Welcome back to the what sells on ebay series! In this series, I show everything that sold in my eBay store over the past month. The profit listed under each item is my net profit (what I make after subtracting the cost of the item and eBay and PayPal fees).
January was a great month! I got a lot of items listed and sold a few more than I did in December. I guess people are cooped up in their warm houses and shopping on eBay. I also turned on free returns this month for all of my items and that seems to have boosted my sales rate. Hopefully, the amount of returns I get won’t go up, but that may be a side effect of turning on free returns.
Slowly improving
I’m feeling better and better about this side hustle as time goes on. I feel like I’m getting better at finding good items and staying away from junk. I did sell a lot of cheap things in January, but I’d rather the cheap stuff sell than to not sell anything at all. At least I’m not losing money on any item I sell!
You’ll notice I sold a lot of keyboards in January. I’m not sure why I sold so many keyboards, but I’m glad to get them out of my inventory! I haven’t bought any keyboards for several months and don’t plan to in the future unless I can tell it’s a really special/vintage keyboard.
Highlights and issues
My best sale of the month was a pair of Nike combat boots. Bought them for $2.00 and they sold for $94.99 within a couple days of me listing them! A couple of days ago, I sold something for $420.00 that I paid $5.00 for! I haven’t gotten paid yet, but if the buyer does pay, it will be a great start to February.
I did have a couple of returns for items I sold in December, so I went back and updated my spreadsheet to reflect that. I have also made the mistake of shipping items to the wrong address. I often have several labels to print out at the same time and sometimes I accidentally put the wrong label on the box. I think I’ve fixed myself of this issue.
I had several people purchase items but never pay for them. I wish eBay made customers immediately pay for items as soon as they purchase, but I guess things are the way they are for a reason. I turned on unpaid item assistant and set it to relist the items after the case is closed so that will help me stay on top of unpaid items.
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This post covers how I list items for the best profit.
Most profitable item sold to date:
Vintage TNT CB radio amp. Total profit: $468.76
Numbers for the month
- Amount of Items sold: 39
- Gross sales: $775.37
- Cost of goods sold: $79.99
- Profits after all expenses: $615.56
- Average profit per item: $15.78
- Ended the month with a total of 337 listings
To track my numbers, I use a service called Easy Auctions Tracker. Easy Auctions Tracker connects directly to your eBay account and pulls all the fees associated with each sale to show you the true net profit. All you have to do is keep track of what you paid for each item! The best part about it is that it’s only $49.99 for an entire year subscription! This is much cheaper than any other bookkeeping software I’ve seen but more accurate than other options. Sign up through this link.
Items that sold:
Weston Clock Phone
- Purchased from: Thrift Store
- Cost: $1.87
- Sold: $14.99
- Profit: $11.90
Hot Wheels Patch
- Purchased from: eBay (Bought a lot of patches together).
- Cost: $.30
- Sold: $5.99
- Profit: $5.14
Zenith Data System Keyboard
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $0.00 (Thrift store was going out of business).
- Sold: $24.99
- Profit: $23.28
Kirby Game Boy Game
- Purchased from: Yard Sale
- Cost: $4.39 (I divide the total price I pay at a yard sale by the amount of items I get, so I paid $4.39 for each item I got at this yard sale).
- Sold: $10.00
- Profit: $4.61
Urban Pipeline Pants
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $1.00
- Sold: $14.99
- Profit: $13.54
American Eagle Jeans
- Purchased from: Dug out of parent’s attic
- Cost: $0.00
- Sold: $8.99
- Profit: $7.22
Red Toms
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.00
- Sold: $10.00
- Profit: $7.70
Microsoft Side Winder Software
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $0.00 (This came with the joystick. I paid $2.00 for it and it sold for $50.00 a while ago).
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $9.90
Air Force Mug #Muglife #GaryVee
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $.36
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $9.73
Harley Davidson Knife
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.15
- Sold: $19.99
- Profit: $16.73
Guess Backpack
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $4.39
- Sold: $60.00
- Profit: $50.11
Order of the Cootie Glass Sun Catcher
- Purchased from: Estate sale
- Cost: $1.02
- Sold: $7.99
- Profit: $6.20
Compaq Keyboard (only the one on the top right)
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $0.00
- Sold: $20.00 (I paid for shipping on this one. I usually have the buyer pay).
- Profit: $5.75
Cappagallo boots
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.66
- Sold: $12.00
- Profit: $7.19
Clipper Bay Windbreaker
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $0.50
- Sold: $10.00
- Profit: $9.04
Carhartt Hat
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.23
- Sold: $12.00
- Profit: $9.25
Philadelphia Eagles Hat
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.23
- Sold: $12.00
- Profit: $9.64
Nintendo Cleaning Kit
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $2.72
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $5.98
Dell Keyboard
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $.67
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $7.88
Computer Power Supply
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $0.25
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $9.08
Monorail Keyboard
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $0.00
- Sold: $7.10
- Profit: $6.87
Tripoley Board Game
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.23
- Sold: $12.99
- Profit: $10.19
Puegot Tahiti Salt & Pepper
- Purchased from: Gift
- Cost: $0.00
- Sold: $49.99
- Profit: $43.70
Broken Nintendo NES
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $1.10
- Sold: $19.99
- Profit: $17.72
Nike Combat Boots
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.00
- Sold: $94.99
- Profit: $82.08 (Whoop whoop!
Wrangler Denim Vest
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.00
- Sold: $14.99
- Profit: $11.51
Panasonic Remote
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.00
- Sold: $19.99
- Profit: $15.59 (Yes, someone paid $20.00 for a remote).
Super Nintendo Remote
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $4.39
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $4.57
Braun Coffee Grinder
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $3.00
- Sold: $25.00
- Profit: $21.27
Ivey Crew Fleece Pullover
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.00
- Sold: $9.99
- Profit: $4.57
Stratego Board Game
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.00
- Sold: $22.00
- Profit: $16.63
Xbox 360 Steering Wheel & Pedals
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $4.00
- Sold: $34.99
- Profit: $32.12
Matchabelli Cologne
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.96
- Sold: $18.00
- Profit: $14.34
Arco Marine Hat
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $2.35
- Sold: $7.00
- Profit: $4.14
Lot of 8mm Film
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $5.00
- Sold: $12.00
- Profit: $5.02
Old Navy Cargo Pants
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $1.00
- Sold: $14.99
- Profit: $12.68
Bostrom Brady Survey Equipment
- Purchased from: Yard sale
- Cost: $20.00
- Sold: $80.00
- Profit: $56.69
Wells Lamont Rabbit Fur Gloves
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.00
- Sold: $14.50
- Profit: $12.29
Jeep Rodeo Button
- Purchased from: Thrift store
- Cost: $1.22
- Sold: $12.99
- Profit: $10.75
Nathan created Millionaire Dojo to document his journey to reaching a million dollar net worth and inspire others to follow the same path. Go here to read how he intends to become a millionaire and reach financial independence. If you’d like to contact Nathan, you can do so here.
Thanks for the tips. You do a good job with the orginazation.
Thanks! It’s hard for me to function without being organized 🙂
Man, I gotta keep coming back to these posts. I’m starting to get into the flip life world. Just went to my first Goodwill Outlet on Sunday and it was wild. This flip life world is really interesting.
Get at it! I just shipped an item today that sold for $420 and I only gave $5 for it! It’s going to China, so it will be a while before the customer gets the package and I can know for sure they aren’t going to return it, but it’s a great feeling. I haven’t every been to a GW outlet and don’t go to the regular stores either. The small independent thrift shops are where I’ve been sourcing lately. It feels good to help these small business keep their lights on and keep the items I buy from ending up in the trash. Thanks for checking in!
What a nice series! Getting down to the nitty-gritty. I’ll stick around for more.
Thanks MW! There will be more to come 🙂
Amazing. I so want to do this. But the thoughts of staying organized and calculating shipping makes me reluctant. And how do you determine your asking price?
You can do it! I actually always charge the customer for shipping and set it to calculated shipping, so eBay automatically calculates shipping based on the buyer’s location. To determine my asking price, I do a search for the item on eBay and set the filter to “sold”. that shows what the item has sold for recently and I’m able to price my items based off that. If I can’t find any sold listings, I’ll just make up a price and I always put the best offer option on my listing so customers can make offers.
Thanks so much for this post! I just started on ebay a few days ago. Any tips or advice?
You’re welcome! You could check out this post here for my eBay selling tips. Good luck!
Looking at the “profits” you don’t seem to having any shipping fees. Shipping takes a huge chunk out of profits. If you’re being honest your profits should be reduced anywhere from 30-50%.
Hi Ann, I charge for shipping on all my items and get a discount on the shipping labels so I usually make a little money on shipping. At the time I wrote this post, I was using an eBay sales calculator where you punch in how much you paid for the item, how much it sold for, how much you charged for shipping, how much you actually paid for shipping and then it would subtract the eBay and PayPal fees so you could know your net profit.
I’m not going to say that the profit I listed is absolutely 100% accurate but it’s definitely not 30-50% off. It’s probably less than 5% off.