One Month On Ebay

Today, I have officially been an Ebay seller for one month.  Since I started selling, I have not used my Paypal account for anything other than shipping and Ebay fees.  My account balance today is at over $470!!!  I'm so excited!  That's about 1/3 of what I have to save to go on my Ethiopia mission trip early next year.  One month of selling made a really good dent in my travel costs.

I have to remember though that some of my biggest sellers last month were items that were mine to begin with.  I did ok with the items I bought at yard sales and thrift stores, but I still have a lot to learn.  I'm hoping that the Halloween costumes I have listed will bring me a good profit this month.  Yard sales in my area have made a temporary comeback over the past couple weeks, but it won't last long. As the Michigan weather turns cold and dreary, there will be less opportunity to find items to resell.  I'm going to have to hit the yard sale circuit pretty hard over the next few weeks!

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

I only went garage sale shopping on Saturday this week!  Can you believe it? Ok..ok..I did go to one, no TWO on Friday afternoon. My mother-in-law volunteered to watch my kids on Saturday morning, so I made it to about 16 sales that day.  I really didn't find much for the number of sales I went to, but I'm pretty happy with what I did find.

The two sales I went to on Friday were pretty successful, but the stuff I found is for our house.  Nothing for resale.  First, I found this set of three bar stools for $10.

Barstools have been on my want list for a long time.  Particularly a set of three, because we have three kids.  These weren't exactly what I had in mind, but isn't that the fun of buying things used?  My kids have already been enjoying their breakfasts and snacks at the counter.

The other thing I found on Friday was a solid wood desk.  It's just a basic desk with 4 drawers on each side, and one in the middle just above where your legs go.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it will hopefully have it's own blog post soon. When I saw it, it had a bunch of items for sale sitting on top of it, but the desk itself was not priced.  I asked the guy who lived at the house if it was for sale.  He said yes.  I asked how much he was asking for it.  He shrugged and said, "I don't know... 5 bucks?"  I was surprised! To his credit, it isn't in great shape, but it is in good enough shape that I'll be able to fix it up quite easily.  I'm pretty sure his wife will be less than thrilled when she finds out how little he sold it for.  I gave him my money and loaded it up in my van.  I'm hoping to fix it up this week, and plan to use it for the kids' art supply storage in our toy room.

And here is the haul from Saturday:

 

This jean skirt is from Express. It looks like it's never been worn, and it was only 50 cents!  I listed it on Ebay, and hope to make a little profit on it. The winter hat for my daughter was 25 cents, and the shirt was also only 25 cents.  I bought the shirt for the little girl we sponsor in Ethiopia.  It's about her size, and seems like her style. :)

 These books were also 25 cents each.  The Berenstein Bears book is for my inventory, the Kindergarten book is for my kids, and the herb book is for me.

I got the six Halloween costumes above for 7.50.  They are all in really good condition, and I'm hoping to make a nice profit on them.  I couldn't believe my luck when I found them all at one sale, and priced so low.  Most people around here seem to want at least $5 each for their old costumes.  Most of the ones I bought haven't even been worn! :)

The Care Bears costumes were $2 each.  I'm hoping that leaves me enough room for profit.  They are for small kids, so I'm not sure they'll be in high demand on Ebay.  They're really cute though.

I found lots of Little Golden books and early reader books again.  They were all 25 cents each.

My favorite find of the day was the complete set of Standin' Tall books and cassette tapes. I wouldn't have known their value if I hadn't come across some of the books at a thrift store last weekend.  I passed on those books because I saw that they only sold well as a complete set.  As luck would have it, I found a complete set on Saturday.  They weren't priced, and the lady agreed to sell them to me for 25 cents for each book, and $1 for all the tapes.  That came to $4, which I was more than happy to give her.  These should bring me a pretty nice profit!

***UPDATE*** After being listed for less than an hour, my Standin' Tall set sold for my full asking price of 64.99, and the buyer paid immediately!  Part of me is wishing that I would have priced it a little higher, but I am THRILLED with an easy profit of $60.99!  What a rush! :)

I can't wait to see what everyone else found this weekend! :)

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

Between car troubles and the 5K race I had this past weekend, I really didn't think I would be able to make it to any garage sales.  It's SO hard for me not to go though, and I just had to go to at least one. I was home from my race by 9:45 am. (It was my first EVER 5K, and I beat my goal of finishing in 30 minutes.  My official time was 28:24. YEAH!) I quickly showered and headed out to the one and only sale that I didn't want to miss.  It was a huge sale that was being held at a church, and the proceeds from the sale were going to help an adoptive family with the costs of bringing their child home from Ethiopia. Obviously, a cause that is very close to my heart.  We had our own garage sale fundraiser just last summer, as we tried to raise some funds to bring our own Ethiopian daughter home.  I remember very clearly how encouraging it was just to have people come to our sale and wish us luck.  I vowed then that I would always attend adoption fundraisers when I heard of them.

When I arrived at the sale, it was almost 11:00 am. The signs said that starting at 11:00 am, you could fill a bag for $1. Score! They weren't handing out the bags yet, but I started filling my arms with loot.

I got all these books for $1.  Lots of early readers, golden books, and some other miscellaneous ones.  That's 20 books in all, so they were only 5 cents each!

Then comes my bag of clothes.  I didn't find anything really amazing, but they were dirt cheap.  1 women's large Adidas jacket. 3 men's XXL dress shirts.  One is Ralph Lauren.  Some girl's size large shirts, all decent brands (Abercrombie, Land's End, Gap), and a scarf for my daughter. I'm not sure which ones, if any, will sell on ebay. I do know that I can find someone who will appreciate them though.  10 articles of clothing stuffed into a bag = 10 cents each.

My third bag was full of kids shoes.  None of them are in good enough shape to resell, but they are still nice enough to wear. I bought them to bring to Ethiopia with me.  I'll be going back to Ethiopia this winter on a mission trip, and I know these shoes will be greatly appreciated.  6 pairs of shoes = about 17 cents each.

Now, knowing how much an Ethiopian adoption will set you back, I just couldn't walk out with all that stuff for only $3.  I did give them a little extra, along with some words of encouragement as I left.  They seemed like a great family who are going to give a great home to a child who needs one. :)

After that sale, I just wasn't quite finished.  I hadn't researched the garage sale circuit for the weekend, so I decided to try a thrift store that I had never been to.  My eyes about popped out of my head when I walked in.  It was huge!  I only bought a couple things, but I think I'll be back there soon after I do some ebay research.  I saw a lot of potential.

I bought these Christmas books with cassettes, both for 25 cents.  I thought I read somewhere that these sell on ebay, and I figured it was a risk worth taking at only 25 cents.

I also found these cute Corelle mugs.  I've been wanting to find some cute cups for my morning coffee.  Up until now I've been using some plain black (boring) ones that we got as a wedding gift.  I love the vintage look of these with the orange, green, and yellow, and the little mushrooms.  They remind me of the Corelle set my grandparents' used to have.  I got a set of 4 (one is already is use).  They were 50 cents each.

Sorry this post is so late.  It's been such a busy week here, getting ready for the kids to go back to school.  I'm linking up with Coupon Tipster and The Thrifty Momma Says.  Check out their blogs for more garage sale finds.

Ebay Sales - Week 3

I almost forgot that my auctions were ending last night.  We had been so busy trying to switch around bedrooms in our house.  We decided to let our oldest 2 kids share a room, which is something they've been begging to do ever since they became brother and sister 6 months ago.  I adore how much they love each other.  As we were preparing to bring our daughter home from Ethiopia, money was tight. We didn't want to spend the money to finish our 4th bedroom at that time, so we decided to give her our master bedroom.  My husband and I have been using the unfinished room for the last 6 months.  No biggie, but we are happy to have our master bedroom back now, and the kids are thrilled to be sharing a room.  They LOVE their bunk beds (which we got for FREE). I love free things! :)

Anyway, I'm so happy I remembered my auctions before they ended because it was the most exciting auction end I've had yet!  Remember the huge lot of Polly Pockets I bought at a garage sale for $30, and then was sick over because I didn't think I'd get my money out of them?  My final three Polly listings ended last night, and I'm so thrilled with the results!

Polly Pocket Mall Lot - Winning bid $20.50

Polly Pocket Beach Lot - Winning bid $10.49

Polly Pocket Salon Lot - Winning Bid $6.00

Add those to the Polly Listings I sold last week for a total of about $71.  That's a profit of $41! I'm super happy with that, especially considering I was afraid I wouldn't even cover my own purchase price.  The Polly's are packaged and sitting on my porch this morning, waiting for the mailman to pick them up.  I am so happy to have them out of my house!!!  In a previous post, I said that I was swearing off Polly Pockets.  I'm changing my mind on that, but I will definitely make sure I know what I'm buying next time.  I got lucky with this one.

I sold a few other things this week, and I'm really pretty happy with everything that sold.  Here are my other items:

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $6.60

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $4.99

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $5.24

Toddler Girl Keen Sandals, Size 6 - Winning Bid $9.99

I guess I was hoping that the Keen's would do a little better, but I only paid $1 for them.  I can't complain.

I had 5 other Exersaucer Switch A Roo's listed that didn't sell.  I changed my selling strategy a little bit, and relisted them.  Hopefully they'll sell this week.  I am a little confused about the best way to ship them.  I see that most Switch A Roo listings have a shipping price of $2-$3.  I can't figure out how to ship them for less than $4.95. My first thought was to ship them in a a regular large envelope, but the USPS website says that if an envelope is too bulky, it will be subject to package charges.  If anyone has advice on the best way to ship these, I would love the advice!

Total sales this week: $63.81.  This wasn't as high as my sales from the previous 2 weeks, but this week was almost 100% profit! :)

I'm excited to report that I did manage to get to 1 garage sale, and 1 thrift store over the weekend.  I didn't buy much, but I'll work on getting that post up later today or tomorrow.  I still have some more work to do switching around our bedroom closets. Fun, fun!

A Weekend Off

I'm pretty bummed because I won't be able to do any garage sale shopping this weekend.  It looks like I'll be missing some good sales too! :(

My minivan's check engine light is blinking at me.  That's right, I said blinking.  It's not just on, it is actually blinking.  We can't get it in for service until next week, so I am stuck at home while my husband is at work.  My husband doesn't have to work tomorrow, but I'll be running in my first ever 5K race in the morning.  By the time I get back home from that and showered, it won't be worth going out to any sales.

Luckily, I found plenty of stuff over the past few weeks, and should have no problem coming up with about a dozen ebay listings.  I'm not happy about missing all the garage sales this weekend though.  I feel almost as bad as the year I stayed home on Black Friday.  I can't stand the thought of missing out on great deals. UGH!

Ebay Sales - Week 2

I played it safe for my first week of Ebay sales, and listed some stuff I had around the house that was very likely to sell.  I did pretty well.  I even managed to convince all of my auction winners to pay (by nicely threatening to report them). YAY! This week, I got a little braver and listed some of the things I bought from garage sales.  I was pretty nervous to see if my items would even sell.  Here are the results:

I listed a total of 10 items this week.  8 sold, and 2 did not.

The highs:

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Expansion pack of letters. Sold in less than 24 hours for my buy it now price of 10.99.  Perhaps I should have priced it a little higher, but I got it for free with a bunch of other Fridge Phonics stuff, so I'm happy!

Sweet Secrets Lot. I listed two separate lots of these this week.  These toys were mixed in the huge set of Polly Pockets I bought at a garage sale a while back. I've been sweatin' that Polly Pocket purchase, but I thought these Sweet Secrets might save me, and they did.  I sold one set at my buy it now price of $14.99, and the other set for $8.99.

Polly Pockets Pet Lot. Sold at auction for just over $10. I made 4 lots of Polly Pockets with the huge supply I have.  This is the only one I listed last week.  The others are listed right now. With the Sweet Secrets and this lot, I have officially made a (small) profit on my Polly's.  I still have 3 lots to sell, so I'm happy!

Maternity Jeans Lot.  Paid $4 for 4 pairs of maternity jeans, sold for $44!  This is the sale I'm most excited about.  I found the jeans at a garage sale.  All of the maternity clothes were priced at $1 each, and these jeans were in very good shape.  They weren't anything special as far as brands go (Old Navy, Oh Baby by Motherhood, etc.).  $44 was my buy it now price.  It was a price I knew I would be happy with, and still a good deal for the buyer at $11 per pair.  They sold after being listed for 2 days.

Tickle Me Elmo and Cookie Monster. Paid 55 cents for both, sold for $5.34.  I know this isn't a huge profit, but I'm surprised these sold at all.  Don't get me wrong, they are in great shape.  I bought them because they were so cheap, but instantly regretted my purchase even though I didn't spend much.  Then to top it all off, I goofed on my shipping price.  I estimated it too high, which no doubt effected the amount of bids I might have had.  Luckily, I listed it as economy shipping so I'll still be able to ship it as inexpensively as possible, and make a few more dollars.  Not the way I like to do business (it feels dishonest), but I'm still learning.

The Lows:

Vintage Fisher Price Puzzle. Paid $1, sold for $5.99.  I'm bummed about this one.  I was hoping to get about $10.

Vintage Game of Cootie. Paid $2, sold for $10.50.  Bummed about this too.  It was a complete set. A few of the pieces were chipped, but it was in good shape overall.  I've seen some of these sell for $20-$25.

Chicken Dance Elmo - Didn't sell.  Had some watchers though, so I'll try again soon.

Fridge Phonics Word Whammer with extra letters - Didn't sell.  I still have some hope for this one.  I goofed on shipping with this one too. Estimated it way too high.  I had 5 watchers, so I think it might have sold if the shipping was more reasonable.  I'll do a better job of listing this one next time.

Selling total for this week:  $111.04

I'm pretty happy with my first week of selling my garage sale finds!  I have 14 items listed this week, and already have some bids.  I'm really having a lot of fun selling on Ebay, and can't wait to see what treasures I find in the upcoming weeks!

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

I can definitely tell that the garage sale season is coming to an end here in Michigan, but I did manage to get a few good bargains this week.  As always, I started on Thursday.  Here's what I found on Thursday and Friday:

Maternity Clothes!  I had GREAT luck with a lot of maternity jeans I listed on Ebay last week (details coming soon), so I decided to try to find more to sell. I got 2 capris, 3 jeans, 1 corduroy pant, and 5 long sleeve shirts for $1 each.  They are all decent brands like Liz Lange, Old Navy, and Gap.

The pink sweater from New York & Company is for me, 50 cents. At the same sale, I found a Gap sweatshirt for my oldest son, and a dance leotard for my daughter. Also 50 cents each.  The shoes were $1 each.  The Nike shoes and dress shoes are for my youngest son.  The Keen's are for resale on Ebay.  I found a couple more books for my inventory for 25 cents each.  I also got this Wiggles guitar for $1.  It will make a nice lot with the Wiggles Microphone I got a few weeks ago.  Hopefully they will sell for a nice profit!

I found these little beauties on Friday.  I paid $5 for the farm, and $3 for the Tudor house.  The barn has a nice little selection of farm animals and accessories.  It even came with a black pig, which is apparently rare and more valuable. Looks like I'll be selling that little guy separately. The house didn't come with anything, but I did find some of the furniture that goes with it in another box at the sale. The lady running the sale had a huge Little Tikes dollhouse for sale for $25, which included a box of mismatched dollhouse furniture.  (No Little Tikes dollhouse furniture...DARN!)  I really had to haggle this lady to convince her to sell me the Fisher Price furniture that went with my Tudor house.  She didn't want to separate her dollhouse furniture...even though it didn't go together at all.  I finally convinced her, and left quickly before she changed her mind.

Just some sandals for myself. $1 each.

More books for my inventory. I think these were all 25 cents each.  The Strawberry Shortcake book is from 1983.  I might just list it by itself and see how it does.

These are for me too. I'm a fan of Tupperware, but not a fan of their prices.  I was so excited to find these for 50 cents each, especially the Fridge Smart containers.  I love them because they keep produce fresh for much longer, but I've only had one small one until now.  I'm planning to use the big Modular Mate for storing my homemade pancake mix.

Here's what I found on Saturday:

I picked up an exersaucer for $5.  It was pretty filthy, but had lots of switch a roo toys, and a nice seat cover.  I stripped those things off to sell separately on Ebay.  The seat cover looks really dirty in the picture above, but it cleaned up SOOO nice! I also found these vintage Disney records.  They were only 50 cents each, so I took a chance on them.  Doesn't look like they sell too well. Shoot!

I picked up the Exercise Care Bear, and Doodle Bear for $1 each.  I was going to list the Care Bear, but they don't sell that well.  The good news is that my daughter will LOVE it, so the Care Bear and Doodle Bear will be nice Christmas presents for her.  The Pottery Barn valance is new, and was only $1.  I figured you can't go too wrong buying anything Pottery Barn.  The Columbia jacket was $10, and the lady selling it wouldn't budge on her price.  It doesn't have tags, but it is like new.  It is my son's size, so I bought it with him in mind, but also knowing that I could sell it on Ebay for more than $10.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet.  My son already has a winter jacket for this year, but I really like this one.  I guess I'll let him decide what one he wants, and list the other. :)

That was my week in garage sale adventures. Tons of fun as always!