She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

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.  

Week in Review . . . so to speak

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I’ve sold 5 items in the last week or so.  I took on another marathon typing project which is once again absorbing a lot of my time.  It’s the last one the gal needs to have done.  It is pretty easy money all things considered, and much much more than I would make eBaying so I felt I couldn’t pass it up.  Can’t wait to be done, though.  Again.
Here’s what I’ve sold recently:
Elmer Fudd sold within 3 hours of listing!  To a gal in Canada, so she pays shipping.  I promptly got a notice that she had paid by e-check and I would receive notification when the check cleared.  I’m still waiting on it to clear.  It’s been almost a week.  
Elmer Fudd plush: 
$13.49 + shipping
This sold in just a couple days.
Smee plush: 
$11.99 – shipping
These are Mickey Mouse ears for a Mr. Potato Head.  I think they’re adorable!  They say “Mr. Potato Head” on the back, just like you would get your name stitched on if you bought a hat at one of the parks.  I was tempted to keep them – but knew every time I picked them up off my son’s floor I would feel like I was looking at a $10 bill.
Mr. Potato Head Mickey Ears: 
$9.49 – shipping
This took a few months and a lower price to finally sell.  I was very happy to see it go.  It was pretty big, and I can use the extra storage space!
Scuba Grumpy Care Bear: 
$39.99 – shipping
This was my one auction (vs. BIN) sale for the week.  I am definitely putting this guy on my BOLO list from now on.  He had quite a few watchers and more than one bid.
Chester Cheetos Cheetah: 
$16.49 – shipping (not yet paid)

I’ve done quite a bit of thrifting recently.  Over the weekend I went to two church rummage sales, a yard sale, and I returned to the $1 clothing estate sale that has apparently been running every weekend since I went at the beginning of Feb.  I also made my Monday visit to Value Village this morning.  I took a bunch of pictures of items throughout the afternoon.  I’ll try to share some of my finds soon . . . and heck, maybe I’ll even try to get some of them listed on eBay!

Weeks in Review (Jan 20 – Feb 10)

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Wow, I haven’t done one of these posts in 3 weeks!  I think one of those was a “dead” week when I didn’t have anything listed.  Last week I sold 7 items, this week it was 8.  Pretty slow.  Here are a few of my favorite sales from the past couple weeks:
I picked this up at a yard sale last summer, and it’s been hanging around ever since.  Finally listed it, and it sold pretty quickly.  I would guess I paid around a quarter for it.

NWT Coppertone Sport:
$16.99 – shipping
I bought this laptop from a post-Christmas clearance for $10.07 a year or two ago.  I held on to it for awhile and planned to give it to my oldest as a gift when little brother was born.  But in the meantime he was given a Buzz Lightyear computer last Christmas, and an orange vtech laptop at a yard sale this last summer.  He likes and plays with both of them, but really, he doesn’t need a third.
NIB Lightning McQueen vtech laptop:
$39.99-shipping
This is a gift we got when my oldest was a baby.  We used it a handful of times for him, but mostly it’s just been a doorstop.  Finally decided it was time to pass it on.
Fisher Price Crib Projector:
$24.99 – shipping
Okay, so this is probably a big eBay sellers no-no.  But . . . on January 31st I was trying to use up the last of my 50 free listings for the month.  I have had a stack of Dr. Seuss books sitting next to my computer desk for a couple months waiting to be listed.  It was 11:30 p.m. and I had one free listing left.  So I listed “lot of 15 hardback Dr. Seuss books” – uploaded the picture – and put in the description “will list titles soon”.  And I went to bed.  I was really tired, I knew it would take awhile to type all the titles and include the conditions of the books, and I figured I would just update the listing in the morning.  But of course I didn’t.  At the end of the week I had several watchers and I *still* hadn’t updated the listing.  It was scheduled to end on a free listing day, so I thought when I re-listed it I would actually go ahead and get it updated.  To my surprise, it sold about half an hour before the listing ended.  When I packaged them up I was happy to see that the books were all in very good condition – hopefully the buyer will be pleasantly surprised, since I feel like they kind of took a gamble on that listing.
Dr. Seuss book lot:
$39.99 – shipping
I bought my first Starbucks mug a month or so ago at a Goodwill.  Paid $4.99 – was not at all sure if it was worth it when I did it.  This was my first mug to mail, and I took forever in getting it packaged up.  I felt good about it when I was finally done, but I do hope that it has arrived safely.
Starbucks Desk Mug:
$29.99 – shipping
You may recall that an eBay seller I don’t know e-mailed me recently to let me know that I had BAMM BAMM spelled incorrectly in my listing (I had it spelled BAM BAM) and that I should double my asking price.  I took his/her advice, and it was good!
NWT Bamm Bamm Plush:
$39.99 – shipping
It seems like this was one of the first things I purchased months ago specifically with reselling in mind.  I didn’t recognize the bird, but it was NWT, from the Disney Store, and only cost 50 cents.  A sure thing, right?  Well, it took me awhile to figure out who he was.  Tip, from The Little Mermaid 2.  Of course.  Not in high demand, but he did finally sell this week (after I dropped the price a bit).
Tip Plush:
$27.99 – shipping

I’d love to see sales pick up, but I don’t think that will happen until I get some fun new things listed, which won’t happen until the typing project is over.  The good news is that I only have 15 more pages left to type!!  The bad news is that I then have 550 to proofread.  Should be completely done by the end of the week.  Hooray.

Thursday, Week in Review (Jan 11-19)

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Better late than never, right?  My “distractions” project is keeping me REALLY busy!

This last week was decent, sales-wise.  I had 15 sales (from 122), so I reached my 10% goal again.  I also surpassed my $150 weekly goal.  This is what I sold:

BIN:

Piglet plush.  Purchased 12/31/11 for 50 cents.

Sold 1/11/12: $13.99 – shipping

Small Woody and Jessie talking plush dolls.  I’m pretty sure I picked them up on Jan 9th – I think they cost $2.24 for three of them.  There were two Woodys – I’ve got the second one listed right now.

Sold 1/14/12: $14.99 – shipping

Eeyore plush.  Paid 74 cents at the same time I bought Woody and Jessie above.

Sold 1/16/12: $14.99 – shipping

Bob the Builder – Birthday Scoop.  I don’t remember when or where I picked him up, but I would guess that I didn’t pay more than a quarter for it.  Pulled it out of one of my son’s toy bins recently.

Sold 1/18/12: $15.99 – shipping

EB Rabbit!  He is from the movie Hop.  I haven’t seen this movie yet, but I knew quickly that this guy was going to be a winner.  He actually didn’t sell the first week that I had him listed, but he had enough hits and watchers that I felt confident that he would eventually sell at the price I wanted.

Sold 1/19/12:  $29.99 – shipping

I sold quite a few items at “auction” this week.  The way that I (have pretty much always) run my auctions is that I start with the minimum price that I am willing to accept, and then I will include a slightly higher BIN price too if adding BIN is also free.

Auctions:

I came across these jungle Caltoy puppets at a consignment store a week or two ago, and fell in love with them.  They are super cute and looked brand new.  They were $8 total, which was kind of spendy for me, but I decided to buy them anyway.  I’ve had good luck selling puppets recently so I decided I would list them, but was secretly hoping they wouldn’t sell.  They’re so darn cute!  Well, they sold the first week, of course.

Sold 1/16/12: $26.99 – shipping

Pink Dearfoams slippers that I received as a gift 
a year or two ago and never wore.

Sold 1/19/12: $19.99 – shipping

Vintage Fisher Price Little People.  I talked about buying these on my very first Value Village thrifting-for-eBay-excursion way back in August.  They finally sold.  I didn’t lose money on them, but I think I made less than $5.  Oh well, live and learn.  Was glad to see them go.

Sold 1/19/12:  $9.99 – shipping

Sodor Mining Company.  I talked about buying a bunch of wooden Thomas accessories in my first ever blog post way back in July.  I bought seven different pieces for $20 total.  I had been holding on to them to give to my oldest, but when I pulled them out at Christmastime both my husband I am thought: meh.  They’re nice, but really, the kid has enough train toys.  To eBay they shall go!

Sold 1/19/12:  $39.99 – shipping

Winnie the Pooh silverware and chopsticks set.  I am almost certain this was a hand-me-down from my brother’s family.  Our oldest already has a Thomas set, so I thought we could part with Pooh.

Sold 1/19/12: $11.99 – shipping

Star Wars lunch box.  This was kind of a mistake on my part.  During a pre-Christmas sale, Woot had these lunchboxes on sale for $5 each.  What a deal! I thought.  I bought three for just under $20 total, including shipping.  This is the second one that I have sold.  While I won’t lose money on them, I do think that after the initial cost, fees, and shipping costs are factored in, they fall into the ‘not really worth the time and effort spent’ category.

Sold 1/19/12:  $18.99 – shipping

Really?  Random.  I originally listed it before Halloween, and have been relisting with a bunch of other items on freebie days.  I actually found a cute Halloween hat with some baby clothes last week that I was planning to list with it the next time around – oh well.

Sold 1/19/12:  $7.99 – shipping

I also came across these two Disney outfits when I was going through a big batch of outgrown baby clothes.  Thought they might be eBay worthy.

Sold 1/19/12:  $13.99 – shipping – not yet paid for

Infantino Hip Rider.  This was something I picked up at a yard sale for $3 thinking I might use it.  Quickly realized I never actually would.

Sold 1/19/12: $16.99 – shipping – not yet paid for
 I also sold a Hard Rock Cafe guitar shaped pin that I think we got for free on one of our trips.  But, I can’t share a picture of it because I originally listed it months ago . . . before the great computer crash of 2011.  No longer have a copy of the pic.
Sold 1/19/12: $8.99 – shipping (not yet paid for)
 Three still unpaid for – hopefully they pay soon!

Tuesday, Week in Review (Jan 4-10)

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Sooo, it’s only ten days into the year and I am already way behind on my monetary goal.  Why, you ask?  The short answer is: I have almost nothing listed!  Because I’ve been relying so heavily on the free Tuesday listings.  I know, I know.  Time to open a store.  And I’m going to.  As soon as I come up with a decent name.  I can’t think of anything!

Here’s what I did sell this week.  Two things, that I’ve already mentioned.  
12″ Cheer Bear.  Bought on 12/31/11 for 50 cents.
Sold 1/4/12: $19.99 – shipping
Cat in the Hat sheet.  Bought on 1/3/12 for $2.49.
Mailed it to New Zealand this morning.
Sold 1/9/12: $24.99 + shipping

Yup, that’s it.  I have around 90 items that could easily be re-listed, and a bunch more that have yet to be listed.  I feel like this last week has been completely wasted.  Time to get busy.  And to think of a name for a store!

Tuesday, Week in Review (Dec 26 – Jan 3)

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My sales for the last week or so.   I had 8 sales, which is right around the 10% goal I have set for myself . . . but these were all low-profit sales.
BIN
These books had been listed for a couple months now.  Was glad to see them go.
4 Arthur books: $9.99 – shipping
 Second time I have “sold” this book.  This time the buyer actually paid for it.
$6.99 – shipping
Ditto on this book.  (Second time sold, this time actually paid for.)

Promotional Rudolph Book: $11.99 – shipping
I paid $1.50 for this set awhile back at a consignment sale.

T-Rex Little People set: $24.99 – shipping
This looked brand new.
Musical Wonders Soothe and Glow: $13.99 – shipping
Auctions
This is kind of a “why did I bother?” auction.  I listed them awhile back when I listed a bunch of small kids’ book lots that I just wanted to get out of the house.
2 Hardy Boys books: $5.99 – shipping
I talked about buying Shrek here.  I had planned to take him back to VV the next week, but I was in my brief no-thrift zone so didn’t make it back.  Am glad to see him go.
Talking Shrek plush: $21.99 – shipping
This one kind of made me laugh.  It’s been hanging around for awhile now (since I bought it for my husband and myself several years ago – never got around to using it, of course).  Hopefully the new owner will be better at turning over their new leaf this year.
$8.99 – shipping

I also listed my first Care Bear a couple days ago, and it sold today.  I kind of felt like selling my first Care Bear was an eBay rite of passage.  And ya gotta love a quick sale!

Sunday, Week in Review (Dec 19-25)

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So, I have had ZERO new listings in the last week (or two?)  I had 16 re-listings that ended on Saturday.  Sold a grand total of one item in the last week.  Having the down time was actually really nice!  Here’s what I sold:

Little People Christmas Train: $17.99 – shipping

I can feel my motivation building back up, which is good.  I’ve been thinking a lot about my goals for the next year, including what I want to do with this eBay thing.  Will share soon.

Sunday, Week in Review (Dec 7-11, 2011)

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This was a shorter selling “week” for me.  Because I like to take advantage of the free listing days, I often do the bulk of my listing on Tuesdays.  This time it was 5-day listings that were free, so my auctions ended today.  I had around 85 items listed and sold 12, which means I hit (exceeded, even) my 10% goal.  Here’s what I sold:
BIN
I’ve listed this talking/laughing Blues Clues plush a number of times, so was glad to finally see it go. 
Blues Clues Talking Dog $22.99 – shipping

I haven’t gone to any thrift stores so far this month, so I did a little “thrifting” in my son’s room last week.  He has a whole drawer full of puppets that he never plays with so I decided to list a bunch of them.  When researching these I found people were selling them individually, but I couldn’t find another whole set.  They quickly had a number of hits and watchers, and sold in just a day or two.  I know I’ve seen them at yard sales before, so from now on I’ll definitely be picking them up.

Baby Einstein Puppet Lot $29.99 – shipping

I have listed this set of books several times before and they had little to no interest.  This week I had someone in the States e-mailing and asking if I could ship the books to London.  I’m always wary when people want items shipped somewhere that they are not.  We e-mailed back and forth a couple times and I was starting to hope she would just decide she didn’t want them when someone else bought them first.  Kind of a relief.

Disney Princess Book Lot (of 5) $11.99 – shipping
This is a Montgomery Ward promotional book.  I found two of them at a used book store for 10 cents each.  There is at least one prior edition from the ’30s, but both that I have are from 1967.  
Rudolph Promotional Book $11.99 – shipping (not yet paid for)

This sold in less than a day, which really surprised me.  I had been hesitant to even list it – I was thinking about waiting and putting it in a lot.  But, I already had the photo taken and I was trying to clear out my “to be listed” photo folder on my computer.  Glad I decided to give it a try.
 Little People Dog & House $11.99 – shipping
I’ve listed this skirt a bunch of times and it has generated many watchers and a number of questions, but finally! someone has now bought it.

 Notations 3X black skirt $19.99 – shipping

 He talks.  He’s in great shape.  He had several watchers and sold within a couple days of listing.
Puss in Boots $24.99 – shipping
We got this album as a wedding gift.  I am almost positive it was purchased at Target because I remember buying more than one of them as gifts for friends’ weddings.  I was surprised when I searched for “just married” or “wedding” albums that there were almost none listed.  I wonder if it’s just the time of year?  Or?  Anyway, it had quite a few watchers and it sold at a decent price, so I’ll keep an eye out for these at yard sales as well.  I do see them on occasion.

Just Married Photo Album $15.99 – shipping

I just listed this a few days ago and it sold this afternoon.  It’s a mix of Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Betty MacDonald books.

Chapter Books (lot of 9) $20.99 – shipping

 Auctions:

This Richard Scarry set sells for a lot more if it is complete, which mine is not.  What is there is in great condition, and I’m happy with the price I did get from it.

Richard Scarry Brio Grocery Store $35.99 – shipping
Yay.  I’m happy this sold.  I paid $4.49 for it a couple weeks ago, which seemed like a lot for a used sheet.  Especially since completeds showed that in the past they’ve only sold for around $10.  But, there weren’t any others currently listed so I decided to price mine higher and see if I got any takers.  This is the second vintage flat sheet that I’ve sent to Japan in the last month.
Little People Twin Flat Sheet $29.99 + shipping (going to Japan)
This one got kind of a last-minute bid.
Greendog girls’ skirt $9.99 – shipping
And, to make things even better, I’ve already packaged up all of my items that have already been paid for!  Always my least favorite part.

Week in Review

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Another week gone.  This week of selling was cut short a little bit because all of my auctions ran for 5 days instead of 7.  My original goal at the beginning of the week was to sell 5 of my 76 listings.  Towards the end of the week I decided that my ongoing goal for sales will be 10% of my listings in any given week.  I have no idea if this is high or low in comparison with what anyone else tries to sell, but for me I think it is a fairly obtainable goal.  For this week 10% would have been 7 or 8 sales.  I ended the week with 11, so I was happy with that.  Of those 11, 7 were repeat listings, 4 were new listings.  I also listed a BIN item on Sunday that sold on Monday that I shipped out with the rest of last week’s sales.

So are Sundays really the best day to list and have your auctions end?  Well, I can’t say for sure, but at the start of Sunday I only had bids on 4 of my items, and by the evening it seemed like every time I checked another item had a bid on it.  Several items had multiple bids.  Maybe because it was a Sunday, maybe because of the upcoming holidays, maybe a combination.  Regardless, I’m not complaining.

This week I sold a couple plush, a couple kids books, a Jansport bag, two pairs of infant shoes (to the same person), a girls holiday dress, a Thomas toy, and a couple other items.  Around $130 in all.  Again, my per-item sales price was not very high.  But it’s better than nothing, for now.

Monday was kind of a hectic day for me since 8 of my sales had been paid for, and I was trying to get them all out that day.  But it was also a one-cent listing day, so I was trying to get new listings up too.  It was not fun to have them land on the same day.  I’ve discovered that the shipping process is my absolute least favorite part of the whole eBay experience.  I’m starting to dread it.  It takes forever, and it has become kind of a grind for me.  But, it’s all part of the eBay package (haha) so I’ll stop my complaining and move on.

I still have 2 sales from last week that have not yet been paid for, and one person who paid with an echeck, which is a new one on me.  I e-mailed her to let her know that I had received her payment but that I was following the suggestion in the e-mail I received in waiting to ship her package until her check has cleared.  Hopefully it doesn’t take too long.

As I mentioned before, I did spend a chunk of time listing on Monday.  Between Sunday and Monday I got  18 new listings up, and relisted 65 items, for a total of 83 listings.  I’ve sold one BIN item so far, so in keeping with my (around) 10% goal I will hope to sell 8 more items this week.  We’ll see how it goes . . .

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

eBay, Week in Review

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Well, if eBay continues its free listing days on (most) Tuesdays, it seems that Tuesdays will become my listing days, and Wednesday will be my shipping days.  Yesterday eBay offered 5000 (!) free listings.  I got 76 items listed.  Only 8 or 9 of them were new (I had hoped to get up 20 new listings but missed that goal by over half), the rest are repeats.  If I get 5 sales this week I think I’ll consider it a success.  I don’t have many exciting or (potentially) profitable listings right now.

The twist for this week is that the free listings were only for 1, 3, or 5 day auctions.  I’ve only done 7 day auctions before.  But, I actually like the idea of the 5 day auction because when you list on Tuesday the auction will end on Sunday.  I’ve heard (although I can’t say for sure) that Sunday is the best day to have your auctions end because that’s the day that the most people are shopping.

I had 13 sales for a total of around $190 over the last week.  As you can tell, my per-item-sales-price isn’t that high.  I need to figure out how to raise it.  (Work smarter, not harder, right?)  Ten of the 13 were new listings, only 3 were repeats.  Once again my highest ticket item (around $30 + shipping) was purchased by someone international (this time Japan) and once again they did NOT contact me beforehand.  I would be happy to sell and send my items to them, but it annoys me that they don’t contact me first when I very clearly state that they need to.  After I finish up this post I am going to do some research on USPS and figure out how much it will cost to get the item to them (a vintage flat sheet – my first time dabbling in this area).

Eleven of the 13 sales have been paid for thus far, and I got them all in the mail today.  Yay me.

I’ve done no thrifting this week (I usually hit at least Value Village every Monday morning, but this week I was partying it up at Chuck E. Cheese for my son’s 4th birthday instead).  And I haven’t had the itch or motivation to go elsewhere.  And, I will do no eBay listing tomorrow because I don’t want my listings to end on Thanksgiving.  It will be nice to take a mental eBay break, even if it only lasts for a day.

So, until Friday, then.