Seller Club Podcast
Seller Club Podcast
Episode 75: It’s Grilling Season
Glen spies on Ken and Anna’s recent sales and grills them about their stores… the stories behind these sales opens up some great insights for sourcing, pricing, and beyond.
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Episode number 75, Cellar Club Podcast. Drop that beat. Hello everybody, how are we doing?
SPEAKER_00:Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_03:Yo yo.
SPEAKER_00:I love how that turned into like bullet points. Episode 75, Cellar Club Podcast. Drop that beat.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, all in a row. Ready to go.
SPEAKER_00:Trimmed all the fat out of there.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly, exactly. We are very, very busy right now during this.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. It is busy, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:It is the last episode of April.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. And so now we're getting into May, so. May.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe we'll see all those flowers. We're supposedly getting with all the April rain, right? Yeah. More vol. I think that's what's happening. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's been raining a lot. Is it uh well, does it rain in the La Paso Glenn?
SPEAKER_03:Uh you know what? It did rain like two weeks ago pretty bad. But yesterday was just like crazy wind, dirt, nasty. Oh. It is just wind storms. Desert planet.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so uh yeah, they're calling for like hail this week.
SPEAKER_00:Really?
SPEAKER_01:So I cleaned out my garage yesterday because I want to pull in the cars.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Can't can't afford a hail damage. No. Um, so yeah, that's been it. It's been really a lot. Um I've actually uh been doing some cleanup outside. Weeds are starting to pop out. I thought they were flowers, right? But they're weeds.
SPEAKER_00:I mean who decides? Who decides?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they identify as flowers. They still have flowers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they have flowers on them.
SPEAKER_01:I mean um, what are those round white things?
SPEAKER_00:The dandelions?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like everywhere. And I feel like they're the one that that's causing my allergy. So I'm at a point where I'm taking allergy meds every day, and I have to choose whether do I because like I can only take one every 12 hours, so do I take one at the beginning of the day or midday, but if I take midday, I can't take one right before I sleep because the worst I mean I've be I've been waking up at like three or four and just like allergies just flare up. Yeah. So there's that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's a difficult choice. Yeah, it is. How to time that. Yeah, I'm in the same boat.
SPEAKER_03:So I don't like that. But as far as business goes, um first off, Kenny, what about sourcing right now? Um are you depending on older inventory that you've sourced, let's say a couple months ago, and you're still kind of like photos and getting that all lined up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I feel like uh I mean this week, uh this month really uh we've pretty much listed all of the ones that we've bought from those big lots. Uh now it's just like refining, uh, double checking, um and it still happens. I don't know, like you know, listings that fell off the crack that um you know you find ten pairs of shoes that you still have, but it's not listed. Um so that's where the I guess it's tedious because now you gotta pull that out, you know. Like with for shoes without box, you gotta rip the polybags because we polybag them and take photos of them. Um which is a good problem to have. Um, but but now we're trying to diversify and trying to sell a different platform. Um uh we deleted all our GOAT listings and now all our our shoes are in GOAT. So that was cool.
SPEAKER_03:Um kind of like updating the pricing, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like you know, reprice because like man, like you know, some of those dunks that I've had for a long time that I was trying to get a hundred bucks, now they're like fifty bucks. You know, it's like you might have to cut losses now, you know. Like it's not like it's gonna go up, you know. So so there's that, and then also really about to uh start uh peeking into um um what do you call that other uh sourcing opportunity, mainly like you know, I've been still going to Ross, Ross has been good. I mean I get inspired with all the hashtag RossFinds. I still peek in there. Um, so I I I've still been getting those uh, you know, but obviously it's not enough to replenish what you sell, right?
SPEAKER_03:So but would you say that like I mean comparing now look both of your store, Anna and Ken, I am looking at them, I've been observing them. Alright? So this is a different episode.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man.
SPEAKER_01:Um it's uh it's a uh reseller roast.
SPEAKER_00:This is called hot seat.
SPEAKER_03:And so Kenny, would you say that you still have a lot of Nike listed, or are the other brands just taking over on your sold? Because it seems like Hoka, Asics, New Balance are like Adidas. I mean, I see way more of those solds than the Swoosh.
SPEAKER_01:And so Yeah, I I would agree that you know, I think like quantity-wise, I still have way more Nikes because you know it's just easier to buy Nikes in deeper quantity. Um, but definitely I've been way more diversified more than ever. Um, you know, like I was never a Patagonia seller, but you know, I have Patagonia now. Uh you know, I'm a cool soccer mom, you know, shops in my store now.
SPEAKER_03:And when Brooks and Solomon are showing up on here for the 100 plus range, uh you're right.
SPEAKER_01:I just saw the Solomon, like a Solomon for a hundred bucks. I'm like, man, I'm trying to pull teeth trying to get a hundred bucks for a Nike shoe, but Solomon, no, they take it. And and a women's at that.
SPEAKER_03:Solomon 110 bucks go into authenticity. That's not coming back.
SPEAKER_01:It's not coming back. And and you know what? Like, I remember we had a conversation with JC, I was like, man, that was like that was literally our last batch of buy. It's like, should we buy this? And at that point, it's like, might as well. You know, like it's like it's not even like it's not even a shoe that you're hunting for. And then when you start seeing the sales, like, oh, the next go around if I find them anywhere else. So now I'm actually like looking at websites that have like markdowns, you know, clearance sales, because um, if I could sell for 110, you know, like I'd be willing to pay 40 bucks for 'em.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Oh, exactly. So I mean that's good to hear as far as like going through double checking the inventory. I guess for s uh future sourcing, I guess what does that look like for May? Um, you have anything in mind or anything that you're gonna try to do.
SPEAKER_01:Definitely hitting outlets, definitely hitting Nike outlets harder, um, Converse outlets. Um their prices have been dropping, which is really good. Good news. Um, and also there's been a lot of uh you know, like I keep keep in touch on on like whatnot sellers too, you know, like not the hype sneaker sellers, but our like just the regular shoe sellers there. Um, you know, like I've been seeing like good kinds of Nike shoe um that they're pulling. And obviously we see tags from other people that this are they're finding them. Um a good friend of mine, Shabby, in DC area, he's been uh he's been getting like fulmaros for like fifty-nine, sixty-nine, extra, thirty, and forty. I'm like, oh I I'm in on those, you know. So really trying to get into like the more newer style or like the more I guess you gotta be more fashion oriented or fashion um kind of like trends, right? Like obviously Solomon has sold ASICs uh because they're they're it right now.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Exactly. Alright, and uh let's talk a little bit about sold, a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you tell me.
SPEAKER_03:You tell me you're looking at my store. You tell me, homie. Alright, so 450 bucks um on one of them for a uh fender. Well, for parts, too. This is a 1940s.
SPEAKER_00:Super as is, super for parts.
SPEAKER_03:How long was this listed for? A good while or something new? Oh, new.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, not very long. I mean, less than a month, I think. Or definitely less than two months.
SPEAKER_03:Was it scared when it sold? Or were you scared when it sold? Kind of like, how am I going to make sure this doesn't come back?
SPEAKER_00:I was because I I also priced it high. And, you know, it's just one of those things that there's hardly any comps. It's a it's a wooden body for like a solid body um lap steel guitar. So it's missing a ton of things.
SPEAKER_01:Did you take an offer? Oh, do you accept an offer?
SPEAKER_00:I took an offer, yeah. I knew like a very specific person was gonna want that, probably to refurbish it or hang it on the wall in their studio or whatever. Um there's only, you know, it's gonna be a huge project if it's a project guitar, but they're still so rare, even finding parts from them. And this was that the whole body, so that'd probably be the hardest part to find. Um, but yeah, I paid up for that at an auction, and then I kind of set all of my auction, like uh the stuff I sourced from auctions aside for several months while I was doing a lot of retail ARB and was just like, oh, I'll get to this when I get to it. But I was really nervous when I listed that and I was really surprised how soon it sold. Honestly, I was like, this is probably gonna take forever, but it will be valuable, so it will be worth waiting. And then I didn't even really have to wait, which was awesome. That's like what you love to see. So yeah, that was um that actually, I mean, including shipping and everything, it might have been my biggest sale ever. It might have just outpaced my my last kind of record for that, which is cool, like for a single item. And I mean, it's there and no return case has been opened. So knock on all of the wood if you're listening to those things. Exactly. But that was really cool. I mean, also just like as a musician, I think it's cool. I could could never play a steel guitar probably, but I just think it's like a neat piece of music history that somebody will really appreciate. And even when I first saw it, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so neat. And I almost got it for like a dollar. And then and then finally at like the end of the auction, one other person knew what they what they were looking at. It was in like a random clean out lot that like didn't really it had like um an umbrella and a broom or something with it, like other long wooden things were with it. Like some like the auctioneer was just like, I don't know, this this crap, you know. So, but somebody else did bid it up, but I still I knew what it was, so I was like, nah, I'm not letting go of this one. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03:I think one of my other favorite, well, two other favorite or great sales on here that I do like USA basketball shorts.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And they had like a little mark on it.
SPEAKER_00:They did, they were like flawed.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah. 72 bucks. So was that new? Was it new? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, well, is it with the new with imperfections basically because it had some kind of a stay like a mark from the you know, probably the retail store it came from or whatever.
SPEAKER_03:Or shipping or something.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Just a little defect. But I was surprised about that too. I priced those high, and when I saw them, that's like something I got in my retail arb Escapades, and I didn't um I didn't find a bunch of them. I just randomly found that one pair, and I was like, well, these are interesting, like let's try it, you know. So that was another like pleasant surprise. But I feel like that has been happening with a lot of stuff. Like Ken, you were saying those shoes that sold that were like one of the last things you bought where you were like, should I even get this? Like I sold multiple shoes like that this weekend that I think it was this weekend, I I'm about to ship them out today, but um, that were things like that that I was like, sure, why not? Like this is really a really good price for this. The comps are decent. I've never sold it before, but like I'll try it. One of them was like a Hawaiian brand, like sandal, and one of them like women's size 10, you know, not an ideal size really, but it's old. And then another thing, and I think I paid like five or seven dollars for it. Sold for like forty or fifty, I think. And then the other one was a hiking boot that's like really nice, but I don't sell I don't know anything about hiking boots, you know. I was just like, oh, let me try these. These look like they're really well made, you know. Yeah. So that was that's been really rewarding. Like some of those those little experiments have paid off, and they were research-informed experiments, you know. Same thing with the lap steel, um, but that one just had a lot fewer comps. So it's a little more of a limb, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, very nice. I think before well, there's one of your sales that kind of goes into like our main topic today, but um before we get into the main topic, which is about uh there was like a video that I saw that I thought was really, really good as far as like this person saying at this point on eBay, what's the number one thing you should be doing or thinking about when you pick up an item? So yeah, so that's the thing we're gonna talk about today. But before we get into that, I did notice So Kenny, you had you're running like for a lot of these sales, I see a little twenty percent off, a little thirty percent off. But on Anna's store, I see the coupon option. Like the five off, five dollars off fifty plus. So hmm. I mean, I kinda wonder I've never tried the coupon.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But I wonder if the coupon works just as well, maybe better, maybe depends on the store and the seller. What are your thoughts on like the percentage off Kenny and then and then Anna, how do you feel about the coupon? Or why choose one or the other?
SPEAKER_01:I think one of the things that well I I we've definitely tried a lot of uh discount percentage already. And one of the things that we notice it's kind of like that the bigger discount kind of look, right? If it's 30, 40% off, that's definitely like um it's more attractive to the buyer. So that's kinda like I try to do 30 more 30% and 40% off. Um the only 20% off I have are pretty much like for lower price items and or like harder to find items. So those are kind of like um I'm not really trying to give a big discount on this items. Um and I think what we've found out is it's a lot smoother on our listing process and our pricing process. So how our operation works right now is um JC builds draft, I take the photo, I upload it, and she finishes it on a draft. And we have kind of like since we deal with mostly brand new items, we have kind of like automatically made it a standard just list it at a retail price because we buy it on discount retailers, so obviously we don't pay retail for them. But for the consumers point of view, right, you show the t price tag, you show the tag, oh it's a sixty dollar shoe, extra thirty percent off. So you take they're taking eight eight dollars eighteen dollars off of on top. So that's kind of like my my kind of like the philosophy of how we're doing it right now. Um trying to have a win-win situation. I'm giving the buyer a under-retail deal, brand new under retail item, branded branded stuff, and they get to win on that side. So and also for me, I just need to, you know, get it at 70% off at least so I could pass on that saving and make money on my end. So that's mine. Uh coupon I haven't tried, to be honest with you. I haven't tried. Alright, I want to hear Anna uh take Anna's take on the coupon.
SPEAKER_00:Because I clearly have tried it. Um and you know, there were times in the past where I tried it and I felt like it didn't really do anything, but the last couple of years I have started using them not like con like constant all the time, but I use them per like periodically. After talking to our friend, Liz O'Kane from Colorado Reborn, and just like I don't know, she she sort of compelled me to take another run at that. And honestly, I feel like for a lot of like a lot of the reason why I I do both. So like right now, I have like a blanket percentage off in my store. I don't know if it's 10% or 20 or something, 20 or less usually, but occasionally I'll do a bigger sale than that. But you know, I do that kind of blanket strategy with the markdown sales, and that's you know, it's like they say six one way, half a dozen the other, right? So for some people, their psychology sees sees ten percent off, and they're like, wow, that's a that's great. I better take advantage of that. And for other people, they're like, ten percent's like nothing, but give me a concrete five dollars off of fifty, and for some reason, that seems like that's a meaningful like actual amount of money, right? Like on the sale. So I think for some people they just gravitate more to like the dollar amount. For some people, it kind of hits home with them more, right? If it's a percentage off or a dollar amount. And um, so like five off of fifty is just ten percent. And you can stack them, but you know, the coupon is also kind of like it's out there, it's it's on, it's in my store, it's on the pages of my listings, and if you're diligent and you see it, then great, you get rewarded for that. Not everyone uses it, and everyone could, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So that's interesting too. Like people don't even take advantage of it like a lot of the time, but if they do and they're paying attention, they get an even better deal. And you know, obviously, I just want to drive sales, so I'm happy to give them five dollars off of something. And especially now that I do charge shipping for like most things, I think in a lot of people's minds they're probably just thinking, great, that's kind of like getting free shipping, or it's kind of like getting half shipping. So, like a lot of my shoes and stuff are like a flat rate or like ten dollars, or you know, I have some ship different shipping policies that I use, but five dollars against that kind of makes them feel like they're getting free shipping or close to free shipping. So I think that's probably a lot of mental gymnastics, but everybody sees it, you know, uh a different way. And I don't know if it's um how powerful it is to go like look in your cart and see because that's the other thing. I think with the coupon, like you can't use a coupon on an offer. So if somebody's gonna put something in their cart and check out, that's where they can see, oh, here's the discount for the sale, and here's the discount for the coupon. Wow, I'm like stacking up discounts, you know, like that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_03:Which I think helps too because they don't want to wait for someone to respond sometimes. Or even the back and forth like haggling. Some people just don't like that want to do that. Like, I just want to get this item at the best price. What can I do to check out now?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And I'm like, knock knock yourself out. That's exactly what I want you to do, also. I'd rather not haggle with you. But would I would I take pretty much five dollars off of any item in my store if you were to send me an offer? Like, yeah, definitely. I would accept that offer so fast, you know. Yeah. So it's kind of another way to approach that, but I do like the combination. I think it can cover like the particularities of a greater number of people who might be shopping in my store and appeal to a greater number of people one way or the other, or maybe both.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Alright. I like that from both sides. I like the explanations on uh on both. So I guess our main topic today from a random video that I saw. I wish I could have seen what even if was the main thing that about for some reason that just uh just stuck out to me.
SPEAKER_00:Were you watching or were you listening?
SPEAKER_03:Maybe, yeah, maybe that's what it was. I was more listening.
SPEAKER_00:Just listening. That's alright. You watch most things.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. So he was saying, uh, what's the number one thing you should think about? Uh it it w I think it would have been different timing, let's say ten years from now, five years from now, let's say even when me and Ken started selling shoes more and more. But the number one thing to think about now, when picking up an item to sell an eBay, all comes down to search results. And not necessarily the title, make a great title, things like that. But just like why would someone search for your item? How can they find your item? And when they do, how do you pretty much reel them in into the sale when there's so many other sellers on that same item as well? Because at this point, finding a Nike anything doesn't guarantee you a sale. I would say if you if you would have came to me and can in 2014, I would say, hey, it's Nike everything. Yeah, it's a great price, it's got a swoosh on it, it's gonna move. Yeah. You know, but at this point, yeah, there's so much going out there. So that's what leads me into one item on each of your stores that did sell. And how and why did they sell? And how did you get someone to look at it when there's so many of that item that's out there?
SPEAKER_00:He's playing on our creep. How did you feel about that?
SPEAKER_03:What a creeper.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I actually feel comfortable that I'm not doing anything stupid because he's gonna call me out. Yeah, because early on when you're sleeping, he knows. No, because early on, Glenn was like, like, yo, like you have a Pittsburgh jersey that that Jay-Z put like Pittsburgh Falcons or something like that. You know, like like it's wrong, you know, right, steady, wrong team, right?
SPEAKER_00:Um I've confused Wolverines and Badgers and the North Clever.
SPEAKER_01:I'm I'm I'm glad that we've been looking at it and it hasn't called out any flaws.
SPEAKER_00:That's the next episode.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, store evaluation.
SPEAKER_00:No, I I know what I know what we're calling this episode. Oh I'm not gonna tell you, but I thought of it already based on this experience.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no. Something would do with creeping.
SPEAKER_00:No, actually. I'm not gonna make you sound creepy.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, good, good, good. So one thing that Anna did sell um was a hundred and sixty dollar Patagonia rain jacket. Oh that was uh all right, men's XL. I would say great size.
SPEAKER_01:Great size, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, the color, green and bluish, which it's up in the air, right? Some people might want black and gray. Yeah, it's bright. This one in this case is bright.
SPEAKER_00:But a lot of Patagonia is bright. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But in this case, Patagonia Anything doesn't guarantee the sale, right? That's true. Just because you picked up Patagonia, alright, cool, great brand. There's a lot of pre-owned, there's a lot of brand new, typing in Patagonia Jacket in general, 94,000 results on eBay. Oh right now. That's wild. So to find Anna's jacket, one out of 94,000 plus. I mean, it's pretty unique and also interesting in a way, to be like, okay, well, how? Why? What would I pick this item up again? Do you have more of this item? Maybe you do, maybe you don't, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Did you notice anything else about that item?
SPEAKER_03:Well, it is a like specific rain jacket that um does bring in a different, let's say, than some of the other like fleas that was like waterproof, right?
SPEAKER_01:It's waterproof. It's like you're going to Amazon jungle, you're going to rain forest. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But did you notice that I actually sold two of them in the last couple days?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, two of them. I only noticed the most recent one.
SPEAKER_00:Both extra larges.
SPEAKER_03:Both extra large. Yeah. So first explain a little bit more about this jacket before we dive into this 94,000 plus results.
SPEAKER_00:Like the jacket itself?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's yeah. And when you got it, how did you feel about it?
SPEAKER_00:Did you feel like it was gonna move for big money or right away or well, rain jackets are very interesting because they don't really keep you warm, but they do keep you dry.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So I actually do feel I have other Patagonia and other rain jackets in my store, and I don't feel like rain jackets move really fast, generally speaking, in my limited experience. Um, but I mean, I, you know, found that item in a physical store and like got to feel it and look at it and look at all the the way that it was made is extremely well made. And I saw like what the full retail price of it is, and I and and third part, I saw what I was gonna pay for it, and I thought there's no way I can lose. Because remember, your girl is willing to wait for things to sell sometimes. So I thought this is something that will be totally worth the space it takes up for however long. I could sell it, you know, at half of retail and still make a really good profit on it. I sold it for more than half of retail, but um, I think I'm pretty sure. I did accept offers on both of those though. Yes, I didn't think of the rain jacket uh factor, right? Like I don't I mean I've hardly gotten any traction on rain jackets. It's not like they immediately sell when I list them. But I do think, you know, the person who's looking for that kind of specific type of outerwear is gonna be willing to pay for Patagonia, which um, you know, is kind of a an investment if you're an outdoorsy person because they will like repair clothing that you own that's their brand for the until the end of time. Like you can send it off to them and they'll fix it. It really like it really is kind of an investment of a lifestyle thing for people. So, you know, I just thought, okay, this is uh cheap enough and a really well-made item that retails high enough that it's gonna be worth like taking the a little bit of a chance on it.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I actually just looked at it and I thought it was the same jacket that I have. It's not? Well, it's the same collar. Well, like same series of collars, uh huh. But mine's a women's XL. Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_00:I have some women's of that same jacket. That's why I was like, hmm. But black ones. I was like I have a lot of them in black too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, I thought that was interesting. The most bold looking ones were the ones that sold first.
SPEAKER_01:It's either it's both, right? I feel like for like that brand, it's like either bright or just black.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, or like very clean navy blue.
SPEAKER_01:Like I've sold so many navy blue Patagonia, and I'm like, these people have to be so like I could figure I could I could imagine them. They work at an office, they have a bike, they work at a consulting firm specifically. Yeah, they have a glass. Yeah, they have like a leather sling bag, you know, that's how they look, and they bring a lunchbox with them.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Uh that's a good sale. That's a solid sale. Yeah, that's a great sale. I was thrilled. You probably paid around 40 for them.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. 43.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Now, did you feel that that was a high risk at the time? Spending over 40 plus on a jacket? Or no, because the retail on it was like 230.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's like, yeah. I thought, well, I could make like if I if the sold for full retail and I made two hundred dollars on it, that'd be incredible. But it doesn't have to be that, you know?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you know what? As a matter of fact, what I sold two of the exact same jacket already, April 9th.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01:Older. That is weird. The same jacket, Men's XL. It's like, what do I have? Because I'm just looking at the sold.
SPEAKER_00:There's some hiking club of extra large men out there. Yeah, all want to get batching jackets, obviously.
SPEAKER_01:The full team. You know what? You know what it is? It's uh it's it's spring. It's spring, so they're probably going to like, you know, some mountain and they're gonna get rained on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, right. They're going on a guy's trip, of course.
SPEAKER_03:Dude's trip. Now here's the thing that I really wanted to break down though. So I I told you guys there's 94,000 results on Patagonia jacket alone. Just jackets. Just jacket. We're not going deeper into men's, women's, nothing. Just jacket, 94,000 plus results. What if I type in Patagonia fleece? More. 75,000 results.
SPEAKER_01:So there's way less rain jackets.
SPEAKER_03:Which means Patagonia puffer jacket, 10,000 results.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Patagonia rain jacket, 2900 results. 2900?
SPEAKER_00:Of course they found mine.
SPEAKER_03:So when you're when you're digging deeper into Okay, cool, we found this brand. What is what makes it special? Like what?
SPEAKER_01:The type of it, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:How can we narrow this down even being more specific and maybe unique onto why someone would want the item? Now, out of the 2900, brand new with tags, maybe pre owned, maybe the color, maybe the size, men's, maybe women's. Now we're getting into other factors. But that alone already eliminated how like that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01:Like you're not you're not competing with a ninety thousand people, right? Or nine thousand listing. Exactly. So you're like Well, that's like under one that's under one percent, if I'm am I correct? Yeah, we were under one percent. And Glenn, if you click solds on that rain jacket. Yeah, let's see solds um the last ninety days, it's basically all of all the listings.
SPEAKER_03:So twenty three hundred plus. Yeah. That is crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Huh? That is crazy. The last ninety days, rain jackets, Patagonia rain jackets was popping. Yeah. So ninety days ago, there was probably, you know, five thousand listings.
SPEAKER_00:Now we're down to twenty three hundred, and then there's and who knows how many I I mean I honestly don't remember how when I listed those. Like it was definitely Q1 or the beginning of Q2 of this year. So it ha it probably was during Q one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But like that's not you know, it's not very long, and yet how many other ones sold before mine sold? Right.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, 'cause like I sold two of the same one. Um in XL literally ex same exact size. So that is uh that is interesting now that you say that, Glenn, because you know, you have to look at this stuff. I mean like at the heat of the moment you it's hard to do it that way. Yeah. But it's you know, it's cool to do it backwards now, but it just goes to show you that you could take two minutes and actually narrow it down to like that.
SPEAKER_00:But also like rain jackets, maybe even more so in some ways than other outerwear, is a more seasonal thing. So like depending when you were sourcing those, what kind of data would you even have unless you're Oh you didn't have data, right?
SPEAKER_01:Because 30 days before winter was fall or right now.
SPEAKER_00:Unless you're looking at, you know, product research, but yeah, which now it's on mobile and you can, which is amazing. But I don't know if I did look at it or if I just was I saw enough about, you know, generally like Patagonia jackets or something that I was like, if I see these for this price or less, I'm gonna pick them up regardless.
SPEAKER_01:I think at that point, right, like anything rules of thumb. Yeah, any Patagonia on a good size, basically 80% off you buy. Right. Brand new with tags.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03:Now it kind of makes it interesting though on the puffer uh jacket side is that you know, I know the seasoned is kind of weird right now as well, but uh they have 10,000 plus results, and even on their solds uh for puffers right now, 9,400 plus. So even their uh solds are great as well. Uh when you do the fleece, you know, there's 75,000 uh plus and then the solds are twenty-three thousand.
SPEAKER_00:I thought there would be more fleece than jackets. I'm kind of surprised.
SPEAKER_03:So it's just fleece in general. Yeah, I'm thinking that one third, one fourth, I guess, of like the sold on the back.
SPEAKER_01:That's a pretty good brand. That's a solid brand. Like this is what I felt about Nike when I started selling an eBay. Yeah. Would you would you agree, right? Like 100%. Like it's like you're paying 80% off, you can definitely sell it for 30% off easily. Like, like that. But you're right, there are definitely way more brands that are also too, it's like we're talking about eBay, right? That's a that's an aftermarket sales platform. So now I feel like we've had to for the X amount of years Patagonia became a thing, they consumers were only thinking you can only get it at, you know, REI, state sporting goods, um, Patagonia website, you know, like those really outer waves. Outdoors boutique. Out yeah, and when you say that, all of all of a sudden you're just thinking about full retail. People are buying full retail. But the is it the economy where we're going or the you know, the correction of economy where people now have to become smart shoppers. Now they're going to like instead of buying direct, why does it matter if I buy it from the manufacturers or I buy it off somebody's you know uh aftermarket sales, now you go to eBay. So I think that's where eBay shines, that's where the platform shines.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And I feel like I mean, if you're willing to spend 150 to 200 on a rain jacket, Patagonia, I mean, you mean business because uh you can get whatever rain jacket you want from old VA.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you could get Walmart rain. You could literally get the clear plastic garbage bag looking, it'll still protect you.
SPEAKER_00:That will not hold up in the Indies, okay?
unknown:Not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01:It's not gonna hold up with a swag factory, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00:Like you walk in and you have like Lion King, like Walmart's not going to, you know, repair that for you when you take a tumble down the mountain and rip it open on a thorn bush or something. That's Patagonia Will.
SPEAKER_03:That's true.
SPEAKER_00:Which is really cool.
SPEAKER_03:So that's why I feel like despite the economy or whatever we're in now or then, the brand's gonna hold up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And they're willing to the buyer's willing to pay um if they really want that item.
SPEAKER_01:Man, we live we live in the most marketed era of generations, so the brand will hold up. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Extremely consumeristic society.
SPEAKER_01:Right, unless brands stop spending money on ads, then we'll I think we're fine on like those brands that spend money on ads.
SPEAKER_00:So I think like eBay really is a sweet spot for like if you want to put in more time or effort, you know, to find a good deal on something because you have less money to spend, but you don't want to lower your standard of quality. Like, I think a lot of people are in that boat already and maybe increasingly will be in that boat.
SPEAKER_01:So it's like Yeah, that's that's that's totally where I fall, like baller on a budget, you know, like for sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like, okay, so if you don't have best offer on your listings and they're not moving.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you're out. You're out. You gotta have best offer.
SPEAKER_00:Add best offer and see what happens, right?
SPEAKER_03:My second one is something totally different from Ken's store that has nothing to do with a shoe, a swoosh, nothing. Oh no. So do you know what it is?
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna look at my h history now.
SPEAKER_03:And why I chose this. You better beat him to it. He doesn't know. There's some Kenny has so many sold items here that it could be anything at this point.
SPEAKER_00:It could be anything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So the reason why I'm cho I'm choosing this, where did it go? No, I can't even find it. There's so many items on here. Oh, there it is. It is a uh free people women's romper.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I know, I know what you're talking about. I paid 20 bucks for a romper. Is it the onesie? I paid 20 bucks for a telling women.
SPEAKER_03:We can't use that word because that's uh you might get zero free people.
SPEAKER_00:How did they do it? They paid that Gerber, did they?
SPEAKER_01:They paid, they probably paid.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting.
SPEAKER_01:No, they didn't they didn't call it onesie.
SPEAKER_00:That they named it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I didn't use it.
SPEAKER_00:I was surprised by that. I didn't name it that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Anyways. What color?
SPEAKER_03:Well, there's there's like two or three of them that I could see that sold here. So there's like a per like purplish lilac. It's called lilac to be lilac to be specific.
SPEAKER_00:Lilac. But their name for it is Trailblazer.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, Anna's teaching us some stuff here.
SPEAKER_00:Because I've been selling them too. I love those. I actually have one.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I have one. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00:They're super cute.
SPEAKER_03:The reason why I wanted to choose this too is because Okay, so is there like a lot of fake free people? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I've I've heard, I've heard there's like seconds like like the Lululemon has been getting. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Because on whatnot, there's a lot of people that want free people and they want it now. And I figure like this is a hard brand to get bulk on, I would think. Right, right. But I don't then again I don't know a ton of free people stuff. So um but I also chose this too because Okay, typing in free people in general 460,000 results.
SPEAKER_00:Oh what?
SPEAKER_03:Almost half of the.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I guess that's any article of clothing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um or accessories. They have accessories and stuff too.
SPEAKER_03:Oh. Free people dress?
SPEAKER_00:You should put in put in jacket so we have a direct comparison to Patagonia.
SPEAKER_03:Uh oh, free people jacket.
SPEAKER_01:Oh way more. Jacket.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, just a jacket.
SPEAKER_01:Well, also though, I feel like free people um it's like an older brand that's became a status of mainstream fashion. Would you agree, Anna?
SPEAKER_00:An older brand? I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Like like for me, I mean I'll say as as far as brand recognition, I've recognized free people more and longer than I have with I guess a Patagonia jacket.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's the opposite for me. But that's I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:It could be, it could be because you pay attention to outerwear.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe. Or like or like outdoorsy things.
SPEAKER_01:Outdoorsy stuff. Um hmm. That is interesting.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, it was founded in 1984.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. And Patagonia?
SPEAKER_03:1973.
SPEAKER_00:That's what I thought. I was gonna guess 1975.
SPEAKER_03:Older, older.
SPEAKER_00:So it is older, but that's but perception is everything in marketing. Yeah, so that's really interesting. But because I would never have thought free people was that old.
SPEAKER_01:There's way more, I guess there's just way more access to it, right? Like you can buy cheaper free people compared to like a Patagonia, right? Like and also free people is mainstream I would say mainstream women's. So they're more fashion driven.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, or it is more like fashion.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Like I feel like Patagonia is more like utility driven. And then now they've had its status. But but what was your question? Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03:Well, going to free people dress, we're looking at a hundred thousand plus results.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Now free people romper or jumpsuit, those type of words, sixty four hundred results.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Like we're really narrowing it down. Yeah, yeah. Um, I don't know what onesie looks like.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know if that'll uh I don't think you'll a lot of people will say one piece instead of onesie. But it is it is an interesting thing because like even just talking about rompers, it's like there's like dressy rompers that you could like wear to a wedding. And then these are like athleisure rompers. It's like a very specific thing. Or like a casual casual, but like stylized and not super utilitarian, you know, like it's more like a yoga, yoga vibe, right? Like uh But I'm just telling you from having worn this exact item, like it's it's worth it. It's worth it. No, you're just you're just looking cute. You're looking cute sitting in the bleeding. It's a sporting event.
SPEAKER_01:It's a thing that you wear with your enclouds to go to Target. Or you go with your bestie to get your iced coffee. Yeah, it's a Target brunch kind of uh um looking like you know, you guys work out, but not really. Right.
SPEAKER_00:This is what I wear after my workout when I'm just being fashion.
SPEAKER_01:It's a lounge, it's a lounge wear.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Free people onesie, there's only 200 results. Yeah. Because I think they're getting viroed. They're getting viroed as we speak. Uh free people one piece.
SPEAKER_00:I've got to check and see how if I said mine were onesie.
SPEAKER_03:It's actually 17,000 results. Uh-oh. Using one piece, like Anna had said. So one piece rumper, I think it's obviously the more words you use, probably the better. Um, but you get the idea of what you're looking at compared to, let's say, some of like the crop t-shirts, long sleeve. There's so many different items on here from free people that you can see.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's so many categories, right? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So to find those items, because you didn't just sell one, you sold multiple just like Anna did on the jacket. Uh-huh. It's very interesting to me because you have to find this very specific item on so many uh search results. And so I mean that's really I I do agree a lot with what this person had said. I mean, going through the search results, I think means all. Because how are you how are you gonna move some of this stuff?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Which goes back to like my hats. I'm trying to sell hats, you know, between whatnot and eBay. And if I go new era, I could go A-frame, I could go golfer, I could go trucker, I could go fitted. There's categories in between.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But I think what also is interesting on the hat side, there's not round not really like a$200 hat.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right. I mean there's some recalls, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:They're really, really expensive and maybe like collabs or something. Or rare, right? Yeah, very much. But for the most part, a lot of these are 30 to 40, maybe 60 at the highest on like a sp you know, a fitted hat. But looking at free people and Patagonia, these type of things, you're looking at 70, 90, 120, the jackets, you know, 220 retail. I think that also comes into play on how you're being seen and being found and not just a regular item that's kind of lost in the abyss of this all.
SPEAKER_00:I have to report back on this, but I did find a$900 Patagonia outerwear.
SPEAKER_02:Oh.
SPEAKER_00:And I can't even remember. I think I paid$70 for it. Oh. So I I just took photos of it today and I haven't listed it yet. It's probably like, who's gonna want this? It's like going to the Arctic Circle type of thing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but I'm really curious to see like what it will actually sell for. There are just a handful of comps and they're all really high. So I don't know. Maybe there's enough people going to the Arctic Circle at any point in the year that someone will still buy it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they might they might buy my um caribou sorel boots. Maybe those are the kind of people that you know, it's like, oh man, this is just an extreme insulation, right? Yeah. Um, I think my my take when we saw this uh pieces is one is we've seen I've seen a lot of free people just from um looking at the pieces. Um I used to like buy free people for JC from Poshmark and whatnot. Um so that's how I became familiar with the the brand. But I I think the what caught me in this piece is the style. The style is now. Um it is a very, you know, you pair it with your A6 Air Force One, um, kind of like you're not a sneaker head, but it looks cool pairing it with the sneakers. Uh so that's kind of like where I saw this and I was like, okay. And actually, as a matter of fact, they this was one of our last buys because uh they were still expensive, you know, when we saw them initially, and they just started going down in price because you know, like$128,000 even if you're f even if it's half off, it's still$70. You know, like sixty something bucks. That's still expensive for uh for a piece of you know that they might find dupes on, you know, like it's your whole outfit. Exactly. It's a whole outfit, it's cheap, right? So don't say it's uh it's a whole outfit. So all you gotta do is provide shoes. That's it. And everybody already has school shoes, so that's kind of like uh my my take on that. And this was um 80% off retail, so at that price, it's like it's hard. I mean, because like to be to be honest, I hard I really consider that it it takes more time to list this piece, you know, a one C it's hard to photograph, you have to measure, um there's just a lot more to it. Yeah, so that was my take on that.
SPEAKER_00:With retail art, definitely what is what is the re like what's the ceiling on this price for this item is just a really important question because like you're saying, Ken, there's all kinds of free people stuff that you could get for really cheap, but it still might be like a$30 shirt that you know maximum retail price for it would be$30. Like you just might not spend your time on that when you could instead spend twice as much but get something that retails for$130, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like the half off, you're at the half off range already, right? Yeah. You're at the really any$150 piece of clothing is already expensive. But if you get that half off, I have less than an analogy.
SPEAKER_00:I've less than an analogy because that that is really important.
SPEAKER_01:You wouldn't I wouldn't spend the time to scroll through eBay to get a$50 shirt for$25. Yeah. Right? More likely or less, I would have paid$35 or$40 of it on the original website where it came from when they actually have the 10-20% off coupon sale. Um But for example, for shoes, for like running shoes, I would scour eBay first because there are people that are selling it half off retail compared to if I went to Nike.com, Nike would probably be only 30% off or 20% off. So that is a good uh maybe that maybe that is a case to percent that um when you're looking at retail arb when there's a lot of option, would you go expensive or cheap? Fi the fifty dollars, anything uh fifty dollars that's half off its original price may be worth the scroll. That is an article right there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think another thing that all of this kind of speaks to is just how searchable is the item. Like it's important, like everything you've presented about this, uh Glenn, is like how far can you drill down and see what your competition really is, and that's important. But I think just taking some little lessons from the retail arbitrage side to apply to any item. I mean, I am being way pickier about what kind of vintage stuff I'm picking up at auctions and thrift stores and yard sales and all that. And that has become a way more prominent question in my mind when I'm assessing any item is like how searchable is this? You know, does it have like really specific style keywords if not a brand? Because more often than not, I run into things that don't have a brand. And it's like, well, this is really cool, but can someone find it? You know? And I've also been using Google image search more than ever lately, and that's helped me a lot. So I hope a lot of other buyers are doing that too for the things that are a little harder to identify. Like again, if it's if it's a good enough item and the the price is there, both on the buying and the selling side, like maybe it's worth being a little bit more difficult to fare it out. But you have to think about just what Ken said like, is this something that your buyer's gonna be willing to go hunt for if it's gonna require a hunt or if it's gonna require lots of pages of results, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah, I know. Very, very, very good point there. And going through the results, everything, do the research. I feel like sometimes if it's cheap, we just want to pick it up because hey, it's cheap. But there's so much more factors that come into play there. So um, but yeah, that was our our main topic today. What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_01:Oh I like it. I like it.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, good one.
SPEAKER_00:All right, do you want to know the episode title?
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:It's grilling season. It's grilling Glenn's grilling us next doors.
SPEAKER_01:As a matter of fact, um, I'm actually looking to buy um a barbecue grill or charcoal grill. Are you? We need to get one too. We don't have so um I like chilling and grilling. Chilling and grilling.
SPEAKER_00:I'll uh submit that to the committee.
SPEAKER_01:Creeping, creeping, creeping and grilling and grilling. All right, anything else before we go? No, that was pretty much it. That was a great episode. Um shout out to our sponsors, eBay. Make sure you follow them at eBay for sellers, and also make sure you, if you're a seller or looking to become a seller, make sure you attend the summer check-in. And that's pretty much right around the corner. We'll put the links on our episode notes, and also to our other sponsor, sell ledger, you shout out to them. Taxes is done, but we always gotta do our taxes every year, so try it. You don't need a credit card to try it for a full full month. So thank you all, and we will see you on the next episode. Peace. See ya.
SPEAKER_00:Bye.