50% off Labor Day Sale!

Yesterday was a great day. Carlos & I went to a waterpark and had a great time in the beautiful weather. On the way home, we hit Goodwill which was having a 50% off EVERYTHING Labor Day sale. I shopped for a long time, even looking at clothes which I normally bypass as there's just too many. I got a great haul:

All 8 volumes of the Charlie Brown Dictionaries

A Berenstein Bears book to add to my stash to list as a lot

A dictionary for my classroom

All books were cost $2.95

A pair of big men's shoes NWT $1.99

3 men's shirts, an Aeropostale, Tommy Hilfiger, and Abercrombie $1.74 each

A set of 2 3-D Christmas Tree cake pans in box $3.49

3 pairs of shoes, men's Cole Haan's & Florsheims & women's Danskos!!! $2.49 each

2 pairs of women's jeans, Citizens of Humanity & Lilly Pulitzer, $2.49 each

2 Holly Hobbie plates $.99 for both

A Ren & Stimpy Christmas mug $.49

Stencil decor that looks like books, I think I'll put up in my office/"eBay room" $.99

A pair of leggings that look like jeans (not jeggings) for myself, $.49

An exercise DVD, $1.49

Stretchable book cover, $.49... The front of the package says 7 ct. value pack, but there's only 1 in here... sniff... I'll take to school and see if any student wants it.

NWT girls' Circo cowboy boots... $.99 so awesome because I just read an entry about them at eBay Underground.

Also Carlos got a pair of boxers which I don't see on the receipt. At the end the cashier was like, "you have a lot of random stuff," and I think just stopped caring about ringing them up lol. That and he and Carlos started talking about Star Wars.

So excited to get these things listed. I am having a difficult time staying on top of my pile 'o' stuff. I didn't sell anything on eBay this past week :-P

Eid=Thrift Store Shopping!

Today is a Muslim holiday, and since so much of the student body celebrates it, we had a day off. That meant breakfast out with hubby followed by thrift store shopping! We went to a little Mennonite shop the town over which is sooooo clean and organized and has lots of cheap goodies. I got some random stuff, including several VHS tapes for 25 cents, a few Junie B. Jones books (I think I have enough for a lot), a few items for teaching, etc. I spent around $7.50 there. Then we went to Volunteers of America. On the last Tuesday of every month, EVERYTHING there is 50% off! I just learned that. I am so excited about this... another store, Ohio Thrift, does 50% off clothing and shoes every last Wednesday, but it's way over on the other side of the city. VOA is close and nicer! We spent about $34 on the following:

Spiderman shirt for DH: $2

AE plaid shorts for me: $3

NWT Christopher & Banks shirt for me: $2

beautiful Indian style New York & Co top for me: $3

NWT Everlast Coolmax exercise top... I might resell, will check prices, if not, I'll keep: $3

NWT Covington sweater for me: $3.50

simple Banana Republic top for me: $3

Adidas windpants for DH: $1

The North Face shirt to sell: $4.50

Adidas Clima365 top for me: $3

Care Bears bed sheet to sell: $1

Pixos: .45

EDIT: forgot a bag of more things from VOA:

My strange spouse wanted 2 stuffed animals. He's Mexican and found a teddy with a sombrero as well as the TY Beanie Buddy Mexican bear. I think each was .50 or $1. Seriously he has the strangest collection of random toys. Star Wars, wrestling figures, superheroes. It's cute but sort of annoying. I want to get him a shelfing unit so at least everything will be displayed. But it's all up in his man cave a.k.a. the spare bedroom upstairs so out of sight, out of mind. Who am I to judge; I have a curio cabinet full of roosters.

I got a Puffalump to resell for $1.

Also a stack of postcards that say "Greetings from the Seventies" and have a guy in a leisure suit. Still sealed. Can't find any info on them but I have a feeling they'll do well. Cost .45.

I really need to list. My house is overflowing with random crap!! It's much more fun shopping than listing.

eBay sales... the I Screwed Up Again edition

So I screwed up yet again with underestimating shipping for international buyers. I can't believe it costs so much. I also had a horrible experience at the P.O. with perhaps the meanest USPS worker in central Ohio. I think he might be Steve from Meijer's brother. Anyway here's what I sent out today:

Risk game= sold for $31.99-$3 I paid for-$29.29 shipping to Spain (WHAT?!)= .30 in the hole. !!!!!

Allen Edmonds from GW Outlet sold for $31.96-$27.50 to Germany=$4.46 :'( so sad... That brings me to $13.35 left to break even on GW Outlet trip #2.

I did do good here:

Allen Edmonds loafers sold for $26.94-$8.23 shipping=$18.71. Yay broke even at GW with $5.36 profit & lots more to sell.

Also sold a lot of Tamagotchis. They cost about $2. Sold for $18.40-$4.56 shipping.

Of course after I went to the P.O. and got depressed, I had to walk next door to the thrift store. I got a Far Side mug for 30 cents, blank cassette tape .50, a No Whining sign for my classroom for .50, 3 Popples magnets for .90, and this thing of Glo Bonz, building toys for .90.

Craigslist Success

I managed to find a Little Tikes Football Toy Chest at VOA Thrift Store! It was $8. I logged into our CL account to list it and noticed 2 listings had expired: one for our garage door opener & one for my old phone. Oh, so that's why no one had been inquiring about them! So I reactivated both, and ta-da! They've both sold!

The garage door opener was picked up in the spring at a yard sale, with intentions of installing it in our garage. Mr. Thrifty is not so handy, or so he says, so we decided to resell it instead. It sold early on in the summer for $100 to an older couple, who then called the next day and asked if they could return it, because according to the people who were going to install it, it was a crappy model. Uh. Anyone else think the old folks were getting screwed by the company who convinced them to buy their $300+ model? I do! Anyway, we gave them a refund but they told us to keep $10 for the inconvenience.

Originally paid $40 at yard sale-$10 from old folks=$30 in the hole

Today we sold it for $85 to another guy. Hopefully he won't have any problems!

-$30 + $85= $55 profit!!

I don't know how much we originally paid for the phone, but we got $50 for it today.

However, the Little Tikes cooler/toy box/whatever hasn't sold yet. But I live in Buckeye Country so I'm not worried! I think I will change the category (currently in baby & kids) and that will do the trick!

More eBay sales

Shoes that have cat faces on them, purchased in the fall for $1 at a sale. Wear them several times. Sold for $31 with free shipping. Made a profit of $21.23

Leapfrog Cartridge bought for $2.13, sold for $6.99. After shipping made a $5.24 profit.

Sold a box with a duck on it that I got at GW Outlet Trip #1. Sold for $6.99. Need $8.27 to break even on that trip.

Also sold a Patriots patch that I got free from my dad. Made $5.09 after shipping.

Goodwill Outlet Profit Checks, Yays, an Oops, and News for Tomorrow

So it's easy for me to know whether or not I make profit off of items at regular thrift stores and yard sales, because it's all individually priced. Well at the GW outlet, since it's weighed by pound, I will take the total I paid and slowly subtract each item that sells until I've made more than I've spent.

Goodwill Outlet Trip #1... the receipt went missing...pretty sure DH had it... need to learn to stay better organized if I truly want to continue to grow my eBay business/inventory... sigh... Anyway DH said he thought it was $19. For some reason I thought $22. I'm going to go with the higher amount...

$22

1 item sold so far, Jell-O Beans mold, $6.00

Around $16 to go to break even!

Goodwill Outlet #2

Spent $30.51

1 item sold so far, Tinkerbell curtain, $12.70

$17.81 to go to break even

Here's some Yays. Two items from Half.com.

I purchased an audio version of the Bible, NIP, at a yard sale for $2. Sold for $14.55

WTC DVD purchased at a yard sale for .50, sold for $5.86

Oops. I made a huge blunder in terms of shipping. I thought the flat rate boxes cost the same no matter where they go. The medium boxes are $10.95 to send domestic, but I learned they're over $40 to ship internationally! The buyer of my LPS lot is in Russia. The USPS clerk told me if I put it in another box it would be around $22. The buyer paid $10.95 for shipping. I just can't cover $11 in shipping. That will kill any profit. I know I'm risking a negative feedback, but, I emailed the buyer and explained the situation. Mentioned I am new to shipping internationally and told her she can either paypal me the difference and I'll ship or I can refund her. We'll see how that goes. SIGH!!! I'm not going to stop shipping internationally though, as the buyer of the Tinkerbell curtain is in Canada. I just need to be more careful.

Tomorrow, Wednesday August 17, is National Thrift Store Day! I know one Goodwill here is doing 50% off children's clothes. Volunteers of America is giving 25% off your total if you bring in a bag of donations. We're going to do that as we are planning on buying a couch from them, if it hasn't sold yet!

Goodwill Outlet Trip 2

Went to my new-found treasure chest yesterday, the Goodwill Outlet. It's over an hour away so it will be a rare treat for me to go there, and we have to justify the gas mileage. It wasn't nearly as exciting as the first trip there. It was really mellow, which, if you read anyone's descriptions of what shopping at a GW Outlet is like, is very rare. They only switched out the bins once the entire time we were there. Bleh!

I didn't get anything super exciting... Last time I looked exclusively at the housewares bins, but this time I rummaged through books, shoes, and linens. I managed to find three pairs of Allen Edmonds men's shoes. Supposedly they sell well, we'll see how mine do. I also got a pair of Smart Fit kids boots & Land's End's kids canvas shoes for the consignment sale I've signed up for in October. Shoes total= $14.25 (they weigh by the pound). I sure hope the Allen Edmonds pay off!!!

Linens, I grabbed a bunch of receiving blankets to bundle together for the consignment sale. I also found a vintage Mickey Mouse bed sheet, a piece of Winnie the Pooh crib bedding, and a Winnie the Pooh throw. And a bandanna for Daisy, since I lost the one I got for 10 cents! Linen total= $3.38.

For books, I got 5 Nancy Drew books in great condition, a few books for my classroom, and some other children's books. $3.77.

Housewares... 2 Littlest Pet shops pets, some McDonald's toys still in their packaging (will throw that into a big lot with the stuff I got at a garage sale last week), a vintage Playskool puzzle set, some VHS tapes of Barney, Mary-Kate & Ashley, & Richard Simmons, a battery-operated dinosaur, some Mr. Potato Head parts, a notepad for myself, Blue's Clues radio, small My Little Pony, vintage Avon perfume, NIP Tinkerbell valance, & a NIP Wee Sing cassette & book. $7.11 for wares.

Also, on our way to GW we stopped at a sale advertised as "awesome" on Craigslist. There were like 3 kids that were getting in the way and being total pains. Whining to their mom about why their toys were out there and the prices of things. O.M.G. I spent $10 and I don't even know why I got some of the things I did. I got a knock-off Christian Dior purse for $1. For whatever reason I was thinking it might be authentic. I don't know why. I got home and found an authenticity card inside and got stoked! Well then I looked up how to tell a real designer bag vs. a knock off, and sure enough, it's a knock-off. It's simple and in excellent shape so I'll probably use it. I also got a Tamagotchi which is up in a lot right now, Carlos found an Xbox 360 game, I got a Melissa & Doug pirate chest, what I thought might be a Playmobil pirate ship but I don't know what it is after trying to research it, a Voltron or something figure, this box of random building pieces and parts, and a bottle of vinegar. Yes, I bought Giant Eagle apple cider vinegar at a garage sale. Well I needed it and it was still sealed. I used it today to make microwave pickles, YUM!

Teacher orientation starts tomorrow and goes all week so my summer is pretty much over. Which I guess in a way is good because I've been buying so much and not seeing a big enough profit just yet to justify spending more money, so it's good to cool down for a week or so.