Miche!

I wish I could come up with clever titles...

I joined a new local Facebook selling group. Wowsers! This one is CRAZY active!! I posted a couple things on there, and within minutes they were scrolled so far down the page! You've really gotta keep up on this one. There are nearly 2000 members, so the place is hopping.

I lined up 4 transactions for this morning. We all met at the same place -- along with many other people from the group. It was so funny. I got out of my van, and I could feel all the other buyers/sellers' eyes on me, trying to figure out if I was their contact with their item. It was like this big underground trading ring. It was so funny to see all these trades going on all over the parking lot.

I came away with 2 sets of bed risers, which we've been needing for extra storage space under the kids' beds, a pair of Converse sneakers for $3, and 7 Miche bag shells for $87. Gulp. That was a big chunk for me, for so few items, but I'm confident I can easily double my money on them. They're even already listed. I am on the BALL!

I'm gonna use my box lot system for tracking the sales. I'll update here as they sell.

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And 2 more box lot updates, then I need to get to bed. It was a long day.

I sold my last bit of play food. Final recap:  Paid $3.17 on 1/31/12. Sold it all for a total of $85.92 plus shipping, in just under 3 months. Not bad!

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My American Girl stuff is still selling too. I have sold 10 of my 21 listings so far.  And 2 of the unsold listings are dolls! Recap so far: Spent $31 on 4/6/12. So far have sold $398.90!

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On that note - good night!

It Was Almost a Record-Breaking Day!

Holy moly, I had an awesome sales day yesterday. I had my second highest sales day, second only to a day that I had a HUGE amount of auctions end, and I ended up with over $400 from those auctions. My store was hopping all day long! Several of those sales were before my mail lady came, so I was able to get them out first thing yesterday morning. Then I had to go to town mid-afternoon, so I took a second batch to the post office. Then I finished up last night and sent them out this morning. It was so much fun!

Not only did I have a high number of unit sales, but eBay seems to have turned the spotlight on many of my higher-dollar listings. That makes for a pretty good combination!  My favorites:

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This is a CJ Banks blouse. Plus size, very basic. Nothing at all special about it. I only bought it because it was new with tags, and had a $40 retail price tag. It took 3 months, but it sold this week for $25 + shipping.

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I have a love-hate relationship with Wilton pans. I have weeks where I swear I'll never buy another. But then I have weeks where I can hardly wait to get out and look for more. A few weeks ago, I had an annoying large stack of Wilton pans. Right now, I only have 2. One of them probably won't ever sell (Holly Hobbie, surprisingly) and the other one I'm going to have to drop my price drastically, I think (Bert & Ernie). I sold a Thomas the Train one recently for good money, and this week I sold this Cinderella one for $41.99. I had free shipping on it, but it's going to France, so the buyer paid the shipping.

I generally ship Wilton pans wrapped in bubble wrap and dropped into a polymailer. Because this one was going overseas, that made me a little nervous, but I'd have been out a good bit of money if I boxed it, so I wrapped it in roughly 76 layers of bubble wrap. Fingers crossed...

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I LOVE this BCBG dress! It's not my size, and that style doesn't look very good on my body, but I can dream anyway. It only took a month and a half to sell. I accepted a $45 offer the other day, plus shipping.

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These Tevas are in almost perfect condition. I couldn't believe they were only $2.99 at my Goodwill! Teva is apparently a brand that is still under my Goodwill's radar, thank goodness. I priced them high and hoped for the best. They took almost 4 months to sell, but it was worth the wait. They sold for $44.99 this week!

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I've had these in a bin for a month and a half, because I just didn't want to sort and count them. Ugh. But I finally took an hour or so one afternoon 2 weeks ago and got them counted. They are vintage American Bricks, a precursor to Legos. I had never heard of them, but when I checked completeds, I saw that they did well. I wasn't sure whether to break these into 3 sets or not. Completeds shows that single complete sets only sell for $20-25, whereas lots can go as high as $500, depending on the size of the lot. I had over 700 pieces, so I decided to auction them starting at $99.99. I had a lot of watchers on them, but no bids. I relisted them at a fixed price of $99.99. They sold 3 days after relisting them.

They were given to me by the friend who has given me lots of random odds and ends inventory. I'm splitting the sale price with her 50/50, but even so, we're both thrilled with our cut on this sale!

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I have completely restocked my shoe cleaning product inventory. Those products can be found at the top of my blog, under the "Shoe Care Products" tab.

Also ... I have a couple documents for sellers available in a different tab above. I'd like to offer a new document, but I'm not sure what needs my readers have. Are there any spreadsheets or documents that you would be interested in my creating and offering?

That's More Like It!

I was getting ready to tell eBay that if Silver Power Seller meant a decrease in sales, that they could just take that title back, because I don't want it. Apparently they saw that coming, and they opened my store up! And they shined spotlights on my higher-priced listings. Hooray!

These were my daughter's. I bought them on fill-a-bag day at a library book sale a few years ago. I think she read them once or twice, but they've just been taking up space on her book shelf. I've tried to talk her into selling them a few times, but she always said no. But she's an obsessive book collector and has filled up 2 bookcases. I finally put my foot down, pointed out that she hasn't read them in 2 or 3 years, and that it was time for them to go. Once she realized how much they might sell for, she was much more willing to let them go. They sold in just under two months, for my full asking price of $31.99! She'll get half of that. I'm surprised they sold that high, because they are all ex-library copies.

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I always buy 3D mugs like this. I paid 99 cents for this one. There was only one other one listed at the time. I don't even remember now how much it was listed for, but it hadn't sold. I priced mine at $39.99 without best offer for the first month or so, hoping for an impulse buyer. Then I left that price but added a Best Offer button on it. It sold today for my full asking price! I got my impulse buyer after all :)

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Sold these for a good friend of mine. They're vintage ViewMaster reels from the 40s-70s. I priced them high with a best offer, just until I could gauge interest. I had a couple watchers on them, but I thought I'd wait to see if I got any offers. These also sold for my full asking price of $49.99! And quickly too. They were only listed for 13 days. They are going to Thailand. The buyer asked me to mark the customs form as Sample/$0 value. I wrote him that it is illegal to falsify information on a customs form, and that if he wished to cancel, I would understand. He wrote back, "No problem. Go ahead and ship."  Don't be afraid to tell a buyer no when they ask you to do that. It is NOT allowed, and if you get caught, you could get in trouble. It's just not worth it. I'd rather cancel the sale. If they leave you a negative for customs-related reasons, you should be able to call eBay and get it removed.

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I posted to eBay Underground awhile ago looking for information on these guys. I don't usually buy knick knacks, collectibles, glassware... I know nothing about them. I don't even know how to research these types of items. Apparently no one in the group did either, because I still don't know anything about them. I priced them stupid-high with best offer, just to see what would happen (are you picking on my pricing pattern yet??) I had several watchers on it, but no offers. Today, I accepted an offer of $50 + shipping. I paid $2.97 for it, so I am QUITE happy with that profit margin.

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I've spent too much time on the computer today, and it's late. I'm outta here! G'night!

My Streak Continues! :)

Yay! Someone bought a denim skirt at 11:30 last night! So my sales streak lives on. Still no $0 days in 2012.

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My husband and I decided today that this business has likely given me the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome :(  I'm on the computer most of the day, but it has never really bothered my arms. Then about a month ago, I was clipping last year's dead flowers from the flower garden. Even that didn't bother me, but the next morning I woke up and could hardly move that hand without excruciating agony. I took some Motrin and thought that would take care of it. It's been more than a month and my wrist STILL isn't right. I can go most of the day without it bothering me, but then I'll forget and lift something wrong and re-injure it. When I roll over in bed at night, because I'm not completely awake, I forget and use that hand to push myself over, and I hurt it again. And every time I re-injure it, it takes that much longer to heal. So I guess I'm going to have to be more careful with how I spend my computer time. Less time browsing and Facebooking, and more time actually being productive with listing and photo editing.

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I was out shopping most of the day today. Retail shopping. Not even clearance. Current season, retail prices. And I lived to tell the tale. Not that I care to do that often, but once in awhile it's okay. My daughter was desperate for clothes that fit her properly, and Goodwill just wasn't cutting it anymore. I'm excited about her new outfits! She's almost never had a new-clothes shopping spree. I've always either sewn her clothes or gotten them at Goodwill or yard sales. She had fun too, I think.

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About a month ago, my brother-in-law asked me to try to sell his old analog police scanner. He said he wanted $75 for it. I took one look at active and completely listings, laughed, and told him that wasn't going to happen, but that I would list it for $74.99 for a month. After a month, I was going to raise the price a bit and add Best Offer to it.

I also posted it to my local Facebook selling group. Someone immediately posted that it was useless because it was analog, and that our county had recently switched to digital. It annoys me when people interfere with Facebook transactions.

But wouldn't you know - it actually sold today for $74.99. So I had to humble myself and tell my brother-in-law that he actually got his asking price for it. It was a fun surprise. I never dreamed! I was also sure to comment on the ad on my FB selling group that it had indeed sold. So there. :-P

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Sold another American Girl outfit today. Time for an update! Initially paid $31 for the lot 15 days ago. Currently up to $358.91 in sales from it.

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That's pretty much it for today. I am clearly in a sales slump, so I don't have a whole lot of eBay activity to talk about...

What Happened Here??

In all of 2012, I have never had a $0 sales day. It is looking like I might break that streak today! I count my sales by eBay's time, so technically I still have nearly 5 1/2 hours during which I might actually sell something. Anything. Fingers crossed.

But I can't complain. I have been on a very high sales wave for the past couple months. A zero day won't kill me. It'll just kill my ego. :)

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Today marks 1 full month since my last thrift store hit. And I'm still alive. The twitching has even subsided. I think it gets easier after a certain point. You start to see progress - the unlisted pile starts to shrink. You start to feel like you're actually being productive, rather than just buying buying buying and making that pile bigger and bigger.

It helps me to announce my intentions to as many people as possible. My mom, my husband, and my kids all know that I'm on a thrifting fast. My daughter is especially ruthless. She's only 11, but boy does she give me a hard time when she sees that I'm thinking about slipping up.

It helps to be accountable to someone. It's worked so far!

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Having said that ... I guess I should clarify that I am on a THRIFTING fast. But I'm still allowed to go to yard sales :)   We were NOT going to go yard saling today, but it's supposed to be rainy tomorrow, so we ended up ditching school and going to several yard sales. I didn't find a wide variety of stuff - a few chapter books to add to my book lot collection, a few pairs of shoes (50 cents each at a church yard sale), a set of hot rollers (Clairol Kindness - one of my favorites to sell), and a mountain of kids' clothing.

I'm trying something different this year. Any yard sales where I find kids' clothing cheap enough (25c - 50c per piece) and in really nice condition, I'm going to buy up a bunch and either lot them, double the price, and put them on my local Facebook selling group, or I'll save them up for the children's consignment sale I sell at each fall and spring. I will probably try the Facebook group first. It's less profit, but it's also significantly less work and almost no storing. We'll see. If I have success on the FB group (as in - selling them quickly and at least double what I paid for them), then I'll keep it up. If my stuff just sits, or I can't get double my money, then I'll hang on to them for the consignment sale. My theory is that if it's something I can price at $3 or more, I will pay up to 50 cents for it. If I volunteer, I get 70% of my sales. So a $3 price tag would get me $2.10. If I paid 50 cents for it, and I sell a large volume in one weekend, then I think that's worth the effort.

Ask me what I think of that theory after the next consignment sale ...

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I'm off to watch tv. Will someone please come and buy a jar of shoe cream or something so I don't have to break my sales streak?? ;-)   just kidding....

Hooray!!

Look what I woke up to! I didn't even realize I was anywhere near qualifying!

No Go

I was supposed to meet the Cabbage Patch lady this evening. She emailed me this afternoon that she had a family emergency that would have her away from home all evening. She said, "Maybe we can coordinate our schedules another time."  If I had a sale pending for that amount of money, I would be a little more concrete than "maybe another time". I get the feeling she's rethinking and trying to back out.

Stinky sales day today, but I can't complain. My sales have been through the roof for several weeks now. I can take a slow day without complaint. I sold 3 homeschool books, a sewing pattern, a jar of shoe cream, and a pair of sandals. Very high unit price today. <eyeroll>

I'm up way too late again. Gotta get to bed so I can catch the mail lady in the morning.

I hate Blogger's new look, by the way.

Success Is Mine!

... for one more week anyway. I didn't do it. I didn't shop. Instead, I came home and took pictures to list! The more I see my unlisted inventory pile shrink, the easier it is to avoid shopping and making that pile grow again. I'm getting there. Slowly but surely.

Some fun sales today:

Even American Girl dolls lost a shoe now and then. I had only 1 of Kirsten's meet outfit shoes, but ones I realized that a pair sells for almost $25.00, I decided to list this one by itself, just in case someone else needed one. It sold a lot faster than I expected! It went to Oregon for $9.99 + shipping.

These Dockers shorts are going to Greece for my full asking price of $29.99 + shipping.

My microwave turntables sell in spurts. I hadn't sold any for about a month, and now I've sold 3 in the last week or so. I have Best Offer on all my turntables, but all three of these have sold for my full price. This one was $29.99 + shipping. It was a big one - 16"!

I had this skirt listed pretty high ($39.99) because it was different - not your ordinary denim skirt. I had several watchers on it, but no bites. Someone messaged me last night, asking if I'd consider an offer. I added the Best Offer option, and woke up this morning to a $32.75 offer. Good enough!

These are Worishofers. I've never heard of that brand before. I found a pair of their sandals back in November. They looked like they were a quality sandals, so I bought them and have gotten zero interest in them. For some reason, I decided to pick these up anyway. I just got around to listing them 2 days ago, and they sold the next morning for $35! I'm not convinced that's an official BOLO brand though.

I have had this frog forEVER. That blue ruler is a 12" ruler. This thing is enormous, which is why I put off listing it for so long. I think I had it for 4 or 5 months before I finally decided to list it. I just couldn't figure out how I would ship something like that. I finally bit the bullet and listed it in November. There was only one other one that had recently sold for around $90, so I priced mine at $129.99 or best offer. That first week, I got several offers:  $10, $1, another $10, and $25. lol. No.  I recently reduced the price to $99.99 or best offer and finally accepted an offer for $50 yesterday. Plus $16-something shipping to Ohio. I had only paid $1 for it, so I'm quite happy with that profit margin. The thing takes up half a shelf and is just plain IN the WAY, so it was time to send him on his merry way.

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I'm listing some more odds 'n' ends tonight. Those always take me forever, because I have to research each item. And then I stop in between listings to write a blog post (ahem). Back to the grindstone! Can't sell it if it isn't listed!

Help!

I haven't been thrifting since March 20th. I'm on a buying freeze until I get all my unlisted inventory listed. That IS the point, after all....

Tuesdays are my usual thrifting days. That's today. I'm getting desperate and weak!

To Buy Or Not To Buy

A week or so ago, a woman posted on my local Facebook selling group that she had a mountain of original Care Bears and Cabbage Patch dolls, all still in their original boxes. Originally, she had said she would accept almost any offer just to be rid of them. But then some helpful idiot replied that she should sell them on eBay, because she would get more for them. Ugh. So there went my chance of getting them cheap.

I contacted her anyway. After several back-and-forths, she came back with an appalling number. She obviously had done her research on eBay, and then doubled that number or something. It was ridiculous. So I wrote her back with my top dollar, which was somewhere around a fourth of her number. I told her that she was asking significantly more than I could afford, but that if she ever decided she was willing to sell them for my number, to please feel free to contact me.

My theory was that she would try to sell them on eBay herself. Clearly she does not have a store, or she'd have done that already. Just as clearly, she doesn't sell on eBay regularly, which tells me she probably would try to auction them, rather than do fixed price and wait for the right buyer. These particular items are going to require just the right buyer, and most of them will probably have to sit for quite some time. So my hope was that she would try to sell them herself, fail, and come back to me and accept my offer.

A day or so later, she wrote me that these things technically belonged to her mom, and that "her mom" was willing to negotiate. (I don't think her mom had anything to do with it. I think she's using her mom as a scapegoat - someone to blame for these crazy price jumps all over the place). "Her mom" was willing to come down to $200 more than my offer. Yes, that was a significant drop from her original out-of-her-mind price, but it was still $200 more than I was willing to pay. I wrote her back and told her that, again, knowing she would probably be back in a month or so.

I was wrong. She was back in 3 days. Again, "her mom" would be willing to come down to my price, but she wanted to keep the 5 best dolls out and try to sell them for more. Sigh. I have to give her credit. She is driving a very hard bargain. She knows what she's doing with the negotiation.

I actually pulled out an old-fashioned piece of paper and a pen, and I wrote down all the facts, including how much I think I can expect to sell these things for. I wrote down my primary concerns:

• I am trying to save up for a storage building. That amount cuts significantly into my savings.
• Since I don't have the storage building yet, where on earth would I put 50 Cabbage Patch Kids and 15 Care Bears, all in their original boxes??
• How long will this amount of money be tied up in this inventory, while I'm waiting for it to sell?
• There are VERY few original Care Bears in their boxes on eBay, so it's really hard to get an accurate picture of how much they will sell for. Similarly, there are a gazillion different variations of Cabbage Patch Kids. They are also next to impossible to research. Without having them in my hands, it's REALLY hard to get a good idea of what I can make from them.

I was able to refute all of those concerns:

• I'm not getting the storage building until mid-May. I will easily be able to save up the rest of the money by then, even without the amount I would pay for this stuff.
• My mother-in-law has a spare bedroom that she offered up for me to store them in. I will keep 3/4 of them at her house and 1/4 of them here. I'll only list the ones that are here, so I don't have to trek to her house every time one sells.
• How long will my money be tied up in ANYTHING that I buy for resale? That's part of the risk of this business, and I can't let that be a primary consideration in business decisions.
• Research ... there's nothing to be done about that. I am positive I can at least double my money, reasonably sure that I can triple it, and hopeful that I can quadruple it (if I can get top dollar for everything). The research will take time, but with those odds, I'm not terribly worried about it.

So! I'm going to contact her tomorrow and set up a meet time. I'd like to look at them. I will go with a little extra cash in hand and offer her more if she'll give me all of them. Originally, her price for all of it was $200 above my max price. I'll offer her $100 above my max price, meeting her in the middle. If she accepts, great. If not, I'll still take the rest for my max price. Assuming they are in great condition, of course.

I'm excited! It's a big investment, but I think they are great items and should make me some great money. I'll keep you posted!

My Top eBay Moments This Week

I had some fun sales this week! I sold 49 items. My shoe cream inventory is really low right now, so most of those sales were actually "real" items.

These vintage single-serving gelatin molds were given to me. I wasn't expecting much out of them, because less than half of them were brand name, so I listed them for $9.99 + shipping. I got two watchers almost immediately, so I raised the price to $11.99 and they sold overnight. I guess that was still too low. I am quite confident in my shoe and clothing prices, but these odds and ends stump me more often than not.

• Acquired On: 3/22/12 (from a friend)
• Listed On: 4/12/12
• Sold On: 4/13/12
• Paid: -0-
• Sold For: $11.99 + shipping

These Lite Brite pegs were from the same friend. I figured if they were being given to me, it was worth a shot to maybe make a few bucks on them. I decided to list them for 30 days, instead of my usual Good Til Cancelled, and if they hadn't sold by the time we have our yard sale, I'd stick them in the yard sale for a buck or two. They also sold very quickly.

• Acquired On: 3/22/12 (from a friend)
• Listed On: 4/11/12
• Sold On: 4/15/12
• Paid: -0-
• Sold For: $11.99 + shipping

Had some great American Girl sales this week. These are Kaya's winter accessories. They are still available on the American Girl website for $22. But for some reason, someone wanted to buy my pre-owned set (which was missing the feather from the hat). Go figure.

• Acquired On: 4/6/12 (yard sale)
• Listed On: 4/9/12
• Sold On: 4/10/12
• Paid: $1 for 18 outfits
• Sold For: $19.99 + shipping

From the same friend. They were hers when she was little. I sold them too low too, but once the buyer told me why she wanted them, I was perfectly fine with the price. She had this set for her daughter 30 years ago. Her daughter passed away, and about a month ago her nephew broke the cup. She's been looking for a replacement ever since. Sad story, but I'm so glad I was able to make her set complete again.

• Acquired On: 3/22/12 (from a friend)
• Listed On: 4/10/12
• Sold On: 4/12/12
• Paid: -0-
• Sold For: $19.99 + shipping

Circo cowgirl boots = good sellers. This is the fourth pair I've sold. I bought these from a girl on my local Facebook selling group. They sold quickly too. This was a week of quick flips! These sold on a Thursday night. The buyer messaged me that she hoped to have them by Sunday (she lives in my state), and she would pay extra for faster shipping. So she sent me extra money for Express mail. I packaged them up and made a special trip to the post office. They didn't make it in time, but she was very very nice about it. She knew it was a long shot right from the beginning. I'm sure her granddaughter will still love them, even if they ARE a day late.

• Acquired On: 3/29/12 (Facebook group)
• Listed On: 4/5/12
• Sold on: 4/12/12
• Paid: $6.00
• Sold For: $24.99 + shipping

I love SAS shoes. These were in fantastic condition, but they were a kind of odd size (10 narrow), so they took awhile to sell. I had gotten a couple offers on them. I finally let them go this week for a little less than I'd have liked, but they clearly weren't going to get me top dollar anytime soon, so I accepted the offer.

• Acquired On: 10/19/11 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 12/11/11
• Sold On: 4/12/12
• Paid: $2.99
• Sold For: $29.00 + shipping (I had free shipping on the listing, but they went to Canada, so the buyer paid the shipping)

I have good luck with men's Ralph Lauren shirts. This is the 4th or 5th one I've sold since I started selling clothing in January. I had it priced at $39.99 or best offer, and I was glad to accept an offer for $35.

• Acquired On: 1/31/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 2/6/12
• Sold On: 4/11/12
• Paid: $3.99
• Sold For: $35.00 + shipping

I'm kicking myself about these. These are earth brand (with a lower-case 'e'). I've had them for awhile, but I just got around to listing them last night. I researched and found the same pair (smaller size) that recently sold for $32, so I priced mine at $35 + shipping. I almost priced them for $40 or $45, but for some reason, I stuck with the $35. They sold within 3 hours. That's possibly one of my fastest shoe sales.  Always, always, always pick up earth brand shoes, as long as they have the lower-case 'e'. If they say "earth shoes" or have a capital "E" they are Walmart brand, and you should skip them.

• Acquired On: 2/21/12 (Goodwill)
• Listed On: 4/15/12
• Sold On: 4/16/12
• Paid: $2.99
• Sold For: $35.00 + shipping

I can't remember if I mentioned this pan earlier this week or not. I've had it for a really long time. I sold it probably 9 months ago, but it ended up being a UPI. Apparently I forgot to relist it. I saw it on my stack of listed pans a couple weeks ago and was surprised that it hadn't sold yet. I went to check the listing and see if I should make changes, and I realized it wasn't even listed. I listed it and it sold quickly.

I'm going to give you a very important tip about Wilton pans. They can ship in a poly mailer. Don't be afraid. Wrap them 3 or 4 times in bubble wrap, and they'll be just fine. I've shipped quite a few of them like that, and I've never had any problems.

That's a big part of why this pan sold so quickly. All the others ones listed were charging $7-10 for priority shipping. I knew I could ship mine for around $3. So I priced mine so that my price was just under the others, but offered free shipping. Because it only cost me $3 to ship, I still ended up making more than the other, higher-priced ones. For example, there was one listed for $37 + $10 shipping. I priced mine for $44.99 with free shipping. My total price was $2 less than that other seller, but that other seller is only getting $37 for theirs, whereas I still got $41 for mine after I substracted my shipping cost. Does that make sense? First class shipping on Wilton pans can really give you a leg up on the competition.

• Acquired On: ??
• Listed On: 4/5/12
• Sold On: 4/15/12
• Paid: ? probably less than $3
• Sold For: $44.99 - $2.99 shipping

Another Kaya outfit.

• Acquired On: 4/6/12 (yard sale)
• Listed On: 4/9/12
• Sold On: 4/10/12
• Paid: $1 for 18 outfits
• Sold For: $49.99 + shipping

I sold this for my hairdresser. I'm sure she paid more for it than what I sold it for, but she handed me 2 of these, 2 wigs, and a bag full of wig ponytails and said she wanted to get $100 out of it. I'm keeping one of the wig heads as payment, and I've sold the other head, both wigs, and 7 of the 18 ponytails for a total of $149.48, so I'm not too worried about the individual sale prices anymore. She's gotten her $100, so the rest is just bonus money to her.

• Acquired On: ? December maybe?
• Listed On: 3/18/12
• Sold On: 4/15/12
• Paid: -0-
• Sold For: $50.00 + $51.90 priority shipping to Norway!

Another American Girl outfit. This one belongs to Marisol. Marisol clothing seems to be in pretty high demand. I've sold 2 of her outfits for top dollar.

• Acquired On: 4/6/12 (yard sale)
• Listed On: 4/9/12
• Sold On: 4/15/12
• Paid: $1 for 18 outfits
• Sold For: $54.99 + shipping

And my favorite sale of the week:

Isn't she gorgeous? If I was a doll person, I'd have kept her. She's just beautiful. I love her face. Sigh. But I'm not. And if I kept her, she'd have gotten destroyed by my crazy kids. I hope she's happy in her new home.

• Acquired On: 4/6/12 (yard sale)
• Listed On: 4/10/12
• Sold on: 4/14/12
• Paid: $10.00
• Sold For: $139.99 + shipping

That was really a lot of highlights. I'll try really hard to post more regularly this week.

What did you sell last week?

Yes!!!

Check out what I sold overnight!!

Meet Nellie. She sold for a whopping $139.99!!! I'm not sure what makes her so valuable, other than she was only made for a couple years, so I guess there aren't as many of her available as there are of the other dolls. But whatever the reason - I'll take it! Now ... this is one of my very rare listings that I don't require immediate payment. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for buyers to buy more than one AG item at a time. The downside of that is that they don't always pay right away. So I'm crossing my fingers that this sale does actually go through.

Here's the recap. I paid $31 for all my AG stuff last Friday. To date, I've sold $259.95!

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Speaking of box lots, it's been awhile since I sold any play food. I sold my veggies yesterday, so I'm down to just my chips/fries/onion rings. I have several watchers on them, so hopefully they go soon and I can be done with that box lot.

Recapping that one, I paid $2.99 for them and to date have sold $72.93 worth.

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A few other good sales yesterday, and then I have to get my day going.

I mentioned on We Sell on eBay awhile ago that little girls' pink Circo cowgirl boots sell well. A woman had these available on my local Facebook group for $6. I met up with her and bought these as well as a pair of Gymbo boots. These sold within a week or so for $24.99 + shipping! Yes, Circo is a cheapie Target brand, but these have a VERY consistent sell through rate. This is the third pair of these that I have sold, plus a pair of brown and pink ones. Always pick them up when you find them in good condition. She bought them Thursday night and needs them by Sunday. She's in the same state, and she just wrote me that she'd like to pay extra for Express shipping, so we shall see...

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I underpriced this set for some reason. But once I heard the buyer's story, I was okay with it. There are none others of this set listed (current OR completed) for me to base my price off of, so for some crazy reason, I listed them for $19.99. Not surprisingly, they sold overnight. The buyer wrote me to let me know that she had bought this set 30 years ago for her daughter, who has since passed away. Last month, her nephew threw the cup and broke it. She was devastated and has been looking for a replacement ever since. It made me feel good to know that I was able to help her out.

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I thought these Tevas were absolutely adorable, and if they were my size, I'd have kept them. Fortunately, they weren't. I have enough shoes as it is!  That's the curse of being a shoe seller. :)  These did take a few months to sell, but they finally sold yesterday for my full asking price of $39.99 + shipping.

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I guess I'd better go hop in the shower, since I'll be making a special trip to the post office. Yay for deductible mileage....

American Girl Update

I sold 3 more AG lots yesterday! I sold $120 worth within 24 hours of listing. I have 2 outfits that I'll be listing shortly, then I'll just need to list my Kaya doll once I get her hair fixed.

Yesterday, I sold the purple Bitty Baby dress ($9.99), Kaya's jingle dress and accessories ($49.99), and Kaya's winter accessories ($19.99). I don't understand why the winter accessories sold as quickly and as high as they did, because they are still available on the AG website for $22. My hat was missing the feather. So for $2 more, why not buy new with the feather? I don't get it.

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This next sale made me smile. Last summer, my then-7-year-old bought these videos with his own money. I think they were either a quarter or fifty cents apiece. He literally never watched them and recently asked me to sell them for him. They don't sell for much at all, but I figured it was worth a shot. They sold in less than a month. They only sold for $5.99, but he's happy with that.

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And late last night, I took an offer on this Ralph Lauren shirt. I had it listed for $39.99 or best offer and was happy to accept an offer for $35. He hasn't paid yet, but it was late at night, so I'm not surprised.

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Just a short post today. I'm determined to keep the kids on track with their schoolwork today. Not to mention housework - laundry, bathrooms, dusting, kitchen... I have been so focused on listing this week that the house is a disgusting mess. Sorry. No pictures. :)

That's Enough!

I have been sitting at this computer literally all day. I ate all 3 meals here. I did get up to help my oldest with her schoolwork. I got up to go get some dinner (take out - I didn't even cook!) I got up to put the kids in bed. That's it. My butt's numb. My brain is numb. My wrists are exhausted.

But I got a lot done! I got almost all my American Girl stuff listed. I still need to list 2 dolls and 2 outfits. One of the dolls needs her hair combed and braided. The other is waiting for her dress to dry. The other 2 outfits are soaking on Oxy Clean. I will get the last of this stuff listed tomorrow.

I sold my first American Girl outfit already! It sold for $39.99 about 30 minutes after I listed it! Remember, I paid $31 for the whole lot, so everything from here on out will be pure profit!

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About a year ago, I was visiting my sister-in-law. I spotted a Fire King jadeite batter bowl in her cupboard. I think I maybe drooled on the table a little. She must have noticed, because she asked me to sell it for her a couple months ago. When I researched it, I was disappointed to see that they didn't sell as high as I remembered. I was hoping to get $30-35 for it, but I listed it for $69.99 or best offer and hoped for the best. I accepted an offer for $50 today!

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I also relisted almost 30 failed auctions from last week. That is so tedious. That alone should be reason enough to keep me from doing auctions. Really. I mean it. No more auctions. Ugh.

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That's enough. I'm done. Gotta get off this computer. ...