Phew!

Uuuunngngnggghhh. ..... I spent all of yesterday in bed. Didn't you know that late May is well-known for the flu???  Fortunately, it came and went quickly, but while it was here, it was not a pleasant guest.  My 4 year old had it worse than I did, and apparently my sister did too. I actually escaped without vomiting, but I almost wish I could have just vomited and been done with it. :(     I felt much better today, but because I didn't eat or drink anything at all yesterday, it took me half of today to get my body replenished and energized again. Yuk.

Enough about that. Sales are still slow. I listed 32 items today. Hopefully that will spark something for the rest of the week. I have played the piano for 25 years. I have amassed quite a collection of piano music, most of which I don't play anymore. With 4 kids, I have pretty limited piano time, so when I do play, I only have a handful of favorite books that I choose from. I went through a lot of my music awhile ago and picked out a folder full of sheet music I didn't want anymore. That's what I listed today. It went pretty quickly. And I already sold one of them! They aren't high-dollar by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll get more for them on eBay than I would at a yard sale, so I figured I might as well list them.

I bought a voice-changing Storm Trooper helmet from my Facebook group today! Woot! Mine's the one that's just white and grey, without those things on the sides. I paid $5 for it and should be able to get $30-35 for it. I promised my 9 year old that he could play with it for awhile. He'll get bored with it within a week or so...

I also bought a pogo stick from the group. What was I thinking? Have you ever HEARD a pogo stick??? How annoying! My kids were trying to use it in the house today. None of them has ever used one before, so that was amusing to watch. But crazy kids that they are, one of them was actually hopping on it with a lollipop in his mouth! The only thing worse would have been if he was holding a pair of scissors in his other hand! Geesh.  (No worries - no one got hurt!)

I sold these today:

I bought them from my Facebook group for $2 - and I sold them for $25! It was a quick flip - took exactly one month.

That's all for today. I'm tired...

Uneventful Weekend

My spirits are much better than they were during my last post. Thank you all for the encouraging words :)

I haven't had much of anything exciting going on, eBay-wise. I went yard saling Friday morning. Remember I mentioned that the neighboring borough had lifted the yard sale permit requirement, so I was expecting there to be lots and lots of yard sales? There were 2. Two. What a wasted effort.  But there was a different community that was having their community sale, so I made up for it there. I found a few goodies.

My favorite is this cutie:

Isn't he absolutely darling?!?!?  He's in perfect condition - no chips or crazing at all. Definitely vintage though. I snapped him right up off the table! For only a dollar!! A DOLLAR, people! I feel like I ripped the lady off!

After that sale, I was quite discouraged by all the boutique pricing that people seem to think is completely acceptable at yard sales. A blog that I read recently (how embarrassing that I forget whose it was!!) made an interesting statement: "If you are sitting on your lawn selling things, don't expect Macy's prices."  That hits the nail on the head. Your items are sitting on your yard. Which is made up of grass and mud. And you want me to pay this much for that!?!?  I don't think so.

But just a couple other goodies we found:

-2 pairs of ice skates in their boxes (I usually do "ok" with ice skates, but they sit for awhile)
-a new-in-the-box board game that turned out to be a total dud, but I bought it without looking it up, because my family will probably play it anyway
-5 boxes of vintage colorforms. Not convinced these were a great investment, but they were only 50 cents a box, so I figure even I flip them for $9.99, I've done alright.

After we gave up on the yard sales, I asked the kids who all wanted to go to Goodwill. ALL OF THEM SHOUTED, "I DO!!" Can you believe it?!?! Well, the 9 month old didn't, but the other four did. So off we went. I haven't set foot in a Goodwill since March 26. I had most of my unlisted inventory caught up, and we'd had a dud of a yard sale morning, so I figured why not. I'm glad we did. We found a couple goodies there too!

-vintage Mall Madness (which I still haven't checked for completeness, but it was only 50 cents)
-NIP Harry Potter Lego set (WOOT!)
-a Leap Frog plush that's a dud, but my kids 9 year old boy has been having a grand time making it say all kinds of words (sigh...)
-2 Ralph Lauren men's 2X button down shirts
-Pendleton linen blouse
-Christian Dior floral blouse (a new brand for me - I've never found any before, so we'll see)
- a NWT $60 Chereskin sweater, which turned out to have a big honkin' hole in it that I somehow overlooked until AFTER I took the Goodwill barb off :(
-a NWT women's Disney sweatshirt
-SAS sandals
-Dansko slingbacks! I haven't found any Danskos in a long time, and these are really cute! And in excellent condition!

Nothing very exciting in the sales department either. I did sell a cycling jersey. It was returned to me last week for fit. I relisted it and sold it 2 days later for $8 more. Yay!  It's been a typically slow holiday weekend. I'm hoping these thunderstorms keep people indoors tomorrow and on their computer shopping, rather than outside picnicking :)

Did I mention that we put a deposit down on my new storage building last week?? We ended up having to custom order it to get it exactly the way we wanted it, so it will be about 4-6 weeks. Which is good, because the way we custom ordered it will require a couple more weeks to get the rest of the money ;-)  But I'm super-excited about it. It will have a 12' x 4' loft (packing peanut storage!!) and a 12' x 2' built-in workbench! The space will be simply glorious!!

Ready for Tomorrow

I've had a very blah day today. I'm just feeling very ho-hum, low-energy, not myself. I got a few new listings up this morning. I'm encouraged to see my unlisted inventory pile steadily decreasing.  I had been running a 50% off clothing sale the last few days, which really made my sales soar. But that sale ended last night, and with it, my actual sales. I sold 2 jars of shoe cream today, and I think that's it. lol.  So I'm running another sale right now. We'll see if that helps.

A neighboring borough requires permits for yard sales. This weekend, they've lifted that requirement and are having a community-wide yard sale. I thought I would be very excited about it, but I'm having a hard time mustering up the enthusiasm required for a marathon yard saling weekend. I hope to get out some on Saturday morning, hopefully to find a few goodies. If I do, I'll be sure to post about them.

I sold a Brooks Brothers sport coat for $25 + shipping the other day during my 50% off sale. As I was getting ready to package it, I noticed that the undersides of both sleeve cuffs were quite stained. I have no idea how I missed that. But what's more, I just had it dry-cleaned. I have no idea how the dry-cleaner missed it too! So I sent the buyer some pictures, asking how he wanted to handle it. I offered either a partial refund or a cancellation. Normally, I am very averse to partial refunds. But in this case, I wanted the dumb jacket gone. It was CLEARLY my error. And I only paid $1.50 for the thing. Plus I had it dry-cleaned during a special promotion. I think I paid $2.99 for that. So the buyer wrote me back, thanking me for catching the problem. He said he was hoping the stains would be small, but he sees that they are actually quite noticeable. But he still wants to complete the transaction, because he can just keep it at his office as a spare. So I offered him half off. He seemed quite pleased with that. I sent him his refund, and his jacket will go out to him tomorrow. No, not much of a profit at all. But a happy customer!

I've had a couple poo-ey buyers leave me less than stellar feedback and DSR's, so that's got me down too. I try really hard and take my business very seriously. The crazy lady with the Hello Kitty slippers is all mad because I "used the rules as an excuse to avoid refunding her immediately."  lol. She actually said that in her neutral feedback (thank goodness it wasn't a negative).  Seriously. Like anyone is going to read that comment and feel that it reflects poorly on me as a seller. That I followed the rules. How dare I.

And I had two other buyers leave me a (1) for communication. That I don't understand at all. The one was an offer that I accepted. I immediately sent an invoice (as I always do), and on day 3, I sent a 2nd invoice (as I always do). After day 4, my UPI assistant opened an unpaid item case against her (as it always does). She paid the next day, with a note apologizing for not paying earlier - she didn't realize I had accepted her offer. Really? The 2 invoices from me and the reminder from eBay weren't a clue?? She had left me a positive feedback, stating that the items were good but that communication was very poor. Sigh.

The other (1) for communication is a true puzzle. I think it was for a shoe cleaning starter kit. The comment just said "All around great kit. Long process."  No idea what that means, and why that was deserving of a (1) on communication. But whatever. Onward and upward.

I need today to be over. It was not a good day personally. I am ready to start over tomorrow, with a new outlook and a fresh perspective on life.

My Head Is Safe

Oh, I forgot to mention ... I got my Hello Kitty slippers back today. They are still attached to the card, and still in perfectly fine condition. I refunded, I requested a transaction cancellation (which she accepted, wonder of wonders!), and I still have my head!  Hooray!

Something Is Working!

I haven't run a sale in my store for nearly a week. I haven't listed anything new in my store for nearly a week. I have had pitiful sales for nearly a week.

What a coincidence.

Last night, I began running a 50% off most clothing sale. Last night, I began listing a bunch. Last night, I began selling a bunch.

What a coincidence.

Since last night, I have listed 36 new items. Since last night, I have sold 22 items. Half of those were shoe cream, but that is still a lot of "real" sales.

Coincidence? Perhaps not....

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My favorite quick sale? I listed a Friends 2B Made doll this afternoon (from the makers of Build a Bear), and 5 or 6 of her outfits. Within an hour, I sold the doll and 2 outfits for a total of $62! Remember, I paid $100 for the ENTIRE lot! I've made back two-thirds of that with just those couple sales! That's a real weight off my shoulders, because I wasn't convinced I had made the right decision on those.

So Discouraged

With the exception of an occasional complaint about a buyer (see yesterday's post!), and sometimes whining around about slow sales, I try to keep things pretty upbeat around here. But folks ... I am getting SO DISCOURAGED.  My sales for the last 3 days have been:  $8.75, $12.74, and $27.73. Over the past several months, I have averaged in the vicinity of $100 a day. May has been a real struggle for me.

Now, I will admit, I haven't been doing much listing. We're trying to get our school year wrapped up, and the weather's nice, and you all know the excuses. So I absolutely take responsibility for this. But it's a vicious cycle. I haven't been listing, so I haven't been selling. I haven't been selling, so I don't feel motivated to list. Yuk. I have this monstrous pile of Build a Bear stuff sitting beside me. I listed a few of them tonight, and I put almost all of my clothing on a 50% off sale. I'm hoping the clothing sale will spark some actual sales, and that those sales will spark my enthusiasm again, so I can get the rest of these Build a Bear outfits listed.

I had gotten pretty far down in my to-be-listed pile, so I don't have a whole lot left to list. What I do have is really great stuff that I've gotten from my Facebook group. It's just a matter of doing it.

Anyone else in the same boat? Can we partner up and encourage each other to list, whether we've been selling or not, and whether we feel like it or not? I've got to get out of this slump!

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edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention. I just got ANOTHER message about a return for something that doesn't fit. That makes FOUR in 48 hours. That's SUPER-discouraging to have to shell out $90 in refunds when I've not even made half of that in the last 3 days.  Siiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhh

Build a Bear

I made another big Facebook purchase yesterday. I was just saying on the eBay Underground forum that sometimes you have to be willing to shell out big bucks in order to make bigger bucks. It's very nice to find something at a yard sale or thrift store for a buck or two and flip it into $25-30. But sometimes it's exciting to spend $100 and flip it into $400. That's what I'm hoping this one will do.

I bought a big BABW lot yesterday. It included an inflatable chair, 4 Build a Bear plush, a Build a Bear girl (Friend 2B, which I've never heard of), 5 Friend 2B outfits, and 26 Build a Bear outfits. I paid $100 for them, which is probably a little more than I should have. But even if I sell the outfits for only $9.99 each, that's $310 on just the outfits. The couch won't get me much. The plush aren't just bears, so I'm hoping I'll do already with them. But no matter what, I expect to more than triple my money. We shall see...

Here's what I got:

I have all my pics edited and ready to go, but it's late and I do NOT feel like starting with the listing. I'll work on that tomorrow. As with all my bulk purchases like this, I will post back anytime I sell something!

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I am not running a sale right now, and I haven't listed all week, and my sales have died again. Truly. I sold 3 jars of shoe cream yesterday for a whopping $8.75. That's it. Today? A hairpiece and another jar of shoe cream. It is becoming more and more obvious to me that I bring these slow spells on myself. I neglect eBay? eBay neglects me. lol. All joking aside, it really is that simple. If you just keep listing, you'll see the sales come in. I have bought a lot of stuff over the past couple weeks. Great stuff! I just need to take a few minutes and get them listed.

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Complaints seem to come in clumps for me. Remember the buyer with the silver paint on the shoes? That was #1. I got another message from a buyer whose shirt doesn't fit, so he wants to return it. No problem. I have a 14-day return policy. And he was very nice about it. That was #2. But #3? Yikes. Crazy lady!

Here's the listing in question:

I have highlighted the important part in blue.  The first contact was this:

"No where did say that these are children shoes. I want a full refund with shipping."

That's it. So I think I laughed and said to myself, "What exactly does 'girls' mean?" Then I double-checked the listing to see if I provided measurements, and sure enough.  7 5/8" sole length. Can you picture that? That's pretty small, right? So I gave myself the luxury of composing (in my head only) all the replies I wanted  to send her. But, I am a professional. So I didn't put any of them in writing. Instead, I said this:

The title and the item description both clearly state that these are girls' slippers/boots. I also included the sole length, which is 7 5/8". Reading my description, there should have been no doubt that these are girls' slippers/boots. If you wish to return them, you may do so by sending them back to me within 7 days to:

Jessica
Address
City, Street

Once I have received them back in their original condition (still attached to the card), I will refund you your original purchase price of $9.38.

Jessica

Silly me, I thought that would be the end of it.  But no. It's never that easy. Her response:

Well most put small, medium, or large. That's fine and as soon as the package is marked as shipped, because I will send it tomorrow, I will send a number and expect immediate refund. If not, I will use that that sent you a tracking number and open a paypal case. Thank you! :)

Because you know, small/medium/large would have clarified without a doubt that these were children's slippers. <end sarcasm>  And then she threatens to open a case against me. And then she has the audacity to smile at me???   So I replied:

I included the size that was on the slipper - girls 11/12. There is no need to threaten a case. I will stand by my word and issue your refund as promised. As evidenced by my feedback, I am an exemplary businessperson and would never risk that. I assure you your refund will be issued immediately upon receipt of the package, provided it is still in its original condition.

to which she replied:

No. If I send a tracking number to prove it is sent, I want my money back. If anything happens in the shipment process that is the post office problem. I paid you before I got my product without anything, but the tracking number.

At this point, I called eBay. Obviously,  I'm not going to refund her until I've received the item back. But I wanted to be able to tell her that eBay SAID SO. The customer service rep read over our exchange and actually LAUGHED. She said, "Of course you don't refund until you get her item back. Blame us. Tell her that it is eBay's policy."  So I did. I replied:

I just spoke to an eBay customer service representative. She read through our correspondence and pointed out that it is THEIR policy that sellers not refund until they have received the item back. Customer satisfaction is very important to me, and I am definitely willing to work with you and refund you your $9.38 as previously promised, but I do have to abide by eBay's policy of waiting until I have received the item back. Thank you for your understanding.

to which she replied:

Well I hope you receive it, because if not it will be your head. Thank you and it will be sent back.

 

And on that note, I wish you all a good night!

My Heart Belongs to Facebook

Don't worry. eBay will always be my first love. But my Facebook Yard Sale group has been treating me well lately.  Not only have I been selling a lot (!!) of stuff on there, and not only have I been getting some great stuff for my family, but I've been finding some GREAT stuff for resale!

Like this, for example:

Now seriously. What the heck do I know about Hulk Hogan action figures? Nothing at all. But for some reason, when I saw these listed on the FB group, I thought I'd look them up. Turns out that not all Hulk Hogan action figures are created equal. Some are complete duds that don't even sell for $5. Others will sell for upwards of $60-70. Don't be quick to grab up any Hulk Hogan action figures, just because you read about them here. Be sure to research them individually!

Anyway, I bought 4 of them from this lady, for $8 apiece. I didn't expect them to sell quickly, but I only pay 5 cents a month listing fee, so I'm usually content to let my items sit for awhile. This one sold within 2 weeks of listing - for $34.99! So yes, this one sale paid for all 4 of the ones I bought. The other 3 sales will now be pure profit. Woot!

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I bought these at our library's used book sale several years ago, thinking my boy would love them. He did. For about 3 viewings. And then, like most 7 year old boys, his brain moved on to something else. I kept asking him if he was done with them yet, and he kept insisting he wanted to watch them more, but he never did. So I made an executive decision and I listed them on eBay. I had $19.99 obo on them. They were up for a month or so with no interest, so I decided to post them on the FB group. I put them up for $1 each or $5 for the whole lot. Still no interest. I accepted a $15 offer today on eBay! So it's good to keep your fingers in more than one pie :)

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And now class ... it's time for an important lesson. I've talked about earth shoes before, I'm pretty sure. I love to find earth shoes, but only if they have a lower-case 'e'.  Earth Shoes with a capital 'E' are Walmart brand. I'm not really sure what happened to my brain that day, but I came across two pairs of Earth Shoes and bought them without thinking. Of course, as soon as I got home, I realized what I had done, but decided to try to make the best of it anyway. I sold the first pair, but only because they were a women's size 11 bright red vegan mary jane athletic shoe with a lime green interior. Wow. Picture that.  But this second pair. Yeesh. What was I thinking?

I had them listed for $25 obo and was glad to accept a $10 offer today just to be rid of them. So the lesson? Remember your capitalization. Big E = Big Box Store.  Little e = buy them!

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Sold these vintage Tinker Toys for a friend of mine. We're splitting the money. I expected these to take awhile to sell too, but I just listed them a month or so ago. They sold for $29.99 + shipping.

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I sold my sister's bumbo seat in only 3 weeks, and for my full asking price of $29.99 + shipping! These are hard to find for a good flippin' price. I have only ever found 2 or 3 out in the wild, and the sellers wanted $15-20 for them. If you're looking for one to buy to use, that's a great price. If you're looking to resell it, that's a terrible price.

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I can't decide how I feel about Florsheims. I used to love them, and I bought up every pair I found. But then one day I realized I hadn't sold any of them. They just sat there. So I started playing around with my pricing and realized I just had them priced too high. I started pricing them for $35 fixed (no OBO), and they started selling. I think this was one of my last pairs. Sold today for $35 + shipping.

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I have a potential problem buyer that I'm dealing with right now. My eBay business isn't all gumdrops and lollipops (you're welcome for the earworm...)   I sold a pair of sandals that had some silver paint on them. I mentioned twice in the item description that they had paint on them, and I showed close ups of the paint. My buyer wrote me today complaining that I wasn't explicit enough about the paint. S/he pointed out that my photos are "quite good," and that I did in fact mention the paint, but s/he still feels that there was some misrepresentation on my part, and that I need to either accept a return (paying shipping both ways) or issue a partial refund so s/he can take them to a cobbler to have them fixed. (Ok, I had to laugh at that part ... do cobblers even exist anymore? And do cobblers remove paint from leather? But anyway...)  So after a bit of back and forth, I finally said that I would accept the return and, in the interest of good customer service, I will reimburse for original shipping. I'm hoping that that is satisfactory, or that if it isn't, s/he threatens me with negative feedback.  Once a buyer threatens negative feedback if you don't do what they've asked, you're golden. eBay will remove negative feedback that was given in cases of feedback extortion. I haven't heard back yet, so we shall see. But I absolutely refuse to give a partial refund, and I absolutely refuse to refund shipping both ways, when my listing quite clearly mentioned (twice!) and showed pictures of the damage.

Sigh. Another lesson learned.  Don't list damaged goods. Even if you point out the damage and show pictures, there will always be the buyer out there who didn't read about it.

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Meeting up with a lady tomorrow to buy a HUGE lot of Build a Bear outfits! They are a little on the pricey side, but I'm optimistic that I can at least triple my money. Eek. I hope!

Little People

Nothing exciting happening around here. My sales are slowly inching back up, so I'm pleased about that. I'm not sure if it's because I ran a sale, or if I actually listed a couple things or what. But whatever it is, I'm happy.

I bought a lot of Little People sets on my Facebook group last week. I let the kids play with them for a few days, but I did get them listed last night. I paid $30 for a massive farm set, an almost-as-massive zoo set, and a normal-sized school/playground set. Oh, and a playmat. I've got them all listed for a grand total of $197.96. Now, the 3 sets all have best offer on them, so I know I'm not going to get that much for them, but even at half price, that's still a nice profit.

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I also bought a Plug n Play Ms Pac Man game from the group. I've sold several of those. Definitely add it to your BOLO list, because they sell well, and relatively quickly too. This is what you want to look for:

I've sold 3 of them for $25-30 each. The one I bought today I paid $2 for. I let my 9 year old test it out. He even took the initiative and changed the batteries all by himself! Of course he left the spare batteries and screwdriver laying on the carpet, but it's a start. Unfortunately, the "right" function on the joystick doesn't work. I'm going to have my brother look at it to see if it's fixable. But if not, I'm only out $2. There are definitely risks involved in buying on local yard sale sites. You just have to be careful, and try to remember to check your stuff over before you leave the meeting. Obviously, this one was unavoidable, but I now know not to buy electronic items from that person anymore.

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On the eBay front, I had a couple sales today:

I paid $3.90 for these Doc Martens last July. I'm extremely surprised that they took nearly a year to sell! They finally sold today for a best offer of $28 + shipping. I was hoping for more, but after a year, you take what you can get... Surprisingly, they are NOT going to Australia!

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I paid 50 cents for these at a yard sale last month. They're Old Navy. I've never tried to sell ON cowgirl boots before, but I've had very good luck with Circo cowgirl boots. For 50 cents, I figured it was worth a shot. They sold quickly for $14.99 + shipping.

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I got these lovely SAS loafers at the same yard sale, also for 50 cents. I love church basement yard sales :)  These also sold very quickly, for $35 + shipping! They're a hard-to-sell size too, so I expected to have them for awhile. Always pick up good condition SAS shoes. Always leave behind any women's shoes in a size 5 or 6. They're just such sloooooooow sellers.

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My nephew is going to be here at 5:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, I always remember that when it's way too late to go to bed earlier. It's past midnight. Tomorrow might be a long day....

Revitalized!

Yay! I am encouraged! I had a really great sales weekend. After a really long slump with an occasional one-day slight bump in sales, I had a rocking weekend. I sold 13 items yesterday alone! Fingers crossed that it continues for at least a few days. I've got a storage building to buy in less than 2 weeks, and my checking account has NOT been going in the right direction the last week or so.

This was given to me by a friend, and it sold fairly quickly. I priced it somewhere toward the higher end of the currently listed ones, so I expected it to take awhile. I am currently running an almost storewide 25% off sale to boost my sales, so that's probably why mine sold before some of the others did. $10.49.

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These Ann Taylor capris were given to me also. They're a size 0, which, you know, ALMOST fit me. <end sarcasm>   They sold last night, and when I was getting ready to ship them, I realized that I had "NWT" in the title, even though they aren't. The item specifics and the body of the listing both say that they are pre-owned, but I sent a message to my buyer anyway, just to make sure she still wants them. I haven't heard back yet. $11.24.

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I've mentioned the big huge yard sale I went to last fall. I'm already looking forward to going to it again, but not until half-price weekend. I've also made a mental note of what I bought last year that STILL hasn't sold. Izod tops that list. It's strange, because Izod is a great brand name - well-known, high-priced. And yet, the vast majority of my Izod stuff just sits. And sits. And sits. So I'll pass on it next time. These finally sold for $11.25. Totally worth the 8-month wait, since I paid $4.50 for them. Lesson learned.

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I probably could have held out for more on this, but since my sales have been so pathetic lately, I was taking almost any offer that came to my email this week. This is a Tour de France cycling jersey, size 2X. It sold on sale this week for $23.99 plus shipping.

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I could have gotten a LOT more for this. I had it priced at $59.99 or best offer. It was 25% off this week, and I accepted an offer for $25 plus shipping. It's in perfect condition and had several watchers, but again ... dry spell. I only paid $3-something for it, so I'm happy enough with it.

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This was one of the Miche shells from the lot I bought last week that I was worried I paid too much for. Quick recap on that one:  I paid $45 for the bag with 2 sets of handles, a purse organizer, and 2 shells. I listed them last Tuesday night. I sold the organizer Wednesday morning, the purse Thursday morning, and this shell last night. I'm up to $75 on that investment, and I still have one of the shells left. I have it priced for $29.99, so once it sells, I'll have more than doubled my money on that. Not bad for a lot I was afraid I paid too much for :)

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I've had these Levi's since February. They're 30x30 skinny jeans, so I knew they would take just the right buyer. I paid $2.99 for them and sold them last night for $37.49 plus shipping.

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So all in all, a GREAT weekend! Here's hoping for an awesome week for everyone!

More About Miche

I bought another lot of Miche bags and shells from my Facebook group the other day. This one was a bag, 2 different sets of handles, a purse organizer, and 2 shells for $45. I was a little uneasy about that price. It felt high. I knew I would definitely get my investment back, but I was hoping to at least double my money. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that. I got them Tuesday morning, listed them Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning, I sold the organizer for $14.99 + shipping. Thursday morning I sold the purse and handles for $29.99.  For those of you who may be math-challenged, that's the $45 I invested in the lot! So I still have 2 shells left to sell, which will be pure profit. Yay!  I need to stop second-guessing myself. I've been doing this long enough that I really should have more confidence in my business decisions.

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Since I've discovered this group, my progress toward saving up for my storage shed has drastically slowed. :-(  Therefore, I am setting a budget for myself. Every weekend, I will take out a fixed amount of money. That money has to last me for the weekend's yard sales AND for my facebook yard sale shopping. The only way I can spend more than that is if I also sell items on Facebook. So if I take out $100 and sell $20 worth of stuff, I can spend $120 that week, and NOT a penny more! I feel like I've been bleeding money the past 2 weeks. Yes, I've been getting great stuff, both to resell and to keep. The prices that I will be able to sell the stuff for will more than pay for the stuff I'm keeping, but I've been buying too much of it. I have to pace myself. I've been dipping into my business checking account too much the last two weeks.

I have been spending more on items than I normally would have at a yard sale, but I am justifying that with the simple fact that I'm not running all over creation to yard sales looking for stuff. I'm hand-selecting what I want to buy from the comfort of my desk, and I am working my meet-ups around times that I am already in town. So it's worth paying a little bit more for an item to save on gas mileage.

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I still have not set foot inside a thrift store since March 26. The twitching has subsided. I drove past there the other day and just smiled. I didn't call out to it or weep. :)  I'm just kidding about that part of course, but my point is, the longer I'm away from it, the less desperate I feel. Is that because I have broken my addiction? Or is that because I have replaced it with a new addiction? (Facebook group...) I'll let you decide :-D

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On the eBay sales front .... meh .... I mentioned the other day that I was in a deep, dark black hole for quite some time. I have still managed to avoid breaking my streak. I have had at least one sale every day during 2012. I have no $0 days. But they had dropped to about a third of what I had gotten used to. They are slowly creeping back up. Still nothing to write home about (or to write here about, apparently...), but better than they had been.

Some sales of interest from the last two weeks:

This has been laying in my "stupid junk I don't want to waste time listing" pile for quite some time. I finally listed it, never dreaming it would actually sell, but sell it did! During the first month too! It's just a small chunk of fabric, a little under a yard, but it sold for $7.99 + shipping.

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These came from the same pile :)  They are my husband's military shoes from years ago. They've been in our closet for as long as I can remember. I literally had to clean a layer of dust off of them before I could list them. Neither of us cared how much they sold for, so I just put $15 on them. They sold this week during a sale, so they went to Canada for $12 + shipping. Good enough for us.

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I absolutely fell in LOVE with the color of this Pyrex dish when I bought it last July. I bought it for $5 to resell, but I didn't have my phone with me, so I couldn't look it up to make sure it would do well. I loved the color, but I have absolutely zero use for a divided casserole dish, so I knew I wouldn't use it if it was a dud. Turns out it WAS a dud. It sat in my store for nearly a whole year before finally selling this week for a whopping $14.99 + shipping.

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I've had these since January, but just got around to listing them a couple weeks ago. They sold fairly quickly, which I suspected they would. Not sure why that wasn't enough of a reason to get me to list them earlier. $25.

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This is the Miche bag I just sold yesterday. I love the concept of Miche, but I really don't like the design/shape of this particular bag. Oh, and I don't like to pay more than $5 for my purses :-D  This sold for $29.99 and is on its way to Canada as we speak. Well technically, it's still in my mail lady's trunk on the way to the post office, but you get the point...

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This Miche shell was from the first batch that I bought. I'm doing alright with that batch. I paid $87 for 7 shells. I've sold 2 of them so far for $65, so I'll do just fine with them.  This one sold for $29.99 + shipping.

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I'm annoyed about this one. I've had it listed for several months now (possibly since November or December?) I've done my research. It is definitely an authentic Dooney & Bourke. I have gotten no offers, questions, anything on it. I was starting to get disappointed when I got an offer the other week for $40. I took it, without even counter-offering. I didn't pay anything for it, so I was perfectly happy with that amount. But the buyer still hasn't paid for it. Grr.

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And this sale came during a particularly dark, anti-eBay day, when the only sales I'd been getting were jar after jar after JAR of shoe cream.

More American Girl clothes. At the time that I listed these, mine was the ONLY 100% complete flapper costume. I'm surprised it didn't sell sooner than it did, but I'm pleased that it sold for my full asking price of $49.99.  To recap the American Girl project, I paid $31 for the lot and got 21 listings out of it. To date, I have sold 12 of those listings for a total of $458.88. One of the sold listings was a doll, and I still have 2 dolls left to sell. Not bad!

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I can't promise that I'm back to posting daily, but I can promise to make a better effort at posting more often than I have been. I miss blogging. I'll aim for every other day :)

I'm Still Alive!

Oh, my friends, how I've neglected you! I am deep in the throes of my worst ever eBay week! I don't know what's going on, but it's got me really frustrated. It's been discouraging enough to keep me from listing, blogging, visiting the boards. I've focused my attention elsewhere while I pout.

I know I've mentioned my local Facebook group on here before. Well, let me tell you ... that one was NOTHING. My sister introduced me to a different one, and my life has been forever altered. I am so addicted. It's awfully embarrassing. But I've gotten some GREAT stuff on there - both to keep and to resell. I've also had some really nice sales too. My first sale on there was last Saturday. In my first 8 days selling on the group, I've sold exactly $200 on there!  So pooh on you, eBay.

I truly have had no sales worth mentioning. My sales have literally dropped to a third of what they have been all year. And most of what I have been selling is just Meltonian shoe creams. That hardly makes for an interesting blog post.

I just got an email while I was writing this post that there is another free auctions for store owners promotion starting tomorrow for a full week. Tina was helping me brainstorm this week to see if we could figure out why our sales were so slow. She suggested that maybe eBay is flooded from the free listing promotion they had a week or so ago. I think that's a very valid suggestion. So I'm annoyed to see that they're doing it again tomorrow.

Grr.

I'm sorry I don't have anything interesting or positive to talk about. :(

Hopefully I'll have some fun sales this week....