This is my first monthly blog post, where I detail how I went each month and have a look at what sold and what didn’t. I will also go over what I think I did right, and what opportunities I may have missed, and what I can do better moving forward.
First up, let’s look at my total sales for the month.
Items Listed & Sold
I listed 170 item for the month, and sold 25 items.
Those 25 items sold for a total of $372.06* for an after everything (including tax) profit of $153.79*.
* Australian dollars.
Not bad for my first month.
I mostly sold DVDs and CD, with the occasional video game – all items easy to list and ship.
My average profit per item over the month was $6.15, which isn’t huge by any stretch, but given I sold mostly physical media, not too bad.
I listed a lot of physical media as that is what I had laying around – a lot of it I already had or I grabbed pretty cheap at thrift stores / op shops.
What I Did Right
I watched a few YouTube videos before I really started selling, and the biggest takeaway from those was to list a minimum of 5 items each and every day.
To get this done, I started with DVDs and CDs as these are super easy to list and ship, so they don’t take much time at all.
They tend to sell well, too, which helped the both with activity and (hopefully) positive feedback.
What Sold Well
I have noticed CDs seem to sell better than I thought they would, especially those in the heavy rock / heavy metal category.
What I Could Have Done Better
I definitely could have listed more higher-priced items sooner.
I think a mix of quick listings like physical media and higher-priced items is the way to go, but I didn’t really do this immediately – I was focusing on those easier to list items, which didn’t usually have the big profit margins.
Moving Forward
I’m going mix up my listings each day where possible. This means, some physical media mixed in with 2-3 higher priced items.
I also want to get my photography too look a little better. I have got a “white space” located in my study, but it’s not huge and for larger items this can mean it takes me longer to get to listing these items as I have to set up in another location.
Storage is becoming a problem, too.
I don’t have the space to house a lot of inventory so I need to be able to move items quickly to make room for new items.
To combat this, I am trying to focus on smaller items – I bought a bulk lot of collectable spoons and 12 watches that I should be able to sell fairly quickly.
Also, my pricing could be a bit on the higher side. I did this so that I could offer discounts without cutting into my margins too much, but it could be that I need to lower my prices to sell items quicker and free up storage space.
Over to You
That’s it for me. What about you? Do you have amble storage space and a good set up for photos? Let me know in the comments below.