Working Through the Mountain

I've been getting so much listed! You know I have all these boxes and boxes of fresh inventory to get listed. I decided to start with the homeschool material, because it's the bulkiest and heaviest, but it's also the easiest to list. Snap one picture of the cover. Use a short description template. Change the details and done. I got 12 listed Friday, 13 listed Saturday, and 20 listed tonight. That's one box of curriculum. There's still 2 more half-boxes of curriculum over there.

I'm cracking down on myself. I WILL get through that pile as quickly as possible. Next up I'll do the basket of clothing, because it's also pretty quick and easy. I'm concerned about what might happen to this stuff if I leave it out here too long. If I let my guard down, my three-year-old will get into it all and ruin it. Ack.

I know I promised pictures of stuff as I get it listed. Do you really want to see pictures of 40-some homeschool books? Use your imagination :) But here are the listings, if you're really that interested. A couple of them were my own materials, but most of them are from Melissa. (Hi, Melissa!)

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Last summer, I set a financial goal for myself. I wanted to save $10,000 by December 2012 so we could hire someone to completely finish our basement. We desperately need as much upstairs living space as we can get, especially as the kids get older. We have 4 kids sharing 2 bedrooms right now. Our oldest really needs her own room. No 12 year old girl should have to share a room with her 4 year old sister. So the plan was to get the basement finished and move my eBay stuff downstairs.

There are a couple hitches in this plan. #1 - no matter how well the basement is finished, there will always be dampness. I can't risk ruining my inventory by storing it in an always-damp basement. #2 - once my husband graduates from nursing school, he plans to get a job nearer to our church (an hour away) and we hope to move closer to that town. Why sink $10k into a sub-par basement, only to move 2 years later?

So there's a new financial goal - save $5,000 by the end of this summer. I really don't foresee any problems with that, as long as I stay focused and quit blowing my money on stupid stuff. Ahem. I'm going to buy a monstrous storage shed. My current eBay room is 10' x 10'. I've got my eye on a 14' x 24' shed.

My $5,000 goal should be enough to buy the shed, baseboard heat, and a window air conditioning unit. I'm very, VERY excited about this goal. It's less expensive (yay for my bank account!), it'll happen significantly sooner than the basement would (yay for my daughter!), and we can take it with us when we move (yay for common sense!) I'm looking forward to having all my eBay mess OUT of our house (yay for everyone's sanity!)

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Today's sales have been great! Very steady, all day long. I've finally found the magic price to get my Florsheim shoes moving. I've had quite a few pairs just sitting here for over a year. I sold 3 pairs in the last week and a half, after I lowered my price. $35 is the magic number. Yay for getting rid of old inventory! (Lots of celebrating in this post)

I'm so sick of this bowl. SICK of it! I sold a set of 3 nesting bowls in this Gooseberry pattern awhile ago for $70, so I thought for sure this single large bowl would do well. Nope. I've tried EVERYTHING to move this stupid thing. Sales, high prices, low prices, best offer, free shipping. Nothing. I'm sick of it. It was time for it to go, so I knocked the price down to $10 + shipping and it finally sold. Stupid thing.

Here's one pair of the Florsheims that I sold today. The other pair was burgundy loafers, and they're going to Canada.

I bought this set of Goosebumps books awhile ago at Goodwill when the whole set was the half-price color. I paid $8 for all of them. I just didn't feel like messing with them and taking pics and describing the condition, so there they sat (in my way on my packaging table, I might add) for weeks. I finally listed them the other day and they sold already this morning. Oops. Underpriced. But they're gone, and I'm totally happy with the price I got for them. They're actually headed to a town 45 minutes north of me.

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I also had two large shoe cream orders today - one for 10 jars to the UK and one for 11 jars to Washington state. My stock is getting dangerously low on that stuff. I'll need to place an order this weekend, I suspect.

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Guess that's it. This time change has us all so messed up. We have an ugly, over-scheduled day tomorrow, so we're taking a planned no-school day. Too bad I can't spend it being productive, rather than running all over creation for appointments and meetings. Ugh.

My Top eBay Moments This Week

My sales units have been decreasing lately, but the dollar amounts are increasing. It's always nice to see my average price per sale go up, because that means I'm working less for more money! I sold 43 items this week. I didn't have any returns or complaints. I didn't have any UPI's close. I do have one open right now from a buyer in Singapore who bought a suede eraser. But other than that, I had a great week, customer-wise.

My favorite sales:

I have a love-hate relationship with Wilton pans. This one would be on the "hate" side. I am so glad to be rid of it. I tried everything to sell this stupid pan: sales, auctions, high price with best offer, low price without best offer, low price WITH best offer, free shipping. Nothing was working. Finally, I ended the listing and relisted it using the Sell Similar link. I changed it to first class shipping instead of priority (do you know you can wrap these in a couple layers of bubble wrap and ship them in a poly mailer via first class mail??), and it sold very quickly. Good riddance, I say.

• Acquired On: 5/8/11 (from my sister-in-law)
• Listed On: ??
• Sold On: 3/7/12
• Paid: $2.01
• Sold For: $9.99 + shipping

I've been avoiding Fashion Bug clothes, but for some reason, I bought these anyway. I am surprised at how quickly they sold.

• Acquired On: 1/25/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 1/26/12
• Sold On: 3/10/12
• Paid: 99 cents
• Sold For: $17.99 + shipping

I mentioned this men's Ecko Unltd shirt the other day. That seems to be a good brand. I've only ever listed 3 or 4 of them, but they've all sold quickly. This one had a cool holographic rhino thing on the front that just didn't show up well in the photo.

• Acquired On: 1/17/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 1/19/12
• Sold On: 3/8/12
• Paid: 99 cents
• Sold For: $21.99 + shipping

I bought these Sanita sandals at a yard sale last summer thinking they were Danskos. Sanita used to be a part of Dansko, but then they went off on their own, I believe. You might still find Sanita's that also say Dansko on them. These didn't. They were slow to sell. I probably won't bother with that brand again.

• Acquired On: 8/12/11 (Yard Sale)
• Listed On: ?
• Sold On: 3/9/11
• Paid: $1.00
• Sold For: $25.00 + shipping

There are two different types of Earth-brand shoes. There is Earth with a big E, which is a Walmart brand. There is earth with a small e, which is a really good brand. I have always known the difference between the two, except for the day I bought these. I came home that day with 3 pairs of Earth shoes, all excited, thinking they were earth shoes. Ugh. So I've been stuck with them for a long time. Fortunately, these were just wild enough to find the right buyer eventually. The size didn't help much. Who wants red leather mary jane sneakers in a size 11? Probably a pretty small segment of the population...

• Acquired On: 7/15/11 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 11/22/11 (I suspect that was probably a relist date)
• Sold On: 3/9/12
• Paid: $4.97
• Sold For: $25.00 + shipping

This belonged to my sister's mother-in-law. I have been selling most of her wardrobe since she passed away last fall. I thought this outfit would be one of the first to go. It took awhile, but I finally got a good price for it.

• Acquired On: Fall 2011
• Listed On: 11/1/11
• Sold On: 3/4/12
• Paid: $0
• Sold For: $29.99 - $4.99 shipping

This Jones New York blouse sold very quickly! I will always buy all JNY clothing NWT, and will probably seriously considering buying any I find without the tags, as long as they're in great condition.

• Acquired On: 2/29/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 3/6/12
• Sold On: 3/8/12
• Paid: $3.19
• Sold For: $29.99 + shipping

I don't know why I was hesitant to buy Ralph Lauren clothing when I first started buying clothes for resale. I've done well with them so far, so I'll definitely continue buying them in good shape. This one was a larger size, so I think that helped it.

• Acquired On: 1/25/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 2/6/12
• Sold On: 3/6/12
• Paid: $1.20
• Sold For: $30.00 + shipping

Lilly Pulitzer ... I've heard a lot about it. I VERY rarely find it around here. I found this gorgeous jacket on my most recent road trip to Harrisburg. I aimed high and ended up taking an offer I was quite pleased with.

• Acquired On: 2/17/12 (Harrisburg local thrift)
• Listed On: 2/20/12
• Sold On: 3/7/12
• Paid: $5.99
• Sold For: $35.00 + shipping

Another quick one. Clothing sells so much faster than shoes do - I love it! This was a Villager Woman brand, which is a division of Liz Claiborne.

• Acquired On: 1/31/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 2/6/12
• Sold On: 3/5/12
• Paid: $3.99
• Sold For: $39.99 + shipping (got my full asking price, despite having the best offer option on this one)

You're probably tired of hearing about the big yard sale I went to last fall. I bought 120 pieces there, and I only have 40 left. So hopefully you won't have to hear about it too much longer :)   The pieces I was most excited about from that sale were the huge stack of 10 or so Rothschild spring coats. I realized that because I bought them in September, they would be slow sellers, and I thought I was content to sit on them, but I am so sick of looking at them. They're taking up too much space in my closet, so I dropped my price on them this week. I sold one the next day, so I might have found a better price point on them. Hopefully.

• Acquired On: 9/3/11
• Listed On: 9/9/11
• Sold On: 3/8/12
• Paid: $14.00 (way too much - I didn't know there was going to be a half-price sale the next weekend!)
• Sold For: $40.00 + shipping

This is the only pair of Justin boots I've ever found. They are apparently good sellers. I think I probably paid a little more for them than I should have. Or maybe my purchase price would have been okay if I had held out for a higher price, but I was happy with a quicker turnover on these.

• Acquired On: 12/28/11 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 12/19/11
• Sold On: 3/4/12
• Paid: $9.99
• Sold For: $50.00 + shipping

And last but not least, I suspect I let these Allen Edmonds go a little cheaper than I should have, but I've become rather fond of turning my inventory over a little quicker, rather than waiting an extra 6 months to make an extra $10 on it. I was perfectly happy with this offer, so I decided to take it.

• Acquired On: 8/4/11 (Virginia Goodwill)
• Listed On: 8/8/11
• Sold On: 3/4/12
• Paid: $4.20
• Sold For: $90.00 + shipping

What were your favorite sales this week?

My Doors Are Opened!

I've had a slow-ish week or so on eBay. Yes, I've had a few high-sales days, but mostly, I've just been cruising along at a lowish level. I spent most of my weekend listing, and I got a total of 85 new items listed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. That seems to have done the trick, because my cash register was cha-chinging all day long today!

I'm also running a huge 25% off clearance sale on over 400 items, so between those two factors, I've done quite well.

I sold a lot of items for great prices that I'm thrilled with. But I also sold a lot of items for low prices that I'm just happy to be rid of. Sometimes you have to know when to cut your losses and let your stale junk inventory go to a new home.

Like this, for example:

I originally bought it intending to actually use it. Ha! Like I have time for that nonsense. I listed it in September and only ever got one low offer on it. This weekend, it was 25% off, marked down to $22.49. I just accepted a $15 offer on it. Yes, I was hoping for more than that, considering it's new in the box, but I know when enough is enough. I'm sure someone is thrilled with the bargain :)

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I had someone offer me $25 for these Allen Edmonds the other day. $25! I have them listed for $149.99 or best offer. He felt the need to tell me that they were "very overpriced, considering their sole modification and condition of the structure."  Yeah well ... I sold them today for $90. So there.

Sometimes it just feels good to be immature about things.

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Here's a sale I don't understand.

I just listed these Tupperware Shelf Savers last night, for $14.99. They sold already today. I checked the other listings for these same items, and mine were literally the most expensive ones. So why did my buyer choose mine over the pair for $8.99? I have no idea. There were several less expensive ones that were being sold by Top Rated Sellers, so I know it wasn't that. I checked on some of the other listings and saw that they were in good condition, no mention of melting, warping, smells, etc... Who knows. But who am I to question why they chose mine? :)

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Here's another example of letting something go, just to turn it over and move on.

Now, I've only had these since December, which for me, is pretty recent. So much of my inventory is slower moving. But these are bulky and were taking up a lot of valuable storage space. Also, this was the ONLY interest anyone had expressed in these at all, so I figured I'd take the bird in the hand on this one.  They sold for $50, so I'm not complaining!

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I was all caught up on my packaging this afternoon, and I was feeling pretty smug about that. But I had enough sales this afternoon that I'm going to have a lot to do in the morning anyway. Good thing I got the first half of the day's sales packaged early!

I'm anxious to see what this week holds, sales-wise. I plan to work on my overflowing basket of clothes over the next couple days. Then I really ought to get to that mountain of shoes that I've accumulated. Selling shoes is my first love, after all. And I've neglected them to the point where I think I'm down to only 140 pairs or so. I had over 300 pairs at one point, so 140 is a pathetically low inventory level. It's just so much quicker and easier to list NWT clothing than it is to polish and list shoes. But I must do it. I've got some great brands in that shoe pile. Lots of potential money. Can't sell it if I don't list it.

Quite possibly the most disturbing image I've ever posted here....