking up another set from Marketplace today. Paying $50 and as long as all pieces are in good shape as promised, it'll sell for $350.

The other part of shifting more toward the china sales is time management. I often get up early, go to an estate sale, put my name on the sign in sheet, sit in my car for an hour waiting for the sale to begin, spend an hour or more going through the house, and often leave with nothing or just a few small things. With the china, I may drive 30-60 minutes to pick it up, but I know exactly what I'm getting and generally what I will make on it. It's not a totally sure thing but it's far more certain than the estate sales.

[disneysteve]

August 2024 wrap up

Ebay:
$829.98 gross
$543.95 net

Replacements.com:
$610.00 gross
$363.40 net

Total:
$1,439.98 gross
$907.35 net

I'd call it a solid month. I should get a $250 payment from Replacements tomorrow to kick off September. I already have $359 worth of china waiting to go to Replacements plus everything I bought today plus I am currently bidding on 10 lots in an online auction that ends Friday. Hopefully I'll win most of those. At that point, I may plan a road trip to North Carolina to deliver a load of china in person rather than shipping it all. What it will cost me in gas and a hotel for the night I'll save in postage. I may also need to rent a van for for a couple of days as neither of our cars are big enough.

[disneysteve]

I spent much of my Labor Day at the local auction house. I did pretty well. I spent $128 on 8 lots. Conservatively, the items I bought will sell for $750+. Most of it will go to Replacements but I also bought quite a few items for ebay. The coolest item I got today is a Medtronic pacemaker model. It's the sort of thing a doctor would have in their office to show patients what their device will look like. I was probably the only person at the auction who realized what it was. They go for about $60 on ebay. I got it in a box lot with a bunch of other items for $5. I also got a piece of art pottery that goes for about $85, so just those 2 items alone will cover what I spent for everything.

[disneysteve]

What about items (question for anyone here) that have sentimental value? Such as heirloom jewelry, mementos, memorabilia, hand-me-downs, inherited gifts from a deceased loved one, etc. I have no attachments to anything that I own and would sell anything of value that I own.

Sentimental value is typically not generational and that's where people get hung up. I might have an item that has meaning to me because I got it from my father, but it has zero meaning to my daughter who never even met my father who died 3 years before she was born. Parents fill their homes with crap saving it for their children and grandchildren when the reality is that their kids/grandkids don't want the stuff.

If you are done with it, get rid of it. We took 6 or 7 cartons of stuff to Goodwill yesterday morning. Freed up a nice space at the front of our garage. As soon as the heat breaks, I'll spend a day or two in there accumulating more stuff to give away. We don't want it or need it and our daughter doesn't want it so what are we saving it for?