A Look At My Personal eBay Sales Numbers
Let's Check Out Sales So Far This Year.
I usually spend all my allocated eBay time sourcing and listing product. I can't even remember the last time I sat back and looked at the big picture. I know I tracked my sales and expenses very closely during my month-long eBay experiment, but that was just one (large) part of a whole year.
So let's look at these numbers together, shall we?
First Quarter 2018
$1,336.08 in sales minus $524.01 in expenses equals $812.07. That doesn't include the cost of goods, but I get them extremely cheap. I get at least 50% of my total sales in profit, on average.
It might surprise you, but I am not too hardcore into reselling. It is just one thing I do, and I do it when I believe it to be the most profitable thing to do.
You can see from these charts that business was slow for almost the entire quarter. Well, when I was writing Steemit posts I was getting over $30 or $40 for each one, so that is where I focused my time. I didn't source or list, only packed anything that sold.
Then we had the first crypto-dip. At the end of March, I decided to start the eBay income experiment at that time to sort of combine the two. And it worked out VERY well. I was able to get a few bucks out of Steemit posts, and hundreds from the thrifting.
2nd Quarter 2018
$4,634.30 in sales minus $1,557.49 in expenses equals $3,056.81.
This was when the eBay income experiment really took off. It is amazing how much the numbers jump when I go hardcore into it for just one month. Still, I was working full-time and did everything after work. So hardcore into it but just part-time.
This experiment was also to test the possibility of becoming a full-time reseller in the near future. The results were promising as the experiment was limited to only the items I sourced from the Goodwill Outlet. All other sources for items, like garage sales and other thrift stores, were not included in the experiment.
3rd Quarter (To Date) 2018
$1,901.41 in sales minus $602.79 in expenses equals $1,298.62.
Today is August 17th, so we are only halfway through the quarter. But the numbers are already better than the first quarter of the year.
I've still had the occasional sale from the eBay income experiment as well as my once-in-a-while sourcing and listing.
The large section of no sales at the beginning is because I closed down the store while I took the family to Alaska.
Conclusion
Year to date I have sold 319 items for a total of $7,871.39. After eBay, Paypal, and shipping fees it comes out to a total of $5,167.50.
Of sold items, only 6 have sold for over $100 which is 1.8% of sales.
Just 20 have sold for between $50-$100, which is 6.2% of sales.
Which means 92% of my items sell for less than $50.
The highest amount I sold an item for was an antique clock I found during the eBay income experiment, which was sold for $234.94.
What do I think about all these numbers? First, that I sell low priced items. Second, that little amounts add up over time (as I often say).
I don't mind selling lower priced things. The risk of scammers is MUCH lower on such things (probably why I get very, very few). And I can do it because I get my product very inexpensively.
Hey, just $10 extra every day would add up to $3,650 in a year.
After seeing my behind the scenes numbers, what do you think of my eBay efforts?
Holy cow, sending this post to my son for inspiration.
What does your son do?
Very nice @getonthetrain . That is really inspiring and something to be very proud of.
Thanks, Rob
Nice source of extra income!
I'm kinda thinking about going into it full time soon. I am on the cusp of minFI, which is making enough passive income to cover my basic expenses.
I think your ebay efforts are really not bad... let me change that, it's actually quite a nice profit. Congrats :)
Hey, thanks. Do you do any side hustles?
I need to get my ebay hustle on....few extra K this year would help!
If I put at least a half-assed amount of effort into it, I get like $1k per month.
Damn, I need to come out to AZ and get schooled. 1k more per month gets me to the promised land coupled with my other sources of income.
I think that's a great effort @getonthetrain but I didn't realise just how hefty the fees are! 😱
I've only sold odd bits here and there so haven't paid that much attention.
Good job on your part I would say. Especially as you seem to enjoy it. 😊
Fees and shipping are killer - you gotta source inexpensively.
Actually, I kinda want to dumpster dive and see what I can find :D
Do it. Do it. Do it! 😂
@getonthetrain, For sure your ebay efforts are really effective and your numbers speaking about that loudly.
Good to know that you really analyse things and then decide the right time to sell instead of just selling.
And that yearly Estimation is really effective numbers and i hope that these will going to increase over the time.
Wishing you an great day and stay blessed. 🙂
Thank you Chiree, keep rocking it man!
Welcome and thank you so much. Stay blessed. 🙂
Pretty interesting. These days I've been researching this type of online sales, I've thought about trying spreadshirt.com, but I'm also thinking about eBay.
Have not you thought about hanging ads for your eBay products in your Steemit publications, or do you think it's unnecessary?
I don't think it would help - not too many people read my Steemit posts - haha! But anything you see on here is something I would sell to a Steemian if they wanted.
Looks to me like you're doing pretty well. My primary eBay business is paper collectibles... mostly rare postage stamps and old letters. From which I can perfectly understand the principle of "small amounts add up." I think my average item sells for about $7-10... and it takes a LOT of those to make a large number.
I just wish the "auction format" was a hot as it was in the early days (I've had my eBay account for just over 20 years) where nearly everything was auction, and buy-it-now and fixed price was the exception.
Yeah, it's just the way things have gone. Unless it is something special, you get more with the BINs than auctions as those always go for less on the normal stuff.
You said in your other post that you made a few dollars but these are great numbers. For an after work activity you are doing very well and probably enjoying it.
I would love to have a side gig like this even for a small amount of money per month which i could then use to add to my crypto portfolio. Any side streams of revenue make a huge difference at the end of the year so well done.
You hit the nail on the head. If you make an extra $10 per day that is $3,650 per year. If you get that up to $20, then it is $7,300. More? Well, now we are hitting some real good numbers.
Thats what i like to hear. Now i just need to find a side gig that i enjoy. I spend enough time at work every week slaving away that anything i take on would need to be enjoyable. Otherwise its not worth the effort.
I will follow your example and put my mind to it before the winter. $10 dollars a day would be massive for me.