She Thrifts – Page 46 – Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

eBay: What I’ve Bought

January 9, 2012 by Kari @ She Thrifts 2 Comments

Just for fun, and to prove there is really no rhyme or reason to what people will actually buy on eBay, I thought I would share some of my own eBay purchases from over the past few months.

Okay, so this one isn’t exactly funny. It might save my life! I probably saw it on a book list in a magazine, and it’s been on my Amazon wishlist for years. The library doesn’t own a copy so I finally decided to order one to read to my four-year-old.

It’s Time To Call 911: What To Do In An Emergency

: $1.70 + shipping

LOVE these pants! I actually have an eBay alert set up to e-mail me when someone lists something with the words “Old Navy” and “women’s” and “roll-up”, which is how I found this pair. I originally bought one just like them (only khaki in color) on the clearance rack at Old Navy several years ago and absolutely loved them. Of course, the store had no others. So I went online and ordered a pair of yellow, (yes, yellow!) pants in the same style. Yellow was the only color left in stock online. I’ve even worn them a couple times. I found a third pair (khaki colored) at Goodwill year or so ago. But now I have a black pair! ♥ ♥

Old Navy Cargo Capri Roll-Up Pants:
$5 + shipping

Say what?! No idea why I bought these, really. They were advertised in one of the e-mails eBay sent out pre-Christmas. I haven’t even opened the package they came in. I guess I thought at the time maybe we’d put them by our front door??? Haven’t even admitted to my husband that I bought them.


2 Pack: Dummy Security Dome Camera With Flashing Red Light:	$5 with free shipping

Ah, Flicker. Bought him as a birthday gift for my oldest. Used, because really, the kiddo doesn’t care. When I opened it . . . I discovered that it didn’t work. I e-mailed the seller and he was very quick to offer a refund and an apology (and an explanation that maybe the bulb came loose or something during shipping? which could be?). I did take him up on his offer of a refund. Felt guilty in doing so, like it was bad eBay karma or something. But, the reality is, I would not have ordered it knowing that it did not work. I gave him positive feedback for his good customer service.

Flicker (Handy Manny’s flashlight):
$14.99 + shipping

LOVED this book! It’s the sequel to If I Stay, also very good (YA). I got a hold of an ARC before it was published, and had a hankering recently to reread it. When I “reread” I usually go audio, and my library doesn’t own an audio copy.

Where She Went by Gayle Foreman audiobook:
$9.09 + shipping

Love these shoulder bags. Had an army green one and used it ’til one of the zippers finally broke. Bound to happen sometime, I guess. (If you can’t tell from the photo, it’s a bag made entirely of zippers.) I have a few that are random colors, but I really wanted an all-black one, so I finally just ordered one. I use it all the time.

Zip It shoulder bag:
$2.75 + shipping

I suppose this one is pretty self explanatory. There was a good sale, I needed more coupons.

20 Huggies coupons:
$1.65 + shipping

My husband loves the Hard Rock Cafe, and on our last vacation he decided he wants to start collecting the album shirts from each location that we visit. Well, of course we had visited quite a few before he made this decision, so I decided to try and find him some shirts from some of those locations for Christmas. I set up an eBay alert. I was able to purchase shirts from New York, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas. I tried to buy one from Chicago, but someone outbid me at the last second!

Hard Rock Cafe Album shirts:
$16.50, $10, $15.01 + shipping

Of course, an awesome investment for any eBayer. I use it almost every day.

Postal Scale:
$29.98 with free shipping

I have a train-loving kid.

Edward (wooden train):
$9.99 with free shipping

And with the exception of some more wooden trains and coupons, that’s it. A pretty random assortment of stuff.

And, here’s what I would really like to find(!):

Z’Animo chocolate cookies: priceless!

They are like animal crackers with chocolate on one side. Deee-licious! Haven’t had them since I lived in France over 10 years ago. I’ve looked them up sporadically on eBay over the years (they really are that good) and added an eBay alert yesterday. Maybe someday . . .

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

January 5, 2012 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

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!

Store Anxiety and Revised Goals

January 4, 2012 by Kari @ She Thrifts 2 Comments

I really think I need to open a store. It’s kinda stressing me out. Thus far on this whole eBay adventure I have stuck to free-listing (and one one-cent) Tuesdays, in addition to the 50 free listings we get every month. But I’ve decided I want to get serious. And more importantly, to sell consistently. And that’s just not gonna happen when Tuesdays (like today) slip by, and the majority of my auctions from the previous week come to an end, and I’m not able to relist, relist, relist what didn’t sell.

And when I think about it, I like the idea of not having to relist, relist, relist every single week. It takes awhile. And I think the powers that be at eBay like to mess with us a little, because it is never as simple as just relisting. There always seems to be one small change – from 7 days to 5 days, removing BIN, adding BIN, that causes me to have to go into each individual listing, and that can take a lot of time. And that time prevents me from getting more new listings up.

So really, I think it comes down to the fact that I am cheap and don’t want to have to pay. It’s not even the $15 fee or whatever it is, it’s the 20 cents for each listing. That just reinforces the fact that I probably shouldn’t mess with the small potatoes listings – focus on what I can sell for a bigger profit and I won’t even feel the impact of a 20 cent listing fee. Yup, I’m just thinking out loud here. (In a sense.)

And, for my revised goal. I need focus and a clear vision. Which means I am going to earn/save up $5000 by the end of September, and pay for the entire anniversary trip to New York in October. Previously I had been planning to try and contribute to both a vacation in May to WDW and the October NY trip. Things are a little up in the air right now as to whether we’ll even get to go to WDW in May (my BIL is getting remarrried right around then and he won’t be able to set a wedding date for at least another month, which means we won’t be able to make/confirm vacation plans until then. It’s kinda killing me. I really hope we’re able to go!) Assuming the scheduling end works out, we will pay for that trip out of our regular vacation budget. Which turns NY into an extra expense.

Want to hear about the NY trip we have planned? I’m SUPER excited! I am a theater geek through and through (although only in the spectator sense). There is almost nothing I love more than getting to see a play. So, we will be making our third trek to NYC to see as many Broadway shows as we can cram into 2? 3? 4? days. And, since we’ll be planning this trip further in advance than the last time I am going to try my darnedest to get tickets for my husband to see a taping of The Daily Show while we’re there. (Last time we were able to get stand by tickets for the Colbert Report, which he loved. Saw the Wikileaks guy, which was kind of interesting.) And also get tickets to see The View (which I’ve been addicted to for 4 years now, ever since being on bed rest at the end of my first pregnancy. We got stand by tickets for The View last time too, but I will go every time we get over there if I can.) I am also going to splurge and buy full-price tickets for The Book of Mormon before we get there. Can’t wait to see it! (We usually just buy discounted tickets through TKTS once we’re there, but I’m not going to take any chances with this one!)

But wait, there’s more. We’re planning to take the train and spend a couple days at? near? Niagra Falls (the romantic portion of the anniversary getaway). And then we will go to Buffalo and see a Bills game (my husband’s favorite team). I am getting jittery excited just typing all of this, I can’t wait.

AND . . . I am going to pay for the whole darn trip with my eBay earnings. That’s the goal. To have at least $5000 in the bank by the end of September. The good news is, I already have the first $1000. The reality check is, I won’t be able to earn the rest if I’m not listing my items on eBay. Which brings me full circle.

I need to open a store.

And if I can’t come up with a decent name for this blog, how in the heck am I going to name a store?!

eBay Goals

January 2, 2012 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

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!

93! and Blah.

December 31, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

When I first wrote this post it said 100! in anticipation of having finally gotten 100 items listed. But, it still hasn’t happened. I’ve been trying to work up to it for weeks now, but between my auctions ending and things being bought, it’s taken me a lot longer than I expected.

On the other hand, I just looked through my 93! listings and they all seem really blah. All of my interesting or exciting or potentially profitable stuff has been bought, and my new listings are mostly things that I’ve had around the house that I’d just like to get rid of. Not expecting a high sales week this time around.

Name Game

December 29, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

Darned if I can come up with a name for this blog that I really like. Something clever, something cute, something punny. I’ve got nothin’.

Sunday, Week in Review (Dec 19-25)

December 26, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

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.

Nice Box! and eBay on the Brain

December 25, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

It’s funny how eBay can permeate all parts of your life. I was walking through the parking lot into the grocery store recently and saw a bubble mailer on the ground. It was dirty and had probably been rained on, but my first response was excitement. Oooh, I could mail something in that! I kinda had to force myself to leave it on the ground and keep walking.

I also find myself looking around my friends’ houses differently. And occasionally saying things like, “You know, when your kids are tired of the Wiggles, that Big Red Car over there would be worth a lot of money on eBay!”

Yes, and as my husband opened a present from his parents this evening I couldn’t help myself from blurting out, “Can I have that box?!” What can I say? It was a really nice box!

Merry Christmas to all!

Sunday, Week in Review (Dec 12-18)

December 19, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

Where, oh where, did my motivation go? I did almost no eBaying in the last week, which I know is crazy since it is prime selling time with Christmas just around the corner. I do most of my listings on freebie Tuesdays, and since this Tuesday was not in fact a freebie, I just took the day off. I had ten or so auctions that ended on Wednesday and Thursday, one of which sold at the BIN price. Then . . . nothing. I had ZERO items listed until last night, when I re-listed a few of my more interesting items. Two of which have since sold as BIN.

This was my one sale from earlier in the week:

20 Disney Books: $25.99 – shipping

And the two items that have sold since yesterday:

Mr. Potato Head magnets: $14.99 – shipping

Lot of 6 puppets: $29.99 – shipping

Here’s hoping some of my motivation resurfaces soon,

and I get some new stuff listed!

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

December 12, 2011 by Kari @ She Thrifts Leave a Comment

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.