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Thursday, May 17, 2012

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!

10 comments:

  1. Cobbler. lol. I like peach cobbler myself. :)

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    1. Mmm. I made the BEST apple cobbler the other night! In the microwave! Go figure :)

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  2. I tried the FB yard sale thing but I just get frustrated because its mainly junk and people commenting on their listings to get it to the top. Therefore, the junk stays near the top. I wonder if I can change my settings to make the listings show most current instead of last updated.

    And the paint lady is lucky you even refunded shipping at all. I probably wouldn't have. Ugh, customers. lol

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    1. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em.

      Our group has a rule that you're only allowed to bump/comment on 5 of your own items per day. When I first joined, you were allowed to bump as many as you wanted, but only once per day. The page was CLOGGED with the same stuff all the time. Since the 5/day rule, it's really improved a lot.

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  3. I finally found a facebook yard sale for my area page but haven't found anything worthwhile on there (either for my family or for resale). Everything is priced really high and a lot of the posts mention what their item sells for on ebay so I think finding some deals is going to be a challenge.

    I actually have a bumbo I've been trying to sell on craigslist with little response. I guess I'll try ebay!

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    Replies
    1. Yes! Definitely give it a try on eBay. I fully expected mine to sit for awhile, because I was kind of starting to feel like maybe the Bumbo peak was over, but apparently it isn't in Canada :)

      It drives me bonkers when people (yard sales, FB groups, consignment stores, whatever) mention what an item is selling for on eBay. I always want to point out to them that eBay is a worldwide market, so it's possible to get those higher prices. This is a dinky little low-mid-income town. You are NOT going to get those prices around here. Same goes for telling me how much YOU paid for it. Doesn't matter to me in the least how much you paid for it.

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  4. I looked everywhere for a "cobbler' here - turned out it was an ex-marine turned bike shop owner turned shoe repair guy. You know the place, bars on the windows, candy machines with layers of dust circa 1972. He did a great job fixing the shoes but I didn't know if I should feel safe in there with him or scared to death!

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  5. Am I the only one who has never heard of a cobbler? Hmm. I have yet to find a good Facebook group near me. But if yours is good I can see why I can be addicting.

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  6. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Facebook groups! I have sold a TON on them and bought a few things to not a lot for resale but I watch them like a hawk so I don't miss out on anything good!

    I hear ya on the damaged goods thing too, I once sold a North Face fleece that I found a cigarette burn in the back of the arm on. I clearly listed the damage in the title and the description and the person left negative feedback stating she would not have bought the jacket if she'd of known there was a burn in it. WHAT?! Wow some people! That was my first ever negative and it burned, literally!

    Good luck with the Build a Bear clothes, I just found a bunch this last week and hope to get it all listed soon!

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  7. I need to try selling my bumbos on Ebay. I usually just resell them for $15 to $20 locally. I like the cash. I don't pay over $5 and get them between $2-$5. In the last few weeks I've lucked into 2 with trays for those prices.

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