She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

BOLO ~ Julia (Sesame Street)

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Sesame Street has a new character.  Her name is Julia, and she has autism.  A very limited number of Julia books and plush have been released.  My understanding is that they have all been given out as gifts/prizes, and have not been sold.  If you’re lucky enough to find one now, snap it up!  Check out completeds HERE.

***In the future I am sure there will be a mainstream store release of Julia items, at which time the value will go down dramatically.  I would always recommend looking up “BOLOs” before purchasing, to determine the current value.***

Happy hunting!

Favorite Flips Friday, 4/28/17

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Here are a few of my flips from the past couple weeks.  Nothing major, just slow and steady.

I always like to start with plush.  I have another just like this pup that I picked up at the same time, only it is black and brown.

Kellytoy 29″ Floppy Plush Dog
Paid: $3.99 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (month after listed)

This plush has been listed for awhile.  I got several inquiries about it, and every one of them was international, which I found interesting.

Boo Boo 1985 Applause Sheep Plush
Paid: $0.25 @ ys, BO: $25 + shipping to Canada (listed since July, 2016)


All three of the blankets above were sold when I was running a sale, for $22.45/each.

My best recent costume sale:


Suicide Squad Killer Croc Teen Costume
Paid: $2.49 @ Wal-Mart, Sold (on sale): $37.15 (listed since December, 2016)

A few clothing sales:

This dress is so pretty.  I got a really nice note from the buyer.


Betsy & Adam White Dress
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (listed since January, 2017)

I picked up three of these last year, NWT.  The first two sold long ago, the last one *finally* sold.


NWT Tracy Negoshian Sunbathers Dress
Paid: $3 @ TJ Maxx, Sold (on sale): $26.95 (listed since February, 2016)


Ralph Lauren Crest Blazer
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold (on 7-day auction): $30.95

And other random sales:

Fossil Crossbody Shoulder Bag
Paid: $0.50 @ ys, Sold: $29.95 (listed since November, 2016)

I had a couple totes of vintage Little People that I had been collecting for awhile.  In January I separated them all out into lots to list, and they have been selling here and there since.

5 Chunky Vintage Little People
Sold: $16.95

The same person bought both lots below:

8 Vintage Wooden Figures / Farm Lot
Sold: $44.90

If you have a fun or exciting flip, I would love to hear about it!

Brand BOLO ~ Sympli

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This is a brand I just stumbled across in the thrift one day, but it seems to consistently sell well.  It is called Sympli, and it is made in Canada.  Not all pieces sell for top dollar, but it’s definitely something I will keep on my radar.  Check out completeds HERE.

Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $27.95 (3 days after listed)

Favorite Flips Friday, 4/14/17

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Here are a few of my sales from the past couple weeks.

As always, I love to sell loveys!

Baby Gund Sprinkles lovey set
Paid: $2.99 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (8 days after listed)

I thought this pig was super cute.


People Pals Pig Plush
Paid: $2.99 @ GW, Sold: $24.95 (a month after listed)


Circo Chevron Elephant Blanket
Paid: $1.79 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (one month after listed)


Cutie Pie Truck Blanket
Paid: $2.99 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (listed since June, 2016)

I really liked the design of the blanket below!


Circo Cloud Blanket
Paid: $2.09 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (two weeks after listed)

I still sell costumes fairly consistently.


Kaos Skylanders Costume
Paid: $1.99 @ Wal-Mart, Sold: $24.95 (listed since 2015)


Katana Suicide Squad Costume
Paid: $2.49 @ Walmart, Sold: $29.95 (listed since December, 2016)

And clothes.  Never my favorite, but still a consistent addition to the bottom line.

I really liked the dress below.  I was hoping it would sell high, but no such luck.  I sold a motorcycle dress of the same style last month for more, and a bit faster.


Chevrolet Wrap Dress
Paid: $2 @ VV, BO Accepted: $20 (sold two months after listed)


Cherokee 5X Scrubs Lot
Paid: $6 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (8 days after listed)

A couple s-l-o-w sales


Kristen Blake Green Coat
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (a year after listed)


London Fog Coat
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (a year after listed)


St. John Brown Pants
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $33 (on 7 day auction)

I love these hats.  I bought about 15 of them last year (in both tan and blue).  I paid 75¢ each, and have sold them for $19.95 each.  The tan ones sold quickly.  I’ve sold three of the blue hats in the last couple weeks, and only have one left.

NWT Columbia Blue Olympics Cap
Paid: $0.75, Sold: $19.95

And a couple random sales.

The Lego figures below were in a bag I picked up at a thrift.
I gave some of the Legos to my boys, and sold these.


Series 3 Lego Figures
Paid: $2.44 @ VV, Sold: $24.95 (5 days after listed)

These were listed for-ev-er!

  
NEW 6 packages 3.5″ x 5″ photo album pages
Paid: $5.94 @ VV, Best Offer Accepted: $35.00 (listed since 2015)

As you can see, not everything I sell is a quick flip.  I’d rather not hang on to things indefinitely, but it does seem like everything will sell . . . eventually.

Brand BOLO ~ BedHead Pajamas

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I like to quickly flip through the PJ section at my favorite thrift.  It’s really small, so it takes less than a minute.  I am usually just scanning for Nick & Nora pajama sets.  But, I have recently added a brand of pajamas I am keeping an eye out for: BedHead.  Not as easily found, but definitely worth taking a look at if you come across them!  Check out BedHead completeds HERE.

What brand(s) of pajamas do you like to flip?

Are you a Polly Pocket expert?

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I am a mama of two boys, so girls toys are pretty foreign to me.  A couple months ago I picked up what I believe to be a bag of Polly Pocket toys.  I’ve let them sit for too long because I wasn’t sure what exactly to do with them.  A few days ago I split them into different lots, one consists of The Little Mermaid characters, one consists of Sleeping Beauty characters, and the rest is a random mix of left-overs.  I did a bunch of researching, and found a couple listings of similar Polly Pockets, but not as many as I was expecting.  So my question is – are Polly Pockets ever faked?  Is there a knock-off brand I might purchase without realizing it isn’t the real deal?  Is this something I should worry about?

Thanks for your insight – it is much appreciated!

Tax Time

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We met with our accountant last night to go over all of our tax paperwork.  Fun!  Well, notsomuch.  But it was more accurate and easier than ever before to report my eBay income.  (I shared recently how I include information about where items were purchased and how much I paid for them *in* my listings, which makes the info easy to retrieve once an item has sold.  You can find that post HERE.)

Last night I also finally got my Easy Auctions Tracker spreadsheet set up for 2017.  (Don’t forget, if you are using the Easy Auctions Tracker spreadsheet or any other, eBay sales info is only available 3 months back, so it’s time to download January’s numbers now!)  It was quick and easy to set up the spreadsheet for 2017, and I downloaded all of my 2017 sales so far.  It feels so good to have that in place.

How is tax time going for you?  Already filed?  Procrastinating ’til the last second?  Do tell!

 

This post contains an affiliate link.

Favorite Flips Friday, 3/17/17

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I missed last week, so here are some of my favorite sales from the past two weeks.

Isn’t this bear random?  The only reason it even caught my eye is that it was still NWT.  I looked it up, and was surprised to find that there were none currently listed, and the couple that had been listed recently both sold.

NWT Nanco 19″ Teddy Bear Donut Plush
Paid: $1.99 @ GW, Sold: $24.95 (8 days after listed)

A new Goodwill opened across town recently, and I had just a few minutes between my boys’ basketball games one Saturday last month, so we stopped in quickly.  We found a bunch of NWT Disney Store plush that had been purchased in Japan (the prices were listed in yen).  The three characters below are all connected.

Donald, Pluto, Goofy Plush
Paid: $2.99 @ GW, Sold: $29.95 (sold month after listed)

Clothes are never my favorite, but a few days ago my phone briefly went crazy.  Someone purchased all four of the below items all at once.  I wish that happened more often!

 

NWT Black Gap Skinny Jeans
NWOT Cabi Linen Pants
NWT Ann Taylor Pants
Ann Taylor Skirt
Paid: $8 @ VV, Sold: $91.80

I’m still selling costumes every month.


Darth Vader Women’s Costume
Paid: $2.99 @ Walmart, Sold: $29.95 (listed since January, 2017)

I had this set of Sesame Street books listed for several months.  I ended the listing, did “sell as similar” adding Best Offer, and they sold a few days later at full price.  I actually have another identical set in my office I now need to get listed.

The Sesame Street Library
Paid: around $10? @ ys, Sold: $59.95 (listed since September, 2016)

Same with this one.  It had been listed for months, I ended the listing and used “sell similar” and added Best Offer.  It sold the next day for full price.

Medium Flat Rate Box of Bottle Caps
Sold: $39.95 (listed since September, 2016)

 
Cutie Pie Cars Blanket
Paid: $1.79 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (less than a month later)

I paid more for this blanket that I generally prefer (and thought about leaving it until an upcoming 50% off day), but decided after looking at completeds that it looked like a good bet.  And it was.  (Little Miracles is a Costco brand, and one of my favorites to resell.)


Little Miracles Monkey Blanket
Paid: $3.99 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (day after listed)

This horse was stuffed in a bag with several other plush.  I could see the Folkmanis tag, but other than that I could just see black, I couldn’t even tell what it was.  Turned out to be a good gamble.


Folkmanis Black Horse Puppet
Paid: $1.59 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (day after listed)

If you’ve had a fun recent sale you would like to share, I would love to hear about it!

Favorite Flips Friday, 3/3/17

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Here are a few of my favorite sales from the past week.

Aren’t these perfect for St. Patrick’s Day?!  They had a number of watchers before they finally sold.

NWT Talbots Green Pants
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $19.95 (in less than a month)

These are the CAbi pants that the second gal who contacted me was having an issue purchasing.  Apparently something got fixed(?) because when she tried again it worked.  CAbi can be slow to sell, but I can often find it NWT on clearance day at my favorite thrift, which makes it hard to leave behind.

NWT CAbi Gray Linen Pants
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $24.95 (listed since March 2016)

I picked up a box full of Build-A-Bear clothes for $15 at a yard sale last summer.  My boys both have a plush that they made at the BABW store, and every year each of their plush get a new outfit for Christmas.  So I picked out what I wanted to hide away for them, and listed the rest.

BABW Nascar Outfit
Paid: $1.50(ish) @ ys, Sold: $17.95 (listed since November, 2016)

I think this is the last Ikea plush I have in my inventory.  It was a slow seller.

Ikea Plush Deer
Paid: $2.99 @ VV, Sold: $19.95 (listed since February, 2016)

Here is one of the plush I asked for help in IDing, and so many of you knew what it was!  (Thanks again!!)  I bought them both off a FB site, and both have already sold.

Jellycat Chi Chi Chinese Crested Dog Plush
Paid: $3.50/each on FB sale site
Plush # 1 Sold: $24.95 (5 days after listing)
Plush # 2 Sold: $26.95 (21 days after listing)


Talking Captain America Plush
Paid: $1.49 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (listed since January, 2017)

   Dave & Busters Bulldog Plush
Paid: $3.99 @ VV, Sold: $39.95 (13 days after listed)

Sell anything fun this week?  I’d love to hear about it!

“Bug Ticket”

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Oh, eBay.  I wish I could fully understand you, and what’s actually going on behind the scenes.  My sales have dropped off in a scary way the last couple months.  I can’t figure out what’s going on.  I’ve been listing new items, inventorying, ending old listings, tweaking and “sell similar” some, uploading new photos, adding BO to most.  Started some auctions which I haven’t done in ages, offer free shipping on almost everything.  What more do you want from me?!

About a week ago I got the following message from a potential buyer:

When I click on this item nothing happens. All my other shopping is fine.  I did select 3X…I tried add to cart..buy it now…and went to your store.  No matter what I click nothing happens.  The odd thing is I bought 3 other pairs of shorts with no problem.

The potential buyer and I messaged back and forth a few times, but were never able to resolve the issue.  Lost sale.

Today I got the following message from a different potential buyer:

I would love to buy these sailor pants, but I am getting an error code when I try to buy them.  I contacted eBay and they said the error is on your end; a problem with your PayPal?  Can you help me resolve this issue?

What the heck, right?  So I called eBay.  Talked to a very nice rep who sounded like he knew what he was talking about.  Couldn’t find anything at all wrong with my account, no restrictions, no issues with Paypal, no nothing.

He said he will have another customer service rep look at my account with him to make sure rep #2 doesn’t notice something rep #1 might have overlooked.

He said he will submit a “bug ticket” to see if they can determine a reason why my sales are so.darn.slow.  I have around 1500 items listed, and have sold one thing today for a total of $9.  I have had THREE days in the last 30 with no sales at all.  Before these three days, I had gone months and months without having a day with no sales.

It’s a mystery.

It’s also feeling like a mystery as to how I am going to pay for my boys’ school tuition, my almost 6yos birthday party, our yard maintenance, etc, let alone potential vacations I was hoping to schedule at the end of the year.  This. Sucks.

Has anyone experienced something similar?  Was it just a funk or phase and you came out the other end?  Was there actually something wrong with your account?  Please, do tell.

(Sorry for the downer post.  I try to keep things pretty upbeat, but as I told the rep earlier the whole situation has me feeling pretty discouraged.)