Cold, then warm. Sunny and clear for a while yet. If we get rain over the weekend, it’ll be a wet Christmas, but until then, the national forecast is showing us in the clear. Yesterday was like the day before, and today is supposed to be the same. It’s great.
Did stuff around the house in the morning, then got D1 from school. They are having finals and early dismissal this week, and are off starting Thursday. The parent pickup line is a lot shorter at 12 noon, than at the end of the day. I’m pretty lucky to have the freedom to do it.
Spent the afternoon doing pickups, then spent more than an hour with my auctioneer going over the last sale and what we want to do for the next ones. Short pause for the holidays, then back into it. That’ll do. My items were almost a quarter of the lots last week, which is risky for him, and he makes less money selling my stuff than he does selling his own. His auctions are usually a mix of consignment stuff, like mine, and stuff he’s sourced, and often estate stuff that wasn’t enough for its own stand alone sale. The work of listing and fulfillment is the same no matter the source, so his profit is a mix of how well he gauged the market for my stuff, and his stuff, and the ratio of the two. It’s easier when it’s all his, so including consignment stuff is doing me a favor, in some senses. I guarantee if my stuff didn’t sell for decent money, he’d stop doing it.
FWIW, clothes, books, and the occasional vintage piece are my highest ROI. I’m VERY selective in those categories though, so I expect them to sell. I don’t pick up clothes unless there is something special about them. (Allen Edmonds mens dress shoes, or Lucchese boots, vintage or designer, technical outdoor wear…) Books are old, and usually have a local interest. Plus, I’m getting them at the bins for 50c each. Don’t have to sell for much to make crazy ROI on a 50c item. I shoot for $10-20 for books, and sometimes score with $100 or more. Got $420 for one… I had a designer beanie hat sell for $47 last week. That was probably a 10c purchase… The trick is to either hit more home runs, or increase volume if I want to increase my top line.
Balanced against that is the problem that buyers are paying less than they were a year ago. They just don’t have the cash. If you are selling something they don’t really need, and you are competing with food and rent, you’re going to have a problem. I’M going to have a problem. On the other hand, if you have stuff they need to buy anyway, and it’s cheaper than other retail outlets, you should do ok. As a buyer, those are the places you need to be looking, as I’ve said many times. The secondary economy is going to save you money, and might have stuff you need that you can’t get elsewhere.
One other mitigating factor for me is that people are often willing to spend on their collections or hobbies, justifying it as an affordable splurge. As long as it’s affordable. Markets are complex.
And I see that once again I’ve gotten off into the weeds with my particular situation. I didn’t intend to end up there again.
Did I mention I fixed my garage fridge? That’s a bit more ‘prepper’ content. Food storage, self reliance, fixin’ stuff… It was just some ice build up behind a cover blocking the fan, but it was making a gawdawful noise and wasn’t keeping as cold as it should… and it just started sometime yesterday afternoon. Took the cover off, sprayed everything with the Rain-X DeIcer I mentioned last week, cleaned up, and put it all back together. Success.
But it’s always something….
Stack what you can, find a side hustle.
nick