eBay...

Dear eBay,

I really don't understand you. Why is it that certain amazing things with great completeds just don't sell when I list them? Or great amazing things in general? Like a like new pair of Ferragamo shoes complete with box? And why is it that something will get no watchers or views, then immediately after it is relisted, it sells for the Buy it Now price?

How many relists does it take you until an item sells?

And I just keep buying and buying...

I've come along some super neat finds recently. My main obstacle is still getting these neat things listed. I reason with myself that I just have to keep going to as many garage sales as possible because winter will be here soon! And winter in Ohio means no garage sales. I did just sell Renaissance chess pieces for $11.99 which I bought about a month ago for 90 cents. Also the Citizens of Humanity jeans I got for $2.49 sold at Buy it Now for $28.99! And I hit the shipping right on the head to the exact penny!

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

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.

Today's Garage Sale Successes and (kinda-sorta) Failures

Whew! I am tired! Got to some great sales today, including a huge one at a local high school. Sorry too lazy for a picture, but I'll tell you what I got.

Sale #1

Don't we love the dads who take care of the sales? I know I do. Case in point: I was sorting through a box of VHS tapes. Noticed a lot of Barney ones. The box said "25 cents each". Daddy-0 says, without any prompting by me at all, "I'll take $2 for the whole box." SOLD! When I get home, I count the tapes. Most are Barney, with some Blues, and a few various. Ends up there are 43 tapes in the box! What!!

At the same sale, I got a baggie with three virtual pets. I believe 2 are actual Tamagatchi brand. I also got a pack of blank cassette tapes. For both, I paid $1.

Sale #2

I got a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine kinda toy thing for $1, a Blues Clues suitcase kinda thing that has some art supplies in it for $1, a pair of kids' Born sandals for $4 (IDK if I spent too much... the completeds are iffy), & Carlos A.K.A. Mr. Big Kid himself got a toy light saber for $1.

Sale #3

This was the big high school sale. It's for athletic boosters and each sports' team had its own table/area. I got a ton of stuff, I'm going to see what I remember...

I got a bunch of fabric book covers for 25 cents each... I'll sell these to my students because book cover was one of the supplies for my class. I know I'll have kids who come unprepared to school, unfortunately...

A bunch of Mary-Kate & Ashley VHS tapes... 25 cents each

For my classroom, the following items:

talking GeoSafari globe $2, little bag of coin/token things for playing games .10, magnetic USA map (fun, I played with it, haha!) $1, some books from 10 cents to 50 cents, giant USA map floor puzzle $2, USA trivia game $2.

Also got a leash for the dog $1.

For resale... a set of hot rollers $2, Lemony Snicket game $1, Star Wars Monopoly $3, Risk game $3, some blank cassettes .50, some various books like Junie B. Jones, Berenstein Bears 10 cents to 25 cents, a bunch of POGS .50

Also got an Abercrombie tote bag $1, Life is good flip flops .50, and a cool pillow $1, both for myself

Weirdo husband got some Hulk gloves for 25 cents.

Here's my kinda-sorta failure... I also bought a set of Sesame Street books for $3 and a cool pop-up book for .50. At that table I had bought the VHS tapes... Ended up I only got one of my bags... Sigh... So I lost $3.50... They are open tomorrow but I doubt we'll go back, it's for a good cause anyway... So I'm bummed but I guess I'll get over it.

Sale #4

Set of notepads & a cool bandana for the dog .50. Failure #2-- I think the bandana fell out of the car at some point because I can't find it.

Then I dragged the spouse to Goodwill! I got this Hockey Guys set for $1.99 to sell at the consignment sale, but similar items sell well on eBay so I'll probably try that first. No insertion fee, no loss! Darling just had to have some skate shoes for $4.99.

Hoping I'll do well... Sold my Littlest Pet Shop lot but the buyer hasn't paid... Knock on wood... haven't had a nonpaying buyer yet...

Yays & Nays

Let me tell you some of my successful and unsuccessful auctions on eBay. We'll get the bad over first...

This was my first auction since I started reselling again. Even though it was a few short weeks ago, I already realize things I should have done differently. It was a lot of Little People animals and other generic animals. I should have sold the generics separately and held on to the LPs for later. You live, you learn. I paid $3.18. I only got one bid, $6.99. I underestimated shipping. Ended up with a very slim profit of 36 cents. Probably nonexistent if you factor in the eBay fees.

Secondly was a set of Sweet Valley High books. Paid $4.82. Sold for $9.98. After shipping, profit of $1.93. Not much but it did get me a positive feedback. So there's the bright side!

Just to vent, here's some more nays unrelated to eBay. I cut my finger open while chopping cabbage (from the garden!) for coleslaw. I cut it at a very awkward angle where it went through my fingernail. It still hurts. Also, I was making microwave bread & butter pickles out of my garden grown cucumbers. As I was taking the bowl out of the microwave, I dropped it on the floor. Poor pickles and sticky me.

Now on to the YAYS!!

Picked up a set of Pokemon tupperware lids for $1.07. Ended up with a profit of $7.93.

Got a brand-new Carters romper for $1.07. This was my only Buy-it-Now. Profit of $5.64.

How is everyone doing?!

:-D

So, I took some more pictures of a Littlest Pet Shop auction that's been up for almost a week. I linked to my photobucket account. Lo & behold, an hour later, I have a bid! Yeah! The power of pictures! I love seeing green instead of red.

Goodwill Finds 8/9/11

A special hello and thank you to those of you who have just found my blog thanks to Yard Sale Mommy! It's exciting and encouraging to see some new comments on my entries. For whatever reason, the comments aren't being emailed to me, but I'll try to reply to them manually.

Well today I got a mishmash of random things at Goodwill. I spent more money than I normally do, but there's truth in the adage that you have to spend money to make money.

For myself, I got the rooster picture. I collect roosters & have decorated my kitchen & living room with them. There's always room for another rooster. Note, I could have made a tasteless joke in that last sentence but I chose not to. ;)... Anyway rooster pic was $1.99

Also for myself, got the scrubbing mitt there. I thought I'd use it to groom the animals. It was still sealed but I've already tried it once on the fur babies. $0.99

Everything else is for resale. 2 pairs of Naturalizer shoes in pretty good shape. $3.99 a pair

2 new Leapfrog Leappad something or anothers... $1.99 each

new Wee Sing tape & book, $0.99

The things in boxes are both from IKEA. I don't know much about them, and I've never shopped at IKEA but I know they have some quality stuff. I did an eBay search and both items have sold in the past. One is called an Ekorre and it's like a baby swing. It was $5.99. Hope I made the right decision here or I might have to set it up and give the cats a swing around the liviing room. Hmm they might like that. The other item is some sort of lamp, Orgel. It was $2.99. Both still in boxes with the Ekorre still sealed.

We'll see how everything goes. I have a ton of listing to do. Right now it's been so slow & discouraging. I recently got a photobucket account so I can take a bunch of pictures of each item and not have to pay. So hopefully that will help. Later on I'll post about my recent sales & profits.

One Last Awesome Sale

Linking up with Yard Sale Mommy. Her blog rocks!

Daisy & her sniffer... investigating items that were in someone's basement for awhile!

The last sale we hit on Friday was the best sale I've been to in awhile. There was so much stuff there and it all brought me back to my childhood! Immediately I noticed something called Dolly Pops. It was old and something I'd never played with, so I knew it was early '80s or older. A quick eBay search on my phone showed some completed listings for $20+. I grabbed it. Had a $5 tag on it but asked if they'd take $4 and they did. I saw some Barbie accessories that I had as a child. Got geeked over, a quick bit of nostalgia, but passed on 'em. There was a boatload of older board games, priced at only .25. I had Carlos check some on eBay as I looked around at more stuff. In the mean time, I grabbed 3 VHS tapes still in wrap (.25 each), 3 oversized NKOTB buttons , .50 each, figured I could capitalize on the NKOTBSB tour and make some cash off these, and then I saw a Caboodle. I had one of these and it was so cool. I even had mini Caboodles that were like lip gloss holders. No price, but the guy there saw me eyeing it and asked his wife (?) how much it was. She said $1. I grabbed it because I thought it would be a good container for make-up and such. Those things are durable. A search at home shows these sell well so I will resell it! Carlos told me that the NKOTB board game sells well, so we grabbed that and 4 other board games. Thanks to I Can Sell This, I knew I could make a profit from the complete set of Big Bird Dictionaries. I got them, all 8 volumes, for $4. Finally my eyes gravitated to this huge box of McDonald's toys. I saw a bunch I had as a kid so I knew these were late '80s and early '90s. It said 5 toys for $1.00 on the box but I knew I couldn't just pick 5. So I bravely asked what kind of offer they'd do for the whole box. They said $8. Thinking of my fellow eBay blog friends, I courageously countered, "will you do $6?". They said sure. Everything together came to $18.50.

At this point two things happened. #1 I reached into my pocket and panicked. No $20 bill. CRAP! I searched around, and WHEW! It was on the ground. Close call. My potential eBay earnings were almost shot. #2, one of the people hosting the sale showed her sister (?) something on her phone. I knew they were looking at the value of something on eBay. They had caught onto us. Carlos is not very sly at using his phone. I can do it kneeling on the floor pretending to be searching through boxes, but he's super obvious. I could tell they were kind of irritated. But oh well. I walked away with my huge collection of loot. Later on it was great fun going through that box of McDonald's toys. There were over a hundred pieces. I will be working on getting these goodies listed and will report back about how I did!

How do you feel if you get outed as a reseller? I feel kind of dirty or like I'm cheating. Similar to the way I feel when I coupon and get things for FREE. But in terms of the garage sale, this is what I have to say about it...

Anyone with even a small amount of computer literacy can search things on eBay... even my dad can do it, and that's saying something LOL! They should have considered that "vintage" things might sell well and look it up BEFORE the sale. Also, it's going to be a decent amount of work to get these things listed. Especially the board games, as I have to see if there are pieces missing and figure out what condition they're in, and then figure out how to ship them. So for the people who try to deter us eBayers... yeah, it's work. Fun work, but still...

Great Sales on Friday

I am officially addicted to selling on Ebay & Half.com!! I've been building my inventory & learning a wealth of information from reading some blogs. Previously I was scouring yard sales & thrifts just for things for me and my family but now I'm on the lookout for resale items. And this will be the focus of my blog. Anyway, so on Friday DH & I ventured to a different area than we normally go, because Carlos heard about a restaurant he wanted to check out. The first two sales we visited were at neighbors' homes.

At the first sale, I found some vintage Polly Pockets! I have honestly never seen these at a garage sale or thrift! You would have bet I would have snagged them, because I loved PP's as a child and they're like the one toy I still have. I was super stoked to get these, even though they're just the houses and there's no people. I might venture up to the attic and take a few of my PP people; I know I have multiples. Each PP house was $1. I also got 6 books. I grabbed some for my classroom library as they were in good shape and newer titles. I think I will put Saving Juliet on Half.com though because it sells for a few bucks. The Dear America book I'm holding on to as I plan on listing a lot on Ebay when I get enough. Each book was .50. Spent $5.00 at this sale.

Next door I grabbed this Snugli baby carrier. It's in great shape. I signed up for a kids' consignment sale so I figure I can bring this there. I paid $3. I really should have asked if he'd have taken $2, but for whatever reason I didn't... I'm getting better at bartering though!

We went to a handful of other sales, but there was nothing fun. Next thing I got was a thing of yarn for .25. I'm going to use it for a team-building activity at school. At this same sale those blasted preschool entrepreneurs sucked us into getting a glass of lemonade for .25. They're persistent!

Next sale, no picture, but I got Jillian Michaels's 30 Day Shred workout DVD, .50. I picked it up for myself but will probably sell it. At this sale, I also got some items from the "FREE" bin/table... 4 pieces of boys' clothing (will try at consignment sale) and a book (to toss in my stack for Half Price Books)

Down the street we found another sale. As soon as we pulled up Carlos said "I am getting that Cavs chair!" Awesomely it was $5, but marked down to $2!