A few weeks ago we asked you all on our Facebook page and Instagram account if you would like us to bring back our monthly flipping income report.
Well, they’re baaaaaack!
We are going to dive into what we flipped, the fees we paid, the shipping costs and our total profits.
But before we do that let me recap the month of August.
For the past 2 years we made the trek up the 127 Yard Sale in the beginning of August, but since we just did a big road trip where we sourced $24K of inventory, we decided to make it back to our annual lobster trip.
Open lobster season and the 127 Yard Sale always end up the same week in August, so we have to decide which one we are going to do.
This year those lobsters were calling.
So the first week and a half I spent hours day and night working on getting our boat ready. (One constant about boats is they always need work).
The second week and a half was spent catching 76 lobster in the Gulf of Mexico.
So almost all of the sales were made the last week of August when we started listing again.
[Flipping hack – time on platform matters a lot! So listing consistently is key to more eBay sales]
New eBay Managed Payments This Month
Our eBay store switched over to managed payments in the middle of last month.
I have to say I had a lot of reservations about it – especially as they get kinks worked out in the beginning.
But it has been a surprising smooth transition for us. Having delayed payments is my least favorite part, but if you are consistently selling and money is coming in on a regular basis it’s not that big of a deal.
I do like that it’s a lot easier to navigate through the payments section of your eBay account. All your payments received, fees paid, and payouts sent to your bank are all in one place.
AND fees are a bit lower! Which is always nice. Instead of the 12% you were paying (with an eBay store subscription), it’s now 11.5%. Which doesn’t sound like much but every bit helps!
On our larger items we will actually end up saving more than that. They have a cap of 11.5% for the first $2,500 and anything over is charged 2.35% for the remainder.
For the stove we sold below, we actually saved $40 on fees that we would have had to spend if we were still using PayPal.
So overall I’m happy with eBay managed payments so far. You can check out some more of the pros and cons here.
What We Flipped In August
So let’s dive into the sales.
The $5,630 was made up of 8 sales total.
7 on eBay and 1 locally on Facebook Marketplace.
The first sale was a Milcor access door. Basically like a safe with a lock & key. I picked 2 of these up when I picked up a pallet of tankless water heaters.
The next sale was a gas cap fuel tank. I picked four of these up from one of my flea market vendors. I sold one more this month already.
The local sale from Facebook Marketplace was this cement grinder. The buyer wanted to pay with a business check, so I met him at the bank so we could deposit it right there.
I don’t accept checks as payments from individuals, but if it’s a business check that I can get verified or a cashier’s check, I will occasionally accept them.
The biggest sale of the month was this Frigidaire stove. We picked it up from OfferUp for $200 while we were on the road!
I know people think it’s crazy that you can find deals like that. But this guy had it listed for months locally with no takers.
Had he been able to freight ship it he could have listed it into a bigger market like eBay and sell it for more.
We sold it for $2,800!
Case Open & Closed on eBay
This floor scrubber came with a fun story.
I picked this at an auction for $25. I actually bought 3 of them together for $75. Two worked and one didn’t.
This is the one that didn’t work and so I listed it for parts/not working. Once the buyer purchased it I even messaged him and told him I have two more that work if he was interested.
I didn’t hear anything back so I shipped out the floor scrubber.
Well, the following week I got a notification that a case was opened and he claimed the item didn’t work and it was not as described.
So I got eBay on the phone (it’s a little trickier these days, but it can be done).
It took a few minutes but I got to the right department and they closed the case in my favor since it was exactly as described.
Now had I listed this in working condition and it wasn’t – of course I would have to take the return. But it was clearly marked for parts. And since these retail between $3,500 & $5,000 – it’s worth it to someone who knows how to fix them or to use the parts of them.
A Couple Smalls
The last few items were some smaller items.
A case of cleaners I picked for $8 and sold for $99 (I bought a pallet of these a while back and have been selling them consistently since the pandemic).
A hiking backpack we’ve had for a while that I picked from the flea market for $10 and sold for $135. ($90 plus $45 shipping)
And Melissa sold this set of collectible fish ornaments for $127.
These guys flew all the way from Florida to Hawaii. Two of the four fish were damaged in shipping so she put in a partial damage claim to USPS.
Luckily we always take really good pictures of our packaging (and would highly recommend you do this too before shipping out an item – especially one that’s more fragile).
The buyer was fine with a partial refund for the broken fish and Melissa gets it reimbursed through USPS.
Breakdown of Revenue, Fees, & Profits
Below is a breakdown of the sale, what we acquired it for, shipping fees, eBay fees and profit.
We typically offer free shipping on 80% of our items so that is counted in the price. If we don’t offer free shipping we just add the numbers together below for the sale for ease of accounting purposes.
- Milcor Access Door – Sold For $120, Picked for $5; Shipping fees $23.18; eBay Fees $10.98 ; Profit $80.84
- Gas Cap Fuel Tank- Sold for: $50 Picked for $5;Shipping fees $10.64; eBay Fees $5.55; Profit $28.81
- Frigidaire Stove – Sold for: $2,800 Picked for $200; Shipping fees $135; eBay Fees $294.83; Profit $2,170.17
- Floor Scrubber – Sold for: $600 Picked for $25; Shipping fees $52.21; Paypal & eBay Fees $69.30; Profit $453.49
- Kelty Backpack – Sold for: $135 Picked for $10; Shipping fees $42.36; eBay Fees $15.83; Profit $66.81
- Cement Grinder – Sold for $1,700; Picked for $200 ; Shipping fees $0; Paypal & eBay Fees $0; Profit $1,500
- Pack of Commercial Cleaners – Sold for: $99; Picked for $8; Shipping fees $19; eBay Fees $11.80; Profit $60.20
- Polonaise Ornaments – Sold for: $127 Picked for $8; Shipping fees $9.86; Paypal & eBay Fees $16.37; Profit $92.77
Total Sales: $5,631; Total Invested $461; Total Fees: $424.66; Total Shipping: $292.25; Total Profit: $4,453.09
So that’s a wrap for August!
Let’s see what September will bring.
If you are interested in seeing if this flipping gig is for you, check out our FREE intro workshop.
FURTHER RESOURCES
FREE Workshop How To Turn Your Passion of Flipping Items Into A Profitable Reselling Business
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Love the recap and income report. You guys are rocking it!
thanks Kelan!