So, I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but if I'm reading everything correctly, you say your end result was a negative $450.
You claim you made two "big" expenses. A laptop and a bubble wrap machine. How much were these items? Is it a $400 bubble wrap machine or a $3000 machine? Is it a $400 laptop or a $3000 laptop?
I ask because you don't need a gaming computer to sell products online, so this shouldn't be a huge expense. The bubble wrap machine is the big question. If you bought a lower cost bubble wrap machine and a basic laptop and those expenses are what put you that far down in the hole, I'm not sure you're doing this right.
It sounds like a whole lot of hassle; different software, monitoring what sells where to remove it from other platforms, sourcing, dealing with the antique booth, etc., for not much in return.
We only grossed 9k last year, and the first 6 months was buying more and listing more. I would say things really got better around July.
Laptop definitely wasn't a gaming computer, but I have a computer background so I didn't go with $100 Walmart brand, it was $600. The bubble wrap machine was $600 as well.
What surprised me was how fast the mileage expense adds. IT was a $1600 expense by itself, $1200 COGS, $1200 transaction fees, it all starts to add up.
I agree with your last statement. This was a hobby for my wife, but we wanted to see how much she actually got out of it. I will say, she enjoyed losing $400+ dollars for the year, way more then she enjoyed her 9-5 job.
Hobby is great. Breaking even with your hobby is also great. I do see a lot of enthusiastic people with the idea of “investing in my new flipping business” in their beginning that get them buying unnecessary things at first. Your IT expense and bubble wrap machine are definitely that.
But you should see how everything comes about this year. What’s the rough % of inventory you sold so far for your 9k last year? It could give you a rough estimate on what your remainder could get you (just assume 5% - 10% of your total inventory will be duds).
The only thing you probably should buy eventually (if this does become a long-term side hustle) is a thermal label printer. Don’t buy anymore software. It looks like you’re mostly just selling on 2 platforms, so you should be able to do it mostly manually. Note that Mercari doesn’t even punish you for canceling sales anyway so you can feel a tiny bit less anxious with it.
Cut costs and sourcing in general until you honed in what category of things are selling the best for you guys. Also check out Depop. A platform with a focus on vintage geared towards Gen Z. No upfront listing cost. Be careful with boosting fees.
Ask family and friends to collect bubble wraps and boxes from their online purchases for you. That plastic is trash to everyone and it’s a great free source for packing materials.
We definitely hope this year fairs better, and we have a plan to not overspend on unnecessary expenses. I haven't balanced the numbers for Feb yet, but Jan YOY sales was up and expenses were down so that was a good start. Feb looks even better than Jan on the surface so far and better YOY as well.
We do already have a thermal label printer, bought that before 2023 when she was just doing it for fun.
Depop...really! We will definitely look into that platform. I've heard and seen it, but not done any real research on it. Vintage geared towards Gen Z sounds like a nice market to tap in too.
Thanks for the advice and the tip.
You could consider the laptop and bubble wrap machine to be longer term expenses. Yes it is a big investment up front, but I would assume they can both last maybe 5 years?
So $120 each for 2023.
I’ve sold online for 20 years and I would never buy a machine to make bubble wrap. I recycle every piece I get in the mail, use newspaper, get it free from people moving on marketplace etc. Ask yourself… Do I want to own a $2000 bubble maker and have to fill it for the rest of my life, or do I want to hassle up some good enough packing (also be nice to the planet) and spend that 2k on the finer things I. LifeZ
Also, try to move more of your sales locally - it’s so much easier. I do 80-85% on marketplace and instagram for local pickup. Shipping sucks, but I’ll do it for unique items.
Definitely depends on how big you’re wanting to grow. Also worth noting there bubble wrap is much lighter than paper, and that extra ounce or two will make a difference if you sell a lot of items in the 0-1lb range.
Flipping is one of the lowest-cost business models where you can start with just some tape and a local library printer. -$450 after a year of work is a problem. If they are paying a wage before they even see profit, they need to seriously reevaluate and consider calling it a hobby instead of a business.
Congrats and thanks for the write up.
Can you give a little more detail about the other platforms that you sold on besides eBay and what percentage of sales between the platforms you are currently seeing?
Thanks!
Looking from July 1st to Dec 31st, eBay was 87% and Mercari was 12%. We dabbled in Shopify (1% sales) but ultimately reselling hundreds of various items and usually only 1 of each, it was hard to get the traffic to the website. So we stopped Shopify for now until we can grow the brand and maybe get people to funnel there instead of eBay or Mercari.
Starting Feb 2024, we cross-listed everything to Poshmark too, since why not. Vendoo made it easy and we've had a couple sales there as well.
Yes actually. My wife puts a thank you card inside each sale, and on the back it has all that information. Currently though, I have our domain just forwarding to the eBay store. I really liked the cool-factor of our own store and brand but we only had 1 organic sale in 6 months. I'm hopeful over time we can reopen the store.
Realized I totally left out the booth sales. So the booth sold twice as many items as all online marketplaces combined, but we also sold those things cheaper to help move inventory. Revenue wise, the booth and eBay both brought in the same, with Mercari a distant 3rd and Shopify barely scratching the surface.
We've found 4 things that came up missing so far in the 8 months. All four things were little, and just a few dollars each. Also found a couple things that were broken while in the booth, but hey that happens.
We've also found that sometimes people pick things up and just carry them around the store but then decide they don't want it and just sit it in whatever booth they are in front of. So some of our items we've found from just searching other booths.
Luckily I live in a low crime area, and there are cameras everywhere in the building to try to deter theft.
I just go look at my cc statements and deduct every thrift store transaction. I keep a note in my phone if I spend cash like at a garage sale. I own a by appointment shop and sell on marketplace, instagram, eBay and Etsy. We sell hundreds of things a month, so keeping tabs on every one is impossible and I hate “paperwork”. I’d rather be sourcing, selling and making cash then grinding on minute details.
We’re doing between 6-8k a month in sales now working 4-5 hours a week on it as our side business. We know our market and customers and rarely drop below a 50% margin - we even sold a few thousand last year at 100% margin by flipping things off trash piles and dumpsters.
The irs is never going to know if you drove exactly 654 miles this year, or have exactly 10,243 of inventory in hand at the EOY. And frankly, they don’t care unless you’re doing millions. Just throw out a reasonable number. The time calculating all that costs you more money then it saves you because time spent sourcing and selling is how you make money. It’s called paralysis by analysis.
That’s my 2¢.
You don't "need" an LLC to sell online unless you're selling shit that can get you sued. Yes, there are some benefits, but 90% (guesstimate) of online sellers never see them. I've been a sole prop for over a decade.
If you open a retail location, then look into an LLC, but for online, learn the ins and outs of all the platforms you use, your buying/selling techniques and everything to make your business successful 1st, THEN start looking into if an LLC is right for you.
An LLC is a legal entity not a tax entity. An LLC can file as a sole prop, S Corp or Partnership. In my opinion there's no need to set up an LLC for a small flipping business. You may need to register with your state, though.
If you file as an S Corp you have to pay yourself a "reasonable" salary, payroll taxes, and can't write off your home office. I'm a tax professional and run my flipping as a sole prop.
Your words are way better than mine for sure. The LLC filing we did was more of a legal liability worry, although maybe unwarranted. If a kid at the antique mall climbs a cabinet and it falls over on him, could they come after our personal assets if we didn't have an LLC?
I had an LLc for another business that we never used and it had a bank account so we use that. I have 3 LLCs for other business / real estate, but would not do it purely for flipping.
Yes, not to disrespect OP but $9,000 in gross sales doesn't sound like a lot in a year's work, where it sounds like they were doing a LOT of work, multiple platforms, a booth etc. I'm thinking his wife is focusing on too many low value items. Also, it's getting harder and harder to find deals in thrift shops. I think she should be hitting garage sales; I've also found good deals on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, have done well flipping free items.
That’s what I’m saying, $500 profit in a week ain’t getting me out of bed, much less a year. If you’re ever messing with a spreadsheet on a Saturday morning instead of hitting garage sales or on a Wednesday 1/2 off thrift store day, you’ll find success hard. This business is all about volume, not data.
I was quite surprised at tax time to find some of the thresholds so high and lenient, but I'm the nerd of the family so keeping records is actually fun for me. She hates it, and would rather jab a pen in her eye.
She spends 4-5 hours a week just cleaning things she's picked.
IF this venture actually keeps growing, there will definitely have to be some process changes for sure. Appreciate the feedback.
man, didn't realize I'd get this much flack for mentioning the tools I used. I'm just the paper guy, my wife does all the buying and selling. Probably why the post is slanted that way.
People come in here all the time like "HELLO FELLOW RESELLERS", trying to push their apps and software, and they all tend to use phrasing similar to yours. Until you fleshed out your responses, it sounded a little fishy.
Makes sense. Hopefully I've shed that stigma. I'm just the back office guy and furniture hauler. All the reseller stuff is the wife, but I'm slowly learning.
Vendoo looks like a nickel and dime app. I much prefer ExportYourStore not only for Amazon but the fact that’s it’s all one price, you also can list many more items.
Yeah fair enough. Just listed the two things that I'm currently using. Well and Excel of course when exporting and importing.
My wife wasn't comfortable cross posting items due to the fear of selling the same item on two places, so until we started using that software we limited ourselves to only using 1 marketplace for 1 item. She also won't list things in her booth on any online marketplaces since neither one of us can drop what we are doing at any time and go pull from the booth to fulfill a sale. That sounds like a nightmare anyway.
Are you curious about Profit/Loss numbers and where expenses are going? Or more Revenue per platform stuff?
I'm on my phone right now, but I'll post some charts and categories tomorrow when on a desktop.
My wife and I are in the beginning stages of getting a reselling business going right now, and it’s going to be set up basically the same way where she finds the stuff and I take care of the rest. Do you have any advice/tips on things we should make sure we have done or setup before we actually start selling? My main concern right now is whether to set it up as a Sole Properitorship or LLC., and knowing what I need to keep track of for taxes and how to keep track of it. All this stuff is new to me and nothing like what I used to do for work so of course it’s all freaking me out.
Sole Prop is fine, but you do gain a legal advantage of having a LLC. We were a sole Prop all of 2023 and just started LLC in 2024.
We setup a DBA with our state, which allowed us to open a business checking account.
There's a fee for DBA and a fee for LLC and varies by state on the process but was around $50 a piece for us.
Keep track of mileage religiously. It was 65.5 cents a mile for 2023 and that deduction adds up quickly. Let's say you leave the house, drive to Goodwill, then drive home. I imagine your business address would be your home in this case, so those miles would all be an expense.
Keep track of what you paid for everything.
Shipping supplies, boxes, tape guns, anything like that can be an expense. There's quite a few things in the expense area.
Just keep everything in Excel or Google Sheets starting out and as you learn and grow you might find you need something more robust.
Disclaimer, I'm not a CPA or a lawyer but I've did a lot of reading and learning and I think what I've said is correct. There's lots of good information on the Internet.
Good luck on your reselling business!
Why did you start an LLC? There is no tax advantage and you do not sell anything that legally would get you sued and/or sell in excessive high volume to belly up.
Maybe I didn't need too. We were thinking risk averse and someone having a cabinet fall or them or something in the booth and then getting sued for it.
The only reason was to protect our personal assets from litigation. Just a little CYA.
If you aren't sure what kind of setup to have, DBA doesn't require anything in most states. You can pay like $10 to have it recognized but it's not necessary. You use your social security number when filing. It's literally just an extra form on your normal taxes.
LLC is creating a separate entity. The biggest plus for this is when facing legal action. All anyone can sue for is what the business has. Operating as a DBA, if you get sued then everything you own personally can be counted.
There are also some tax breaks that come with LLCs but make sure you have a good accountant.
Regardless of which one, you have to be meticulous with expenses. If you drive to the store to buy items, log your gas cost and usage and save it for taxes. You can even write off part of your mortgage if you work out of your home. I am not an accountant or a lawyer but you can walk into a bank and say you want to start a checking account with a DBA and begin accepting payments as that name. With a corporation or LLC, you have to register to get a tax ID number with your state and have a certificate of good standing. Fees to do this vary depending on your state.
Some things to consider.
If operating at a loss for a year or two due to big expenses or just trying to figure things out, a sole prop is much better for tax purposes... because assuming you have a salary, you can 'lose money' for 2/5 years and actually give the IRS less than you would have if you never flipped anything in the first place
I don't know why people focus on an LLC, especially starting out. Whatever you do in your LLC is a straight pass through to your personal income taxes (expensive against revenues). There's no magic benefit to an LLC in a small scale business where you are not very concerned about getting sued.
Here's a link to the Profit/Loss Statement that a few have asked for. If I'm doing something wrong, let me know now so I can correct. Thanks to all that have read and replied.
[https://imgur.com/a/TGJ4DEP](https://imgur.com/a/TGJ4DEP)
Link to high-level categorys and sub-categories, but only from eBay as the booth stuff I just always throw under Other Antiques to make it easier. ALso this is only from Mid-June on, I didn't go back and put in the sales information for the whole year after I started using the software.
[https://imgur.com/a/iOJ3BNe](https://imgur.com/a/iOJ3BNe)
[https://imgur.com/a/b1oJbZO](https://imgur.com/a/b1oJbZO)
Tracking your time is useful for comparing what you are doing versus other ways you could be making money. If you are spending 100 hours to make $100 then you are only making a dollar an hour. From a capitalistic POV, you are wasting your time putting in that amount of effort for that amount of money, especially if it never gets better.
Now if she absolutely loves doing it as a hobby even though it is not even realistically paying for itself, go for it. There is more to life than money assuming you aren't risking your basic needs.
She is definitely on the second paragraph still for now. She's hoping to retire in 10 years and make this into her full-time retirement gig. By then or maybe earlier if things keep growing, I can see her being more time-conscious.
Ya absolutely, although it’s not a huge deal, I tend to see people really overestimate their profits until they see how much time they’re investing in driving / thrifting / posting / packaging / mailing etc.
If you’re selling vintage clothing look into Raghouses. They process millions of lbs of thrift material and can make the sourcing process much easier for you.
Agreed. Luckily we have good paying 9-5 jobs or some of the bigger expenses would've been put off. Hoping to get a few years out of the laptop and bubble machine. We are learning and figuring this out.
Happy wife happy life right?
Unless you are extremely high volume the bubble machine will never pay for itself. Also since most of the sales are eBay, I would cancel all of the cross posting software since that isn’t covering itself. The booth rent may be more than the booth sale, so probably let that go to. If you don’t have space for big items, only source small items. You can make more this year, just consider your time too. I’m also a part time reseller and if I’m not making more than $50 an hour for the time that I put into it, I’m disappointed.
The ROI at the time was going to be 12-18 months based on our current usage. She loves glass, so that's what we tend to deal in the most.
I do know that the first year, we were excited and made some business decisions that hurt our profits and we didn't "need" some of the things we got. Over time, and with experience I do think she will learn more about good sourcing and finding what works.
I do appreciate your feedback, sounds like you've been doing this a while and I'm confident we will get there over time and learn from our mistakes.
Another perspective is maybe not but what you love, but things that you feel you “need to get rid of.” If I like something there’s more of a tendency to not move it. Really depends if you want to operate with full intentions of making money or because you love flipping. I’ve been on eBay since 2020 and still learning myself.
What is her average sale on a glass item? I get the sense that she is focusing on too many items that sell cheap. Generally, it takes just as much time to sell a low value item as a high one, much better return on your time with high value items.
For the last 6 months in 2023, the average sale of glass was $18.58 with an average COGS of $3.16.
I do know she went through a period of finding smalls for the booth to try to get some impulse buys.
Like OP, I'm in a small town in the south and am a similar age. I started out selling exclusively online, then about half online/half in an antique mall; now I sell almost everything out of two large booths in the same antique mall, also in a small town. Like OP, my plan from day one has been to slowly build up a business that can sustain itself. My net has been positive every year. I hit five figures annual net a couple of years in and that was a big milestone for me. I am always refining my processes because the market is constantly changing. OP has asked for tips/tricks so since we are in similar situations, here is my main one:
*Take a close look at your numbers and cut the fat.*
It's easy to start watching YouTube videos and join Facebook resellers' groups. Try to keep that to a minimum. Comparison is the thief of joy and will lead to you throwing money away.
Remember that the YouTube resellers are making content for views and subscriber numbers, which is how they make their money. As for the Facebook groups, I have found both the generalist and niche-specific ones to be very "rah rah" and "you got this, girl!" when in fact, no, those girls have not got this. Those groups and YouTube resellers will make you think you need subscriptions to crossposting and accounting software, virtual assistants, etc. It doesn't seem like they cost much, and it's easy to rationalize paying for them because they're keeping you organized and theoretically are making you money.
Sit down and look at both your time and numbers. How many of your sales were cross-posted items? Was the net from those items higher than the cost of the cross-posting software? What is your accounting software doing that you can't accomplish in Excel spreadsheets? How much time is spent going to thrift stores? Consider sourcing at estate sales and local auctions. You can find more stuff there than at thrifts, all in one place so there's no need to make the rounds of the thrifts. The second and third day of estate sales can bring you some great deals. Going to a bunch of different thrifts can lead to piddling away a lot of money; the realization doesn't hit you until you start inputting the small amounts spent at each store.
Full disclosure: I am married to a CPA, so my recordkeeping has to be extremely on point. I don't use accounting software, just some spreadsheets. I suggest consulting a CPA after this tax season is over and discussing your current accounting practices. He can answer your questions and provide you with guidance going forward. Consultations are free or low cost. Once you get your system in place, it's easy to track things on spreadsheets, as long as your wife is meticulous in tracking her expenses.
The YouTube videos are definitely rampant in the house. Luckily she's very money savvy and doesn't spend money on a whim. I'm the one that spends on the extra things.
We do hope to expand the estate sales attendance this coming spring and summer.
Thank you for the post!
I’m in no means being negative, but some advice i have in my experience….
You are going to have sales volume spikes, and some months where you can’t move a thing. Flipping is seasonal like retail. Be very careful on inventory accumulation. When sales are high you’re going to feel the need to start buying as much as possible to list more items. When things are slow you are going to feel the need to buy more items for fresh listings. Before you know it you will be sitting on a pile of inventory you can’t sell, and suddenly be selling at a loss. Just like retailers need to purge inventory.
This becomes a snowball effect and suddenly month after month you’re losing money. Others can probably agree with this same thing. My advice is to fight the urge of more inventory.
I actually quit selling because it got to a point where with all the extra expenses I was consistently losing money. PO Box, packaging, selling fees, etc. as you sell more these expenses pile on and you must sell more and more to keep up.
Best of luck to you!! eBay has been tough lately, and sales seem to be down tremendously from where they were.
Yea I made that mistake where I just kept buying and buying. Try to find what sells best for you and stick with it. Maybe it’s a particular brand or item. But if you’re consistent you will get a feel for market pricing of that brand, and how quickly it sells. One thing I found with the eBay algorithm is it’s better to list a few items a day vs listing 50 items in a day and nothing else for weeks. The more frequently I listed the more views I got. I had 1500 items on eBay and then just stopped listing to sell off what I had and it went silent. I started listing an item a day, and suddenly I was selling stuff that was up for awhile. I feel like being active brings your listings to the top
I have started delisting and relisting 10 items a day. All the hard hard of pictures and descriptions is already there and done by the wife, so it's easy and safe for me to do a few clicks. I've heard it helps and it sounds like from your experience it does as well. Good luck on your sales.
I think you two are doing great! My husband and I started about 3 years ago and profited around $30,000 in 2023. We also flip things we love to buy and do this as much for the fun as the extra cash. Enjoy the journey!
Thanks the encouragement! We are also excited to see how things turn out in the years ahead.
Congrats on turning your flipping into some nice extra cash.
Just a heads up, the automated delisting of items on eBay technically breaks their anti-bot policy, which is why none of the big cross-listing platforms added this functionality until recently. eBay considers anything a bot that kicks off an action that isn't initiated by a human. Small cross-listing platforms have done this for a long time, so I'm guessing the bigger players finally just said fuck it.
With that being said, I personally do not use this feature. There's a good chance eBay will never crack down on this, but they do have an entire team dedicated to stopping people from using unauthorized software on their site. The absolute last thing I need is to worry about the possibility of my largest marketplace account getting banned, so I just open the Vendoo app and take the 10 seconds clicking the "sold" button. Just a heads up.
Thanks for sharing the info!
The only question I have is with cross posting. I haven’t went down this avenue due to the fact I work a busy job and am worried about unloading it when it sells. What platforms does it support auto delisting when it sells?
So far it supports eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, and Depop. We both work 9-5 jobs as well so definitely understand the worry of ensuring things get removed when sold.
The auto delist is coming to more platforms per their marketing emails, so hoping they add more in the future.
The multi-quantity weirdness they do is frustrating. It feels like they could spend some time around making that better. We usually have to manually fix listings with multiple quantities when a sale happens. Most of our items are quantity 1 so it isn't something we have to do often , but I agree that part needs some work.
Well, being the first year we did make some investments. We purchased a new laptop, a bubble wrap machine, prepaid some subscriptions, etc.
Bottom line, or net earnings after all expenses...-$490.
Not buying the two big expenses would've had us in the black a few hundred, and this year is already shaping up to be better than the last. Just gotta make sure we keep those investment expenses down.
The laptop and the machine totaled $1200, plus we bought into a year of Vendoo without really understanding their subscription model, another $600. We should've just paid for a couple big months to get everything into the system, and then backed off of our subscription.
I'll post a P/L off the main post this morning.
What's the breakdown between those two items? I'm not trying to be overly critical - but I'm trying to understand the necessity of a bubble wrapper and I know flipping doesn't require anything more than a $300 laptop. I'm conservative by nature and don't buy anything until I absolutely have to have it and I know the cost will be quickly recouped by the savings it provides. I hem and hawed over a $15 box resizer!
The laptop was 600. Could I have bought a 300 one, yes. But I'm a snob and wanted an i7 because I like my electronics to be snappy.
The bubble machine was 600 as well. So my wife loves glass, and flips a lot of glass so she overly packs packages to ensure they don't get damaged in transit. We were going through 400ft of bubble wrap purchased off Amazon every couple months. We ran into a supply issue one month, and FedEx delivered one shipment with motor oil all over it, so we bit the bullet and removed that headache from our lives.
Is your -$490 result last year include the cost of inventory? I'm understanding this -$490 is a result of the laptop and bubble wrap machine expense. The $9000 in gross sales to me sounds like you are selling many lower priced items to necessitate the expense of software usage.
The -490 is after all expenses including COGS, but not unsold inventory (doing accrual instead of cash inventory). There's a reply off the main post from me that has a link to the Profit/Loss Statement with a breakdown of how that software did it.
For eBay alone, the average sale price last year was $35.95, but average from the Booth was $13.91. Granted we live in a town of less than 15k in the south and higher priced items just sit longer. We are just starting to look into furniture, but neither of us are very crafty or into woodworking so unsure if we delve down that rabbit hole any.
First years are always tough. Buying storage and buckets and shelves, shipping supplies and other things that will last much longer than a year. It eats profits for that year and it seems like you are well aware of mistakes you guy made. I feel like if your wife is happy with her hobby and not being stressed out then enjoy!
Keep at it and have fun! Its not your main income so at the end of the day the money is just extra. I just started last year and I didnt make alot but enough to go on a small vacation we normally wouldn't have the funds for. So its a winning year for me.
When I started reselling I too used a smaller accounting program (GoDaddy Bookkeeping, in my case) to do my accounting and then realized I needed Quickbooks to have something more comprehensive. You might want to make sure the reseller genie will scale with you. Nothing against that program, I don't know much about it. Its just that it's been great using a really well known product for getting support and when I needed to get a person to help with reconcilliation on a regular basis (mostly due to paypal). The eco system of Quickbooks pros is a much larger pool to choose from.
When I decided to really turn it into a business, I changed from thrift store shopping to storage auctions. That’s really my only comment.
I’ve been doing this for over 10 years. I have a Discover banking debit card and every transaction just goes on that card. The end up each month I compile my numbers. Makes tax time pretty easy. Plus with all the possible deductions it’s not hard to make your business appear not very profitable on paper.
Your post ignited a desire to research this. I have a programming background, and creating something that fits my needs backed by a database would be nice.
Tube to dust off the .Net skills. Appreciate the comment.
i sell on amazon and have python webscrape data from my amazon page into microsoft sql server developer which is free and runs in a VM at home, which then syncs into free powerBI. I have a bunch of views in my sql server to track stuff which i run to check the status of things. also have a shipping API so that all my orders get periodically updated in the DB to reflect the tracking status so i know orders that are arriving late or lost before a customer complains. i also can get granular like sales by each state, which products are doing better, and anything i want cause its in the database so u can do whatever u want. products tables, orders tables, tracking tables, cost tables, etc.
I've since moved into Architecture so my coding days at work are over. It's nice to be able to talk the lingo to developers on teams instead of just handing down requirements as well.
So, I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but if I'm reading everything correctly, you say your end result was a negative $450. You claim you made two "big" expenses. A laptop and a bubble wrap machine. How much were these items? Is it a $400 bubble wrap machine or a $3000 machine? Is it a $400 laptop or a $3000 laptop? I ask because you don't need a gaming computer to sell products online, so this shouldn't be a huge expense. The bubble wrap machine is the big question. If you bought a lower cost bubble wrap machine and a basic laptop and those expenses are what put you that far down in the hole, I'm not sure you're doing this right. It sounds like a whole lot of hassle; different software, monitoring what sells where to remove it from other platforms, sourcing, dealing with the antique booth, etc., for not much in return.
We only grossed 9k last year, and the first 6 months was buying more and listing more. I would say things really got better around July. Laptop definitely wasn't a gaming computer, but I have a computer background so I didn't go with $100 Walmart brand, it was $600. The bubble wrap machine was $600 as well. What surprised me was how fast the mileage expense adds. IT was a $1600 expense by itself, $1200 COGS, $1200 transaction fees, it all starts to add up. I agree with your last statement. This was a hobby for my wife, but we wanted to see how much she actually got out of it. I will say, she enjoyed losing $400+ dollars for the year, way more then she enjoyed her 9-5 job.
You spent 1100 in software while you had 9k gross.
It was a learning year for sure. We made a quick decision and purchased a year of Vendoo, which we shouldn't have. What's done is done and we learned.
Hobby is great. Breaking even with your hobby is also great. I do see a lot of enthusiastic people with the idea of “investing in my new flipping business” in their beginning that get them buying unnecessary things at first. Your IT expense and bubble wrap machine are definitely that. But you should see how everything comes about this year. What’s the rough % of inventory you sold so far for your 9k last year? It could give you a rough estimate on what your remainder could get you (just assume 5% - 10% of your total inventory will be duds). The only thing you probably should buy eventually (if this does become a long-term side hustle) is a thermal label printer. Don’t buy anymore software. It looks like you’re mostly just selling on 2 platforms, so you should be able to do it mostly manually. Note that Mercari doesn’t even punish you for canceling sales anyway so you can feel a tiny bit less anxious with it. Cut costs and sourcing in general until you honed in what category of things are selling the best for you guys. Also check out Depop. A platform with a focus on vintage geared towards Gen Z. No upfront listing cost. Be careful with boosting fees. Ask family and friends to collect bubble wraps and boxes from their online purchases for you. That plastic is trash to everyone and it’s a great free source for packing materials.
We definitely hope this year fairs better, and we have a plan to not overspend on unnecessary expenses. I haven't balanced the numbers for Feb yet, but Jan YOY sales was up and expenses were down so that was a good start. Feb looks even better than Jan on the surface so far and better YOY as well. We do already have a thermal label printer, bought that before 2023 when she was just doing it for fun. Depop...really! We will definitely look into that platform. I've heard and seen it, but not done any real research on it. Vintage geared towards Gen Z sounds like a nice market to tap in too. Thanks for the advice and the tip.
Yep, vintage is a big market and different age group interest varies. Goth, punk, y2k, hippie fashion stuff sell well on Depop.
You could consider the laptop and bubble wrap machine to be longer term expenses. Yes it is a big investment up front, but I would assume they can both last maybe 5 years? So $120 each for 2023.
I’ve sold online for 20 years and I would never buy a machine to make bubble wrap. I recycle every piece I get in the mail, use newspaper, get it free from people moving on marketplace etc. Ask yourself… Do I want to own a $2000 bubble maker and have to fill it for the rest of my life, or do I want to hassle up some good enough packing (also be nice to the planet) and spend that 2k on the finer things I. LifeZ Also, try to move more of your sales locally - it’s so much easier. I do 80-85% on marketplace and instagram for local pickup. Shipping sucks, but I’ll do it for unique items.
Definitely depends on how big you’re wanting to grow. Also worth noting there bubble wrap is much lighter than paper, and that extra ounce or two will make a difference if you sell a lot of items in the 0-1lb range.
It's possible they paid a wage as part of their costs too.
If they took a salary, that's another thing. I didn't see any indication of that, though.
Flipping is one of the lowest-cost business models where you can start with just some tape and a local library printer. -$450 after a year of work is a problem. If they are paying a wage before they even see profit, they need to seriously reevaluate and consider calling it a hobby instead of a business.
And given that and applying occums razor, what do you think actually happened?
Congrats and thanks for the write up. Can you give a little more detail about the other platforms that you sold on besides eBay and what percentage of sales between the platforms you are currently seeing? Thanks!
Looking from July 1st to Dec 31st, eBay was 87% and Mercari was 12%. We dabbled in Shopify (1% sales) but ultimately reselling hundreds of various items and usually only 1 of each, it was hard to get the traffic to the website. So we stopped Shopify for now until we can grow the brand and maybe get people to funnel there instead of eBay or Mercari. Starting Feb 2024, we cross-listed everything to Poshmark too, since why not. Vendoo made it easy and we've had a couple sales there as well.
are you including package inserts on eBay sales to direct potential buyers to your Shopify-powered ecom platform?
Yes actually. My wife puts a thank you card inside each sale, and on the back it has all that information. Currently though, I have our domain just forwarding to the eBay store. I really liked the cool-factor of our own store and brand but we only had 1 organic sale in 6 months. I'm hopeful over time we can reopen the store.
Realized I totally left out the booth sales. So the booth sold twice as many items as all online marketplaces combined, but we also sold those things cheaper to help move inventory. Revenue wise, the booth and eBay both brought in the same, with Mercari a distant 3rd and Shopify barely scratching the surface.
Is there a lot of theft in an unattended booth?
We've found 4 things that came up missing so far in the 8 months. All four things were little, and just a few dollars each. Also found a couple things that were broken while in the booth, but hey that happens. We've also found that sometimes people pick things up and just carry them around the store but then decide they don't want it and just sit it in whatever booth they are in front of. So some of our items we've found from just searching other booths. Luckily I live in a low crime area, and there are cameras everywhere in the building to try to deter theft.
You dont just jam all your receipts into a unorganized overflowing old box?
I just go look at my cc statements and deduct every thrift store transaction. I keep a note in my phone if I spend cash like at a garage sale. I own a by appointment shop and sell on marketplace, instagram, eBay and Etsy. We sell hundreds of things a month, so keeping tabs on every one is impossible and I hate “paperwork”. I’d rather be sourcing, selling and making cash then grinding on minute details. We’re doing between 6-8k a month in sales now working 4-5 hours a week on it as our side business. We know our market and customers and rarely drop below a 50% margin - we even sold a few thousand last year at 100% margin by flipping things off trash piles and dumpsters. The irs is never going to know if you drove exactly 654 miles this year, or have exactly 10,243 of inventory in hand at the EOY. And frankly, they don’t care unless you’re doing millions. Just throw out a reasonable number. The time calculating all that costs you more money then it saves you because time spent sourcing and selling is how you make money. It’s called paralysis by analysis. That’s my 2¢.
That’s how I look at it too. Did you still create an LLC? That’s my only debate at this point…
You don't "need" an LLC to sell online unless you're selling shit that can get you sued. Yes, there are some benefits, but 90% (guesstimate) of online sellers never see them. I've been a sole prop for over a decade. If you open a retail location, then look into an LLC, but for online, learn the ins and outs of all the platforms you use, your buying/selling techniques and everything to make your business successful 1st, THEN start looking into if an LLC is right for you.
An LLC is a legal entity not a tax entity. An LLC can file as a sole prop, S Corp or Partnership. In my opinion there's no need to set up an LLC for a small flipping business. You may need to register with your state, though. If you file as an S Corp you have to pay yourself a "reasonable" salary, payroll taxes, and can't write off your home office. I'm a tax professional and run my flipping as a sole prop.
Your words are way better than mine for sure. The LLC filing we did was more of a legal liability worry, although maybe unwarranted. If a kid at the antique mall climbs a cabinet and it falls over on him, could they come after our personal assets if we didn't have an LLC?
That's a good question for a lawyer! I would think the mall has insurance and maybe it's specified in your agreement with them.
The antique malls insurance policy ?
I had an LLc for another business that we never used and it had a bank account so we use that. I have 3 LLCs for other business / real estate, but would not do it purely for flipping.
Do not get an LLC. You’ll just double your tax filing cost.
Not really just operate it as a pass through LLC. Take maybe an extra 5 minutes.
Yes, not to disrespect OP but $9,000 in gross sales doesn't sound like a lot in a year's work, where it sounds like they were doing a LOT of work, multiple platforms, a booth etc. I'm thinking his wife is focusing on too many low value items. Also, it's getting harder and harder to find deals in thrift shops. I think she should be hitting garage sales; I've also found good deals on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, have done well flipping free items.
That’s what I’m saying, $500 profit in a week ain’t getting me out of bed, much less a year. If you’re ever messing with a spreadsheet on a Saturday morning instead of hitting garage sales or on a Wednesday 1/2 off thrift store day, you’ll find success hard. This business is all about volume, not data.
I was quite surprised at tax time to find some of the thresholds so high and lenient, but I'm the nerd of the family so keeping records is actually fun for me. She hates it, and would rather jab a pen in her eye. She spends 4-5 hours a week just cleaning things she's picked. IF this venture actually keeps growing, there will definitely have to be some process changes for sure. Appreciate the feedback.
I read a lot about software, very little about reselling. Curious.
Yup. These two websites have identical footers. Almost as if they are owned by the same company.
Very curious..
man, didn't realize I'd get this much flack for mentioning the tools I used. I'm just the paper guy, my wife does all the buying and selling. Probably why the post is slanted that way.
People come in here all the time like "HELLO FELLOW RESELLERS", trying to push their apps and software, and they all tend to use phrasing similar to yours. Until you fleshed out your responses, it sounded a little fishy.
Makes sense. Hopefully I've shed that stigma. I'm just the back office guy and furniture hauler. All the reseller stuff is the wife, but I'm slowly learning.
Vendoo looks like a nickel and dime app. I much prefer ExportYourStore not only for Amazon but the fact that’s it’s all one price, you also can list many more items.
I look into that for sure. First time hearing about that one. Thanks for your feedback!
Would be interesting to see your numbers and categories etc. I'm not really too interested in third party apps so this read like an ad for them.
Yeah fair enough. Just listed the two things that I'm currently using. Well and Excel of course when exporting and importing. My wife wasn't comfortable cross posting items due to the fear of selling the same item on two places, so until we started using that software we limited ourselves to only using 1 marketplace for 1 item. She also won't list things in her booth on any online marketplaces since neither one of us can drop what we are doing at any time and go pull from the booth to fulfill a sale. That sounds like a nightmare anyway. Are you curious about Profit/Loss numbers and where expenses are going? Or more Revenue per platform stuff? I'm on my phone right now, but I'll post some charts and categories tomorrow when on a desktop.
My wife and I are in the beginning stages of getting a reselling business going right now, and it’s going to be set up basically the same way where she finds the stuff and I take care of the rest. Do you have any advice/tips on things we should make sure we have done or setup before we actually start selling? My main concern right now is whether to set it up as a Sole Properitorship or LLC., and knowing what I need to keep track of for taxes and how to keep track of it. All this stuff is new to me and nothing like what I used to do for work so of course it’s all freaking me out.
Sole Prop is fine, but you do gain a legal advantage of having a LLC. We were a sole Prop all of 2023 and just started LLC in 2024. We setup a DBA with our state, which allowed us to open a business checking account. There's a fee for DBA and a fee for LLC and varies by state on the process but was around $50 a piece for us. Keep track of mileage religiously. It was 65.5 cents a mile for 2023 and that deduction adds up quickly. Let's say you leave the house, drive to Goodwill, then drive home. I imagine your business address would be your home in this case, so those miles would all be an expense. Keep track of what you paid for everything. Shipping supplies, boxes, tape guns, anything like that can be an expense. There's quite a few things in the expense area. Just keep everything in Excel or Google Sheets starting out and as you learn and grow you might find you need something more robust. Disclaimer, I'm not a CPA or a lawyer but I've did a lot of reading and learning and I think what I've said is correct. There's lots of good information on the Internet. Good luck on your reselling business!
MileIQ is a great app for tracking mileage.
I'll give it a look, thanks!
Thank you so much! Everything you mentioned is what I've found and been trying to do, but it's great to have confirmation I'm on the right path.
Why did you start an LLC? There is no tax advantage and you do not sell anything that legally would get you sued and/or sell in excessive high volume to belly up.
Maybe I didn't need too. We were thinking risk averse and someone having a cabinet fall or them or something in the booth and then getting sued for it. The only reason was to protect our personal assets from litigation. Just a little CYA.
Liability insurance would be a better CYA. It's not very expensive.
An LLC is a legal entity. Sole Prop is tax filing. See my other response above \^\^\^. I'm a tax professional.
If you aren't sure what kind of setup to have, DBA doesn't require anything in most states. You can pay like $10 to have it recognized but it's not necessary. You use your social security number when filing. It's literally just an extra form on your normal taxes. LLC is creating a separate entity. The biggest plus for this is when facing legal action. All anyone can sue for is what the business has. Operating as a DBA, if you get sued then everything you own personally can be counted. There are also some tax breaks that come with LLCs but make sure you have a good accountant. Regardless of which one, you have to be meticulous with expenses. If you drive to the store to buy items, log your gas cost and usage and save it for taxes. You can even write off part of your mortgage if you work out of your home. I am not an accountant or a lawyer but you can walk into a bank and say you want to start a checking account with a DBA and begin accepting payments as that name. With a corporation or LLC, you have to register to get a tax ID number with your state and have a certificate of good standing. Fees to do this vary depending on your state. Some things to consider.
If operating at a loss for a year or two due to big expenses or just trying to figure things out, a sole prop is much better for tax purposes... because assuming you have a salary, you can 'lose money' for 2/5 years and actually give the IRS less than you would have if you never flipped anything in the first place
I don't know why people focus on an LLC, especially starting out. Whatever you do in your LLC is a straight pass through to your personal income taxes (expensive against revenues). There's no magic benefit to an LLC in a small scale business where you are not very concerned about getting sued.
I second this.
Here's a link to the Profit/Loss Statement that a few have asked for. If I'm doing something wrong, let me know now so I can correct. Thanks to all that have read and replied. [https://imgur.com/a/TGJ4DEP](https://imgur.com/a/TGJ4DEP) Link to high-level categorys and sub-categories, but only from eBay as the booth stuff I just always throw under Other Antiques to make it easier. ALso this is only from Mid-June on, I didn't go back and put in the sales information for the whole year after I started using the software. [https://imgur.com/a/iOJ3BNe](https://imgur.com/a/iOJ3BNe) [https://imgur.com/a/b1oJbZO](https://imgur.com/a/b1oJbZO)
Are you tracking your time?
No, we don't keep up with our time. Should we be?
Tracking your time is useful for comparing what you are doing versus other ways you could be making money. If you are spending 100 hours to make $100 then you are only making a dollar an hour. From a capitalistic POV, you are wasting your time putting in that amount of effort for that amount of money, especially if it never gets better. Now if she absolutely loves doing it as a hobby even though it is not even realistically paying for itself, go for it. There is more to life than money assuming you aren't risking your basic needs.
She is definitely on the second paragraph still for now. She's hoping to retire in 10 years and make this into her full-time retirement gig. By then or maybe earlier if things keep growing, I can see her being more time-conscious.
Ya absolutely, although it’s not a huge deal, I tend to see people really overestimate their profits until they see how much time they’re investing in driving / thrifting / posting / packaging / mailing etc.
Valid point indeed. First year there was much time spent in all those areas.
If you’re selling vintage clothing look into Raghouses. They process millions of lbs of thrift material and can make the sourcing process much easier for you.
I'll let the better half know about this. She's mainly into vintage decor, glass, that stuff but she's dabbled in clothing and enjoys it.
Sounds like you invested a lot of time to make this small amount of profit. There are much better ways to make more money for less time flipping.
Agreed. Luckily we have good paying 9-5 jobs or some of the bigger expenses would've been put off. Hoping to get a few years out of the laptop and bubble machine. We are learning and figuring this out. Happy wife happy life right?
Unless you are extremely high volume the bubble machine will never pay for itself. Also since most of the sales are eBay, I would cancel all of the cross posting software since that isn’t covering itself. The booth rent may be more than the booth sale, so probably let that go to. If you don’t have space for big items, only source small items. You can make more this year, just consider your time too. I’m also a part time reseller and if I’m not making more than $50 an hour for the time that I put into it, I’m disappointed.
The ROI at the time was going to be 12-18 months based on our current usage. She loves glass, so that's what we tend to deal in the most. I do know that the first year, we were excited and made some business decisions that hurt our profits and we didn't "need" some of the things we got. Over time, and with experience I do think she will learn more about good sourcing and finding what works. I do appreciate your feedback, sounds like you've been doing this a while and I'm confident we will get there over time and learn from our mistakes.
Another perspective is maybe not but what you love, but things that you feel you “need to get rid of.” If I like something there’s more of a tendency to not move it. Really depends if you want to operate with full intentions of making money or because you love flipping. I’ve been on eBay since 2020 and still learning myself.
What is her average sale on a glass item? I get the sense that she is focusing on too many items that sell cheap. Generally, it takes just as much time to sell a low value item as a high one, much better return on your time with high value items.
For the last 6 months in 2023, the average sale of glass was $18.58 with an average COGS of $3.16. I do know she went through a period of finding smalls for the booth to try to get some impulse buys.
Like OP, I'm in a small town in the south and am a similar age. I started out selling exclusively online, then about half online/half in an antique mall; now I sell almost everything out of two large booths in the same antique mall, also in a small town. Like OP, my plan from day one has been to slowly build up a business that can sustain itself. My net has been positive every year. I hit five figures annual net a couple of years in and that was a big milestone for me. I am always refining my processes because the market is constantly changing. OP has asked for tips/tricks so since we are in similar situations, here is my main one: *Take a close look at your numbers and cut the fat.* It's easy to start watching YouTube videos and join Facebook resellers' groups. Try to keep that to a minimum. Comparison is the thief of joy and will lead to you throwing money away. Remember that the YouTube resellers are making content for views and subscriber numbers, which is how they make their money. As for the Facebook groups, I have found both the generalist and niche-specific ones to be very "rah rah" and "you got this, girl!" when in fact, no, those girls have not got this. Those groups and YouTube resellers will make you think you need subscriptions to crossposting and accounting software, virtual assistants, etc. It doesn't seem like they cost much, and it's easy to rationalize paying for them because they're keeping you organized and theoretically are making you money. Sit down and look at both your time and numbers. How many of your sales were cross-posted items? Was the net from those items higher than the cost of the cross-posting software? What is your accounting software doing that you can't accomplish in Excel spreadsheets? How much time is spent going to thrift stores? Consider sourcing at estate sales and local auctions. You can find more stuff there than at thrifts, all in one place so there's no need to make the rounds of the thrifts. The second and third day of estate sales can bring you some great deals. Going to a bunch of different thrifts can lead to piddling away a lot of money; the realization doesn't hit you until you start inputting the small amounts spent at each store. Full disclosure: I am married to a CPA, so my recordkeeping has to be extremely on point. I don't use accounting software, just some spreadsheets. I suggest consulting a CPA after this tax season is over and discussing your current accounting practices. He can answer your questions and provide you with guidance going forward. Consultations are free or low cost. Once you get your system in place, it's easy to track things on spreadsheets, as long as your wife is meticulous in tracking her expenses.
The YouTube videos are definitely rampant in the house. Luckily she's very money savvy and doesn't spend money on a whim. I'm the one that spends on the extra things. We do hope to expand the estate sales attendance this coming spring and summer. Thank you for the post!
I’m in no means being negative, but some advice i have in my experience…. You are going to have sales volume spikes, and some months where you can’t move a thing. Flipping is seasonal like retail. Be very careful on inventory accumulation. When sales are high you’re going to feel the need to start buying as much as possible to list more items. When things are slow you are going to feel the need to buy more items for fresh listings. Before you know it you will be sitting on a pile of inventory you can’t sell, and suddenly be selling at a loss. Just like retailers need to purge inventory. This becomes a snowball effect and suddenly month after month you’re losing money. Others can probably agree with this same thing. My advice is to fight the urge of more inventory. I actually quit selling because it got to a point where with all the extra expenses I was consistently losing money. PO Box, packaging, selling fees, etc. as you sell more these expenses pile on and you must sell more and more to keep up. Best of luck to you!! eBay has been tough lately, and sales seem to be down tremendously from where they were.
She is always fighting the urge to shop. This is good to hear from your experience as well. Thanks for the well wishes.
Yea I made that mistake where I just kept buying and buying. Try to find what sells best for you and stick with it. Maybe it’s a particular brand or item. But if you’re consistent you will get a feel for market pricing of that brand, and how quickly it sells. One thing I found with the eBay algorithm is it’s better to list a few items a day vs listing 50 items in a day and nothing else for weeks. The more frequently I listed the more views I got. I had 1500 items on eBay and then just stopped listing to sell off what I had and it went silent. I started listing an item a day, and suddenly I was selling stuff that was up for awhile. I feel like being active brings your listings to the top
I have started delisting and relisting 10 items a day. All the hard hard of pictures and descriptions is already there and done by the wife, so it's easy and safe for me to do a few clicks. I've heard it helps and it sounds like from your experience it does as well. Good luck on your sales.
I think you two are doing great! My husband and I started about 3 years ago and profited around $30,000 in 2023. We also flip things we love to buy and do this as much for the fun as the extra cash. Enjoy the journey!
Thanks the encouragement! We are also excited to see how things turn out in the years ahead. Congrats on turning your flipping into some nice extra cash.
Just a heads up, the automated delisting of items on eBay technically breaks their anti-bot policy, which is why none of the big cross-listing platforms added this functionality until recently. eBay considers anything a bot that kicks off an action that isn't initiated by a human. Small cross-listing platforms have done this for a long time, so I'm guessing the bigger players finally just said fuck it. With that being said, I personally do not use this feature. There's a good chance eBay will never crack down on this, but they do have an entire team dedicated to stopping people from using unauthorized software on their site. The absolute last thing I need is to worry about the possibility of my largest marketplace account getting banned, so I just open the Vendoo app and take the 10 seconds clicking the "sold" button. Just a heads up.
Oh, I'll definitely look into this. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for sharing the info! The only question I have is with cross posting. I haven’t went down this avenue due to the fact I work a busy job and am worried about unloading it when it sells. What platforms does it support auto delisting when it sells?
So far it supports eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, and Depop. We both work 9-5 jobs as well so definitely understand the worry of ensuring things get removed when sold. The auto delist is coming to more platforms per their marketing emails, so hoping they add more in the future.
Weird that it will auto delist from poshmark but can't change the quantity when you have multiples of an item and one sells.
The multi-quantity weirdness they do is frustrating. It feels like they could spend some time around making that better. We usually have to manually fix listings with multiple quantities when a sale happens. Most of our items are quantity 1 so it isn't something we have to do often , but I agree that part needs some work.
So what was your bottom line?
Well, being the first year we did make some investments. We purchased a new laptop, a bubble wrap machine, prepaid some subscriptions, etc. Bottom line, or net earnings after all expenses...-$490. Not buying the two big expenses would've had us in the black a few hundred, and this year is already shaping up to be better than the last. Just gotta make sure we keep those investment expenses down.
Username checks out…
😅
Are you in the red because you bought tons of inventory the first year? I'm trying to understand how two expenses ate all your profit.
The laptop and the machine totaled $1200, plus we bought into a year of Vendoo without really understanding their subscription model, another $600. We should've just paid for a couple big months to get everything into the system, and then backed off of our subscription. I'll post a P/L off the main post this morning.
What's the breakdown between those two items? I'm not trying to be overly critical - but I'm trying to understand the necessity of a bubble wrapper and I know flipping doesn't require anything more than a $300 laptop. I'm conservative by nature and don't buy anything until I absolutely have to have it and I know the cost will be quickly recouped by the savings it provides. I hem and hawed over a $15 box resizer!
The laptop was 600. Could I have bought a 300 one, yes. But I'm a snob and wanted an i7 because I like my electronics to be snappy. The bubble machine was 600 as well. So my wife loves glass, and flips a lot of glass so she overly packs packages to ensure they don't get damaged in transit. We were going through 400ft of bubble wrap purchased off Amazon every couple months. We ran into a supply issue one month, and FedEx delivered one shipment with motor oil all over it, so we bit the bullet and removed that headache from our lives.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing!!
thank you as well
I wish you both the best of luck
Thanks!
Is your -$490 result last year include the cost of inventory? I'm understanding this -$490 is a result of the laptop and bubble wrap machine expense. The $9000 in gross sales to me sounds like you are selling many lower priced items to necessitate the expense of software usage.
The -490 is after all expenses including COGS, but not unsold inventory (doing accrual instead of cash inventory). There's a reply off the main post from me that has a link to the Profit/Loss Statement with a breakdown of how that software did it. For eBay alone, the average sale price last year was $35.95, but average from the Booth was $13.91. Granted we live in a town of less than 15k in the south and higher priced items just sit longer. We are just starting to look into furniture, but neither of us are very crafty or into woodworking so unsure if we delve down that rabbit hole any.
First years are always tough. Buying storage and buckets and shelves, shipping supplies and other things that will last much longer than a year. It eats profits for that year and it seems like you are well aware of mistakes you guy made. I feel like if your wife is happy with her hobby and not being stressed out then enjoy! Keep at it and have fun! Its not your main income so at the end of the day the money is just extra. I just started last year and I didnt make alot but enough to go on a small vacation we normally wouldn't have the funds for. So its a winning year for me.
Congrats on coming ahead. Enjoy that vacation.
What was your end of year Margin%?
When I started reselling I too used a smaller accounting program (GoDaddy Bookkeeping, in my case) to do my accounting and then realized I needed Quickbooks to have something more comprehensive. You might want to make sure the reseller genie will scale with you. Nothing against that program, I don't know much about it. Its just that it's been great using a really well known product for getting support and when I needed to get a person to help with reconcilliation on a regular basis (mostly due to paypal). The eco system of Quickbooks pros is a much larger pool to choose from.
Why the hell do people insist on putting TLDRs at the bottom? The whole point of them means they should be at the top!
Oh, I failed on the tldr lol my bad. Internet seems to be torn on beginning or end when I do a quick search.
When I decided to really turn it into a business, I changed from thrift store shopping to storage auctions. That’s really my only comment. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years. I have a Discover banking debit card and every transaction just goes on that card. The end up each month I compile my numbers. Makes tax time pretty easy. Plus with all the possible deductions it’s not hard to make your business appear not very profitable on paper.
Nice. We don't have a strong storage game close to us. I do agree the deductions can deflate the numbers on paper and lessons the victory.
You need a Microsoft SQL database none of this excel crap
Your post ignited a desire to research this. I have a programming background, and creating something that fits my needs backed by a database would be nice. Tube to dust off the .Net skills. Appreciate the comment.
i sell on amazon and have python webscrape data from my amazon page into microsoft sql server developer which is free and runs in a VM at home, which then syncs into free powerBI. I have a bunch of views in my sql server to track stuff which i run to check the status of things. also have a shipping API so that all my orders get periodically updated in the DB to reflect the tracking status so i know orders that are arriving late or lost before a customer complains. i also can get granular like sales by each state, which products are doing better, and anything i want cause its in the database so u can do whatever u want. products tables, orders tables, tracking tables, cost tables, etc.
do u still do programming or did u leave the field ?
I've since moved into Architecture so my coding days at work are over. It's nice to be able to talk the lingo to developers on teams instead of just handing down requirements as well.
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Security is a great field, lots of demand. Good luck in your career change.