I haven't posted in a bit because frankly, I don't really have anything all that exciting to report. On top of that, the weather has been unseasonably cool and rainy and the sky is full of smog from the Canadian forest fires. Not really conducive to motorcycle travel. So I thought I'd do a quick reseller report and talk about the first few weeks of reselling full-time and some gripes I have with eBay from here on out referred to as feeBay.
So garage sale season is here. I've spent the last several weeks going to garage sales on the weekend and reselling on feeBay, Monday through Friday. For the most part, things are going really well. However, I'm getting a little discouraged with the amount of eBay fees I'm paying.
I'll start with my first decent garage sale find and resell. It was a CCM Hockey Jersey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Purchased for $5, Sold for $42.90, and after fees and shipping left me with a $26 profit. As you can see almost half the money went to shipping and fees :( Still, a $26 profit on a $5 investment isn't bad.
As many of you know I had an import business that utilized eBay for much of our sales. This was the early 2000s. Man, a lot has changed since then. Back then you could sell almost anything, you got tons of views to your listings, and almost everything sold. I mean everything. Once I sold a box of rocks to prove a point to a friend. It seems at least for the time being, those days are over.
The fees back then were much more reasonable as well. I have to be honest, between the cost of shipping and eBay fees, I'm already looking for new venues to sell on. I'm doing better on my local listing through Craigslist and OfferUp. I'm a huge fan of capitalism, but the corporate greed of eBay just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Besides the fees, they charge extra to promote your posts. After every listing, they ask if you want to promote it for an additional $2 or more. The above jersey was promoted, but I only did that because I knew a CCM jersey would sell.
My point however is this, they're taking a final value fee, then basically telling you, if you want to be seen, you'll pay for that as well. I just feel eBay has lost its way. It seems to be a trend with social media as well, pay us and get verified, or get lost in the noise.
The days of viewing posts as they're submitted are over and apparently, this goes for eBay as well.
I personally feel eBay is trying to compete with Amazon and Walmart and in the process, destroying its auction business which is how it started.
I'll post more about this in another post. I'm 99% certain I'm not done bitching about all the fees they have now. I don't mind paying a dollar or two for each successful auction but paying upwards of $5 and more for low-ticket items is for the birds.
Another big sale I had came from my personal book collection. The Book of Results sold for $85
The book is out of print and very rare. I forget what I paid in fees on this one.
My average sales have been items like these Ralph Lauren Thermals. I paid $2 each and sold for $17.49. After shipping and fees, I made $7.68.
I have to be honest, I'm having a lot of fun. Actually, a lot more fun than I expected. One of the things that kept me from doing this in the past was that I just couldn't justify getting up at 7:30 to 8 AM on a Saturday to hit multiple garage sales. Especially back in my club days when I'd be out in the early morning hours on any given Friday night. Now I hit the hay early Friday, and get up early Saturday to source resell items.
Selling Locally
Selling locally is proving to be much more profitable. I may start focusing on local sales and eBay will just be secondary or a place to sell large lots I can't get rid of anywhere else.
I started selling stuff locally that was too big or bothersome to ship and sell on eBay. I bought an entire stereo system for $40 and sold just the turntable for $50. A couple of days later I sold the receiver for $25. I still have the shelving, a tape deck, and a Blu-ray player but it's paid for and all profit now.
The Coleman 5-gallon beverage cooler was purchased for $3 and sold for $12. All profit on these items with no fees. These were sold through Craigslist and the OfferUp app.
Last fall I purchased a motorcycle helmet at Salvation Army for $9 and sold it the other day for $30. I had put it away until motorcycle season. It sold in 1 week. Again, no fees, all profit.
feebay vs Local Sales
I may just start looking for larger items to sell locally. It's proven to be much more profitable. It is a little more work though. You have to email back and forth, then exchange text messages, and meet up. Sometimes people don't show up. It can be a bit of a hassle. In the end, the money is there and the fees aren't 🤣
Back To Work
This week I picked up a bunch of Pokemon stuff at the community garage sale event. I also picked up some sneakers, beer steins, and a few collectibles. I'll post more next week and let you all know how I'm doing.
For the time being, I'm making a little pocket money, having fun, and learning as I go. It's been a blast, if I can get past these ebay fees, I could see doing this for a little while. Seems like a nice way to earn some extra cash between crypto market cycles.