Meet Nelly (NSFW?)

Look who knocked on my door today, asking for a place to stay:

I've named her Nelly, as in: "Whoa, Nelly! Put some clothes on. You tryin' to put my eye out with those things??"

I can't decide if I like her or not. I have a full plus-size dressform from my sewing days that has served me quite nicely. (She's a lot more modest too...). But she doesn't work well for small sized clothing or for pants, since she's on a pole. This is just a half form, so none of my clothes fit her right. I have to clothespin just about everything behind her back. She will do for now. I need to find her a male companion though.

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I haven't had much eBay activity today. I had a buyer from Argentina a week or so ago. He bought several jars of Meltonian cream and paid over $30 for priority shipping. Well, I knew they could safely ship in a priority padded mailer, which is only $13.25. So I refunded him about $15 with a note that he had overpaid. He emailed me in very broken English, wanting to know why I had put money back into his account. I explained and he said (translated here into less-broken English), "That's very nice of you, but I chose to pay extra for regular priority shipping so that it would arrive without problems."  Drat. I understood immediately what he meant. International flat rate envelopes don't have tracking. Regular priority international does. But it was too late. I had already sent the package out. I assured him that if they never showed up, I would be glad to reship using the regular priority shipping. Yes, it would have ended up costing me $30 out of my own pocket, but customer service (and my feedback!) are very important to me. Well lucky me ... he left positive feedback yesterday, so they must have arrived. Hooray!

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I bought a set of 8 reindeer salad plates at a yard sale a year and a half ago. Those things! Ugh. I was beginning to think they would NEVER sell! I finally sold the last one today. Hallelujah. Yes, Christmas items do sell after Christmas. I paid $2 for the set of 8, and altogether, they sold for a total of $117.35, so it was worth it, but my goodness, did I ever get sick of looking at those things.

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Other than that, I just sold a bunch of Meltonian today. Slow and easy day. I'm in the process of editing a bunch more pictures. I was thinking about another listing marathon tonight (I got 26 new listings up last night!), but I think it'll be a tv night instead.

My husband and I started watching Grey's Anatomy from the very beginning about 4 or 5 months ago. Neither of us had ever seen a single episode, so we figured it would be a good project. We got sucked right in and watched at least 2 episodes a night, sometimes more, as often as we were able. We are all caught up, and now we have to watch it like normal people do: one episode per week. Sigh. But now he's in school Thursday nights, so we STILL don't get to watch it as it airs. We have to watch it on Hulu the next night.  We need suggestions for a new series to start watching from the beginning. We haven't had cable in a long long time, so odds are good that we haven't seen most of the good shows out there. It also has to be available on Netflix or Amazon on Demand (free for prime members). Any suggestions?

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I've sold quite a few copies of my Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet in the brief time that it's been available (at the far bottom right of my blog). I'd like to start expanding the available documents. Are there any other documents that you'd like me to provide? I'm thinking of writing a step-by-step tutorial for how to build a microwave turntable box. I get requests for that one a lot. What else would be helpful?

My Top eBay Moments This Week

This week was full of ups and downs. I think most of my sales happened in the late afternoon/evening hours, because I know I spent a lot of time this week thinking that I wasn't getting any sales. But when I look back over the week, I actually had a lot.

I sold 122 items this week. Roughly a gazillion of those items were shoe creams. My shoe cream buyers kept me busy busy busy this week! I had one buyer buy 45 jars! They just barely fit into a Priority Regional B box. It was a heavy box! I had another buyer from the Philippines buy 10 jars. Before I sent an invoice, I double checked the International Mail Manual (you do have that site bookmarked, don't you?), and I discovered that glass is on the list of prohibited items for the Philippines. So I had to cancel all 10 jars, one jar at a time. The buyer did agree to all of the cancellations, so it wasn't a problem, but now I know to block the Philippines on my glass/breakable listings.

As you know, I'm very new to the world of women's clothing. I've been buying and selling it for less than a month. It didn't take me long to learn what some big mistakes are. I thought for sure this one was a mistake. It's a chocolate brown corduroy Gap skirt. It was pre-owned, which is what made me nervous about it, but it sold very quickly.

• Acquired On: 1/11/12
• Listed On: 1/12/12
• Sold On: 1/15/12
• Paid: $1.49
• Sold For: $14.99 + shipping

My friend Tina has had good luck selling shower curtain hooks, so when I spotted these at Goodwill a few weeks ago, I decided to go for it. I had someone send me a message asking if I could get them in red. Can you picture how luxurious that bathroom would be?? I did mess up the shipping on this one. I thought for sure I could ship them first class, but they ended up being 14 ounces, so I lost a dollar or so on shipping, but that's no big deal.

• Acquired On: 12/23/11
• Listed On: 12/27/11
• Sold On: 1/15/12
• Paid: $2.11
• Sold For: $19.99 + shipping

I have a love/hate relationship with Corningware. I've sold some casseroles for $50. Others I couldn't pay people to take away. This was the last piece I had listed. From here on, I'll only buy the 5qt casseroles, I think. This is the Blue Medallion pattern. I found almost no information on it at all, so I priced it high, thinking it was rare. Turns out it's not rare - it's just a dud. I got an offer this week for it, and I suspect I would have taken the offer no matter how low it was, just to get rid of it.

• Acquired On: 10/30/10 (yes, a year and 4 months ago)
• Listed On: ??
• Sold On: 1/13/12
• Paid: $5.27
• Sold For: $20.00 + shipping

I might as well just copy/paste my previous paragraph and substitute "Care Bears" for "Corning Ware" except that part about the 5 quart ones ... Care Bears really are hit and miss, but if I can buy them super cheap, I'll buy pretty much any of them. I went out on a limb and invested a huge amount of money for this guy <end sarcasm>. I was pleased that he sold for my full asking price.

• Acquired On: 7/16/11
• Listed On: ??
• Sold On: 1/18/12
• Paid: 13 cents (see? told ya - huge investment)
• Sold For: $21.99 (-$3.28 shipping)

I mentioned these Clarks sandals earlier this week. I didn't have them too terribly long. I figured they'd sell once the weather started to warm up, but I didn't expect to sell them in January. They were in like-new condition.

• Acquired On: 8/13/11
• Listed On: ??
• Sold On: 1/16/12
• Paid: $2.99
• Sold For: $25.00 (-$4.90 shipping)

I've never seen a pair of Borns like this before. They were in really great shape, but there was no indication of size anywhere. I didn't even see anywhere on them where the size might have rubbed off. So I stressed in my listing that I couldn't guarantee the size, and to please be sure to consider the provided measurements. I shipped them out this morning. Hopefully they work, or I'll be getting a return next week...

• Acquired On: 11/26/11
• Listed On: 12/12/11
• Sold On: 1/18/12
• Paid: $4.90
• Sold For: $35.00 (-$10.24 shipping)

I love finding Naots. This is another one of those brands that sell for a nice price, but they take awhile. I've had these since May and was glad to see them go.

• Acquired On: 5/8/11
• Listed On: ??
• Sold On: 1/16/12
• Paid: $4.90
• Sold For: $50.00

And my favorite sale of the week:

I LOVE Danskos! I almost never find Danskos at my local Goodwill, and when I find them at other stores, they're usually priced pretty high. Apparently my Goodwill doesn't know anything about them, because they were priced just the same as all the other shoes. I bought these and shipped them right out 2 days later. Now THAT's a quick flip!

• Acquired On: 1/11/12
• Listed On: 1/12/12
• Sold On: 1/13/12
• Paid: $2.99
• Sold For: $50.00

What'd you sell this week?

What a Day!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet

I received an email yesterday from a reader asking me if I would be willing to make my inventory tracking spreadsheets available for purchase. Jennifer - ask and you shall receive!

It is a very basic spreadsheet with columns for what you buy, when and where you buy it, how much you paid for it, as well as details for when it sold and the sale price.  I have also included an area at the top that will automatically calculate the total you have spent on inventory during the year, as well as your total sales from that inventory during the year. This spreadsheet does not calculate net profit. It does not calculate eBay or Paypal fees. It does not track the shipping that you received or paid. I use this spreadsheet for two purposes:

• To refer back and see how much I spent on an item when deciding whether to accept an offer for the item
• To refer back and see how much something previously sold for in the event that I find another one

If you are interested in this document, you will find a link at the bottom right of my blog where you can purchase it. In time, I will be adding more and more documents to that section as I see a need for them. If there are any documents that you would like me to create for you, please feel free to let me know and I will do my best to create it and make it available.

Here Comes the Bride

Late spring and early summer are BIG for weddings. That means brides-to-be are shopping NOW. I sold this dress today, specifically for a wedding.

I had it listed for $34.99 OBO, with free shipping. I received this offer for $24.99 today. I was all set to counteroffer (because of the free shipping), when I realized it was going to Canada. So no free shipping! I accepted the offer. The buyer immediately wrote me, thanking me profusely for accepting the offer. Her daughter is very excited to wear this in her aunt's wedding in February.

So if you have anything that can be used for weddings: white/cream dresses (adult or child), mother-of-the-bride outfits, or of course wedding supplies, now is the time to get them listed. Even if it's not specifically wedding-related, but could be, be sure to market them to wedding shoppers. Go through your existing listings and see if any of those could be marketed to wedding buyers too.

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I shipped out 22 packages this morning. Whew! 3-day weekends are really hard on online sellers. Every weekend, I declare that I'm going to keep up with my packaging as the sales come in, but it never fails. Every Sunday night (Mondays on 3-day weekends), I find myself still packaging at midnight, sometimes even the next morning, rushing to beat the mail lady. Every time. This weekend was no exception. I'm grateful for the sales - don't get me wrong. But I SERIOUSLY need to keep up with my packaging throughout the weekend next time!

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Remember how I said that some categories sell in spurts? Microwave turntables would be one of those categories. I don't remember the last time I sold a turntable. It's been several weeks. I sold two of them today. I don't mind shipping those at all, now that I'm buying boxes for them. The profit margin on these is so huge, that I don't even mind paying $2 a box for them. I just got a new box shipment in yesterday. I had been buying 16 x 16 x 6 boxes, but 6" was too deep. I was having to use WAY too many packing peanuts (which I also buy). So I went with 16 x 16 x 4 boxes this time. The UPS guy dropped them off, and I shrieked, "Oh! They're so cuuuuute!!"  My 11 year old rolled her eyes and said, "Mom. They're boxes."  I said, "Yeah! But I'm used to deep boxes. These are little and cute!"  She said, "They're boxes." I told her to hush up and just let me be a nerd for a minute. She loved that.

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I also sold these today.

I always buy Soffts when I find them, as long as they're in great shape. I can usually get $25-30 out of them, but they are NOT a quick seller. These were a funky enough color that I knew they'd sell this spring. And sure enough! I'll ship them in a padded flat rate mailer, so I'm only out $4.90 on shipping for these.

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I stopped in at Goodwill today. I was there for 2 1/2 hours (with 2 toddlers!), but I found a TON of stuff! I'll be writing all about that tomorrow. I'm excited to get pictures taken of the new stuff so I can get them posted here and listed on eBay.

Who Wants To Be On My Blogroll?

I'm setting up a blogroll and would love to feature my readers' blogs! If you'd like to be included in my blogroll, please leave a comment with your blog link. In return, I'd appreciate it if you'd include me on yours. Thanks!

Tina's blog is so lonely over there on my blogroll. Let's see if we can't get her some buddies :)

Goals (Week of 1/16)

For nearly half a year, I have been setting weekly sales goals on eBay Underground. For awhile, I was meeting them every time, even if I raised them higher than I ever dreamed I could reach. But then something happened that I have only reached my goal ONCE out of the last 8 or 10 weeks, even though I have substantially LOWERED my sales goal.

So I'm going to shift my focus. I'm still going to make a weekly sales goal, but I'd also like to make some other goals so that my focus isn't 100% on my sales, which leads to real disappointment when I don't quite reach them.

Starting this week, I'll make a sales goal, a listing goal, and a miscellaneous eBay-related goal. The miscellaneous one can be something simple, like calling eBay or Paypal with a question, or researching a certain niche to find top-sellers ... something along those lines.

For this week, I would like to accomplish the following:

• Sales Goal: $800 (I have been struggling to meet this goal for quite some time now, despite the fact that I was consistently hitting $1000 a week for a couple months.)
• Listing Goal: List at least 20 new items this week
• Miscellaneous Goal: Double-check my cross-promotion links in several of my listings. Some of them are redirecting to search results instead of to my specific listings.

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Because shoes are my primary niche, it seemed natural to also move into selling shoe care products. I place a pretty large order with my supplier about once a month. Sales of these products happen in spurts. I can go a full week without selling a single jar of shoe cream, and then I'll have a day where that's almost all I sell. I'm in one of those spurts right now. Between yesterday and today, I have had well over $200 in shoe care product sales!

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It's the middle of January, and the weather here is just starting to get very cold out. It has been unseasonably warm so far this winter. But January has brought with it officially freezing cold weather. The last thing I want to think about right now is sandals, but guess what ... it's not bitter cold everywhere. Some people are starting to think about warmer weather. Some people live where it's warm all the time. Some people live where it's cold, but they are headed on vacation to someplace warmer and can't find warm-weather clothes or shoes locally.

I sold these Clarks today. They are going to a buyer in Pennsylvania. I'm in Pennsylvania. It's very cold here. That rules out the "warmer climate" buyer. I can only assume my buyer is either planning ahead or headed on vacation. I hope she's headed on vacation, and I hope she has a blast! How could you not have fun if you're wearing bright red faux snakeskin sandals?

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I haven't been thrifting in a couple days. I'm caught up with listing my thrifted stuff, so now I'm just gathering some odds and ends from around the house. Stuffed animals that the kids don't want anymore, things I bought and ended up never using, a bag of ball caps from my father-in-law ... As much as I hate to admit it, I don't HAVE to run out shopping every other day. I have more than enough goodies right here to keep me busy for weeks!  But we'll be out tomorrow, so I'll probably pop into Goodwill for their new half-off color. I just can't help myself.