The auctions for the items purchased during the first week of The 2008 Garage Sale Challenge ended Sunday evening with less than stellar results.

Of the 20 items listed on eBay, only 8 sold for a dismal sell-through rate of 40%. This represents the first time in many months that my weekly sell-through rate on eBay has been below 60%. There are still 4 of the 20 items still live because I made an error listing them on Tuesday for 7 days instead of just 5. One of these has an opening bid, but even when these close, the rate won’t increase by much.

One of my Challenge book purchases (The Second World War by Winston Churchill ) sold on Amazon for $59.99. Total sales from eBay amounted to $183.47.

After the first weeks sales, here’s what things look like. The final figures may change a little because it’s likely I will receive a few more PayPal payments before everything is paid for.

Ended	eBay Sold	Amazon Sold	Cost	List Fees	FV Fees	PayPal Fees	Incid. Fees	Miles	Net Profit	Total
5/11	$183.47	$59.99	$35.35	$6.30	$18.04	$8.65	$0.00	$24.75	$150.37	$150.37
5/18			$59.55	$8.15				$46.97

This week there are a total of 30 items listed on eBay that came from area garage sales and thrift shops. Here’s what they are and what I paid for them:

• 13 VHS tapes about the Alaskan Iditarod sled dog race. I paid $2.00 for all 13 at a garage sale. My intention was to sell them as a lot, but after doing a little research I think I can get considerably more money for them by selling them individually.
• Brown University Of North Dakota School Of Mines vase by Julia Mattson. I paid $5.00 at a garage sale.
• Dark blue University Of North Dakota School Of Mines vase by Flora Hucksfield. I paid $5.00 at a garage sale.
• Light blue University Of North Dakota School Of Mines vase by Julia Mattson. I paid $5.00 at a garage sale.
• 9 Stamper’s Sampler magazines. I paid $4.50 at a garage sale.
• 19 Somerset Studio magazines. I paid $9.50 for these at a garage sale. Breaking them down into four smaller auctions rather than one large one will hopefully maximize my profits.
• All 10 volumes of The Bible Story with soft covers. I paid $5.00 at a garage sale.
• Charmed - The complete first season. I paid $2.00 at a garage sale.
• Waring Professional beverage blender. I paid $5.00 at a garage sale.
• Midland International transistor radio in it’s original box. I paid $.10 at a garage sale.
• Vintage 1939 Baby Book. I paid $.50 at a garage sale.
• Rosemeade mallard duck salt shaker. I paid $.25 at a garage sale.
• 24 volumes of The Best In Children’s Books series. I paid $3.00 at a garage sale.
• Lot of 37 Forgotten Realms paperbacks. I paid $3.70 for these at a local thrift store.
• Fisher Price #994 Play Family Camper. I paid $1.00 at a garage sale and probably should have left it on the table I found it on.

In addition I purchased the following books which I put on Amazon:

• The Hitite Warrior - I paid $.50 for it at a thrift store.
• The O.C. - The complete second season on DVD - I paid $2.00 for it at a garage sale.
• Amuse-Bouche cookbook - I paid $1.00 at a garage sale.
• The Rise Of African Slavery In America - I paid $.50 at a thrift store.
• The Clinical Application Of Outcomes Assessment - I paid $1.00 at a garage sale.
• The ARRL Antenna Book - I paid $1.00 at a garage sale.
• The Future Of World Oil (2 copies) - I paid $.50 each at a thrift store.
• The Dale Carnegie Leadership Mastery Course audiobook - I paid $1.00 at a garage sale.
• The Baron - I paid $.50 for it at a thrift store.

Three of the above books have already sold on Amazon, but aren’t included in this weeks sales figures. For the sake of simplifying keeping track of purchases and sales, I’ll be treating all books placed on Amazon each week as if they were listed on Sunday evening just as the auctions are. So, these sales will appear in next weeks results.

Photograph by emdot.

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