Items Sold Update!

Greetings!

We have sold a few items recently

Antique Sheets Rock Tea Kettle w/ Burner. 

Paid $5

Listed at $179.99 or best offer

Accepted best offer of $75 + shipping!

Vintage Hunting Scene Lamp

Purchased for $4

Listed at $64.99 or best offer

Sold for $64.99 + shipping!

 

Vintage Magnus Electric Organ

Purchased for $4

Listed at $49.99 or best offer

Sold for $49.99 + shipping!

 

Vintage Steamstress Steam Iron

Purchased for .50 cents

Listed at $29.99 or best offer

Accepted Best Offer of $15 + shipping!

Olive Oil Plush Doll

Purchased for $2

Listed at $14.99

Sold for $14.99 + shipping!

Total Spent: $15.50

Sold for: $219.97

Profit of: $204.47 (this doesn't include eBay and PayPal fees)

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

Garage Sale Finds This Week

Greetings!

Haven't been having a ton of luck this week with sales. I've picked up about one thing a day this week. Here's what I've wrangled up:

Native American or Mexican Themed Poncho. Has a nice 'Aztec' looking design on it with a bird with a red head ... maybe a hawk or eagle. Paid $4. Seems old but in pretty good shape.

 I'm not sure what to think of this one. It's a print but it's like on glass or a mirror or something. If I look closely at what's under the glass in the frame it's like the artwork is 'cracking' in a few places. Over all it is an awesome piece with a couple of old dudes smoking pipes in smoking jackets by a fire. Old frame too with wire hanger on the back. Paid $3. Will have to research this one.

 Old Zippo lighter. Nice shape - has "Murl" engraved on it. Not sure if the engraving makes it lose value or gain value.  Maybe there is a Murl out there who has been waiting for this lighter his whole life. Who knows? Paid $2.

Total Spent: $9

Estimated Resale Value: Hoping for around $100.

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

Things I Don't Leave Home Without

Greetings!

Just thought I would give you a little insight onto a few things I like to gather before getting ready to head out on a long Saturday afternoon excursion of treasure hunting.

Prior to heading out I like to prepare. I go to my local newspaper website and find the garage sale listings for the upcoming weekend (Thursday - Sunday). This is usually listed under classifieds. If you can find this - it is extremely valuable! I then copy and paste the text of all of the listings into a text document.  I proceed to take the time to organize the sales in a way that makes sense to me. For me I separate them into Thursday Sales, Friday Sales and Saturday Sales.

Then I take my long listing of Thursday Sales (for example) and I order them in order from the furthest North sale to the furthest South Sale ... and then the same with ones that are on the East side of town and the West side of town.  Adjust this method for your area  ... if you have suburbs, organize them by those in the same way.  I then edit the listings so that the address is complete (fill in the street names if they are abbreviated and add the city and state). The reason I do this is to come ...

The next step is to email myself the text by copying it and pasting it into an email to myself. Then I send it to myself. When I receive the email ... all of the addresses have been turned into hyper links ... and you guessed it - now I can simply select the address hyper link and my gps will take me directly to the sales. I start furthest North and work my way down. GPS usually will get me right to where I need in a timely fashion.  Feel free to stop at any other sales that weren't listed on the way!

That's how I do my big 6 hour Saturday excursions to keep them in a timely manner. That's also how I choose where to go on my lunch breaks and after work on Thursdays and Fridays ... find an area of town that has a few sales that are open during those times and sneak them into my plans for the day. Grab a few items and move on ... but Saturday is almost always my big day. If I could do Friday mornings that would be much better - but my day job prevents that from being a possibility. Once I have a bit more PTO built up I plan on taking off 1 Friday a month to really hit the sales early and hard.

The next thing I don't leave home without (obviously) is my iPhone. I use this for GPS and for tracking mileage. It's not a bad idea to have a car phone charger for your smart phone - GPS really sucks up the battery power. You also want to have your smart phone with eBay app open and ready for when you hit the sale. I try to look up items while at the sale ... especially if they seem valuable or priced higher than I want to risk. I don't just look up the listings on eBay ... I do an advanced search and search for Sold items only. That way you aren't getting a false idea of what stuff might sell for ... you are seeing what it actually sells for. I then like to take a photo of my newly purchased items, or jot down in a note the item and how much I paid for it so i can reference back after an item sells and feel super happy and cocky about how great I am for picking up that item. ;)

The next thing I don't leave home without is my coffee. I'm a Folgers man myself and I like to brew a nice big pot before I go out. I fill up my thermos and that way I'm good to go all morning. I like to do that rather than start my day off with spending $4 on a coffee at a local store. Think of all of the treasure I can buy and resell with that $4!

Another must have for me ... and others might not see the need for this ... is a little travel size thing of germ x or an equivalent. When you are handling all of these used items that 20 other people have also handled that day ... and probably even more in the items history ... you might want to be aware of germs.  I like to frequently cleanse my hands ... just makes me feel better ... and probably keeps me healthier which means I can adventure out more frequently and steadily. Getting sick can really cost you!

The next thing is also pretty obvious but it's part of my routine. Music.  You have to enjoy being out all day and one thing that keeps it interesting for me is jamming out. Find a great radio show or podcast ... maybe treat yourself to some new music for your 'business outings'. The last thing you want is to be bored out of your mind while you are driving around all day ... the right music might be just what you need to keep you going, especially if you are a solo shopper like myself. The Princess Bride Soundtrack that I picked up on Cassette last week has really been getting me through the trips as of late ... what a great movie and soundtrack!

Probably the most obvious thing you don't want to leave home without is money. I like to go to the bank when I can and take out $50 - $200 depending on how big of an adventure I'm planning. I like to get plenty of ones, fives and tens and a few twenties. Sometimes Grandma Francine might not have enough nickels to give you your change for a $20....or she might have enough nickels and you won't be able to keep your pants up with $19.50 all in nickels in your pocket. ;)

I'm sure there are plenty of things I'm forgetting on this list. But it's a start. Is there anything special you like to make sure you have with you when you go out?  Any secrets to share about how to prepare for inventory shopping excursions? Do tell.

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

Yard Sale Finds 9/21/13

Greetings!

Was out of town this weekend visiting family but was able to swing by a couple of garage sales. Here's what I found:

Two pairs of Wenoka Hyrdo-Lite Scuba Fins. $2.

 Pair of RF Harnett Wood Art Pieces with Civil War art work on them. They were asking $5, gut them for $3. Not sure how these will do.

 Antique 1960s light up pumpkin/Halloween decoration. Paid $2.

 Made in Mexico Metal and Glass candle holder with Moon. Not sure about this thing, picked it up for $1, we'll see.

Vintage Thermos Lunchbox - Metal. Comes with old Thermos. Paid $2. Should do ok on this.

 Definitely my buy of the weekend. Found a bag of antique and vintage holiday decorations (mostly Halloween). Beistle and Co. and others. Ranging from the 1950s - 1980s. Probably around 25 pieces in the bag total. Some in excellent condition, others a little beat up. Paid $3. Vintage Halloween stuff has done well for me so far .. just want to make sure you know the brand and if possible the year. The better condition the more valuable (obviously) but if you are selling them in a lot - which I have done in the past, throwing in a couple of beat up ones will help your #s a little bit and allow you to charge a bit more for the lot.

Total Paid: $13
Hoping to make back around: $120 - $180

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

It's Not All Rainbows and Butterflies

Greetings!

Just thought I would give a little update on how our store is doing. 

We technically started our store in June 2013 but it definitely wasn't a full month of sales. By the end of June we had spent more than we made on inventory and shipping supplies. Just started hammering out the beginning foundation of our store.  We had a loss that month of around $17 even though we sold $267 worth of items. We had 33 items in our store by the end of June.

In July we had tons of problems with our house (and health) and didn't get much done at all. Again we took a loss by the end of the month but our inventory had grown. We ended up with a loss of around $52 even though we sold $222 worth of inventory. We had 71 items in our store by the end of July.

August was our first full month of working on the store and making decent sales. We walked away with a profit of $318.60. That's after spending $200 on inventory and $129 on eBay fees, and buying a Brother Printer for the store for $129.47. So it was a great month! Sold 19 items for $760. By the end of August we had 174 items listed in our store.

Which brings us to September. We had a great first half of the month, sort of mirroring August. The second half of the month has been surprisingly slow. We've also spent twice as much on inventory this month to try to bulk up for the winter. We have taken out $400 total in September for buying inventory. Our eBay fees this month will be around $190. So far we've sold around $413 worth of items which barely covers our inventory spending money for the month. We still have 10 days to have a blitz of sales but we haven't made a sale since last weekend. Currently we have 265 items in our store.

So it seems like we're climbing up month to month and making more and building our inventory more. So that is good, but I've also started to feel a little bit of doubt about some of the inventory I've been buying. Why is this item and this other item still in my store since June? I think it's cool, but no one else is looking for it I guess? It's times like these that I have to remain patient and just keep on listing. When in doubt - list more stuff! Our goal is to hit 500 items in our store by XMAS this year. We will see if we can do it!

In closing - sometimes it isn't easy selling on eBay. It comes in waves of awesome sales and then nothing. I think the important thing is to just keep going and have a little faith in yourself. Try not to get discouraged if you have an awful week of sales. Just get back out there and find more cool stuff to list!

I wish you good luck out there friends and hope you wish the same for us!

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

Garage Sale Finds for 9/20/13

Greetings!

I think I did pretty well on my lunch break today!  I'm heading out of town for my nieces' birthday party this weekend so won't have much time to shop. Luckily I did ok today! Here's what I found:

Vintage Metal Letters that spell out PRINTING CO. Guy asked $5, I countered with $2, got them for $3. I think I will do well on this transaction. I have to decide if I'm going to break them out and sell them x amount per letter or sell them as a lot. I might make more if I split them up, but I think there has to be someone out there who could benefit from having a sign that reads PRINTING CO in full. We'll see.

 Vintage Coors belt buckle. $.50 cents.

 Vintage Leather hunting hat with hunter button. Paid $1. This is just really cool. Doesn't have a brand name on it, but to the right person this will be gold I think.

 Vintage Sunbeam Electric Razor. Paid $2. I don't know what my obsession with buying vintage razors is ... I sold one for like $30 one time and now I can't pass them up.  They always have really cool colors and cases. We'll see how we do.

 Vintage New in Box Fashion Manor Majestic Creations - 8 table mats. Very cool color and design. Paid $2.

 Vintage Ski Poles Barrecrafters Ski Poles, USA. Lady gave them to me for free. Thought what the heck I'll give them a try.

Vintage Georgia Giant Work Boots. Paid $2.

Total Spent: $10.50
If things go my way I will resell for around $200 - $250.

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

Garage Sale and Thrift Store Finds 9/18/13 - 9/19/13

Greetings!

Grabbed a few items over the past few days. Here's what I snagged:

Metal Marks Deluxe Lamp - Paid $2.

 Jack Daniels Clock in Wooden Box. Paid $2.

 3 old Revolutionary War Prints. Paid $3. Was thinking I could sell the 3 together as a lot, or maybe throw them in frames (I have a few antique frames lying around already - not sure if these will fit or not though.

 Pair of Nocona Cowboy Boots - Paid $5.

 Calendar from 1982 with some nice imagery. Thinking about framing some of these as well. FREE BOX.

 Vintage electric razor/scissors in kit. Looks like it says "fostoria" but I'm not sure. Will have to research. Paid $.25 cents.

 1982 ET Puzzle. Paid $.25 cents.

 Metal Lighthouse Candle Holder that says "Keeper of the light". Paid $1.

 Nautical Popout ship in frame ... Paid $2. Took a risk on this thing, don't know much about it. It's marked 1959 in the corner. Not sure if that is the production date or not yet.

 2 Antique Perfume Pump Atomizers. One has a star pattern, the other is amber glass. $5 for the pair. Might have made a mistake on these.

 Antique Jewelry Box mae od glass and brass. Transparent with little pillow inside. Really cool looking. Paid $2.

Total Spent: $22.50

Estimated Resale Value (if I'm really lucky): $200 - $300

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman