Since The $10,000 Garage Sale eBay Challenge began more than two months ago, readership of The Auction Rebel has increased significantly. Along with that increase have come some questions regarding what the Challenge is all about, why I’m doing it, and what I’m trying to accomplish with it.
I have been active on eBay since 1998. I began by selling mostly antiques and collectibles and, with the exception of three “how-to” DVDs that I sell, those are still the things I sell today, concentrating on art pottery, antique and vintage toys, advertising, and ephemera.
Sometime in 2002 I started becoming active in several seller news groups and forums. I began noticing that, no matter what they recommended people sell, nearly everyone who dispensed advice about selling on eBay told people they could never be successful selling “used” items and that looking for inventory at garage sales was a total waste of time. If someone wanted to build a successful part-time or full time eBay business, selling new, or overstock items that they got from wholesalers, drop shippers, or retail outlets was the only way to go.
I disagree with that almost entirely.
I believe that for most people, that kind of advice is almost a sure recipe for failure. There are just too many built-in barriers/limitations with that business model. I also feel that is being proven with the increasing number of sellers using that business model who are going out of business every month.
The purpose of The $10,000 Garage Sale eBay Challenge is two-fold. First, to show that selling used merchandise is a viable eBay business model. Second, to show that garage sales are a valid source of inventory for the average person with a little bit of knowledge as to what to look for.
My goal with the Challenge is to generate $10,000 net profit from items that I buy at garage sales over a five month period - May to September. Granted, there are those who will say that $10,000 isn’t that much money. However, I contend that more than ninety percent of the people selling on eBay don’t generate that much net profit in a year much less five months.
I also hope to show the real expenses involved with selling on eBay. Too many people think that if they get a 100% on what they sell, they are doing fine. While there are a few exceptions, no matter what they are selling, people need much larger returns if they want to actually generate a profit and grow a business on eBay.
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July 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Gary, you may have covered this on one of your earlier blog articles… or perhaps in several that combined tell the whole story, but I am curious as to how you spend your week… your day.
It has to be hard work both finding items, researching them, and then listing them… how do you structure your time?
Tom
July 8th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I agree about garage sales, auctions, etc. for finding things that can be sold profitably on ebay. My wife and I have been doing this for some time now and we do make a profit; but also end up with a lot of stock (even though it works out to be free) that did not sell. Essentially much of our profit is in the inventory we still have.
Any suggestions about how to move the items that did not sell on ebay (even though I do put many in my ebay Store for a while). After all, not every purchase is the perfect one We do have a garage sale or two a year ourselves and donate many boxes to local charities; but still have a houseful of ‘good stuff’ … although it doesn’t seem good enough to warrant to time/effort to try and sell on ebay again. Of course every week there are more garage sales, estate auctions, etc. and we find lots of profitable things to sell but also can end up with things that do not sell, increasing the ‘inventory’ even moreso..
We could have an auction at the house, but then we have zero control over the prices we get and have to pay the auctioneer their percentage as well. I do not subscribe to the ebay theory to start everything at $.01 or $.99 … as often the only ones to profit at that are ebay and the Post Office.
Surely you, and others, end up with stock (ever increasing) that does not sell on ebay either through auction on in the Store.
Your thoughts?
July 9th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
hope you make it to the 10k, not looking like it so far based on the first 9 weeks. but hope you do. go gary go.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Tom,
There are a couple of posts on the blog that will give you some idea of how I spend my day.
They are A Day In The Life Of An eBay Seller and A Day In The Life Of An ebay Seller - On The Road.
These were both written a little more than a year ago.
Right now, when at home I spend my time somewhat differently then shown there. I no longer visit the thrift shops during the summer. Several afternoons a week find me on the golf course, and at least two or three evenings find me in the garage working on an old sports car I’m restoring.
The On The Road post is still pretty much an exact picture of what my day is like when I’m on a buying trip though.
Hope this gives you some idea.
Gary H.
July 10th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Ron,
I think all of us who sell antiques/collectibles on eBay can, over time, feel as though the “no sale” items are taking over our house and home.
One way to cut down on the problem is to continue educating yourself as to what sells and what doesn’t, but actually that just delays the build-up.
Over the years I’ve developed a “product flow” that works for me, although it may not for everyone.
1. Everything I buy gets an an alpha-numeric inventory number. The letter part designates what year I bought the item in.
2. It is then either listed on eBay, listed on Amazon, or goes directly into my eBay store.
3. If it goes to Amazon, since it costs me nothing until it sells, I let it sit there for roughly a year if need be. After that time, it gets pulled.
4. Most of what doesn’t sell on eBay the first time gets re-listed one or two weeks later. A few things go to the eBay store after only one listing.
5. If it doesn’t sell after the second listing, it either goes into my store, or gets boxed up and stored in my garage.
6. Each year, the first week of October, I have a one day (Saturday) garage sale that consists entirely of antiques/collectibles. Everything that was boxed up goes into this sale. Since I’ve been doing it for several years, there are a lot of local collectors and dealers who know about it and show up each year. My goal with the sale is to get rid of everything (never happens) so I price things fairly cheaply, either at what I paid or somewhat lower.
7. Most of what is left over after the garage sale gets donated to one of the local thrift shops. If there are a few items I still feel should appeal to someone, I consign them to a local auction, and get what I can for them.
8. Shortly before the garage sale I go through what is in my eBay store and pull out pretty much anything that has been there for a year or more and it goes into the garage sale also.
Granted, I take a loss of some of the stuff at this point, but my philosophy is that I’ll get what I can out of these items, and use the money to buy something that has a chance of turning a profit.
This approach may not be for everyone, but I find it works for me and it keeps the storage space from overflowing to the point I can’t get the vehicles in the garage over the winter.
If there’s something that I can’t bear to part with in this fashion (there’s not that much I’m that attached to), I have a friend who owns an antique mall here in town and he takes it on consignment for me. Some sells and some still ends up in the next years garage sale.
Gary H.