The Reckoning - January 2012

Well, with a few weeks of bothering Ebay under my belt, it's probably time to report back on how things are going.

Slowly, is the first observation. I've been putting stuff on 10-week auctions so as to maximise the amount of time available for folks to clap eyes on each item. So there haven't been a great deal of successes or failures as yet. Of what has gone, there have been more in the latter category than the former, I'm afraid.

Netsuke

First to shift, or not, were the three turquoise netsuke. I'll be frank: they didn't wash their faces. Grubby buggers. In fact, the mouse one, the best of the bunch, didn't even sell. It's now been sent back for a second chance but hopes aren't high. That's because its compadres, the tiger and the baleful chick, both barely scraped a tenner which, as you'll remember, is roughtly what I shelled out for them in the first place. When you factor in listing fees and the commission that Ebay whips off sales, they lost me some cash. Only a bit, mind, but cash nonetheless. This wasn't the plan.

In hindsight, given that they were HBS and not of amazing quality, I probably did overpay for them by a couple of quids. One of the rules of this venture is 'buy quality', and I defied that with almost all of my early hauls, so this is a bit of a lesson in that.

Tiger Netsuke: Bought for £10, sold for £9.99. Loss after fees: £2.43
Chick Netsuke: Bought for £10, sold for £11.50. Loss after fees: 97p

Beaded Bag

Now, I was excited about this, but at least my mum had the good grace to look a little big sheepish when I told her how much it sold for. I'm putting it down to bad luck overall. It was a cool little handbag from a good label and, while it didn't make much, it did at least break even.

It at least outperformed its beaded cousin, the lipstick case, which didn't sell! Are people not into beads all of a sudden? I must have missed the email. It probably went straight into my junk folder rather than my 'beads - issues' folder, so I'll have to have a look at that.

Maybe the lesson is that while quality is good, the bag probably wasn't that rare an item and... well beads are obviously out. I can't see past those beads.

LK Bennet Handbag: Bought for £5, sold for £6.49. Profit after fees: 69p

Other offenders were the mother-of-pearl ring and bracelet. Neither were wanted. This was probably my fault, as I put them on fixed-price sales for maybe a bit too much (£30 the bracelet, £7.50 the ring). I've relisted them now on 10-day auctions with low starting prices so perhaps someone'll sniff.

Still, there are bids on a couple of other things at the moment, so hopefully my next update will bring gladder tidings, and some quantifiable green.