Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[disneysteve]

I'm not at steve's level but I sell my old stuff on facebook marketplace and consignment stores locally. I figure why not make something? Seriously if you listen to steve's podcast interview and read about others they seriously start with $20 and can flip it into something that many make $500-1000/month just as a "hobby" or way to pay off debt.

Thanks, LAL. To be fair, I've been selling on ebay since 1997, selling mail order and in person since 1986, and sold at flea markets and other places as far back as the late 70s. Basically my entire life I've been buying and selling stuff so I've got a lifetime of knowledge and experience doing this. I wouldn't expect most folks to jump in and do what I'm doing. But as I've said here many times, virtually anyone can do it. There is almost zero barrier to entry. If you just start with some things around the house - toys the kids don't play with anymore, clothes you haven't worn for a while, gifts you never really wanted but never bothered to return. Sell those things and bankroll that into buying items to resell and even doing it as a part time side gig, you can easily make hundreds a month or more.

[disneysteve]

Stopped in Goodwill today. Spent $28.73 on china. I haven't inspected it all yet but assuming it's all in good shape, I'll be selling it to Replacements for $220.

Not a bad gig to walk out of the thrift shop with a $191 profit in half an hour.

[crazyliblady]

For those of you who sell on ebay and other places, do you establish a separate email, bank account, etc.? Perhaps also have PO Box separate from your personal address? My thought is that it would make it easier to distinguish any personal things from those related to selling, but I wanted to ask for your wisdom.

[disneysteve]

For those of you who sell on ebay and other places, do you establish a separate email, bank account, etc.? Perhaps also have PO Box separate from your personal address? My thought is that it would make it easier to distinguish any personal things from those related to selling, but I wanted to ask for your wisdom.

I do not have a business account. I probably should but I keep excellent records and our CPA has said that it isn't required as long as I can show the paper trail of where every dollar came from and where every dollar went, which I can.

No to a separate email.

No to a post office box. I get exactly zero mail related to my business so the only possible purpose would be to try to shield my home address from customers but I've been selling for nearly 40 years and have never seen any reason to do that.

[crazyliblady]

I do not have a business account. I probably should but I keep excellent records and our CPA has said that it isn't required as long as I can show the paper trail of where every dollar came from and where every dollar went, which I can.

No to a separate email.

No to a post office box. I get exactly zero mail related to my business so the only possible purpose would be to try to shield my home address from customers but I've been selling for nearly 40 years and have never seen any reason to do that.

Thanks!

[disneysteve]

December 2024 and year-end wrap up

December Totals

ebay:
$768.44 gross
$578.19 net

Replacements:
$1,796.27 gross
$688.79 net


Total:
$2,564.71 gross
$1,266.98 net


2024 Totals

ebay:
$13,716.02 gross
$9,211.15 net

Replacements:
$12,382.80 gross
$8,737.68 net

Total:
$26,098.82 gross
$17,948.83 net

Average monthly profit of $1,495.74.
My goal was $600 so I blew past that.

Getting involved with the china sales to Replacements totally altered my business model. Keep in mind that those year-end totals for Replacements really only represent the second half of the year. I made one small sale to them in May ($66) but the rest was all after July 1.

I've been gradually backing off of ebay and devoting much more of my attention to the china sales. Although I do list a lot of the china on ebay that Replacements doesn't want. According to the year-end report that ebay sends us, I was in the top 5% of all ebay sellers in the Plates category so I've become somewhat of a china specialist even though I still have lots of other stuff listed. My ebay inventory has declined from a high of about 415 items to 369 currently.

I'm currently accumulating and packing china for my next trip to North Carolina which will likely be in late January or early February. I've got about $1,500 worth so far and that was all purchased since 12/8, so just over 3 weeks. I'd like to have at least $3,000 to make the trip.

Overall I'm very pleased with the results. I certainly had no idea where the past year would lead me especially with the introduction of the china sales. I made almost as much doing that in 6 months as I made on ebay in the entire year, so you can see why I'm shifting more in that direction.

[disneysteve]

My wife and I went to a thrift shop today. We brought a large bag of clothing to donate and when you make a donation they give you a coupon for 20% off your purchase. We then went in to shop and ended up finding a ton of good china. We bought 73 pieces from 7 patterns for just under $55 after the coupon. I will be selling it all to Replacements for $480. Not a bad return for about an hour of shopping.

[EasyMoney00]

I've checked out replacements and sent requests to them to sell. I just looked on marketplace. You have to know the pattern, send them the request and they send you back a PDF of what they're buying. I've probably done a dozen and for those sets they weren't buying much.

At a thrift store, do you just have a hunch on what will sell? It takes a little time for replacements to get the PDF back to you so submitting sell requests would be a huge time sunk. I know you said you buy at estate sales. How are you gauging what will sell?

[EasyMoney00]

I just reached out again, 3 separate China sets. Not buying much or low amounts for the pieces they were. Glad you're able to seek out the good China and sell it to them.

[disneysteve]

I've checked out replacements and sent requests to them to sell. I just looked on marketplace. You have to know the pattern, send them the request and they send you back a PDF of what they're buying. I've probably done a dozen and for those sets they weren't buying much.

At a thrift store, do you just have a hunch on what will sell? It takes a little time for replacements to get the PDF back to you so submitting sell requests would be a huge time sunk. I know you said you buy at estate sales. How are you gauging what will sell?

I belong to their Star Supplier program. I pay an annual fee for that but I get access to their proprietary website where I can look up the prices they are paying instantly. I don't need to send in a request and wait for the PDF. I have direct access to that database. That means that I know before buying something what they will pay me for it. It's pretty much a no-brainer that way. I spent $55 today and I know for sure they will pay me $480. The only risk is if they deem something in less than acceptable condition or if something breaks in transit. Otherwise I know what I'm getting for everything up front.

Suppliers also get slightly better prices than individuals like yourself. Individuals also have 30 days to get the items to them but I've got 60 days. That gives me time to accumulate a load of stuff and makes it worth it to load a van and drive down there. First trip I took $6,300 worth to them. Second trip I only took about $2,000 but we made a vacation out of it so the profit on the china basically made the vacation free. Right now, I'm accumulating for the next trip and I've got about $2,200 so far. I'll probably go down in early to mid February so hopefully will have at least twice that much by then.

[disneysteve]

My wife and I went to a thrift shop today. We brought a large bag of clothing to donate and when you make a donation they give you a coupon for 20% off your purchase. We then went in to shop and ended up finding a ton of good china. We bought 73 pieces from 7 patterns for just under $55 after the coupon. I will be selling it all to Replacements for $480.

It's been a good few days. Estate sales on Thursday and Saturday, thrift shop Friday.

I spent a total of $101.
Replacements is buying it all for a total of $706.

On top of that, I made 4 ebay sales today totaling $373.

[skives]

Hey Disneysteve just curious of two things. Is finding this stuff for replacements and eBay possible in a relatively small town where there may not be many estate sales and the second may not be allowed on the forum but just curious of what you have for sale on your eBay store, if you don’t mind and it’s allowed could you link your eBay store? If not no big deal.

[disneysteve]

Hey Disneysteve just curious of two things. Is finding this stuff for replacements and eBay possible in a relatively small town where there may not be many estate sales and the second may not be allowed on the forum but just curious of what you have for sale on your eBay store, if you don’t mind and it’s allowed could you link your eBay store? If not no big deal.

You can definitely do online reselling from a small town. I don't personally but many people do in my ebay forums and podcast. We like to say "you need to bloom where you're planted" meaning you need to work with what you've got. The woman who does the podcast I listen to recently moved from Atlanta to a small town and has drastically shifted what she sells and where she sources from. She's now selling a lot of rustic stuff, farm-related items, homesteading stuff, etc. She has also gotten into buying from online auctions since she is no longer surrounded by thrift shops.

I think dealing with china and Replacements would be more challenging since that stuff is heavy to ship so if you can't buy it locally, it would be more difficult if you have to have it shipped to you. Though if the auction house is fair on their shipping charges, it could still work if you find sets of higher value for good prices. China doesn't usually bring high prices in online auctions for just that reason but I've bought stuff online but from a local seller so I could pick it up. Still, I bought one set for $73 that I sold for about $800. Even if I had to pay to have it shipped to me, I still would have made a nice profit. I bought another set, my best flip yet, for $895 that so far I have sold for $4,400 and still have pieces left. Again, even if I had paid to have it shipped, I'd still be way ahead.

I don't think we need to be promoting our own businesses on the forum but I'll message you.

[disneysteve]

It's been a good few days. Estate sales on Thursday and Saturday, thrift shop Friday.

I spent a total of $101.
Replacements is buying it all for a total of $706.

On top of that, I made 4 ebay sales today totaling $373.

We added to the tally today. We stopped at a thrift shop that I had just been to on Monday so I didn't expect to find much (I bought quite a bit on that visit). Still I did find one Lenox vegetable bowl. Price was $14.49 and I had a $3 coupon making it $11.49. I'm selling it to Replacements for $68.00.

We also went to an estate sale this morning where I bought a box of books, a daily bible study series from the 50s. I paid $5. They should sell on ebay for about $75 based on comps.

[EasyMoney00]

I'll be backing off flipping things this year. It's fun and the hustle side of it does get you fired up, but I recognized how I was when I was on the hunt or trying to make a deal vs not. It consumed a lot of my time. I look at my phone enough and playing the flipping game doesn't help. People tend to get obsessed...myself included. There just no free lunch.

At the end of the day, if I want something the money is already there for me to use. How much time do I want to dedicate to earn some extra money. I used to sometimes drive 2 hours one way to pick something up, drive 2 hours back, clean up said item, list it on marketplace, have a bunch of people flake out until someone comes along and buys it. The juice was never worth the squeeze but I just kept on squeezing. The high is no longer there.

OR, maybe I'm just getting lazy as I age. I click a few buttons each month and invest some money and it has grown over the long run. Hard to get excited when a mediocre day in the market can see my accounts grown by $500 or $1k....and a really good day can see an increase of $10s of thousands. And our accounts aren't even that large compared to some on here.