And the first week of the Ebay Flip Project was a success! This week I sold almost half of the patterns I listed. Both Vogue coat patterns and the Simplicity hat & bag pattern sold this week (first in the slideshow). The other four patterns had some watchers but no bids.
The Bottom Line
Income:
Vogue #S-4023- $14.99
Vogue #9024- $14.99
Simplicity #3322- $7.99
Total Income: $37.97
Expenses:
Shipping- $4.75
Box of Patterns- $6.00
Ebay Fees- $3.80
Total Expenses: $14.55
Net Profit: $23.42
There we have it! A profit the very first week. I also paid off all of my initial start up costs (the box of patterns).
Hourly Wage
I spent four hours last Tuesday listing these patterns, and it takes about 20 minutes to package each one for shipping. That makes a total of five hours spent on this project.
$23.42 divided by 5 hours = $4.86/ hour
My goal for most homemaking/housewife projects is to make/save at least $4.00 per hour. This is the number I use to gauge if something is "worth my time", all other considerations aside.
Pricing
Ebay is supposed to be an auction site, but unless you list something that is pretty popular, you'll probably only have one bidder/buyer. I price each pattern according to what I think it is worth and not any lower. I can always relist something in a few weeks for no cost.
If something doesn't sell, it might be because it is too expensive. It might also be that your buyer wasn't online that week. There are a million vintage sewing patterns being sold on Ebay, so it boils down to what an individual customer finds attractive. Some patterns have a better chance of selling, but there's no guarantee that they will.
One of the patterns I thought would sell this week was my vintage glove pattern. However, at the end of the auction it still had no bidders and not even any watchers. It seems to be a popular pattern, but perhaps it was the wrong size, or my buyer found the cheaper pattern on Etsy for $11.00. I think mine was priced very reasonable, however, so I probably won't be changing the price when I relist.
Ebay's Timing Feature
Next we will be out of the state. It is not very smart to list patterns when you won't be home to ship them out! Because of this, I'll still be spending a couple hours listing patterns, but I will schedule the auctions to end when we are home to ship them out. Ebay didn't have scheduling when I first started selling, so I'm pretty excited to use this feature.
Til next time,
-Bethany
***
P.S. I've put a widget in the sidebar that shows my active Ebay listings. This is under the "Ebay Flip Project" picture and earnings. Feel free to bid on something if you like it! :)
Income:
Vogue #S-4023- $14.99
Vogue #9024- $14.99
Simplicity #3322- $7.99
Total Income: $37.97
Expenses:
Shipping- $4.75
Box of Patterns- $6.00
Ebay Fees- $3.80
Total Expenses: $14.55
Net Profit: $23.42
There we have it! A profit the very first week. I also paid off all of my initial start up costs (the box of patterns).
Hourly Wage
I spent four hours last Tuesday listing these patterns, and it takes about 20 minutes to package each one for shipping. That makes a total of five hours spent on this project.
$23.42 divided by 5 hours = $4.86/ hour
My goal for most homemaking/housewife projects is to make/save at least $4.00 per hour. This is the number I use to gauge if something is "worth my time", all other considerations aside.
Pricing
Ebay is supposed to be an auction site, but unless you list something that is pretty popular, you'll probably only have one bidder/buyer. I price each pattern according to what I think it is worth and not any lower. I can always relist something in a few weeks for no cost.
If something doesn't sell, it might be because it is too expensive. It might also be that your buyer wasn't online that week. There are a million vintage sewing patterns being sold on Ebay, so it boils down to what an individual customer finds attractive. Some patterns have a better chance of selling, but there's no guarantee that they will.
One of the patterns I thought would sell this week was my vintage glove pattern. However, at the end of the auction it still had no bidders and not even any watchers. It seems to be a popular pattern, but perhaps it was the wrong size, or my buyer found the cheaper pattern on Etsy for $11.00. I think mine was priced very reasonable, however, so I probably won't be changing the price when I relist.
Ebay's Timing Feature
Next we will be out of the state. It is not very smart to list patterns when you won't be home to ship them out! Because of this, I'll still be spending a couple hours listing patterns, but I will schedule the auctions to end when we are home to ship them out. Ebay didn't have scheduling when I first started selling, so I'm pretty excited to use this feature.
Til next time,
-Bethany
***
P.S. I've put a widget in the sidebar that shows my active Ebay listings. This is under the "Ebay Flip Project" picture and earnings. Feel free to bid on something if you like it! :)
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