Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What a Day!


I got a letter in the mail today that I've been chosen for jury duty selection. Bah. The last time I had to do that was 12 or 13 years ago. I was young, single, no kids, part-time job. The ideal candidate for jury duty. I am now a self-employed, stay-at-home homeschooling mother of 4 young kids. I can't go off for who knows how long to sit on a jury for a criminal trial! Ugh.

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I bit off more than I could chew at Goodwill yesterday. One of my goals for 2012 is to get all new purchases listed within a week of bringing them home. I really bought a LOT of stuff yesterday. I got almost all the clothing pictures taken today, but I also got several pairs of shoes, a bunch of books, and some odds and ends. I even found my first set of Pyrex fridgies! I've never seen them in real life before. They're darling! And they match one of my mom's Pyrex sets, so I gave her first dibs.


This is my first Fresh Produce garment. I've heard that they sell well. I'm glad it's a spring top, so I shouldn't have to wait too long to find out if that's true. It's NWT, and the retail price is $34. For a knit top! I'm so cheap. I only buy myself tops at Goodwill when they're half off.


Also got this men's cycling shirt from Cannondale. I grew up about 5 miles from a Cannondale plant, and even now, I'm only about 20 minutes away from it. But this is only the second Cannondale garment I've ever come across. I haven't really researched it yet, but it should do well.



Doesn't get much more "spring" than this, does it?? This is a Liz Claiborne Golf skort. The tag says $50. Current and completed listings don't look too promising, but those are mostly basic solid colors. I'm going to be optimistic because of the colors in this one. I'll price it high with a best offer and see what happens. With spring around the corner, I'm hoping for a quick flip.



I've been eyeing up this Lacoste shirt every trip to Goodwill for the last couple weeks. I couldn't remember how to tell if it was real or not. I finally remembered, just in time for it to be the half off color! I've only ever had 3 Lacoste shirts before this one, and all three sold in a matter of a couple weeks (if even that long). Two of them sold for $24.99, and the third (a little faded) sold for $18. This one is long-sleeved, so maybe I'll aim for $29.99.

Let's talk about Lacoste for a minute. There are fakes out there. Here is a great forum that outlines the indicators of whether it's real or fake. And here is a great (much shorter!) page that shows side-by-side pictures of real vs. fake. Your buyers will want to see close-up images of the front of the crocodile logo, the back of it, and the neck tag. If you don't include those pictures in your listing, someone WILL ask you for them.

Time to wrap up, but first ... my most horrifically awesome find yesterday:



This vintage polyester shirt is SO polyester that I can't even fold it. It just kinda rolls softly - no creasing, which I guess is great if you're packing it in a suitcase. I expect great things to come from this purchase. I haven't decided how to market it yet - probably to musicians. I'm sure there is some college-aged musician kid out there somewhere who's into the whole retro/vintage vibe.

Those are just the highlights from my Goodwill excursion yesterday. I got SO much more! I hope to get most of the clothes listed tomorrow evening, so I can get started on the little miscellaneous stuff I bought. But we've got germs flying around this house. I follow them around with the Lysol can, but something tells me that's not going to be good enough. Fingers crossed that they stay away from me!

3 comments:

  1. Jessica - I just went to jury duty today. There was an inspirational duty video we had to watch but we were dismissed 2.5 hours after we arrived. I have to say I was a little disappointed I wasn't able to do my civic duty but glad that I was excused and don't have to go back for 12 months. I had one quick question: I have the basic storefront on eBay but right now I'm paying about 50-70 bucks in fees each month. Is that about right? Total so far, I've made about 200 per month just starting but I'm questioning paying the 20 cents for the good til canceled for each item. What is the right amount of fees to be paying just starting out and can you tell us how much you pay in fees per month now that you are a power seller? Hope to hear from you soon! So glad you started your own blog!

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  2. I pay my ebay fees weekly, so i couldn't tell you exactly how much i pay a month, but my weekly payment is usually anywhere from $100 to $150, depending on my sales that week. I keep an average of 700 items in my store. It you can get to 230 listings, you should move to a premium store. Listings are only 5¢ per month then.

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  3. I'm in the jury pool for this quarter too.I never got the call when I was young and childless either - but now - what an inconvenience!

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