Out with the old
We're on the upswing! In this economy!
I didn't change anything up drastically this month, it's just been a lucky one. Even with a month or so left for garage sale weather, I almost completely forgot they are an option for the weekends. I've strictly stuck to my thrift store schedule just about once a week. Not a bad plan for an extra couple hundred to take home.
Let's see how we did:
By the numbers
Profit this month: $508.21 (+80 for jewelry and asian painting)
Profit last month: $354.21
Spend: $219.27
Listed on eBay: 39/60
eBay rating: 99.1%
What Sold
Other highlights
You'd think people would be hesitant to invite others into their home nowadays, but my junk franchise brothers haven't slowed down much since the world imploded. Back in March, the staff cut themselves in half, taking vacation and sick days to wait out what most thought would be a weird two weeks. Months later, though, they're eyeing September to be fully back in the swing of things. The junk industry is strong, especially in New Jersey where we're packed in like three-eyed Hudson River mutant fish. And that's great news for me too! Hopefully, the guys will be able to start bringing items back from their jobs so, together, we can save them from the landfills and make some dough on the back-end.
Back at home, the Flipsharks had a garage sale to clear out some of the old junk - the bad buys. It seems like no matter how low you price something, someone always wants it lower, but I was fine to chalk some sales up to saving space (even if I sold it for far lower than I bought it). All part of the education. Honestly, I think I need to do it more often. Getting rid of things you've had for months is almost as exciting as buying new things to fill up my place with. It's a delicate balance of junk yin-yang.
Helping out a family member was a new adventure this month. My father's cousin's husband unexpectedly died last year. He left behind a lot. He was a gear-head and managed to collect car parts, paints, car models, and way, way more. A dozen dumpsters more. My dad's cousins reached out to see if I could use my particular set of skills to help flip some of the rest of the mess. I made a trip over and did my best digging through to find the gems. I scanned quite a few barcodes using the eBay app and did some quick research to find about a dozen model cars that could be worth between $50-100 each. Now, the hard work will be listing them up and getting that commission. Fingers crossed!
Fails
I'm trying to make the best use of my eBay seller plan. I'm able to list up to 60 items every month without being charged a listing fee. But this month I only managed to list about 39. It was much easier listing wrestlers last month and plateauing a cool 50. But, it's also much more lucrative to sell something offline where you can avoid fees.
Going forward
I've been wondering for some months now about how to take some bigger risks. It's pretty easy to go to the thrift store every week and flip on eBay, but if I want to up the ante, I'm going to need to do something else.
My brother had a good idea after he found a deal on Facebook Marketplace for a West Elm table in New York. He managed to snag it for a cool $100 when it's worth about $500. Some people are just desperate to get rid of things, value be damned. I'm wondering if I should get myself a storage unit and start browsing the Facebook feeds for furniture flips.
Plus, my good friend, Danielle, is finally moving out of her parent's house and into her first apartment. I'm putting my personal shopper hat on and keeping my eyes open for mid-century modern furniture and bohemian accents for her to snag.
Meanwhile, when other establishments are struggling to survive, the Jersey City bar/pizzeria/restaurant, Porta, has gotten creative. They've been booking local vendors once per week to sell individually on their rooftop. And my buddy Marianne helped me nail down my own date - Tuesday, September 15th. If you've been following the journey for a bit, you know I've sold there twice before, but this go-round will definitely be a bit different. Much more space and much less (actually, no) competition. I always do well there and it's always a great time to meet people face to face (albeit mask to mask this time). Something to look forward to reporting!
With that and my garage sale in mind, I've been thinking I should start focusing my business on a more local audience. It doesn't seem to make sense to compete on a national scale when I'd rather hand-deliver some of my unique and quirky home goods in Hudson County. Plus, it would be better to harness an audience to always be checking out my Instagram for the latest finds. I like the idea of being part of a community and building my passion into a business locally might be the ticket. (Flipshark Figures can stick to the larger community.)
