Sell Through Rates- Practical Applications

[endic_us2014]

Hello Everyone!

I've been selling about 8 months now and doing pretty well.  I'm still wrapping my head around the best way to use sell-thru-rates (STR) in my business practices.  So far...

1.  I look at STR when I'm using comps to determine whether or not to buy an item.  I see it as a type of "speedometer" that tells me how fast an item should sell. 

2.  I divide my items sold by my items listed in any given time-frame (31 days) to determine my daily STR.  One of the Youtubers that I follow indicated that he believes the average eBay daily STR to be about .5 percent (1/2 of 1 percent).  I use this as a check to see if my sales to inventory ratio is healthy.

3. I randomly compare my total listed number to my 90-day sold number to see how often I'll turn over my inventory.  Based on #2 above, that should be about every 200 days.

These practices seem to be serving me well, so far.  Thoughts?

[bashort]

I do not pay much attention to sell through rate, I basically list it and forget it for the most part.  One time this worked out really well was during the pandemic, lots of things that had been listed for many years sold really well then.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Since it looks like you buy/sell pallet returns that you purchase by the pallet mixed with 'cleaning out the closet' or 'garage sale/thrift store buys to resell'- you really have no clue nor no control over what exactly is on those pallets, the STR is NOT something you would EVEN consider. 

If you are buying 12 of something, brand new, and can see how long it took to sell those 12, then you can determine if buying again is worth it. 

[dhbookds]

If it works for you.............keep doing it!!!!

[endic_us2014]

I don't buy pallets.  I source from thrift stores and garage sales.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I am one of the sellers who make an average sell through rate useless.

Like many sellers of collectible, media and antique items my sell through time is measured in years. We skew the averages. There are still many of us left on Ebay - it is the most hospitable marketplace for us.

For your used small appliances you need a much higher sell through rate than .5%/day. But it really is not a useful number.

If you are buying by the piece there are few numbers you can rely upon. If you are buying in lots, payback analysis on the lot can be useful. I buy lots knowing that I can sell two or three items quickly and recover the cost of a 50, 100 or higher unit lot. This strategy requires the willingness to shlep the lot and store it for an indeterminate time, but it preserves working capital.

Youtubers who offer advice on selling on Ebay or Amazon are often unsuccessful sellers, or sellers who have seen their strategy made obsolete by increased trust and safety enforcement on the marketplaces. Be very careful when you decide to follow their advice. In the best of cases you will only waste your time.

[bashort]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

I am one of the sellers who make an average sell through rate useless.

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I do that also, I love it when I sell something that has been listed for 10 years.

My oldest listing is from 2011 and in 13 years I have sold 23 which is less than 2 a year and I have I think 12 left to sell another almost as old started with 2, sold 1 in 12 years with 1 left!

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@endic_us2014 wrote:

I don't buy pallets.  I source from thrift stores and garage sales.

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@endic_us2014 my answer would be the same. There is NO SUCH thing as STR for items purchased used for resale that are 1 only and you have no idea if you will get the same items EVER again.

STR is for someone buying 10,20,100 of an item from a Distributor in which you resell and make XY profit- then you can determine if you buy 10 and it took you 12 months to sell them and it made you $100 total, whether your STR was worth your time or not. 

Simply NOT possibly with one of a kind random used stuff. 

By the way, with all the Shark items, looks like a pallet buy. 

[scottishgiantjr]

Thanks for the tips! What kind of STR's do you steer away from? For example, I found some product on clearance that has a STR of about 18%. I'm debating whether to commit and buy the inventory that's there, or be cautious and just buy a few.

[dbfolks166mt]

     The STR is but one metric and is pretty much useless when viewed by itself. You could have a 100% sell through rate and a 5% profit margin or a 20% STR and a 45% profit margin. Which is better? 

[luckythewinner]

These practices seem to be serving me well, so far.  Thoughts?

How have they served you?

The only "practices" you mentioned seemed to involve doing math exercises. 

What have you used this information for? Did you make any actual changes to your business as a result of these math exercises?