Thrift. Flip. Repeat.
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?
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.)
This week was pretty ho-hum, but here are a few things that headed out the door this week:
Winnie the Pooh & Friends bean bag plush are everywhere, come with more themes/designs than I could begin to list, and generally don’t sell for much. Christopher Robin can be an exception.
NWT Christopher Robin Bean Bag Plush
Paid: $1.99 @ GW, Sold: $22.95 (18 days after listed)
More Folkmanis. I know I’ve said it before, but I love these. Not all are worth $$ though, so I always look them up. Also, as you’ll see below, they’re not all super fast flips like the one I shared last week.
Folkmanis Jack Russell Terrier Puppet
Paid: $1.39 @ VV, Sold: $24.95 (listed since May, 2016)
Another slow to sell. I got some low offers right out of the gate (and I didn’t even have BO on it), but I waited for the price I wanted.
NWT Huey & Louie Disney Store Plush
Paid: $2 @ church rummage sale, Sold: $29.95 (listed since March, 2016)
Plush are my favorite, but less reliable. Clothes keep the money coming in more consistently.
NWT J Jill 100% Linen Black Dress
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $29.95 (within a week or so of listing)
NWT Brooks Brothers Linen Skirt Suit
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $49.95 (listed since October, 2016)
Green With Envy Black Jacket
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $39.95 (listed since June, 2016)
I got the following e-mail from the buyer of the above jacket this afternoon:
Yay for happy buyers! It’s fun to know you’ve made someone’s day brighter.
When I first started selling on eBay I sold a number of Victoria’s Secret plush dogs. Maybe they were worth more then? Maybe it was just something that was easy for me to recognize, so I would always buy them? It’s been ages since I’ve picked any up. I found some on clearance at my favorite thrift this week, and looked them up. Even on clearance they weren’t worth flipping, so I left them behind.
But as I did a little research it did catch my eye that the denim plush dog could be worth picking up.
Check out completeds HERE.
Here are some of my favorite sales of the past week.
I feel like I have to include clothing in this list because it is something I sell regularly, although it’s not my *favorite* thing to sell. I thought this jacket was really cute though, great for spring or Easter.
Ann Taylor LOFT jacket
Paid: $2 @ VV, Sold: $24.95 (listed since Dec)
Build a Bear can still be one of my weaknesses. I love picking up the outfits, but they’re often not worth the amount of time I put into listing them. This is probably my best BABW sale recently.
Build-A-Bear Merida (Brave) Outfit
Paid: $3 @ ys, Sold: $24.95 (listed since June)
I was super excited about these when I picked them up! I couldn’t believe someone was selling their P&P collection, obviously some effort was spent in collecting them and all the books looked/felt new. I knew it wouldn’t be a super fast flip, but I hope the person who receives them loves them!
Pride & Prejudice PBK Book Lot
Paid: $3 total @ ys, Sold: $34.95 (listed since June)
Costumes sell all year long!
Suicide Squad Katana Teen Costume
Paid: $2.49 @ Walmart, Sold: $29.95 (listed since Dec)
This sale is most notable because someone from Germany purchased it. I shipped it directly to him, not via GSP, but shipping was still pretty spendy.
NWT Puma Plush
Paid: $3.99 @ GW, Sold: $34.95 + international shipping (listed since Dec)
The last two items I listed two days ago, and both sold within hours!
Folkmanis Llama Puppet
Paid: $3.59 @ VV, Sold: $34.95 (less than 2 hours later)
And the frog below currently has a 100% sell-through rate, which is kinda crazy. I listed it Wed night, it had sold by Thurs morning. Check out completeds here.
Natural Wonders Big Frog Plush
Paid: $2.69 @ VV, Sold: $39.95 (morning after listed)
I’d love to hear about your favorite sale(s) of the week!
I am always curious to hear what others have sold via GSP. What do international buyers want so much that they are willing to paying for an item + the costly shipping charges? Here are the items that I have sold via GSP recently:
I have actually sold multiple Ikea plush internationally in the last couple years. I like to buy Ikea plush, but they can be really hit and miss. I’ve come across some that are selling for less than $10. On the other hand, I’ve sold some for $60-$75. In my experience the more realistic-looking plush animals have the potential to be worth more, the more character-y looking plush aren’t usually worth picking up. But there are always exceptions, so I look up every Ikea plush I come across.
Ikea Bear
Paid: $2.99 @ VV, Sold: $34.95
I went to a yard sale last summer that was the remnants of a used bookstore. They probably had thousands of paperback books in boxes, all for a quarter each. It was kinda overwhelming. Most weren’t in great shape. This was the only book I picked up there.
Doc Hollywood Paperback Book
Paid: $0.25 @ ys, Sold: $13.75 (on sale)
I paid full retail for this votive holder at a PartyLite party a friend hosted years ago, because of course I felt like I had to buy something. It’s pretty, but years later it was still sitting unused in the box it came in.
PartyLite Tealite Holder
Paid: (retail price) @ PartyLite Party, Sold: $19.95
I SUPER DUPER loved this show! Still feel a bit resentful that it was canceled when/how it was. And that they have only ever released the first season on DVD. Again I paid retail for this because I bought it as a gift for someone, then decided to give something else instead. I lost money on this one in the whole scheme of things, since it wasn’t originally purchased with the intent to resell.
American Dreams, Season 1
Paid: ($20ish/full retail), Sold $14.95
Build A Bear Brown Bunny
Paid: $1.39 @ VV, Sold: $24.95
Assassin’s Creed Teen Costume
Paid: $2.49 @ Walmart, Sold: $44.95
Plush Creations Turtle
Paid: $0.25 @ ys, Sold: $14.95
Kellytoy Plush Cow
Paid: $0.99 @ VV, Sold: $14.20 (on sale)
Do you sell via GSP? If so, what kinds of things actually sell for you?
