We actually had a much better week than expected while we were on vacation. Usually we expect sales to drop when on “time away” but sales were steady.

Our best sale was a hanging light we found in the trash. Sold for $300! So satisfying.

We just put out our popular holiday coffee blend, Matching Pajamas, if you enjoy a good cup or need a special gift! we ship anywhere

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week October 27 – November 2, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9650
Items Sold: 30
Gross Sales: $1,478.44 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,098.89 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $300 (vintage hanging light)
Average Price Sold: $36.62
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $50
Number of items listed this week: 100
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week October 27 – November 2, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

Slow week but we’ve also on vacation. So we’ll take these sales while our store is on autopilot. We’re having a lot of fun scavenging in a new town. We’ll know who the next President of the United States next week. Oh boy.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week October 20-26, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9629
Items Sold: 20
Gross Sales: $877.47 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $634.70 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $44
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $100 (vintage playing cards)
Average Price Sold: $37.21
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $18
Number of items listed this week: 30
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week October 20-26, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

We had a good week of sales but this current week has dropped off a cliff since we put our store in “time away” mode since we’re traveling. The algorithm really doesn’t seem to like sellers to be away.

Our coffee business is hot and heavy with two cafes in full bloom. We’re roasting more than ever with its own full time roasting crew. Exciting times.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week October 13-19, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9615
Items Sold: 29
Gross Sales: $2,047.49 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,523.01 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $108
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $225 (blender)
Average Price Sold: $52.51
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 30
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week October 13-19, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

As some others shared, it was a slow week on the eBay front. Lots of items under $25. Good news is that we’ve already sold as much in three days as all last week. It’s a marathon and not a sprint.

With the Fall season here, our cafes and coffee roastery has been gang busters. The weekend had people spilling out the door to grab coffee/food on their way to go hiking. We’re here for it.

Hope you’re having a good season!

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week October 6-12, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9584
Items Sold: 24
Gross Sales: $826.23 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $580.14 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $65
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $150 (set of vintage plates)
Average Price Sold: $24.17
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 10
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week October 6-12, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

Our eBay store feels like its fully back in business with consistent daily sales of all the weird stuff we find. Since we’ve been listing on eBay since 2008, there are actually items that may have taken ten years to sell. Kind of nuts to think about it, but the work was done a long time ago, the item doesn’t take up much room, and listing fees are almost nothing. Thank you past selves for making us money today.

Christine posted about how younger sellers are focused on sell through rates and only selling items that sell quickly. This is a wonderful way to sell but I assume they spend a lot of time choosing and resarching items to sell. And then spend a lot of time optimizing their listings to sell quicker. And then managing the listings that don’t sell quick so they don’t sit unsold. One way or another, it’s all work. No shortcuts.

Fall is here. Cold weather is coming.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week September 29-Oct 5, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9604
Items Sold: 32
Gross Sales: $1,615.92 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,116.76 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $117
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $75 (vintage menorah)
Average Price Sold: $34.89
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $50
Number of items listed this week: 10
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week September 29-Oct 5, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

We missed a week posting our numbers. Life has been busy because we lost one of production coffee roasters. If you know of anyone who wants to roast coffee full-time in Luray VA, email us here [email protected]

Otherwise eBay sales continue to crank away. It’s crazy what people buy. We’re grateful for it all.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week September 22-28, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9609
Items Sold: 36
Gross Sales: $1,314.56 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $946.22 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $65
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $75 (vintage menorah)
Average Price Sold: $26.28
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week September 22-28, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

Another good week for us. Always feels good when we sell a handful of items each day. Our best sale was an old Swatch watch from the 1980’s that we sold for $300. We bought a jumbled box of them from a guy at a flea market last year for cheap. These were trendy watches popular when I was a kid.

We read this fun article about the largest trading card collection ever found. It’s in a small town just a couple hours where we live. I’m curious to hear what Craig, our resident trading card expert, thinks of this haul. Wonder how much the guy paid for all of it.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week September 8-14, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9641
Items Sold: 33
Gross Sales: $1,870.07 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,251.10 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $101
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $300 (vintage Swatch watch)
Average Price Sold: $37.91
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week September 8-14, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

It feels like our store is back in business. We’re selling an average of five items a day. Flow. That’s what it’s all about. Somehow we’ve gathered a huge backlog of items to list. There’s still so much stuff to scavenge out there in the world.

Otherwise, our cafe/coffee company is in full swing. Two cafes open seven days a week. Our wholesale coffee business has exploded where we now roast four full days a week. It’s a lot but it is satisfying. Lots of puzzles to solve.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week September 1-7, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9662
Items Sold: 37
Gross Sales: $1,667.91 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,099.30 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $163
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $170 (replacement part scavenged from a broken oven)
Average Price Sold: $29.71
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week September 1-7, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

There’s a growing awareness that algorithms are increasingly controlling many aspects of our lives. Dating apps, Facebook posts, news sites, online ads, google search results… It’s clear to us that eBay also has an algorithm that we must respect.

Sales feel back to normal for us after we abided by eBay’s seemingly new requirement for opting into “promoted listings”. This tacks on about another 15% in fees for us each week. So after final value fees, eBay gets about 30% of our profit. (We’re not bitter about it:) I do wonder where eBay thinks it can get more money from sellers in the future. Each little change they do seems to find a way to get more share of the profit. It’s tiring.

Otherwise, we’ve been having fun scavenging and have been finding a lot of good things to list.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week August 24-31, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9678
Items Sold: 38
Gross Sales: $1,215.46 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $815.82 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $87
Cost of helpers: $40
Highest Price Sold: $100 (vintage watch box)
Average Price Sold: $21.46
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week August 24-31, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

What a difference between this week and the last couple weeks. The difference: promoted listings. It was only a week’s worth of data but almost 80% of our sales can from turning on “promoted listings”. Seems crazy.

So all these items sold were clicked on from someone else’s else’s listing? It’s confusing how it works. All I know is we paid an extra $180 for the ad fees on the items that sold. But if we didn’t do it, we likely wouldn’t have sold as much (like last week). I guess this is just how eBay is continuing to make more money. Thank god we find/buy all our inventory for cheap. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Otherwise it’s nice to be back to selling all the weird stuff we have.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week August 18-24, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9703
Items Sold: 38
Gross Sales: $1,700.04 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $1,182.61 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $33
Cost of helpers: $0
Highest Price Sold: $150 (vintage Apple lapel pin)
Average Price Sold: $31.12
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 5
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week August 18-24, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.

We love to travel but its also really nice to be home. We’ve lived in our small town for about 15 years and planted roots where we know most people everywhere we go. Much different from when I grew up in a suburb of a large city. Though small towns have their own issues, we feel like we’re actually part of the fabric of the community.

eBay is still slow for us. We’re playing around with promoting items vs not promoting items. This past week reflects not promoting again. Lots of really low offers that we’re just not willing to take. Keep rolling.

Check out our coffee! ► broadporch.coffee
Join the conversation in the forum>> HERE

Our Store Week August 11-17, 2024

Total Items in Store: 9742
Items Sold: 10
Gross Sales: $544.47 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $426.17 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $33
Cost of helpers: $0
Highest Price Sold: $160 (artwork)
Average Price Sold: $42.61
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 0
————
(Your numbers can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales)

The post The Numbers: Week August 11-17, 2024 appeared first on Scavenger Life.