She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

Costumes!

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This is what I have been up to this last month … times five. Yes, I bought five carts full of Halloween costumes on clearance. I wait until the price drops to 90% off. I think I did my biggest haul yet, split among four different stores. I spent a grand total of $812.41(!) earlier this month. (Which means that the initial retail price of the costumes was $8124.10.) My best guess is that I paid an average price of $2 per costume, which equals about 400 new items. The great thing is that I bought duplicates of quite a few, some in different sizes, meaning I can list it once and sell it again and again.

I am at least 2/3 of the way through listing them all. I have sold 14 of the newly listed costumes so far, and am approaching $300 in sales. I am keeping track of my gross sales from the haul, and am hoping to hit the $1000 mark by the end of December. When I hit that I will feel like I am close to making back my initial investment.

Here are some of the costumes I have already sold from my new listings – and I have sold multiples of the PJ Masks, Fancy Nancy and Puffer Fish costumes.

I will say that buying and selling costumes in this kind of quantity is not for everyone. There is, of course, the initial financial investment, not to mention the physical space all of the costumes will take up. You definitely need to take the long view because most won’t sell right away. But, I do sell costumes every single week. The sales come in slow and steady most of the year, and then mid-August to mid-October I sell costumes like crazy. The past few years September has been my highest sales month of the year.

Because the prices are so low, I do almost no research before purchasing. If I like it, into the cart it goes. The research starts when I get them all home. For some costumes the market is so saturated that they end up selling below retail price. Most sell right around retail price. And there are always a handful of costumes that are actually quite rare and sell well above the initial retail price. It’s a mixed bag for sure, but I enjoy it. And so I will continue to buy and sell costumes.

Looking for Youtube reseller recommendations

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A couple years back I used to sporadically watch reseller videos on Youtube, but that stopped completely when I was trying to juggle my own reselling with working outside the home 5 days per week. Since my job situation changed and I am spending the next year focusing on my reselling full-time, I have started watching Youtube videos again. And I am looking for recommendations! Who are your favorite Youtubers?

Bonus points if they are from the PNW (it’s fun to see what people are doing in my general area).

Bonus points if they sell things other than just clothing (it seems like all the resellers I watch focus almost exclusively on clothing, which I still like watching, but I personally source many other things).

Double bonus points if you are reading this and have your own Youtube channel. Definitely share that info!

But even if they don’t fit the criteria above, I would love to hear any recommendations you have for resellers you enjoy. Thanks in advance!

Favorite Flips Friday, 10/11/19

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I have had a pretty decent sales week, but they were mostly bread-and-butter, slow-and-steady sales. Here are a few:

(New old stock) notebook paper. You can tell from the packaging that it is vintage. I wish I knew why they bought it, it’s so random.
They immediately left positive FB.
Paid: $0.50 @ ys, Sold: $14.95
(listed since May, 2019)

Benelton Men’s Wool Sweater Vest
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $39.95 + shipping
(26 days after listed)

Elf on a Shelf loveys. Originally listed together, then someone asked to separate and I created a new listing … that they never purchased. Eventually relisted together, finally sold!
Paid: $3 on FB, Sold: $19.95
(originally listed Oct, 2016)

Princess & the Frog Tsum Tsums
Paid: $1 @ consignment sale,
Sold: $24.95
(11 hours after listed)

This is a vintage Care Bears toddler-size sleeping bag. The buyer was super excited, she said it is the same pattern she had when she was young, and she is going to repurpose it into a baby blanket for a family member.
Paid: $1 @ ys, BO Accepted: $25
(listed since July, 2019)

I have sold a few granny squares blankets, I definitely have the best luck with the black ones.
Paid: $3 @ ys, Sold: $39.95
(10 days after listed)

Did you have any noteworthy sales recently? I would love to hear about them!

Goals to stay on track

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For the last week or so my sales have been steady and in the ballpark of where I want them to be. Which is great! Unfortunately I was sick last week and worked almost not at all for two days, and about half speed the rest of the time. Which is not so great. Any time my listing drops off I fear my visibility and sales will drop off too.

I really need to finish off this month with strong sales. In addition to all of the normal financial obligations I am trying to meet, I also purchased airfare for my husband and FIL to fly to Pittsburgh in a couple months to see a Steelers game. The Steelers are my FIL’s favorite team and he has never seen them before on their home field. This has been a trip my husband has been wanting to take with his dad for years. My husband is turning the big 4-0 in a few months, and I figured that was as good as an excuse as any. So off they will go! And I would like to pay for the trip with eBay-made-money.

So my goals for the upcoming week are as follows:

  • List 12 new items/day on eBay.
  • Try to have the 12 new listings completed before 8 p.m.
  • Cross post 5 listings onto PM.
  • Spend 1 hour/day (5 of the 7 days) organizing my storage room.

It doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but two days next week are inservice days from school for my boys, so it will feel like I only have a 3 day workweek. Ah well. And so it goes, we soldier on.

What are your current goals? I would love to hear about them!

Favorite Flips Friday, 10/4/19

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My sales have actually been pretty strong this last week, but the items I’ve sold haven’t been particularly noteworthy.

My favorite thrift has been taken over by Halloween, which means there are fewer racks of clothes to look through. The past couple weeks I’ve been stretching myself by perusing some of the men’s items too.

NWT Saddlebred Sweater Vest 3XLT
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $19.95 (4 days after listed)

This chevron print dress was so pretty.
The pictures don’t do it justice.

Cache Dress Size 0
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $24.95
(listed since Aug, 2019)

Evan Picone Green Suit Size 12
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $34.95
(listed since July, 2019)

Tis the season to sell coats.
I have sold several recently.

Forecaster of Boston Wool Coat, Size 14
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $34.95
(listed since June, 2019)

I picked these up for a quarter each at a yard sale this summer, and they started getting watchers immediately after listing.

Paid: $0.75 @ ys, Sold: $19.95
(18 days after listed)

Paid: $3 @ ys, BO accepted: $29.99
(listed since July, 2019)

NWT Baby Gear Sports Blanket
Paid: $2.39 @ FM, Sold: $32.95
Listed since Nov, 2018

Paid: $2 @ ys, Sold: $49.95 + shipping
(listed since June, 2017)

This is a niche I would really like to explore more. It was a nice flip but it took a really long time to sell. The Recycleista blog did a series on selling flatware a few years back that I need to revisit.

How were your sales this week? And do you have any experience selling flatware? I would love to hear about it!

Celebrating a small success

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As I previously mentioned, I spent most of the last school year working 5 days per week and thus spent a lot less time on my eBay business. Today is the first day in many MANY months that I have seen my “compared to same period a year ago” percentage in the green! At times I was in the red as much as 50% below last year. I know it’s a small thing, but it feels like a solid step in the right direction. Yay!

A new season

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I have moved into a new season of my life, both literally and figuratively.

For the past many years I have kind of had the best of both worlds. When my oldest son was born (now almost 12 years ago) I was able to stay home with him. This was really important to me, especially since we don’t have any family who lives nearby to help out. I know how lucky I was to have the choice to stay home. I was also lucky that I was able to move from my full-time job as a librarian into a substitute position. The great thing about the sub position was that I had total control over when I would work. When my boys were young this limited me to working on days my husband was off, which worked out well. As they have gotten older and are now in school full time I started working more and more, and during the last school year I was usually working 5 days a week.

That was, until the middle of June, when I found out that all sub positions city-wide were being eliminated. There were other departments in the city affected by this, but it hit the library especially hard – 18 people lost their jobs.

I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel. Part of me was sad, for sure. I had worked there for 17(!) years. But there was also a little part of me that has always wondered what I could do if I wasn’t trying to split my time between my work there and my work at home.

So, I enjoyed July and August with my boys being out of school, working from home. During those couple months I was still trying to decide if I needed to try and find another job, or if I should stick with online sales. In fact at the end of August I was in the middle of filling out an application (for a job that only comes open once a year) when I realized that I really, really did not want the job. What I wanted was to give myself the next 9 months to work from home and see what I could do when my time was really my own.

So of course I talked to my husband, and he was on board. The gist of what he said was – as long as we are able to pay our bills at the end of the month, we’re good. Do whatever makes you happy. Yup, he’s awesome. So I didn’t apply for the job, and I’ve given myself nine months (now down to eight) to see what I can do when my time is my own.

So far, this is what I have done. (This was as of 10 minutes ago, as I type.)

I have been working and working and working to get my “compared to same period a year ago” back up to 0. Because I was working so much at the library there were many months that my sales were 50% less than they had been the year before. I am soooo close to that goal! (Of 0%, ha. But we’ve got to start somewhere, right?)

I have many more goals that I am working towards, but that is my life right now in a nutshell.

I would love to hear about how the work-life balance is going for you. Do you have a good routine, or is it ever changing? Please share!