My First Week on Ebay

I am very pleasantly surprised with my sales for my first week on Ebay.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I did my research and listed some really good items that I had laying around the house.  The research and preparation paid off!

As I mentioned last week, I listed 6 items.  5 out of 6 sold, and all for prices that I am happy with.  Here are the details:

Item #1: Used Textbook - Notes From the Grooming Table.  This was a great book while I was grooming dogs, but I don't have any use for it now.  Sold at my buy it now price of $55.00.

Item #2: Used Electric Breast Pump (sterilized, of course).  I had a bidder ask if I would consider adding a buy it now price to my auction.  I did, and another bidder beat her to it!  Sold at my buy it now price of $45.00.

Item #3: Used Sleep Wrap (similar to a Moby Wrap). Sold in auction for $20.50.

Item #4: Used Fetal doppler (heart monitor for at home use). Sold in auction for $45.00.

Item #5: Used Skecher Twinkle Toes shoes (toddler size). Sold in auction for $6.74.
Unfortunately, the winner of this auction hasn't paid yet, despite my best (and polite) efforts at reminding them.  Looks like I'll have to file my first report and relist. Maybe they'll sell for more?  They are super cute!

Item #6: Used manual breast pump.  Didn't sell.

Those are the results of week 1!  I made a total of $165.50. (I'm not counting the shoes since I haven't received payment).

I got a little braver this week and listed some of the items I've recently purchased at garage sales and thrift stores.  I've had a couple items sell already, so I'm hoping for another successful week!

Vacuum Cleaner Upgrade

I have to start out this post by giving a shout out to my awesome hubby!  My frugality is slowly wearing off on him, and this vacuum cleaner upgrade is totally his doing.

While I was out thrifting on Saturday, my darling husband was trying to score some extra brownie points by doing some house cleaning.  One of the things he did was vacuum the carpets.  One of the first things he said when I returned home was, "we need a new vacuum."  He was right. We've needed a new one for quite some time.  The old Dirt Devil bagless that we got as a gift off our bridal registry 8 years ago just wasn't cutting it anymore.  That vacuum has been through 3 dogs and a cat (all at once), and now 3 kids.  It has seen better days.

My hubby knows me well, and he knew I would want a bargain.  There was no way I would agree to a brand new Dyson for $300 or more.  How could I ever justify spending that kind of money on a vacuum cleaner when my daughter's birth family and millions of kids just like her are living in mud huts and sleeping on dirt floors? That may sound drastic, but that's how my mind works now.  Our time in Ethiopia really put my life into perspective.  Deep breath...getting down from my soapbox before I get stuck up there.

So yesterday I received an email of a Craigslist listing that my husband sent to me. It was for a Dyson vacuum cleaner for $25. Honestly, I didn't even pay much attention to it.  Who would sell a Dyson for $25 unless it was beyond repair?  He called me later to ask what I thought.  I told him I didn't want to take someone else's junk, and we left it at that.  When he came home from work, he brought it up again.  He told me all about how much other broken Dyson's were selling for online, and he thought at the very least we would be able to resell it for parts and make a profit.  Alright. I could tell that he did his research, and he hasn't questioned me over the last few weeks as I've been dragging home all my treasures.  Off he went to pick it up.

When he came home, I was pleasantly surprised that it was purple, and it actually ran.  The hose attachment even worked.  The downside...it was FILTHY!!! It looked fine from the outside, but underneath where the spin brush is looked like a nightmare.  The people who sold it to him had 3 dogs. Enough said.

After the kids went to bed, my husband started tinkering with it.  He watched some YouTube videos about how to clean and repair a Dyson vacuum, and got to work on it.  About 30 minutes later it looked almost as good as new.  It picked up A LOT of dirt out of our carpets, especially considering that my husband just vacuumed with our old one on Saturday.  The Dyson even had a fresh smell to it while he was vacuuming.

Here it is! Our $25 Dyson! I'll say it again...I LOVE CRAIGSLIST!!!

Adventures in Thrifting - My First Goodwill Outlet Experience

This past Saturday was my day off!  My hubby didn't have to work, and he agreed to watch the kids all day while I got some much needed time out of the house, ALONE.  Since I had two full days of garage sale shopping on Thursday and Friday, and I awoke to a thunderstorm on Saturday morning, I decided to sleep in and then hit some thrift stores.  I went out of town this time because as I've mentioned before, the thrift stores in my town aren't all that great.  While searching online for the stores I wanted to visit, I was so excited to find a Goodwill Outlet just 20 minutes from my house.  I decided to make that my first stop.

Oh boy.  I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into.  I walked in and saw a bunch of big rolling bins lined up and filled with junk treasures.  This is what I had expected from pictures I had seen on other blogs.  As I casually browsed through my first bin, I noticed a bunch of people crowded in one area on the other side of the store. Hmmm...what are they up to?  I continued browsing while keeping an eye on the crowd.  I watched the workers move the bins out of that area, and come back with new bins heaping full of new junk treasures. Then all at once, people started digging in, passing items to their spouses who put them into their carefully guarded cart.  It reminded me of Walmart's toy department on Black Friday.  "WOW! These people are CRAZY!", I thought.  I continued rummaging through my bin on the quiet side of the store.

Suddenly, the crowd started gathering around my area, and I realized that my side must be next.  I'm always up for new experiences, so I claimed a spot next to my bin.  Why not?  Within seconds people were standing shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the bins to be swapped out.  The new bins came and when they were all in place, the worker said, "OK, GO!"  It was INSANE!!!!!  I didn't stay in my area for very long.  I just wasn't prepared for what was happening, so I went back to the other side of the store where browsing was much more relaxed.  This same scenario played out over and over, section by section.  I have no idea if this is how it always works at the Goodwill Outlet, or if I just happened to end up there on some special day.

I'm not sure how I feel about my experience at the GW Outlet.  It was thrilling and uncomfortable at the same time.  I only ended up buying one thing.  A Tickle Me Elmo Surprise doll for 30 cents, which I'm pairing with a Tickle Me Cookie Monster.  I did see a lot of things in other people's carts that would be nice for reselling on Ebay, so I might end up back at the outlet someday.  One things for sure, I'll be more prepared next time and I'll bring gloves. Yuck.  At least I know where to get my fix when I'm craving the thrill of Black Friday shopping.

I went to a couple other thrift stores after the GW Outlet.  One store in particular stood out as my favorite.  Everything in the store was 1/2 off that day.  I got a nice pair of running shorts for $1, and a set of hot rollers for $3.  I was fully intending on selling the hot rollers on ebay, but my curiosity got the best of me and I tried them out. I fell in love!  I have very fine, very straight hair that has no volume.  Enter hot rollers.  My hair has never looked this thick and bouncy. I'm keeping them! :)

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

I went garage sale shopping on a few different days this week.  Mostly Thursday and Friday.  I'm not sure why most of the sales in our area start during the week, but it seems that you have to be able to go out on Thurdsay and Friday to get the best deals around here.  Here's my haul from Thursday...

 Most of the things I bought are for reselling on ebay.  The sexy referee costume is my size, so I'm waiting to see if we have a Halloween party to go to this year before I list it.  Hopefully we'll figure that out sooner than later.  The Barbie fishing pole and tackle box is for my daughter, and has already made for a fun day at Grandpa's pond. :)

I got this Leap Frog Word Whammer set with two sets of letters, and the expansion pack of lowercase letters for $10.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find two FULL sets of letters (plus some extras). I also noticed after I got home that the expansion pack is unopened. It's new in box.  SWEET!

I'm thinking I'll sell it all as one lot.  They seem to sell better that way.

The Polly Pocket set was $2, and has a lot of nice accessories.  I think I'm swearing off Polly's for now unless I find the boys.  I'm still sweatin' that big Polly purchase from last week.  I bought this one to try to sweeten the deal for my Polly listings when I put them up.  The Tickle Me Cookie Monster was a risk, but a small one.  He's in near perfect condition, and was only 25 cents.  I found a Tickle Me Elmo Surprise to list with him while I was thirfting on Saturday.  That one was 30 cents.

This is a 5" Barney figure that I hope to sell in a lot if I can find some more.  I can't believe people buy these.  He was 25 cents.  The little Blues Clues house was 50 cents. I'm saving this one for a lot too.

These puzzles are for my son.  He LOVES this kind of stuff, and he has a birthday coming up in October.  There are 4 unopened puzzles, and I got them for 50 cents each.

I bought these Little Tikes waffle blocks with my kids in mind.  There are 90 pieces, and I bought the whole set for $5.  My kids have already had hours of fun with these block, so I don't think we'll be selling them anytime soon.

Now for Friday's finds...

I'm really excited about these size large maternity jeans.  They are in perfect condition, and were only $1 each.  I'm selling them as a lot, and hope that they'll bring a nice profit.  I know I would have been interested in these when I was pregnant!

I found some more play food to add to my growing collection.  I'll be putting together my first play food lot listing this week!

This Playmobil Nativity set was only $1.  The box is pretty beat up, but it has all of the figures and most of the small parts.  I'll hang on to this for a couple months until we get closer to Christmas.  I think it should sell pretty nicely.  I also found some Disney little golden books for 25 cents each, and a bag of disney princess figures for 25 cents.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the princess figures, but they were so cheap.  They would make really nice cake toppers for a princess cake!

That was my week of treasure hunting.  I'm linking up with Yard Sale Mommy, so make sure you head over there to see other uncovered treasures!

Adventures in Thrifting

So, I have to admit...I'm not a big thrift store junkie.  I would like to be, but thrift stores just aren't that great in my town. I rarely find anything worth while when I go. If I do find something I like, it's usually overpriced.  I've been reading the blogs of thrift store shoppers, and I'm so impressed with the deals they get.  Thrift stores in other cities must be WAY better than the ones in my neck of the woods.

My husband and I found ourselves with a couple hours to kill tonight because our kids were at vacation bible school.  We decided to go thrifting.  As always, I was pretty disappointed with the stores we went to.  There are a couple nicer thrift stores in our area, but both were closed already at 6:00pm.  The night was pretty much a bust.

I did manage to find one thing to buy tonight, and I almost didn't.  At the first store we went to, my husband found this little doll that was from the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer.  It was still in it's original packaging, and priced at .50.  I laughed at first, but decided to look it up on my Ebay app for good measure.  All I could find was one active listing for a similar doll, and it was priced at $99. There were no completed listings. I really didn't think the doll could possibly be worth that much, so I put it back and moved on to another store.  I just couldn't get that doll out of my head though.  What if she was worth even half of that? It was only .50!  So we went back and got her.  I am now the proud owner of this...

I can't find much information about her, but dolls like her are listed on other sites, anywhere from $25 - $100.  I can't find any evidence that people are actually buying though.  Maybe I'll keep her until the next Olympic games come around.  Maybe I will have better luck when the world has Olympic fever again. :)

My First Sale!!!

I'm am so pumped right now! Less than 24 hours after I posted my items, I made my first sale! YAY!

The item that sold was a textbook I had from back in the days when I went to dog grooming school. (Yes, there is a school for that).  I loved grooming dogs, and I was really good at it.  But once my first son came along, my priorities changed along with my line of work.  It's been about 4 years since I groomed my last dog, so I figured now was a good time to pass the book along to someone else.  It's a really great book. Very thorough instructions on how to properly groom each breed. It is probably the best book out there on the subject.

I researched completed listings and knew that there was a good chance that this book would sell. I chose to do a fixed price BIN listing and priced it competitively. Tonight I am $55.00 richer. Yahoo!!!!  That's WAY more than I would have been able to sell it for at a garage sale (I've tried).

My package is all ready to be dropped off at the post office tomorrow.  I had my first experience with printing a shipping label at home, and it was much easier than I thought it would be.  I also tried to arrange an at home pick up, but then found out that USPS won't pick up a single media mail package. Oh well, ya' learn something new everyday.

I have one other item that received a bid tonight, and all 5 remaining items have at least one watcher.  This is so much fun! :)

Reaching Goals

Well, I did it. Today I organized, photographed, packaged, weighed, and listed 6 items on eBay.  Yes, I said 6. My goal was to list 5 items, and I listed 6. I have a few more that I'm hoping to list tomorrow. When I get my mind set on something, I tend to be an overachiever. At least in the beginning. :)

So now I wait.....very impatiently. I'm very anxious for next week Monday night when my auctions end.  The items I listed were all things that I already owned. I don't yet have the guts to post the toys I bought at garage sales. I want to make sure I'm comfortable with this process before I start listing my hard earned treasures. Ohhhh, I hope my stuff sells!!!! :)