Author Topic: Sam Runs an eBay Store  (Read 2249 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Sam Runs an eBay Store
« on: April 07, 2021, 03:58:20 PM »
I go back and forth on making this thread but I feel like enough is happening on a weekly basis now that it'd be fun to share my developments. No, I won't share a link to my store here as I'm not soliciting for sales here. I'm not taking money from friends (unless you want to support my website, but you can find that elsewhere and I'm not advertising it here). I want to share the process.

Chronicling some of the stuff in video form over on my YouTube.

I started selling stuff seriously on eBay on 1/25/21. I might share numbers at this point but for now I'd just say it's enough for me to pay basic expenses and have some leftover money while living with my parents and not paying rent/utilities. Given a few more months and I'll certainly be making more than I did at any contract job I've done in the past two years.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2021, 03:58:37 PM »
Today I decided to get a shelving unit for my inventory because space was getting crazy. This is what it looks like now:



I did pick up a copy of The Brown Bunny today for a dollar. Goes for about $50 on eBay.
Already sold for $40. I could have maybe held out for $10 but I try to not get too stingy on items where I'm already making an exorbitant profit.

« Last Edit: April 07, 2021, 04:01:20 PM by Sam the Cinema Snob »

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2021, 06:18:12 PM »
FLY would say always squeeze out what you can. Could have sold my Yeezy soot slides for $400 ez, but held firm at $500. Tbh I probably should have tried $550 or $600, but with new colors hitting end of April I expect the ones out there to take a hit.

About to try eBay myself, actually, as I look to trim down on some Amiibo and things to make room.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2021, 06:40:59 PM »
A difference between $30 and $40 profit isn't that great when you spent $1 to buy the initial item. But yea, with more expensive items you probably want to hold out and get a decent return. I'm basically getting back 5x what I put into any product I buy in profit after shipping/fees. But I'm also buying stuff on the low-end where you're going to have to have a bigger inventory to make a livable wage. I'm already nearing 250 listings and I'm hoping to be at 400 by the end of March.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2021, 07:07:26 PM »
Well the slides only retail at $55, but knowing that stimulus checks went out and the weather was changing, things lined up to hold longer until I hit my price. The margin on others I've found is not very good, though I pretty much just seek out shoes as a hobby and sell with the intention of buying ones I want that I am unable to get at launch.

The Amiibo just take up a lot of space. Was fun, but time to clear out.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2021, 11:54:16 AM »

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2021, 09:49:40 PM »
Most of the past couple of weeks has been just doing everything but finding a way to do it slightly faster and better. I think the next step is to try to source mostly online because I'm hitting about every place in town that sells at the price I want and only getting about 70-80 items a week which is not enough if I want to scale up. Hoping to do about 100 items a week next month.

I've gotten a couple of lots online and we'll see how profitable those end up being. One was a lot of old classics so I think that one will be easy to flip, the other one had some pretty crappy stuff, including a glut or raunchy comedies that are basically worthless individually. I'll try selling them as a group. You rarely see exactly what you will get with larger lots so it's kinda a crapshot until your at a size where the price per movie is so small you can absorb the duds through raw scale. But thats usually when you buy 500+ movies at one which I don't have the space or money for yet.

MartinTeller

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2021, 10:42:19 PM »
My recent sales:

Nights of Cabiria (DVD, Criterion) - $8.50
Juliet of the Spirits (DVD, Criterion) - $9.27
Satantango (DVD, Facets) - $9.85
Pickup on South Street (DVD, Criterion) - $6.50
The Grand Budapest Hotel (DVD, Criterion) - $9.07
Two for the Road (Blu-Ray, Twilight Time) - $10.60
A Zed and Two Noughts (Blu-Ray, BFI) - $5.72
Touki Bouki (Blu-Ray, Criterion) - $19.69
The Suspect (Blu-Ray, Kino) - $8.00
Days of Heaven (Blu-Ray, Criterion) - $71.00
Last Year at Marienbad (Blu-Ray, Criterion) - $47.00

Expected a lot more for the Fellinis, I guess the box set drove down demand. Also Marienbad did not perform nearly as well as I'd hoped, but Days of Heaven went for a nice chunk of change. Also surprised to sell Touki Bouki for nearly the same price as a new copy from Amazon when you include my shipping cost. I probably would've gotten more for Two for the Road, but the cover was water damaged.

DVDs of The Furies and Nightmare Alley did not sell, relisting them.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2021, 11:08:20 PM by MartinTeller »

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2021, 11:01:45 PM »
That Days of Heaven sale! Obviously, I'm holding onto my copy but that is not a film I'd expect to run that high. Guess it just didn't get enough reprints. I've basically sold anything I'm willing to get rid of out of my personal collection at this point.

jdc

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Re: Sam Runs an eBay Store
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2021, 01:35:47 AM »
Most of the past couple of weeks has been just doing everything but finding a way to do it slightly faster and better. I think the next step is to try to source mostly online because I'm hitting about every place in town that sells at the price I want and only getting about 70-80 items a week which is not enough if I want to scale up. Hoping to do about 100 items a week next month.

You mean you would actually buy online and ship to your place only to repackage and ship out again?  It would seem hard to be profitable having to ship twice.  Of course, the next step is to source online and ship direct which then becomes the drop ship model that is happening all over amazon.  There are a lot of people that sources speciality goods from Chinese ecomm sites and list them on Amazon at a higher price.  When the order comes in, they turn around and place an order to have direct shipped and keep the difference in price. 

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