Summer sales

Now that we are getting into the summer season I have noticed an interesting change in my biggest day for sales.  For the past 8 months my biggest sale days were on Sundays but for the past month or so I seem to be selling much more on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am going to have to assume that it is because more people are getting out and enjoying the weekends.  I expected May to be a slow month and it turned out $3888 in sales.  June is turning out to be a bit slower, but the sales are still coming in.

Today alone I sold...

Siamese cat gravel art      Paid $0.95  Sold: $39.99      I really need to start buying more cat items, I have sold every piece I have ever found and for a nice profit to boot.

Hollywood Regency faux bamboo Trivet   Paid $2.00  Sold: $20.00   Nothing too spectacular, I am just glad it sold lol.

Crombie style skinhead coat  Paid:$12.99  Sold: $89.99   I sold this jacket to a gentleman in the UK.  I knew there was something up with this coat when it said crombie on the inside.   I did some research which lead me to the keywords I used to list this coat.  I originally listed the coat much much higher to see if I could get a bite, but ended up bringing it down after a couple months and got the offer of $89.99 which I happily took.   Its a cool coat so I hope he enjoys it.

Lucite space age lamp  Paid $3.00  Sold:$18.00   I had this lamp listed for much higher, but ended up breaking down and taking the $18.00 offer.  I am not going to lie, sometimes it just makes me feel good to sell something, even if its not that much profit.     

Hollywood Regency Faux bamboo tissue set  Paid $6.00 Sold:  $79.99  This set took a little while to sell, and I had a couple of lower offers which I almost took, but I am glad I didn't.  I really liked the detail on the faux bamboo which is what made me price this set at $79.99

Broken Xbox lot   Paid $30 Sold:  $95.00 - shipping.  This is a success and failure at the same time.  I figured out that broken video game systems have been selling pretty well.  Why are they selling you ask?  I am going to assume they are fixing them to resell.  I made the mistake of listing them with free shipping.  ( 30lbs )  Of course someone bought them in FLORIDA.   I still made about $20.00 in profit but that is below my 100% profit rule!   On the other hand this is a big success because I have been purchasing these system piece by piece whenever I come across them and so far I have found 4 full up working systems and the 3 broken ones which will sell for much more.

Well folks that's all I am going to talk about for now.  I am currently generating a list of items that have the following details.

#1 Items that I am always looking for.

#2 Where to find these items.

#2 How much I am willing to pay for these items.

#3 Quality control checks for these items.  

#4 Keywords to use for these items.

#5 Websites for research

#6 How to price the items.

I am considering selling this list on ebay for a couple bucks, but I need a few people to review the list and give me an idea about how much they would be willing to pay for such a list.  If you are interested let me know.

If you are not on my blog, come see my other posts at http://famousturtletreasures.blogspot.com

Improve your ebay sales with good old fashioned research

First of all before I say a thing about Terapeak check out our completed listings.

Famousturtle2010's completed listing            

Olivia11dancer's completed listing.

The listings speak for themselves.  One items sold will cover you for the month.   OK time to get on the soap box.

I do a TON of research on my items before I decide on a price to list my items for. I have been using eBay's completed listing search for the majority of ebay item research but it only gives me 15 days of completed listings.

Terapeak gives you the ability to search 365 days worth of eBay’s “sold listings”.

It will give you the highest, lowest and average sold prices for any item which will help you price your eBay items.

15 days from eBay's completed listings isn't enough.  On more than one occasion I have sold items which according to eBay's completed listings were not selling at all. I think it is due to the fact that the completed listings are only for 15 days.

Trends change all the time, and with Terapeak you can get a much bigger picture of the entire eBay market.

I  recommend the $24.99 option because that's with the $9.99 a month deal you only get 45 days of market data.

But if you want to try it out I would recommend the $9.99 package.

If you are interested in a test drive you can check out the Terapeak Price Report and start your free trial, you won't regret it.

Recent sales overview

Once again it's time to go over some recent sales of mine.  Keep an eye out for these items.

Bronze cat statue

Paid: $5.00 Sold:  $70.00 -Shipping.

Overview:  I bought this cat because #1 it was brass / bronze and slightly abstract and #2 I knew I could find a cat lover that would enjoy it.   The lesson to take away from this, put yourself in the buyers shoes whenever possible.

Herbert Herr black forest cuckoo clock

Paid: $12.00 Sold: $99.99 -Shipping.

Overview:  I didn't eve know who Herbert Herr was until I found this clock, I knew cuckoo clocks can bring some big money, when I did research there were not too many clocks selling so I priced mine $30.00 higher than the highest clock that sold.  Of course the day after I list this item it sell which means I priced it too low.  

Syroco dove / pigeon wall plaques

Paid: $3.00  Sold: $50.00 -Shipping

Overview:  They are Syroco and they are dover / pigeons so I knew they would sell pretty easy.  They ended up selling in two days.  I probably could have put them a little bit higher.   Like I always say.  If you find Syroco for cheap, pick it up.

Lucite grape bunches

Paid: $2.00 Sold: $39.99 -Shipping

Overview:  Well this was my first test for these grape bunches.  They sold the day after I listed them, which was interesting because the single bunches didn't seem to be selling that well.  If I find any more of these I will be picking them up again.

Mid century owl salt and pepper shakers

Paid: $2.00 Sold:$12.49

Overview:  So this isn't a huge profit, but I just want to point this out.  There are owl lovers out there just like cat lovers.  These sold within a few hours of me posting them.   Vintage owls sell so keep your eyes out.

Gaming strategy guides

Paid: $.75 Sold: $10.00

Overview:  So if you look at just this guide by itself its really not that big of a deal, but if you look at my completed listings you will notice that these guides are selling fairly consistently.  They are easy to ship, and list so you can't really go wrong.

Well thats all for now, if you found this blog post helpful please click on the link below.

"You need to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run"

Kenny Rogers, this one goes out to you.

A week ago I decided that I needed to clear out some space in my ebay room.  This was the first attempt at clearing my inventory of items that have not been moving or haven't had much interest (not to mention my wife is sick of looking at some of them).

This is a hard thing for me to do. I work really hard to try to find items that are valuable and/or are of interest to other people.  Therefore, having to admit that some of my items (all of which I also think are cool) may not ever sell, is humbling to me, to my bank account, and to my commitment my customers.

Whether I like it or not, however, this is a good move for FamousTurtle2010, my customers, and my storage space. So, like a great man once said,  "You've got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em...". Well the auctions are ending tomorrow. (if you're interested, you can check on them HERE). Right now its not looking too good for these items.   I know sometimes you have to cut your loses, learn from your decisions, and move on. Failure is a part of life, a part of selling on ebay, a part of everything, and handling it gracefully and with intelligence (and a great soundtrack) is, I think, a good way to go about things.

I'll report back later on the success (or failure) of my auctions once they close. Till then "...what every gambler knows, the secret to survival, is knowing what to throw away, knowing what to keep..."