Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[QuarterMillionMan]

2 Questions, what is a lot (is it like a storage unit with various household items)? And the bigger question is the wife okay with you bring home more clutter (lol)?

[disneysteve]

2 Questions, what is a lot (is it like a storage unit with various household items)? And the bigger question is the wife okay with you bring home more clutter (lol)?

In this case, the lots I'm referring to are mostly small. They are laid out on tables in a carton box top so generally 10 items or less. One lot I bought was 9 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. One lot was 22 small diecast trucks. One lot was several pieces of glassware and china.

My wife is 100% fine with this. She came along with me. She didn't stay the whole time once it became clear that I'd be there all day, but she totally supports my reselling work.

[QuarterMillionMan]

https://za.investing.com/magazine/mo...rigin=yahoo&yp[campaign_id]=434561528&yp[adgroup_id]=9812272571&yp[ad_id]=38309160261&yp[network]=n&yp[device]=p&yp[publisher_id]=HOMEPAGE_US&site_id=yahoo.com&im_dars=1x100_3x105 _5x921_7x523&vmcid=p%24g%2co%245eca4c6c-2965-11ed-b41c-9cb65495717c-7f12db345700%2ct%241661975087598

i remember some of these items as a kid.

[disneysteve]

https://za.investing.com/magazine/mo...rigin=yahoo&yp[campaign_id]=434561528&yp[adgroup_id]=9812272571&yp[ad_id]=38309160261&yp[network]=n&yp[device]=p&yp[publisher_id]=HOMEPAGE_US&site_id=yahoo.com&im_dars=1x100_3x105 _5x921_7x523&vmcid=p%24g%2co%245eca4c6c-2965-11ed-b41c-9cb65495717c-7f12db345700%2ct%241661975087598

i remember some of these items as a kid.

Those clickbait articles are such a pain. They make people think the dusty stuff in their attic or garage is worth thousands. Beanie Babies and Disney VHS tapes are a running joke in the reseller community. They might be worth a dollar or two if you can even sell them, but people, like new ebay sellers, keep posting about their "great score" where they picked up a tub full of Beanie Babies with "errors" and how much they're "worth".

[disneysteve]

My ebay sales are cruising along pretty well. I'm still working on listing the items I bought at the auction on 8/22. I listed one item, a Lenox vase, the other night at 8:29 pm. It sold at 8:56 pm to a woman in China. Paid $18 for 2 auction lots of china and glassware. Sold the one vase for $39.95. There are 14 more items from those lots to sell.

Went to an estate sale on 9/27 and bought 10 items for $40. I listed one Christmas ornament at 11:40 am and sold it at 1:40 pm for $39.

When buying bundles of stuff, I always try to make sure there's at least one item in the lot that will pay for the entire lot. Sell that and then all the rest is pure profit.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Hum, I bit the bait hook line and sinker, lol.

[disneysteve]

Hum, I bit the bait hook line and sinker, lol.

They're fun articles to read. The problem is they make some people think the stuff they've got is valuable when it just isn't. It's kind of sad when I go to a yard sale and I see ridiculous prices on certain items because I just know they came up with that based on an article like this one.

[disneysteve]

August 2022 wrap up

36 sales
$896.21 gross
$584.50 net

Not awful but not nearly as good as July. Our budget counts on $500/mo income from ebay so we're on track for that. My ultimate goal right now is $1,000/mo. I've got some work to do to get to that consistently. I've hit it a couple of times so far this year.

I've had 152 sales in the past 90 days. I'm pleased with that number. My goal is to get that up to at least 180, an average of 2 sales per day. I'm thinking that won't happen until I'm up to at least 200 active items. I'm currently at 155.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My 90-day selling tally.

[disneysteve]

Since you shared yours, QMM, here is mine. Keep in mind that the 90-day total includes shipping and sales tax so it's a bit overstated.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It really is a good way to make some side hustle money with less effort than finding a part time job. good way to pay off debt maybe?

[disneysteve]

It really is a good way to make some side hustle money with less effort than finding a part time job. good way to pay off debt maybe?

The great thing about selling online is that it is totally on your own schedule. I mean you do have to ship items promptly after they sell, but even there you have some control because you can set your shipping time from 1 to 5 days I think.

The other great thing is that the startup cost is virtually zero. Many people start by selling some unwanted things around the house: clothes they no longer wear or stuff their kids have outgrown, toys they don't play with anymore, gifts they got but never really wanted or used, etc. You can even sell stuff you pick up for free by strolling around your neighborhood on trash night or checking Marketplace/Craigslist etc for free stuff people are giving away.

Once you get into buying things to resell, you can start very small and use the profits to build your inventory. Just the other day I sold a puzzle for $9.99 that I bought at a yard sale for $0.25. My profit on the deal was $5.83. So start with a quarter, make one sale and have $5 to reinvest in more merchandise. Rinse and repeat. Within a few weeks, you can have a few hundred dollars worth of stuff that you're flipping, so even if you don't have money to invest upfront, there is zero barrier or cost to start selling.

[disneysteve]

Here's my latest ebay success story. Not my best by any measure but it's stuff like this that keeps me going.

I went to a yard sale on 8/27 and bought a tote full of Thomas the Tank trains. Guy was asking $1 each. I asked how much for all. He said $50, I countered at $35, and we agreed on $40. After the sale, I counted and there were 120 items in the tote.

I didn't touch the tote again until yesterday when I dumped it out and my wife and I sorted them all: wood, plastic, and metal. I had 64 wooden trains which I divided into 2 lots of 32 and listed them on ebay for $65 per lot. A couple hours later, someone bought both lots, so $130. That's $90 more than I paid for all of them and I still have 56 pieces left to sell.

It isn't at all hard to see how this becomes a profitable venture very quickly if you put in a little effort.

My YTD sales are at $9,419 with profit of $7,334. Not bad for a side hustle.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Here's my latest ebay success story. Not my best by any measure but it's stuff like this that keeps me going.

I went to a yard sale on 8/27 and bought a tote full of Thomas the Tank trains. Guy was asking $1 each. I asked how much for all. He said $50, I countered at $35, and we agreed on $40. After the sale, I counted and there were 120 items in the tote.

I didn't touch the tote again until yesterday when I dumped it out and my wife and I sorted them all: wood, plastic, and metal. I had 64 wooden trains which I divided into 2 lots of 32 and listed them on ebay for $65 per lot. A couple hours later, someone bought both lots, so $130. That's $90 more than I paid for all of them and I still have 56 pieces left to sell.

It isn't at all hard to see how this becomes a profitable venture very quickly if you put in a little effort.

My YTD sales are at $9,419 with profit of $7,334. Not bad for a side hustle.

Stuff like that I can definitely see someone getting out of debt faster rather than delivering pizzas or newpapers or uber this could be a pretty good way to make money for someone more constrained with kids or inability to go out and do delivery or driving. You can go to stuff on the weekends or buy nothing and just flip and resell. You also are correct if you really are tight on money and unable to really start the inventory cost you can easily flip it into something else I've made quite a bit of money on my kids old clothes selling at the minimum at consignment or selling their old toys. A lot of toys were bought used but I still can get something for it.

You made close to 65% profit on your YTD sales. I can easily see that being higher if someone were to focus on that as a side hustle. Didn't a woman sell patterns for clothes as a side hustle doing pretty well on a niche market?

[disneysteve]

You can go to stuff on the weekends or buy nothing and just flip and resell.

Just today I learned of an app called Freebie Alerts that notifies you every time someone posts an item for free on Marketplace, Nextdoor, OfferUp, and TrashNothing, so rather than having to monitor all 4 of those, the app does it for you. You set your location and desired radius. I set mine for 10 miles and so far I've gotten notices about numerous pieces of furniture, an art mat cutter, a wet suit, bricks, 3-ring binders, a freezer, a TV, and lots of other stuff. There is absolutely stuff just from today that I could have claimed and flipped for a profit.

If you need or want some extra money, it's out there waiting for you.