She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

July – Month In Review

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Just a quick synopsis:
July 1 – July 31, 2012
New items listed: 137
Sales: 101
Wow!
I didn’t quite make my listing goal (to make it to 300 by the end of August, I was hoping to make it to 150 by the end of this month).  But, having the ticker and keeping track has made a HUGE difference.  It has definitely helped me maintain my focus and motivation.

Looking forward to another productive month!


USPS, New Finds, and Goals Update

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USPS
Does anyone else ever marvel at the amazing-ness of the US Postal System?  I’m not being snarky – completely sincere.  I’m sure we’ve all had our issues or glitches at one time or another, but really . . . the speed with which the items that I sell are delivered is frankly staggering sometimes.  I mailed a plush out Saturday morning that was heading to Indiana.  My BIL got married that day, so it was hectic, and I didn’t send out my “your package is in the mail” e-mail as I usually would.  Mailed some more packages today, sent the e-mails, and then checked the tracking info on the item I mailed on Saturday, trying to decide if I should send a belated e-mail.  Surprise!  The package has already been delivered.  Left Oregon sometime Saturday (via first class mail), delivered in Indiana on Monday.  Seriously, how is that even possible?!  Impressed, yes I am.
New Finds
I did a little pre-wedding yard-saling on Saturday.  Just me and the 4 year-old.  He is the best little yard sale buddy.  He loves it as much as I do, and while, of course, he does ask for things, 99% of the time he is fine when I say no, because he knows there will be another yard sale just around the corner.  We had a great time.
I mostly picked up books for eBay lots and kids clothes (found some for the 4 year-old to grow into, hooray!)  Didn’t come across much of interest for eBay.
I also went to Value Village this morning.  I didn’t find a lot, but I did pick up a big bag of wooden Thomas tracks that included the following:

I paid $7.74 for the above pieces, plus a bunch of “regular” Thomas brand tracks, and a couple trains.  That was the highlight of the thrifting trip.
And, quickly, a goals recap.  
The good:
I ordered my boxes and envelopes from USPS, and ordered some self-adhesive mailing labels from eBay.  
I found my camera!!!  In my purse.  So it wasn’t really as missing as I thought it might be. 
The could-be-better:
I wanted to get at least 35 new listings up.  I ended up with 28 new eBay listings, so I didn’t quite make my goal.  I also had 4 new half.com listings, 8 items I had to manually relist, and 1 that needed some updating.
I clipped a few coupons, filed none of them.  Still have a ways to go on this project.  I hate being at the store and KNOWING I have a coupon for an item at home, somewhere.  Being disorganized is literally costing me money.  Sigh.
I’ve mostly gotten my items input on my inventory spreadsheet.  Mostly.  What does everyone do about keeping track of books or kids clothes for lots?  I bought a bunch of books this weekend, mostly for a quarter apiece.  I just don’t see myself inputting and keeping track of how much I paid for each individual title.
The hasn’t-happened-yet:
I didn’t get around to running my sale on kids clothing.  I had most of them set to a 30-day run without automatically relisting, so the ones that haven’t sold I have to go back in and relist.  Want to get that done before I start the sale.  

So many things to do, so little time.

This week’s goals:
 

Average at least five new listings per day.

Add calculated shipping to at least one listing this week.  STILL haven’t done this yet.  Need to do it once, just to show myself how easy it really is.

Run a sale on kids’ clothes.  And maybe plush again.  I sold at least 10 plush items this week, and most were when I was running the sale.  It really does seem to make a difference.
Continue to input inventory into my spreadsheet. 

Spend some more time organizing my coupons.  

Goals for the week

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I am back from vacation.  Yard sales are really picking up around here.  eBay sales have been low the last couple weeks.  It is time for me to get my act together.  So, here are a few goals that I want to accomplish by the end of the week:
Average at least five new listings per day.  Right now I have 10 new listings for the week.  I’d like to get it up to 10 new listings each day, but I’m trying to be realistic enough that I will be able to keep up, not just give up.
Order more priority mail boxes and envelopes.  I mean, seriously.  They’re free.  Why haven’t I done this already?
Order self-adhesive mailing labels.  I’m still printing mailing labels on paper and taping them on the packages.  I know, it’s ridiculous.
Run a sale on kids’ clothes.  I just started another plush sale, so I will probably run this sale towards the end of the week.
Finish inputting my weekend’s purchases on my inventory spreadsheet.  I am bad about keeping up with this.  I know it is going to come back to haunt me.
Spend some time organizing my coupons.  I know this isn’t eBay related, but I used to be a couponer.  I have REALLY been neglecting it recently in favor of eBay.  I’ve got weeks worth of inserts that are unclipped, unorganized.  I’m going to try and catch up on that this week as well.  
Find my camera!!!!  Seriously, it’s been missing since we got back from vacation. I thought I had seen it after we got back, and yet I can’t seem to find it.  I am starting to get a little nervous.

Hopefully sharing my goals will motivate me to accomplish them.  I’ll report back at the end of the week and let you know how I do.

eBay Goals

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Good grief, can I blather on.  I just wrote a long post elaborating on all of the eBay related goals I have, and all about the vacations we will hopefully be spending my earnings on.  Here is the abbreviated version of that post.

Ongoing eBay goals:
  • sell 10% of my listed items in any given week (current goal that I’ve been able to meet pretty consistently) 
  • list 5 new items per day, 5 days per week (equaling 25 per week/100 per month – I really want to get all of my “inventory” aka clutter listed and organized!)
  • average at least $125 per week in sales ($500/month) above and beyond eBay + PayPal fees
Where will the money go?  Vacations!  Specifically to assist in funding:
  • Orlando family vacation: May, 2012
  • 10 year anniversary vacation in New York: October, 2012

So far eBay has been a bit of a lark, a fun hobby.  But, if we’re going to be able to pay for two “real” vacations this year it’s time for me to get busy and start selling.  And saving!

Short Term Goals

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After three fun, party-filled days for the now 4-year-old, it’s time to get back to business.  I haven’t listed anything on eBay since last Tuesday.  I still have 31 free listings for the month (because last Tuesday’s free day didn’t require you to use your 50 freebies first – awesome!)  My husband is taking the 4-year-old to see Puss-in-Boots this afternoon.  I’m hoping the baby will sleep.  So here are my short-term goals:

-prep to mail (and take to PO) two paid items needing to be shipped
-e-mail eBayer in response to question about size of skirt
-e-mail eBayer to make sure they are clear on what size a shirt is (since I think my listing is confusing)
-list at least 10 new items

Off I go!

UPDATE:  11:17 p.m.

So . . . of course I didn’t have as much time to get stuff done as I was hoping for this afternoon.  The little one took a very short nap, and the movie my son and husband went to see was only 1.5 hours long so it seemed like they were back in a jiffy.  But, I did get the two items packaged up and off to the PO, as well as my e-mails sent.  Nothing new has been listed yet, but I’ve got several ready to go (but am now holding off on listing them until tomorrow – 5000!? free listings!)  Crazy.  I’ll try and get 20 new ones up throughout the day, and relist all of my non-sellers as well.  Happy eBay Tuesday!