Archives for March 2019

What Sold On eBay

On Thursday, March 28, 2019, I sold two items on eBay.

1. I sold an Italian Round Colonial Print with Gold Gilt Frame at the full asking price.

This was picked up at a thrift store last summer and has been listed since August 2018. I had a similar one that was rectangular that I picked up at the same time and sold months ago. It’s another case of waiting for the right buyer, as is with many antique and vintage items.

2. I sold a Faceted Crystal Rhinestone Black Bow Shoes Brooch Lapel Pin via best offer AND a 1% promoted listing.

I picked this up in an auction lot over the winter and listed it back in January. Two months to sell is a perfect time frame and I would actually consider that to be “fast” for most pieces.

Jewelry, brooches & lapel pins especially, are in my wheelhouse and is one of the first product lines that I started selling online. I absolutely love the artistry of such pieces and truly appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating them. And the fact that they’re easy to store and ship is an added bonus.

To Best Offer or Not to Best Offer?

As I gear up to move out all clothing that has been listed since 2017 & 2018 I have been slashing the asking price to 50-60% off. Not a sale, but just reducing the price.

As I do that I have been debating if I should remove “Best Offer” from these items. While I like the additional sales I see from having Best Offer as an option, the lowballs drive me crazy at times. And even if you don’t have Best Offer turned on people still message you with offers.

My issue is that say I have an item listed for $25 with Best Offer then I reduce the price to $12, still with Best Offer turned on, then I see offers for $5 (sometimes less). At $25 a low offer might be $10.

My goal is to clear things out, so if $5 at least covers expenses, that’s a wash. But a secondary goal is more cash flow and breaking even isn’t going to get you there. So I counter as I usually do and that runs the lowballers away. Decisions, decisions. What’s more important? The space or a few dollars to buy new inventory?

What are your thoughts?

Wednesday Goose Eggs

As you probably noticed, there was no “What Sold” post for Wednesday. Yes, it was a complete swing and a miss across all platforms. While we usually have that happen 2-3 times a month on eBay, that marked the NINTH day in March without a sale on eBay. That many days in a month without a sale has never happened since we bumped our active eBay inventory up over 1,000 listings. I’m not sure what’s going on over at eBay and we’ll probably never know, but this February & March have been abnormally low for sales. I’ll touch more on that once we wrap up the quarter next week.

What’s Selling?

What did you sell yesterday and on what platforms? How are your sales going?

What Sold On eBay

On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, I sold three items on eBay.

1. I sold a Freya Floral Print Balconette Underwire Bra at the full asking price.

I’m pretty sure this was picked up at a thrift store, probably in the spring of 2018 when I was buying clothing to sell. It was listed in June 2018, so it wasn’t a fast seller by any means.

Fellas, I have learned over the years that you need to make sure the underwire and elastic are in good shape and to check for any holes around the underwire. And if a bra or bikini top has certain types of attachments, such as straps that can be removed, make sure they’re not ripped or missing.

2 & 3. I sold TWO Tobin Kittens Kitchen Towels Stamped Embroidery Kits, one at the full asking price and one via best offer.

These were purchased last year in an Amazon liquidation lot (see the sticker still on them) and listed in August 2018.

I had 9 of them and one sold in October 2018. Then yesterday two sold, which has an odd similarity that I’ll get to next.

Missouri Loves Me! (Or Is eBay Messing With Me?)

When the first Tobin order came in yesterday I didn’t think much of it other than, “Cool, I finally sold another one of those.” But when the offer came in a few hours later I noticed that it was the from the same state, Missouri. When I see that it is sometimes the same person just wanting an additional one for whatever reason. So I looked and sure enough, it was a different person. Odd, I thought, but whatever, that’s cool.

Then I looked closer at the bra order on one of our other stores and guess where that was going? Missouri!!!

These are the type of coincidences that eBay selling conspiracy theories are made of. Are they hiding listings? Are they targeting specific locations? How does an item sit for months and then have multiple sales in a single day? How closely are our eBay stores linked together? Why don’t we routinely see sales from all 50 states, but instead the same few states over and over again?

The list of thoughts go and & on, but is there some truth in there? Or is it all just happenstance? I don’t know, but that is very strange.

What’s Selling?

What did you sell yesterday and on what platforms? How are your sales going?